The Dark And Shocking Truth About Thor | Norse Mythology Explained

The real Thor from Norse Mythology was not blonde. The real Thor was not rocking abs, nor would he win any beauty contest. The real Thor was quick to anger, and just as quick to smash everything to pieces with his hammer. In fact... the real Thor was more like Marvel’s Hulk than Marvel’s Thor in many ways: An angry, massive man that just wanted to fight and drink, and preferred not to think. Actually, God of War Ragnarok had a fairly accurate depiction of Thor, particularly in his appearance.

Mythology Thor being so different from the MCU Thor does not make Norse Mythology's God of Thunder any less interesting... if anything, it makes for more exciting stories. Of course, Loki features heavily in any Thor story, but... Loki also plays a vastly different role in Norse Mythology than Marvel might have you think, so... let's get my deep dive into Norse Mythology started with:

Episode 1 Of Keeping Up With The Norse Gods — The Thick Genocidal Redhead: Thor

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Notes
Mythology is a tough puzzle to piece together, because these stories are thousands of years old. This is true for any mythology, including the Norse one. With every tale, there are many different versions that were told in various regions over time. For the sake of this video — and all my videos — I try to streamline these as much as possible and leave out some details that make the videos…more fun.Many historians make this stuff so boring because they get caught up in details that are much less relevant than the bigger picture. I'm not gonna do that.
So... is this accurate and well researched? Absolutely, 100%. Is this the only interpretation or way of recounting Thor and his tales? No, but subjectively speaking… it’s the way I liked it the most.

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Sources:
A lot of people ask me about my sources, and… to be honest, they are a mixed bag. One major source is my lifelong interest in storytelling and mythology. Another is the beautiful endless library that is the internet, and, third, I read the occasional book from time to time, which I’m happy to recommend to you, but also… I’m planning to write my own book on mythology, so, in due time it will be…:
Source? Me. Yay.

[JxnasJ]

As a scandinavian, I hope to learn about the norse/nordic mythology thanks for this imformative video love your humor

[carterclarke]

Started watching your videos and didn’t realize you only have been making them for 3 months. Content is top tier. Excited to see your growth

[jamesforreal]

Great breakdown on Tor. To their credit, Marvel never really aimed to recreate the actual Thor, but people get their education from movies (which explains some crazy behavior they try out). I like learning about the real tales as well!

[i_am_aladeen]

4:43 "Nobody but Thor can lift it" .... "Somebody steals it" 😂😂

[GodstoneHawk]

As a Icelander, and this fits everything according every story in my heritage and what a wonderful job Marvel has destroyed every detail of every aspect, I thank for being so accurate!!!
Takk innilega fyrir réttar og gagnlegar upplýsingar. Megi bæði Óðinn og Þór veita þér ævarandi blessun fyrir vikið.

[RonzanaBell]

This whole segment was educational and funny

[annawright]

I’m loving the longer format videos, keep up the good work!!

[IvIidnight]

I came for the story as I am trying to buff up on my Mythology, subbed for the storytelling. Will now be binging. Please do a video on Baast (Bast/Bastet) and one on Nyx if you so choose. Would love to see those!

[michaelmcanally]

I have seen Thor as the spoiled prince, even in the MCU, at first. He’s always traveling around with a companion, usually Loki, or another character from Norse mythology. He tends to let his pride dictate how he approaches a situation, and when he gets ridiculed or made fun of, instead of seeing the humor and humility of the situation, he gets mad and swears revenge upon the person that humiliated him.

[marydeyoung]

A great story about Thor/Tor was when he, Loki, and Thialfi sought out the Ice Giant castle, Utgard-Loke because the Frost Giants had been sending bad weather to kill the crops of the gods' neighbors. This tale is from the book, 'Castles' by Alan Lee and written by David Day. The three gods, after a long and arduous journey, find Utgard-Loke which is a castle so large that Tor had to crane his neck just to see the ramparts!

They managed to slip through the grill-work in the gate and presented themselves to the assembled Frost Giants therein the vast castle. The Frost Giants just laughed at Tor, Loki, and Thialfi, heaping scorn upon their powers, then proposed a series of contests [with the Giants] to gauge how powerful the gods really were.

Loki went first in an eating contest with a Giant named Loge, and Loki managed to eat all the meat in an enormous trough. Still, Loge beat him by not only eating all the meat, but consuming the bones along with the trough, hence the Giants won that contest.

Thialfi, Tor's servant and known for his swiftness, went next. He was challenged to 3 footraces with a dwarf named Huge and managed to lose all three times. Another win for the Giants.

Now the Giants challenged Tor to three contests, 1. Drinking contest. 2. Lifting the Frost Giant King's pet cat. 3. A strength contest where Tor would wrestle whomever the King picked as an opponent. Tor was to empty to Giant King's wineflask, but could only manage to reduce the contents by a tiny margin (and Tor was known for his legendary thirst). Next, after much taunting from the Giants, Tor attempted to pick up King's pet cat. His legendary strength proved useless against lifting the cat, for all Tor could do was lift up a solitary paw off the ground. Amidst derisive guffaws from the Giants, the King finally had Tor wrestle not the strongest Giant, but the King's ancient Nurse. Much put out, Tor wrestled the Nurse with all his strength, but she could handle him as if he were an infant.

The next day, the dispirited gods left Utgard-Loke, but when they were beyond the gates, they learned they were defeated by powerful magic and not strength. (Talk about home field advantage!) Loge turned out to be [all-consuming] Fire, Huge turned out to be Thought (nobody can outrun). The Frost Giant's wineflask was the Ocean, which Tor did manage to lower its level. The 'cat' turned out to be the Midgard Serpent, and the Old Nurse was really Old Age. Enraged by being humiliated by trickery, Tor vowed revenge, but the entire Frost Giant castle vanished leaving only the echoes of the Frost Giant's scornful laughter.

[miguel-espinoza]

You are a legend! love your narrative, please keep it coming!

[dougpridgen]

The reason he looks different in MCU is because they made Ragnarok into a recurring thing (Nietzsche's eternal recurrence?) and the Marvel Thor is a rebirth (post Ragnarok) of the one from the last cycle which is the version with red hair and so on. It's not part of Norse mythology but they did have an explanation for this in old comics I remember reading from my childhood, although they didn't explain it in the films.

[MyDCCollection]

Just found this video. Like what I see especially the daft jokes 😂😂 awesome dude I’ve subbed 👍🏻👍🏻

[mitchdavis]

Marvel isn’t lying. It’s its own thing. Never said to be the actual myths of the northmen. It’s a comic book universe.

[kristinekirwin]

I’m glad I popped over from the Toc to hear the whole story!! Love it and your sense of humor 😅!!

[som]

Thor is never described as being chubby or thick anywhere. Just red hair and powerful.

[Snarge]

Very fun dive into Norse Mythology and a fantastic presentation!
(Some of the mythology sounds like it was written under the effects of inebriation.)

[SenseiNWDA]

Well presented, well researched, WELL DONE!

[angelandrades]

Hey that was very interesting I enjoyed that keep it coming

[warmice]

“Are you a calm and reasonable person?” -Thor

“You’re one to talk” - Kratos