Norse Mythology

The Mighty Gods of the Vikings...

HRUNGNIR

Norse fabulous creature

A particularly annoying Giant

This mighty giant was always getting drunk and challenging the Gods to contests. One day he claimed his horse GULLFAXI was faster than Odin’s horse Sleipnir. Challenge accepted.

One thrilling horse race later, Odin was the clear winner. But Hrungnir was a sore loser. He never won anything but that never stopped him becoming a belligerent pest. He promptly got drunk, gate-crashed into Valhalla and started hurling abuse.

Well, despite what you might imagine, that sort of thing is not allowed in Valhalla. And they don’t need to call Security – they just ring the bell for Thor. The unruly Giant was dragged outside and challenged to a fight.

With the help of his assistant Thialfi,Thor reduced Hrungnir and his squire Mökkurkálfi to builder’s rubble. (For more exciting details of the battle, see our entry on Thialfi.)

But despite Thor’s victory, it didn’t go entirely his way – he ended up getting fragments of Hrungnir’s stone weapon lodged in his head. He was also trapped for some time under the Giant’s fallen remains, which was far more embarrassing. See also Groa.

Hrungnir Facts and Figures

Name: Hrungnir
Pronunciation: Coming soon
Alternative names:

Gender: Male
Type: fabulous creature
Celebration or Feast Day: Unknown at present

Role: Unknown at present

Good/Evil Rating: Unknown at present
Popularity index: 3386

Copy this link to share with anyone:



Share this page on social media:


Link to this page:

HTML: To link to this page, just copy and paste the link below into your blog, web page or email.

BBCODE: To link to this page in a forum post or comment box, just copy and paste the link code below:

Cite this article

Here's the info you need to cite this page. Just copy the text in the box below.


Article last revised on September 20, 2018 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

Permissions page


Oh woe. Javascript is switched off in your browser.
Some bits of this website may not work unless you switch it on.