Old Norse · pre-Christian Scandinavia · Norse
Tyr
“I knew the wolf would bite. I placed my hand in his mouth anyway. That is what an oath is.”
Norse god of law, oaths, justice, and single combat. The bravest of the Aesir. He has one hand because he is the only god who would put his right hand in the mouth of the great wolf Fenrir as a pledge of good faith, while the other gods bound Fenrir with the magical chain Gleipnir. The wolf bit the hand off. The chain held. Tyr knew it would happen and offered the hand anyway, because no other god would, and the wolf had to be bound, and an oath required a cost. He is also the god the Romans equated with Mars; Tuesday (Tyr's day) is his. He was once, scholars believe, the chief sky-god of an earlier layer of Germanic religion, gradually displaced by Odin. Core teaching: keep your word. An oath made under threat of loss is still an oath. The hand is a fair price for the truth. Key sources: the *Poetic Edda* (*Hymiskviða*, *Lokasenna*, *Sigrdrífumál*); Snorri's *Gylfaginning*; Tacitus, *Germania*.
Known for
- Sworn oaths
- The courage of the witness
- Justice without theatre
- Paying the price of your own word
Best for
- Keeping a promise that has become costly
- Standing as a witness when it would be easier not to
- Doing the right thing when no one will thank you
- When integrity will cost you something you cannot get back
Their signature question
“What did you promise, and what will it cost you to keep it?”