The Odd Couple (Part 1)
NOTE: I’ve created a new icon on the left sidebar for Books and Links. There you can find comic and music links and suggested reading relating to myths, monsters, and folklore. It’s a bit sparse right now but I’ll flesh it out more soon!
Loki and Thor are, without a doubt, the original odd couple. Where would the state of television detective series and buddy movies be without them? Probably up a creek without a paddle. Starsky and Hutch? Ripoff. Jake and the Fat Man? Unoriginal. Harold and Kumar? Infringement. The Odd Couple haven’t got anything on Loki and Thor.
Norse myth is rife with comedic, yet strangely enough, elegantly written poetry about the travels of thick headed Thor and the irascible Loki. Even then, writers knew that what really sells in comedy is oppositional personalities forced together for wacky adventures. In this particular tale, the fabled Mjollnir is stolen from Thor by the Giant, Thrym, whilst he sleeps. We’re one sentence in and already it is ridiculous. How does a GIANT sneak into the Halls of the Gods themselves and steal a hammer? I wish it were covered in the tale, but alas. Anyway, Thor wakes up, finds his hammer gone, and flies into a rage. Loki borrows a cloak to turn him into a bird and flies off in search of the weapon that defends the home of the Gods, finding it with Thrym who vows never to release it until he is given the hand of beautiful Freyja in marriage. Freyja, of course, would never agree to this prostitution so it is up to Loki to formulate a plan. Naturally, he asks the other Gods and Heimdall comes up with the brilliant idea to dress Thor (a large bearded man) up as a woman and trick Thrym into thinking he’s Freyja! Imagine Thor’s feelings about THIS turn of events!
It’s at this point that Loki chimes in, volunteering his services to be dressed up as a woman to accompany Thor.
Nobody even had to ask him.
Take from that what you will.
The story, as I mentioned, is a comedy as well as a tale of adventure. In its original form, it is part of a larger poetic work that is way too elegant given its subject matter. It is also one of the few stories I’ve ever read that has ridiculously clear phallic symbolism. You see, Thor’s hammer is one of the most potent phallic symbols in all of Norse Mythology. The hammer of Thor, when lost, represents the loss of his manhood, one of the things he held most dear. Thor is, in essence, the ultimate symbol of manhood. Strong, muscular, immensely bearded, thick headed, and rash, he had courage and a temper. He was all the positive and negative traits of the male members of Norse society. When he loses his manhood, he is powerless, useless in his society without his hammer, and he is, eventually, forced into drag.
He has, at that moment, become a woman.
Kind of a funny idea when you really think about it.
As serious as that all sounds, it’s clear from the wording and the way the story plays out that it’s not meant to be a serious thing. It’s turning things upside down for the sake of entertainment and it works, it’s one of the most amusing tales in mythology.
There will be more Thor and Loki on Friday. Three more strips, in fact, just like this!
Discussion (23) ¬
Cool, it’s a lot like “Hark, A Vagrant” right down to the expressions like the fourth panel. I love how your style from art to position is constantly in flux!
That’s where I got the idea. I love how she can cover a single subject over the course of several comics. I feel like it makes for funnier jokes and it definitely makes comic work a lot more fun for me. Covering a whole myth in 3 panels is damn near impossible and I’d rather not pull a Penny-Arcade (however much I love them) and make people read the news in order to decipher the comic. This works better for me, I hope it works better for you guys too 馃檪
I love Loki. I always felt the other gods had it coming when he finally turned on them. For the whole gender bending horse shenanigans if nothing else.
In Norse mythology, the giants were just a race and were actually the size of an average human. They were much stronger and willier, but kinda on the short side. Makes being sneaky a lot easier.
Poor Loki, in the end, everybody hates him…granted he’s kind of a jerk, but still!
SOME giants were actually not very gigantic, but in the stories, they’re often not clear on the height of particular giants. In the different versions of this story I’ve read, none go into detail about his appearance so I just sort of had to make it up.
Frost giants, if I’m not mistaken, are typically very large.
Ohhh, one of my favorite myths ever!!! This makes me happy. Hopefully we’ll get bride Thor on Friday? That story never fails to make me laugh.
Heads up, these are all slanderous lies.
We all know you’re full of shit! Now go dance for us!
There actually is some scholarly work devoted to the idea that this myth, which shows signs of having been written significantly later than some of the others, might have been intended to be slanderous towards Thor. There’s speculation that it could have been by tribes of some of the other gods, as Norse religion may have been divided up into different tribes who believed in different gods, but who acknowledged the gods of other tribes and worked to create a shared pantheon, with their gods interacting with others in stories and myths. For example, one might be a devotee of Thor in a clan that worships Thor (who was the most popular Norse god), but interact with a clan that worships Odin or Loki or someone else.
Likewise, the story of the 脝sir and the Vanir trading some gods as spouses to make peace is often thought to reflect two different groups of people with separate shared pantheons who ended up meeting and integrating together, combining their religious pantheons to foster peace. The clan that originally believed in the 脝sir was most likely the more dominant group because their gods continued to be at the forefront.
Anyway, I digress. It could’ve been other clans mocking Thor OR it could’ve been Christians mocking Norse religion in general (picking the popular favourite of Thor as the main target).
Alternately, there’s the theory I subscribe to, which is that the myth may have been much older and held deeper meaning and importance, which we can now only see glimpses of. However, the myth was later reworked by Christians (most likely) to take on a more emasculating/embarrassing tone.
In many ways, myths can be hard to decipher as they were often passed down through many generations before even being recorded. We also don’t have all recorded versions, and when we do have different versions, we frequently have little to work off of as to why one is different from the other.
In other words, I have probably studied Norse mythology a bit too much and have just gone on a long, boring tangent. I apologize. I can only hope that a few of you (I’m looking at you, K!) were able to get some modicum of enjoyment out of it!
Discussions like these are incredibly fascinating to me, and, I’m sure, to others well. I’ve heard this speculated before, and its mysterious origins are covered even in the more direct books like Haddley Cross’s “The Norse Myths” (albeit, just in the notes). Personally, I tend to be more interested in the myths themselves and less involved in the complicated histories of them (for obvious reasons) but I question whether this features Christian twists. As I said, I’m no historian, but I wonder whether they would bother and whether the story would take hold in the communities that would pass it on. I also wonder if Christians, being as blunt as they were about their attitudes toward pagans would even bother in the first place.
If this is meant to be slanderous, it seems MORE logical that it would be Norse in origin, though from a tribe or clan that worshipped one of the other gods more exclusively.
Regardless of it’s origins, I think it’s an awesome and fun myth for people nowadays.
Thanks for the great comment, you’ve definitely studied up! 馃榾
I always read this tale with Loki taking the position of:
“Fine you big crybaby! What if I put on a dress too? Will that help?”
aside:”idiot”
I wonder how Freyja feels about Thor being passed off as her….
Probably not great. That beard alone should be enough to give it away! How do you hide a beard long enough to be tucked into your belt behind a bridal veil?
It is the bridal veil!
Speaking of books, when are you going to print one of this comic? *_*
If I’m able to secure some money from a grant, I will definitely be printing some Happle Tea stuff and some smaller works for conventions. I’m currently writing a short little story for kids and adults about monsters, but that’s all I can say on that for the moment. The short story will probably be affordable to print, but larger, full color books tend to be VERY expensive.
Unfortunately, I pay a lot for school and don’t have a lot of money for printing right now 馃檨
OH YEAH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7bdr6fjg-k
This is my favourite Norse myth.
This is probably one of my favorite Norse myths, certainly because it seemed like the silliest. In the version that I read, there was sort of a red-riding-hood moment at the end, where Thrym kept noticing things that were off about the disguised Thor. “Oh my, what a nice… um… beard you have?”
Also, this is certainly not the weirdest thing Loki has ever done. Remember how he was actually Sleipnir’s mother?
i have to saw these comics are amassing. also i like how you made thors beard red, being the god with the fiery beard. normally ppl look at me funny when i say his hair isnt blond. also this made me think, loki has the power to change gender, yet in this myth he dressed s a bride maid. why?