Hyrrokkin- Norse GiantGiant
Also known as: Hyrrokin
Symbols
Description
Summoned when the gods could not launch Baldr's great funeral ship, Hyrrokkin rode in on a wolf with vipers for reins, shoved Hringhorni into the sea with a single push that set the rollers ablaze, and nearly died at Thor's hands for her trouble.
Mythology & Lore
Baldr's Funeral
When Baldr lay dead from the mistletoe dart, the gods carried his body to the shore where his ship Hringhorni waited to serve as his funeral pyre. The ship would not move. The combined strength of the Æsir could not shift it from the rollers. They sent to Jötunheim for a giantess named Hyrrokkin.
She came riding a wolf, using twisted vipers for reins. When she dismounted, Odin ordered four berserkers to hold the beast, but it thrashed so violently they had to throw it to the ground. Hyrrokkin walked to the prow of Hringhorni, set her hands against the hull, and shoved. One push. The ship drove forward into the sea, the log rollers burst into flame, and the earth shook.
Thor seized Mjölnir. The other Æsir stepped between them and pleaded for peace. He lowered the hammer, and the funeral went forward.
The Gylfaginning gives Hyrrokkin this single scene. She arrived, she launched the ship no god could move, she nearly died for it, and she vanished from the sources.
Relationships
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