Study › Runes & Norse › Thor's Journey to Utgard
Thor and Loki travelled to Utgard, where the giant king Utgarda-Loki shamed them in contests. Only as they left did he reveal that every contest had been an illusion.
The giant Skrymir
Thor and Loki, with the servants Thjalfi and Roskva, journeyed east into Jotunheim. On the way they sheltered in a strange hall — which proved at dawn to be the glove of a giant so huge he was named Skrymir. Thor could not even loosen the giant's food-bag, and three times in the night he struck Skrymir's head with Mjollnir, only for the giant to wake and ask whether a leaf had fallen on him; the blows had in truth carved three deep valleys into a mountainside.
The contests at Utgard
Reaching the stronghold of Utgard, they were received by the giant king Utgarda-Loki and challenged to contests. Loki lost an eating match; Thjalfi was outrun; and Thor himself was shamed three times — he could not drain a drinking-horn, could not lift a grey cat from the floor, and was wrestled to one knee by an old woman.
The truth
Only as the travellers left did the king reveal the truth: everything had been illusion. Loki had eaten against wildfire itself, and Thjalfi had raced against thought. Thor's drinking-horn dipped into the sea, and his three great draughts had made the tides; the cat was the Midgard Serpent, and he had heaved it nearly loose of the world; and the old woman was Old Age, whom no one can ever throw.
The vanishing castle
Dismayed at Thor's true might — and afraid of what he would do next — Utgarda-Loki vanished, and with him his whole castle, leaving only open plain. Snorri tells the tale in Gylfaginning.
Read about Thor, Jormungandr and Thor's goats.
Questions
Who did Thor wrestle at Utgard?
An old woman, who was Old Age.
What was the cat Thor could not lift?
The Midgard Serpent.