Extermination of the Giants of Midgard: the Aesir Carnage

The Extermination of the Giants of Midgard, also called the Aesir Carnage, was the last of the brutal genocides ordered by Odin against the Jotnar. Enraged at his banishment from Jotunheim, the Allfather commanded Thor to kill every giant he could find in Midgard, an act that drove the Jotnar to the very edge of extinction and scattered the survivors into hiding.

The false peace#

Tyr, seeking peace between his own Aesir and the Jotnar, proposed a meeting with the Giant kings in Jotunheim and invited his father Odin to represent the Aesir alongside him. Though Odin claimed that Thor's hammer Mjolnir was carried only as a deterrent meant to ensure peace, the Jotnar grew deeply uneasy at the weapon, distrusting it as something that should not exist. Even so, they placed their trust in Tyr. Taking advantage of Odin's professed desire for peace, Tyr brought him into Jotunheim, but the Allfather meant only to spy upon the Giants and steal their secret wisdom.

The Jotnar anticipated this treachery and exposed Odin's true purpose. Knowing now that he could never be trusted, the Giants magically expelled the Allfather from Jotunheim and cursed him never to return.

The slaughter#

Furious at his banishment, Odin unleashed his rage upon the Giants of Midgard, ordering Thor to kill any giant he could find with his hammer. Tyr, wracked with guilt and believing himself responsible for the suffering he had brought upon the Giants, aided the Jotnar in retreating to Jotunheim. The entrances to that realm were then destroyed to keep the Aesir from reaching them, and the Jotunheim realm tower was hidden away in the Realm Between Realms. After this, nearly all the Giants vanished from Midgard, not to be seen for years, though the World Serpent Jormungandr yet remained.

Going into hiding#

In Jotunheim, some of the Jotnar who wished to hide from Odin and Thor had their souls sealed within special marbles by the father of Angrboda. Others fled to parts unknown, never to be seen again. To deceive Odin should he ever set foot in the realm, the corpses of giants were scattered about so that it would appear the whole race had died out.

The hunt for the last giant#

Long after, Odin came to believe that a single giant yet survived in Midgard, one who might hold the secret to the entrance to Jotunheim. He sent his finest tracker, his son Baldur, to find this last giant. Baldur sought the Guardian Laufey, but came instead upon a bearded man named Kratos, mistaking him for the one he hunted. The Guardian had in truth died only days before and been cremated shortly before Baldur's arrival. The long search that followed, and the conflict it ignited, would draw Kratos and his son Atreus into the final unraveling of the Aesir's reign.