Týr
Tyr, the One-Handed Norse God
The god who gave his hand to bind the wolf
Snorri calls Tyr the boldest of the gods, the one who rules over victory in battle, and says brave men do well to call on him.
His best-known story is the binding of Fenrir. The gods raised the wolf, and as he grew they feared him. They tried to bind him twice with chains he broke. The third binding was Gleipnir, a ribbon made from impossible things. Fenrir, suspicious, would only allow it if one of the gods put a hand in his mouth as a pledge. Only Tyr did. When Gleipnir held, the wolf bit the hand off.
The gods swore they would free the wolf if he could not break Gleipnir, and then broke the oath. Tyr’s hand is the price of that lie, and he is the one who paid it. At Ragnarök Tyr fights the hound Garm, and each kills the other.
The t-rune, Tiwaz, is named for him. In Sigrdrífumál, the valkyrie Sigrdrífa tells a warrior to cut victory runes on his sword’s hilt and to name Tyr twice.
Sources: Snorri’s Prose Edda (Gylfaginning), Poetic Edda (Völuspá, Sigrdrífumál), the medieval rune poems.
No Tyr piece yet
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