Hræzlyr

Hræzlyr
Biographical Information
Birthplace	Midgard (Presumably)
Location	The Mountain
Status	Deceased
Physical Information
Race(s)	Dragon
Gender	Male
Relationship Information
Equipment
Behind the Scenes
Appears in	God of War (2018)

Hræzlyr is a male Dragon and a boss in God of War (2018).

Biography

Hræzlyr is a male Dragon that lives in the Heart of the Mountain, the highest peak in Midgard and a former Jötnar residence.

When Kratos and his son Atreus were travelling through the mountain's interior to reach the summit, Hræzlyr attacked them on their way up. After a brief fight, the Dragon retreated towards the exterior. There, he found the Dwarf Sindri and attacked the smith, but Atreus intervened and Kratos engaged in combat against the Dragon.

Their battle continued until Hræzlyr spotted and attempted to kill Atreus and Sindri, but Kratos used a nearby crane to restrain the Dragon and force his neck into a large spike of crystallized World Tree sap which exploded, destroying a large portion of the Dragon's neck and killing the monster.

After his death, one of Hræzlyr's teeth was used to imbue Atreus' bow with the Dragon's electrical power.

Powers and Abilities

As a Dragon, Hræzlyr possesses a large amount of strength, durability and stamina proportional to his large size. He has thick and tough scales covering his body, alongside large claws and teeth.

Hræzlyr has the ability to spew lightning from his mouth, able to shoot it towards to the sky to make lightning rain around him.

Dragons are also able to see dwarves as they walk between realms, thus Hræzlyr was able to spot Sindri despite his attempts to escape from his sight.

During the first encounter inside the mountain, Hræzlyr uses an unavoidable but blockable bite attack and a claw attack that can be avoided or blocked. The only way to damage him during this encounter is to attack his foot.

During the second encounter outside the mountain, Hræzlyr will shoot lightning into the sky which will home in on Kratos' location. However, the lightning strikes can be avoided with quick movement. Another lighting attack he uses has him breathe a straight line of lightning across the ground. He can also use an unblockable inhale attack that deals no damage but draws Kratos closer to him. He can be damaged by attacking his forelimbs as before, though he can attack Kratos if he does this for too long by punishing him with a bite attack. By tossing world tree sap crystals at him while he is spewing lightning, he will be damaged and his head will fall to the ground, leaving him vulnerable to standard attacks without fear of counterattacks. Another attack he uses is one where he stomps with both front claws, causing shockwaves along the ground that can be blocked.

Gallery

Photo Mode

Portraits

Credits: @ItsDVP

Concept Art

Concept Art

Early Concept Art

Head Concept Models

Polished Art

Behind the scenes

Model of Hræzlyr's left claw.

Model from the left.

Complete model of Hræzlyr.

In-game

Hræzlyr's wounded head.

Hræzlyr collapsing to the ground.

Dead Hræzlyr.

Trivia

• Hræzlyr's name is very close to the word for "Hræzla", which means "terror" in Old Norse.
• Until the publishing of the art book "The Art of God of War" it was unknown as to why Hræzlyr's wings are misshapen and atrophied, and was later revealed in the book to be an adaptation to living in the confined spaces and tunnels of the mountain. As a result, the Dragon has physically developed throughout his life to adapt living in and around mountain caves as opposed to in open space as Otr, Fafnir, and Reginn. Hræzlyr's crest is also different that he doesn't have an outward protruding horn, and his tail also seems bulkier than the three.
• Hræzlyr can be considered the Nordic equivalent of opening boss like Aegaeon, Basilisk, Hydra, Scylla, Colossus of Rhodes, Poseidon & the Hippocampi from the previous game.
  • However, The Stranger is actually the opening spectacle boss (the trolls were bosses due to the health bar being cumbersome to place anywhere else), but Hraezlyr is the largest monster fought in the game (not counting Thamur's corpse).
• According to Sindri, Hræzlyr was the first Dragon to be killed in centuries since the Grand Culling of the Wyrms.
• In the God of War 2018 novelization, Hræzlyr is misspelled as Hræzlr.