There are many different approaches to the history of the Gangrel. The disparate nature of the Outlanders and their mostly oral recorded histories make an exact depiction of their early history difficult, but it seems certain that the Gangrel were always wanderers, who followed nomadic tribes around, sleeping in the earth to escape the sun. Although some Gangrel tell the myth of Caine and how Ennoia was cast out due to a betrayal of the Ravnos Antediluvian and forced to live with the beasts, there are many other tales. The Gangrel of Scandinavia tell tales of the Einherjar and Canarl, who was cursed by Odin, while another popular myth was that Ennoia and her twin brother Churka were demigods that warred against each other, Ennoia with the most bravest warriors and Churka with the most cunning, at night, so that the other gods would not learn of their feud. After Ennoia, however, was betrayed by two of her lieutnants who left her, she and her army were driven to the East, where Ennoia left them on their own. By battling Churka's get and the demonic giants that served him, they would do penance for the betrayal of their chieftains. After a long series of battle, the Gangrel were driven into the West, in the civilizations of other Kindred. Other stories tell that Ennoia was the mother of Gypsies and both the werewolves and the Gangrel descend from them. Most among the Clan, however, do not know or care any longer about creation myths of their kind, instead focusing to survive in the present. The mystery remains.

The Gangrel shunned many of the civilizations of antiquity, instead roaming the woods and preying on tribal socities who regarded them as evil spirits that were meant to appease. They had almost nothing to do with the development of the Roman Empire, though occasionally a Brittaniac, Gaulian, or Gothic Gangrel would nose around Rome in the hopes of catching a young neonate off-guard. If there were any Gangrel in the city itself, they were likely attached to any one of the "slave" races - mainland Europeans, Africans, Middle Easterners, or even more exotic peoples. Gangrel fought on both sides of the Punic Wars, although in the end, most flocked to the Ventrue. In Scandinavia, the Methuselah known as Odin, the All-High, held the northmen in a tight grip and ruled as a corporal god, sending them down to raid the civilizations he despised in order for his warriors to earn the right of the Embrace.