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Norse

Mjölnir

Thor’s Hammer · The Best Of Weapons · The Crusher

01Identity

Mjölnir in Norse tradition

Thrown from Thor’s hand, Mjölnir produces thunder and lightning before returning to him like a boomerang. It is a hammer with a short handle, made shorter when Loki, disguised as a fly, disturbed the dwarf working the forge. Thor needs iron gauntlets to hold it. The hammer always returns to Thor after it is thrown.

Mjölnir was made by the dwarfs Sindri and Brokkr, or Eitri and Brokk, and brought to the Æsir by Loki. It was forged in the dwarf realm and given to Thor as his weapon. The gods judged it the most precious of the forged objects, despite its short handle. In the myths, it is Thor’s weapon against giants and other enemies, including Hrungnir, Hymir and Þrymr. It was also intended as the gods’ secret weapon in their war against the giants.

Top questions

The quick answers

  • What is Mjölnir?

    Mjölnir is a Norse deity.
    Source

    Source

    • Dictionary of northern mythology
02The names

The names Mjölnir answers to

Mjǫllnir

Old Norse form of the hammer’s name

SourceDictionary of northern mythology

Thor’s Hammer

The hammer belonging to Thor

SourceDictionary of northern mythology

Thor’s Weapon

Thor’s principal weapon

SourceDictionary of northern mythology

03Who it is

Mjölnir, and where the myths place it

Appears in

The myths across MythSource where Mjölnir features, each on that figure’s page.

The film

The Underdrawing video on Mjölnir embeds here once it publishes.