Thor, god of thunder. Aside from perhaps Odin, the all-father, there is no deity within Norse mythology more well-known than Thor. Although in recent years much of his popularity could be attributed to pop culture, such as the Thor character created by Marvel Comics. Thor was a principal deity within Germanic religions as far back as we have records. While the Marvel version certainly copies some of the aspects of Thor's character, such as being the son of Odin, his legendary hammer Mjölnir, and his great reputation as a mighty warrior. The version from Norse mythology stands apart in its own way. This video will provide an overview of the god of thunder, his various deeds, and his eventual death during Ragnarok. Thor, whose name derives from a word meaning "thunder", is the son of Odin. And his mother is a female jötunn who is generally believed to be a personification of the earth. This makes Thor 3/4 of a jötunn himself, which is interesting as he is by far the greatest enemy of the jötnar, and continually defends Asgard from them. With Thor being the strongest of the gods, his might makes him quite capable as a warrior. Although his lack of his father's wisdom and his ill temper leads to him being often tricked. Thor possesses several items that aid him in his hunts. First, Thor owns two goats that pull his chariot. And he is known to slaughter and eat these goats only to resurrect them the next day. On one occasion, Thor and Loki were travelling, stopped at the home of a farmer. Thor butchered his goats and shared the meat with the farmer's family. But the son broke one of the bones open to suck at the marrow. The next day, when Thor used his hammer to bring the goats back to life, he noticed one of their legs was lame. Realizing what had happened, Thor quickly grew immensely angry, gripping his hammer so hard his knuckles grew white. The farmer's family wailed for mercy and Thor decided to take their children as his bond-servants. Thor also possesses a magical belt that doubles his incredible strength, as well as a special iron gauntlets that allow Thor to grip his hammer. Thor's hammer Mjölnir is by far his most important possession however. Mjölnir, a name likely meaning lightning, is easily among the most powerful artifacts within Norse mythology, and is generally seen as Thor's symbol. Mjölnir was created when Loki went to two dwarven brothers, and bet his own head that the brothers could not craft more beautiful items, than the other dwarves that had crafted some things for the gods, including Odin's spear. The brothers agreed to the bet and began working, with one of the dwarves being told to continually work the bellows without stopping. Loki, seeking to sabotage their work, changed into the form of a fly and bit the dwarf on the arm. But he continued working through the pain. The first item they produced was a gift to the god Freyr, a boar with glowing bristles. Then, Loki again went as a fly and bit the dwarf in the neck twice as hard, but he still continued working. They produced a golden ring for Odin that would multiply itself eight times every ninth night. Finally, Loki again went as a fly and bit the dwarf on the eyelid hard enough to draw blood. The blood dripped into the dwarfs' eye, and he had to stop working the bellows just long enough to wipe his eye. They produced the legendary hammer Mjölnir, but due to Loki's sabotage the handle was too short to wield with two hands. Despite this they won the bet and went to claim Loki's head. But he said in order to take his head, they would have to cut his neck and his neck was not part of the deal. The dwarves relented, but sewed his mouth shut to teach him a lesson. It is said that no matter what Thor would strike with Mjölnir and no matter how hard, the hammer would not break, and if he threw it, it would never miss and would always return to his hand. On one occasion, Thor woke up to find his hammer missing. He went to Loki, distressed, and told him that it had been stolen. Loki went to Freya to borrow her falcon cloak so that he could search for it, and he flew straight to Jötunheimr. Here, he went to Thrym, king of the jötnar, and asked him if he had hidden Thor's hammer. Thrym responded that he had hidden it eight miles beneath the earth, and that no one would ever see it again unless they brought Freya here to become his wife. Upon informing Thor of the situation, Thor went to Freya and told her to put on a bridal dress and come with him to Jötunheimr. Freya grew so angry at the notion that the halls of Asgard shook around her, and the two left her presence. The gods convened to discuss the situation, as it was vital that Thor get his hammer back so that he could protect Asgard. Heimdall the watcher spoke up, saying that they should dress up Thor in a bridal dress and pass him off as Freya. Thor scoffed at the suggestion saying that it would be quite unmanly of him to do so. But Loki yelled that the Giants will invade Asgard if he doesn't get his hammer back. And so they began dressing Thor. Loki in turn dressed as Thor's maidservant and the two headed to Jötunheimr. Thrym heard that Freya was on her way, and prepared a great ceremony to receive her. The disguise seemed to work as Thrym welcomed the two into his Hall and led them to the feasting table. Thor, feeling hungry, ate an entire ox, ate salmon, all the delicacies reserved for the women, as well as three horns of mead. Thrym was quite surprised by this, but Loki explained that she had not eaten for eight days, in anticipation of coming to Jötunheimr. Thrym then leaned forward to peer under his bride's veil and give her a kiss, but then leapt back in shock, asking why Freya's eyes are so fierce and grim. Loki again explained that she had not slept for eight days, again out of excitement. Thrym called to bring in Mjölnir so that they could bless the bride. Thor's heart laughed with him when he saw his hammer, and when it was placed on his lap he grabbed it, proceeding to kill the entire host of the Giants at the ceremony. And this is how Thor retrieved his hammer. This is of course only one of many tales revolving around Thor's battles with the Jotnar. On another occasion, Odin was out wandering and encountered the jötunn named Hrungnir, said to be the strongest of the jötnar. Odin challenged Hrungnir to a horse race back to Asgard, which Odin won. After the race was over the jötunn was invited by Odin to stay for a feast. During the feast Hrungnir grew quite drunk and began boasting, saying that he would destroy Asgard and all the gods, save for Freya and Sif, Thor's wife, whom he wished to take to his home. The gods were tired of his drunken boasting, and called on Thor who quickly appeared, hammer in hand. Hrungnir proceeded to challenge Thor to a duel on the border of Jötunheimr, where Hrungnir had all of his weapons. As Thor had never been challenged to a duel before, he was intrigued, and accepted. The other jötnar were concerned however, because if Hrungnir was killed in the duel, the remaining jötnar would have little chance against Thor. They constructed a massive clay giant over 30 miles tall, and placed the heart of a horse in it to animate it. When Thor arrived for the duel, the clay giant quaked in fear at the sight of him and wet itself. Beginning the duel, Hrungnir threw his whetstone at Thor as hard as he could, while Thor threw Mjölnir at him. Mjölnir smashed through the whetstone and crushed Hrungnir's skull. Part of the broken whetstone lodged in Thor's head, where it remained until his death. Hrungnir fell to the ground with one of his massive legs pinning Thor's neck. None of the gods could lift the leg until Thor's three-year-old son arrived and freed his father. The jötnar are not Thor's only foes however, and arguably his greatest enemy is the world serpent, also known as Jörmungandr, meaning huge monster. The world serpent is one of the children of Loki, and lives in the great ocean surrounding Midgard, wrapped around the earth. On one occasion when Thor is asked to perform several deeds by the Jotunn named Utgard-Loki, one of these deeds is to lift a giant cat. Thor is unable to lift it above his head, but does lift it enough to make it let go of the ground with one of its paws. When Utgard-Loki reveals that the cat was actually the Midgard serpent in disguise, he claims that Thor pulled off quite an impressive feat. Some other time the gods wish to have a great feast, but needed a massive cauldron to brew enough mead for all the guests. Only the jötunn Hymir possessed such a cauldron, and so Thor went to him to retrieve it. Hymir was not pleased to see Thor, killer of jötnar, in his home, but slaughtered three bulls for him to eat during his stay. Thor ate two that night, and Hymir saw that he would quickly run out of food, and so declared that they would need to go fishing in the morning to procure more food. The next day, Hymir told Thor to fetch some bait for their hooks, and so Thor went into the jötunn's pastures and ripped the head off of one of his bulls to use as bait, angering Hymir even more. The two rode out into the sea, and Hymir caught two whales much to his delight. Thor insisted they row out even further, but Hymir grew fearful as he knew the Midgard serpent lurked beneath these waters. Thor baited his hook with the head of the bull and cast his line into the water. The Midgard serpent took the bait and Thor began fighting against the serpent. Hymir became terrified of the situation, and Thor planted his feet so hard against the bottom of the boat, that the planks broke and water began pouring in. Finally, the Serpent's head came above water, dripping poison. What happens next depends on the account, but either Thor smashes Mjölnir into the Serpent's head, snapping the line and sending it back into the water. Or Hymir, out of fear for his life, cuts the line himself. Either way the serpent manages to survive the encounter, and Thor pulls the sinking boat back to shore. Although Thor eventually took the cauldron from Hymir's home, Hymir and a host of giants followed him, and so Thor proceeded to use Mjölnir to slaughter them all. Unfortunately in the time of Ragnarok, Thor would once again face off the Midgard serpent. Although Thor would slay the serpent, he's poisoned by its venom. After taking nine steps, Thor drops dead. Thor had been venerated by people for centuries as the archetypical warrior. Mighty, loyal, and always willing to defend his home and his people. Although Thor would often substitute brawn for wisdom, the gods often depended on him to protect them. Norse warriors would often call upon Thor to aid them in battle, it was believed that the appearance of thunder and lightning was Thor battling the jötnar. Although popular culture has certainly warped the image of the Thunder God, he'll always be one of the most legendary warriors to ever exist in myth.
