Tiwaz · Tiwaz
Tyr's Aett · No. 17 · Sound T
Form after Guus Kroonen, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (2013). The asterisk marks a linguistic reconstruction — no recording of Proto-Germanic exists. The IPA follows Ringe's (2006) sound system; the audio is a synthesised approximation. Trust the IPA over the audio.
The god Tyr; a god
An upward arrow — the rune carved on sword hilts to win, and the rune of Tyr, who let the wolf Fenrir take his hand to keep a promise and protect the gods. Victory and the price of it live in the same mark.
Victory that comes from being in the right rather than from being stronger. Time to do the hard, correct thing; disputes tend to resolve well if you refuse to lower your principles. The rune asks for the nerve to hold your ground and to give something up for something larger — Tyr did not beat the wolf by force, he beat it by paying.
Defeat, injustice, failure of nerve, or sacrifice nobody values. It can mean waning energy, lost motivation, or fighting a war that is not yours. Check what you are standing for, and whether it is worth what it is about to cost.
Do what is right, unseen and at cost.
Tyr is the god who let the wolf Fenrir bite off his hand so the gods could bind it. The Icelandic poem names him tersely as 'the one-handed god' and 'leavings of the wolf'. The Anglo-Saxon poem instead speaks of a guiding star that keeps faith with those who steer by it — reliability, not justice.
This rune has a direct attested link to victory. Sigrdrífumál stanza 6 in the Poetic Edda instructs: if you want victory, carve victory-runes on the sword hilt and name Tyr twice. Archaeology agrees — stacked Tiwaz runes appear on the Lindholm amulet and the Seeland-II-C bracteate. The association with justice, by contrast, comes from Georges Dumézil's reading of Tyr as the juridical sovereign: a modern interpretation, still contested, and no rune poem mentions justice at all.
TýrTyr — god with one hand and leavings of the wolf and prince of temples.
Icelandic Rune Poem — oldest manuscript c. 1500 (AM 687 d 4°). Reproduced verbatim from Dickins (1915)