40 Fun Facts About Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor

In Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor, what is the name of the thunder god's missing weapon?

Mjolnir has been lost since the first book, and without it Thor cannot hold back a giant invasion of the human world.

In The Hammer of Thor, how does Alex Fierro stop Loki from blowing up Magnus Chase in Valhalla?

Alex cuts off his head, because Loki was channelling power through Magnus that would have wrecked the courtyard. Warriors killed in Valhalla come back to life.

Which giant does Loki arrange for Samirah al-Abbas to marry in Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor?

Thrym holds Thor's stolen hammer, which by giant tradition is to be handed to the bride during the wedding.

Which selfie-loving god guards the Bifrost and scans the Nine Worlds for Magnus Chase?

Heimdall uses his horn Gjallar as a phone and selfie stick, a hobby that keeps distracting him from watching over the worlds.

As which animal does shape-shifter Alex Fierro run Magnus Chase over on arriving at Hotel Valhalla?

A cheetah knocks Magnus flat on floor nineteen: it is Alex, newly dead and far from happy about waking up in Valhalla.

At the end of The Hammer of Thor, Annabeth says Magnus Chase should meet which sea god's son?

Percy Jackson is Annabeth's boyfriend and a son of Poseidon, a useful ally for a hero who must chase Loki across the sea.

How does Magnus Chase keep Blitzen alive after the Skofnung Sword wounds him in The Hammer of Thor?

Magnus turns him to stone by collapsing the tomb roof: sunlight petrifies dwarves, which stops the bleeding until a cure is found.

In The Hammer of Thor, the Skofnung Sword must never be drawn in the presence of whom?

Women must not be nearby when the blade is drawn, a rule taken from the Icelandic sagas. Loki forces Magnus's uncle to break it with Samirah in the room.

At which game must Magnus Chase and Alex Fierro beat the giants to win the giant king's help?

Bowling settles it, at a giant-run alley in Jotunheim where a hidden portal in front of the pins keeps swallowing their shots.

In The Hammer of Thor, the shape-shifting god Loki is which relation to Alex Fierro?

Mother is the surprise: Loki took a female form to give birth to Alex, while remaining father to Alex's half-sister Samirah.

Magnus Chase searches a wight's barrow in which Massachusetts town, hoping to find Thor's hammer?

Provincetown hides only a trap: the tomb holds the Skofnung Sword instead, and Loki turns up to demand the blade as a bride-price.

Which of Thor's talking goats meets Magnus Chase in a Boston café with news of the missing hammer?

Otis reports that the hammer lies in a wight's tomb, then takes a thrown ax to the heart before he can finish his warning.

In The Hammer of Thor, wounds made by the Skofnung Sword can only be healed by which object?

Its whetstone, the Skofnung Stone, is the only cure, which sends Magnus and Hearthstone to another world to bargain for it.

To reach Alfheim in The Hammer of Thor, how do Magnus Chase and Hearthstone leave Midgard?

They jump out of a plane in mid-flight and land in the bright world of the elves, where two police elves escort them to the family mansion.

Which dwarf, living as a fish in a river, is forced to give Magnus Chase and Hearthstone his gold?

Andvari, known as the Careful One, hides a hoard big enough to cover a whole rug in gold, the payment Hearthstone's father demands.

Which golden-haired wife of Thor summons Magnus Chase and his friends to Asgard?

Sif had been watching the group and pulled them to her palace once they knew where the hammer was. She later helps dress Alex for the wedding.

Which giant king turns out to be the assassin who kills Thor's goat in The Hammer of Thor?

Utgard-Loki wanted to scare Magnus away from Loki's trap, and later trades what he knows for feats that impress his fellow giants.

In The Hammer of Thor, which wife of Loki catches dripping venom in a bowl to spare his face?

Sigyn stays beside Loki all through his punishment, and when he finally breaks free she leaves with him as the gods close in.

The Hammer of Thor won which American Library Association prize for its portrayal of Alex Fierro?

The Stonewall Book Award's children's and young adult prize honours books about LGBTQ experience, and the judges singled out Alex as a hero.

Which actor reads the audiobook of The Hammer of Thor, published by Listening Library?

Kieran Culkin narrates the second Magnus Chase novel, and his recording went on sale the same day as the hardcover and ebook.

Which wealthy elf, father of Hearthstone, owns the cure Blitzen needs in The Hammer of Thor?

Alderman blames his deaf son for a family tragedy and will only part with the cure once Hearthstone has paid him in gold.

In The Hammer of Thor, Hearthstone must cover a monster-skin rug with gold to pay which Norse debt?

A wergild is blood money for a death: Hearthstone's father holds him responsible for his little brother, killed by a creature from the well.

What drives Hearthstone's father insane at his own party in Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor?

A cursed ring from a dwarf's hoard, taken despite its owner's warning, makes him accuse his guests of theft and set water spirits on them.

In The Hammer of Thor, which silent god of vengeance squashes the giant bridegroom with his shoe?

Vidar storms into the cave behind Thor wearing a shoe pieced together from every scrap of footwear ever thrown away.

After freeing Loki in The Hammer of Thor, Randolph Chase falls through a chasm into which realm?

Helheim is where the unworthy dead go. Randolph, already dissolving for breaking the sword's rules, refuses Magnus's outstretched hand.

What does Loki promise to return to Randolph Chase in exchange for his help in The Hammer of Thor?

His wife and daughters drowned in a storm at sea while the family searched for a Viking relic, and Loki uses that grief to control him.

Alex Fierro's garrote in The Hammer of Thor began as a cutting wire used in which craft?

Pottery runs in the Fierro family, who worked clay near Mexico City since before the Aztecs, and Alex's room in Valhalla has its own wheel.

Samirah al-Abbas serves the Norse gods as a Valkyrie in Magnus Chase while following which religion?

Islam is Samirah's faith, so she works for the Norse gods without worshipping them. Her grandparents, originally from Baghdad, raised her in Boston.

Samirah al-Abbas takes lessons from Barry al-Jabbar in The Hammer of Thor to become what?

A pilot is what Samirah hopes to be, and in this book her instructor is briefly possessed by a giant with an urgent message for Magnus.

Amir Fadlan, fiancé of Samirah al-Abbas in Magnus Chase, works in a shop selling which food?

Falafel from the Fadlan family shop is a favourite of Magnus, and in this book Amir is shocked to learn about Samirah's double life.

Which series-opening Rick Riordan novel ends six weeks before the events of The Hammer of Thor?

The Sword of Summer is the first Magnus Chase book, and its back pages already teased the title of the sequel.

At the Iowa Book Festival, Rick Riordan announced which title for the third Magnus Chase novel?

The Ship of the Dead was announced three days after The Hammer of Thor went on sale, and it sends Magnus to sea after the escaped Loki.

Which other Rick Riordan novel beat The Hammer of Thor in the 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards?

The Hidden Oracle, the first Trials of Apollo book, and the novel Pax both finished ahead, leaving The Hammer of Thor in third place.

Hearthstone, the elf sorcerer of The Hammer of Thor, works his magic by casting which objects?

Runestones are his craft: Hearthstone is the first elf in a long time to study their magic, and every casting drains his energy.

Alex Fierro's room in Hotel Valhalla once belonged to X the troll, secretly which god in disguise?

Odin spent the first book hiding among his own warriors as X, which left a spare room on floor nineteen for the newest arrival.

In a dream in The Hammer of Thor, Magnus Chase finds which severed-head god in a bathtub?

Mimir lost his body in the war between the gods, and the dream shows him sending Blitzen and Hearthstone, who once worked for him, on a mission.

In the Norse myth behind The Hammer of Thor, the giant thief demands which goddess as his bride?

Freya flies into such a rage at the idea in the old poem that Thor has to go himself, dressed as the bride. Riordan gives that disguise to Alex.

Which symbol of Loki marks both Alex Fierro's neck and Randolph Chase's cheek in The Hammer of Thor?

Two snakes curl into an S with their tails looped round each other's heads. Alex wears the mark by choice, to claim it back from Loki.

Which Caldecott Honor illustrator painted the US cover art for The Hammer of Thor?

John Rocco painted the American jacket, which many translations reuse, while the UK Puffin editions carry covers by other artists.

The Hammer of Thor is dedicated to which fantasy author, who first drew Rick Riordan to Norse myth?

J. R. R. Tolkien gets the dedication because his Middle-earth novels were the young Riordan's own gateway into the Norse myths.