- Hi, my name is Dr Mathias Nordvig.
I am an expert on old Norse mythology
at the University of Colorado,
and today, we're going to talk about every God in "Thor".
[cinematic music]
Elements from old Norse mythology have been taken
and then used creatively in the Marvel universe
to create a coherent story where all things come together.
First up, Thor.
Thor is probably one of the most popular gods
in old Norse mythology.
He was probably a very popular god in the Viking period
when Scandinavians actually worshiped these gods
before they converted to Christianity.
We can see this because there are so many Thor's hammers
that have been found in the ground from the Viking age.
I would say that the Marvel universe's version of Thor
is actually quite true to the Thor that we have
in old Norse mythology, a lot of poking fun of him as well.
- Someone's gonna need to amend that and stop saying that.
- Thor was originally a ginger in the mythology,
and this, of course, has something to do
with the fact that he creates lightning from the sky
and such things.
The ginger represents the fire in that respect.
I'm not sure that they would necessarily have attributed
that much importance to the color of his hair.
What we're seeing in the Marvel stories
is more this situation of making fun of Thor
by cutting his hair and he's freaking out and so on.
- Please, kind sir, do not cut my hair.
- Marvel Thor is a little more vain than the mythology Thor.
What we have in the mythology is a lot of descriptions
of his eyes in particular,
and how he's got these very staring eyes
that sometimes are bloodshot even.
The hammer is called Mjollnir.
This means grinder.
That, of course, has some kind of connotation.
We understand that this is a hammer that is designed
to kill and destroy.
In the mythology, what we see
is that the hammer can be thrown
and then it will return to him,
and once it hits its object, it'll make lightning.
In the Marvel movie, we see how Thor gets his hammer
from his father, Odin.
This is not exactly similar in the mythology.
- Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy,
shall possess the power of Thor.
- The Marvel version of the hammer
seems to be very similar to Thor's hammer in the mythology,
except in the mythology,
Thor doesn't fly by using the hammer.
He mostly seems to ride a chariot,
but in other contexts, it also just seems to be walking.
Next up, Loki.
In the mythology, Thor and Loki are not brothers.
They are from different parentage.
Loki is the son of this very nebulous giant named Farbauti,
and a even more nebulous mother named Laufey.
He represents what will eventually become the chaos
that destroys the gods.
The Marvel representation of Loki
actually seems to be more true to the original,
very complex character.
- I'm not even here.
Is this better?
Oh, this is much better.
- So what we see in the mythology
is that he morphs into different beings.
We don't see him taking on a shape of other gods or humans,
but he does take the shape of other animals.
Unfortunately, we don't see
that Loki has any particular weapon,
like we do in the Marvel movies with the spear or scepter.
What Loki does have though is shoes with wings on them
that makes him capable of flying.
Next up is Odin.
What we see is that Odin is a very powerful god
in many ways.
He is also the father of plenty of gods.
What we learn in one story is that Odin and Loki,
sometime in the far distant past,
actually became blood brothers by mixing their blood,
so there is a close relationship between Loki and Odin,
but it's not one of being a parent and child.
The two gods in the mythology are actually quite similar
in different ways.
They're both very trickster-like,
even though Odin is also considered
sort of a ruler of the gods.
Odin can also change shape into any kind of being.
The portrayal of Odin as a one-eyed god
in the Marvel universe seems to accord generally
with ideas that are also present in old Norse mythology.
We know that Odin gave his eye for wisdom in the myths.
He also has multiple names.
Some of these names suggest that he's blind.
Very thick books could be written
about Odin's ability to see actually.
So when it comes to Odin's spear Gungnir,
this is certainly something that is mentioned in mythology.
We also see Odin throwing his spear to sort of mark a army
as those who will go join him in Valhalla,
this warrior afterlife that he rules over.
So moving on to Heimdall.
Now he's an interesting character in the mythology.
First of all, he is the watchman of the gods.
He lives on this mountaintop called Himinbjorg,
which literally means heaven's mountain,
and from there, he can see everything.
He guards this rainbow bridge, Bifrost,
and he has his horn that he will blow
when the evil forces, the jotnar or giants,
they are attacking the gods.
I think Marvel does a great job
at sort of portraying Heimdall
as very close to what he is the mythology.
He stands watch over the bridge,
which, in the Marvel universe, is some kind of technology
that makes you capable of moving between worlds
in the vast realm of space.
Next up is Frigga.
So in the Marvel stories, Frigga is this mother of Thor
and adoptive mother of Loki and Odin's wife.
Now, this is not exactly the same in the mythology.
In the mythology, she is Odin's wife,
but she is the mother of Baldur and Hodr.
She's not the mother of Thor.
In the mythology, Frigg plays a very minor role
as to all the other goddesses.
I think, in the Marvel universe,
what they have essentially done is that they have combined
a little bit of Frigg from the mythology
and a little bit of Freya from the mythology.
Freya, as a goddess,
seems to have had a relationship to war and battle,
so there's a fierce element to her.
And then on the other hand,
you have Frigg as this loving mother.
And combined, this becomes a loving mother
who fights to protect the people she loves.
So let's talk about Siff.
In the Marvel universe, she plays a important role
as a friend of Thor and someone who also has a crush on him,
whereas in the mythology, she is actually Thor's wife,
and that's really all we get about her.
Moving on to Malekith and the Dark Elves.
Now, the interesting thing about Malekith
is that there is no mention of the figure
in old Norse mythology,
and the name does not appear particularly Nordic either.
The Dark Elves, on the other hand,
are mentioned in Nordic mythology.
Mostly they are conflated with the dwarves
or considered some kind of underworldly beings.
Those who have created the Marvel universe,
they have sort of gone with that idea
that there are these dark elves
and they are very evil in many ways.
Moving to Eitri, one of these dwarf characters
in the Marvel universe.
He does have some background in old Norse mythology.
We know an Eitri from one of the versions
of the story about how the dwarves create Thor's hammer
and Odin's spear, Gungnir,
and a bunch of other really important items
that belong to the gods.
In the Marvel universe,
he's created the glove that Thanos has.
The situation where Thanos melts Eitri's hands,
there's nothing similar in the old Norse mythology.
What we do have is that Eitri, on the other hand,
punishes Loki when Loki loses his bets with him.
The gods say, "Look, you can't take his head,
"but you can sew his mouth shut."
Next character is Hela.
Now in old Norse mythology, her name is just Hel
and she's probably more a place than a person or god.
When she was born, Odin, in this context called Allfather,
then gave her the realm called Niflheim.
Now, that means the mist world.
So in the Marvel universe, on the other hand,
what she seems to be
is sort of the unwanted daughter of Odin.
He's banished her to another realm.
The banishment seems to accord pretty well
with the mythology, but the personal relationship does not.
Next up is Laufey.
In the old Norse, the name would be pronounced Laufey,
and this literally means sort of a leaf island.
Now, in old Norse mythology, Laufey is a female name,
so this is assumed that this is a goddess
that we're talking about, actually.
It appears to me that the Marvel giant, ice giant,
has essentially been modeled
over several different concepts.
In the creation of the world in old Norse mythology,
there is this giant called Ymir, who creates hrimthursar,
and that means something to the effect of frost ogres.
The mythology in the original language
in which it is written,
the word that they're using for giant is Jotun,
and that means something like cannibal and not really giant.
Talking about Surtur.
Now, again, he's one of the few giants
who's actually a giant.
He's huge in old Norse mythology, and he wields fire.
We know him from the end of the world, Ragnarok.
He comes out of the ground, there is a precipice that opens
and all kinds of evil things come out of it,
and with it, also this fire giant who has a flaming sword
that he uses to basically cut the sky apart
and make everything burn.
So the role that Surtur has in the Marvel universe,
I think, is actually quite similar
to the role that he has in old Norse mythology.
Ragnarok is not going to happen without him,
but the difference is that you can't really trick fate,
so when we see that Thor prevents Ragnarok
by stealing his crown and all that stuff,
that's not something that you could expect happening
in this fated universe that is the old Norse mythology.
That's just not possible.
[cinematic music]
If we interpret the Marvel universe
from the perspective of old Norse mythology,
it falls in line,
in the sense that the Marvel universe is telling us that,
well, if you mismanage your family,
if you don't make sure to make your children feel loved,
for instance,
well then you do end up with the Ragnarok situation.