What is the "Eastern wolf" in this poem?

Question

I'm reading through J.R.R. Tolkien's *The Fall of Arthur* and in I.29 - I.33 it says> [...] But what foe dareth war here to wake or the walls assail of this island-realm while Arthur liveth, if the Eastern wolf in his own forest at last embayed must for life battle?(This is from the speech of Mordred at the beginning; he is encouraging Arthur to go off to war against the east so he can begin his treachery to gain the throne, as far as I can tell.) Is it a correct interpretation to say that the "Eastern wolf" are the "heathen kings" to the east? I'm not sure if there's more to this reference than that...was Fenris wolf, for example, chained to the east? Does this allude to anything else?

Answer 1

Your interpretation is correct: the “Eastern wolf” is the heathen kings/enemies in the east, not a direct nod to Fenrir. Tolkien is drawing on the conventional wolf-as-enemy imagery from Old English and Norse poetry, but in this context it’s more rhetorical than mythological. Mordred is inflating the danger to lure Arthur away, but the wolf here stands for pagan foes in Europe, not for a chained apocalyptic monster.