Thrown into the encircling sea by Odin, where it grew to ring the world
Its siblings were dealt with at the same time: the wolf bound, the daughter sent to rule the dead.
Myth · Norse
Jörmungandr
Norse mythology — the Midgard Serpent
Jörmungandr is the Midgard Serpent, the second child of Loki and Angrboða, flung by Odin into the ocean that rings the world, where it grew until it circled the earth and could bite its own tail. It is Thor's great adversary: they meet three times, and the third meeting, at Ragnarök, kills them both.
How to spot them
- ▸A serpent so long it encircles the world and grips its own tail in its mouth
- ▸Lives in the ocean surrounding Midgard; its writhing makes the storms
- ▸Quiz clue: 'child of Loki and Angrboða', 'hauled up on an ox-head', 'the cat that could not be lifted'
Stories & episodes
Disguised as a grey cat, so that Thor could lift only one paw from the floor
The second of Útgarða-Loki's rigged contests, revealed only after Thor had left the hall.
Hooked on an ox's head by Thor, until a terrified giant cut the line
Hymir, whose ox Himinhrjóðr Thor had beheaded for bait, sawed through the line as the serpent came up.
Releases the ocean over the land when it rises at the end of the world
It comes ashore blowing poison over sea and sky on the day of Ragnarök.
Killed by Thor's hammer, but its venom kills him nine paces later
The third and last of their meetings.
Quick-fire facts
- •Its parents are Loki and Angrboða; its siblings are Fenrir and Hel
- •It is also called the Midgard Serpent (Miðgarðsormr) and Thor's kennings include 'sole slayer of the encircling serpent'
- •The fishing episode is told in the Poetic Edda's Hymiskviða and in Snorri's Gylfaginning
- •A world-circling serpent biting its own tail is the ouroboros, a motif found from Egypt to Greece
- •The Altuna runestone in Uppland and the Gosforth 'fishing stone' in Cumbria both show Thor angling for it
- •In Snorri's telling Thor's feet drove through the boat's bottom to the seabed as he heaved on the line
- •Its Old Norse name is usually explained as 'huge monster' or 'mighty wand'
Drill it — 7 cards
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Sources
- Sacred Texts Archive — The Poetic Edda (Bellows translation) Hymiskviða and Völuspá
- Snorri Sturluson — The Prose Edda (Brodeur translation) Gylfaginning for Útgarða-Loki and the fishing trip
- World History Encyclopedia — Jörmungandr