Thor

The Protector of the Realm of Men (Art by Mårten Eskil Winge)

### Spirit of

Thunder, Lightning, Storms, Sacred Groves and Trees, Strength, the Protection of Mankind, the Hallowing, Fertility

## Relatives

### Offspring

Magni, Móði, Þrúðr, Lorride, Ullr

**Thor** is the legendary son of Odin and Jord, and is a deity known for wielding a formidable hammer.

## Overview

He is closely linked with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, exceptional physical prowess, safeguarding humanity, as well as sanctification and fertility. To enhance his might, Thor employs the belt known as Megingjörd, which grants him the ability to double his strength. Furthermore, whenever he hurls his dependable hammer, Mjölnir, bolts of lightning illuminate the skies.

Thanks to his insatiable thirst for combat and unmatched combat skills, Thor is frequently depicted as a deity of war. Simultaneously, he assumes the role of an agricultural god, primarily due to his position as a weather deity responsible for nurturing crop growth. Thor's legendary feats, which involve his relentless vanquishing of adversaries and his epic clashes with the monstrous serpent Jormungandr, as well as the prophecy of their ultimate mutual demise during the cataclysmic events of Ragnarök, are meticulously chronicled in various sources of Norse mythology.

Thor exhibited remarkable prowess in battling the Jotuns, with many of his tales centering on intense conflicts with his adversaries. To execute his responsibilities, Thor relied on his hammer, a creation of the dwarves, which allowed him to dispatch his foes swiftly and with unwavering determination. Additionally, he possessed iron gloves and a belt named Megingjard, which, when fastened, augmented his strength twofold. However, beyond his formidable combat abilities, Thor also embodied aspects of his character that were less geared toward destruction.

As is common among deities, Thor had a prolific offspring and was known for his relationships with various beings. With Sif, he was the father of the goddess Thrud, who also held the potential to be a valkyrie. Járnsaxa bore him a son named Magni, while Modi was his child from a mother whose name remains unrecorded. Additionally, Thor assumed the role of stepfather to the god Ullr. In the same sources, Thor is identified as the son of the god Odin and the personification of the Earth, Fjörgyn. Through Odin, Thor also had numerous brothers.

Thor has a chariot drawn by two goats named Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr, which he uses to travel across the sky. The goals have a very useful ability: every time they were killed, they would regenerate themselves and return the following day completely fine as long as their bones were still intact.

Thor held a prominent place in the hearts of various Germanic tribes, and his protective presence was invoked on numerous objects. One distinctive form often uncovered in Viking Age Scandinavian burials is the pendant shaped like Thor's hammer, Mjöllnir. These hammers were not only worn as symbols of Norse pagan faith but also served as expressions of resistance to the process of Christianization, countering the crosses worn by Christians. Archaeological findings have revealed casting molds used for crafting both Thor's hammers and Christian crucifixes, and intriguingly, there is at least one known example of a combined pendant featuring both a crucifix and Thor's hammer, reflecting the interplay between these two religious traditions during that era.

## Appearance

Thor has a burly figure and a thick waist; with a big figure, quite obese but still muscular and heavily built. He wears a black hooded cloak tied with a yellow leather cord and armor, the latter of which consists of a dark-colored chest with decorative embossing and matching vampire armbands over a long-sleeved shirt.

## Personality

Thor could be described as like a master of the martial arts, loving the thrill of a fight to test the very limits of the skills of his opponent and of himself. However that is in stark contrast to the very naive other half of his personality. Its often said in certain stories that Thor cannot tell a lie due to his innocent nature. Thor is usually very kind and benevolent, going out of his way to help those in need. Thor also holds those close to him in extremely high regard such as Sif and Odin. However Thor is extremely protective, going as far as to hunt down those who have hurt the ones he's close to or the ones he watches over.

Thor as the norse protector of mankind has a special kinship with humanity, often on earth just to be with humans. Though thor has often been described with being hateful towards the Jötunn, however that isn't the case as thor's first wife was Járnsaxa a Jötunn, and on several cases has had deep friendships with Jötunns.

## Powers and Abilities

For being the son of Odin and Jord. Thor is an especially powerful deity even among the Aesir with even being called by his mother as the **STRONGEST** Asgardian god.

## Myths and Legends

### Name

The medieval Germanic forms Þórr (Old Norse), Donar (Old High German), Þunor (Old English), Thuner (Old Frisian) and Thunar (Old Saxon) are cognates—linguistic siblings of the same origin. They descend from the Proto-Germanic theonym \*Þun(a)raz ('Thunder'), which is identical to the name of the Celtic god Taranus (by metathesis of an earlier \*Tonaros, attested in OBrit. Tanaro or Gaul. Tanarus), and further related to the Latin epithet Tonans (attached to Jupiter), via the common Proto-Indo-European root for 'thunder' \*(s)tenh₂-. According to scholar Peter Jackson, those theonyms may have originally emerged as the result of the fossilization of an original epithet (or epiclesis) of the Proto-Indo-European thunder-god \*Perkwunos, since the Vedic weather-god Parjanya is also called stanayitnú- ('Thunderer').

The perfect match between the thunder-gods \*Tonaros and \*Þun(a)raz, which both go back to a common form \*ton(a)ros ~ \*tṇros, is notable in the context of early Celtic–Germanic linguistic contacts, especially when added to other inherited terms with thunder attributes, such as \*Meldunjaz–\*meldo- (from \*meldh- 'lightning, hammer', i.e. \*Perkwunos' weapon) or \*Fergunja–\*(P)ercunyā (from \*perkwun-iyā 'wooded mountains', i.e. \*Perkwunos' realm).

The English weekday name Thursday comes from Old English Þunresdæg, meaning 'day of Þunor'. It is cognate with Old Norse Þórsdagr and with Old High German Donarestag. All of these terms derive from the Late Proto-Germanic weekday \*Þonaresdag ('Day of \*Þun(a)raz'), a calque of Latin Iovis dies ('Day of Jove'; cf. modern Italian giovedì, French jeudi, Spanish jueves). By employing a practice known as interpretatio germanica during the Roman period, ancient Germanic peoples adopted the Latin weekly calendar and replaced the names of Roman gods with their own.

Beginning in the Viking Age, personal names containing the theonym Thórr are recorded with great frequency, whereas no examples are known prior to this period. Thórr-based names may have flourished during the Viking Age as a defiant response to attempts at Christianization, similar to the wide scale Viking Age practice of wearing Thor's hammer pendants.

## Trivia

* Once he almost drank the entire sea on Earth without meaning to.