Bind rune generator
Stack runes on a shared stave, the way a carver did to save space. Type a name or a word, choose which runes to keep, and take the result away as an SVG.
What this is, and what it is not
Most bind runes use two or three runes. A whole name usually gives an unreadable tangle, which is why the runes below can be switched off individually.
How this draws a bind rune
Runic letters are built around a vertical stave, and a bind rune is two or more letters sharing one. So the drawing here is literal: each rune is painted at the same origin as the others, and where their staves coincide they merge into one.
A few letters have no stave of their own. ᚲ is a bare chevron, ᚷ is an X and ᛉ is a fan of branches, so they sit across the other runes rather than joining them. That is not a limitation of the tool: a carver faced the same thing, and the surviving bind runes overwhelmingly use letters that do have a stave.
The downloaded SVG contains real text rather than outlines, so it stays editable, but it names the font instead of embedding it. Anyone opening the file without a runic font installed will see the fallback rather than the runes.
Questions people ask about bind runes
- Are bind runes historically real?
- Joining two or more runes on a shared vertical stave is attested, on runestones and on smaller objects. What is modern is the practice of composing a personal monogram from the initials of a name and treating the result as a charm. The historical examples are mostly practical: saving space, or saving cutting.
- Does a bind rune combine the meanings of its runes?
- There is no historical basis for that. It is a 20th-century idea that follows from the modern divinatory rune meanings rather than from anything a carver left behind. A bind rune in the record is a way of writing letters compactly, not a way of adding their significance together.
- Which runic system should I use?
- It depends on the period you are aiming at. The Elder Futhark is the oldest and the one most charts show, but it was obsolete by the Viking Age; for anything Norse, the Younger Futhark is the accurate choice. The tool offers five systems and each says what it was used for and when.
- Can I use this for a tattoo?
- You can, and people do. Check the transliteration first on a page that explains every letter choice, because a bind rune makes an error much harder to spot than a written-out word does. Read the notes on rune tattoos before committing to anything permanent.