D&D has done its fair share of poaching from mythologies all over the world. My
original Paladin was a servant of Torm, who in turn is a servant of Tyr. I never thought much of Tyr back then but I greatly enjoy the legend now. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
According to the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, at one stage the gods decided to shackle the Fenris wolf (Fenrir), but the beast broke every chain they put upon him. Eventually they had the dwarves make them a magical ribbon called Gleipnir.
It appeared to be only a silken ribbon but was made of six wondrous
ingredients: the sound of a cat's footfall, the beard of a woman, the
roots of a mountain, bear's sinews (meaning nerves, sensibility), fish's
breath and bird's spittle. The creation of Gleipnir is said to be the
reason why none of the above exist. Fenrir sensed the gods' deceit and refused to be bound with it unless one of them put his hand in the wolf's mouth.
Tyr, known for his great wisdom and courage, agreed, and the other
gods bound the wolf. After Fenrir had been bound by the gods, he
struggled to try to break the rope. Fenrir could not break the ribbon
and enraged, bit Tyr's right hand off. When the gods saw that Fenrir was
bound they all rejoiced, except Tyr. Fenrir will remain bound until the
day of Ragnarök. As a result of this deed, Tyr is called the "Leavings of the Wolf"; which is to be understood as a poetic kenning for glory. After a heartbreaking battle (of Ragnarök) Fenrir swallowed Odin the All-father, whole.
A man willing to make sacrifices, a bold man whose strength is only superior to Thor and his son Magni. Tyr is a mighty god who does not garner much spotlight. It's a shame, his (Norse) origin is a lot more compelling than Ilmaters. As for his D&D Origins, a man struck blind for questioning the Ur-God is a great lesson in Hubris, and his hand is conveniently bitten by a fancy wolf. My last character before I was pulled into a newer edition was a reflavored Ruby Knight Vindicator dedicated to sentencing the Guilty. Nothing quite like taking Dogma to an extreme.
No comments:
Post a Comment