So I've been doing some research on Norse Mythology. If information I found is correct, Búri was licked free from salty rime stones by the primeval cow Auðumbla over the course of three days. And he had a son, Borr, by way of an unknown process. Borr was the husband of Bestla and the father of Odin, Vili and Vé. Odin is associated with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet, and is the husband of the goddess Frigg. It's that same in the comics. In the comics Buri had a son named Bor. Bor married a Jötunn woman named Bestla. Bor and Bestla had three sons. Their first born was Odin. Odin married Frigga. So yeah. It's the same. Borr was an Ás, which is a single form of the word Æsir. And Bestla was a Jötunn, Jötnar being the plural form. Which means that Odin is half Ás and half Jötunn. And if Odin is part Jötunn then that means his son Thor is part Jötunn. So it doesn't make sense that Odin would allow Thor to hate the Jötnar all his life.
Love that you are doing research and looking into the myths! So fun! Thanks for sharing!
So, that would make Thor three quarters Jotun (in the myths, his mom is Jord, who is Jotun). I do love that branch of thought and play with it a bunch in another story.
Regarding the MCU-verse hatred of the Jotun, it's a fascinating point that I've probably spent too much time dwelling on. Actually, a bunch of the ways the MCU-verse interpreted the myths speaks more into American culture and archetypes than an actual reflection of the Norse worldview. The contrast is absolutely fascinating. For example, the translation of the loose chieftain political structure to a highly stratified monarchy is one. Odin's portrayal as "All-Father" is vastly different than the myth-based version who is, frankly, kinda a scary dude. The relationship with the Jotnar is one of the most fascinating to me because the MCU essentially racializes the Jotnar. In the myths, the Aesir and the Jotnar are essentially of equal power. They may war with each other, but they also freely intermarry. The Jotnar are intimidating cause they are big, but they are also beautiful. Then, in the MCU interpretation, we get a Jotunheim who is a conquered realm and its people are hated, demonized, and othered to such a degree that Loki literally has a mental breakdown when he finds he's biologically Jotun. THroughout Loki's entire character arc, he comes to peace with his family but he never, not once, comes to peace with his collective identity as Jotun. This always bothered me. One reviewer made an incredibly profound observation in response to my venting about this. She said the MCU hasn't resolved it because they don't know how to. It's tragic...and so incredibly profound when seen through the light of America's utter lack of understand of collective identity and the process of social identity formation. This lack provides ample space for interpretation... so, welcome to my writings. I probably spend far too much time dealing with the relationship between Loki and Jotunheim and the process of dealing with his identity crisis and its aftermath.
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0 (Guest) on Chapter 1 Mon 17 Jan 2022 09:44PM UTC
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maembe13 on Chapter 1 Sun 23 Jan 2022 09:16PM UTC
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