Of the race of Ingve,
To dwell with Odin
In roomy Valhal.”
Norse Mythology (R. B. Anderson).
Story of the wolf Fenris.
Tyr was generally spoken of and represented as one-armed, just as Odin was called one-eyed. This fact is explained in various ways by different authorities; some claim that it was because he could give the victory only to one side; others, because a sword has but one blade. However this may be, these explanations did not satisfy the ancients, who preferred to account for the fact by the following myth:
Loki, the arch deceiver, went to Jötun-heim and secretly married the hideous giantess Angur-boda (anguish boding), who bore him three monstrous children—the wolf Fenris, Hel, the party-colored goddess of death, and Iörmungandr, a terrible serpent. He kept the existence of these monsters secret as long as he could; but they speedily grew so large that they could no longer remain confined in the cave where they had come to light. Odin, from the top of his throne Hlidskialf, soon became aware of their existence, and also of the frightful rapidity with which they increased in size. Fearing lest the monsters, when they had gained a little more strength, should invade Asgard and destroy the gods, Allfather determined to get rid of them, and, striding off to Jötun-heim, flung Hel down into the depths of Nifl-heim, where he told her she could reign over the nine dismal worlds of the dead. He threw Iörmungandr into the sea, where he stretched himself and grew until he encircled all the earth and could bite his own tail.
“Into mid-ocean’s dark depths hurled,
Grown with each day to giant size,
The serpent soon inclosed the world,