Thrym (Dungeons & Dragons)

Thrym
Game background
Title(s) Lord of the Frost Giants
Home plane Ysgard
Power level Intermediate deity
Alignment Chaotic evil
Portfolio Frost Giants, cold, ice, war
Domains Chaos, Cold, Earth, Evil, Strength, War[1]
Superior Annam
Design details

In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Thrym is the lord of the frost giants. He is a god of cold and ice, as well as a deity of magic.

Publication history

Thrym was first detailed in Deities and Demigods (1980).[2]

Thrym was detailed in the 2nd edition AD&D book Legends & Lore (1992), including details about his priesthood.[3] His role in the cosmology of the Planescape campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground (1996).[4] His role in the giant pantheon of the Forgotten Realms setting is detailed in Giantcraft (1995).[5]

Thrym was described briefly in Defenders of the Faith (2000).[6] He was detailed in the third edition version of Deities and Demigods (2002).[7] His priesthood is detailed for 3rd edition in Complete Divine (2004).[8]

Description

Thrym is a hulking menace, appearing as a mighty frost giant with white eyes, blue hair, and a constant snarl.[1] He can plunge any part of the Prime Material Plane into a state of extreme cold. His animal is the white dragon. His holy symbol is a white, double-bladed greataxe.

Relationships

Like Surtr and Skoraeus Stonebones, Thrym is part of the second generation of giantish deities. Although Surtr's cult is similar to Thrym's, fire and ice do not mix.

Thrym is credited with creating the first minotaur from the vestige Haagenti, and with creating the first icebergs during his battle with his sister Shax.

Kostchtchie hates him and hopes to take all his worshippers for his own.

Realm

Thrym rules from Jotunheim in Ysgard. Jotunheim is a harsh realm of glaciers and volcanoes, desolate plains, and snow-capped mountains. Thrym's court makes occasional stops in Utgard, the capital city of the giants there, which is ruled by a giant called Utgard-Loki.

Dogma

Thrym's cults teach that the world will end with Fimbul Winter, and that cold will triumph after Surtr's fire burns everything.[9]

Worshippers

Almost all of Thrym's worshippers are frost giants, but he has been known to approve clerics of other races if they fit his ideals.[9] Some neanderthals and northern barbarians have been known to worship him.[1]

Clergy

Frost giant shamans are responsible for helping frost giants of their tribe claim their spot in the afterlife, which they do by holding regular prayer vigils and trying to incite frost giant warriors to undertake ever more daring adventures. They wear horned helms and snowy white furs.

Temples

Thrym's temples in the lands of men are hidden affairs, but in the lands of the giants they may be enormous fortresses that ring with the sounds of weapons being forged. Visitors have only moments to prove their intentions before they are slain by frost giants, who do not desire witnesses to their activities.[9]

Smaller tribes of frost giants make do with small shrines built of logs.

Holy Days

The holy day of Thrym is the Winter Solstice. Prayer vigils are held, but Thrym does not demand sacrifices.

Myths and legends

Grjotgard

Grjotgard, one of the ten brothers of Thrym, was captured by the demon prince Kostchtchie and chained within a fortress of ice within the Abyss. Kostchtchie hoped to use him as a bargaining chip against Thrym, but thus far all he has received is a steady stream of frost giants eager for vengeance in their god's name. Though this has cost Kostchtchie dearly, he has thus far been unwilling to admit defeat.

Haagenti

Haagenti was a shapeshifting hill giant sorceress who transformed into a beautiful frost giant so that she could bear the children of Thrym. Thrym cursed her and their sons, transforming them into the first minotaurs. The incestuous coupling between Haagenti and her sons resulted in the minotaur race.

Haagenti forswore beauty forevermore, and because every plane is beautiful to someone, became a trapped between the planes of existence as a mere vestige of her former self.

Haagenti is also the name of a presumedly unrelated Abyssal lord, the Lord of Alchemy.

Shax

Shax, the Sea Sister, was once goddess of the sea in the Giant pantheon. A daughter of Annam, she had dominion over storm giants and the waters. She was a cruel goddess, inspiring the storm giants to battle other species. For some reason, Annam could not sense her, and never knew she existed, perhaps in the same way that he didn't know of his daughters Diancastra and Hiatea until they introduced themselves to him.

Thrym found his sister beautiful and terrible, and offered to wed her. She refused, and so he decapitated her, thus saving the storm giants from eons more cruelty. The fragments of flesh that fell from Thrym's wounds became the first icebergs.

Creative origins

In Norse mythology, King Þrymr (Thrymr, Thrym; "uproar") of the Jotuns (frost giants) stole Mjollnir, Thor's hammer, to extort the gods into giving him Freyja as his wife. His kingdom was called Jötunheimr, but according to Hversu Noregr byggdist, it was the Swedish province Värmland.

Þrymr was foiled in his scheme by the knowledge of Heimdall, the cunning of Loki, and the sheer violence of Thor. In fact, mighty Thor, son of Odin, later killed Thrym, his sister, and all of his giant kin, which had been present at the wedding reception. The poem Þrymskviða gives the details of how Thor got his hammer back.

Bergfinnr is a son of Thrymr, the Giant of Vermland.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Baur, Wolfgang, James Jacobs, and George Strayton. Frostburn. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2004.
  2. ↑ Ward, James and Robert Kuntz. Deities and Demigods (TSR, 1980)
  3. ↑ Ward, James and Troy Denning. Legends & Lore. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1990
  4. ↑ McComb, Colin. On Hallowed Ground (TSR, 1996)
  5. ↑ Winninger, Ray. Giantcraft (TSR, 1995)
  6. ↑ Redman, Rich and James Wyatt. Defenders of the Faith (Wizards of the Coast, 2000)
  7. ↑ Redman, Rich, Skip Williams, and James Wyatt. Deities and Demigods (Wizards of the Coast, 2002)
  8. ↑ Noonan, David. Complete Divine (Wizards of the Coast, 2004)
  9. 1 2 3 Redman, Rich, Skip Williams, and James Wyatt. Deities and Demigods (Wizards of the Coast, 2002).

Additional reading

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