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Soon after I got wind of Magnetar my thoughts were immediately on Thor's Mjölnir. My point here is, does the legend truly say that it was made from a dying star? My point here is did some form of advanced knowledge exist behind ancient Norse legend which science is just now finding by empirical verification?

J.D
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    If this strictly about the Norse legend, it might be a better fit for Mythology.SE. The part about advanced knowledge is a bit unclear, though... – Jenayah Dec 26 '18 at 18:36
  • If you consider thel capabilities in technology / physics / chemistry required to be aware of neutron stars, then I think it's fairly safe to say that no, the Vikings didn't know about them. – Misha R Dec 26 '18 at 19:46
  • Note: while the hammer's name comes from mythology, it's being made of some magic metal called "uru" in the Marvel mythos was an invention of the Marvel writers (either Larry Lieber, who wrote most of the early Thor stories, or his better known brother, Stan Lee). – RDFozz Dec 26 '18 at 19:51

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That would appear to be a later -- probably much later -- addition. One translation of the Prose Edda says:

Then Sindre placed iron in the furnace, and requested Brok to work the bellows, adding that otherwise all would be worthless. Now the fly lighted between his eyes and stung his eye-lids, and as the blood ran down into his eyes so that he could not see, he let go of the bellows just for a moment and drove the fly away with his hands. Then the smith came back and said that all that lay in the furnace came near being entirely spoiled. Thereupon he took a hammer out of the furnace.

...Then Brok produced his treasures. ... Then he gave to Thor the hammer, and said that he might strike with it as hard as he pleased; no matter what was before him, the hammer would take no scathe, and wherever he might throw it he would never lose it; it would never fly so far that it did not return to his hand; and if he desired, it would become so small that he might conceal it in his bosom; but it had one fault, which was, that the handle was rather short. The decision of the gods was, that the hammer was the best of all these treasures and the greatest protection against the frost-giants, and they declared that the dwarf had fairly won the wager.

There's no indication that the iron used had any special source -- all of the special features of Mjolnir comes from the craft of the Dwarves Sindre and Brok, who made it.

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Mark Olson
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