Hringhorni- Norse ArtifactArtifact"Greatest of Ships"
Also known as: Ringhorn
Titles & Epithets
Description
The greatest of all ships, so vast that no god could move it from its rollers. Only the giantess Hyrrokkin's single push sent it thundering into the sea, rollers bursting into flame, to bear Baldur's body on its final burning voyage.
Mythology & Lore
The Launch
Hringhorni belonged to Baldur. When Baldur was killed by a mistletoe dart, the Æsir chose his own ship for the funeral pyre. But the vessel would not move. In Snorri's Gylfaginning, none of the gods could push it from its rollers.
They sent to Jötunheim for the giantess Hyrrokkin. She arrived riding a wolf with vipers for reins. She gave the ship a single push so powerful that the rollers burst into flame and the earth shook beneath it. Thor was so angered by the violence of the launch that he reached for Mjölnir, but the other gods held him back.
The Funeral
Baldur's body was carried aboard and laid upon the pyre. His wife Nanna collapsed from grief and died on the spot. Her body was placed beside his. Odin laid the ring Draupnir on the flames as a final gift, then bent to whisper something in his dead son's ear. No one ever learned what he said.
Baldur's horse was led aboard fully caparisoned. Thor hallowed the pyre with Mjölnir, and the ship burned. Úlfr Uggason's Húsdrápa also describes the scene, preserving the funeral in skaldic verse.