73 pages • 2 hours read
Rick RiordanThe Hammer of Thor
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 47-53Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 47 Summary: “I Prepare for Funkytown Combat”
Blitz and Hearth return to Valhalla to get reinforcements. The next morning, the wedding invitation gives a location In New Hampshire for the group to meet before being transported to the entrance to Thrym’s cave, adding “NO AESIR, OR THE HAMMER GETS IT!” (373). Sam is worried about Alex and her falling under Loki’s control. She begs Magnus to do whatever it takes to stop Loki, even harming her and Alex, and gives him the Skofnung Sword, which feels weighed down with responsibility.
Alex and Sif arrive, Alex dressed in a beautiful white-and-gold wedding dress that makes Magnus’s mouth go dry. Sif likewise gets Sam and Magnus ready in formal eveningwear—a green-and-black gown in the same style as Alex’s and a sparkly gold-and-white suit, respectively—before opening a portal to Midgard and saying, “go forth, my friends, and kill many giants” (380).
Chapter 48 Summary: “All Aboard the Cheesy Gordita Express”
The portal lets them out at a Taco Bell in New Hampshire, where Thor’s chariot waits with Otis and Marvin hitched up by harnesses covered in jingle bells. The wedding invitation now says Bridal Falls, and the group boards the chariot, which Otis and Marvin pull into the air like “Taco Claus’s sleigh, bringing Cheesy Gordita Crunches to all the good little boys and girls and giants” (383). When they land at the falls, the water parts, revealing a cave entrance from which Thrynga emerges. The chariot follows her into the cave, which closes almost immediately, making Magnus fear that the gods and einherjar didn’t make it inside. A few hours later, Thrynga opens a set of double doors to a bar that looks exactly like the one from the show Cheers.
Chapter 49 Summary: “Thrym!”
Thrym and his giant friends are a mess, much to Thrynga’s annoyance. While she gets them cleaned up, Magnus, Sam, and Alex use the restroom, where Alex turns into a gorilla out of nerves. Back in human form, she, Sam, and Magnus get swept into the party, which is marginally cleaner. Over dinner, it becomes clear that Thrynga has her own agenda. When the meal is over, Thrym opens a new tunnel, announcing “[M]y bride and I will say our vows in the cavern of Loki” (397).
Chapter 50 Summary: “A Little Refreshing Poison in Your Face, Sir?”
Magnus realizes that Loki made the deal with Randolph because Randolph had the skills to find the exact geographic location of the cave where Loki is imprisoned. As Thrym leads the chariot carrying Magnus and the girls through the tunnel, Magnus tries to argue that Loki betrayed Thrym’s grandfather and shouldn’t be trusted. Thrym is sure that Loki will be too grateful to betray him and continues on into the tunnel that smells of “sour milk, rotten eggs, and burned meat” (402).
The tunnel opens into the cave Magnus recognizes from his dreams. Loki lies bound at the center, his face mangled from having acid dripped on it for centuries. Loki calls Sam forward to make sure it’s her under the bridal veil, causing both Sam and Alex to stagger toward their father. Alex shape-shifts to look like Sam, and more acid drips in Loki’s face, distracting him from making Sam lift her veil, too. Loki tells Thrynga to introduce the special guest, and she cracks open what seems to be a nut, freeing Randolph.
Chapter 51 Summary: “Hello, Paranoia, My Old Friend”
Magnus both wants to smash the Skofnung Stone over Randolph’s head and bring his uncle to safety. He demands to see Thor’s hammer before he hands over the Skofnung Sword. Though the hammer can’t be brought out until after the sword is used, Thrynga agrees, and Magnus realizes she is trying to claim both the sword and hammer to steal the throne from Thrym. He looks to Sam for guidance, who tells him to trust everyone using sign language, and Magnus’s paranoia kicks in with the thought he might be “the only one in the room not under Loki’s control” (412).
Chapter 52 Summary: “My Uncle Gets Some Backup Singers”
Alex reveals herself and attacks Thrym. Sam throws an ax into Thrynga, and Magnus lunges for Randolph, interrupted by the attacking giants. Loki orders Randolph to unsheathe the sword even though there are women present, and the sword is freed with a sound like the “outraged chorus of twelve berserker spirits unleashed against their will” (416). As Randolph works to cut Loki’s bonds, Thrynga attacks Magnus, sending them both into a pit of boiling liquid. He manages to get back on land, but he’s badly burned. Thrym finally knocks Alex out, and Loki has frozen Sam in place. Just as Magnus gives up, the cavern ceiling opens, revealing Blitz, Hearth, and Magnus’s hallmates. The battle renews, but while the group fights off the giants, Randolph breaks Loki’s last restraint and starts to dissolve into mist. Free, Loki rises to his feet, saying “now the fun begins” (423).
Chapter 53 Summary: “It’s Hammer Time! (Someone Had to Say It)”
Magnus and his friends face Loki, ready for one last attack and knowing they’ll be killed. Before they can move, the gods break through the cavern wall, and taking Randolph, Loki disappears into a chasm. Thor rushes to the hammer, asking if it’s all right and talking to it like it’s a baby. Heimdall looks into the chasm but doesn’t see any sign of Loki. Magnus asks about Randolph, to which Heimdall says “sometimes it’s best not to look as far as you’re able to look, or to listen to everything you’re able to hear” (429).
While the gods take stock of the cavern, Magnus, Alex, and Sam sit at the edge of the chasm and process the battle. Sam feels guilty that she couldn’t resist Loki’s control, but Alex tells her not to. Loki ordered both of them to die, but they survived. Alex reassures Sam they’ll work on her power to resist, but Sam yells that it doesn’t matter because Loki is free. She urges Thor and the gods to go after Loki, but Thor says that isn’t necessary. He knows where Loki is going and will explain at Valhalla.
Chapters 47-53 Analysis
These chapters encompass the rising action and climactic sequence. Loki’s plan is revealed in full, and Magnus sees Loki as he currently is for the first time. When Loki has appeared in Magnus’s dreams, he’s been suave and well-dressed, and even when Magnus got glimpses of Loki’s prison, the god didn’t look as tortured as he actually is. The chaos of the novel’s final battle demonstrates how there are multiple sides to most conflicts. While the main battle is between Magnus’s group and Loki, the group also fights against the giants, both physically and mentally. Thrynga has her own plan to gain power, which Magnus doesn’t understand the full implications of in time to take her out of commission. The characters also fight their individual battles—Magnus against Thrynga, Alex against Thrym, and Sam against Loki. Sam and Alex must mentally resist Loki’s control, which they do with varying levels of success.
This final battle is also a mode of revelation, as the conflict illuminates how different characters have grown or changed, and it highlights their strengths and weaknesses. For example, when Loki orders both Sam and Alex to die, the fact they survive attests to their strength. Alex is able to keep moving and continue fighting Thrym—by contrast, Sam is rendered immobile, but unlike in Chapter 17, she remains conscious. Given that Loki didn’t will her to die in Chapter 17, this shows her ability to resist is improving. The biggest change in Sam’s life between the two instances of Loki’s control is Amir’s belief in the Norse world, and Amir’s belief may lend Sam additional strength she’s unaware of.
Magnus’s reaction to Alex in the wedding dress foreshadows their romantic involvement by the end of the series. Sam and Alex’s similar outfits show the similarities and differences between the girls. One of the colors Sam wears is green, which is a typical part of Alex’s wardrobe. Alex identifies as female in these chapters, but even if she didn’t, she gives no indication she would be uncomfortable wearing the dress when she is male. While she’s female, she wears the dress with confidence and appreciates Magnus noticing her. After Loki’s escape, Alex is calm while Sam rages. Alex may be just as upset, but because she’s endured much more hardship than Sam, she has a stoicism Sam does not. Later, when Alex does rage, it shows both that she stays strong for others and that she prefers to let out her emotions when she’s alone.
In Chapter 47, Sam tells Magnus to do whatever he must to make sure Loki isn’t freed, including harming her or Alex to stop them from carrying out Loki’s orders. In Chapter 51, Sam signs for Magnus to trust everyone, and Magnus’s resulting paranoia shows how easily fear can claim us. There is nothing else to suggest that Sam and Alex are under Loki’s control, but Magnus’s memory of Sam falling to Loki in Chapter 17 makes him worry that he’ll be tricked into giving Loki what he wants. Paranoia is a slippery slope, and Magnus’s descent exemplifies how people start to believe in conspiracies. Loki having control over everyone is likely not true, but part of Magnus believes it is. If he were to let those beliefs run unchecked, the conspiracy of Loki’s power would become his truth.
Chapter 53 shows that things don’t always turn out as hoped. Magnus believes that the arrival of his hallmates and the gods means that Loki will be recaptured and stopped. Instead, his hallmates put up a good fight but ultimately aren’t strong enough to stop Loki, and the gods just give Loki enough warning to retreat. Upon arriving in the chamber, Thor cares only for his hammer, and Heimdall is more interested in selfies than tracking Loki. The gods may be powerful, but their longevity and power, coupled with their belief in Ragnarok’s inevitability, mean their sense of urgency is nowhere near that of Magnus and the other mortals/einherjar. When Heimdall does track Loki, he doesn’t share details about Randolph, and his reason for not doing so suggests that Magnus won’t like what’s there. It may also be that Heimdall didn’t fully look at Randolph because looking a little showed him something that he knew would end poorly.
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