What do giant squirrels have to do with Norse mythology? Our last look at Thor: Love and
Thunder before the film’s release contains some small details that may point towards the answer.
At the dawn of July, the studio dropped a final trailer,
just in case anyone forgot that Thor is slated to do glorious battle with a former Batman
(yes, that means Christian Bale) one week later on July 8th. The blockbuster, which also stars
Tessa Thompson and Natalie Portman, has released trailer after trailer over the past few months
with the same level of consistency as an arthouse film desperately afraid of underexposure. That's
okay, though, because it looks great, and no one minds seeing more of Portman's ripped biceps.
Rather contentiously, both "Avengers: Infinity War" and particularly "Avengers:
Endgame" opted to drag Thor through every possible pain he could experience (and that's
after seeing his entire world wiped out in "Thor: Ragnarok," plus losing each of his parents). Most
of his remaining people were slain by Thanos pre-snap, his friend Heimdall [HIGHM-doll] was
unceremoniously murdered by Thanos, and his brother Loki was strangled by Thanos — the
purple space dictator really had it out for the "Thor" franchise, for some reason — and then,
the latter film proceeded to portray his journey through the aforementioned pain as a joke,
because it's apparently hilarious to see someone turn to food and drink for emotional support.
Fortunately, "Thor: Love and Thunder" doesn't seem to be playing the Thunder God's grief for laughs.
Near the start of the newest trailer, viewers are treated to a somber slideshow of people that
Thor has lost, including Frigga, his mother. Over the course of these images, Gorr the God Butcher
ominously commiserates with Thor, acknowledging the true depth of his loss. In addition to this,
it looks as if Thor is desperately attempting to get his life together using meditation, a
strict workout regimen, and other ostensibly solid coping mechanisms. Despite the fact that director
Taika Waititi [TIE-kuh why-TEE-tee] is known for trolling anyone and anything he possibly can, it
appears as if he's tackling Thor's mental health with all the severity such a topic requires.
In previous trailers, viewers were treated to the fact that Thor is clearly still in
love with Jane Foster who is now the Mighty Thor with her ridiculously cool shattered
Mjolnir [MYUL-neer]. That, along with the title of the film, has long suggested that Thor's newest
movie will heavily, or at least partially, revolve around his swooning heart. In this, the most
recent trailer, there's a quick glimpse of the two Thors holding hands. Well, sort of. They're
actually doing the "holding pinky fingers" thing, which is arguably the cutest way to hold hands.
Since it's in the same black and white scale that the well publicized battle with Gorr is in, it's
probably a moment of camaraderie between the two as they mentally prepare to fight for their lives.
After all, anyone known as the God Butcher would probably stir a bit of tension in a pair of Thors,
so it might simply be them reaching out for some small modicum of comfort. With that dark thought
in mind, it's still an incredibly tender, loving gesture that's rarely seen in cinema,
let alone being utilized by shredded Norse deities. It's just really, really touching.
Previous "Love and Thunder" trailers have notably played with imagery associated with
Yggrasil [IG-druh-zill], the World Tree of Norse mythology,
and this final release again teases these connections. More specifically, there's a
shot in the most recent trailer in which Mighty Thor, who's holding the lightning bolt of Zeus,
looks as if she's sharing the bolt's power. She could also be slowly murdering all those people,
who's to say? The camera angle viewers get is an overhead shot that depicts the bolt spreading
through the crowd in an interesting pattern that kind of looks like the aforementioned tree,
a detail that studious fans of Norse mythology have almost certainly already taken note of.
To be fair, this particular resemblance could be entirely unintentional, but assuming that
she's sharing power and not doing a murder, the symbolism would be significant. Yggdrasil is a
magical tree that functions like connective tissue between the realms. One could climb
the tree to get from Midgard (Earth's realm) to Nifflheim [NIH-ful-hym] (Loki's original realm),
provided that Ratatoskr [rat-uh-TASK-ur] was cool with it (Oh, you don't know
Ratatoskr? That's a giant squirrel beast that guards Yggdrasil. Norse mythology is wild).
Aside from the squirrelly tangent, using world tree symbology as a visual unifier is,
well ... it's not a deep cut, but it's incredibly interesting.
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