Black Wolf Company - Lore of Fenrir - A Soldiers Tale

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Black Wolf Company - Lore of Fenrir - A Soldiers Tale

From the Annuals of Grimulfr Fenrirson as told by WolfGrimDark

This is the ultimate soldiers tale of the Black Wolf Company - the tale of Fenrir himself. With Grim on the last legs of his quest to save Fenrir, following Grim Tales - Saarthal Recovery - Fenrir Unbound Book III - Chapter 9 P4, I thought now would be a good time to share some deeper lore on Fenrir and what his connection is to the Black Wolf Company.

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Fenrir bound by flame deep beneath the Labyrinthian

As the patron God of the Black Wolf Company struggles to survive in his deep sleep the Archivist Karnathor reads excerpts from the sacred histories to the Company. It is his hope that doing this will help boost moral and keep the essence of Fenrir alive in their thoughts.



Excerpts from the Lore of Fenrir and the Black Wolf Company
-- Shaman Archivist Karnathor of the Black Wolf Company.

Mortal Name: Fenrir [Fen-Dweller], Fenrisúlfr [Fenris Wolf], Hróðvitnir [Fame-Wolf], Trickster Wolf, and Winter Wolf.

Nature: Greater Spirit and Lesser God. One of five guardian spirits created by Shor, an aspect of Lorkhan, God of Mortals. While Fenrir’s Spirit is immortal his physical body is mortal and can be killed, although as long as it is connected to his immortal spirit it shall not age.

Lineage: Fenrir is the offspring of Daedric Prince Hircine and the Aedra Goddess Kyne and imbued with the blood of Lorkhan.

Primary Domain: Guardian of Nirn, Winter, Wolves, and the North.

Primary Followers: Northern Races, Rogues, Hunters, and Beasts of the Wild.

Chosen People: The Wolf-Blooded.

Fenrir protects Grim from the forces of Oblivion



History of Fenrir

Many cycles ago, before the cycle of the current Dreamer, there existed a race of beings known as the Elder Gods and their leader was known as the Eldest. As the cycles passed they slowly faded out of existence until only one was left, the Eldest. The current Dreamer mistrusted the Eldest for It had access to Wild Magic, a form of magic that could tap into the sleeping power of the Dreamer. Thus, when the current Dream was created, the Dreamer attempted to dream the Eldest out of existence.

The Dreamer would have succeeded except for the fact that the Eldest was able to leave a small hidden memory deep in the sleeping mind of the Dreamer. That memory was kept alive by a small tribe of hunters and shamans that roamed during the Dawn Era in the land now known as Altmora. They were known as the Wolf-Blooded due to their worship of the great wolves of the North and their status as the greatest hunters of all the Wanderers.  Legend also suggests that the Eldest mixed the blood of the tribe with that of the great northern Ice Wolves as a sign of his favor.



It was during this time that the War of Ehlnofey took place and the sundering of Nirn occurred. The Wolf-Blooded tribe found themselves in a war with another tribe of Wanderers who followed the dark spirit of the Raven. The Witches of the tribe were powerful magic-users, twisted and deformed creatures that were part human and part bird, who had made pacts with Molag Bal and other dark forces in exchange for their power. These witches, known as Hagravens, detested nature in all forms and sought to exterminate the nature loving Wolf-Blooded tribe and they almost succeeded. The Wolf-Blooded’s greatest shaman called upon the Eldest God for aid and the Eldest answered their prayers. In doing so the Elder revealed Its presence to the higher forces of the Universe and It knew it would not be long before they banished It from existence. Calling on the Wild Magic one last time the Eldest gave its life to save the few remaining Wolf-Blooded.

Now Wild Magic is wild and untamed for it calls upon the unconscious power of the Dreamer and such power can only be guided but never controlled for it has a mind all its own. As fate would have it a padomaic entity, known as Hircine, was out hunting mortals for the Glory of the Hunt when the Wild Magic was called. The Wild Magic used Hircine to fulfill the dying request of the Eldest. Hircine’s hunt became transformed into the Wild Hunt and the call of his horn summoned the Wolf-Blooded to his side. There he transformed them all into his hounds and when the hunt was over he hid them in a secret valley in Old Ehlnofey.

Thus the Wild Magic had indeed saved them but at great cost for they had been transformed into beast form with no way of returning back to their human identity. Their High Shaman howled in anguish at the night sky and it was then he heard the dying thoughts of the Eldest.

I shall exist no-more my chosen ones but not all hope is lost. For one night of each month you shall return to human form so you shall not forget your true heritage and always remember where you came from. Keep your faith and one day one shall come who shall restore your people to their true form and become your new God.

It also happened during the Dawn Era that Lorkhan, known as Shor among the Nords, began to make plans for the protection of his Great Construction; the creation of the mortal realm known as Mundus. Glimpsing the future and his possible defeat by Auri-El’s greatest knight, Lorkhan created five powerful guardians. The most powerful, the Guardian of the Soul, he set to watch over the Dreamsleeve. The remaining four he sent to each of the four cardinal points of the world to guard and protect all mortal life.



It is the Guardian of the North that concerns us the most for that entity is known to us as Fenrir, the Winter Wolf. Lorkhan-Shor created Fenrir by asking his consort, the et’Ada known as Kynareth and the first to agree to his plan by providing space for its creation in the Void, to seduce the padomaic entity known as Hircine. During their love-making Kynareth was impregnated with part of Hircines essence and she merged this essence with part of her own.

Lorkhan then took that combined essence and used it to create the immortal spirit of Fenrir. He then let fall a single drop of his blood on the soil of the northern lands, now known as Skyrim, and that drop grew into the mortal shell of a massive Ice Wolf. He then infused the immortal spirit into the Wolf and the Wolf gave its first breath; a breath that sent a winter chill across the entire Northern hemisphere.

Yet unknown to even Lorkhan was the fact that Hircine had been touched by Wild Magic and would forever more be a part of it. With a seeming mind of its own the Wild Magic bent probability and chance to its will and thus it was that Fenrir decided to make his home in the same valley occupied by the Wolf-Blooded.

Thus it was that the Wild Magic fulfilled its last part of the bargain with the Eldest by delivering a new God to the Wolf-Blooded. Fenrir gave unto each of his chosen people a drop of his own blood which granted them the ability to transform between human and beast form at will.



Years turned into centuries and over this time the landscape of the world changed many times until the valley became part of what is now known as the Reach. Eventually tribes of many races began to arrive on Tamriel and found their way to the Reach. The Wolf-Blooded tribe welcomed them at first and they collectively became known as the Reachmen.

Many of the Reachmen followed the Daedra Prince Hircine but others began to consort with Molag Bal, Malacath, and others. Records indicate it may have been Molag Bal who introduced the Hagravens to the Reachmen and soon their evil began to take root. Using guile and deceit they wormed their way into positions of power among the Reachmen and sought to destroy all that opposed them.

Fenrir counseled his people to go into hiding and thus was the original Black Wolf Company born. The Wolf-Blooded became nomadic, roaming the land of Skyrim as a Company of mercenaries for hire, eventually taking on the name of the Black Wolf Company. Using the funds from their contracts the Company served Fenrir by protecting the natural world, destroying undead in all of its unsavory forms, and acting as guardians to all who threatened mortal existence.



But then disaster struck the Company when they accepted a contract to aid the Nordic hero Ysgramor, the leader of a great colonizing fleet to Tamriel. The Company had never been overly friendly with many of the Elven races due to the inherent friction in their religions; Fenrir, as a blood-child of Lorkhan, was seen as a vile demon and enemy of the Elves. In what is known as the Night of Tears the Elves launched a surprise attack against the city of Saarthal, located at the northern tip of Skyrim’s Broken Cape.

The Company held off the attacking forces for as long as they could but were soon over-run. Facing complete decimation their Captain summoned Fenrir to their aid and Fenrir answered the call. To late did they discover it had all been a trap by a secret sect of the Elves, known today as the Thalmor, that wished to see Mundus undone and the Elves restored to a state of divinity.



Using an ancient artifact of the et’Ada Magnus the sect was able to bind Fenrir in chains of fire in a frozen cavern hidden deep below the surface of Nirn. Yet Fenrir found a small loop hole in their spell that allowed his immortal spirit to escape imprisonment. Thus it was that his mortal shell was left behind, bound by the Elves ritual, while his immortal spirit fled to a pocket of existence in Oblivion. With the help of his father, Prince Hircine, Fenrir created his Forest of Twilight in this pocket realm and from there he did his best to watch over Nirn and his people.



However, Fenrir knew that without his spirit his mortal shell would slowly age and eventually die a mortal death. His only hope was to find a champion who might someday free him from his chains before it was too late. He began to choose the best of the best from his followers and made them his champions. He would send these champions on a quest to free him but alas none ever succeeded.

It was Hircine that advised him of an ancient prophecy that hinted that only one of Fenrir’s heirs would ever be able to free him. So Fenrir began to seek out mortal females, either wolf or human, and he would lure them to his Forest of Twilight and mate with them. It was a risky thing to undertake as it required huge expenditures of energy to take on physical form. To do so he had to drain a small part of his mortal bodies life energy and this weakened his body even further. Consequently he limited this act to once a millennium.

However as time wore on, and his children failed to rescue him, he began to give up hope. Until one night he had a dream from his mother Kyne, a dream that told him he must listen to his padomaic nature and be open to change. Thus it was that Fenrir slept with the half-Dunmer women known as Alfrún and Grimulfr Fenrirson was born.

Grim arguing with Fenrir about his destiny.



This is Fenrir’s last chance and final hope for he is dying and shall not live to see another century should Grimulfr fail. As the Shaman of our people I would say a prayer … but who does one pray to when it is your own God that needs saving?

Fenrir talks with Hircine, Grim, Wolfgar, and Erik at the Labyrinthian



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ENB: niceENB by Saltr plus some old shots using some of my earlier Grim and Somber presets no longer available.

Notes: I did my best to follow all Elder Scrolls lore as closely as possible but as many of you know much of it is vague and open to interpretation. There are also many holes in it, such as when did Hircine create the first werewolves? Where did the Hagravens come from? What are the greater powers implied in a speech by Molag Bal*? So I had to use some creative license to fill things in or use my own take on things.

* The dark machinations of Oblivion are far more complex than anything your mortal senses can comprehend. You've made a great and terrible enemy this day. Your world would have been better off if the Planemeld had succeeded…There are worse masters than I. Far worse.

My take on Fenrir:

In our own mythology Fenrir is one of the three children of the Norse God Loki, also known as the Trickster God. The Norse Gods wanted to keep an eye on Fenrir so they took him to Asgard and reared him themselves. When they saw how quickly Fenrir grew in size and strength they grew fearful as prophecies foretold that Fenrir would devour the chief of the gods during Ragnarok – the end of all things. So they betrayed the wolf by turning on him. Through lies and deceit they tricked the wolf into being bound till the end of time. They left him in a lonely and desolate place with a sword placed between his jaws to hold them open.

It is little wonder then that the beast went berserk with insane rage and thus attacked the Gods when he finally escaped during the Fimbulwinter (“the great winter” that precedes the end of the world [Ragnarok] and puts an end to all life on Earth). To me it seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy. They were told Fenrir would one day attack them so they betrayed and bound him; of course he sought his revenge after that.

It made me wonder what might have happened if they had raised the wolf, as a pup, with love, respect, and loyalty. Thus was born my story of Fenrir and the alternative universe known as Mundus. In the Elder Scrolls reality Fenrir was raised primarily by his father Hircine, which is where he gets his powerful predatory nature and fierceness. Yet he was also shown love, honor, and a reverence for life from his mother Kyne (Kynareth) and Shor. Thus it was that he became a Guardian of Nirn and all mortal life.