The son of Odin and
Iord, goddess of the Earth. He is a member of the
Aesir, the
god of thunder and the main enemy of the giants.Thor's weapon of choice was the dwarven made hammer
Mjollnir. To wield this awesome
weapon he needed iron gauntlets and a belt of strength. Mjollnir would
return to Thor's hand after being thrown and was symbolic of lightning.
Thor relished contests, was exceptionally strong, and was able to eat and drink enormous amounts.
He rode around Midgaard in his wagon drawn by two goats, Tanngnost ("tooth-gnasher") and
Tanngrisnir ("tooth-grinder"). They could be slaughtered and eaten day after day and come back to life as long as their bones remained intact.
Thor lived in Thruthheim [Land of Strength] in the hall Bilskinir.
He was married to Sif.
At
Ragnarok, Thor will slay Jorgumand, the Midgard Serpent, but will die of the poison from its bite. His sons Magni and Modi will survive Ragnarok and inherit Mjollnir.
This is the story of Thor's journey to Jotunheim.
As Thor, Loki, and his
servant Thialfi were traveling one time, they settled for the night in an empty hall. It was so
enormous several of the halls of Asgard would have fit inside it. When they awoke in the morning they realized it was actually a giant's glove. It belonged to
Skrymir, whose name means "vast". He offered to travel in their company to Jotunheim, the land of the giants. That night as they tried to sleep the giant snored so loud that he shook the mountains. Thor finally became so enraged that he tried three times to bash the giant's head with
Mjollnir, but each time the giant thought it was just a falling leaf or a twig. When they arrived at
Utgard, the gods were amazed at the size of the hall. The giants inside ignored the gods at first, and then finally acknowledged the "little" Thor, marveling that such a tiny man could be the mighty god they had heard so much about. Then he devised a series of games to challenge Thor. First, an eating contest, where Loki was set against a giant. Loki quickly gobbled down his
enormous portion, but realized he had lost when he saw his opponent had devoured the wooden plate as well! The next contest pitted Thialfi, a swift runner against another giant. As fast as Thialfi ran, the other was far ahead of him. Then Thor was challenged to three successive contests of drinking, lifting, and wrestling. He was
given a tremendous drinking horn which he had to swallow in three draughts. Try as he might, he could only drain the slightest bit from it. Then he struggled to lift a large cat, but was only able to get one paw off the
floor. Finally, he was pitted against an old toothless woman in a wrestling match, but was wrestled down to one knee by her. Upon leaving the hall the next day, Thor begrudgingly admitted to the giant that he and his companions had come off second-best. The giant explained that he had used magical illusions to beat the gods. Loki's opponent had been Fire, Thialfi's had been Thought, while for Thor, the drinking horn was actually the ocean, the cat was the Midgard Serpent, and the old woman was Death. As soon as he told Thor this, the hall disappeared and Thor was left with his rage.
Thor was foremost of the gods to the common
man, who would call on him to ensure fertility. Miniature Thor's hammers were widely used as religious amulets during the Viking era. These charms were normally between two and three centimeters in length, and typically made from silver. The following examples are typical of the approximately fifty such amulets that have been discovered. These two amulets were both found in the same hoard at Mandemark, Møn, Denmark. One hammer is elaborately decorated with gold foil, the other with
embellished with simple stamped dots.
Photograph copyright by the Danish National Museum.
Thor's name occurs in numerous place names, and it was his statue which
was central in the great temple at Uppsala. Thursday is named for him and
he was associated by the Romans with Jupiter. Donar was an aspect
of Thor among the early Germans. The Anglo-Saxons worshiped a thunder god
named Thunor.
(See also Loki, Magni, and Thrud for stories of Thor)
In Uberheim, Thor was one of the founding members of the
Realm and had the rank of Eternal. As such, the persona of Thor has been
"retired", despite the fact that he has since left to establish his
own re-creation kingdom.
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