Introduction to Norse Mythology: Thor

A look at Norse mythology's most enduring figure, Thor

Apr 29, 2009

While the leader of the Aesir and creator of men is Odin in Norse mythology, he is less known and less represented in the modern world than Thor, his son.

Thor in Popular History

Thor has always been a popular god. In early-medieval Scandanavian and Germanic countries, Thor was a figure that struck a familiar chord with the working man. While Odin was the patron of warriors and poets, he was inaccessible to farmers and craftsmen, who overwhelming looked to Thor for guidance and wisdom. In fact, after Scandanavia started its process of Christianization, medallions shaped like Thor's hammer, Mjollnir, became the symbols of defiant Norse paganism . Even today, Thor captures our popular imagination; Thor has been a consistent character in Marvel Comics for over 40 years, and has a movie on the way. Pagan movements and certain musical genres pay homage to the figure of Thor in many different ways, and we even have a day of the week named after him (Thursday). So it seems especially prudent to review the history and qualities of this so public deity.

Characteristics

Thor is often characterized by his immense strength. His hammer, Mjollnir, is so heavy only he can lift it, and at one point, Thor manages to lift, if briefly, Jormungand, the serpent that encircles the world. It is this association with strength and Thor's affinity with craftsmanship that made him so appealing to the lower classes of the early medieval world. Thor is, of course, associated strongly with thunder and lightning (and indeed his hammer is said to be able to throw lightning bolts) as well as oak trees. Interestingly, he shares both associations with the Roman god Jupiter.

Thor also has many more stories associated with him than the other Aesir, including many stories that involve his feats of strength and skill, much like the Greek hero Hercules. He also rides a chariot pulled by two goats earning him the epithet 'Charioteer'. Thor's list of attributes and accomplishments is far too long to recount in detail, even his biographers say so. In the Prose Edda, the character High, when recounting the deeds of the Aesir says that "I myself can tell you so many significant tales about him that hours would pass before I have said all I know".

Wagner and Thor

Much of the strength behind Thor's current popularity began with an invigoration of interest in Norse mythology that happened in the 16th and 17th centuries, and was adopted by many artists, composers and writers, who were captured by a sort of false romanticism. One of the prime adherents to these ideas was Richard Wagner, composer of Der Ring des Nibelungen, most widely known for the now famous 'Ride of Valkyries'. Thor appeared in Wagner's work as Donner, the Germanic form of his name, meaning literally 'thunder', and that appearance renewed his popularity on the cultural stage. Since then, and even into the present, Thor has maintained strong literary and cultural connections across the Western world.

The copyright of the article Introduction to Norse Mythology: Thor in Anthropology is owned by Robert Guthrie. Permission to republish Introduction to Norse Mythology: Thor in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.