Týr's Temple was a magnificent temple dedicated to Týr, the Aesir God of War. It was built for the purpose of traveling to the other realms of the World Tree.
History[]
The temple was constructed by all the races of the Nine Realms for the Norse God of War, Týr. According to Freya, it was the last known act of cooperation between the Nine Realms before peace disappeared for good. It is unknown when Týr's Temple was built, but through his leadership, everyone in the Nine Realms had a hand in its construction. When it was first built, anyone could enter any of the Nine Realms freely. However, once Odin's treachery was discovered by the giants and he was expelled from their realm forever, the temple was changed. Týr, to ensure that Odin would never be able to enter Jötunheim, removed its realm travel tower and hid it in the Realm Between Realms. He also added security measures to the vault of his temple in order to protect the Black Rune, which was needed to reach Jötunheim from the mystical portal on the mountain in Midgard, but only for emergency purposes.
Týr also added other security measures to protect the Unity Stone, a gift from the giants, as it was needed to put the Jötunheim tower back in its proper place. Plans for the Unity Stone and where to locate it were hidden in a shrine devoted to Týr, but only he and a few others trusted by the giants could reveal the plans by using special Bifröst eyes. After Odin imprisoned Týr he added adjustments to the temple himself. Through unknown means, he managed to cut off the temple's access to Asgard, Vanaheim and Svartalfheim, making it impossible to travel to those realms. He also converted one of the rooms in the temple into one of his hidden chambers and would use it to study the secrets of Jötunheim. Eventually, Odin believed that the temple as a whole was a threat to his power as it could still be used to travel to other realms and the creatures from the other realms could come to Midgard. He tried to destroy it with the might of Asgard but Jörmungandr, the World Serpent, stopped his attempts.
It turns out, Týr had earned the giant serpent's trust; as a result, the World Serpent would protect Týr's Temple from all threats. The Serpent's hatred for the Aesir gods also contributed to his desire to stop Odin. Unfortunately, Jörmungandr would inadvertently accomplish Odin's goal when he went into a deep slumber, causing the lake's water level to rise and submerge the temple. This was undone years later by Kratos and Atreus during their journey to spread Faye's ashes atop the highest peak in all the Realms. Their first journey to the lake caused the Serpent to awaken, massively lowering the water level and revealing the Temple. Over the course of their journey, they would gradually cause Jörmungandr to move more, lowering the water level further and revealing more of the ancient temple. Eventually, Kratos and Atreus discovered the hidden chamber of Odin inside the temple and used the plans hidden by Týr to restore the Jötunheim tower to its place in the lake. After completing the main quest, the player can use the temple to enter the realms of Helheim and Alfheim anytime they wish as well as the realms of Muspelheim and Niflheim so long as the ciphers for the latter two were discovered. Jötunheim can only be accessed during the main quest, and afterward becomes unavailable.
Fimbulwinter[]
Sometime after Baldur was slain by Kratos and Fimbulwinter had begun, Odin proceeded to completely lock realm travel to all the other realms, thus completely preventing anyone from traveling to the rest of the Nine Realms.
Ragnarök[]
Kratos, Atreus, and their allies used the temple's travel room to enter Asgard. When Kratos blew into Gjallarhorn, all the realm travel doors in the room lit up, which allowed the group to enter the realm of the Aesir.
Layout and design[]
Týr's temple was created in Midgard which was a focal point of all realms so it could be used to travel to any of the nine realms. Each Realm besides Midgard has its own tower along the rim of the lake, which the Temple uses to travel between them. There are four parts of the temple that Kratos and Atreus access during their journey.
Realm Travel Room[]
The first area the player discovers is the realm travel room, where Kratos and Atreus can travel to other realms, although Odin cut off all access to Asgard, Vanaheim, and Svartalfheim. As a result. Kratos and Atreus can only travel to Alfheim, Helheim, Niflheim, and Muspelheim. Jötunheim can only be accessed once in the final mission of the main story and after that, it will be inaccessible.
Týr's Vault[]
This is the second part of Týr's temple. It is here where the black rune of Jötunheim is located and protected by Týr's security measures. It is also here where Týr placed tapestries of himself traveling to other realms and trying to promote peace, as well as all the gifts that he was given during his travels.
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The third part of Týr's temple was one of Odin's hidden chambers Odin turned one of the rooms of Týr's temple into one of his hidden chambers, where he kept his best clues to accessing Jötunheim. This can be accessed by Kratos and Atreus after they escape Helheim. The player can find the Týr's hidden plans for the Jötunheim tower in this area as well.
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This is the fourth and last part of the chamber that can be discovered. Týr created this chamber after Odin began to slaughter all the giants in Midgard once he was expelled from their realm. He created this chamber to hide and protect the Unity Stone so that Odin could never enter Jötunheim. It showed tapestries of himself hiding the Jötunheim tower from Odin. This chamber was right under the realm travel room, and to gain access to the Unity Stone, someone had to flip (literally) the temple itself. Once the temple was flipped and the Unity Stone acquired, the temple was restored back to its original state with all of its functions intact.
Trivia[]
- The Temple of Týr is stated to have been underwater for over 150 years prior to its re-emergence during the game. As a Greek vase depicting Kratos as the Ghost of Sparta can be found inside Týr's Vault, it can be assumed that a minimum of 150 years have passed since the events of God of War III.
- Odin may have not removed his hidden chamber from the temple because he didn't think anyone could access it underwater or at the very least visitors would be unable to discover the plans of Týr from his shrine. This would prove to be ironic, as Odin did try to locate the plans of Týr only to fail where Kratos and Atreus succeeded, making Odin indirectly responsible for aiding them as they discovered the plans after locating his hidden chamber.
- While Odin couldn't discover the plans for the Unity Stone, it is unknown why he didn't try and claim the black rune which could have gained him access to Jötunheim much earlier, as it was clear he made adjustments to the temple itself. A possible explanation is that Týr was more cunning that Odin and anticipated making the black rune that much safer. Another reason is that Odin was so determined to topple the temple that he didn't consider the possibility that there was another way to Jötunheim hidden within it. The fact that he left his hidden chamber with all of his knowledge in it after the temple was flooded supports the second theory.
- From the center of any realm tower to the center of Týr's Temple, the world tree in the realm travel room, the distance is roughly 200 meters. So, the Lake of Nine is at minimum 400 meters in diameter.
- Given Týr's love for other cultures and his desire to learn from them and the fact that dwarves helped to construct the monument, it's strange that his temple featured the Dwarven realm of Niðavellir as Svartalfheim meaning "Land of the Dark Elves", despite the Dark Elves originating in Alfheim and having nothing to do with the realm of the dwarves. The error was due to the other Aesir somehow not being able to tell the difference between the two races, though it seems odd that Týr did not correct this mistake in his temple.
- At first it doesn't make sense for Týr to have built a realm travel door to Helheim as no normal living being could survive in the realm for longer than a few minutes due to the extreme cold, with even Odin being unable to survive there for an extended period of time. However upon further analysis, he was probably told by Faye of Helheim's importance to the Journey that her husband and son would undertake and thus built the door so they could easily access the realm.