#Odin riding sleipnir series

However, Thor’s reward to Magni angered Odin, who wanted to own the great horse that started all this. Thor was so impressed with his illegitimate son’s strength and braggadocio that he gave him the fantastic horse Goldmane from his slain enemy. Gods’ and heroes’ children are often improbably young when they perform their first great deeds, and Thor’s boy Magni was only three nights old on this occasion.Īfter Magni pulled the leg off Thor, he bragged to his father that he surely would have defeated this stone being with only his mighty baby fists. This son’s mother was one of the anti-goddesses, and it was only Magni who had enough strength to lift the stone leg off of his pinned-down father. That is, until Thor’s own son, named Magni, came forward. Magni, Thor’s Sonīecause Hrungnir was made of stone, he was so heavy that no one, including the mighty Thor, could pull the leg off of Thor. Moreover, as the stone-bodied anti-god collapsed, one heavy leg fell over Thor and pinned him down where he could not move.

In the battle, a fragment of Hrungnir’s whetstone got lodged in Thor’s own brain. The hammer, however, kept traveling and hit the anti-god directly in the middle of his head, killing him. The two weapons met in mid-air, with the hammer smashing the stone into a cloud of pieces. Hrungnir, in turn, threw his heavy whetstone at Thor. Thor threw his hammer with all his might at his stone-headed enemy. (This was the only occasion in any story from Norse mythology when the god named for thunder was associated with thunder.) On the day of the duel, lightning struck and thunder rolled as Thor made his dramatic appearance.

#Odin riding sleipnir series

This article comes directly from content in the video series Norse Mythology. Hrungnir returned home to the adulation of his fellows, who celebrated him for being the first to challenge the great Thor to a duel. The bold Thor agreed to face Hrungnir at the appointed place and time. Instead, Hrungnir challenged Thor to a duel at the border between the gods’ homes and those of the anti-gods. Thor threatened Hrungnir with his hammer, but the crafty anti-god asked if Thor would really be so honorless as to strike an unarmed opponent within the gods’ own enclosure. Hrungnir was amused at Thor’s anger and said that Thor’s own father, Odin, had invited him in to drink. He was furious to see an enemy of the gods drinking inside the gods’ own feasting hall, being served from his own drinking horns by a goddess. Thor arrived as Hrungnir’s threats continued. He even bragged that he would kill all the gods except for two goddesses, Freyja and Sif. He soon got drunk and boastful, and bragged that he would uproot Odin’s own hall, Valhalla, and take it home with him. Hrungnir was served as much to drink as he wanted out of the huge drinking horns that Thor was used to drinking from. Now that Hrungnir was within the homeland of the gods, the gods’ own customs dictated that they had no choice but to treat him hospitably.

Hrungnir rode right in through the gates of the gods’ enclosure, right behind Odin. However, Odin was not a god who would always keep his word, so rather than lose his head over his bet, he started riding back home in a hurry.īut Odin was followed closely by Hrungnir, riding Goldmane. At this point, no doubt with the golden mane of this horse shining brilliantly in the breeze, Odin realized that he had lost his bet, and would have to forfeit his head. Hrungnir then introduced his own horse, named Goldmane. In response to Hrungnir’s compliment, Odin said that he was willing to bet his own head that no one there among the anti-gods had a finer horse than he had. The horse was supposed to be extra fast because of the doubled legs. Hrungnir complimented Odin on his outstanding eight-legged stallion, Sleipnir. He came to the home of an anti-god named Hrungnir, who was made of stone. One time, the god Odin rode into the lands of the gods’ enemies. (Image: Kalleeck/Shutterstock) Hrungnir: The Anti-god Odin was not a god who would always keep his word. One of the stories is about how the god Odin got his son Thor into a duel with the strongest anti-god of all, Hrungnir. The myths tell about their fighting from the beginning of time to its end. By Jackson Crawford, University of Colorado, Boulder The Norse myths are largely the account of the rivalry between two great sides of a family of powerful supernatural beings, the gods and the ‘anti-gods’.