Seiðr Loom

object

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.

Gríðarvölr ("Gríðr's staff") is known only from Snorri's account of Thor's journey to the giant Geirröðr Skáldskaparmál 18. Thor has been tricked into going without Mjölnir or his own girdle, so the giantess Gríðr, with whom he lodges on the way, lends him her girdle of might, her iron gloves and her staff.

Thor uses the staff twice. In the river Vimur he "braced firmly downstream with Grídr's Rod" while the water rose to his shoulders. In Geirröðr's goat-shed, when the chair rises to crush him against the roof, he jams the staff against the rafters and pushes down, breaking the backs of the giant's daughters Gjálp and Greip Skáldskaparmál 18.

Eilífr's Þórsdrápa, which Snorri quotes, mentions "Grídr's staff" and "the fragment of Grídr's Rod" Skáldskaparmál 18. The second phrase suggests the staff broke in the fight. Snorri's prose does not say so.

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.

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 Gríðr equips Thor, who has had to leave his own hammer and belt at home.
he thrust Grídr's Rod up against the rafters and pushed back hard against the chair
Skáldskaparmál 18 The staff saves Thor in Geirröðr's goat-shed.

Myths with Gríðarvölr

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

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. 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. Gjálp and Greip Gjálp ok Greip Geirröðr's two daughters: Gjálp swells a river to drown Thor, and both are crushed when they try to push him into the roof on a rising chair. Megingjörð and Járngreipr Megingjörð Thor's belt of strength, which doubles his power when he buckles it on, and the iron gloves he needs to wield his hammer.