In Eddic texts, monstrous wolves are called wargs - Fenrir and his offspring, in particular - Hati and Skol, who chase the Moon and the Sun across the firmament.
A number of archaeological artifacts indicate that the wargs played an important role in the culture of Early Medieval Scandinavia. For example, one of the runestones of the now destroyed Hunnestad monument depicts a rider on a huge wolf, which Scandinavians identify as a warg. This stone, fortunately, has survived and is now on display in the Lund Museum.
According to one of the versions, expressed in particular by D. Lindow in Norse Mythology, the wolf rider on a stone from Hunnestad is the giantess Girokkin. Girokkin is present in one of the "Younger Edda" episodes, which describes Balder's funeral. In the context of the warg theme, the episode is notable for the fact that the giantess arrives at the call of the aces riding on a huge wolf, which subsequently "four berserkers could not pacify".
D. Lindow's hypothesis is based on the fact that according to the text of the Younger Edda, Girokkin used snakes as reins, and on a stone from Hunnestad, a rider controls a wolf with the help of snakes.
It is not known whether the ulvhednar warrior cult, which was essentially similar to the berserker cult, is associated with the wargs, only its followers wore not bear, but wolf skins.
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Etymology and linguistic connections
The Old Norse word "varg" or "vargar" (later Anglicized to "warg") is supposedly translated as "wolf." Although at the same time to designate a wolf as an animal in the Old Norse language, another word was used - "ulfr".
Probably the form "varg" originated from the Proto-Germanic "wargaz", which in turn comes from the Proto-Indo-European "werg̑ʰ" (translated as "destroyer"). Interestingly, the reconstructed form "wargaz" can also contextually be translated as "outcast" or "villain".
In the Proto-Indo-European language there is another form - "wĺ̥kʷos", it is translated exactly as "wolf". From her supposedly came the designation of the wolf in many languages: "lukʷos" in Proto-Italian, "wilkas" in Proto-Balto-Slavic, "lykos" in Greek, "verk" in Proto-Iranian.
Even in Sanskrit there is a similar form "vṛka", which also translates as "wolf". There are also more curious linguistic metamorphoses that do not have a precise explanation at the moment. For example, in Persian the wolf is called "gorg", but in Old Persian it is "varka".
And in Old English "warg" means generally "big bear". The original form "varg" remains only in modern Swedish and is translated as "wolf" in the sense of an animal.
Mentions of wargs in medieval sagas
Vargs are mentioned in The Saga of Herver and Heydrek, where King Heydrek tells Odin (who took the form of Gestumblindi) about Fenrir and his sons Hati and Skole.
The warg also appears in the epic Song of Beowulf. In line 1514, Grendel's mother is called "grund-wyrgen", which can be translated as "warg from the depths" (sometimes translated as "cursed creature from the depths" or "bottom monster"). Moreover, the form "wyrgen" or "würgen" is present in modern German and is translated as "villain", that is, it probably goes back to the already mentioned proto-Germanic form "wargaz".
The image of the warg in modern culture
At the moment, the image of wargs and wolf riders is present in literature, film and the gaming industry. The wargs of D. Tolkien and D. Martin are widely known, as well as similar images in the games of the series "War Craft", "Gothic", "Dungeons & Dragons", "Castlevania", etc. Christian Vikernes, the notorious Norwegian black metal artist, has officially changed his name to Varg.