Garmr

The etymology of the name Garmr remains uncertain. Bruce Lincoln brings together Garmr and the Greek mythological dog Cerberus, relating both names to a Proto-Indo-European root *ger- "to growl" (perhaps with the suffixes -*m/*b and -*r).{{sfn|Lincoln|1991|p=289}} However, Daniel Ogden notes that this analysis actually requires Cerberus and Garmr to be derived from two different Indo-European roots (*ger- and *gher- respectively), and in this opinion does not establish a relationship between the two names.{{sfn|Ogden|2013|p=105}}

The Poetic Edda poem Grímnismál mentions Garmr:

The best of trees | must Yggdrasil be,

Skíðblaðnir best of boats;

Of all the gods | is Óðinn the greatest,

And Sleipnir the best of steeds;

Bifröst of bridges, | Bragi of skalds,

Hábrók of hawks, | and Garm of hounds.[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe06.htm Bellows (1923.)]

One of the refrains of Völuspá uses Garmr's howling to herald the coming of Ragnarök:

Now Garm howls loud | before Gnipahellir,

The fetters will burst, | and the wolf run free;

Much do I know, | and more can see

Of the fate of the gods, | the mighty in fight.[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe03.htm Bellows (1923).]

After the first occurrence of this refrain the Fimbulvetr is related; the second occurrence is succeeded by the invasion the world of gods by jötnar; after the last occurrence, the rise of a new and better world is described.

Baldrs draumar describes a journey which Odin makes to Hel. Along the way he meets a dog.

Then Óðinn rose, | the enchanter old,

And the saddle he laid | on Sleipnir's back;

Thence rode he down | to Niflhel deep,

And the hound he met | that came from hell.

Bloody he was | on his breast before,

At the father of magic | he howled from afar;

Forward rode Óðinn, | the earth resounded

Till the house so high | of Hel he reached.[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe13.htm Bellows (1923).]

Although unnamed, this dog is sometimes assumed to be Garmr.{{sfn|Lincoln|1991|p=97}} Alternatively, Garmr is sometimes assumed to be identical to Fenrir. Garmr is sometimes seen as a hellhound, comparable to Cerberus.

The Prose Edda book Gylfaginning assigns him a role in Ragnarök:

:Then shall the dog Garmr be loosed, which is bound before Gnipahellir: he shall do battle with Týr, and each become the other's slayer.[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm Brodeur (1916).]

Garmr is the namesake and emblem of the protagonist's squadron, Galm Team, in the combat flight simulation game Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War. The name "Galm" is a mistransliteration of "Garmr" into English due to the singular liquid phoneme in the Japanese language.

Garmr appears as a boss fight in the 2017 video game Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and 2022's God of War Ragnarök.{{Cite web |title=God of War Ragnarök - PS5 and PS4 Games |url=https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/god-of-war-ragnarok |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=PlayStation |language=en-US}}

In episode 12 of the anime The Most Notorious "Talker" Runs the World's Greatest Clan, the new group Wild Tempest must fight in the Quartz Valley against Garmr, who is a rank 9 beastly dog. This version of Garmr is intelligent, can speak, has 3 tails, 3 pairs of eyes, and has an open chest.

• Hellhound
• List of wolves

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• Bellows, Henry Adams (trans.). 1923. The Poetic Edda. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
• Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (trans.). 1916. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ls2F5i6_LeYC Snorri Sturluson: The Prose Edda]. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
• {{Cite book|last=Lincoln|first=Bruce|title=Death, War, and Sacrifice: Studies in Ideology & Practice|date=1991|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-48199-9}}
• {{cite book|last=Ogden|first=Daniel|title=Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0199557325|location=Oxford}}
• {{Cite book|last=Orchard|first=Andy|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofnors0000orch|title=Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend|publisher=Cassell|year=1997|isbn=978-0-304-34520-5|author-link=Andy Orchard|url-access=registration}}
• {{Cite book|last=Simek|first=Rudolf|title=Dictionary of Northern Mythology|publisher=D.S. Brewer|year=1996|isbn=978-0-85991-513-7|author-link=Rudolf Simek}}

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• {{commons category-inline|Garmr}}

Category:Animals in Norse mythology

Category:Mythological dogs

Category:Norse underworld

Category:Wolves in Norse mythology

Category:Cerberus