Thrym's Clique: Pet Lovers
Maybe Thrym wasn't crazy to think that Freyja would be a good match for him. After all, they both spend a lot of time with their companion animals. Freyja depends on her chariot-drawing cats to power her ride. Thrym sits around stroking his horses' manes, and he loves to deck out his dogs with gold-embossed leashes. We could see Freyja and Thrym spending a lot of time debating the merits of Eukanuba vs. Purina. Ditto for the other members of this clique.
Athena
Greeks often described Athena as having "gleaming" (or bright) eyes, just like an owl. So it's not surprising that Athena is associated with owls. In fact, she's so closely associated with owls that pictures of her often show an owl perching on her head. Yikes. Thanks to their cozy relationship with Athena, today owls are associated with wisdom, just like her. That's why they know important things like how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop.
Bastet
The ancient Egyptians liked cats because they had a rodent problem, and nothing is more effective at fixing a rodent problem than a cat (we speak from experience). So one of their most important goddesses, Bastet, doesn't just love cats. She is a cat. Well, she's a woman with the head of a cat—or she's simply a lioness, depending on which century you're in. In later centuries, Bastet marries Anubis, the god with the head of a jackal. We wonder what their kids looked like.