The Jötnar
‘Jötnar’ describes all of the giants in Norse Mythology, the eternal enemies of the Æsir. They are the most ancient beings in the Norse Cosmos, for the first living thing of all was the giant Ymir, who was formed when the heat of Muspellheim melted the ice in Ginnungagap: ‘there was a quickening in these flowing drops and life sprang up, taking its force from the power that sent the heat’ (Gylfaginning, 5). Ymir was nourished with the milk from Audhumla, the aforementioned gigantic cow who was produced shortly after the first giant, also from the melting ice.
As discussed above, Ymir was killed by Odin and his brothers, and from his body the universe was created. Before being slain, a male and female pair of giants emerged from the sweat of Ymir’s left armpit, and thus the race of frost-giants was born. The jötnar thenceforth multiplied, and their race was also called trolls, thurs, and risi. Although it makes sense to include their homeland, Jötunheimr, in the Nine Worlds of Norse Cosmology, the beings lived all over the universe, including the caves and forests of Midgard, and proved a constant nuisance to men and Æsir alike.
Despite being older than the Æsir, and stronger than most of them, the jötnar never manage to slay the gods. Beyond their great strength, jötnar are not known for their intellect; the previously-mentioned story of the wall around Asgard, built by a giant in disguise, is a case in point. Their main interactions with the Æsir are attempting to seduce or capture Freyja, stealing Mjölnir, or making challenges that they inevitably lose. The giants are also usually portrayed as physically grotesque, in which context Loki’s familiarity with them must be interpreted as perverse, to say nothing of his paternal ancestry.
The Þrymskviða (‘Poem of Thrym’) of the Poetic Edda epitomises the portrayal of giants in Norse Mythology. The giant Thrym steals Mjölnir, and demands Freyja as payment for it. Thor and Loki dress up as Freyja and a bridesmaid, and travel to Jötunheimr for the wedding. The giants are too stupid to realise that the bride is, in fact, Thor, despite Freyja’s reputation for beauty and the enormous appetite for food and alcohol ‘she’ exhibits. When Mjölnir is brought before the wedding feast as payment, a laughing Thor seizes the hammer and batters the giants to death in full drag.