Járnviðr

So, there's been this thing that has been sitting in the back of my mind for a while: the name of Fenrir. Like most gods in the Nordic pantheon (who have various names, heitis, and kennings in abundance), Fenrir has many names which can give us insight about different aspects we might find in him. This post gets a bit nerdy as we’re looking at words and stuff, but words have meaning. They are powerful and evoke emotion and - especially within our little world of modern Heathenry - names are important. They are descriptive and often tied to some sort of association, which can be both helpful and also often lead to unfortunate pigeonholing. I should make it clear before we dig in: I'm not against the name "Fenrir" and I'm not suggesting we ditch it, but perhaps I can offer an alternative. I also speculate on the possibility of an historical positive view of an entity who some assholes stuffy reconstructionists deem as a "agent of pure chaos" and whose wor...