St. George and Beyond: 12 Dragon-Slayers from Around the World

St. George and Beyond: 12 Dragon-Slayers from Around the World

Tim Flight - May 4, 2018

St. George and Beyond: 12 Dragon-Slayers from Around the World
Thor and Hymir fish for Jörmungandr, Iceland, 18th century. Wikimedia Commons

Thor

Another Scandinavian dragon-slaying, and another character made famous by recent visual culture, Thor is one of the major figures in the pantheon of Norse paganism. From the archaeological and textual record it is clear that Thor was amongst the most popular and revered of all Norse gods, and it is from him that we get the name ‘Thursday’ (from þors dæg, ‘Thor’s day’). Many are the tales told of Thor’s heroic deeds and exploits with his mighty hammer, Mjölnir; his role as a god was to bring thunder and smash up the giants who made frequent war with the gods.

Uniquely on this list, Thor actually encounters the same dragon three times before he manages to kill it. His draconian adversary was Jörmungandr, son of the god Loki and the giantess Angrboða. He was thrown into the sea by Odin as punishment for his parents’ illicit relationship and because of a prophecy about his role in killing the gods. Like Thora’s lindworms, Jörmungandr grew to such a size that he became troublesome. The great dragon encircled the ocean surrounding the world (Midgard in Norse cosmology), and was long enough to grasp his own tail, a symbol originating in Ancient Egypt.

On the first occasion, Thor travels in disguise to the castle of the giant Utgarða-Loki (not to be confused with the god Loki), who challenges him to pick up his grey cat. Thor succeeds in lifting only one paw from the ground, and Utgarða-Loki later reveals that it was, in fact, the Midgard Serpent which he had turned into a cat by magic. Again in disguise, Thor next encountered Jörmungandr whilst fishing with Hymir the giant. Thor reels Jörmungandr into the boat, raises his mighty hammer, but at the last moment Hymir cuts his fishing line, and the dragon escapes.

The third and final occasion of Thor fighting Jörmungandr is successful, but results in the end of the world (Ragnarök). In Snorri Sturluson’s 13th-century Prose Edda (the definitive text on Norse legends), as Ragnarök begins ‘the sea shall gush forth upon the land, because the Midgard Serpent stirs in giant wrath and advances up onto the land’. The world will end as ‘Thor shall put to death the Midgard Serpent, and shall stride away nine paces from that spot; then shall he fall dead to the earth, because of the venom which the Snake has blown at him.’

Advertisement