Gods, Myths and Heroes - Part 2

More Thor

More stories about Thor, the Norse god of thunder.

We've already encountered the Elder Edda, the book of Norse mythology from Iceland set in epic poetry.  Our first story comes from another medieval Icelandic book called the Prose Edda, written by Snorri Sturluson around the year 1220.  If you think some of the Greek myths are weird, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Loki has tricked Thor into visiting the land of the giants without taking his magic hammer.  While Thor is crossing a stream, the stream suddenly rises and almost sweeps Thor away.  Looking upstream, Thor sees the cause of the flood: the giant Geirrod’s daughter Gjalp is pissing into the stream (I am not making this up – it's part of the myth).  Thor grabs hold of a branch of a rowan tree to save himself and throws a rock at Gjalp's genitals, commenting that a river must be dammed at the source.

The illustration above by Lorenz Frølich, 1906, shows Thor grabbing the rowan tree, about to throw the rock.

Again, if you're thinking of Thor as Chris Hemsworth, you're not far wrong (although, as was pointed out to me, in the myths, Thor is a redhead, not a blond – thanks, Razz).  This may look like Hemsworth acting out the stream-crossing myth, but it isn't.  It's a deleted scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron.  I'm afraid the plot of that movie has nothing to do with Norse mythology, but Hemsworth, playing the god of strength, is suitably muscular.

To continue the story, Thor arrives at the house of the giant Geirrod and is invited to sit down.  There is only one chair.  As soon as he sits, the chair rises and begins to crush Thor against the ceiling.  Two of Geirrod's daughters, Gjálp and Greipa, had been hiding under the chair.  What can Thor do without his magic hammer?  Remember, he's the god of strength.  He pushes against the ceiling with his staff, forcing the chair down until, with a crack and scream, both the daughters break their backs.  (Illustration by Lorenz Frølich.)

Geirrod then uses tongs to pick up a red-hot piece of iron from the fire and throws it at Thor.  Thor catches it (conveniently, he happens to be wearing iron gloves) and throws it back.  Geirrod is hiding behind a pillar, but Thor's throw is so powerful that the iron goes right through the pillar and through Geirrod, killing him.  Moral of the story: don't mess with Thor.

In a second story from the Prose Edda, Thor and some companions travel to the hall of a king of the giants, Útgarda-Loki (not to be confused with the god Loki).  Útgarda-Loki challenges them to do several feats, all of which seem easy, but they all fail.  Among other things, Thor is challenged to lift Útgarda-Loki's cat   He tries, but the most he can do is to lift one paw off the ground (illustration by Donn Philip Crane, 1920s).  When they see this, the giants all look very nervous.

The next day, as Thor and his companions depart, Útgarda-Loki reveals that nothing was as it seemed inside the hall.  When Thor thought he was lifting a cat, he was actually lifting the Midgard Serpent, the giant sea serpent that encircles the world (above, a naked Thor lifting the serpent, by Niels Hansen Jacobsen, 1891).  Remember the Midgard Serpent from our previous Thor story?

Anyway, the fact that Thor was able to lift even a part of the serpent frightened Útgarda-Loki so much that he told Thor never to come back again.

Our last Thor story, from the Elder Edda, features Thor in drag, and it's quite humorous, as Viking legends go.  Thor wakes up one morning to find that his hammer has been stolen.  The thief was a giant named Thrymr, who offers to return the hammer only if he is allowed to marry Freya, the goddess of love and beauty.  Freya refuses, of course.  So, plan B is for Thor to dress up as a bride and pass himself off as Freya (see the modern cartoon above).  Thor whines, "Everyone will think I'm gay," but Loki convinces him.*  Thor, dressed as a bride, and Loki, dressed as his bridesmaid, go off to the wedding.

* The translations say "womanish," not "gay", but we can guess what he meant.

As soon as Thor's hammer is produced as promised, Thor seizes it and slaughters Thrymr and all the other giants at the wedding.  Like I said, Viking humor.

In this 1906 illustration by Lorenz Frølich, it's a little hard to see how the bearded and nearly-naked Thor could have been mistaken for the goddess of beauty, but we'll take it.  You know, artistic license.

Next time: a very gay Greek myth.

Gods, Myths and Heroes - Part 1

 Thor

Our heritage does not just come from Greece and Rome.  Western culture has many roots, though some have been celebrated in art and literature more than others.  Who hasn't heard of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the epic poems about Greek gods and heroes?  On the other hand, how many people have ever heard of the Elder Edda, the epic poem about Norse gods and heroes?  The poems in the Elder Edda were transmitted orally for centuries and finally written down in Iceland in the 13th century.

Our months of July and August may be named after Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar, but our days are named after the Germanic and Norse gods.  For example, Thursday is Thor's day.

Thor was reintroduced to modern audiences in the movie Thor and its sequels, although secondhand via a comic book character.  You probably picture Thor as Chris Hemsworth (above, from the movie Thor, 2011).  That's actually not a bad image.  Thor was the god of thunder, but he was also the god of strength and a protector of mankind, and his weapon was his famous hammer.

The Norse and Germanic gods were not usually depicted nude like the Greek and Roman gods were, perhaps because it's colder in Northern Europe.  But there have been some nude representations.  This is an 1880s image of Thor by Hans Thoma from a calendar called Fest Kalender.

Thor is in many of the Norse myths.  Today we tell the story of Thor and the Midgard Serpent from the Elder Edda.  The Midgard Serpent, also called Jörmungandr, was a sea serpent that lived in the ocean that encircled the world.  The serpent was so long that it stretched all around the world and bit its own tail.

This illustration for the Elder Edda shows Thor and the serpent.  Thor is depicted as being suitably muscular, but the we don't get a feel for the size of the serpent.

The story begins with Thor visiting the land of the giants, where he meets the giant Hymir (above, by Lorenz Frølich in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Denmark).  They decide to go fishing.

Thor asks for bait, but Hymir tells him to find his own bait.  So Thor cuts off the head of Hymir's finest ox to use as bait (above, by William Collingwood, 1908).

They go out to sea, and Thor tells Hymir to row farther and farther out.  Hymir is afraid, because the Midgard Serpent lives below.  Thor casts out his ox-head bait, and sure enough, the serpent takes the bait.  Thor begins to haul in the serpent.  The serpent spits poison, and Thor goes after it with his hammer (painting above by Johann Heinrich Füssli, 1790).  Thor's crotch is blurred in the painting, perhaps the 1790 equivalent of pixellation.

Thor fights the serpent in this sculpture by Anne Marie Carl-Neilsen, 1887.  No crotch-blurring here.

The story ends when Hymir, afraid for his life, cuts Thor's fishing line (above, by William Collingwood, 1908)).  The Midgard Serpent escapes back to the bottom of the sea, where it waits for the battle of Ragnarök at the end of the world.

We have many more stories of gods, myths and heroes.  Stay tuned.