Thor
Thor Odinson, Prince of Asgard, God of thunder, lightning, storms, and strength. (a.k.a. Wilder of the Hammer, Giantsbane, the strong spirit, the Bear, the one who rides alone, the stormlord)
Biography
Thor was born as the son of the Æsir god Odin and the Jötunn giantess Fjörgyn. He was raised in the Great Hall of Valhalla in Asgard along with his eight half brothers and the other gods of Norse mythology.
As a warrior and the son of the Chieftain of the Æsir, Thor spent his youth traveling the nine realms battling Giants, elves and monsters to gain a heroic reputation. As a young man, on his travels he met and fell in love with a Jötunn giantess named Járnsaxa with whom he had a relationship with and sired a son named Magni. A few years later, after Járnsaxa left Thor and Magni, Thor became the husband of a golden haired Æsir goddess named Sif and had a pair of twins with her, a boy named Modi and a daughter named Thrúd who he raised alongside Magni in his Hall of Bilskirnir. A few hundred years later, which equal to normal years for gods apparently, Thor woke up in his bed to find that his wife Sif’s hair was completely missing which Thor would later discover was a prank played by his father’s childhood friend and foster brother Loki, the Jötunn trickster, adopted into the Æsir tribe as a diplomatic ward in an alliance with the Jötnar.
Before Thor had a chance to break Loki’s teeth, Loki pleaded that he could get Sif a new head of hair, even better than the original, made of pure gold and forged by the greatest dwarven smiths and so Thor gave Loki three days to make it happen.
So Loki travelled to Niðavellir, realm of the dwarves. At first Loki approaches the sons of Ivaldi, three dwarves known for their ability at the forge, Loki told them that the Gods of Asgard knew of their ability, but really they were only the second best craftsmen in the nine realms, behind the dwarf brothers Brok and Eitri.
The sons of Ivaldi declared they would not be outdone and promised to make three treasures for the Æsir gods to prove their worth, to give the sons of Ivaldi an advantage, Loki told them about Lady Sif’s hair, secretly settling his score with Thor.
Loki then went off to see Brok and Eitri and convince them to take part in the competition for three gifts, to which they accepted.
On the day of the competition, the first treasure was Sif’s new head of golden hair which fused to her scalp and behaved like real hair, given to Thor who intern gave it to his wife. Next the son of Ivaldi presented Odin with a spear named Gungnir and a magic boat named skithblathnir for Freyr of the Vanir gods.
Brok and Eitri gave Freyr Gullinbursti, a golden bristled pig to pull Freyr’s chariot. For Odin, a golden armband that multiplies itself every night by eight to ensure endless wealth for Odin. Finally Thor received his gift, a mighty short handled hammer called Mjölnir which was so powerful it could only be lifted with a pair of metal gauntlets called Járngreipr and holstered upon a belt called Megingjörð. The Hammer could be summoned to his grasp at will and channel lightning through it. At the conclusion of the vote, Brok and Eitri won with Thor and Freyr voting in their favor.
With the mighty weapon Mjölnir, Thor was made the protector of Asgard, able to wield the mighty weapon to protect his home and it’s gods.
At some point, Odin invited the stone giant Hrungnir to drink an amount of mead to entertain the Æsir, but when he got too drunk and started goading the gods to fight him, the hall became nervous. When Thor arrived and saw the drunken giant threatening his kin, he threw Mjölnir so hard it smashed Hrungnir’s head into pieces, with a piece ended up lodged in Thor‘s head. Hrungnir’s body would end up falling on top of Thor. None of the Aesir in the hall, not even Thor, would able to budge the corpse off him. Thor’s sons, Magni and Modi, who at the time were no bigger than shrubs, would come to their father’s aid, and managed to lift Hrungnir’s body off him while no one was looking.
On another occasion Thor’s hammer was stolen by the Jötunn giant King Thrym while Thor was sleeping. In the place of Mjolnir, Thrym left a note demanding that Odin’s wife, the goddess Frigg be presented to him as a bride in exchange for the hammer. To retrieve it, Thor snuck into Jötunheim with Freya dressed up by Loki as a bridesmaid, which Thor hated.
When Thrym revealed Mjölnir, Thor showed himself and took back his hammer and was able kill Thrym by smashing his skull, along with the other giants who tried to attack Thor and his step mother.
Over the course of a few thousand years Thor gained a reputation as the greatest Jötnar slayer in all the nine realms. Hrungnir, Thrym, Thrívaldi, Geirröðr, Leikn and hundreds more Giants who wished to cross Asgard fell from the swing of Mjolnir.
Divine Domains
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