Tanngrisnir

Tanngrisnir is one of the two magical goats that pull the chariot of the Norse thunder god Thor. The other goat is named Tanngnjóstr. In Old Norse, Tanngrisnir is commonly rendered as “Tooth-gnasher” and Tanngnjóstr as “Tooth-grinder,” reflecting their shared characteristic and pairing.

In the primary Norse mythic sources, including the Prose Edda and related texts, the two goats draw Thor’s chariot across the skies and seas. They have the unusual capacity to be slaughtered for food and then revived the next day, provided their bones are laid out in the same positions as before and no bone is broken. If a bone is broken, the goats do not return to life. This resurrection motif serves to illustrate the god’s power and the ritualized economy of sacrifice and renewal within the mythic world.

The figures of Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr function as part of Thor’s iconography and as a narrative device to explore themes of life, death, and rebirth. While not central to every myth cycle, they are consistently cited in discussions of Thor’s retinue and of the symbolic importance of the chariot pulled by divine animals.

In modern scholarship and popular retellings, the goats remain the best-known exemplars of Thor’s chariot team, helping to convey aspects of Norse myth such as divine mobility, feasting after battle or travel, and the idea that life continues through ritual renewal.