The theft of Thor’s hammer is told in the Eddic poem Þrymskviða. The giant Þrymr hides Mjölnir and demands Freyja as his bride. The gods answer with disguise, performance, and violence rather than a conventional battle quest.
The demand
Thor wakes to find Mjölnir missing and sends Loki to investigate with Freyja’s feather garment. Þrymr admits taking the hammer and says it lies eight leagues beneath the earth. He will return it only if Freyja is brought to him.
Thor dressed as the bride
Freyja refuses furiously. Heimdall proposes dressing Thor in bridal clothes and placing Brísingamen on him, while Loki accompanies him as a maid. At the feast Thor’s appetite and fierce eyes alarm Þrymr, but Loki invents explanations based on the bride’s supposed longing.
The hammer returns
The giants bring Mjölnir to consecrate the marriage and place it in the bride’s lap. Thor seizes it, kills Þrymr, and destroys the assembled household. The poem uses comic gender reversal, but its conclusion restores Thor’s weapon through lethal force. Later retellings often soften that ending.