Thor was the god of thunder and lightning in Norse mythology. He was the oldest and most powerful son of Odin, the king of the gods and goddesses. Thor had great strength and was a skilled fighter. His main weapon was a hammer named Mjollnir (also spelled Mjolnir). He threw it at his enemies. Mjollnir never missed its mark and always returned to Thor after hitting a target. Thor created lightning when he threw Mjollnir, and thunder was the rumbling of his chariot as it moved across the sky. The day Thursday was named for Thor.
Of all the Norse gods, Thor best represented the values of the warrior class of medieval Scandinavia. For example, the Vikings held great feasts and glorified combat. Several myths describe Thor’s huge appetite. He once ate an ox and eight salmon and drank three barrels of an alcoholic beverage called mead. Another myth tells of a drinking contest in which Thor tried to drink the sea dry. He failed, but he lowered the level of the sea slightly and thus created the first tides. The gods had several huge drinking horns, and only Thor could consume their entire contents.
Thor’s most important work was to protect the gods and goddesses from giants. Thor has many adventures with Loki, a trickster who often gets the pair into trouble. One story describes Thor’s battle with Hrungnir, a giant, who hurled a huge stone at him. Thor threw his hammer, and it shattered the stone in the air and killed Hrungnir.
Thor’s wife was Sif, the Norse goddess associated with Earth. She is often mentioned only briefly in stories, but she is known for her magnificent golden hair. Sif is sometimes associated with the harvest. Scholars think her golden hair symbolizes abundant fields of grain.
Someday, according to Norse mythology, the gods and goddesses will fight the giants in a great battle called Ragnarok, and the world will be destroyed. Thor and the Midgard Serpent, a vicious snake coiled around the world under the sea, will kill each other during the battle.
