1. Succession Myth often narrates the passage of power from one generation to the next and the details of family dissent or disagreement, where the older generation ‘hates’ or resents the younger generation. Examine how this is evident in Thor. Include specific examples from the film to support your answer with APA style citations and references.

 

Thor’s resentment of his father Odin is very evident in the beginning of the film. Firstly, when he is about to be crowned in Asgard by his father, three Frost Giants, or Jotuns, attack Asgard but are killed by the Destroyer. Although Odin is calm afterwards, Thor is angry and demands that they attack the Frost Giants in retaliation for what has happened. Odin disagrees and refuses to let Thor attack. This argument shows the difference between Odin and Thor: Odin is more calm, diplomatic and humble, while Thor is more arrogant, immature and confrontational. Thor’s anger at both the attack and his father is shown in one scene when he yells and flips a dining table. Later, Odin rescues Thor and his friends from Jotunheim. There, the resentment between father and son only grows. Thor accuses his father of not having the will to act, saying that there “won’t be a kingdom to protect if you’re afraid to act”, and that “The Jotuns must learn to fear me, just as they once feared you” (Branagh, 2011). In response Odin tells him that his “talk of pride and vanity are not characteristics of a good king”. Thor disrespectfully replies with “While you wait and be patient the Nine Realms laugh at us! The Old Ways are done! You’d stand giving speeches while Asgard falls!” (Branagh, 2011). Finally, after Odin calls him a “vain greedy and cruel boy”, Thor calls his father “an old man and a fool” (Branagh, 2011). Thor is arrogant and believes that he would make a better king than his father. However, this ends with Odin banishing Thor to Earth in order to teach his son some humility. Odin believes that Thor is not ready due to his immature nature and desire for battle, and keeps the throne from his son for this reason. Thor is resentful and angry at his father due to this, and in his arrogance believes that he would make a better king. This is shown in his statements towards his father. However, Thor and Odin never really hated each other despite their arguments and conflicts, and in the end of the film the two of them make peace although Loki becomes evil and is later defeated by Thor.

 

2. Succession Myth often includes a revolt by the younger generation against the earlier generation. Examine how Thor revolts against his father. Include specific examples from the film to support your answer with APA style citations and references.

 

After the Frost Giants who invaded the secure rooms of Asgard are killed by the Destroyer, Odin calmly examines the damage that they caused. However, Thor is angry about the attempted robbery and wants to retaliate. Odin refuses to let his son go and attack the Jotuns, telling him that he has a truce with their King Laufey, and commands him to stay in Asgard.  During the argument, Thor refers to himself as the “King of Asgard” when he is about to give an order, but Odin angrily replies with: “BUT YOU’RE NOT KING! NOT YET!” (Branagh, 2011). This shows that despite Thor’s desire to be king, Odin has kept the position from him. However, Thor later disobeys his father’s orders by going to Jotunheim with his brother Loki and his close friends Volstagg, Fandral, Hogun and Sif. There, despite the Frost Giant King Laufey’s attempts to make peace with the heroes, Thor attacks. During the battle, Thor and his comrades are surrounded and forced to retreat to the Bifrost, where they are saved by Odin and brought back to Asgard. Thor is unapologetic and disrespectful towards his father, which culminates with Odin banishing Thor to Earth. According to Odin, Thor has “betrayed the express command of his king and his loved ones by opening up the peaceful realms of Asgard to the horror and desolation of war” (Branagh, 2011). Thor has broken the long truce that has stood for a thousand years between the Frost Giants and the Asgardians, and in doing that, he has revolted against his father. He has also shown disregard towards his father’s rule of Asgard and has blatantly disrespected him, and that in itself is also an act of revolt.

 

3. Succession Myth often narrates how the Storm god, or hero, is hidden away only to be revealed to usurp power. How do we see this in Thor’s case? Include specific examples from the film to support your answer with APA style citations and references.

 

After he had disobeyed and revolted against his father and was banished to Earth, Thor lands in New Mexico where he is found by physicists Jane Foster and Erik Selvig along with their political science intern Darcy Lewis. Odin had also cast Thor’s hammer out into the Earth, saying that whoever holds the hammer and is worthy shall possess the power of Thor (Branagh, 2011). Angry at what has happened, Thor fights the doctors who are in the hospital that he has been taken to, but is tranquilized. Thor escapes the hospital and is found by Jane, Erik, and Darcy. After overhearing locals discussing a satellite crash 50 miles west, Thor realizes it is his hammer and goes to its location. However, SHIELD has taken over the site and set up a temporary camp to study the hammer. Thor infiltrates the encampment and tries to lift the hammer but is unable to, as he has not proven himself worthy yet. After he is arrested by SHIELD, Thor is found by his brother who tells him that Odin is dead and that he cannot return to Asgard. Unbeknownst to him, Odin has fallen into a coma due to stress, leaving Loki to become King of Asgard for the time. Loki sends the Destroyer down to Earth to kill Thor. As the Destroyer attacks the New Mexico town where Thor is located, Thor confronts it and asks his brother Loki, who can see and hear what is going on from Asgard, to let everyone live in peace in exchange for him (Branagh, 2011). The Destroyer viciously backslaps Thor and apparently kills him. However, Thor’s act of selflessness makes him worthy to once again wield Mjolnir, which frees itself from the crater and returns to Thor’s hand. Thor ‘s cape and armor are also returned to him as he is restored to full vigor. He destroys the Destroyer and makes his way back to Asgard where he defeats his brother Loki (Branagh, 2011). However, despite regaining his power, Thor did not usurp power from his father, who is still the King of Asgard.

 

4. In Succession Myth terrible monsters are overcome. Examine the terrible monsters (both literal and metaphorical) that Thor must overcome. Include specific examples from the film to support your answer with APA style citations and references.

 

After the Frost Giants invade Asgard but are vaporized by the Destroyer, Thor, believing that the Frost Giants are trying to go to war with Asgard and have broken the truce, brings his brother Loki and his friends Volstagg, Fandral, Hogun and Sif over to Jotunheim to battle them. There, Thor battles the Frost Giants with his friends after ignoring Laufey’s chance form them to leave peacefully. Despite Thor slaying the Jotunheim Beast, the Asgardians are forced to retreat to the Bifrost where Odin saves them (Branagh, 2011). Therefore, the Jotuns are some of the monsters that Thor must overcome. However, Thor also must overcome his own vanity, greed, cruelty and arrogance which got him banished from Asgard by his father in the first place. When Thor attempts to get his hammer for the first time after breaking into the SHIELD encampment, he is unable to as he has not yet let go of his demons. However, the true monster that Thor must face is his brother Loki, who, unbeknownst to him, was the one who had let the Jotuns into Asgard to try to steal the casket. Loki is also a Frost Giant, and his true father is their King Laufey. Loki makes a deal with Laufey that he will let them into Asgard to kill Odin and have their casket back, with Loki allowing them to leave in peace. Loki, who has always been resentful of his brother Thor, sends the Destroyer down to New Mexico to kill him. Thor overcomes his personal monsters by sacrificing himself to the Destroyer in order to save the people of the town, and thus regains his power and his hammer. Thor easily defeats the Destroyer before returning to Asgard to confront his brother with the help of Heimdall who has been unfrozen from Loki’s ice. As Laufey is about to kill Odin in his bedchambers, Loki kills him first, before setting the Bifrost to destroy Jotunheim. It is revealed that his plan all along was to kill Laufey and defeat the Frost Giants in order to gain his father’s favor. However, Thor arrives and the two brothers battle on the Bifrost bridge, before Thor incapacitates Loki with Mjolnir and destroys the Bifrost in order to stop it from destroying Jotunheim. The two brothers fell into space before they were both saved by their father Odin, but Loki allows himself to fall into space (Branagh, 2011). Thus, Thor had to face and conquer his own vanity, greed and cruelty before he could stop the Frost Giants and his brother Loki.

 

5. Often in Succession Myth, the Storm god is made king. Is this the case in Thor? Why or why not? Include specific examples from the film to support your answer with APA style citations and references.

 

No, Thor does not become King of Asgard after defeating his brother Loki. This is because his father, who is the incumbent King, is still alive, and Thor has made peace with him. Thor is also a man with principles and respect, and he would never overthrow his father to gain the power in Asgard. He is also a different man from the beginning of the movie, where he was arrogant and greedy and took it for granted that he would be the King of Asgard, before his father withdrew the position from him and subsequently banished him to Earth. Now, Thor is a humbler man who is willing to serve Asgard and his father rather than himself (Branagh, 2011). Also, often in Succession Myth the current king of the universe does something to threaten and provoke his son into overthrowing him. For example, Ouranos the sky was pressing himself against his wife Gaea in the earth, which trapped is children and prevented him from coming into the light. To stop this, Kronos castrated his father, causing him to be separated from Gaea and the Titans to emerge. Later, Kronos ate his six children before being stopped by Zeus, who gave him a rock causing him to vomit his children before defeating him in a war, slicing him into pieces and throwing him into Tartarus along with the rest of the Titans. Odin, despite punishing his son for his ways, never sought to hurt him and/or prevent him from ever becoming King of Asgard, and knew that he would eventually have to give up the throne to one of his children. So that is why Thor does not become King of Asgard at the end of the film.

 

6. Identify and explain 3 similarities between Hesiod’s Theogony, and Zeus’ rise to power, and the 2011 film Thor. Include specific examples from Buxton’s The Complete World of Greek Mythology (pp. 46-48) and the film to support your answer. Include APA style citations and references.

 

One similarity I can see between Thor and Hesoid’s Theogony is the gods hiding away their children before being defeated and the children being freed. In Hesoid’s Theogony, Ouranos hid his children, the Titans, Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers in the earth as he had unremitting intercourse with Gaea. They would later be freed by Kronos, the youngest of the Titans, who castrated Ouranos while he had intercourse with Gaea (Buxton, 2004, pp. 45-46). Kronos, now the King of the Titans, ate his children. However, they would be saved by Zeus and Rhea who would give the Titan King a rock, causing him to vomit up the children, before the freed Olympians would defeat the Titans. The freed Olympians would later have important roles in Zeus’ new kingdom. Meanwhile, in the Thor film, Laufey, the King of the Frost Giants, hid his son Loki away in a temple and left him there to die, before he was saved by Odin after the Asgardians had defeated the Frost Giants in war. Odin subsequently raised Loki as a son and made him the Prince of Asgard (Branagh, 2011). However, the reasons for hiding away the children are different in both stories. In Hesoid’s Theogony both Ouranos and Kronos hid their children because they did not want to be overthrown by them, while in Thor Laufey hid his son away because he was ashamed of his son’s very small size for a Frost Giant. The second similarity I can see between the two is the battles that both the Olympians and the Asgardians fight: in the Theogony it is the Olympians battling against the Titans. With the formidable Hundred Handers, Zeus led the Olympians in a battle of truly cosmic proportions, where the indescribable flame reached the holy sky, and the brilliant glare of the thunderbolt and the lightning dazzled the eyes of even the strongest. After the battle, the Titans are banished to Tartarus and the Olympians take power in the world (Buxton, 2004, p. 48). Meanwhile, in Thor the Asgardians and Frost Giant battle after the Frost Giants break a truce and try to invade Earth, destroying a village in Norway with ice, but the Asgardians arrive and drive the Frost Giants out of Earth and back to their homeworld Jotunheim, eventually defeating them and forcing their King Laufey to sign a truce. The Frost Giants were confined to their homeworld and were forbidden to leave, with their world being kept in ruin for many centuries (Branagh, 2011). These two wars are similar because in both, a divine force had to defeat an enemy that was threatening the universe, before the enemy was defeated and banished somewhere and the divines consolidated their power. The third and final similarity I can see between the two stories is the betrayal of parents by their children who want to usurp the throne. It happens twice in Hesoid’s Theogony, with Kronos first castrating his father Ouranos as he was having intercourse with Gaea, thus separating the two of them forever and freeing the Titans, Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers (Buxton, 2004, p. 46). In the second betrayal, Zeus makes his father vomit up his siblings after feeding him a rock, before fighting a war against him with the other Olympians and eventually overthrowing Kronos and becoming King of Olympus. In Thor, the title character has somewhat betrayed his father by illegally attacking the Frost Giants and provoking a war against him, which is why he is banished. He later redeems himself and makes peace with his father though. The true betrayal was by Loki, who first conspired with the Frost Giants to invade Asgard and taking their casket, appearing to betray his own father Odin. But once his father Laufey arrives in the bed chamber of Odin and is about to kill him, Loki turns on his true father, killing him with blasts of energy from his staff. It is later revealed that Loki did all this in order to gain favor from his father Odin so that one day he may become the King of Asgard (Branagh, 2011).

 

 

Works Cited

Branagh, K. (Director). (2011). Thor [Motion Picture].

Buxton, R. (2004). The Complete World of Greek Mythology. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.