Tyr's Temple

Tyr's Temple was a vast structure raised in Midgard, at the heart of the Lake of Nine, to serve as a gateway between the realms of the World Tree. It was built in honor of Tyr, the Aesir God of War, and through the long years it passed from a symbol of peace into a thing of secrets, sealed by Odin, guarded by Jormungandr, and finally drowned beneath the lake before Kratos and Atreus brought it back into the light.

A monument of the Nine Realms#

The temple was built in Midgard, which lay at the center of all the realms, so that from it one might travel to any of the Nine. Each realm beyond Midgard held its own tower along the rim of the lake, and through these the temple reached out across the World Tree. Under Tyr's leadership every people of the realms had a hand in its construction, and by Freya's account it was the last known act of cooperation between the Nine Realms before peace vanished for good. When it was first raised, anyone could pass freely into any realm.

Tyr's hidden defenses#

That openness did not last. Once Odin's treachery was discovered by the giants and he was cast out of Jotunheim forever, the temple was changed to keep him from ever returning. Tyr removed Jotunheim's realm travel tower and hid it away in the Realm Between Realms, and he set guards upon the temple's vault to protect the Black Rune, the key needed to reach Jotunheim from the portal on a Midgard mountain, kept only for emergencies.

Tyr also placed safeguards around the Unity Stone, a gift from the giants, which was needed to set the Jotunheim tower back in its proper place. The plans for the stone and its hiding place were concealed within a shrine devoted to him, and only he and a trusted few could reveal them by means of special Bifrost eyes. So cunning were these defenses that they would outlast Tyr himself.

Odin's interference#

After Odin imprisoned Tyr, the All-Father turned his own hand to the temple. By unknown means he cut off its access to Asgard, Vanaheim, and Svartalfheim, so that those realms could no longer be reached, and he converted one of its rooms into a hidden chamber where he studied the secrets of Jotunheim. In time Odin came to see the temple as a whole as a threat to his power, for it could still carry travelers between realms and let the creatures of other realms reach Midgard. He sought to destroy it with the might of Asgard, but Jormungandr halted him.

Tyr had earned the trust of the World Serpent, and so Jormungandr guarded the temple against every threat, his own hatred of the Aesir lending strength to his defense. Yet the Serpent would one day accomplish Odin's aim without meaning to, for when he sank into a deep slumber the level of the lake rose and swallowed the temple beneath the water.

Drowned and revealed#

The temple remained submerged for many years, more than a century and a half by the reckoning of those who later studied it. Its return came during the journey of Kratos and Atreus, who set out to scatter the ashes of Faye atop the highest peak in all the realms. Their first coming to the lake roused the Serpent, who lowered the waters and revealed the temple, and as their journey carried them onward they drew Jormungandr to move again and again, draining the lake further and uncovering more of the ancient structure.

In the end Kratos and Atreus found Odin's hidden chamber within the temple, and using the plans Tyr had concealed there they restored the Jotunheim tower to its place in the lake, opening the way to the land of the giants.

Halls and chambers#

The temple held several parts that Kratos and Atreus came to know. The realm travel room lay at its center and bore a likeness of the World Tree, from which travelers could journey to other realms, though Odin's meddling had barred the doors to Asgard, Vanaheim, and Svartalfheim, leaving open only the ways to Alfheim, Helheim, Niflheim, and Muspelheim.

Below and around it stood Tyr's Vault, where the Black Rune of Jotunheim was kept under his defenses, hung with tapestries of his travels and the gifts he had gathered in his search for peace. Odin's hidden chamber held the All-Father's best clues to reaching Jotunheim, and within it Tyr's own concealed plans could be found. Last to be discovered was Tyr's hidden chamber, set directly beneath the realm travel room, which the God of War had made after Odin began to slaughter the giants of Midgard. There he hid the Unity Stone, and to reach it the entire temple had to be turned over, after which it was righted again with all its functions restored.

Fimbulwinter and the war#

After Baldur was slain and Fimbulwinter descended upon the realms, Odin sealed realm travel completely, cutting off passage to all the other realms. The temple's purpose was not finished, however. When the war against Odin came at last, Kratos, Atreus, and their allies turned to the temple's travel room to reach Asgard. As Kratos blew into Gjallarhorn, every realm travel door in the room flared to life, and the way into the realm of the Aesir lay open before them. A relic of an age of cooperation long past, the temple of Mimir's old master Tyr served the cause of bringing down the king who had betrayed him.