Fenrir, referred to in game as the Beast or Garm, is monstrous rotting boar-like creature that acts as the guardian of Helheim's halls. Using the darkness to stalk Senua, she finally confronts it just before entering Hela's sanctum.
Appearance
Unlike how it is described in Norse lore, Fenrir appears as large boar, decaying away on various parts of its flesh. Its head and jaws are skeletal on one side and its skin in a pale colour, covered in wounds and rot. It towers over Senua, being at least twice her height.
Gameplay
Fenrir first appears when Senua steps into the darkness of Helheim's halls. Whenever she traverses an area that is not well lit by natural light or a torch, the environment darkens and distorted flashes of red begin to grow more intense as Fenrir closes in on her. If Senua remains in the dark too long, she will be killed.
When Senua manages to corner the beast, she has a chance to slay it. With a lot of health and attacks that a combination of both fast and powerful, Fenrir is one of harder challenges in the game:
- Claw Slam: Fenrir reaches out with a claw and slams it forwards towards Senua. It can do this with both of its legs.
- Forward Bite: Fenrir will try to bite Senua, lunging forward.
- Charge: Fenrir will retreat into the darkness prowl around, before charging across the arena. Listening for the audio of his growling will help to locate where it is going to charge from.
- Leaping Slam: Fenrir will leap forward at us and slam down with both legs. It is best to evade as the claws have an area-of-effect. This is usually done after a charge.
- Darkness Expulsion: One of Fenrir's strongest abilities is vomiting darkness towards Senua. This causes her vision to go black and act in a similar way to the hallucinations of when she was being chased earlier. During this time, Senua will only get brief glimpses of what Fenrir will do, who is still attacking. The only way to break out of the darkness is to Focus.
Fenrir also makes things a little trickier as normal attacks when not Focusing will simply bounce off it's body. Only charged attacks with Gramr will hit it normally.
Lore
In Norse lore, Fenrir, also known as Fenrisúlfr, Hróðvitnir and Vánagandr is a monstrous wolf. He is the father of the wolves Sköll and Hati Hróðvitnisson, is a son of Loki, and is foretold to kill Odin during the events of Ragnarök, but will in turn be killed by Odin's son Víðarr.
Garm or Garmr is a wolf or dog associated with both Hel and Ragnarök, and described as a blood-stained guardian of Hel's gate.
Trivia
- Despite being referred to as a canine in the original lore from which Fenrir is based, it appears in Hellblade as a large boar-like creature. It is speculated that the reason for this is that Senua was only told the story of Fenrir by Druth where he referred to it only as a 'beast'. This causes her to imprint one of the more common beasts she knew from her home onto its form, a boar.