Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

, the Vimur is the largest of the Elivagar rivers that were formed at the beginning of the world. In Skáldskaparmál 18, part of the Norse Edda written by

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

, the Vimur river is mentioned in the tale of

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

and Geirrod. Thor needed to cross the Vimur on his way to Geirrod's abode. The force of the river threatened to sweep Thor away. Geirrod's daughter, Gjalp, tried to drown them by urinating in the river and causing it to rapidly overflow. Thor hurled a rock into the river, effectively stopping the flow. This, together with the help of a rowan tree, allowed Thor to cross the river.

References

Rivers in Norse mythology Thor {{Norse-myth-stub