Jotunheim is the world of giants – or Jotnar as they are named in ancient Norse mythology. The Jotnars are the worst enemies of the gods and there are many tales of fights between them. Jotunheim consists mostly of rocks, wilderness, and dense forests, and it lies in the snowy regions on the outermost shores of the ocean.
The most famous jotnar is Loki – the god of mischief, who was accepted by the gods and lived in Asgard until he was punished. He is the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jörmungandr. He is often referred to as the god of mischief, because of his many tricks towards the gods. Loki sometimes assists the gods and sometimes behaves badly towards them, like in the incident where he caused the death of the god Baldr.
Another tale from Jotunheim is when the thundergod Tor visited Utgard–Loke and competed with the jotnars on a number of challenges. One of the challenges was to be able to empty a large beer drinking horn. The jotnars told Tor that he should manage the whole beer horn in one gulp, because there were few who needed two sips, and almost no one who needed three. But, even after three sips, the horn had not become very empty. It eventually turned out that at the other end of the horn that Tor drank from, lay the sea itself, and even the sea had sunk when Tor drank. That’s why we have the tides.