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Mjölnir

Mjöllnir

Thor's short-handled hammer, forged by the dwarf brothers Brokkr and Sindri: it never misses, always returns to his hand, kills giants, and hallows brides, pyres and the dead goats it brings back to life.

Mjölnir is Thor's hammer, the weapon that keeps the giants out of the gods' world. Snorri lists it first among Thor's three treasures: the giants "know" it "when it is raised on high", and "it has bruised many a skull among their fathers or their kinsmen" Gylfaginning 21. The other two treasures exist to serve it. The girdle of might (Megingjörð) doubles Thor's strength, and he "cannot do without" his iron gloves "when he uses his hammer-shaft" Gylfaginning 21.

How it was made

The only account of the forging is Snorri's, in Skáldskaparmál Skáldskaparmál 35. Loki has cut off Sif's hair. To save himself he gets new golden hair made by Ívaldi's sons, and with it the ship Skíðblaðnir and the spear Gungnir. Then he bets his head that the dwarf Brokkr's brother cannot make three treasures as good. While the brother works the forge and Brokkr works the bellows, a fly stings Brokkr three times, the last time on the eyelid. Brokkr lets go of the bellows for a moment, and the iron in the fire comes out as a hammer with a handle a little too short.

The gods still judge it the best of the six gifts, because "in it there was the greatest defence against the Rime-Giants" Skáldskaparmál 35. Brokkr explains what it does. Thor can strike as hard as he likes and it will not fail; thrown, it never misses and always comes back to his hand; and it can shrink small enough to carry inside his shirt.

Then he gave the hammer to Thor, and said that Thor might smite as hard as he desired, whatsoever might be before him, and the hammer would not failSkáldskaparmál 35

A weapon against giants

Most of the hammer's stories end with a giant's skull broken. It bursts the skull of the giant who built the wall of Ásgard "into small crumbs" Gylfaginning 42. Thrown at Hrungnir, it meets his whetstone in mid-air, shatters it and goes on to smash his head Skáldskaparmál 17, which is why the poems call Thor "Hrungnir's slayer" Lokasenna 61. In Hymiskvida Thor uses "Mjollnir, the lover of murder" against the giants chasing him from Hymir's hall Hymiskviða 37.

The stories also play with the idea of Thor without it. In Þrymskviða the giant Þrymr steals it and hides it "eight miles down deep in the earth" Þrymskviða 7. In Snorri's account of Geirröðr, Loki tricks Thor into going to the giant's house without hammer or girdle Skáldskaparmál 18. At Útgarðr Thor hits the sleeping Skrýmir three times without hurting him. Útgarða-Loki later explains that the blows were real and that he had dodged them by trickery Gylfaginning 45 Gylfaginning 47.

Hallowing

The hammer also blesses. Thor raises it over the hides of his slaughtered goats, and they stand up alive Gylfaginning 44. He hallows Baldr's funeral pyre with it Gylfaginning 49. In Þrymskviða the giant has the hammer brought in "to hallow the bride" and laid on her knees, and that wedding blessing is the moment Thor gets it back Þrymskviða 30-31. None of these passages explains the custom. Scholars have often compared the hammer-blessing of a bride with marriage and fertility rites, but that is a reading of the poem, not something it says.

After Ragnarök

Thor dies fighting the Midgard Serpent, but his hammer survives. Vafþrúðnir tells Odin that "Mothi and Magni shall Mjollnir have" in the new world Vafþrúðnismál 51, and Snorri quotes a version of the same stanza Gylfaginning 53.

Outside the Eddas

Small hammer pendants have been found across Viking-Age Scandinavia, and a few Danish runestones carve a hammer or ask Thor to hallow the runes. Archaeologists usually read these as signs of devotion to Thor. Some have suggested the pendants were worn in answer to the Christian cross, but that is debated.

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.

if he threw it at anything, it would never miss, and never fly so far as not to return to his hand
Skáldskaparmál 35 The dwarf Brokkr presents the hammer to Thor and lists what it can do, including its one flaw, a short handle.
one is the hammer Mjöllnir, which the Rime-Giants and the Hill-Giants know, when it is raised on high
Gylfaginning 21 Snorri names the hammer first among Thor's three treasures, with the girdle of might and the iron gloves.
Bring in the hammer to hallow the bride; On the maiden's knees let Mjollnir lie
Þrymskviða 30 The giant Þrymr has the stolen hammer laid in the bride's lap to bless the wedding, and Thor takes it back.
took the hammer Mjöllnir, swung it up, and hallowed the goat-hides; straightway the he-goats rose up
Gylfaginning 44 The hammer brings Thor's slaughtered goats back to life.
Then Thor stood by and hallowed the pyre with Mjöllnir
Gylfaginning 49 At Baldr's funeral the hammer consecrates the pyre.
Mothi and Magni shall Mjollnir have When Vingnir falls in fight.
Vafþrúðnismál 51 After Ragnarök the hammer passes to Thor's sons.
Unmanly one, cease, or the mighty hammer, Mjollnir, shall close thy mouth
Lokasenna 57 Thor's refrain to Loki, repeated four times in the poem.

Where the sources disagree or fall silent

  • Snorri does not say the fly that stings Brokkr at the forge is Loki, though the story implies it and most retellings say so.
  • The sources disagree about the smith's name: Brodeur's text of Skáldskaparmál names Sindri, while other manuscripts (and many modern books) name him Eitri.

In modern culture

Not from the medieval sources.

Small hammer-shaped pendants of silver, iron and amber were worn in Viking-Age Scandinavia and are now the best-known symbol of Norse religion; reproductions are sold everywhere and the hammer is a common emblem of modern heathen groups. The US Department of Veterans Affairs added it to its approved headstone emblems in 2013. In Marvel comics, from Journey into Mystery #83 (1962), the hammer can be lifted only by someone 'worthy'. That test is a modern invention: in the myths the hammer is stolen by a giant and handled by a dwarf, and nothing says anyone but Thor is unable to lift it.

Myths with Mjölnir

Loki's flyting at Ægir's feast Thrown out of the sea-giant Ægir's feast for killing a servant, Loki walks back in and insults every god and goddess in turn, until Thor comes home and threatens him with the hammer. Odin's contest of wisdom with Vafþrúðnir Against Frigg's advice, Odin goes in disguise to the wisest of the giants and stakes his head on a contest of questions about the creation, the gods and the end of the world. He wins with a question only he can answer. The giant builder and the wall of Asgard A stranger offers to wall the gods' stronghold in a single winter, for the price of Freyja, the sun and the moon. When he is about to win, Loki saves the gods by turning himself into a mare — and gives birth to Sleipnir. The treasures of the gods: Sif's hair and Brokkr's wager Loki shaves Sif's head, and to save his own skin sets two families of dwarf-smiths competing. The result is six treasures — golden hair, a folding ship, a spear, a ring, a golden boar and Thor's hammer — and Loki's lips sewn shut. The world reborn After Ragnarök a green earth rises from the sea. Surviving gods meet on Iðavöllr, Baldr returns from Hel, two humans come out of hiding, and a new sun rides the sky. The sources do not agree on who survives. Thor fishes for the World Serpent Sent to fetch a giant's brewing kettle, Thor goes fishing with the giant Hymir, baits his hook with an ox-head and hauls the Midgard Serpent up to the gunwale. The poem Hymiskvíða and Snorri tell it differently, and disagree on how it ended. 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. Thor's duel with Hrungnir A horse race with Odin brings the stone-headed giant Hrungnir drunk and boasting into Asgard. Thor challenges him to the first single combat of his life, kills him with Mjölnir, and carries a piece of the giant's whetstone in his skull for ever after. Thor's journey to Útgarða-Loki Thor travels east with Loki, Þjálfi and Röskva, sleeps in a giant's glove, and loses every contest in the hall of Útgarða-Loki: to fire, to thought, to the sea, to the World Serpent and to old age. Only at parting does he learn he was tricked. Thrym steals Thor's hammer Thor wakes to find Mjölnir gone. The giant Þrymr will return it only for Freyja as his bride, so Thor goes to the wedding himself, in a veil, with Loki as his bridesmaid.

Related

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. Brokkr The dwarf who bet Loki his head that his brother could out-forge Ívaldi's sons, worked the bellows while a fly stung him, won, and sewed Loki's lips shut. Eitri The dwarf smith, Brokkr's brother, who forged the boar Gullinbursti, the ring Draupnir and Thor's hammer Mjöllnir; Brodeur's translation calls him Sindri. 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. Þrymr The giant king who steals Thor's hammer and demands Freyja as his bride, and is killed at his own wedding feast when the 'bride' turns out to be Thor. Hrungnir The strongest of the giants, with a head, heart and shield of stone. He races Odin into Ásgard, gets drunk there, and dies when Thor's hammer shatters his whetstone and his skull. 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. Magni Thor's son by the giantess Járnsaxa. At three nights old he lifted the dead giant Hrungnir's leg off his father; after Ragnarök he and his brother Móði inherit Mjöllnir. Móði A son of Thor, named only alongside his brother Magni: the two survive Ragnarök and inherit their father's hammer Mjöllnir. The giants (jötnar) jötnar The giants of Norse myth: the oldest race in the world, descended from Ymir, wise and often wealthy, enemies of the gods yet their kin, their wives and their mothers.