Garmr
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Hel_%281889%29_by_Johannes_Gehrts.jpg/220px-Hel_%281889%29_by_Johannes_Gehrts.jpg)
In Norse mythology, Garmr or Garm (Old Norse: Garmr [ˈɡɑrmz̠]) is a wolf or dog associated with both Hel and Ragnarök, and described as a blood-stained guardian of Hel's gate.
Name
The etymology of the name Garmr remains uncertain. Bruce Lincoln brings together Garmr and the Greek mythological dog Cerberus, relating both names to a Proto-Indo-European root *ger- "to growl" (perhaps with the suffixes -*m/*b and -*r).[1] However, Daniel Ogden notes that this analysis actually requires Cerberus and Garmr to be derived from two different Indo-European roots (*ger- and *gher- respectively), and in this opinion does not establish a relationship between the two names.[2]
Attestations
Poetic Edda
The Poetic Edda poem Grímnismál mentions Garmr:
One of the refrains of Völuspá uses Garmr's howling to herald the coming of Ragnarök:
Now Garm howls loud | before Gnipahellir,
The fetters will burst, | and the wolf run free;
Much do I know, | and more can see
Of the fate of the gods, | the mighty in fight.[4]
After the first occurrence of this refrain the Fimbulvetr is related; the second occurrence is succeeded by the invasion the world of gods by jötnar; after the last occurrence, the rise of a new and better world is described.
Baldrs draumar describes a journey which Odin makes to Hel. Along the way he meets a dog.
Then Óðinn rose, | the enchanter old,
And the saddle he laid | on Sleipnir's back;
Thence rode he down | to Niflhel deep,
And the hound he met | that came from hell.
Bloody he was | on his breast before,
At the father of magic | he howled from afar;
Forward rode Óðinn, | the earth resounded
Till the house so high | of Hel he reached.[5]
Although unnamed, this dog is sometimes assumed to be Garmr.[6] Alternatively, Garmr is sometimes assumed to be identical to Fenrir. Garmr is sometimes seen as a hellhound, comparable to Cerberus.
Prose Edda
The Prose Edda book Gylfaginning assigns him a role in Ragnarök:
- Then shall the dog Garmr be loosed, which is bound before Gnipahellir: he shall do battle with Týr, and each become the other's slayer.[7]
In popular culture
- Garm appears in the MMORPG : Ragnarök Online, as a recurring boss
- He appears as well in the World of Warcraft extension Legion, during the Helheim raid: Trial of Valor.
- In Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Garm also appears as a boss. Later on he is called Fenrir.
- In the MMORPG Guild Wars 2, Garm is the name given to the wolf companion of Eir Stegalkin.
- In the Action-RPG Dragon's Dogma extension, Dark Arisen, Garm is he name given to the giant necrophage wolves appearing in Bitterblack Isle.
- In the Fire Emblem games, Garm is the name of a sacred axe usable in The Sacred stones series, as well as the Heroes series, but only by Ephraim.
- He is first mentioned in 2018 God of War, but without apparition, then in God of War Ragnarök.[8], he appears as a boss before Atreus, A.K.A Loki, put the soul of his wolf Fenrir in him.
- In Ace Combat Zero, the protagonist Cipher belong to the air combat unit GALM, which logo is a dog biting on a chain which is around his whole body, as Galm 1. It is admitted that GALM is a translation error, since when he returns in Ace Combat: Joint Assault, it is under the callsign Garm 1.
See also
Notes
- ^ Lincoln 1991, p. 289.
- ^ Ogden 2013, p. 105.
- ^ Bellows (1923.)
- ^ Bellows (1923).
- ^ Bellows (1923).
- ^ Lincoln 1991, p. 97.
- ^ Brodeur (1916).
- ^ "God of War Ragnarök - PS5 and PS4 Games". PlayStation. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
References
- Bellows, Henry Adams (trans.). 1923. The Poetic Edda. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
- Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (trans.). 1916. Snorri Sturluson: The Prose Edda. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
- Lincoln, Bruce (1991). Death, War, and Sacrifice: Studies in Ideology & Practice. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-48199-9.
- Ogden, Daniel (2013). Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199557325.
- Orchard, Andy (1997). Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. Cassell. ISBN 978-0-304-34520-5.
- Simek, Rudolf (1996). Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer. ISBN 978-0-85991-513-7.
External links
Media related to Garmr at Wikimedia Commons