Óðinn); his domain is Þrúðvangar (“fields of force”), and his
home, Bilskirnir (presumably “shining in flashes,” a reference
to his connection with lightning). He has two goats, Tan-
ngnjóstr (“tooth gnasher”) and Tanngrisnir (“grinner”),
which pull his chariot; therefore, Þórr is called O ̨kupórr
(“Þórr the charioteer”). He also has three precious objects:
his hammer Mjo ̨llnir, which all giants fear; his “power belt,”
which doubles his strength; and his iron gauntlets, which he
needs to manipulate his hammer. His adventures are so nu-
merous that no one is able to tell them all.
This describes rather well the personality and function
of Þórr: he is a characteristic second-function god in the
Dumézilian tripartite system, the typical representative of
the warrior class, the champion of the gods, the bulwark of
the Æsir against the onslaughts of the giants. His whole ca-
reer illustrates this functional role. Perhaps one of the best
examples is the story of his combat with Hrungnir (Snorri
Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál 3). The sequence of events can be
summarized as follows. Having followed Óðinn in a wild gal-
lop into Àsgarðr, the giant Hrungnir is invited by the Æsir
to drink with them. His obstreperous behavior soon compels
the Æsir to call upon Þórr to put an end to his drunken
boasts and threats, but the laws of hospitality prevent the
champion of the gods from sealing the giant’s fate then and
there. As a result, Þórr is challenged to a single combat with
Hrungnir at the boundary between the realm of the Æsir and
Jo ̨tunheimr (the land of the giants). To back up Hrungnir
in his fight, the giants build the monstrous Mo ̨kkurkálfi, a
huge clay warrior equipped with a mare’s heart. Þjálfi, Þórr’s
astute attendant, persuades Hrungnir that he will be attacked
from below, and makes him stand on his shield, exposing
him to a fulgurant assault from the sky. Þórr’s hammer clash-
es in midair with the hurled hone of the giant; Mjo ̨llnir
smashes Hrungnir’s skull while fragments of whetstone are
scattered all around. One lodges in Þórr’s head as Hrungnir
drops dead over him and has to be removed by Þórr’s fantas-
tically strong three-year-old son, Magni. Meanwhile, Mök-
kurkálfi has ingloriously collapsed under Þjálfi’s strokes. A
last episode shows how the witch Gróa attempts to remove
the piece of Hrungnir’s whetstone from Þórr’s head but for-
gets her spells and incantations in the joy of learning that her
husband, Aurvandill, has been safely brought home out of
the icy North by Þórr.
Snorri’s narrative illustrates important features of the
ethics and usages of the warrior class: respect for the laws of
hospitality (e.g., in spite of Hrungnir’s outrageous behavior,
Þórr cannot touch him as long as he is a guest in Àsgarðr);
taboo on striking down an unarmed adversary (killing him
would be an act of cowardice); moral obligation to accept a
challenge to a duel; single combat, to be waged in the no-
man’s-land between two enemy territories. The significance
of the dummy (Mo ̨kkurkálfi) that the giants erect at the loca-
tion of the duel has been ingeniously explained by Georges
Dumézil: Þórr faces and defeats the “stone-hearted” monster,
and his “second,” Þjálfi, duplicates his exploit by destroying
Mo ̨kkurkálfi. Dumézil sees a warrior initiation pattern in
this two-level account, in which Þjálfi reproduces in a realis-
tic terrestrial way the almost cosmic martial exploit of Þórr
(Dumézil, 1970, pp 158–159).His interpretation is supported by a comic episode in
Hrólfs saga kraka (chapter 23), in which the hero Bo ̨ðvarr
Bjarki initiates the coward Ho ̨ttr, making a proper warrior
of him. On the eve of the midwinter festival (Yule), King
Hrólfr forbids his men to leave his stronghold because an
enormous winged troll will appear and kill any champion
who challenges him. Bo ̨ðvarr, however, goes out secretly to
face the troll, dragging the fearful Ho ̨ttr along. The monster
arrives, and while Ho ̨ttr shrinks in the mud in terror,
Bo ̨ðvarr dispatches the beast with one thrust of his sword.
Picking up Ho ̨ttr, he forces him to drink two gulps of the
troll’s blood and eat a piece of his heart, after which he en-
gages in a wrestling match with the young man. Ho ̨ttr comes
out of this test a truly strong and courageous fighter. They
then stand the monster on its feet, as if it were still alive, and
return to the king’s castle. The following morning, much to
the king’s surprise, Ho ̨ttr volunteers to go out and “kill” the
monster. Ultimately, Hrólfr is not fooled, but he accepts
Ho ̨ttr’s overnight transformation into a real champion and
renames him Hjalti, after the king’s sword Gullinhjalti
(“golden hilt”).
Another well-known adventure of Þórr is narrated in the
Eddic Þrymskviða. One day Þórr wakes up and realizes to his
dismay that Mjo ̨llnir has been stolen. He dispatches Loki,
equipped with Freyja’s falcon coat, to Jo ̨tunheimr to look for
it. Loki soon finds out that the giant Þrymr has gotten hold
of Þórr’s mighty weapon and refuses to return it unless he
gets Freyja as a bride in exchange. Freyja does not want to
hear anything about marrying the uncouth giant, and the
gods assemble in council to look for a solution to Þórr’s di-
lemma. On Heimdallr’s advice, they decide that Þórr himself
must go to Þrymr, disguised as a bride and escorted by Loki.
After their arrival in Þrymr’s hall, a lavish meal is served to
the travelers from Ásgarðr, but Þórr almost betrays himself
by his gluttony. Loki, however, saves the day by stating that
“Freyja yearned so much for Jo ̨tunheimr that she fasted for
eight full nights.” The situation threatens to deteriorate again
when Þrymr attempts to kiss his “bride” and discovers the
murderous flames in “her” eyes. Again, Loki finds the proper
excuse: “So much did Freyja long to be in Jo ̨tunheimr that
she did not sleep for eight full nights.” Then, Þrymr’s sister
comes to claim her bridal gift, and Þrymr has the hammer
Mjo ̨llnir brought in and placed on his alleged bride’s knees,
whereupon Þórr grabs his weapon and ruthlessly crushes the
skulls of all the giants around him.No other source duplicates the contents of this remark-
able Eddic lay, which achieves its effect with an admirable
economy of means and a robust sense of humor, paired with
a well-structured scenario and marvelous characterization of
the actors in this little drama. Although the poet undoubted-
ly took his material from older mythological sources, the bal-9166 THOR