Ranar

Ranar the Ever-Watchful is a spirit warrior from Kaldheim. He is also known as Ranar of Istfell.

History
In life, Ranar was an honored warrior in service to a noble jarl. During a Doomskar, his kingdom was assaulted by raiders from another realm. The jarl himself led a warband to intercept the raiders' forces, leaving Ranar alone to guard the kingdom's children, when the Omenpath closed around the warriors, trapping them in the invaders' realm.

With no one to give him orders and no shieldmates by his side, Ranar refused to abandon his post. He fought off raiders and beasts, hunted for food, and trained the children to protect themselves. When the children were grown, he finally allowed the Valkyries to take him. They named him the guardian of Istfell and tasked him to keep watch over the gates of the spirit realm as nobly as he guarded those children for so many years.

The god Egon, disguised as Bjorn of Beskir, convinced Ranar to help him on a journey to enter Starnheim. The passage between Istfell and Starnheim was located at the top of King Bear's Tower, guarded by an entity called King Bear. In the tower Bjorn revealed that he is Egon and killed the King. At that moment the valkyrie Firja appeared and announced that it was not the time for Egon to be judged in order to enter Starnheim. Firja commanded Ranar to kill Egon so that the god would return to the Cosmos. After Egon's execution, Firja explained to Ranar that the god would return and try to force his entry into Starnheim as he had been doing for eons, and that it was up to Ranar to stop the god as he has had always done. She named Ranar as guardian of the pass between Istfell and Starnheim and of the spirits of Istfell. Firja explained that Istfell's properties make Ranar forget every time that Egon tried to invade Starnheim, and that this cycle would repeat itself again.

Trivia

 * Ranar is based on Móðguðr, a female entity that guards the entrance to the Hel.