Norse god of thunder and lightning, Thor is son of Odin All-Father and one of the most prominent and well-known deities of the Norse pantheon. He is particularly known for his legendary weapon, Mjolnir, a war-hammer forged for him by the dwarves. Though Mjolnir and Thor are rarely parted, there is one legend that tells of a time when Thor lost the hammer completely.
“There were things Thor did when something went wrong. The first thing he did was ask himself if what had happened was Loki’s fault. Thor pondered. He did not believe that even Loki would have dared to steal his hammer. So, he did the next thing he did when something went wrong, and he went to ask Loki for advice.” ― Neil Gaiman
One night when Thor was sleeping, someone crept into his room and stole his precious hammer, Mjolnir. When Thor woke, his anger was legendary as he hunted the land for his missing weapon, but it was nowhere to be found.
Loki, suspecting he knew the identity (or at least species) of the thief, borrowed the feathered cloak of Freyja and transformed into a falcon, flying away to Jotunheim. Once there he approached the king of the Jotun, Thrym, asking if he knew where the weapon had gone.
Thrym, known for his ugliness and stupidity, announced that he had indeed stolen the weapon, but that it had been buried somewhere secret in a location that only he knew. Thrym declared he would only return the weapon if he was given the goddess Freyja’s hand in marriage. Loki retook his falcon form and returned to Asgard, to share the news with the gods.
Desperate for Mjolnir’s return, Thor was happy to agree to the deal, but Freyja (goddess of love, fertility and battle) refused outright, stating that she would rather throw herself into the sea than agree to the match. A meeting between the gods was called to determine their next action and it was Heimdall, the watcher, who came up with a plan. Thor was disguise himself as Freyja, travel to Jotunheim and pretend to marry Thrym. Thor thought such tactics underhanded and dishonourable, but Loki persuaded him that an Asgard ruled by the Jotun would be a far more ignoble fate than their current plan. A reluctant Thor agreed.
Dressed in a fine gown and veil, Thor set off to Jotunheim, accompanied by Loki in the guise of his maidservant. Though Thor had agreed to the plan, he was not very good at playing the part of a blushing bride, and Loki was forced to smooth over his many mistakes.
First, when they arrived, Thrym had set out a great banquet to welcome his new bride. Thor ate heartily, consuming an entire ox, several salmon and galleons of mead. When Thrym commented on his bride’s unladylike appetite, Loki convinced him that Freyja had been so eager to meet her husband that she had not eaten for several days. When Thrym attempted to kiss his bride, Thor glared at him so fiercely that Thrym retreated, asking why his bride had such fearsome eyes. Loki convinced him that Frejya had merely been unable to sleep for several days, so full of longing was she to meet her husband.
Finally, Thrym called from Mjolnir to be summoned. When it arrived, it was all Thor could do to remain in his seat and not make a grab for it at once. Thrym requested that the hammer be placed in his bride’s lap, that their wedding might be blessed. The second that it was, Thor snatched up his hammer and tore off his wedding garments.
With a mighty blow from Mjolnir, Thor killed his husband-to-be, before slaughtering all of the wedding guests. Mjolnir retrieved, Thor returned home to Asgard, and rejoiced to be reunited with his hammer and, most importantly, still unwed.
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