Thor

Nationality/Culture

Norse/German

Pronunciation

THOR

Alternate Names

Donner (German)

Appears In

The Eddas, Germanic myths

Lineage

Son of Odin and Jord

Character Overview

Thor was the god of thunder and of the sky in Norse and early Germanic mythology. Though Odin (pronounced OH-din) held a higher rank, Thor seems to have been the best loved and most worshipped of the Norse deities (gods). He belonged to the common people, while Odin appealed to the educated and noble classes. A protector of farmers, Thor was associated with weather and crops. Although he could be fearsome, many myths portray him in a comic and affectionate way.

Thor appears throughout Norse mythology as a huge, strongly built, red-bearded fellow with a huge appetite. Some myths say that Thor was the son of Odin and Jord (pronounced YORD), the earth goddess. His wife was the beautiful goddess Sif, who seldom appears in myths and remains a somewhat mysterious figure.

Generally good-natured, Thor had a hot temper and his anger was dreadful to behold. He was a fierce enemy of the frost giants , the foes of the Norse gods. When people heard thunder and saw lightning in the sky, they knew that Thor was fighting these evil giants.

The thunder god's chief weapon was his mighty hammer Mjolnir (pronounced MYAWL-nir), or Crusher, which the dwarves had forged for him. When he threw Mjolnir, it returned magically to his hand like a boomerang. Among Mjolnir's other powers was the gift of restoring life to the dead. The connection of Thor's hammer with life and fertility gave rise to the old Norse customs of placing a hammer in a bride's lap at her wedding and of raising it over a newborn child.

Thor's treasures included a magical belt that doubled his strength whenever he wore it. He also had a pair of goats, Tanngniost and Tanngrisni, that pulled his chariot across the sky. Whenever he was overcome with hunger, Thor would devour his goats, only to return them to life with Mjolnir.

Major Myths

According to one well-known myth about Thor, Thrym, king of the giants, came into possession of Mjolnir and declared that he would give it back to Thor only if the beautiful goddess Freyja (pronounced FRAY-uh) agreed to marry him. She angrily refused, and the trickster god Loki (pronounced LOH-kee) came up with a clever plan to recover Mjolnir. Using women's clothing and a bridal veil to disguise Thor as Freyja, Loki escorted “Freyja” to Jotunheim (pronounced YAW-toon-heym), the home of the giants. Thrym greeted his bride, though he was surprised at her appetite at the wedding feast. “Freyja” consumed an entire ox, three barrels of wine, and much more. Loki explained that she had been unable to eat for a week because of her excitement at marrying Thrym. The giant accepted this explanation, and the wedding proceeded. When the time came for a hammer to be placed in the bride's lap according to custom, Thor grabbed Mjolnir and threw off his disguise. Then he used the hammer to smash the giants and their hall.

During another visit to Jotunheim, Thor and Loki met Skrymir (pronounced SKREE-mir), an especially large giant. He was so big that when they wandered into one of his gloves, they thought they were in a mansion and slept in one of the fingers. In the morning they found Skrymir sleeping, and Thor tried to crush the giant's head with Mjolnir. Skrymir simply brushed away the blow as though it were no more than a falling leaf.

The gods traveled on to Utgard (pronounced OOT-gard), a city of giants, where the giants challenged Thor to drain their drinking cup and lift their cat from the floor. He could not do either—the cup was connected to the sea, and the cat was really Jormungand (pronounced YAWR-moon-gahnd), the serpent that encircles the world. Although Thor failed the tests, he came close to draining the ocean and removing the world serpent.

Several early Norse sources recount the myth of Thor's encounter with the giant Hymir. Thor disguised himself as a young man and went fishing with Hymir, first killing the giant's largest ox to use for bait. Thor then rowed their boat far out of sight of land and cast his hook. Something bit at the ox, and Thor drew up his line to discover that he had hooked Jormungand, the giant serpent. Placing his feet on the ocean floor, Thor pulled and pulled on the line, while the serpent spit out poison. Just as Thor was about to strike Jormungand with his hammer, Hymir cut the line and the serpent sank back down to the depths. Many myths say, however, that Thor and Jormungand remained bitter enemies, fated to fight again on the day called Ragnarok (pronounced RAHG-nuh-rok), the end of the world, when they will kill one another.

Thor in Context

For the Germanic and Norse people, Thor represented much more than just the god of thunder. In the final years of Germanic dominance, Thor became a symbol of pre-Christian beliefs, embraced by many who held onto their traditional roots and condemned by those attempting to expand Christianity throughout northern Europe. A tree known as Thor's Oak was considered sacred by the Germanic tribe called the Chatti.

When a Christian missionary—later known by the name St. Boniface—arrived in the area in an attempt to convert the locals, he noted the importance of the tree in their beliefs. He had the tree cut down to prove the superiority of Christianity; when Thor did not strike the missionary dead with lightning for this act, many of the Chatti agreed to convert to Christianity. Afterward, Christian missionaries often singled out Thor as an example of a false god who had to be renounced in order to prove one's faith in God. Legends and beliefs about Thor continued, however, as part of a German folk tradition that could not be erased by the spread of Christianity.

Key Themes and Symbols

To the Norse and Germanic people, Thor represented the devastating power of storms. The pounding of his hammer symbolized the crackle of thunder; storms were thought to represent Thor's battles against the giants. One of the main themes in the tales of Thor is the ongoing battle between the giants and the Norse gods. Most of his tales center on exacting revenge against the giants, or battling with them in a prelude to the final war against the giants at Ragnarok.

Thor in Art, Literature, and Everyday Life

In Norse art, Thor is depicted as having red hair and a red beard, holding his trusted hammer Mjolnir and often being pulled in his chariot by his trusted goats. In modern times, Thor is perhaps the best-known god in Norse mythology. This is primarily due to the popularity of the Marvel Comics superhero Thor, based on the mythical god. Thor has appeared in this form in countless comic books and in several animated television series and video games. Thor also appears under his German name, Donner, as a character in Richard Wagner's series of operas known as Der Ring des Nibelungen {The Ring of the Nibelung).

Read, Write, Think, Discuss

Though most of Scandinavia was converted to Christianity by about the twelfth century, the Sami people of northern regions of Finland, Norway, and Russia remained particularly devoted to Thor until they were forcibly converted in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Today, the Sami maintain a distinctive culture in which many ancient cultural influences are detectable. Using your library and the Internet, find out more about Sami culture. Write a paper summarizing your findings.

SEE ALSO Loki; Norse Mythology; Odin