Skrymir is the tallest of the giants, and he is also the toughest and the smartest. Skrymir resides in the Jotumheim region of Utgard. Udgard Loki is another name for Skrymir. Skrymir is skilled in the magical arts, particularly illusions, which he frequently employs to provoke the wrath of the Nordic gods. At the beginning of the Skrymir mythos, Thor is the one who leads a journey to the country of the giants. Thjalfi and Roskva, two other gentlemen, also came on the trip. Even Loki, the Norse pantheon’s most notorious villain, was invited to the party, but he managed to stay out of mischief this time. When Thor and the other Norse gods arrived in the country for the giants, they found their way through a forest. The giant they encountered there was called Skrymir, and he was quite formidable. For the Norse gods, this chance encounter began a long string of social faux pas.
According to the legend, Skrymir fell asleep early, but not before he permitted Thor to access a bag containing the giant’s food supply. Thor started tugging at the bag’s laces after the giant creature went to slumber so he could make dinner, and Thor, the most powerful of the gods and mortals, could not undo the knot. Thor was so ashamed and frustrated that he picked in the hammer and struck the sleeping giant’s skull not once, rather than twice, but three times when he realized he still couldn’t open the bag. After each thud of Thor’s hammer, the hulking figure asked the god of thunder if a leaf, acorn, or twig had landed on the top of his skull while he slept. After taking a third whack from Thor’s hammer, the giant Skrymir got up and walked away without showing any pain or injury, leaving Thor bewildered and furious.
Thor and his travelling companions continued their trip after Skrymir left and eventually came upon a stronghold inhabited by even more giants. Utgarda-Loki was the giants’ commander. The giants and the sir agreed to hold a massive tournament instead of a battle or a fight. Loki kicked off the competition and challenged everyone to an eating contest. In this case, he faced off against a monster named Logi. A huge trough of already-cooked meat was placed between the two competitors to kick off the race. Even though Loki ate everything and left only the bones, the gigantic Logi devoured even more and had not even bothered to save the carcasses. Regarding feeding, Loki came out on the losing end of the competition.
Then, Thjalfi challenged the titans to a footrace. Hugi, a giant, was picked by Utgarda-Loki to race against Loki, the Norse deity. The numerous races Thjalfi attempted against his rival only resulted in worse losses. Now it was up to Thor to restore the sir’s renown. Thor picked the manliest of contests—an imbibing competition—for his debut. A goblet of mead was placed before him, and he was dared to finish it in a maximum of three swigs. Thor drank deeply from the horn three times, each time becoming more distressed. The drinking horn was nearly filled when he finished his last gulp.
Thor admitted defeat, and Utgarda-Loki proposed a more straightforward demonstration of his talents. He summoned his cat and asked Thor whether he could carry the animal. The giants’ commander claimed it was an easy task that any kid could complete. However, the cat was enormous because it was a companion of the giants. Thor placed his palms under the cat’s belly and pulled up with every muscle in his body, but the animal hardly budged. The animal stretched its kitty back in defiance. Even with Thor’s best efforts, the cat’s claw didn’t move an inch off the floor. Thor was forced to acknowledge defeat and humiliation after realizing he could only lift the cat’s paw.
His string of defeats fueled Thor’s anger, and he dared the giants to compete with him in wrestling, a sport where he held an unshakeable degree of competence. With Thor’s battle against the horn for mead and the cat still fresh in his mind, Utgarda-Loki summoned the only giant he believed the haughty sr had a chance against in a wrestling match: an old she-giant. When Thor faced off against the elderly behemoth, he gave it his all, but she still came out on top. Thor called it a day of competition after he could not consume a horn of mead, lift a cat, and lose a wrestling contest to an elderly giant. Utgarda-Loki was such a good sport that he even let the dejected Norse gods remain in his guest rooms for the night.
The giants prepared a delicious meal for the sir as morning turned to day. After dinner, the visitors packed up their belongings, and Utgarda-Loki led them out of the fortress. The giants’ commander singled out Thor once they were safely outside the stronghold. To the deity, he explained that he couldn’t stay silent about the trickery played on Thor, Thjalfi, and Loki. The giants’ leader began by revealing that he was not just Utgarda-Loki but also Skrymir, the giant the gods of Norway had first met on their epic journey. Skrymir revealed his identity as a shape-shifter and magician. The colossus told Thor in great detail how he had tricked the gentlemen with his illusions, causing them much embarrassment.
He started by talking about how they first met in the woods. He claimed that iron wire had been used to subtly strengthen the knot, which Thor had been unable to undo. Then he went on to say that when Thor believed he was striking the giant’s head with his mighty hammer, he crossed a mountain range, flattening it with his blows.
The base competitions were then unveiled. Skrymir exposed the scheme. He revealed that Loki had been pretending to eat against a giant called Logi but, in reality, was up against a wildfire that an illusion had concealed. The same could not be said for Thjalfi and Hugi, neither of whom had ever competed against such a towering opponent. He had been racing against a materialization of mind. He continued by saying that Thor’s challenges were invincible gambits. Skrymir observed that the ocean was hiding in plain sight inside the beaker of mead. Just like everything else, the animal wasn’t what it seemed. Using his powers, the giant had transformed a seemingly harmless animal into the enormous Midgard Serpent. After much confusion, Skrymir revealed that the venerable she-giant was relatively small. The old lady wasn’t old age but was old age itself. And while everyone has to deal with this inevitable fact of life, not even the strongest can hope to triumph in a fair battle against it.
