Harbard

Overview

In Harbarthsljoth, Thor hears a voice at a sound while returning home, and the boatman on the far bank calls himself Harbard. He will not take Thor aboard, turning instead to taunts about poverty, a glove, and Sif before pointing him to a long land route. Bellows’s introduction reads the ferryman as Odin in disguise; within the poem’s dialogue he appears only as Harbard, so that framing is not treated here as the figure’s sole identity.

Key facts

Relationships

• Thorasks for passage

  Thor asks the ferryman on the far bank to take him across the sound.

• Thorrefuses him passage

  Harbard does not bring the boat and refuses to let Thor cross.

• Thormocks his dress and plight

  Harbard ridicules Thor’s dress, hunger, and predicament.

• Thornames himself Odin’s son

  Thor tells the ferryman that he is Odin’s son.

• Thorcalls himself Harbard

  The ferryman names himself only as Harbard.

• Thoranswers with exploits

  Thor answers Harbard’s contempt with his own exploits.

• Thorclaims to stir wars

  Harbard claims to have stirred wars among rulers; it is his boast across the sound.

• Thortaunts him with a glove

  Harbard uses the glove episode to taunt Thor.

• Thorthreatens the ferryman

  Thor answers Harbard’s mockery with a threat.

• Thortaunts him about Sif

  Harbard says Sif has a lover, and Thor calls the claim a lie to his face.

• Thordirects him to a long land route

  After refusing passage, Harbard directs Thor only to a long overland route.

Story appearances

• Harbarthsljoth: Scoffing Across the SoundSpeaker across the sound in Harbarthsljoth

  The enigmatic ferryman who keeps the boat on the far shore and mocks Thor instead of carrying him across.

Ancient sources

MythWeave distinguishes ancient-source evidence from later adaptations and modern interpretation.

• Anonymous; translated by Henry Adams Bellows, The Poetic Edda: Harbarthsljoth, Introduction, prose opening, and stanzas 1–56: Thor argues across the sound with the ferryman who calls himself Harbard.