Before we get started I just wanted to mention that only 10% of you are subscribed. So if
you enjoy the content and want MORE then please subscribe to support the channel.
Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In today’s video, we’re going to discuss
six of the most powerful giants in Norse mythology. In this list, we’re ignoring giants
who function more as gods, like Loki and Hel, and we’re ignoring giants who aren’t humanoid,
like Fenrir, a giant wolf, and Jormungandr, the World Serpent.
Let’s get into it.
Starting off our list is Ymir.
To speak of Ymir is to speak of the beginning of the universe,
for he drew breath before any of the gods.
First, there was only Ginungagap, the great void. In it, two realms emerged: Nifelheim, a world
of ice in the North, and Muspelheim, a world of fire in the South. The Northern cold of Nifelheim
spread into the heart of Ginnungagap, and the heat from Muspelheim emanated from the south.
Fire and frost met; droplets of water formed, and in these droplets there was a quickening. Ymir,
whom the giants called Aurgelmir, was given form and life. He was the very first frost giant.
All of the other frost giants in Norse mythology descend from him. Later, he
began to sweat profusely in his sleep, a sweat of procreation. Two giants, one male and one female,
grew underneath his left arm, and his legs came together, coupling to produce a another son.
Another being emerged, Audhumbla, the cosmic cow. Four rivers of milk flowed from her udders,
and it was from these rivers that Ymir drank and nourished himself.
Though Audhumbla provided sustenance, it was she who would unearth the sire of Ymir’s doom.
She subsisted on salty blocks of ice, and her incessant licking
eventually thawed out and freed Buri, the first god. He sired a son, Bor, who took the giantess
Bestlas as his wife, and they, in turn, had three sons: Odin, Vili, and Ve, who attacked Ymir,
killing him, then tearing apart his body into the parts from which they made the world.
Up next we have Bergelmir.
Bergelmir is an ancient giant. He’s the son of Thrudgelmir, who’s the son of Aurgelmir,
also called Ymir, whom we just discussed. He plays a small
but incredibly important role in Norse mythology.
After Ymir is killed, so much blood gushes from his wounds that nearly all the frost giants drown.
Only Bergelmir, along with his family, manage to survive.
They climbed on top of a wooden box, which allowed them to stay above the flood.
As they descended from Ymir, so did every other frost giant descend from them.
Taking our next spot is Hrungnir.
Hrungnir makes this list for his prodigious strength. He’s said to be the strongest giant
in all of Norse mythology, so it’s fitting that he and Thor, the strongest of the gods,
engage each other in a duel to the death. Thor launches his hammer, and Hrungnir launches his
massive whetstone. Both weapons collide mid flight. The whetstone breaks in two:
half of it lodging in Thor’s skull, where it remained permanently, and half of it falling
to earth, where it became the source of every whetstone that would come after. Thor’s hammer,
being the most powerful weapon in Norse mythology, wasn’t so much as scratched and wasn’t hit off
course. It struck the middle of hrungnir’s head, shattering his skull and killing him instantly.
Up next we have Skrymir.
Unlike the other entries on this list, Skrymir made the cut for his mastery of the magical arts.
Thor and Loki encounter him when they go on an adventure to giant land.
This myth plays out like some malicious magician using his tricks to deceive,
dismay, and dispirit a child, in which Skrymir is the magician and Thor is the child.
The two of them first meet in the morning, and to Thor’s surprise, what he thought was a great
hall in which he and his group took shelter was actually only one of Skrymir’s huge gauntlets.
The colossal giant suggested that they travel together and combine their provisions,
an idea to which Thor and his party are amenable. When they make camp for the night, Skrymnir,
in the same instant, tosses the provision bag to Thor and says that he’s going to bed. To Thor’s
surprise, he can’t untie any of the knots and access the food. This enrages him, so he tries to
kill the giant with his hammer on three separate occasions throughout the night; but each blow,
to Thor’s chagrin, inflicts absolutely no damage, managing only to lightly rouse Skrymir from sleep,
with him asking mildly each time if some light object, like a leaf or an acorn, had fallen on
him. The giant departs the next morning, and Thor comes to the fortress of Utgarda-Loki,
another giant, where he is subjected to a series of challenges, all of which he fails. The morning
after that Utgarda-Loki comes by to see his visitors off, and it is here that he reveals
to Thor that he was Skrymnir, the giant with whom he travelled just before coming to the fortress,
and that everything he experienced in the last day has been the product of illusion and trickery.
He explains that Thor couldn't untie the provision bag because it was fastened with steel wire;
that Thor’s hammer blows in the middle of the night did no damage because he shielded himself
with a mountain each time; that Thor couldn’t finish his drink because it was connected to
the ocean; that Thor couldn’t lift a cat because it was the World Serpent in disguise, and that
Thor couldn’t win a wrestling match against an old woman because she was the personification
of old age. And with that explanation given, the giant and the fortress vanish, leaving Thor
momentarily mystified, then livid, brimming with impotent fury, as he was without a foe to fell.
Taking our next spot is Hrym
Not much is said of Hrym, a frost giant, as he only briefly features in the cataclysmic events
of Ragnarok. To discuss Hrym we have to discuss the Naglfar, a ship fashioned from the unclipped
toenails of the dead, that's destined to sail against Asgard when the last battle comes. This
is why people trimmed the toenails of the deceased: each foot tended to
in this way was thought to delay the construction of the Naglfar by denying it a pinch of trimmings.
When the Midgard Serpent manoeuvres its colossal bulk and advances on Asgard,
the ocean will flood the land, and it is then the Naglfar, that dreaded ship, will loosen
from its moorings. It will be captained by Hrym, who will lead the frost giants against Asgard,
as Loki will lead the hordes of undead and as Surtr will lead the fire giants.
And this brings us to our final entry, Surtr.
Come Ragnarok, everything that can go wrong goes wrong: two giant wolves devour the sun and moon;
a huge snake spits so much venom into the sky that the stars go dark; earthquakes shake the land,
even the World Tree; another huge wolf charges forward, lower jaw against the ground,
upper jaw pressed up against the sky, and consumes everything in its path; and Surtr,
his fiery forces in tow, appear to engulf the world in flame
Amid the din and upheaval of the world being unmade, the sky splits open, and through a fiery
gash of a portal come riding the warriors of Muspelheim. Surtr, leading his forces,
is the first to emerge. He brandishes his flaming sword over his head, and fire radiates from him
in every direction, scorching the land. All the armies and monsters poised to assail Asgard muster
just past the rainbow bridge, which shatters after their crossing. Surtr and Freyr meet on the field
of battle in single combat, but Freyr, because he gave away his good sword, will be cut down.
And that’s it for this video! If you enjoy the content please LIKE the video
and SUBSCRIBE to the channel
As always, leave your video suggestions down below