These Sterling Silver Thor's Hammer earrings are just under one inch long, and are single sided. The Thor's Hammer is a power symbol which actually predates the Vikings being Christianized. Before Christianity the symbol was not widely used. After the 900's vikings began to come into contact with Christians it became much more prevalent. At this point Thor's Hammer became a religious symbol. The majority of Thor's Hammers have been found in areas where Christianity had the strongest influence. The full story of how Thor got his hammer can be found in second part of the Prose Edda known as Skáldskaparmál. The short version is: Loki was upset with Thor and cut off his wife Sif's hair. In order to save his life Loki promises Thor a gift while he gets Sif a golden wig. Loki gets several gifts, but did not get Thor's gift. He attempts to manipulate several dwarfs to make two other gifts. Loki bet his head. He began to get nervous about losing the bet, turned into a gadfly, and bit the blacksmith in the eye. This caused the handle to be short. Loki lost the bet. Thor chose Mjölnir, which is known as Thor's Hammer. The other gifts where Freyr's ship Skíðblaðnir and Odin's spear Gungnir.