Thor and Hrungnir Battle

Thor saw Hrungnir standing on his shield and he ran toward the giant. Lightning struck all around Thor, and thunder crashed. (The series begins with Odin and Sleipnir Flee Hrungnir and Gullfaxi. How the giant came to be standing on his shield for this battle is told in Hrungnir and the Giants Prepare to Battle Thor.)

Thor and Hrungnir Battle with Hammer and Whetstone

Hrungnir saw Thor in all his divine fury.

Thor, still far away from the giant, raised Mjölnir and threw it.

Hrungnir lifted the whetstone off his shoulder with both hands and threw it to intercept Thor’s hammer.

Mjölnir crashed through the whetstone, breaking it in two. One piece fell to Earth and is the source of all the whetstones in the world today. Hrungnir’s weapon didn’t slow Mjölnir at all. The hammer crashed into the giant’s skull and shattered it.

The second piece of the whetstone pierced Thor’s skull and he fell to the ground. Hrungnir fell on top of the god. The giant’s leg lay across Thor’s neck, suffocating him.

Thialfi and the Clay Giant

Meanwhile, Thialfi went after Mokkurkalfi. Snorri says the clay giant fell “with little glory.”

When Thialfi finished with Mokkurkalfi, he ran to Thor. He did not know whether the god was alive and unconscious or dead. He tried to lift the giant’s leg off of Thor’s neck, but he wasn’t strong enough. The Aesir came together to lift the giant’s leg, and they, together, were not strong enough to move it an inch.

Magni, Three Years Old, Ends the Thor and Hrungnir Battle

Then Magni arrived: Thor’s son by the giantess Jarnsaxa, just three years old. He lifted the giant’s leg off his father’s neck as if it were nothing. “What a shame I came so late,” he said. “I think I’d have killed this giant with my fist.”

Thor stood and thanked his son. He then gifted Hrungnir’s horse, Gullfaxi, to Magni.

Odin was dismayed with Thor’s gift. He said that Thor shouldn’t give such a fine horse to the son of a giantess but rather to himself as father of Thor.

But Hrungnir had left Thor a souvenir. Next: The Morning Star and the Whetstone in Thor’s Head.

Video: Jackson Crawford on two old tales of Thor the giant killer, including the Hrungnir duel.