Being one of the most prominent figures in Norse Mythology can’t be an easy badge to bear. Thor, the Norse God of Thunder, has earned more than his fair share of scholarly attention and academic critique over the decades. According to Inverse Entertainment, he’s an "insecure man-child."
With a potential "quake-pocalypse" purported to arrive on November 19, and with the release of ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ in LA on October 10, I am tempted to hope for a Hollywood version of the end times. But, Odin willing, something realistic will happen instead of a brawny six-packer ‘Prince’ saving us all from the ‘Evil Queen’.
By the way, Cate Blanchett’s performance as Hela, Goddess of Death, is, in my opinion, the most prominent highlight in this movie.
Will the real Thor please stand down?
The movie has captured breathtaking scenes and groundbreaking visuals of a world gearing toward a giant Jötunheim-centred agenda, with Hela leading the force against the Gods of Asgard. This event supposedly heralds the Norse version of the end of the world (i.e., Ragnarök).
Compendiums from the 13th century – specifically Prose Edda and Poetic Edda – contain all the original details about the rich lore comprising Norse mythology. Apparently, the movie’s director, Taika Waititi, has explored the relatively modern understanding of wormholes, and let’s not be remiss about The Hulk in the room – Oh Marvel, how you tease us so.
Ragnarök essentially means ‘Doom of the Gods,’ and the movie sees Hela living up to the translation. Force yourself to blink after you see the scene where she stops Thor’s hammer Mjölnir with one hand.
The end is coming!
According to Norse myth, Ragnarök basically destroys all life in the cosmos – mortal and immortal alike. Everything in creation is flushed into a void, which is termed Ginnungagap; I for one have found the name amusing.
But the curtains drop only after a mega-battle has taken place, which entails the coming of a colossal creature armed with a flaming sword. This supernatural being seems to have one thing in mind: Roast Asgard.
Surtur in the movie and Surtr in the ancient scrolls, this badass under-god (in a manner of speaking) actually wins in the original Norse Mythology.
He annihilates Thor’s home city and pits his fiery sword against humanity, leaving just one man and woman alive (called Lífþrasir and Líf respectively).
That’s so un-Marvel-ous
If the movie-makers of today stuck to the truths of yesterday, we won’t have an "Infinity War" movie coming out nor will we get to see "Black Panther" vie for Batman’s sidekick position. They’d all, technically, have been vaporized following the "Thor: Ragnarok" timeline, along with every movie-maker and movie-goer on the planet.
Let the hammer fall
We come now to the character that hundreds of fans in the world have fantasized about. Chris Hemsworth is by far the best casting choice for Thor, but no one apparently warned the Aussie hunk that the script is rarely respectful of the scroll.
Hemsworth's Thor might have lost an eye in the movie, and descended a tawdry few points in the desire charts as a consequence. However, the original mythical Thor dies for real.
Jormungandr, a terrifying sea serpent and one of Loki’s kids (shocker), stands up to mythical Thor and proves its legendary ability to engorge itself, enwrap the Earth, and envenom the sky. The mythical Thor has fought this slithery sneak before and lived, but a final face-off reintroduces him to the intensity of Jormungandr’s poison and, before long, the Thunder God is dead.
According to Inverse Entertainment, Norse Mythology Blog creator Karl E. H. Seigfried confidently confesses, “There is never any idea that Thor is a young prince who will someday inherit the throne of Odin.
That courtly sort of plot was imported into the mythology by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, who created the pop culture version of Thor for Marvel Comics in the 1960s.”
Here’s a quick last-minute revelation for those who are dreaming about a God falling in love with them like Thor does with Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman) in the "Thor (2011)" movie... mythical Thor does not fall head over heels for a mortal, at all, ever. Don’t cry, thunder heralds rain after all.
Hell yeah, Hela
I absolutely adore villains in any story-telling instance, purely because of the ideology, "the badder the bad-guy, the more heroic the good-guy." That said, the mother of all villains has shown us that a mortal can indeed play a goddess, and make us shiver in our seats with apprehension and not a small amount of dark worship – woo-hoo, Blanchett.
I feel terrible for disparaging Hollywood’s rendition of the Asgardian Goddess of Death, but someone’s got to draw the line between scroll-work and script-work. In Myth, this illustrious figure is barely afforded mention. Imagine reading about the realm of the dead being called ‘Hel’ and that it’s ruled by a female-entity also called ‘Hel’. This ‘goddess’ could be air for all I know, because of how cryptically she’s mentioned in Norse mythology. No wonder, according to Radio Times, academic opinion considers her a ‘personification’ of the underworld.
More facts have been twisted to suit the movie's purpose. Marvel (in an article on Radio Times; Oct 25, 2017) shamelessly declares Hela Thor’s sister and, by extension, Odin’s daughter.
Before I smack my head against a wall on purpose, I'll endeavor to finish my line of reasoning. The Queen of the Underworld was born to giantess Angrboda and Loki – our other favorite bad-guy. Loki actually fits the familial relationships mentioned above for Hela.
Thor’s hammer be damned, is that a bit of Marvel-ian laziness I sense? That would make her Thor’s niece and Odin’s granddaughter, wouldn’t it? Be that as it may, Hollywood’s latest super-villainess is a major overuse of creative license. Hela plays little to no part in the original Norse version of Ragnarök. In fact, she seems to appear only around the time that the God Baldur passes away.
The big bad wolf
The movie showed us a giant canine that dog-lovers the world over must have yearned to raise as their own.
Wait, that’s a wolf, in which case "Game of Thrones" fans were looking at Ghost like he pawed into the wrong mead hall. Mythology’s Fenrir is not an insignificant name – shame on you, Marvel, for making one of the most legendary entities in myth, ‘die of natural causes’.
Fenrir is renowned for killing Odin himself and swallowing the Father-God in one gulp right there on the battlefield. Angered by the loss, one of Odin’s sons Víðarr hacks open the wolf’s jaws in an act of vengeance – he'd have probably gotten to his father sooner if he'd aimed for the stomach instead.
It’s interesting to note that, so far, all three baddies (Jormungandr, Hela, and Fenrir) are Loki’s progeny – Thor’s brother has certainly earned his horns if you ask me.
What about the woman with wings?
The Valkyries are as deeply intertwined in Norse mythology as any of the gods and goddesses are. Played by Tessa Thompson in the movie, the one Valkyrie whom they portray on the silver screen (specifically, Brynhildr of myth) is ideally characterized. She fulfills the lore describing the activities of her age-old sisters, who were responsible for determining who lived and died on the battlefield; Heaven has definitely been missing an Angel.
Marvel seems intimidated by these warrior-women for some reason because they seem to have stuck to the truth this time around. They had Thompson riding in on a flying horse, in classic Valkyrie-style – Richard Wagner, if nobody else, will have been proud of the scene.
Don’t applaud yet, because Marvel’s reverted to their old habits.
They made Brynhildr a force to be reckoned with in the movie. However, in Norse lore, she begins her early life as a warrior only to gradually spiral into a "Sleeping Beauty" conundrum. Odin locks her away in an isolated castle and lays her in a ring of fire, awaiting rescue. The mind is a terrible thing to waste indeed. Our darling Brynhildr is eventually saved by a man (not the mortal kind) with whom she has a child, decides to leave this man, murders the 3-year old they had together and commits suicide afterward. Too dark for you, Marvel?
Lights out
There is a lot more to myth and a lot less to Marvel’s take on it than you might have previously guessed.
Overuse of creative license aside, "Thor: Ragnarok" starring Chris-Thor, Cate-Hela, and the rest of the deific gang is CG-magnificence, with plenty of heart-stopping moments to thrill and entertain audiences. But if you're planning on going to the cinema with the express intention of learning more about Norse lore and mythical Thor, you’ll be sorely disappointed.
Norse Mythology Blog creator, Karl Seigfried, in an email correspondence with Inverse Entertainment, had this to share: “I wouldn’t say Thor’s destructive adventures are shirking his responsibilities because he’s defined by his role of protecting the worlds of gods and humans from the giants, who would overrun us all if given a chance.
That’s why the business in the first movie about Thor sneaking off to Jötunheim to smite giants, against the wishes of Odin, makes no sense. In the myths, that’s what he does for a living.”
Here's a shout out to Hollywood’s tendency to make their leading fantasy characters seem more brooding and rebellious than they are in actual mythology. When next you go see a superhero movie, be aware that the scripts involving your favorite heroes are heavily inspired by the comics that came before them. Comics are, apparently, the new Mythology. All’s well that ends well – until Ragnarök anyway.
