Mjölnir

Today the symbol appears in a wide variety of media and is again worn as a pendant by various groups, including adherents of modern Heathenry.

Thor initially rejects the proposal, but Loki convinces him that if he doesn't, the jötnar in Jötunheim who stole his hammer will soon call Asgard their home.

That night, Þrymr says that he is surprised to find his bride-to-be ferociously eating and drinking, consuming nine entrees—one ox and eight salmon—and three casks of mead.

[13] Þrymr lifts "Freyja"'s bridal veil to kiss her, only to spring back: The bride's eyes were "terrifying", as if "fire is burning from them".

Early in Gylfaginning, High describes the god Thor and his "three special possessions": his hammer Mjölnir, his iron gloves Járngreipr, and his belt Megingjörð.

High explains that Thor must wear his gloves with his hammer, and that Mjölnir is well known among the jötnar due to the skulls of many jötunn it has smashed over time.

[26] Gylfaginning concludes with a foretelling of the events of Ragnarök, during which the world suffers from cataclysm and disasters before returning green and beautiful.

In it, after the gods had grown tired of Hrungnir's obnoxious boasting in Asgard, they call on Thor, who immediately appears, his hammer raised.

[29] In reference to this tale, the section provides extended excerpts from Haustlöng, a piece attributed to 10th century skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir.

Þjóðólfr's poem mentions Mjölnir in a few different instances, such as "The rock-gentlemen [giant] did not have to wait long after that for a swift blow from the tough multitude-smashing friend [Thor] of hammer-face-troll [Miollnir]" and "There sank down the gully-land [mountain] prince [giant] before the tough hammer and the rock-Dane-breaker [Thor] forced back the mighty defiant one.

Loki goes to the svartálfar, and for him the Sons of Ivaldi make three special items: Sif's hair of gold, Freyr's ship Skíðblaðnir, and Odin's spear Gungnir.

[32] Seeing this, Loki wagers his head with the dwarf Brokkr on whether his brother Eitri can make three more items of equal quality.

In 2019, American scholar Katherine Suzanne Beard proposed an extension of the typology based on factors such as hammer shape and suspension type.

[40] Scholars have also noted that the hammer may have developed from a pendant worn by other ancient Germanic people, the so-called club of Hercules amulet.

[40] In Viking Age cremation graves in the Mälaren area, Åland and Russia, there are finds of what archaeologists have named Thor's hammer-rings.

The earliest examples are from the Vendel Period but they appear to have become more common in the late Viking Age, which might be connected to political and religious conflicts.

[42] The Eyrarland Statue, a copper alloy figure found near Akureyri, Iceland dating from around the 11th century, may depict Thor seated and gripping his hammer.

As Beard notes, Thor "is the only known god to have been called on to bless or hallow runestones from the Viking Age", a fact observed by scholars since at least the 19th century.

[46] Earlier in the same work, Adam relays that in 1030 an English preacher, Wulfred, was lynched by assembled Germanic pagans for "profaning" a representation of Thor.

[47] 12th century Danish author Saxo Grammaticus's Gesta Danorum, an euhemerized version of the god depicts him as wielding a clava, a club made from oak.

Beard notes that "the archaeological hammer finds (even those contemporary to Adam's account) clearly do not resemble these club-like weapons at all, making it possible that their existence in the literature is more likely a result of interpretatio romana than anything else (although one should remember that the Irish Dagda also uses a club ...).

It covered birth, marriage, and death, burial, and cremation ceremonies, weapons and feasting, travelling, land-taking, and the making of oath between men.

The famous weapon of Thor was not only the symbol of destructive power of the storm, of fire from heaven, but also a protection against the forces of evil and violence.

As scholar Rudolf Simek summarizes, "as the Bronze Age rock carvings of axe or hammer-bearing god-like figures show, [Mjölnir] played a role as a consecratory instrument early on, probably in a fertility cult ...

[53] Thor is one of various deities associated with or personifying thunder who wields a hammer-like object associated with phenomena such as lightning or fire in a variety of myth bodies.

Numerous scholars have identified the concept of Thor and his hammer, like Indra, Zeus, and the Dagda, as stemming from Proto-Indo-European mythology.

Examples include Mjølnerparken in Copenhagen, Denmark; the Mjølnir crater, a meteorite crater off the coast of Norway; the Hammer of Thor monument in Quebec, Canada; the Thor's Hammer rollercoaster in the Tusenfryd theme park in Norway; the Norwegian football club FK Mjølner; and a variety of ship names, including the HNoMS Mjølner (1868) and several ships by the name of HSwMS Mjölner.

As noted by the Anti-Defamation League symbol database entry for "Thor's Hammer", "Although its traditional origins are non-racist, and although most Asatruers today are not racist, the Thor's Hammer symbol has been appropriated by neo-Nazis and other white supremacists, especially those who practice racist or white supremacist versions of neo-Norse beliefs under the guise of Odinism or Wotanism.

White supremacists will often even create racist versions of the Thor's Hammer, incorporating swastikas or other hate symbols into the decoration.

"[63] Scholar Katherine Beard notes that "most people who wear hammer pendants today do so for cultural, religious, or decorative reasons and maintain absolutely no ties to any racist groups or beliefs".