Who, "in bloody Hell" was the guy, with a hammer, name Thor?

It is not a long time ago I jumped to a discussion about Thor and it was not just a regular discussion. It was during a trial, where I was questioned (and in accordance to low I had a right to question back) about my photo showing me wearing necklace with Thor’s hammer. Nothing illegal, is it? Well, in my homeland Czech Republic where the trial took place, you never know.

The juridical expert was 100% sure that I’m wrong about Thor and his hammer (even he has never studied Scandinavian and Baltic culture). It is funny that people in central Europe can believe that Thor should be some kind of blood thirsty creature, even around whole Europe Thor’s figure was existing as part of paganism or mythology and legends and he was really not anybody “born to be a killer”.

Thor, in ancient Nordic and Asian mythology well known also as Indra, in Baltics and Finland known as Perkunas or (Ukko) Perkele and among Slavonic nations Perun, was a simple good minded “god” or rather mythological person, patron of farmers, workers and slaves. He was a god of thunder, tempest, harvest and fertility. He had been traveling on his coach from dawn to sunset, if he didn’t have anything else to do. That’s why almost half year there is dark like at night in the North according to this myth, since Thor has something else to do so he didn’t ride around the sky, so there was no sunrise and no sunset – funny, isn’t it? Well, Thor’s stories are mostly funny, unlike Odin the ancient Nordic “philosopher”, Thor was using his easy common sense (and even humor sense) to solve his problems. Usually his hammer wasn’t actively used as weapon but just a tool. The hammer was otherwise his weapon against giants, who represented frost, cold and bad harvest (as they were walking on the fields and everything got frozen under their feet, and their breath was freezing wind).

Good example of Thor way of problem solving is the story about the stolen hammer. In Edda it is serious incident but the story is quite funny for us now. Imagine: One morning Thor cannot find his hammer and through the people talks he finds out that giant Trym took it. Since Trym was in love with goddess Freya Trym could do anything possible to get married with her. When Trym had the hammer he could threaten and blackmail Thor and his people in Walhalla to push Freya to marry Trym.

Now you probably wait how Thor reacts. According to the Central and Western Europe understanding of Nordic mythology and Thor, he should go to fight with him he should call his best einherjers (dead warriors who passed to Valhalla* since fall in a battle as heroes) and go to fight. But Thor did something very different. He asked his sly friend Loke for help and together they made up a plan. Thor dressed himself to women wedding dress and covered his face with a Veil. The Loke accompanied him to Trym. In Trym’s place Loke presented Thor to Trym as Freya who is “shy so that she cannot speak but she will marry Trym”. Trym doesn’t see anything strange and prepare a wedding feast. Although Freya was a tiny woman with golden hair and slim legs and Thor had long red hair and beard and his body was shaped by the farmer works, Trym was certain that the bride coming to him was Freya. Feast starts and Trym get drunk. Thor gets out from the women clothes takes his hammer from Trym and hits Trym with his hammer. And as the hammer is a weapon against giants no more fight is necessary one hit is enough to make Trym powerless. Then Thor and Loke return back to Valhalla where Freya is waiting upset that Thor destroyed one of her beautiful dresses.

And that’s the point my friends. Do you still believe that thunder god Thor is some kind of symbol of violence, war or terror?**

So, why Thor and his hammer should represent something bad? Let me remind you that to Thor’s honour a day in a week: Thurs day means Thor’s day in at least 6 European languages (English inclusive). Thor (or Tor, and its women version Tora) has always usual given name in Scandinavia and sometimes in UK and USA as well. (E.g. Norwegian ethnographer Doctor Thor Heyerdahl or British philosopher Thor Magnusson)

The Thor’s hammer as a jeweler can be easily bought as a souvenir in Nordic countries and even top quality jewelries such as Kalevala Koru© have Thor hammer in their collections. Reporters, hosts in TV shows, athletes or musicians, models, professors, scientists and others are happy to wear Thor’s Hammer. Since there is nothing wrong and there has never been nothing wrong with this jeweler and nothing wrong with Thor, he was just little bit crazy. But who isn’t? ;-)

Thor's hammer in Kalevala Koru (c)
Tomi Joutsen - the solist of Amorphis band, photomodel of Kalevala Koru(c) Thor's hammer campaign

*Valhalla in Nordic mythology was the place "hall with golden" roof where hereos live forever and also Nordic "gods" lived there.

**(I skip the fact that the 6 feet tall Thor with a well-trained muscled could wear 5 feed tiny Freya’s dress and not be revealed by Trym despite his long curly red hair and red beard; I need to point out that Thor and Idun are the only two in the Nordic mythology who should have red hair. And when the incident with the stolen hammer occurred, Idun hadn’t yet been born).*