From The Saga of King Gautrek.
Starkard was the most favoured of King Vikar's warriors. He received many gifts from the king for his loyalty and fought for him for fifteen years.
King Vikar's fleet of battle ships was once confounded by unfavourable winds. The King's men tried divination and learnt that Odin required a sacrifice and that the victim should be decided by lot. The name that came up was the King's. The warriors were most unhappy about this and decided to discuss the problem in the morning.
That night Starkard's foster father, Grani Horsehair, took Skarkard by boat to an island, where eleven people were seated on chairs as if for a meeting. Grani took the one spare chair among them and the others greeted him as 'Odin'.
Odin said that the meeting was to decide Starkard's fate. Thor stood up and declared that as Skarkard's grandmother had preferred a giant over Thor as the father of her child, Starkard would have no children and his line would die with him.
Odin said that Skarkard would live three life spans, but Thor said that he would commit a foul deed in each one.
Odin said he would have the best of weapons and clothing, but Thor said he would never own land.
Odin said he would have great riches, but Thor said he would never be satisfied with them.
Odin said he would always be victorious in battle, but Thor said he would receive a serious wound in each one.
Odin said he would be gifted in poetry, but Thor said he would never remember his poems after composing them.
Odin said he would be loved by the nobility, but Thor said he would be hated by the common folk.
The meeting then broke up and Grani took Starkard back to the boat. Grani said he expected to well rewarded for all the help he had given Starkard, to which the young man agreed. Grani told Starkard that he wanted him to sacrifice King Vikar, he gave him a spear which would appear as a reed stalk and told him what to do.
Skarkard rejoined the kings men and suggested that they hold a mock sacrifice to appease Odin. The men willingly agreed to the compromise and the king was led to a pine tree. A springy branch was pulled down for a gallows, calf guts were used in place of rope and placed around the king's neck. Skarkard cried 'I give you to Odin' released the branch and stabbed the king with the reed stalk. The guts became a rope and the reed stalk became a spear and the king was killed.
King Vikar's followers were outraged by Starkard's treachery and he was exiled from Norway. He lived a long and miserable life blaming Thor for his misfortune...
Thor shaped my shame,
ordained me traitor.
Tied me to misery.
I was not keen for killing
I was not apt for such evil.
Starkard travelled to Uppsala where he was bullied by twelve beserkers. His tormentors called him a traitor and a reincarnated giant and sorely wounded him..
These monstrous scars
that are seen on me,
on the killer of Hergrim (Skarkard)
so they claim
are what's left of the arms,
all eight of them,
Thor ripped from my trunk
on the northern rock-face.
(This is a fascinating tale with many elements of interest to the Norse theologian, not least the god's control over fate and the description of the sacrifice. The story mirrors the myths of the Fates giving mixed blessings, the most familiar of these being 'Sleeping Beauty' only this time Thor is the big bad fairy! There is no mention of the Norns is this story, the gods appear to be directly dictating Starkard's destiny, but the Edda refers to the gods meeting beside the Norn's well, possibly implying that the Norns act under the instruction of the gods.
This story certainly blows a big hole in Snorri's statement that the Norse gods subserviently obey Odin, the divine council comes across as a meeting of equals. This is far closer to historical heathen faith where Thor or Frey dominated local worship.
The behaviour of the gods is hard to explain, Thor appears to be completely out of order, still sulking having been rejected by Starkard's grandmother fifty years previously. However such family feuds were commonplace at the end of the Viking period which may have justified his hostility to contemporary folk, at least partially.
There is a clear link between Starkard and his grandfather, not just in the shared name but the suggestion of reincarnation, and the idea that Starkard bears the scars Thor inflicted on the long dead giant. This may partly explain Thor's hostility, as the youth had inherited not only his grandfather's stature but also his enemies. Note that Storvirk, the giant's son escapes Thor's anger, as he doesn't bear the unlucky name.
Odin's involvement is even harder to explain. He clearly cares for Starkard as he acts as the boy's foster father for nine years, and yet it is Odin's insistence that Starkard should sacrifice the king, the very act that ruins his life and sets Thor's curse in motion.
The alternate blessings and curses underline the difference between Thor and Odin, Thor being the god of the common folk who judge wealth by land, while Odin is the patron of the wealthy nobility and professional warlords.)