No edit summary |
mNo edit summary |
||
| Line 59: | Line 59: | ||
Thrym's cult teaches that after [[Ragnarok]], the final battle in which the gods will be slain and [[Surtur]]'s fire will destroy the world, cold and ice will triumph in the following Fimbul Winter.{{cite book|Deities and Demigods (3e)|194-195}} Only those who stand with Thrym shall survive in this frozen world.{{cite book|Frostburn|56-58}} |
Thrym's cult teaches that after [[Ragnarok]], the final battle in which the gods will be slain and [[Surtur]]'s fire will destroy the world, cold and ice will triumph in the following Fimbul Winter.{{cite book|Deities and Demigods (3e)|194-195}} Only those who stand with Thrym shall survive in this frozen world.{{cite book|Frostburn|56-58}} |
||
| − | Thrym teaches frost giants to distrust beauty, for fear of being deceived by it.{{cite book|Tome of Magic|33}} |
+ | Thrym teaches frost giants to distrust beauty, for fear of being deceived by it.{{cite book|Tome of Magic (3e)|33}} |
Frost giants consider a blizzard to be a portent of favor from Thrym when planning a raid on a settlement.{{cite book|Volo's Guide to Monsters|28}} |
Frost giants consider a blizzard to be a portent of favor from Thrym when planning a raid on a settlement.{{cite book|Volo's Guide to Monsters|28}} |
||
| Line 177: | Line 177: | ||
Thrym once stole [[Thor]]'s hammer [[Mjolnir]], and held it hostage in a plot to take [[Freya]] as his bride. The Aesir outsmarted him by disguising [[Thor]] as the bride and [[Loki]] as a bridesmaid. When the hammer was presented at the wedding, Thor picked it up and slew every giant present, including Thrym.{{cite book|Deities and Demigods (3e)|194-195}}{{cite dragon|110|26-27|article=For better or Norse: II}} |
Thrym once stole [[Thor]]'s hammer [[Mjolnir]], and held it hostage in a plot to take [[Freya]] as his bride. The Aesir outsmarted him by disguising [[Thor]] as the bride and [[Loki]] as a bridesmaid. When the hammer was presented at the wedding, Thor picked it up and slew every giant present, including Thrym.{{cite book|Deities and Demigods (3e)|194-195}}{{cite dragon|110|26-27|article=For better or Norse: II}} |
||
| − | After this, he consoled himself by taking lovers from among his frost giant followers, bearing many children and selecting the strongest to join him in Jotunheim. A legend says that the hill giant sorceress [[Haagenti]] disguised herself as a beautiful frost giant, giving birth to twins who Thrym was horrified to discover herding cattle in the warm lowlands. In punishment, he cursed them to assume the form of cattle, creating the first minotaurs. Haagenti, ashamed, left the multiverse forever.{{cite book|Tome of Magic|33}} |
+ | After this, he consoled himself by taking lovers from among his frost giant followers, bearing many children and selecting the strongest to join him in Jotunheim. A legend says that the hill giant sorceress [[Haagenti]] disguised herself as a beautiful frost giant, giving birth to twins who Thrym was horrified to discover herding cattle in the warm lowlands. In punishment, he cursed them to assume the form of cattle, creating the first minotaurs. Haagenti, ashamed, left the multiverse forever.{{cite book|Tome of Magic (3e)|33}} |
| − | Another legend tells that Thrym had a sister, [[Shax]], a storm giant goddess born to [[Annam]] without his knowledge. When the storm giants tried to take the lands of the other giants, Thrym offered to wed Shax in a peace offering, but she refused. Annam cut off her head with the axe, but in the battle she scratched off chunks of his flesh with her nails. These chunks became the icebergs which float in the sea.{{cite book|Tome of Magic|47}} |
+ | Another legend tells that Thrym had a sister, [[Shax]], a storm giant goddess born to [[Annam]] without his knowledge. When the storm giants tried to take the lands of the other giants, Thrym offered to wed Shax in a peace offering, but she refused. Annam cut off her head with the axe, but in the battle she scratched off chunks of his flesh with her nails. These chunks became the icebergs which float in the sea.{{cite book|Tome of Magic (3e)|47}} |
Another story tells that Thrym once tried to eat a human baby, but [[Loki]] alone was able to trick him out of it.{{cite dungeon|3|14|article=Blood on the Snow}} |
Another story tells that Thrym once tried to eat a human baby, but [[Loki]] alone was able to trick him out of it.{{cite dungeon|3|14|article=Blood on the Snow}} |
||
Revision as of 03:30, 19 September 2020
Thrym is a deity in the Norse pantheon. He is best known as the patron of frost giants.
Description
Appearance
Thrym is a frost giant who stands an exceptional 21 feet in height,[1] though he can alter his size.[2] He wears a suit of chainmail underneath a coat of white fur.[1]
Thrym has white eyes, blue hair, and a constant snarl.[3]
Personality and alignment
Thrym and the frost giants hold a particular grudge against the Aesir gods for the death of Ymir, who Odin slew in ancient times to create the world of Midgard.[2] He focuses much of his attention on the activities of these Norse gods, but is somewhat aloof and often ignorant of the conditions of his frost giant followers, a number of whom have abandoned him for the demon lord Kostchtchie.[4]
Thrym is chaotic evil in alignment.[5]
Titles
Thrym is called Lord of the Frost Giants,[2] and occasionally the Frost God.[6]
Abilities
As a deity of the Norse pantheon, Thrym is immortal, and invulnerable to such harms as disease, poison, paralysis, magical imprisonment and planar banishment. While he can be slain, he is prodigous warrior and berserker, and his great strength and skill at arms make him a dangerous opponent.[2]
He has a mastery of combat, and can smash apart viritually any object. He can summon frost giants at will, and call upon a freezing storm. He possesses various spells, and while he is not famed for their use,[2] he is known among the frost giants as a deity of magic.[7] He has been invoked in the placing of curses upon tombs.[8]
He can see, hear, and otherwise sense at a distance of 14 miles from himself or any of his followers, holy sites, artifacts, or any place where his name is spoken. He automatically senses any events affecting giants, snow, or sleet storms.[2]
He is a skilled stoneworker. He can also craft all but the most legendary of magic items, particularly weapons, armor, and items related to stoneworking, cold, or ice.[2]
Thrym can breathe cold, and has the power to plunge part of the world into extreme cold.[9]
Portfolio
Thrym is a god of war, cold, and giants in general, particularly frost giants. He has power over the domains of chaos, earth, evil, strength, and war.[2]
Worship
Dogma
Thrym's cult teaches that after Ragnarok, the final battle in which the gods will be slain and Surtur's fire will destroy the world, cold and ice will triumph in the following Fimbul Winter.[2] Only those who stand with Thrym shall survive in this frozen world.[10]
Thrym teaches frost giants to distrust beauty, for fear of being deceived by it.[11]
Frost giants consider a blizzard to be a portent of favor from Thrym when planning a raid on a settlement.[12]
If a frost giant shaman or his band battle a group of humans, at least one must be taken and frozen alive in tribute to Thrym.[13]
Worshipers
While the people of Midgard typically worship the Norse pantheon as a collective group, Thrym is particularly followed by frost giants.[1] He is also a patron of barbarians and fighters.[5]
A few cults of Thrym exist among humans. They work with Loki's cult, but never with the followers of Surtur, deity of fire giants. Followers of Thrym seek to undermine Thor's followers in particular. They carefully conceal their devotion to the god of frost giants.[2]
The neanderthals of icy lands sometimes worship Thrym.[14] The eisk jaats, dwarves of ice, often worship Thrym.[15]
The Taer of Faerûn know of Thrym and other giant deities.[16]
Notable followers
Among those who worship Thrym include:
- Naush, frost giant disciple of Thrym, who abducts seers to seek their visions of the icy future[10]
- Gungir, frost giant cleric[17]
- Rousikache, a frost giant cleric[18]
- Arisngraurd, a frost giant warrior[19]
- Hamlen, a secret cleric of Thrym in the human settlement of Winterwolf[20]
Clergy
Nearly all of Thrym's clerics are frost giants, although a few are humans or other,[2] selected for for their ability to match Thrym's ideals.[3]
Thrym's clerics are known for being destructive, cruel, and eager to fight, having little patience for diplomacy.[3] It is said that a frost giant shaman who loses a battle will die on the spot, and that his power can be claimed by any another frost giant who challenges him.[13]
The most dedicated disciples of Thrym can be found traveling the multiverse, spreading the apocalyptic prophecy of Fimbulwinter, the icy cold at the end of the world. They oppose Thor and Loki, settling ancient grudges against those deities.[10] The frostrager berserkers of the icy wastes also claim to draw their power from Thrym, as much a strength as a curse.[21]
Shamans dedicated to Thrym are known to have the ability to conjure a wall of ice and summon ice elementals.[13]
Rituals
Shamans of Thrym often make offerings to him by freezing sacrifices alive in ice.[22]
Religious services to Thrym are often loud, crude affairs, involving noisy chanting and smashing of objects.[17] Invocations to Thrym are included in an untitled great scroll, three feet wide and two wide, written by the White Jarl of Jutunheim and containing many prayers devoted to the spread of the Eternal Ice.[23]
Some frost giants spill their own blood upon an altar dedicated to Thrym to gain his favor.[24]
Holy sites
Thrym has temples of Jotunheim, great fortresses where the giants constantly prepare for the final battle at Ragnarok. In the world of humans, his temples are hidden and secretive, and ruthlessly attack and slay intruders who cannot quickly prove their loyalty to Thrym. Here, his followers prepare weapons so that they will be ready to fight alongside Thrym at Ragnarok.[2]
A temple to Thrym is located in Svardborg. It includes a great ice statue depicting Thrym with clenched fists, which curses anyone who breaks it. Its altar consists of a block of ice with dwarf skulls and bones frozen within it.[24]
A hidden temple to Thrym is located in the town of Winterwolf.[20]
Smaller shrines to Thrym are also common.[25] They include Bersmag Shrine, an alcove with a crudely-carged fifteen foot high statue of a frost giant representing Thrym. Carved pillars are also known to depict Thrym battling gods, monsters, and humans.[26]
Holy symbol
Thrym's holy symbol is a white, double-bladed axe.[2]
Favored weapon
Thrym favors the greataxe.[2]
Relationships
Family
Thrym is the son of Annam, ancient head of the Giant pantheon. By Annam he is brother to Surtur, Skoraeus Stonebones, Hiatea, Stronmaus, Grolantor, Karontor, Memnor, and Iallanis.[4]
Thrym can claim descent from Ymir, the first giant from whom Odin and his brothers built the world of Midgard.[2]
Thrym has a daughter, Nalkara, an empyrean titan whose mother is Auril, Faerûnian goddess of winter.[27]
Enemies
Thrym has particular enmity for the Aesir gods of the Norse pantheon, especially Odin, who slew the frost giants' progenitor Ymir, and Thor, a legendary hunter of giants.[2]
Thrym is a rival of the fire giant deity Surtur, though they have worked together at times.
The dwarven deity Clangeddin Silverbeard has particular hatred for Thrym and other evil giant deities.[28]
The demon lord Kostchtchie quietly steals frost giant followers away from Thrym, though he is careful in this regard so as to avoid Thrym's attention, in order to avoid his wrath.[29]
Allies and minions
Thrym is said to have ten frost giant "brothers",[1] though they are generally rather stated to be his "shield-brothers", great and honored allies who won a place at his side in an ancient war between giants and dragons.[12]
Frost giant jarls often owe their allegience directly to Thrym.[30] Arcane spellcasters among the frost giants thank Thrym for granting their ability.[9]
The Thrym hound, a species of huge and terrible wolves, were first given by Thrym to his frost giatn followers. They serve frost giants as steeds and wardogs, and are often found in the wild.[31]
Artifacts
Thrym crafted Matalotok, the Frost Father, a legendary warhammer carried by the demon lord Kostchtchie.[32] It is said that Skoraeus Stonebones, god of the stone giants, taught Thrym how to carve runes on old weapons to imbue them with magic when Surtur refused to forge new weapons for him.[33]
Thrym's two-headed greataxe is a legendary and powerful weapon.
Realm
Thrym inhabits Jotunheim, land of giants.[2] In some worlds, Jotunheim appears in Midgard, the world of men; in the Great Wheel cosmology, it can be found as one of the layers of Ysgard. Here he wanders the mountains and glaciers with his band of jarls, making occasional stops at Utgard.[34][35]
He has an icy citadel at Jotunheim.[10]
History
Origins
Thrym claims descent from Ymir, the first giant.[2] He is the son of Annam, ancient giant deity, and has competed with his brother Surtur since birth.[12]
Future
Thrym is prophecied to fight in the battle at Ragnarok, in which he will lead the frost giants.[1]
Legends
Numerous legends are told of Thrym.
Thrym once stole Thor's hammer Mjolnir, and held it hostage in a plot to take Freya as his bride. The Aesir outsmarted him by disguising Thor as the bride and Loki as a bridesmaid. When the hammer was presented at the wedding, Thor picked it up and slew every giant present, including Thrym.[2][36]
After this, he consoled himself by taking lovers from among his frost giant followers, bearing many children and selecting the strongest to join him in Jotunheim. A legend says that the hill giant sorceress Haagenti disguised herself as a beautiful frost giant, giving birth to twins who Thrym was horrified to discover herding cattle in the warm lowlands. In punishment, he cursed them to assume the form of cattle, creating the first minotaurs. Haagenti, ashamed, left the multiverse forever.[11]
Another legend tells that Thrym had a sister, Shax, a storm giant goddess born to Annam without his knowledge. When the storm giants tried to take the lands of the other giants, Thrym offered to wed Shax in a peace offering, but she refused. Annam cut off her head with the axe, but in the battle she scratched off chunks of his flesh with her nails. These chunks became the icebergs which float in the sea.[37]
Another story tells that Thrym once tried to eat a human baby, but Loki alone was able to trick him out of it.[38]
Battle Axe Pass, a mountain pass in the shape of a greataxe, is attributed to Thrym's creation.[8]
Publication history
AD&D 1st edition
Thrym appears in Legends & Lore (1e) (1984), p.108 and Deities & Demigods (1e) (1980).
AD&D 2nd edition
Thrym is detailed in Legends & Lore (2e) (1990), p.184.
D&D 3rd edition
Thrym appears in Deities and Demigods (3e) (2002), p.167-169, where he is a rank 14 intermediate deity. Complete Divine (2004), p.124 and Faiths and Pantheons (2002), p.221, instead place him as a lesser deity.
D&D 4th edition
The Norse pantheon does not appear in D&D 4th edition. However, Thrym remains as Lord of the Frost Giants, described in Wizards Presents: Worlds and Monsters (2008), p.60, as ruler of Nyfel, a vast tundra, and naming his fortress there as Nyfholl. The Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide (2008), p.67, rather names the realm Fimbulwinter, while Manual of the Planes (4e) (2008), p.72 calls it the Kingdom of Howling Ice, and Heroes of the Elemental Chaos{{UnknownBook}}, p.16, calls his kingdom Kaltenheim. The Plane Below (2009), p.59, calls it "Kaltenheim, Kingdom of the Howling Ice".
D&D 5th edition
Thrym is one of twenty Norse gods listed in the Player's Handbook (5e) (2014). He is a god of frost giants and strength with the War domain. Background on Thrym and the giant deities appears in Volo's Guide to Monsters (2016), p.18-30.
Creative origins
Thrym, also written Thrymr or Þrymr, is a jotun or giant appearing in Norse myth.
Thrym appears in the Poetic Edda in the story Thrymskvitha, "Thrym's Poem", where he is king of the giants of Jotunheim. Thor discovers that his legendary hammer Mjolnir is missing, and Thrym is holding it hostage unless he is given Freya's hand in marriage. The gods disguise Thor as Freya and Loki as a bridesmaid, and are thus able to get the hammer back, whereupon Thor uses it to kill Thrym, followed by the other guests at the wedding.
In the Prose Edda, Thrym is listed as the name of one of the giants.
Reception and influence=
The white dragon Thrymzen, appearing in Cairn of the Winter King, is likely named for the frost giant deity.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Legends & Lore (1e) (1984), p.108.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 Deities and Demigods (3e) (2002), p.194-195.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Frostburn (2004), p.43.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 DMGR4 Monster Mythology (1992), p.73-74.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Deities and Demigods (3e) (2002), p.164.
- ↑ Aesirhamar, Dragon #90 (Oct 1984), p.52.
- ↑ Defenders of the Faith (2001), p.96.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Ancient Blood, Dungeon #20 (Nov/Dec 1989), p.60.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Legends & Lore (2e) (1990), p.184.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Frostburn (2004), p.56-58.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Tome of Magic (3e) (2006), p.33.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Volo's Guide to Monsters (2016), p.28.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Orcs Throw Spells, Too!, Dragon #141 (Jan 1989), p.27-28.
- ↑ Frostburn (2004), p.37.
- ↑ The Plane Below (2009), p.137.
- ↑ Unapproachable East (2003), p.14.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 The Crumbling Hall of the Frost Giant Jarl, p.8.
- ↑ Critical Threats, Dragon #96 (Apr 1985), p.12.
- ↑ Beyond the Light of Reason, Dragon #96 (Apr 1985), p.72.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Blood on the Snow, Dungeon #3 (Jan/Feb 1987), p.16.
- ↑ Frostburn (2004), p.60.
- ↑ Legends & Lore (1e) (1984), p.93.
- ↑ Raiders of the Black Ice, Dungeon #115 (Oct 2004), p.32.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus (2019), p.155,163-165.
- ↑ FOR7 Giantcraft (1995), p.106.
- ↑ Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff (1999), p.60.
- ↑ Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage (2018), p.301.
- ↑ Demihuman Deities (1998), p.49.
- ↑ DMGR4 Monster Mythology (1992), p.82.
- ↑ HR1 Vikings Campaign Sourcebook (1991), p.53.
- ↑ Monster Manual V (2007), p.170-171.
- ↑ Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus (2019), p.224.
- ↑ Volo's Guide to Monsters (2016), p.30.
- ↑ Planes of Chaos, Book of Chaos (1994), p.115.
- ↑ Player's Guide to Faerûn (2004), p.160.
- ↑ For better or Norse: II, Dragon #110 (Jun 1986), p.26-27.
- ↑ Tome of Magic (3e) (2006), p.47.
- ↑ Blood on the Snow, Dungeon #3 (Jan/Feb 1987), p.14.