Gullfaxi

Overview

Odin rides Sleipnir into the giant Hrungnir’s territory and praises his horse. Hrungnir replies that his own Gold-Mane has a better pace. Their rivalry draws the giant into pursuit and eventually into the gods’ stronghold, where drinking and boasts lead to a challenge from Thor. Gullfaxi thus carries a hostile visitor across the boundary between the giant’s home and the divine gathering.

After Thor kills Hrungnir, the fallen giant’s foot pins him down. Magni, only three nights old in this account, lifts the foot and receives Gold-Mane as a reward. Odin objects that Thor gave the fine horse to a giantess’s son instead of to him. The story gives the named animal two owners and a consequential gift exchange, while leaving its breeding and later fate undescribed.

The race begins with a wager over horses rather than a formal prize for the winner. Hrungnir admires Odin’s mount but insists that Gold-Mane has the better pace; anger makes him jump onto it and chase Odin. Brodeur’s prose explicitly places Odin first on the next hill. Hrungnir’s arrival inside Ásgard follows his furious pursuit and inattention. Thus the account records both the giant’s claim and a narrated moment favouring Sleipnir, rather than confirming that Gullfaxi is unequivocally the faster horse. The subsequent challenge concerns a duel between Thor and Hrungnir, not another horse race.

The transfer to Magni comes after ordinary helpers fail to free Thor. Thjálfi and then the assembled gods cannot lift the fallen giant’s foot, whereas Thor and Járnsaxa’s three-night-old son throws it aside. Thor welcomes him, predicts greatness and explicitly gives him the horse previously owned by Hrungnir. Odin’s objection is directed at the choice of recipient. The passage does not describe Magni riding Gullfaxi afterwards or assign the horse Sleipnir’s eight legs, airborne movement or a shared parentage.

Origins & earliest records

This profile follows Skáldskaparmál, sections XVII, in Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda, composed around 1220 and translated here by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur in 1916. The work explains poetic language using inherited narratives. Its composition date records a medieval witness, not the beginning of the subject’s oral history.

Records & interpretation

Skáldskaparmál XVII distinguishes Hrungnir’s boast of superior pace, Odin’s lead on the next hill and the later gift of Gold-Mane to Magni. It provides no further race, riding episode or breeding account for the horse.

In the literature

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Prose Edda: Skáldskaparmál XVII, pp. 115–121

   Snorri Sturluson; translated by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur · c. 1220; translation 1916

   Complete chapter read through Gróa episode and attached Haustlöng verses; horse race and gift occur in prose pp. 115–118. Original Old Norse not independently collated.

2. 02

   The Younger Edda

   Snorri Sturluson · 1901

   Chicago: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1901; translation copyright 1879, with translator’s preface dated September 1879.

Family, evolution & connections

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Primary textThe Prose Edda: Skáldskaparmál XVII (Brodeur translation)Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

Gullfaxi

Image associated with the exact linked encyclopedia article; consult credited file description for its interpretation.