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giant

Gríðr

A giantess, mother of Odin's son Víðarr, who helped Thor on his way to the giant Geirröðr by lending him a girdle of might, iron gloves and her staff.

Gríðr is a giantess who is friendly to the gods. She appears in one story in Skáldskaparmál. Loki, captured by the giant Geirröðr, had promised to bring Thor to the giant's hall without his hammer or his girdle of might. On the way Thor spent the night with "that giantess who was called Grídr, mother of Vídarr the Silent". She warned him that Geirröðr was "a crafty giant and ill to deal with", and lent him her own girdle of might, iron gloves and staff, "Grídr's Rod" (Gríðarvölr) Skáldskaparmál 18.

The loan saved Thor. He braced himself with the staff against the flooding river Vimur, used it to push back the chair on which Geirröðr's daughters tried to crush him against the roof, and caught the giant's red-hot iron bar in her gloves Skáldskaparmál 18. A verse by the poet Eilífr, quoted in the same chapter, mentions "Grídr's staff" as Thor's support Skáldskaparmál 18.

The Eddas never describe how she came to bear Odin's son Víðarr; the kennings for Frigg simply list her among Odin's partners, with Jörð, Rindr and Gunnlöð Skáldskaparmál 19.

In the sources

Quoted from the hosted translations; each line is checked against the text when the site is built. Select a reference to read it in context.

Thor came to spend the night with that giantess who was called Grídr, mother of Vídarr the Silent.
Skáldskaparmál 18 Gríðr shelters Thor on his way to Geirröðr's hall.
she lent him the Girdle of Might and iron gloves which she possessed, and her staff also, which was called Grídr's Rod
Skáldskaparmál 18 Her gifts replace the hammer and girdle Thor had left behind.
Co-Wife of Jörd and Rindr and Gunnlöd and Grídr
Skáldskaparmál 19 Snorri's kennings for Frigg list Gríðr among Odin's other partners.

Myths with Gríðr

Thor in the hall of Geirröðr To save his own life Loki promises to bring Thor, unarmed, to the giant Geirröðr. A friendly giantess lends Thor a belt, gloves and staff; he survives a flooding river, a rising chair and a red-hot iron bar, and kills Geirröðr and his daughters.

Related

Víðarr The silent son of Odin and the giantess Gríðr, nearly as strong as Thor. At Ragnarök he avenges his father by tearing apart the wolf Fenrir, and he survives into the new world. Odin Óðinn Chief of the Æsir: a one-eyed god of wisdom, poetry, magic, war and the dead, who gave an eye and hanged himself on a tree for knowledge, and who dies at Ragnarök. Thor Þórr The thunder god, strongest of the Æsir: son of Odin and Earth, husband of Sif, and with his hammer Mjöllnir the gods' defender against the giants, until he dies killing the World Serpent. Geirröðr A crafty giant who traps Loki and makes him lure Thor to his hall without hammer or belt. Thor, armed with gear borrowed from the giantess Gríðr, breaks his daughters' backs and kills him with a red-hot iron bar. Gríðarvölr The staff the giantess Gríðr lends Thor for his journey to Geirröðr: he braces against it in the flooding river Vimur and uses it to break the backs of Geirröðr's daughters. Loki The giant-born trickster counted among the Æsir: father of Fenrir, the Midgard Serpent and Hel, contriver of Baldr's death, bound until Ragnarök.