Dressed as a bride to win back a stolen hammer
Þrymskviða: the giant Þrymr demanded Freyja; he got a veiled guest who ate an ox and eight salmon
Myth · Norse
Thor
Norse mythology — thunder god of the Æsir
Thor is the red-bearded thunder god, strongest of the Æsir, defender of Asgard and Midgard against the giants. He rides a chariot drawn by two goats, wields a short-handled hammer that always returns to his hand, and his myths are the broadest comedies in the Eddas as well as its fiercest fights. At Ragnarök he kills the Midgard Serpent and dies of its venom nine paces later.
How to spot them
- ▸Red beard, a chariot drawn by goats, thunder as the sound of its wheels
- ▸A short-handled hammer, a belt of strength and iron gloves
- ▸Quiz clue: 'Thursday', 'interpreted as Jupiter', 'son of Odin and the earth', 'husband of Sif'
- ▸Tiny hammer amulets worn across the Viking world, and the commonest god-name in Scandinavian place names
Stories & episodes
Fished for the world-serpent using an ox's head as bait
With the giant Hymir, who cut the line in terror just as the monster was hauled to the gunwale
Failed to drain a drinking horn whose far end was the sea
At Útgarða-Loki's hall, where the 'cat' he could not lift was the Midgard Serpent and the old woman who wrestled him was old age
Killed the stone-headed giant Hrungnir, leaving a whetstone lodged in his skull
The giant's heart and shield were of stone; a boy, Magni, lifted the dead giant's leg off him
Waded the rivers to the council while the other gods rode the burning bridge
Grímnismál: his weight and heat would break it
Killed the world-serpent at the end of days, then walked nine paces and fell
His death at Ragnarök, poisoned by the venom of the serpent he had just destroyed
Quick-fire facts
- •He is the son of Odin and the earth-giantess Jörð; his wife is Sif, whose golden hair the dwarves made after Loki cut it off
- •His hammer Mjölnir was forged by the dwarves Brokkr and Eitri; its handle is short because Loki, as a fly, stung the bellows-worker
- •His other gear is the belt Megingjörð, which doubles his strength, and the iron gloves Járngreipr
- •His goats are Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr; he can eat them at night and revive them from the bones in the morning
- •Thursday is his day — Old English Þunresdæg, translating dies Iovis, so the Romans matched him to Jupiter
- •His sons Magni and Móði survive Ragnarök and inherit the hammer
- •The Altuna and Gosforth stones show the serpent-fishing; hammer amulets are among the commonest Viking-age finds
- •His hall is Bilskirnir in Þrúðheimr, said in Grímnismál to have 540 rooms
Drill it — 9 cards
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Sources
- Sacred Texts Archive — The Poetic Edda (Bellows translation) Þrymskviða, Hymiskviða and Grímnismál
- Snorri Sturluson — The Prose Edda (Brodeur translation) Gylfaginning for Útgarða-Loki, Skáldskaparmál for Hrungnir and the forging of Mjölnir
- World History Encyclopedia — Thor