Description:
The Lyngbakr appears in God of War: Ragnarök as both the object and location of the Favor (sidequest) "The Weight of Chains," which takes place in Svartalfheim. The Lyngbakr, at first seeming to be an island with a wooden fort, rises out of the water and is revealed to be a large whale-like creature, which is kept in place by massive chains. Mimir regretfully tells Kratos and Atreus how he had captured the Lyngbakr as a gift for Odin while still in his service, in order to "mine" it for its oily fat to burn in Asgard's lanterns. After being himself subjected to a lengthy imprisonment and torture at the peak of the mountain in Midgard, Mimir is ashamed of his past actions and asks that Kratos and Atreus free the Lyngbakr, which is accomplished by the player navigating the island-creature's back and destroying the chains one-by-one. Later on in the game, (FILL IN LATER) The lyngbakr appears in the 13th century legendary saga, Örvar-Odds saga (LINK), "the saga of Arrow-Odd," alongside the Hafgufa (LINK), which is also featured in God of War: Ragnarök. Lyngbakr translates to "heather-back," in reference to the foliage that grows on its back in order to fool sailors into landing on it and coming ashore before sinking and bringing the sailors down with it. In chapter 21 of the saga, Örvar-Oddr and his half-giant son Vignir are sailing two ships far to the west around Greenland on the hunt for Oddr's nemesis, Ögmundr Eyþjófsbani ("Eythjof's killer") when they spot two strange rocks sticking out of the sea. They sail between them and then spot a large island and sail over to it, although Vignir refuses to send anyone to explore from his ship while Oddr sends five men to investigate and look for water. After these five sailors are on the island for a little while, it suddenly sinks and they are all drowned. Oddr is caught off guard and asks Vignir what to make of it, who explains that these were two enormous sea-monsters, the lynbakr and hafgufa ("heather-back" and "sea-steamer"), which Ögmundr had sent by means of magic to kill Oddr and all his men. The two rocks had been the hafgufa's jaws, which it sticks up above the surface for a certain amount of time before swallowing anything between them, from whole ships to other whales. (see hafgufa entry for more information).No links to Medieval Citations yet.