Grid- Norse GiantGiant
Also known as: Gríðr and Gridr
Symbols
Description
When Loki's trick sent Thor to Geiröðr's hall without Mjölnir, it was the giantess Gríðr who armed him with her iron gloves and the staff Gríðarvölr. Both saved his life before the night was over.
Mythology & Lore
Víðarr's Mother
Gríðr bore Odin a son called Víðarr the Silent. At Ragnarök, after Fenrir swallows Odin whole, Víðarr will step on the wolf's lower jaw and tear it apart. The Gylfaginning names him among the gods who survive the final battle.
Thor at Geiröðr's Hall
Loki had been captured by the giant Geiröðr and bought his freedom with a promise: he would bring Thor to the giant's hall without Mjölnir, without his belt of strength, without his iron gauntlets. Thor agreed to the visit, suspecting nothing.
On the road he stopped at Gríðr's dwelling. She told him what Loki had not: that Geiröðr was cunning, far more dangerous than he appeared. She buckled her own belt of strength around him, pressed iron gloves into his hands, and gave him her staff, the Gríðarvölr.
In Geiröðr's hall, Thor sat in a chair that suddenly lurched upward. Gjálp and Greip, the giant's daughters, crouched beneath it, lifting it toward the rafters to crush him against the ceiling. Thor braced Gríðr's staff against the roof beam and pushed down. Their backs broke.
Then Geiröðr himself seized a lump of molten iron with tongs and hurled it. Thor caught it in Gríðr's iron gloves and threw it back through the pillar Geiröðr hid behind, through the giant himself, and through the wall. Eilífr Goðrúnarson's Þórsdrápa and Snorri's Skáldskaparmál both preserve the story, and in both, every weapon Thor wields belongs to Gríðr.