Thrym

   The Eddic Thryms-Kvida, or Lay of Thrym, also known as Hamarsheimt, ‘the Homecoming of the Hammer’, tells how Thrym the giant stole Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor, and hid it underground. Loki borrowed the feather cloak of Freyja and visited Thrym, who told him that the hammer would only be returned if Freyja came to him as his bride.

   The news of this so infuriated Freyja that Brisingamen, her great necklace, fell to the ground. The Aesir went into council and Heimdall suggested disguising Thor and sending him in place of Freyja. Thor objected but was persuaded by Loki, who accompanied him as the bride’s attendant. On arrival the supposed bride ate an ox and eight salmon, and drank three casks of mead. When the wedding was to be consecrated with the hammer—the traditional marriage rite—Thor seized it and murdered not only Thrym but all his womenfolk, including his aged sister, who had asked for a gift from the bride. If, as one may presume, the war between Thrym and Thor, of which the above is a version, resulted in the defeat of Thrym, it would explain why Thrymheim, his castle, was allotted to Skadi as a residence.