Lets Discuss that God of War Image of Thor

so it seems that the god of war devs have released their new look for thor and the internet has had what we should probably call a gut reaction [Music] so thor's fat and the internet seems to be upset about it or at least part of it is it seems this is one of those love it or hated images that's making the rounds i will say that i was surprised when i saw it but i wasn't like mad or anything i don't tend to react that way to these kind of things i will tell you what was going through my head though when i first saw it so uh my initial reaction to this image is wondering why he has pauldrons and no chest armor like why is this dude protecting his shoulders and not his heart it seems like that's not the smartest approach to doing battle with the yoden like unless thor's vitals are in his shoulders and groin this seems like a an inefficient use of armor but otherwise i think it looks cool definitely stylized but i dig it but the internet is very much focused on his gut like i think everyone agrees he looks strong but the question is whether or not thor should be represented as so thick uh and i saw various complaints about how this wasn't in line with the legends i even saw someone saying that they're offended on a a cultural level but i'll be honest while i can i can get that this image might not be in some people's taste i don't understand being offended by it but this brings up an interesting question what does thor look like in as much as a god can look like anything there are certainly representations of thor and myth but what depictions do we have of his appearance and is this consistent with all that does this subvert those descriptions or just our expectations let's explore this a little bit and see what we can find as far as historical depictions of thor we have a depiction of thor in the saga of olaf the first as written by or snorerson which is one of the sources that snorey stoleson used in order to compose the heimskringla and in the saga of olaf the first a human form that is said to be thor is picked up by the king's ship and he's described as handsome and with a red beard he's given no other substantive description other than his actions whereas he laughs and has fun with the crew he tells him about how he killed a bunch of yodan and then he subsequently hops into the water and disappears and king olaf the first insists that this was the devil there's also the poetic edda which describes thor at the wedding in which he's clad in a wedding dress the same story refers to thor's swinging his hair and beard about as he searches for mjolnir later in the wedding he's in disguise and the poem discusses his massive appetite and fierce eyes though he is also mistaken as freyja throughout the story however this can be accounted for by the presence of loki in the story who may be lending shape-shifting magic in addition to the disguise or even through the disguise which would also explain why the main thing commented on at the feast is thor's appetite which would be observed regardless of the disguise there's also his eyes which in multiple iterations of shape-shifting stories remain the same for example in the saga of king hrofraki bjorn a man who is cursed as a werebear is recognized by his wife as she looks into the bear's eyes i made a video on this actually and i'll link it in the description there isn't much in the way of description of thor's appearance at least in terms of myth there honestly isn't a whole lot of descriptions of deities in general aside from the occasional offhanded comments such as odin's disguise as an old man in various stories or non-specific references to freya's beauty though we do have various interpretations of them in antiquity and this includes thor the most detailed of which is this idol found in iceland that dates back to the conversion period and was likely a secret altarpiece he does look rather live in this depiction doesn't he but is that the result of not wanting to waste material or because they thought thor to be thin is this meant to be a comment about his appearance or was it just meant to be a representation it's likely that this was secret and portable was its lightness more important than its detail we don't really know these things we do have some descriptions of thor's idols in temples though the description is massive which could just refer to scale rather than any appearance of weight there's also the historic iterations of art surrounding thor to consider in the gregorian era we have this image from 1790 in a painting called thor battering the midgard serpent now this depicts the popular legend of thor going efficient as he pulls yormangander out from the depths of the ocean now he does look quite ripped in this image but let's be honest our boy is missing his beard he's also missing his belt and his gauntlets and it appears that thor prefers fishing in the nude with one other man in the boat curious in the victorian era we have this painting which is entitled thor's fight with the giants from 1872. again we have a more idealized body type from the period and he's also very much missing his beard and his hair has been changed to blonde instead of red he's got clothes this time uh and his belt but he's still missing his gauntlets and the belt seems to be sporting a swastika which is part of how this painting later became associated with nationalist movements to the point where it was removed from public display in sweden's national museum if any of y'all think that like this nationalist ruining norse mythology thing is like new nah this shit's been around so as we can see these images that might depict thor as a bit more ripped are products of their time and in fact depart from the descriptions that we do have versus taking advantage of the wiggle room that is left open by myth and sticking to what we do have attested thor's mighty beard is attested to in multiple sources and is missing from both of these famous paintings what i feel strongly about beards i don't know why there is the account of his appetite to consider however loki excuses the massive amount of food that thor eats at the wedding feast by saying that freyja had not eaten in eight days leading up to the wedding but we are likely meant to believe that loki is fibbing to the yoten in the story and that this is in fact meant to represent thor's normal appetite creating a challenge for loki's deception what thor eats in a single meal in this case is an entire ox ate salmon all the delicacies meant for the women and three casks full of mead to wash it down now does this man look like aiden an entire ox and a single yeah actually he kind of does look like that doesn't he so is thor a thick boy i honestly see no reason why he can't be depicted in that way it seems actually consistent with lore rather than in opposition to it he's missing his gauntlets but those bracers might be filling that role he's got the fierce eyes the red beard he's definitely depicted as strong and it's hard to imagine he's missing the appetite this is the depiction of a physically strong individual on par with the bodies that we typically see in the strongman competitions i remember being a little kid when i first got exposed to the strongman competitions and i was kind of surprised at how these men looked they had these like hulking backs big guts and massive arms and they'd move these barrels with enormous numbers attached to them without any handles they could reasonably grip and i remember just thinking at the time like these guys should be more fit but that's just not how our bodies work these men are eating for power and they're eating a lot and they're putting those calories to work every single day in the aspiration to be the strongest man alive to do that you need massive muscles and to get those muscles you need to feed them so what body would we expect to see in a representation of the strongest of gods this would be among the reasonable depictions i don't think he has to look like this but this isn't a bad depiction by any stretch of the imagination and in antiquity how were these men represented the most relevant would likely be the historical viking strongman greta the strong reputed as a giant of a man and a troll killer himself and here he is represented in a 17th century manuscript with a body very similar to that of those modern strong men which brings us to the main comparison that we see people making which is uh marvel's thor as played by chris hemsworth now his depiction falls into the more idealized version of the previous paintings that we pointed out except of course an end game which is played for laughs he's depicted as blonde rather than red-haired and he typically has a short beard that i don't really see as being able to shake about as described in the poetic edda but does any of this matter not really what matters to me is the character of thor as portrayed thor is represented in myth as the defender of humanity and the gods against the yoten the devouring entities associated with chaos as the yotens seek to undermine the gods thor is the main force against them thor's name is associated with place names all over scandinavia especially with iceland as he rose to popularity during the viking age in the conversion era thor was seen as the deity guarding them from harm he is noted as being prayed to for the fertility of fields for the safe passage of ships and passion in battle the strongest of gods is also the mightiest defender what i like about marvel's thor for any frustration that i might have with it is that his character fits the name of thor even down to the sense of humor as in olaf saga he's described as laughing with the ship's crew he's the friend of humanity a protector of asgard and earth and exacts justice and revenge on those who violate these boundaries this is obviously exemplified in his role in infinity war against thanos and thanos and all of his complex morality is the type of entity that thor would find to be an enemy it's not bad really one of my favorite depictions of thor in film even though the movie overall could be better is the danish film valhalla thor's depiction here seems to be associated with the image of the working man he's depicted as arriving in a family's home and bringing food along with stories of the gods establishing the gifting cycle and giving the sense that the origin of these stories might be the gods themselves it puts thor's friendship with humanity in a personal context and it works really well it also shows his weaknesses he's strong and solves his problems with his strength he's not the smartest but he knows that and he does his best in defending what he loves he's not depicted here as overly ripped or with a strong man's body but with a laborer's body a farmer's body he looks like a man who has worked hard all of his life his work happens to be protecting humanity in the gods and that fits now we don't know much about the story of god of war ragnarok as i'm making this video so i'll put things in the form of questions thor is reputed to be the antagonist of this game will he fit the character of thor or is he going to be depicted as misguided in some way whatever the case thor's strongest association is with protecting humanity if he's the antagonist it seems that either the protagonist will be aligned against that role or thor's role will be different now i don't know what the consequences of that are going to be but casting thor as the villain seems to be a hard sell to me given his associations in myth historical worship and modern worship if there's any reason to be frustrated or concerned with the upcoming game i put my concerns there rather than being mad at the devs for giving thor the body of a strong man with features consistent with myth by the end of the day this is a video game it doesn't affect our religion beyond the conversations around our deities some of those conversations might be frustrating or perpetuate misconceptions but that's about it ultimately it just gets people more interested and sometimes they wind up exploring the sources and just as i find with the marvel thor often it's just neat ground for interesting conversation and to those that aren't part of the religion and are still freaking out about this i don't really get it i it's not like this is the only depiction of thor that we're getting even in 2022. and this depiction does look like he could beat the hell out of kratos and really that's what matters that is unless kratos stabs him in the chest where the hell is the rest of this dude's armor anyway those are my thoughts uh let me know yours i'm actually kind of curious as to how this thor is going to be portrayed maybe thor will be consistent with myth and this will result in an interesting and morally conflicted storyline or maybe they'll compromise thor's character and make him into a villain and subvert our expectations of thor which way do you lean or do you think it's going to be completely different i want to know where y'all are at but with that hail to my patrons for making this content possible it's good to have people at your back the like button and the subscribe button have attained thickness in order to defeat the bell with sheer strength choose your side wisely and remember to find a way or make one [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Ocean Keltoi

Views: 872,975

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Id: Jo3P_RbCZ3c

Length: 13min 43sec (823 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 13 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Urkaun]

Jackson Crawford did an interesting video on Norse physical appearance. Men being ‘fat’ was mocked in the sagas and by ‘fat’ I mean flabby. However, men being ‘stout’ i.e. the strongman look with lots of muscle mass and a bit of a beer belly was considered ideal and masculine by their beauty standards. Think Eddie Hall for ‘stout’. The shredded look with a well-defined six-pack and low body fat was probably extremely rare for most men in the Viking Age, simply because they didn’t adhere to a strict low-carb diet or focus on particular muscle groups during exercise to achieve that look. Most men ate a fair amount of carbs and their exercise came predominantly from working in the fields and rowing on longships. A stout, beefy Thor is probably an accurate reflection of what they considered ideal. The average man in Norse society probably had a body fat % of 20-30%.

[u/Dash_Harber]

These were pretty much my thoughts when I saw.

Dude drank the ocean and ate so much that saying he 'hadn't eaten for 8 days' was the only way to explain his appetite. Why the fuck would he look like Hemsworth?

[u/Ricktatorship91]

Too fat. Most WSM winners have not been that fat. Him eating and drinking tons of calories should not matter as he also burns calories. Also he is a god, so who knows what magical stuff he has going on with his metabolism or ability to grow muscles.

If the devs claim he has only been sitting around like Fat Thor from Marvel, then sure, his fatness could be more understandable. But the problem is that people claim that he is also obese in the sagas, which to my knowledge there is no support for.

[u/geetarzrkool]

Can we just stop with the never ending tattoos, already? There isn't even a Norse word for "tattoo" much less any evidence of them in Scandanavia writ large :/

[u/Gullintani]

Needs less flab and more Járngreipr

[u/MimsyIsGianna]

My biggest criticism is the pecs. They should be stronger

[u/Sillvaro]

Y'all, it's fantasy, they can do whatever they want with it

[u/conflicted_luddite]

1. It's a video game. They can do whatever the fuck they want. Marvel Thor isn't a very accurate representation visually (to my mind) but who gives a fuck.

2. I refuse to believe that this is what any historical person thought Thor looked like. Forget the armour and just the body type: show me literally any depiction of a god in history that shows them with a beer gut that isn't also mentioned profusely in the more general descriptions. The Greek god Seilenos is the ONLY example I can come up with and it's pretty well established in the context of his role.

Thor's not fat. Pretty much no god is fat. Because gods are archetypal idealised manifestations of human ideas. This isn't even a "strongman" look. He's got a weak looking chest and a gut. Not a strong chest and a powerbelly.

It's fiction so do whatever you want but if this isn't being used as a way to depict him as washed up and past his prime (think like Marvel Thor's period where he let himself go) then it's a bad depiction for me personally.

[u/Somethingclever451]

Definitely one of the more accurate depictions of thor, i do miss the Járngreipr gauntlets, and would have liked a bit more muscle definition. However given how the sagas describe thors appetite this seams pretty spot on