Can Thor fly in Norse mythology?

Question

In the Marvel Universe, flight is one of Thor's powers. (It's been a veeeeeeeery long time since I read the comics, but in the recent films he flies by holding onto Mjolnir's strap or handle, and is pulled along into the air by the hammer itself.)

But my recollections of the Eddas are of Thor doing a lot of walking, and he even seems to slow down Odin and Loki, both expert shapeshifters, when they need Thor's companionship pending confrontations that can only be solved by exceptional feats of strength.

Answer 1

AFAIK, there is actually nothing that explicitly says that he can fly, even when he uses his chariot. Þrymskviða, verse 21, describes how he goes to Jotunheim:

Then home the goats | to the hall were driven,
They wrenched at the halters, | swift were they to run;
The mountains burst, | earth burned with fire,
And Othin's son | sought Jotunheim.

This does not suggest flying. Furthermore, in Hárbarðsljóð, Thor is returning from Jotunheim in the east, and gets involved in a flyting with a ferryman who refuses to carry him across. It is strange to imagine why he would have to do so if he could have taken his goats instead.

The only thing that comes close is how he is said to cause thunder, but there is no absolute need for that to come from free flight.

Answer 2

He uses his chariot to fly, not his hammer though.

Thor had a chariot to travel across the sky, which was drawn by two giant goats: Tanngniost and Tanngrisnir.

source

I've never seen anything of Thor flying with Mjolnir. Doing a quick google search yields the same...

However, the mythical version doesn't let Thor fly if he twirls it super fast.

theoddsseyonline

Answer 3

Thor does not need to fly. Odin (Brahma), Loki (Shiva) and Thor (Vishnu) Thor's strength is so great it threatens the universe itself:

It seems obvious that Útgarða-Loki's giants were terrified for the same reason that Hymir was: Þórr's strength is great enough to threaten the very structures which hold the universe together.

Source: https://notendur.hi.is//eybjorn/ugm/hymir/hym24.html

Thor creates a star out of a toe by throwing it into the sky:

A toe was sticking out, so Thor broke it off and threw it up into the sky to make the star Aurvandilstá ("Aurvandil's Toe").

Basically the hammers 'fulfills the wishes of Thor' When Thor receives his hammer, Mjölnir, it is revealed that he can smite anything as hard as he so desires, and the hammer will not fail him. Thor can throw Mjölnir at anything, and it would strike without fail, never missing and never flying so far that it cannot return:

Then he gave the hammer to Thor, and said that Thor might smite as hard as he desired, whatsoever might be before him, and the hammer would not fail; and if he threw it at anything, it would never miss, and never fly so far as not to return to his hand; and if be desired, he might keep it in his sark, it was so small; but indeed it was a flaw in the hammer that the fore-haft was somewhat short.

Thor revives his two goats Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr after slaughtering them for a meal:

Thor tarried there overnight; and in the interval before day he rose up and clothed himself, took the hammer Mjöllnir, swung it up, and hallowed the goat-hides; straightway the he-goats rose up, and then one of them was lame in a hind leg. Thor discovered this, and declared that the husbandman or his household could not have dealt wisely with the bones of the goat: be knew that the thighbone was broken.

Source: The Prose Edda: Gylfaginning