God Of War: 8 Weirdest Enemies (And What They Represent)

Not your average scaly, flying lizard, the first dragon we meet in this world is tattered and in ruin, breathing lightning in place of fire and generally looking a bit worse for wear than the modern day iterations fans are used to. An old, rare race that's mostly been forgotten to time, it's fair for this monster to be in bad shape - you probably would be if you'd been stuck in an abandoned mountain for years on end.

As for Hraezlyr in particular then, the relationship between the first dragon encounter and the sap of the World Tree isn't a coincidental one, with an old story of Níðhöggr (Nidhogg) featuring a dragon that gnaws on the root of Yggdrasil as an attempt to get through to another world. Hraezlyr's inherent violence and aggression is an extension of Níðhöggr's evil nature, noted also as one who feasts upon villains who have been condemned to Hel. You are what you eat, after all.

Apparently, this Níðhöggr is intrinsically tied to the end of times, destined to burst forth from the underworld bearing all the corpses he's eaten as weapons in the final war of Ragnarok. Considering Hraezlyr's half-dead appearance, that influence seems to be written pretty clearly across his decaying body.

That his name translates to 'the terror' only seems to finalise the link between the two.