Saturday, April 23, 2011

Thor

 God of Thunder. I know you have been waiting for this one!

Son of Odin and Jord, he's the famous Scandinavian God with Hammer, the burly red-bearded Lord of Thunderstorms. He rides through the storm clouds in a chariot pulled by goats and throws his hammer Mjollnir all over the place to create lightning.As perhaps you might expect, he's not terribly bright and Loki was always leading him astray. But they were  friends and was always ready to bash Lokis enemies with the  end of his hammer.



 Thor seems to have been the best loved and most worshiped of the Norse deities. He belonged to the common people, while Odin appealed to the learned and noble classes. A patron 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
Minnie-ism for today:
"What is it about men and their tools? Big hammer,big deal. Really who cares?"

Thor appears throughout as a huge, strongly built, red-bearded fellow with a huge appetite.  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 evil giants.


The thunder god's chief weapon was his mighty hammer Mjollnir, or Crusher, which the dwarfs had forged for him. When he threw Mjollnir, it returned magically to his hand like a boomerang. Among Mjollnir'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 also included a magical belt that doubled his strength whenever he wore it and a pair of goats, Tanngniost and Tanngrisni (both "Toothgnashers"), 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 Mjollnir.


According to one well-known myth about Thor, Thrym, king of the giants, came into possession of Mjollnir and declared that he would give it back to Thor only if the beautiful goddess Freyja agreed to marry him. She angrily refused, and the trickster god Loki came up with a clever plan to recover Mjollnir. Using women's clothing and a bridal veil to disguise Thor as Freyja, Loki escorted "Freyja" to Jotunheim, 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 Mjollnir and threw off his disguise. Then he used the hammer to smash the giants and their hall.


So what do you think, would you really put your faith in this God and his hammer to save  the world?

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Yay! Thor's here. I can just imagine him dressed up as the bride and consuming an ox - I'd never heard that one before and I love it. How Thrym could've mistaken this hunk for a feminine beauty is beyond me. Naughty Loki again. Thor really is everyone's idea of a hero isn't he (regardless of the Minnie-ism and the bit about hammers!)? Pity he's not too bright, still you can't have everything. Every time I think of Thor I get this ridiculous ditty:
"Thor the Thunder God rode into town,
Upon his favorite filly,
'I'm Thor!' he cried,
The horse replied: 'You forgot your thaddle, thilly.'"
Sorry...

J.L. Campbell said...

Siv,

This is the first time I've read so much information on Thor. It beats doing my own research. Interesting fellow. Big man, big hammer, big appetite.

Unknown said...

Hmmm...I did write a comment a while ago but it's disappeared into cyberspace. Probably can't recreate it now! How I love Thor, despite what Minnie says about his hammer LOL. It's a shame he's a bit dim-witted, but you can't have everything, can you? I didn't know about him impersonating the bride, that's hilarious. I love the image of him devouring a whole ox - who must be dimwitted is Thrym. Great post and thank you because I was looking forward to Thor and you didn't disappoint (love the picture).
There's a little ditty I keep thinking about:
"Thor the Thunder God rode into town
Upon his favorite filly.
'I'm Thor!' he cried,
The horse replied: 'You forgot your thaddle, thilly.'
Sorry, Siv....

Anonymous said...

Way to go now I want to see that movie! lol I'm pretty escited about it. I don't know about putting the fate of the world in his hands but the movie Thor is pretty hot. haha.
Well I'm off to get my garage sale stuff out. I must work today. Have a great day my friend.

Laura Eno said...

What fun information about Thor! I never knew any of this about him. Thanks for the movie trailer. I'm so there!

Bossy Betty said...

So I should or should not name my next son Thor? Awaiting your advice...

Tracy said...

Good Morning, well I just looked at the clock and it is no longer morning here so let me begin again...
Good Afternoon,it's been awhile so I've had to go back and read your previous posts; CONGRATS on reaching your 300th following...I see you are at 308. Like you, I've met some tremendous people in through blogging and such a great community!
Thanks for sharing your stupendous knowledge of fantasy...my son likes your 'Save the Duck' photo :)

John Teal said...

Betty Name him Thor !!! just don't give him a hammer during his "terrible two's"

RJRmodels

Crazy Life of a Writing Mom said...

Heck yeah--I'd put faith in him. ;0)

P.S. I wish I had a belt like that! LOL!

Michael Di Gesu said...

Now here's one I knew something about. But I learned a few more exciting details.

Happy Easter, Siv, to you and your family.

Lisa Ricard Claro said...

Very cool. Now I have to see the movie!

Anonymous said...

Never heard of him being slow, or red bearded, and I have lots of myths. I think the wedding trick worked because a) Giants are not bright, b) giants are big so big women are expected. You wonder about Loki's sense of humor getting THOR to cross-dress, though! Thor has ever been the defender of the common man, and similar to Tyr, securer of oaths. Never cruel to humans like Odin could be.