How a Mean Prank by Loki That Went Terribly Awry Ultimately Led to Thor Obtaining His Iconic Hammer

In a mythological Ted Ed lesson written by educator Scott A. Mellor and animated by Remus Buznea and Kyriaki Kyriakou, narrator Addison Anderson explains how Thor got his hammer and why it was so specific to him. As it turns out, the gift of hammer was the result of a trick that the mischievous Loki played on Thor‘s wife, Sif, which went terribly awry.

Loki the mischief-maker, was writhing uncomfortably in Thor’s iron grip. The previous night, while the rest of the gods slept, he’d snuck up on Thor’s wife Sif and shorn off her beautiful hair. It’d seemed like a funny prank at the time, but now Thor was about to break every bone in his body. Loki had to think of some way to fix what he’d done.

Loki turned to the dwarves to help him, but in doing so pit the competing dwarves against each other, finally having to put his own head on the line for one group of craftsmen. Yet despite interference by Loki, the group Loki tried to sabotage created a trove of gifts for Thor and his family and Mjolnir, the short hammer that Loki deemed to be a mistake, was declared the most valuable of all.

First, Loki presented the treasures from the sons of Ivaldi. Their golden hair bound to Sif’s head and continued to grow, leaving her even more radiant than before. …And for Thor, a hammer called Mjolnir. Its handle was too short, and Loki smirked at the obvious defect. But then Brokk revealed its abilities. Mjolnir would never shatter, never miss its mark and always return to Thor’s hand when thrown.