The Hammer of Thor

Chapter 25 is a transitional chapter that sets Magnus and Hearth on the next step of their journey. Inge clearly has feelings for Hearth, which reflects how Hearth is different from the other residents of Alfheim. While Mr. Alderman and the police look down at those who are different, Hearth treats Inge like an equal, and he is generally more understanding and compassionate than other elves. This chapter, combined with Inge confessing her love in Chapter 29, sets the stage for Hearth and Inge becoming a couple in the next book.

These chapters reveal more about the Careful One and show the waterfall Hearth makes from the river. Riordan borrowed from myth the Careful One’s ability to transform into a fish and modernized the character to fit current times. The Careful One warns Magnus and Hearth that his wealth will lead to ruin, citing lottery winners and celebrities who lost everything after becoming greedy. The Careful One and his ring symbolize the power of money to change or bring out the worst in people. Magnus feels the pull of the Careful One’s wealth but stops himself from keeping the gold because Hearth, Blitz, and the mission to stop Sam’s wedding are more important, but the temptation shows that even good or heroic people can be changed by the experience of financial wealth. By contrast, Mr. Alderman is entranced by the ring and gold from the moment he sees it because he is a covetous person. Rather than changing Mr. Alderman, the wealth exposes and magnifies his true character.

As Mr. Alderman’s true self emerges in these chapters, the revelation further illustrates the stages of greed. Initially, Mr. Alderman is awed by the wealth in his possession, and he wants to count it to see how much there is. At the party, he has moved on from caring about the exact amount, shown by how he carelessly tosses gold to his guests. When Magnus argues that he isn’t a permanent houseguest, Mr. Alderman takes this to mean that Magnus plans to leave, possibly with the gold, and Mr. Alderman shifts from frivolously tossing away gold to being suspicious of everyone. He orders the nokks to kill the guests because he fears any of them could be a thief and believes the best way to protect his wealth is to make sure no one has the opportunity to leave.

The nokks (also known as nixies) are water spirits present in many cultures’ myths and folklore. Also known as näcken or näkki in Norse myth, nokks were believed to be water spirits who lured people to their deaths, much like the beings Riordan describes here. There is no mention of death by broken heart in Norse myth, suggesting Riordan created this element for the story. Rather, the nokks of myth typically lured women and children to rivers where they would drown, though some tales say nokks also lured men. In The Hammer of Thor, Riordan describes the nokks as made from water, but in myth, they had no true defined shape but were often depicted as an attractive man playing the violin. In earlier depictions, the nokks may have appeared as horse-like beings, as the more modern names are derived from the old Norse “nykr,” which translates to “river horse.”

The nokks represent how a disability may be beneficial under certain circumstances. While Hearth’s deafness kept him from acting in time to rescue his brother, here, his inability to hear keeps him from falling under the nokks’ spell. While Magnus and the others cover their ears and send Jack to fight (as an enchanted sword is immune to such magic), Hearth is able to cast a powerful spell to free the guests because he is not encumbered by the nokk magic’s debilitating effects. Disabilities are often viewed as a weakness or a problem, but this episode shows how a disability may offer strengths that a person without that disability lacks. The character of Hearth exemplifies how a disability is a quality like any other, with both benefits and drawbacks.