Odin's favorite son, the hammer God of Scandinavian mythology, the God hero of the Marvel cinematic universe, Thor's journey is a hero's journey that comes from myths to the cinema and inspired comics. That psychic plane, which Campbell describes as the hero's journey, tested Thor's character with both Godhead and Humanity. The last Marvel production Thor: Love and Thunder Movie, released in 2022, is another testing narrative of Thor as a character. This test has its roots in Thor's mythological personality. With the story variations reflected in the cinema, while the Thor character undertakes the mission that serves as a bridge between Gods and humanity, different typical features and tests appear in each Thor character, just like other serial heroes. In the Marvel cinematic universe, as in the history of mythology, Thor is the favorite and testing god of the mythical spectacle.
Thor and Norse Mythology
The heir of Asgardia, the precious and true son of the god Odin, the mighty Thor is depicted as a hammer god by Norse mythology. While the hammer symbol emphasizes Thor's masculine strength, it indicates that the symbol of strength in the psyche will only be found in the right person.
The beginning of Norse mythology goes back to Yggdrasil, who is depicted as the tree of life. The roots and branches of this tree extend to the lower, middle and upper worlds. Humans live in the middle world while Asgardia resides in the upper world. Odin, as a god who lost one eye for the sake of gaining the knowledge of his deity, lives in Asgardia with his own son Thor and his son Loki, who was adopted from the giants. Thor, who is seen as the heir of Odin, is expected to represent a character as a suitable role model for this god's throne. Thor's brother Loki is a character who is jealous of him and is in competition with him and envies his father and brother for the throne. Thor's responsibility is not only to be a role model God, but also to prevent Loki from taking the throne and ruling the upper world in a tricky and unjust way.
The struggles between the Gods of Nordic mythology and the throne of Asgardia are arranged according to the reign of justice, goodness and peace between the nine worlds. Nordic mythology is based on a human-god relationship with more ethical concerns rather than the carefree gods in Greek mythology. As a matter of fact, Thor replaced Zeus in Greek mythology not only as the God with the hammer, but also as the God of thunder and lightning. In the Marvel universe, in the movie Thor: Love and Thunder, Zeus’s lightning bolt passes to Thor, emphasizing the recklessness of Zeus. Even the lightning that Thor receives from Zeus alone shows that Thor represents a character with a more ethical and responsible sense towards humanity. Mythology also confirms this. The journey of the cinema and the journey of the mythical character Thor as a character in Marvel's films also display Thor's reckoning with himself and others within the framework of his deserving of the throne of God.
The Thor Movie, Mjolnir, and The Fall to Earth
Thor is represented in Marvel's first movie released as an heir to the king, as Odin tries to figure out if he is ready to leave his kingdom. Throughout the film's story, Thor will prove whether his father is worthy of the throne of kingship, Mjolnir, the power hammer.
A maverick, self-righteous, warlike, action-oriented, and selfish Thor had to go through a lot of wrong choices, losses, regrets, self-criticisms, and egotistical experiences to prove that he was worthy of his hammer and kingship. Thus, Thor exhibits the rebelliousness, rudeness, weakness, and blindness that fit these experiences.
The character of Thor, who does not use his Mjölnir, encounters the world and its people for the first time, experiences human weaknesses, confronts the lack of foresight caused by his own hasty decisions, and has to understand that being a king requires first gaining wisdom is displayed.
Thor's character learns about the destruction caused by selfishness and war, the power to be withdrawn from him when he does not use power with virtue, the importance of taking responsibility for his actions, that it is not possible to be a king worthy of the throne without prioritizing the collective good. Collective goodness makes sense for Thor, who first encounters new feelings and love that soften his heart.
Thor: The Dark World and Thor's Character
Thor's adventure with the Dark World is about creating his own wisdom after proving himself worthy of the throne. Now, things that an emotion like love precedes occur. The king's heart becomes the hero of the woman he loves, and just like Hades in love with Poseidon in the lower and dark world, the woman he loves, with whom he made troubles, will also be the partner, lover and king of the dark world. Thor's experience of the dark world symbolizes what he and the woman he loves have sacrificed for each other. Jane had infected him with the dark world by meeting him, and Thor also paid the price for other darknesses and sacrifices that unfolded with Jane.
In this movie, Thor's independent side is a wiser king. The authority of Odin, the father-king, begins to die. Thor is a lover, brave and prudent man who continues his future kingdom with the right decisions despite Odin. The nine worlds come together, the good king becomes the hero of the woman he loves and all the worlds, the throne loses its importance. Thor grows up losing his mother, decides wiser than Odin, confirms the legitimacy of his kingdom, saves his woman, and begins to overcome his blindness by reducing his emotional weakness for his brother Loki.
Thor: Ragnarok and Thor's rebirth with his people
In Thor:Ragnarok, Odin's kingdom comes to an end for Thor and the people of Asgadia. Thor is forced to reassess his status as king, which he no longer cares about, due to the destruction of his sister Hela and Loki's tricks in Odin's emptiness. A king worthy of the throne has to be king and hero for his people.
Ragnarok symbolizes the destruction and doom of the old for Thor and the people of Asgard. Everything that is fake is destroyed along with the old. A new place for the people to live must be found for the new king. With the destruction of their land, the people of Asgardia are forced to seek a place to take root again. Although the life he lives with Jane in the world now causes Thor to leave Jane, the place Thor will choose for the people of Asgardia to live will still be the world. While the character Thor is the king of the people of Asgardia, he becomes both the hero of the world and Asgardia and the god of the sky. However, for Asgardia, Thor is now the one who lives and makes the savior king-hero and god trilogy more deeply.
Thor: The Deity of Thor with Love and Thunder
How should the Gods be like? The ideal God is probably the one who puts things right for people. That is, God is the hero and savior, the God who answers prayers. The plot of Thor: Love and Thunder is concerned with whether divinity is the savior. In response to the gods who do not respond for help, Thor's deity and savior come into play. Jane is freed from mortal discord by transforming into a woman who can wield a hammer and miss Thor. Thor, on the other hand, has rediscovered the power of love after their time apart. Now he will be the savior with the identity of a god as a king. For the self-sacrificing hero, whose heart is melted with love, who has become wise, who has learned crisis management, and who uses his power correctly, the character of God begins to settle down.
In Love and Thunder, Thor takes the place of the callous gods who do not answer prayers, taking his responsibility for humanity to greater heights: The Savior God. Thor's God character is dominant in this movie. From an individual point of view, it is like an end and completion in the character's finding of self. What kind of hero will he become, how will he become a king, and what will he ultimately become as a god? Here is proof of what Thor did to the story of the movie, sacrificing for the sake of love by not being an insensitive God and answering their calls for help. Thus, Thor becomes the savior God. Good hero, good king and benevolent God. Besides Thor's individual journey, the Avengers journey also makes him a good team player. Thor and his long character journey continues…
By Neris Dipsov, Author of the Joker and Our Filters Book.
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References:
Daniels, Mark; 2013, The Midas Touch: World Mythology in Bite-Sized Chunks