Norse Storm god Thor was fishing with the giant Hymir. Unfortunately for Hymir he refused to provide Thor with bait, Thor smacks the head off Hymir’s largest ox to use as his bait. They row to a point where Hymir often sat and caught flat fish, where he reeled up two whales, but Thor demands to go further out to sea, and does so despite Hymir’s warnings.

Thor then assembles a strong line and a large hook and baits it with the ox head, which Jörmungandr bites. Thor pulls the serpent from the water, and the two face one another, Jörmungandr dribbling venom and blood. Fearful, Hymir turns a whiter shade of pale, and as Thor grabs his hammer to kill the serpent, the giant cuts the line, leaving the Sea serpent to sink beneath the waves.

Thor goes fishing for the Midgard Sea Serpent in this picture from an 18th-century Icelandic manuscript. Public Domain.

According to Norse mythology in The Prose Edda, the final battle between the sea serpent and Thor will occur at Ragnarök, at a future date. At this time, Jörmungandr will rise out of the sea and poison the sky. Thor will slay Jörmungandr and then walk nine paces before falling dead, having been poisoned by the serpent’s venom.

Written by Nifty Brýn Buckles©2018-2020 All Rights Reserved

Sources and Reference:

• Art above: Thor and the Midgard Serpent, Emil Doepler painting  in Public Domain.

   

• Sørensen, Preben M. (2002). “Þorr’s Fishing Expedition (Hymiskviða)”. In Acker, Paul; Larrington, Carolyne. The Poetic Edda: Essays on Old Norse Mythology. Williams, Kirsten (trans.). Routledge. pp. 119–138. ISBN 0-8153-1660-7.

• Snorri Sturluson; Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist (transl.) (1916). Prose Edda. The American-Scandinavian Foundation.