Níðhöggr

"...you cantankerous worm."

- Father Bram Patrick Dunstan

Níðhöggr (or Nidhogg) is a dragon from Norse mythology and one of the many demons inhabiting a strange island in Connussie, Ireland.

Watching over the Heart
"They have hidden my petrified heart in this, the World Tree. Down under the watchful gaze of the dragon, Níðhöggr."

- Hung Being

On the island in Connussie stands the World Tree and hung on one of its branches by rope is the undead body of a humanoid being. He is trapped between the worlds of man and that of the elementals. His heart lies beneath the World Tree in which he is suspended on and is under the watchful gaze of Níðhöggr.

Arrival of the Strangers
"Come closer false prophet for it is easier to be brave from a distance."

- Níðhöggr

In 1984, two strangers arrived on the island. A man and a young girl named Father Bram Patrick Dunstan and Lara Croft. Lara encounters the hung being and he requests that she find his heart underneath the World Tree and return it to him in exchange for a reward. Later, Lara is underneath the World Tree and she frees the hung being's heart from its roots. She then finds Father Patrick speaking to something in an endless abyss of a pit. Níðhöggr. The dragon is aware of Lara having taken the heart and asks the priest to come closer. Father Patrick comes closer to the edge of the pit as requested by Níðhöggr but he throws a piece of iron into it which angers the dragon. He then claims that if the priest lives until doomsday then he shall burn a week longer than the world.

Artic Sea Expedition
In Tomb Raider: Underworld Níðhöggr is referenced in one of Lara's journal entries as being one of the possible manifestations of the Midgard Serpent.

Tomb Raider: Chronicles

 * Come closer false prophet for it is easier to be brave from a distance.
 * Curse you priest! If you live till doomsday then you shall burn a week longer than the world! I swear!

Tomb Raider: Underworld

 * YGGDRASIL: Yggdrasil - The World Tree and binding element of all nine worlds of the Norse universe. Supposedly Helheim was situated under the roots of Yggdrasil. There is another myth that a great serpent, Níðhöggr, gnaws at the roots of Yggdrasil. Possibly this is another manifestation of the Midgard Serpent, which supports the theory that this site houses something monstrously world-threatening.

Trivia

 * Níðhöggr is a dragon in Norse mythology that gnaws at the root of the World Tree, Yggdrasil.

Appearances

 * Tomb Raider: Chronicles (First appearance)