Thor

Thor is a member of the Aesir, the tribe of Gods worshipped by the medieval Scandinavian pagans, and some modern nutters. Thor is the defender of the Gods, and the strongest of all of them. In the myths he is mostly fighting giants; Hrungnir and Geirrod were his most famous opponents. He is described as red-haired and bearded. In the Norse myths, his character is strong, loyal and honest. He is often quick to anger, but also quick to regain his temper. However, he is not renowned for his brains, and so has to rely on brawn. One of the myths tells how this does not work for him, when he visits Utgard-Loki the giant and is tricked again and again. Thor's main weapon is the hammer Mjolnir. This was made for him by the dwarfs Brokk and Eitri. He also has iron gloves and a girdle that doubles his strength. He drives a chariot pulled by two goats and it is the rumble of the chariot wheels in the mountains that was said to be the cause of thunder. Lightning was believed to be the sparks from Thor's hammer, or from the piece of whetstone stuck in his head after his duel with the giant Hrungnir. Once Thor's hammer was stolen by a giant, and held at ransom for the price of Freyja as the giant's wife. To get his hammer back, Thor had to dress as a woman and pretend to be Freyja. Thor's father is Odin and his mother is the Earth. He is married to Sif, a Goddess of the harvest with golden hair, and has a daughter with her called Thrud. Once, a dwarf called Alvis wanted to marry Thrud, so Thor kept him talking all night until the sun came up and turned Alvis to stone. He also has a giantess mistress, called Jarnsaxa, and with her he has two sons, Magni and Modi, who will survive Ragnarok and become part of the new order of Gods. At Ragnarok, Thor will fight the Midgard Serpent, Jormagund. As he kills it, it will bite him, and Thor will die from the poison in Jormagund's fangs. Thor was the patron God of freemen, whereas Odin was the patron God of noblemen and also the God of poetry. This meant that Odin was far more widely written about in the medieval poems, but that Thor was far more widely worshipped. This can be seen in the number of Norse names that include Thor. A few examples are Thorgeir (Thor-spear), Thorolf (Thor-wolf), Thorbrand (Thor-sword) and Thorbjorn (Thor-bear). I know of no examples of humans named after Odin. Some historians think that Thor actually replaced Odin as the 'top God' in the later stages of Norse paganism. Overall, Thor is strong and formidable to his enemies, but also an endearing character because of his good nature and because he is so slow on the uptake.