Hymir

Hymir is the giant who owns what the gods need and does not want to give it. When the Æsir wished to brew ale for their feasting they needed a cauldron a mile deep, and only Hymir, east beyond the freezing rivers, possessed one. Thor went to fetch it, and the giant — a cold, formidable host whose glance could shatter pillars — set him tests: to break a cup that proved unbreakable until it was thrown at Hymir's own stony head, and to prove himself at sea. It was on that fishing trip that Thor baited a hook with an ox-head and drew up the Midgard Serpent itself, the great confrontation of the corpus, before Hymir in terror cut the line. Thor took the cauldron in the end, smashing the giant's pursuing kin with his hammer. Hymir is the giant-world at its most elemental — owner of the deep things, grudging, dangerous, and finally no match for the god who comes to take what he keeps.