A Lyngbakr is an aquatic whale-like creature native to Svartalfheim.
Quick Answers
What is the Lyngbakr according to the Örvar-Odds saga?
What is the significance of the Lyngbakr in the God of War Ragnarok game?
What is the legendary chest on Lyngbakr Island?
What role does the Lyngbakr play in the story of Örvar-Oddr and his crew?
How can one 'free the Lyngbakr' in the context of the saga or game?
Norse Mythology[]
A Lyngbakr is a massive whale-like sea monster reported in the Örvar-Odds saga to have existed in the Greenland Sea. According to the saga, as Örvar-Oddr and his crew were sailing southwesterly through the Greenland Sea in vengeance against the troll Ögmundr Floki, slayer of Eythjof, the deck officer Vignir knew this area would be dangerous, and made Oddr agree to sail the ship beginning the next day, to which Oddr requested Vignir advise him. As they sailed, they spotted two rocks which rose out of the water. The presence of these rocks puzzled Oddr. Later, they passed by a large island covered in heather. Curious, Oddr made up his mind to turn back and send five men to check out the island, but as they approached where the island had been before, they saw that it and the two rocks vanished.
Vignir explained to Oddr that, had they landed sooner, the crew would have surely drowned. The "rocks" and "island" must have been two sea monsters—Lyngbakr, the greatest whale in the world, and hafgufa, a whale-like monster who bore all the monsters in the sea. The rocks had surely been the nose of Hafgufa; the island, Lyngbakr; and Ögmundr had surely summoned the beasts to kill Oddr and his men.
God of War Ragnarok[]
During his youth, Mimir captured and chained a lyngbakr in Svartalfheim so as to harvest its fat for lantern oil. He thought it would be an imaginative and eye-catching way to earn Odin's favor, and it worked. Once he returned to Svartalfheim with Kratos and Atreus/Freya in the Bay of Bounty centuries later, Mimir asked Kratos if they could find a key to free the creature he captured so many ages ago. He said that he hoped that it would have escaped by this time, but it had not. Kratos was particularly horrified by the creature's oppression, as he himself knew what it was like to be enslaved and oppressed in the past, especially having a yoke around his neck which The Furies encased him in. He, Mimir and Atreus/Freya did their best to free the lyngbakr. Mimir expressed his regret for his earlier actions, having now known what it was like to be imprisoned in one place for a long time. He was also disgusted by the fact that the Aesir couldn't even be bothered to put the creature out of its misery after it served its purpose. Kratos offered to kill it, but Mimir refused to let it die, not when they could save it. Despite freeing the lyngbakr from its chains and ropes, the creature didn't leave its pen. After trying to encourage it, Kratos remarked that "it has become accustomed to its chains". Mimir is discourage to see that freeing the creature from his mistake will never be enough to make it feel better, Kratos tells him that it seldom is, and Atreus/Freya assures to him that deep down the lyngbakr is grateful for what they did for him.
Later, after the destruction of Asgard in Ragnarok, Týr observed the lyngbakr in his travels throughout the realms. Týr offered comfort to Mímir for not being able to let the lyngbakr leave its pen, with Týr comparing the creature to how he and Mímir were also captives of Odin. Just as Mímir was grateful to Kratos for freeing him even without his body, Týr believed some part of the creature was still grateful for being freed.
Trivia[]
- In his entry in the codex, Kratos compared the Lyngbakr to the boat captain he let die after his fight with the Hydra in the Aegean Sea.
- In the saga entry, the lyngbakr and hafgufa can be compared to Scylla and Charybdis in The Odyssey, in that they are sea monsters who were known to kill sailors.
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