Mjolnir

Mjolnir was the legendary hammer wielded by Thor, the Aesir god of thunder. Forged by the Huldra Brothers Brok and Sindri, the weapon quickly became infamous for the death and devastation it brought upon the Nine Realms, above all among the giants. It was among the most powerful weapons ever made, rivaled only by the Leviathan Axe that the same smiths later created to oppose it. Through the Norse era only three beings wielded it: Thor, his father Odin, and finally his daughter Thrud.

Forging and the brothers' guilt#

Mjolnir was forged by the Huldra Brothers Brok and Sindri, when they were still relatively unknown smiths eager to make a name for themselves. Sindri would later remark that making the hammer was their legendary run and had put their name on the map. When Thor was given the weapon it swiftly became the greatest murder weapon of the Aesir, securing their dominance and allowing the god of thunder to slaughter scores of giants with devastating ease.

Seeing the destruction wrought upon the giants with the very weapon they had made, the brothers were struck with a profound guilt. To make amends, they forged the Leviathan Axe, a weapon capable of rivaling Mjolnir, and gave it to Laufey the Just, the last guardian of the giants in Midgard. Yet the guilt over Thor's abuse of the hammer caused a rift between Brok and Sindri that went unresolved, until they decided to stop working together and went their separate ways for years. Even so, they still acknowledged Mjolnir, bitterly, as their greatest work.

Powers and nature#

Mjolnir was a short-handled hammer of richly decorated wood, set with a gold pommel shaped with two goats and a head of aggressive form, covered like the Leviathan Axe in Norse runes and symbols. It struck with overwhelming force and, like the axe, could be recalled to its wielder's hand after being thrown, even across great distances. In the God of War age the notion of worthiness held no power over the weapon; while it was very heavy, it is implied that anyone with sufficient strength could lift it.

The hammer was not the source of Thor's lightning, which was innate to him as a god of storm and thunder, as shown by his daughter Thrud commanding lightning without any such claim for her weapons. The hammer was built above all to endure the god himself, who had broken every other weapon forged for him. Even so, Mjolnir held lightning of its own, generating electricity when it struck. Despite its might, Odin was able to make certain things proof against it, as the tree in which Mimir was imprisoned could not be destroyed by any weapon in all the realms, not even by Mjolnir.

The theft by Thrym#

At one point the giant Thrym stole the hammer from Thor while he slept and held it for ransom in exchange for Freya as his bride. Odin saw the theft as a chance to infiltrate Jotunheim and coerced Freya into concealing Thor with her magic so that he might join the wedding feast in disguise. Once Mjolnir was brought forth at the celebration, Thor revealed himself, seized the hammer, and smashed Thrym's head, then killed every giant he could find until Freya cast both herself and Thor back to Asgard, to Odin's anger.

The battles with Kratos and the new wielder#

Thor used Mjolnir in his two battles against Kratos, the first in Midgard and the second in Asgard before Odin's Great Lodge. In the first battle Thor even used the hammer as a means to jolt Kratos' heart and bring the Spartan back into the fight. When Mjolnir collided with the Leviathan Axe, the two equally matched weapons caused a bolt of lightning to freeze on impact, a sign of the rivalry between them and their wielders.

After Odin killed Thor for refusing his orders, the All-Father used the hammer to strike down Thrud. Shortly after the destruction of Asgard, Mjolnir was sent flying into Alfheim, where Thrud found it and became its new owner. She took it up and set out to seek the Valkyries for her training. According to Lunda, Brok and Sindri would be glad that the hammer had passed into good hands.