Thor’s Unworthyness Speculation

So been thinking about this a bit lately and there have been some discussions that helped solidify my ideas on this, and I think i now have a pretty good idea of what may be the reason for Thor becoming unworthy. I know it’s hard to conceive of what Fury could have said to him that made him suddenly unable to lift Mjolnir, but… I’ve got a theory that I think makes sense. Two things, first part i pieced together myself, second part comes from a suggestion from a poster at CBR which I thought made a lot of sense. I’m gonna outline what i think it is, and what i see as evidence to support it. Because as much as some people like to convince themselves that all this was done with no plan whatsoever so they can continue to believe Jason Aaron is a hack, it’s pretty clear to me that there have been some hints laid and there is a long term plan. One that probably got stretched out a bit more longer was originally intended because Jane as Thor actually ended up selling very well, but still. Though admittedly, one of them comes from Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers.

First Part: What makes someone worthy - I think the worthyness enchantment is in part (I do not think this is the ENTIRE worthyness condition, merely the one part of it that Thor lost. there has to be more to it than just this) facing challenges selflessly, and most importantly for this, with no fear of death. Here is what I am using to back that up. First, we have Jane who is battling late stage breast cancer (which is something Aaron introduced, he must have done so for a reason) in her human form and transforming into Thor eliminates any progress her chemo is making. Transforming into Thor is killing her and she knows it, but she does it anyway because she knows she is needed in that role right now. Then you have the scene in the Avengers where Thor Odinson briefly became worthy again. He was facing the Beyonders and was certainly going to die, but he decided right then to fight on anyway, and BAM, worthy again. I think that a fear of death is something that someone can develop even if they did not have it previously with the right motivation. Which brings us to….

Second Part: What could make Thor unworthy - this is the part I think most people have a problem with because I get it, what could someone say to him that makes him suddenly become unworthy?  It doesn’t make much sense on the surface. But if I am right about that part of the worthyness enchantment outlined above, then it becomes easier to explain. There are a number of things that could make someone fear death even if they hadn’t feared it previously, and it doesn’t have to make them a lesser person. I think Fury told Thor he had a child he was unaware of. I suspect it was with Lady Wazira, the Dark Elf sorceress form the League of Realms. She and Thor had a one night stand, then she ends up imprisoned in Malekith’s (oh look, the current big bad, what a coincidence) place. I suspect now, while she was pregnant. But no matter who the mother is, he learns he has a child, and he wants to be there for it, and to be a better father than Odin was. And first step in doing that is to NOT DIE. boom, he suddenly fears death because he wants to be there for his child.

And it makes sense. We already know he will have a child, we’ve seen his granddaughters in the future, which necessitates at least one child of Thor’s own, and they are Aaron’s creation. But their parents and their grandmother are kinda conspicuously never named. Also, after he became unworthy, fatherhood (and kinda family in general, but mostly fathers) started being explored as a theme, with Odin returning literally days before he became unworthy, Laufey being resurrected and Loki coming into the story to deal with not just one but TWO shitty fathers. Jane even had inner monologues about her father. And a child he was unaware of is exactly the sort of thing Watcher secrets could reveal.

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oh, of course...

I was having a discussion on CBR and it led me to finally realize what the whole unworthyness thing in Thor is probably all about. You know how FUCKED UP it was that Thor’s worthy was a measure of what his father (via magic hammer) thought of him? Who cares if he’s unworthy if all it meant was that daddy approved? I don’t care if he’s king of the gods, Odin being his father doesn’t mean he gets to decide what is right for Thor. Thor is better than Odin, he’s demonstrated this countless times. I get that it was a teach him a lesson thing, preparing him for the throne. But that lesson has been learned, and  Odin’s an ass, he should not be setting moral standards for other people.

The sub plot  with the resurrection of Laufey and how he interacts with Loki makes a ton more sense now, too. i mean, I liked that scene, I just didn’t quite see why it was necessary to resurrect Loki’s long dead father from a storytelling perspective, but I get it now. It’s there to reinforce the point with Thor. If Loki met Laufey’s expectations and made him proud, Loki would end up being a worse villain then he ever was before. Getting Laufey’s approval would include murder for pleasure, rape, and other such nastyness,  and all done to be as brutal and cruel as possible. Meeting Laufey’s expectations would be an objectively terrible thing. And not only that, Loki is torn between two fathers, so… which one is he supposed to choose? The flat out evil one, or the one who never seems to approve of him no matter what he does? So Loki flat out says that he makes his own rules, fuck Laufey and Odin both. Loki still probably will never exactly be the best person in the world. But he’s better than he would be if he met Laufey’s expectations, or continued to try and fail to meet Odin’s, leading right back to bitterness and jealousy. So Loki finally has it figured out, now it’s just up to his brother to do the same.

Now, Odin is no Laufey, i get that. But he’s been a complete ass recently, and is obviously stuck way in the past, not exactly demonstrating to those around him that his ways are good ones to follow. Yet he is the one who set the enchantment on Mjolnir, set the rules for what it means to be ‘worthy’ at least initially. Those rules have obviously changed, as demonstrated by Odin’s inability to lift the hammer. They have probably evolved to be Thor’s OWN ideals, he just never realized it yet, and whatever Fury said shook his own sense of self-worth. He can’t pick up the hammer because he’s been made  to feel he’s betrayed his own ideals. Hence why it called out to Jane of all people in the world, who would Thor himself trust more than her? But he has to go through this bout of unworthyness in order to demonstrate all this, and show that his worth comes from within, that he is a good person just because he is not because he is meeting Odin’s expectations.

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I noticed something fun and potentially important from the...

I noticed something fun and potentially important from the preview for Thor #2. Look at the doors of Asgardia. see that symbol carved on the door? That’s not just something random to look nice. That is an Icelandic magical symbol, or ‘stave’ specifically one called Ægishjálmur, or the ‘Helm of Awe’. It is intended to invoke fear and protect from abuse of power. (the God of Fear’s thugs are attacking her and is possibly controlling Odin. hm….)

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Awesome. Though I do not recognize all of them. But there are...

Awesome. Though I do not recognize all of them. But there are some surprising omissions, too…. Where is Lady Loki, or Walt Simonson’s Loki?

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"Loki is in a redemption arc already, and has found himself faced with the challenge of proving..."

“"Loki is in a redemption arc already, and has found himself faced with the challenge of proving himself capable of being a hero, but of course the person who doubts him the most is himself," notes Rick Remender. "And deep down, in the recesses of his mind, there is his future self cackling at him, pulling him into despair, convincing him that there is no other road for him. And AXIS will allow him to answer that question once and for all for himself, as to what the true fiber and makeup of his character is and whether or not he is inferior to his half-brother Thor."”



- Interesting quote on Marvel’s site today. Gives me a bit of reassurance about AXIS, that Remender understands where he stands at the moment and will respect it. I hope he is uninverted in the end, though, so he can continue the redemption story he started without some outside force taking over. I feel very strongly that it has to come from within, but I am ok with the Inversion giving him a bit of a push in the right direction. The fact that the inversion is kinda being played for laughs in his solo book kinda reassures me on that front, though. Also, he definitely implies that future Loki is not real, but while my thought was character in a story, he’s suggesting something more akin to what happened in Young Avengers, with his doubts and guilt manifesting physically. Though he may be kinda misunderstanding Ewing’s plans there.



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So having a look at the full preview and this page in...

So having a look at the full preview and this page in particular, I am even more intrigued. We the Minotaur/Roxxon guy, Enchantress and Ulik, which all have some potential for interesting things, but the things that intrigue me most are Loki with a broken horn and new costume, and what appears to be one of Thor’s circle costume thingies on his belt, Hela and the Hel-Wolf. I think this, especially the Hel-wolf which has pretty much only appeared in Kieron Gillen’s Journey Into Mystery, all but confirms that elements of the story will be tying up some loose ends from Gillen’s JIM run, and I am betting a large part of the story will involve Odinson and Loki resolving things after Thor learns about what Loki did in JIM 645. Also, it just dawned on me that this lady thor’s costume has some elements taken right from King Thor’s costume, mainly the brown skirt thing and the gorget, so i think that’s yet another point in favor of her being Frigg traveling to the past for some reason.

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Loki and Unworthy Thor

I started out trying to keep this spoiler free, but in the end I couldn’t. It doesn’t work being vague about it. Contains Journey into Mystery spoilers.

So, Thor just became ‘unworthy’ in Original Sin, but the reason why is being kept a secret, for now. What we know is that it was a secret that he heard, then BOOM, dropped the hammer. This strikes me as… odd… and I would have preferred it happened in, you know, his own book, or at least in the Thor and Loki miniseries, (I actually assumed it would be there, but guess not. He appears to come back from that little adventure completely unscathed, since this scene must take place after he gets back) I have an idea on what this secret is, though, and it just hit me today just how large the repercussions could be for both Thor and Loki if my hunch is correct. Anyway, I think the secret is, you know, what Loki did at the end of JiM. You know, that whole unpleasantness he is currently consumed with guilt over and trying his damnedest to keep Thor from learning, the ‘crime that will not be forgiven’. His BIG SECRET that was conspicuously absent from the earlier secrets explosion. What he did was terrible, and I think Thor would take it poorly, to say the least. Maybe bad enough to want Loki dead for good. Kinda like what happened here, in Agent of Asgard #1:

I am fairly certain this page was totally foreshadowing future events. Note that the second Thor tries to kill Loki, he becomes unworthy. In this case, Loki removes the corrupting magic from Thor with his magic sword, and all is well a few minutes later. But what if it was not the result of some evil corrupting influence, it was just Thor finally snapping towards his brother? Probably harder to bounce back from, he’ll have to forgive Loki. This is something he has always done in the past, no matter how little sense it made. He has always held out hope that there was something redeemable about him, and then with Kid Loki, he was finally proven right after looking like a gullible fool for years and years. Heartwarming, it was. But what Loki did was… pretty bad…. it’s not the usual conquer the world/Asgard sort of shenanigans, or anything. But it’s more personal, and probably more hurtful to Thor (remember, the dialogue was ‘Remember this hurt” right before the secret dropped) Loki can rationalize it all he likes about himself being the real victim or being a weapon rather than the murderer, or a clone, whatever. But from Thor’s perspective, Loki murdered his brother. An innocent child. Then took his place and lied about it. All this time, their friendly relationship has been based on murder and lies. I sympathize with Loki, I think he is genuinely trying to be a better person, (not exactly a ‘good’ person, but better. He is at worst ‘chaotic neutral’ right now) even if he sometimes goes about it in a bad way, and I don’t think he wants to hurt Thor, or anyone else. But it doesn’t change what he did to get to this place in his life, that’s some deep and hurtful betrayal, right there.

Even if the secret isn’t what I am guessing, assuming that Thor is banished until he becomes worthy again, it STILL potentially makes LOKI the sole heir to the throne. (I don’t think Angela counts, considering the circumstances) All their other brothers are dead. It’s a bit ironic. He has been trying (and mostly failing) FOR CENTURIES to nab the throne, and now he is in position to have it legitimately without even trying. Maybe without even wanting it. And with Thor disgraced, their roles have been completely reversed. Loki is the good son, and Thor is the bad son. Sort of, anyway. And I’m sure it’s temporary. But if my theory is right, and Thor goes all out for revenge against him? It goes even further than that, Thor has become the villain to good guy Loki. A sympathetic one, but still.

And you know what? at this point, despite that whole unpleasantness with Kid Loki, he’d actually make a good ruler. Better than the All-Mother who are stuck in the past, better than the vindictive and sometimes cruel Odin, better than the too trusting Thor. He wouldn’t have before, he would have been a tyrant. But now? His heart is in the right place now, he’s smart, and is not as gullible and trusting as the All-Mother or Thor. The sort of shit Asgard has to deal with, you need someone cunning and able to understand and deal with shady ulterior motives and backstabbing. He knows that better than anyone.

If this isn’t how it goes, and the secret is something stupid, I shall be disappointed.

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