Thor (or hammer-wielding god) is the son of Odin and the earth. He is married to Sif and their children are named Magni, Modi and Thrud. The peasant children Thjalfi and Röskva serve him. His main weapon is the hammer Mjöllnir, which he uses to fight giants and the Midgard Serpent. In the Viking Age, small Thor’s hammer pendants were often worn as a counterpart to the Christian cross. Thor’s hammers are also depicted on some rune stones.
At the Ragnarök, the great battle that will end the world, Thor fights and kills the Midgard Serpent, but dies himself from its poisonous breath.
In the Viking Age, Thor was greatly revered, as indicated by countless names of people and places that contain him as a component. There are also sacrifices specifically attested to Thor.
When the Roman weekday names were translated into Germanic, Jupiter was equated with Thor and the corresponding day is therefore still called Thursday today.
Thor is believed to be a very ancient deity. For example, there is speculation as to whether it is depicted in Scandinavian Bronze Age rock carvings. Some researchers even see parallels to the Indian god Indra and therefore assume an Indo-European origin.
There are numerous stories about Thor in the Eddic songs and Prose Edda. Here is an example of Thor’s journey to Utgardloki (from “Gylfis Täuschung” in the Prosaedda, translation by Reinhard Hennig):
“This story begins with Öku-Thor traveling absent his goats and chariot. He was accompanied by the Ase, who is called Loki. Towards evening they came to a farm and took up quarters there for the night. In the evening Thor took his goats and slaughtered both of them. Then they were skinned and taken to the cauldron. When they were cooked, Thor and his companions sat down to supper. Thor invited the farmer, his wife and children to dine with him. The farmer’s son was called Thjalfi and the daughter Röskva. Then Thor put down the goat skins a little way from the fire and said that the farmer and his householders should throw the bones on the goat skins. Thjalfi had a femur in his hand and split it with his knife to get to the marrow.
Thor stayed there overnight. But early in the morning he got up and dressed. He picked up the hammer Mjöllnir, lifted it and consecrated the goat skins. Then the cheeks got up, and one of them was lame on the hind leg. Thor noticed this and said that the farmer or his householders could not have been careful with the bones of the buck. He realized that the femur was broken. You don’t need to tell much about it. All will know how frightened the farmer must have felt when he saw Thor draw his eyebrows down to his eyes; but he who saw the eyes thought he must die for the sight alone. Thor pressed his hands against the shaft of the hammer, knuckles white. The farmer did what was to be expected, and so did the whole household: they cried out loud and begged for mercy and offered everything that was theirs as penance. But when Thor saw her fear, his anger left him. He calmed down and as penance took their two children, Thjalfi and Röskva, and made them his servants, and they have followed him ever since.
He left the goats there and began the journey east to Jotunheim and all the way to the sea. There he rode across the deep sea, and when he came to land he went up, and with him Loki, Thialfi, and Röskva. After walking a little while, they came to a large forest, and they walked through it all day until it got dark. Thialfi was a very fast runner. He was carrying Thor’s supply bag, but finding a place to stay wasn’t easy. When it got dark they looked for a place to camp for the night and found a very large hut. It had doors at one end that were as wide as the hut. There they took Kvartier for the night.
But in the middle of the night there was a tremendous earthquake, the ground shook beneath them and the house rocked. Then Thor got up and called his companions. They felt their way forward and found a side room to the right in the middle of the hut and went in there. Thor sat by the door and the others were further inside, scared. But Thor held onto the shaft of the hammer and intended to defend himself. Then they heard a great crash and a commotion.
When it was day Thor went out and saw a man lying not far from him in the forest, and he was not small. He was sleeping and snoring loudly. Then Thor thought he understood what the noise had been that night. He tightened the power belt and the Asen’s strength grew, but at that moment the man woke up and stood up quickly. And there it is said, Thor suddenly recoiled from hitting him with the hammer. He asked him his name and he called himself Skrymir. “But I need not ask your name, for I recognize that you are Asen-Thor,” he said. “But why did you take my glove off?” Then Skrymir stretched and picked up his gauntlet. Then Thor saw that in the night they had taken it for a hut and the adjoining room was the thumb of the glove. Skrymir asked if Thor would like him to travel with him, and Thor agreed. Then Skrymir took his supply bag and untied the knot on it and prepared to eat his breakfast, and Thor and his comrades did the same elsewhere. Skrymir asked them to gather their food bags, and Thor agreed. Skyrmir then tied all her supplies together with a knot and slung them on her back. He walked ahead throughout the day, taking rather long strides. Towards evening he found them a place to sleep under a large oak tree. Then Skrymir told Thor that he wanted to lie down and sleep. “But you guys take the supply bundle and make your supper.” Then Skrymir slept and snored loudly and Thor tried to untie the knot on the supply bag. But there is something to report that must seem incredible, namely that he could not manage to untie the knot and pull on the strap so that it would have been a little looser than before. And when he saw that this effort would not avail, he got angry, seized the hammer Mjollnir with both hands, put his one leg forward to where Skrymir lay and hit him on the head. Skrymir woke up and asked if a leaf had fallen on his head and if they had eaten and were ready to sleep. Thor said they would go to sleep now. They then went under another oak tree. It is true to report that one could not sleep fearlessly there.
But in the middle of the night Thor heard that Skrymir was sound asleep and snoring so that there was thunder in the forest. So he got up, went over to him, swung his hammer vigorously and quickly, and hit him on the head from above in the middle. He felt the tip of the hammer sink deep into his head. But at that moment Skrymir woke up and spoke: “What’s the matter? Did an acorn fall on my head? And what about you, Thor?” But Thor quickly went back and replied that he had just woken up and that it was the middle of the night and it was better to sleep on. Thor resolved that if he got the chance to smack him the third time, Skrymir would never see him again. He then lay still and watched if Skrymir fell sound asleep again. Just before dawn he heard that Skrymir must have fallen asleep. He got up, walked over to him, swung the hammer with all his might and smashed it on his temple, which was facing up. The hammer sank down to the shaft. But Skrymir sat up, rubbed his temple and said: “Are there any birds sitting in the tree above me? I thought when I woke up something had fallen off the branches on my head. are you awake thor It will be time to get up and get dressed. But you don’t have a long way to go now to the castle called Utgard. I have heard you whisper among yourselves that I am not a short man, but you will see taller people there when you come to Utgard. Now I’ll give you some good advice: don’t be boastful, because the followers of Utgardloki will not tolerate insolence from such infants. Or turn around straight away – and I think that would be better for you. But if you wish to go further, turn east, but I must now go north to the mountains that you can see there.” Then Skrymir took his bundle, threw it on his back and went into the forest beside them, and it is not said that the Æsir wanted to see him alive again.
Thor and his companions continued on the path until noon. Then they saw a castle standing in a field and they had to bend their heads back to look up at it. They went to the castle, but there was a grate in front of the gate that was locked. Thor went to the grate but couldn’t open it. But struggling to get into the castle, they squeezed through the bars and got in. They saw a great hall and went there. The door was open. So they went in and saw many people there on two benches, and most of them were huge. Then they came before the king, Utgardloki, and greeted him, but he only looked at them after some time, grinned and said: “It is late to ask for news on such a long way. But isn’t that how I think this fellow is Oku-Thor? But you will be stronger than you look. What skills do your companions think they have? There shall be no one here with us who does not know some art or skill better than most other people.”
Then the one at the back, who was called Loki, said, “I have an ability which I’m quite willing to prove, which is that no one in here will eat their food faster than I do.” Then Utgardloki answered: “It is an ability if you practice it, and therefore this art should be tried.” He then shouted down the bench for the one named Logi to get on the floor and try his hand at Loki. Then a trough was taken, carried to the hall floor, and filled with meat. Loki sat on one end and Logi on the other. Both ate as quickly as possible and met each other in the middle of the trough. Since Loki had eaten all the meat off the bones, but Logi had eaten both the meat and the bones and the trough. Then everyone said that Loki had lost the game.
Then Utgardloki asked what the other young man could show. Thjalfi said that he would compete against anyone in the race that Utgardloki chose to do so. Then Utgardaloki said it was a good skill and thought he could be expected to be very quick if he wanted to perform this art. Then Utgardloki got up and went out, and there was a good running track on level ground. Thereupon Utgardloki summoned a boy named Hugi and challenged him to run against Thjalfi. Then they ran the first lane, and Hugi was so much ahead that on the way back he met Thjalfi at the end of the lane. Thereupon Ugardloki spoke: “You will have to work harder, Thjalfi, if you want to win the competition. But it’s still true that no people have ever come here who seemed to me to be faster than this one.” Then they ran for the second time and when Hugi had reached the end of the track and turned around, there was a good arrow-shot distance between him and Thjalfi. Then Utgardloki spoke: “Thjalfi seems to be running well, but I no longer trust him to win the race. But that will be revealed now when they run for the third time.” Then they run again. But when Hugi got to the end of the track and turned around, Thjalfi wasn’t even halfway down the track. Then everyone said that the competition was decided.
Then Utgardloki asked Thor what abilities he wished to reveal to them, when people had made such great tales of his glories. Thor then said that he would like to try his hand at a drinking contest with anyone. Utgardloki said it was a good thing to do. He went into the hall, called his table servant and asked him to bring the punishment horn, from which the retainers usually drank. Then the servant came with the horn and handed it to Thor. Then Utgardloki said: “This horn is considered well drunk if you drain it in one gulp. Some drink it in two, but no one is such a bad drinker that he doesn’t drink it in three.”
Thor looked at the horn and it didn’t appear to be large, although quite long – but he was very thirsty. He began to drink and took very large gulps, and said he did not need to bend the horn more often. But when he could no longer, and leaned back from the horn, he saw how far it had been drunk. There seemed to be very little difference in the horn compared to before. Then Utgardloki said: “There has been a lot of drinking, but not much. I wouldn’t believe it if I was told that Asen-Thor stopped drinking. But I realize you’ll empty it on the second move.” Thor didn’t answer, put the horn to his mouth and resolved not to drink again. He strained to drink until he had to catch his breath, and yet he saw that the tip of the horn was not as high as he wanted. When he removed the horn from his mouth and looked inside, it seemed to him that the difference was even smaller than the first time – there was now a clearly visible edge in the horn. Then Utgardloki spoke: “What is it now, Thor? Surely you’re not going to save one more puff than you’re going to like? It seems to me that if you now take the third sip from the horn, you must resolve that it will be the largest. But you will not be considered such a great man as the Aesir call you if you do not achieve more in other competitions than what appears to me here.” Then Thor got angry, put the horn to his mouth and drank as hard as he could, and made a great effort to drink. But when he looked into the horn, there was now the most obvious difference. He then gave the horn away and did not want to continue drinking.
Then Utgardloki spoke: “Now it is obvious that your power is not as great as we thought. But would you like to try some more trials of strength? You can see that you have no advantage from it.” Thor replied, “I can still attempt some trials of strength, but if I were at home with the Æsir it would seem strange if such drinking were considered trifling. But what sample do you want to offer me now?” Then Utgardloki said: ‘The young lads here are doing what may seem of little importance, which is lifting my cat off the ground. But I shouldn’t think I could talk to Asen-Thor like that if I hadn’t seen before that you can do much less than I thought you could.”
Then a gray cat, which was quite large, ran across the hall floor. Thor walked up to her, grabbed her with his hands on the lower middle of her body and pulled up, but the cat hunched over when Thor stretched out his hands. And when Thor stretched her up as high as he could, the cat only lifted a foot off the ground and Thor couldn’t push this showdown any further. Then Utgardloki spoke: “This rehearsal went as I expected. The cat is quite large, but Thor is small and insignificant among the great people who are here with us.” Then Thor spoke: “If you call me so small, then someone should come and wrestle me now, because now I am angry.” Then Utgardloki replied, looking at the bench: “I see no one in here who does not consider it beneath his dignity to wrestle with you.” But he added: “Let’s see first. They call the old woman over here, my foster mother Elli, and Thor can wrestle with her if he wants to. She has pleased men who struck me as no weaker than Thor.”
Then an old woman came into the hall. Utgardloki told her to wrestle with Thor. There’s not much to say about it: the harder Thor grabbed, the more firmly she stood. Then the old woman tried a trick and Thor became unsteady on his feet. The fight was hard but not long before Thor fell on his knee with one leg. Then Utgardloki went up and asked her to stop wrestling, saying that Thor no longer needed to offer wrestling to people in his entourage. In the meantime night had fallen. Utgardloki showed Thor and his companions their places and they stayed the night in good company.
Toward morning, as soon as day came, Thor and his companions got up, dressed, and were ready to go. Then Utgardloki came to them and served them. There was no lack of good catering, food and drink. After they had eaten their fill, they set out on their journey. Utgardloki followed them out and walked away from the castle with them. As he said goodbye, he spoke to Thor and asked him how he liked the outcome of his journey and if he had found a man more powerful than himself. Thor said he couldn’t say he hadn’t suffered great shame in their altercations. “I know you will call me an insignificant man, and I hate that.”
Then Utgardloki spoke: “Now that you have come out of the castle, I will tell you the truth: If I live and can decide about it, you will never come back into it. And believe me, if I had known beforehand that you had such great power, you would never have gotten inside her. You almost put us in a very dangerous situation. I have prepared you illusions. When I first came to you in the forest and you were supposed to untie the lunch bag, I had tied it with irons and you couldn’t find out where to open it. Next you gave me three blows with the hammer, the first of which was the weakest, but strong enough that if it had hit me it would have killed me. At my hall you saw a mountain range with three square valleys at the top, one of which was the deepest. Those were your hammer marks. I pushed the mountains in front of the blows, but you didn’t see that. It was the same with the competitions you tried with my followers. There was what Loki did first. He was very hungry and ate quickly, but the one called Logi was a wild fire and it burned the trough and the meat at the same time. When Thjalfi tried to race against the one whose name was Hugi, that was my thought, and Thjalfi had no chance of being faster than him. You drank from the horn, which seemed to you to empty slowly. But believe me, that was a miracle I didn’t believe could happen. The other end of the horn was out in the sea, but you didn’t see that. Now when you come to the sea you will see how you have reduced it by your drinking.” – This is now called Ebbe. – And further he said: “It seemed to me no less important when you picked up the cat, and it is true that all who saw it were frightened when you lifted one of its feet off the ground. This cat wasn’t what it seemed to you. It was the Midgard Serpent lying around all lands. This distance is barely enough for her tail and head to touch the ground. You stretched your hands so high they were just a short distance from heaven. Also, when wrestling, it was a great miracle that you stood still for so long and only dropped one leg on your knee while wrestling with Elli. For there has never been and never will be anyone for whom old age waits until he grows old enough that old age does not come and bring him down. And now it’s true that we’re going to separate, and it’ll be better for both of us if you don’t come to see me more often. The second time I will defend my castle with such and other tricks, so that you will not get any power over me.”
Upon hearing him say this, Thor grabbed the hammer and swung it in the air. But just as he was about to strike forward, he saw no Utgardloki anywhere. Then he turned back to the castle and wanted to go there to destroy it. But there he saw a wide and beautiful plain, but no castle. He then turned around and went on his way until he came back to Thrudvang.
