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General Information
Fenrir Special Attacks
Historical InformationIn Norse mythology, Fenris (originally spelled Fenrisulfr) was the eldest offspring of the prankster god Loki and the giantess Angrboda. His siblings were the dragon monster Jormungandr (see Jormungand) and Hel, the future ruler of the underworld that would bear the same name. Despite that his siblings were cast from Asgard, Fenris was spared from a similar fate due to Odin's (see Odin) affinity towards wolves, though due to his rapid growth and increasingly fierce nature, the gods feared him and dared not approach him, save for one. The god of war Tyr, unafraid of the monstrous hound, offered to feed him daily, thus forging an uneasy peace between him and Fenris. However, even due to this truce, the gods determined that Fenris needed to be bound, so Odin ordered dwarven forgers to create an iron chain, known as Loedingr, though as soon as it was wrapped around Fenris, his strength allowed him to snap the bonds with ease. A second chain, known as Dromi, which possessed twice the tensile strength of Loedingr, was created to bind the wolf again, though, like Loedingr, Dromi was broken just as easily. The dwarves then made a fine ribbon known as Gleipnir, fashioned from the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish, the spittle of a bird, and the sound of a cat's footstep, and was brought before Fenris so that he could be bound by it again. Sensing some level of deception in being confronted with what appeared to be such a fragile material, Fenris demanded that he would only allow himself to be bound by Gleipnir if one of the gods would place his/her hand in its mouth, so that if the gods did not release him from Gleipnir as they had promised, he would bite off that hand. Knowing that there was no intention for Fenris to be released, the gods were wary of accepting Fenris's demands, until Tyr stepped forward and offered his right hand to the beast. After Fenris realized that he was not going to be released, he soundly clamped down and removed Tyr's hand, then was bound to the great rock Gjoll on the island Lyngvi. At the time of the Ragnarok (see Ragnarok), Fenris would finally grow powerful enough to shatter Gleipnir and join Jormungandr, Hel, and giants against the battle with the gods, where Fenris would devour Odin. As an act of vengeance, Vidar, one of Odin's sons, killed the monstrous wolf by placing his foot on its lower jaw, then pulled upward on its upper jaw until Fenris was torn in half.
Category: Final Fantasy XI This page last modified 2010-01-27 17:24:09. |