Thor is not the god of thunder you expected

With his jötnar-killing hammer Mjölnir, Thor stands as the most iconic æsir, despite not being the All-Father (Alföðr). He stars in several of the adventures of Norse literature and is the main line of defense against threats from gods and men. All in all, although he is not a diffuse character like the trolls or the elves, we have a limited image of Thor that is worth reviewing to know who and how he is.

Thor's typical portrait

Thor is uniformly presented as the god of storm, thunder and war, the strongest of the æsir and the giant-slayer protector of mankind. Moreover, as told in the saga of Bárðar Snæfellsáss and the Eiríks saga rauða, he had red hair. In the Þrymskviða, where he was forced to dress as a bride, he adds that he had a beard. This poem highlights his masculinity and great appetite, as he eats an ox at the banquet, traits he must comically conceal. Although in the Gylfaginning he is unable to completely drink a drinking horn, lift a cat or defeat the old woman Elli, he actually performed feats that highlighted his appetite and strength: the horn was connected to the sea, causing the tides, the cat was really the huge snake Jörmungandr and the old woman was age, whom even the gods cannot defeat. To all this we must add that his name is etymologically related to thunder and is considered an equivalent to thunder gods of other pantheons, such as Zeus and Teshub, who faced great serpents or dragons.

A partial picture

That said, Thor is not limited to those characteristics. This is an issue that does not apply only to him. When information about a people's mythology or culture in general is shared in a popular setting, it is either simplified to synthesize key points or describes the situation in a particular area and time range. Even in academia, details about Norse mythology are limited by the sources themselves. Written sources collected myths passed down orally for centuries, which could be altered voluntarily or unintentionally. Moreover, before becoming an official religion, which occurred centuries before the writing of these texts, Christianity may have influenced these stories. Only the rigidity of the scaldic poetry was able to preserve practically intact the details of these myths, but they are scarcer in this source. The same is true of older archaeological finds, which are often cryptic to the inexperienced. Analysis of these sources and contrast with later ones makes it possible to distinguish to some extent what was peculiar to Norse myths and what has been a Christian influence. Still, it must be kept in mind that these are not standardized accounts. An ancient Icelander did not have to see Thor in the same way as a Scandinavian. The same is true if you compare different eras. In fact, I'm sure you know of examples closer to home where this is the case, such as Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast.

Not so associated with thunder

Etymology

Etymologically, Thor's name (Þórr) comes from the Proto-Germanic *Þunraz, associated with thunder. We could take the case for closed and assume that Thor is related to thunder and always has been. In fact, on the 6th century AD Nordendorf I fibula, the names Logaþore, Wodan (Odin) and Wigiþonar appear. The appearance of Þórr in the last name could indicate that already then that god, equivalent to Thor, was linked to thunder, although it is unknown whether it was a personification of this(1). However, everyday usage could dissociate it and simply refer to the god. A closer example is the Roman god Jupiter, which comes from dyu-piter ("the father of light"), as is the case with the Greek Zeus pater or the Vedic Diaus Pitar, without these being necessarily identical or their functions revolving predominantly around light.

As evidence for this, in Iceland there are no cognates of Þórr with the meaning "thunder," unlike in Denmark or Norway. Instead, in several of these languages, including Icelandic, thunder is linked with the chariot and the noise it produces. In Iceland, this chariot did not have to be divine and, in Sweden, the chariot could belong to any god, such as Freyr, Freyja, Baldr or Lýtir, among others. It is Norway where the thundering chariot does belong to Thor. Being isolated, in Iceland, Thor's domain was the weather in general, from wind and snowfall to the clearing of clouds.

Thunderstones and Mjölnir

It is the same with thunderstones, apparently unknown in Iceland. These stones have been linked to the throwing of the Mjölnir, but there is no convincing evidence for this. Both Scandinavia and Iceland had throwing weapons, so it does not seem unreasonable to include them in the myths.

Similarly, although the hammer is said to return to Thor's hands in Skáldskaparmál to reflect that lightning stones embedded in the earth re-emerge, there is no contemporary evidence to corroborate this claim. This ability is only presented here and in the Þorsteins þáttr bæjarmagns, where, moreover, the hammer is infallible.

Despite explanations for the size of the Mjölnir's handle (a forging flaw caused by Loki at Skáldskaparmál and its breakage in a fight at Gesta danorum, where it was a club), on a runestone from Västergötland it occupies almost 2.5 meters. There has been much speculation about the significance of the short handle, from a mockery of his manliness to signaling a limitation like those of other æsirs, such as Odin and Týr, one-eyed and one-armed, respectively.

The blows of the Mjölnir are often imagined with powerful sparks, as an equivalent to Zeus' thunderbolts. By equivalence with other gods and through different etymologies it has been related to the thunderbolts, but, although they are not necessarily discardable hypotheses, the interpretation of its name as "demolisher" is safer, because precisely the use it is known, to crush its enemies.

Use of thunder

In the Prosaic Edda, one of the most important sources in the Thor myths, he only uses thunder once in the Haustlöng of the Norwegian scald Thjódólfur úr Hvini, within the Skáldskaparmál, where he kills the jotunn Hrungnir. In the prologue of the prosaic Edda, the only descendant of Tror, as he calls the analogue of Thor, associated with thunder is Loriði. On the other hand, in the story of Útgarða-Loki in the Gylfaginning, he is the cause of tides and of altering a mountain range, but he does not use thunder, although he is supposedly so linked with it. In the poetic Edda, although there are poems about Thor, the only clear references to thunder is as a herald of the Valkyries.

Instead, in the Lokasenna and the Þrymskviða, he had the power to shake the earth, like the jotunn Skrýmir and Loki. In the Lokasenna it is noted that he makes the mountains tremble when returning home. The meaning is ambiguous, as it could be interpreted literally, and could imply an avalanche or possibly an earthquake, or allude to thunder. In the Þrymskviða, Freyja exchanges positions with Thor, being able to shake the æsir's hall with a snort when Thor wants to give her a command. In the same poem, when Thor goes with his goats to the house of the jotunn Þrymr, the mountains burst into flames, like a volcanic eruption. On the other hand, the seismic snoring of Skrýmir (Útgarða-Loki) could be a mockery ridiculing Thor's powers, a clear way of proving that he could do the same but better.

Defender first and foremost 

But, in spite of everything, this does not mean that Thor is a god of the earth either. The use of superlative actions, such as shaking the earth or the sky, are symbols of power and authority. What really represents Thor is the strength and power with which he accomplishes his feats, such as when Thor goes whaling and brings out Jörmungandr, the serpent that surrounds the world. Similarly, his interventions highlight his role as protector, both of gods and humans in general, and of women in particular, acting on the basis of established codes of honor. This is shown in the Lokasenna, where he intervenes when Loki insults his wife Sif; in the Alvíssmál, where he protects his daughter from the dvergr Alvíss, or in the Völuspá, where he prevents a jotunn from marrying Freyja. In all these cases, he appears and acts immediately when he is needed.

An image we are not used to

Due to the interest in Norse mythology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the image we have of Thor conforms to the conventions present at that time, when it was popularized in Europe in the search for an identity of its own, away from classicism. This interest stemmed from Germany which, in the 20th century, promoted the Nordic myths, interpreted as if they were Teutonic, with a propagandistic function, both political and religious, which rejected external influences and sought German purity. Consequently, we tend to see Thor as a medieval soldier, with his helmet and surcoat, and a bodybuilder's body. But, leaving aside that one can be extremely strong without being slender, Thor's image was not stable. Often, the only distinguishing detail was his hammer. Even the beard was not a constant feature.

Source

• Taggart, D. (2017). How Thor lost his thunder: the changing faces of an Old Norse God. Routledge.