the thunder turned to bells.

While reading Frog's Mythology and the Lived Environment (2024 CE), he goes a little more into Finnish and Baltic mythology to flesh out his approach to myth as a "symbolic matrix" as a way to broadly reconcile all previous framings.

This interesting & novel redefining aside, at one point Frog uses the idea that every time the Baltic storm god Perkūnas uses lightning and we hear thunder a devil is hit and/or the noise makes them flee from fear of getting hit.

This idea of devils being scattered by thunder then made me think of how trolls in the Norse Lore are quite put-out by the sound of church bells, so if we look at this dynamic of audial repellence, it's probably comparatively easy to extrapolate that Thor's fatal lighting & roaring thunder got replaced in the process of conversion tactics to the clapper of a church bell instead hammering the lip to gong away trolls within earshot. In this the church displaces Thor as humanity's protector against the trolls and their like, but we can NorsePlay that to see & retake its Heathen origins.

And in a probably happenstance minor merchandising conciliation of the two aspects above, there's actually Mjölnir-adorned "Gremlin Bells", which are motorcycle riders' luck charms meant to guard against mechanical troubles on the road:

 

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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.