How Thor Fought the Giant Hrungnir
The Norse myth of Thor's battle with the giant Hrungnir is a compelling tale that begins with a horse race instigated by Hrungnir's challenge to Odin. This race leads to a gathering in Asgard, where Hrungnir, after consuming significant amounts of wine, insults the gods, prompting Thor to confront him. Despite being unarmed, Hrungnir challenges Thor to a duel, a situation that raises tension among the giants, as Hrungnir's defeat would leave them vulnerable. To bolster Hrungnir's chances, the other giants create a clay giant as a backup. However, Thor, accompanied by his ally Thjálfi, cleverly executes a surprise attack from the sky, ultimately defeating Hrungnir and causing collateral damage, including an injury to himself. The story reflects themes of warfare and preparation, emphasizing the tactics employed by both sides. Additionally, the aftermath of the battle hints at Thor's emerging status as a formidable warrior, as signified by the heroic actions of his three-day-old son, Magni, who comes to his father's aid. This myth serves as a narrative rich in cultural significance and allegory, illustrating the values and customs of Norse society.
How Thor Fought the Giant Hrungnir
Author: Traditional Norse
Time Period: 1001 CE–1500 CE
Country or Culture: Scandinavia
Genre: Myth
PLOT SUMMARY
The famous Norse tale of the god Thor’s battle with the giant Hrungnir opens with a horse race. Hrungnir challenges Odin, the most powerful of all Norse gods, to a race in response to Odin’s boast about the prowess of his horse. The spectacular race eventually leads the two men inside the gates of Asgard, the walled fortress that is home to many of the gods.
At race’s end, the two convene in a great hall and proceed to drink large amounts of wine. In short time, Hrungnir becomes inebriated and begins to insult the gods of Asgard. The giant’s insults anger Odin, who is already perturbed by Hrungnir’s mockery of his horse. Yet with Asgard’s sacred rites of hospitality in place, the gods have no choice but to tolerate Hrungnir’s insults and boasts for many more servings of wine. However, their indignation at their drunken guest’s behavior eventually gives way, and mighty Thor, son of Odin, is summoned to rid Asgard’s great hall of the giant.
Hrungnir scoffs at Thor’s requests that he depart, knowing that because he himself is unarmed, any attack on him by Thor would be deemed cowardly by the gods of Asgard. He nonetheless challenges Thor to a duel at a later date, which Thor enthusiastically accepts.
Hrungnir’s fellow giants are frightened at the thought of the duel, or holmgang. They understand that if Thor is victorious, he will be able to make war on them for all time, as Hrungnir, the biggest and most intimidating among them, would no longer be alive to protect them. To inspire Hrungnir, his fellow giants fashion him another giant out of clay to fight alongside him. Thor also enlists an ally, his associate Thjálfi, and sends him ahead to survey the battle scene before his arrival. Thjálfi instructs Hrungnir to stand on his shield in case Thor opts to attack him from underground. The advice is a trick that renders Hrungnir vulnerable, and Thor instead attacks from the sky, while Thjálfi dispatches the clay giant with ease.
While Thor defeats Hrungnir without contest, his victory is not without casualty. Hrungnir’s weapon is shattered in the attack, and a piece becomes lodged in Thor’s head. Also, Thor’s neck becomes trapped under the dead Hrungnir’s giant foot, which eventually is lifted off by Thor’s son, Magni. Thor rewards the boy by giving him Hrungnir’s horse, an act that earns Thor the scorn of Odin, who feels entitled to the horse himself.
SIGNIFICANCE
Some scholars believe that much of the mythology surrounding Thor contains messages that were aimed at instructing young warriors about the customs surrounding warfare. This is evidenced by both the formal nature with which both combatants schedule their duel and the careful preparation each opposing party takes leading up to the battle.
The construction of Hrungnir’s clay giant illustrates the notion that enemies in war are capable of going to great lengths to thwart their opponents. Even the ostensible heroes of the myth, Thor and the gods of Asgard, are not above what could potentially be viewed as stretching the rules of combat, as illustrated by the ruse employed by Thjálfi, which is the main reason for Thor’s victory.
The narrative’s numerous illustrations of natural phenomena, particularly during the fantastic introductory steeplechase and the travels of Thor, the god of thunder, which quake the skies and lash the land, are common in nearly all Norse myths pertaining to incidences of combat and violent aggression from the gods. As noted by Kevin Crossley-Holland in The Norse Myths, there is even etymological evidence for this connection, as the Old Norse word for thunder was used interchangeably for the word for cart, or chariot. There is also a cultural significance to the remnants of Hrungnir’s stone weapon remaining lodged in Thor’s head at the end of the battle. The clash of stone and metal creates fire, which many cultures closely associated with lighting, a meteorological event for which they had scant explanation.
There are many Norse scholars who point to Thor’s fight with Hrungnir as a possible initiation for the god himself, suggesting that the myth is a tale of a younger Thor that establishes his prowess and the esteem in which he is held in later myths. This may be additionally illustrated by the fact that Thor’s son, Magni, who at the myth’s end saves his father’s life by freeing him from under Hrungnir’s giant foot, is described as merely three days old. Additional appearances by Magni in Norse mythology outside of this particular tale are few and far between.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, Rasmus Björn. Norse Mythology; or, The Religion of Our Forefathers, Containing All the Myths of the Eddas, Systematized and Interpreted. Chicago: Griggs, 1875. Print.
Crossley-Holland, Kevin. The Norse Myths. New York: Pantheon, 1980. Print.
Dumézil, Georges. Gods of the Ancient Northmen. Ed. and trans. Einar Haugen. Berkeley: U of California P, 1973. Print.
Mabie, Hamilton Wright. Norse Stories Retold from the Eddas. Boston: Roberts, 1882. Print.