Hrungnir- Norse GiantGiant"Strongest of Giants"

The Race with Odin

Hrungnir's story begins with Odin riding through Jötunheim on Sleipnir, his eight-legged horse. Hrungnir saw the magnificent steed and boasted that his own horse, Gullfaxi ("Golden Mane"), was finer. He challenged Odin to a race. The two riders galloped at tremendous speed.

So fierce was the competition that Hrungnir did not notice he had crossed into Asgard until he reached the gates. Rather than attack him, the gods invited him to feast in Valhalla. There Hrungnir drank from Thor's own goblets, growing increasingly drunk and boastful.

The Challenge to Thor

As the ale flowed, Hrungnir's boasts became threats. He declared he would sink Asgard beneath the sea, kill all the gods, and carry off Freyja and Sif as his captives. Thor arrived furious at finding a giant threatening his wife and home. He would have killed Hrungnir on the spot, but the giant pointed out that Thor would gain no honor killing an unarmed guest. He challenged Thor to meet him in single combat at Grjótúnagörð, the "stone-fence farmstead" on the border of Jötunheim.

The giants, alarmed that their champion had challenged the thunder god, built a massive clay giant called Mökkurkálfi to support Hrungnir. This clay construct had the heart of a mare and stood nine leagues tall. When Thor arrived with his servant Þjálfi, the clay giant trembled and collapsed in fear.

The Duel

Hrungnir stood ready with his stone head, stone heart, and whetstone weapon, his stone shield held before him. Thor charged across the battlefield and hurled Mjölnir with all his might. At the same instant, Hrungnir threw his whetstone. The two projectiles met in the air: Mjölnir shattered the whetstone but continued on, striking Hrungnir's stone skull and killing him instantly. The giant fell, and one of his enormous legs pinned Thor to the ground.

A fragment of the shattered whetstone lodged in Thor's head. None of the gods could remove it, and it remained there. The Skáldskaparmál says that one should never throw a whetstone across a room, because doing so causes the shard in Thor's head to stir.

Thor's son Magni, only three years old, proved the only one strong enough to lift Hrungnir's leg and free his father. Thor rewarded him with Gullfaxi. Odin was annoyed; he felt so fine a horse should have gone to him.