Skrymir (Old Norse: Skrýmir) is a giant (jötunn) Thor meets on the road to Jotunheim, in one of the best-known tales from Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda — the story of Thor and Loki’s journey to Utgard. Thor mistakes his glove for a hall, cannot open his food bag no matter how hard he tries, and seems unable to so much as bruise him with his hammer. Only later does Útgarða-Loki (also spelled Utgarda-Loki), the ruler of Utgard, admit the truth: he was Skrymir all along.
The Glove Thor Mistook for a Hall
On the first night of the journey, Thor and his companions find a strange hall to shelter in, with a door as wide as the hall itself and a small side room off to one side. During the night, they are shaken awake by what feels like an earthquake. Thor sits in the doorway with his hammer ready to defend the group, while the others retreat into the side room, too afraid to go further.
In the morning, they find the source: a sleeping giant, Skrymir, snoring loudly enough to shake the ground. The “hall” was his glove. The “side room” was the thumb.
The Knot That Couldn’t Be Untied
Skrymir offers to carry the group’s food in his own food bag and ties it shut before falling asleep again. When Thor goes to open it for supper, he cannot loosen a single knot, no matter how he pulls at the strings. Unlike the other tricks in this story, Snorri’s account never explains how Skrymir managed it.
Furious and hungry, Thor swings his hammer, Mjölnir, at the sleeping giant’s head. Skrymir wakes briefly and asks if a leaf has fallen on his head. Thor tries twice more during the night, striking with even greater force each time, but the giant barely reacts.
The Truth at Utgard
Skrymir leaves the group before they reach Utgard itself. There, Thor, Loki, and Thor’s companion Þjálfi are challenged to a series of contests against Útgarða-Loki’s court: an eating contest, a footrace, a drinking horn, lifting a cat, and a wrestling match. They lose every one.
Only when they are leaving does Útgarða-Loki admit the truth: he was Skrymir all along, and every contest involved a trick. Loki’s opponent in the eating contest was really wildfire itself. Thor’s drinking horn was secretly connected to the ocean. Útgarða-Loki says that Thor drank enough to lower the sea itself, creating the ebb tide. The “cat” he could barely lift a paw off the ground was the World Serpent in disguise. The old woman he could not pin in a wrestling match was old age itself — something nothing can defeat.
Útgarða-Loki also explains why Thor’s hammer seemed to do nothing: he had shifted a mountain into the path of each blow, so the hammer struck solid rock instead of Skrymir. The blows were hard enough to leave three square valleys behind. As soon as he finishes explaining, Útgarða-Loki and his entire city vanish, leaving Thor with nothing left to swing his hammer at.
Read the full story, including how each contest played out, in Thor and Loki’s Journey to Utgard.
Skrymir: Quick Answers
Is Skrymir the same as Útgarða-Loki? Yes. By the end of the story, Útgarða-Loki reveals that he was Skrymir all along, not a separate giant.
Why couldn’t Thor open Skrymir’s food bag? It is the one trick in the story Snorri’s account never explains. Thor simply cannot loosen the knot, no matter how hard he pulls.
Did Thor actually hit Skrymir with his hammer? No. Thor swings his hammer at the sleeping giant three times, aiming to kill him, but Skrymir moves a mountain into the way each time. The blows land on solid rock instead, causing the three square valleys later found in that landscape.
What was Skrymir’s glove mistaken for? A hall with a door as wide as the hall itself, with its thumb mistaken for the small side room Thor’s group slept in overnight.
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