Þrymr

Thor awoke and found Mjölnir missing, as told in Þrymskviða, a poem in the Poetic Edda. Furious, he shook his beard and searched for the hammer. He asked Loki what had happened. Loki went to Giant-land in a feather-shirt and entered Þrymr’s court. Þrymr admitted that he had hidden Mjölnir eight leagues beneath the earth. He would return it only if Freyja came to him as his bride.

Loki carried this demand back to the gods. Thor and Loki went to Freyja and asked her to prepare for a bridal journey to the giants. Freyja grew furious. Her anger shook the hall, and the great Brisingamen necklace burst from its fastening. She refused to marry Þrymr. The gods then gathered to decide how the hammer could be recovered. Heimdall proposed that Thor should wear bridal clothes, a veil, and Freyja’s necklace. Keys would hang from his belt. Loki would go with him as his handmaiden.

Thor disliked the disguise and feared the shame it would bring him. He accepted it because the giants might otherwise take possession of Asgard. The gods sent word to Þrymr that his bride would arrive after nine nights. Thor dressed as Freyja, while Loki dressed as his maid. They travelled to Jotunheim in Thor’s goat-drawn chariot. Þrymr prepared a wedding feast and invited the giants. He seated the supposed bride beside himself.

Thor ate everything within reach, including a whole roasted ox, and drank two barrels of mead. Þrymr was astonished by the bride’s appetite. Loki explained it by saying that Freyja had been so eager for the wedding that she had eaten nothing during the journey. Þrymr then lifted the veil and saw Thor’s fierce eyes. Loki offered another explanation, saying that Freyja had not slept for eight nights because of her excitement. Þrymr ordered Mjölnir to be brought and placed in the bride’s lap as part of the marriage ceremony. Thor seized the hammer, cast off the disguise, and used Mjölnir to kill Þrymr and the assembled giants.