ANGERBODA
Real Name: Angerboda
Identity/Class: Elderspawn magic user;
citizen of Jotunheim
Occupation: Witch
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Cyril, Fede, Hepti, Isidore, James, Jeph, Leah, Lorelei, Mr. Cluck, Sigyn, Sindr, Svaðilfari
Enemies: Loki, Thor (Odinson), Young Avengers (Hulkling/Dorrek VIII/Teddy Altman, Ms. America/America Chavez, Wiccan/Billy Kaplan)
Known Relatives: Loki (husband),
Fenris Wolf, Midgard Serpent (sons), Hela (adopted daughter),
Vârcolac (father), Echidna (mother),
Cerberus, Hydra, Ladon, Nemean Lion, Orthus, Yarralamundu (half-brothers),
Chimera, Jandlinatjari, Phaea, Maralith, Sphinx, Teumessian Fox (half-sisters),
Laufey (father-in-law), Odin (adpotive father-in-law), Frigga (adoptive mother-in-law),
Balder, Hermod, Thor, Tyr, Vidar (brothers-in-law), Angela (sister-in-law),
Wolf Lords (uncles),
Drang, Hoarfen, Iceworm, Sturm (grandsons),
Ceto (maternal grandmother), Phorcys (maternal grandfather),
Chthon (paternal "grandfather"), Gaea (paternal grandaunt/maternal great-grandmother), Pontus (maternal great-grandfather), Set (paternal granduncle/maternal great-grandfather), Hyppus (paternal granduncle/maternal great-great-granduncle), Issus, Oshtur (paternal grandaunts/maternal great-great-grandaunts), Demiurge (paternal great-grandfather/maternal great-great-grandfather),
many other distant relatives;
Garm, Hati, Skoll and others (possible sons; see comments);
Hrimhari, the Wolf Gods, Tier Sinclair (distant relatives through Fenris)
Aliases: Angrboða, "She Who Brings Grief"
Base of Operations: Hel;
formerly Jotunheim
First Appearance: Thor I#360 (October, 1985)
Powers/Abilities: Angerboda was not only a capable hand-to-hand combatant, but was a known witch though the extent of her powers is largely unknown. She was not only able to hold her own physically against Thor, but also resisted the control of ancient rune magic.
Height: Unrevealed (7'; variable; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (680 lbs.; variable; by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
History:
(Marvel Tarot#1) - Chthon's creation Vârcolac sired the giantess Angerboda with Set's granddaughter Echidna.
(Thor VI#35 - BTS) - At some point a time traveling Thor delivered a young Hela to Loki, who later gave her to Angerboda as suggested by Thor. Loki was on his way to Angerboda anyway because she liked weapons so much and he wanted to gift her Bergelmir's knife, which was forged by Light Elves, never dulled and couldn't cut its owner. At this point Loki considered Angerboda his one true love.
(Mythology) - Loki sired Fenris, Hela and Jormungand with Angerboda. (see comments)
At some point she moved to the Ironwood and gave birth to the wolf gods Garm, Hati and Skoll. (see comments)
(Thor I#360 (fb) - BTS) - Angerboda died at some point and ended up in Hel.
(Thor I#360) - Thor climbed the Hlidskjalf and used Odin's runes to summon Angerboda back the world of the living and ask her for the way to Hel because only the dead knew it. Though she was summoned against her will she had to comply with Thor's request because of the runes placed around her neck. She told him to seek out Garm to gain entrance to a cave, which he would have to travel through for nine days in darkness until he reached the river Gjoll where the bridge Gjallerbru was guarded by Modgud. Beyond the bridge was the Helgate. After learning everything he needed to know Thor ordered Angerboda to return to the grave, but she was not willing to leave by her own and offered Thor an easier way to Hel by killing him. Angerboda attacked Thor and put her hands on Thor's lips to silence him and prevent him from sending her back to Hel. She pushed him over the edge of the Hlidskjalf, but while Thor struggled against the ancient witch he destroyed the runes around her neck with Mjolnir to send her back to Hel instantly.
SECRET WARS III HAPPENED
(Marvel's Voices: Pride II#1/1) - Angerboda joined forces with many of Loki's other exes (Cyril, Fede, Isidore, James, Jeph, Leah, Lorelei, Hepti, Mr. Cluck, Sigyn, Sindr, Svaðilfari) to get revenge on him for breaking up with them in one way or the other. They caught him and had him at their mercy, but Loki had hit the panic button on his phone to call his former Young Avengers in for help. While Loki distracted his exes with a story, Hulkling, Ms. America and Wiccan made their way to the warehouse where Loki was kept by his exes. Loki freed himself and together with the Young Avengers defeated his exes. Angerboda apparently didn't involve herself in the fight at all.
Comments: Adapted by Walt Simonson.
In Marvel Comics Angerboda is a fake Jotun giantess. She may have lived in the land of giants and sired some of the most dangerous beings in the Norse pantheon with Loki (an actual Frost Giant), but she is a direct descendant of two Elder Gods at Marvel.
She was presumably part of the Ragnarok Cycle orchestrated by Those Who Sit Above in Shadow.
She doesn't have that much history in mythology. In the Edda she was mentioned as the mother of Fenris. In the Prose Edda Jormungand and Hela were added as children and that was pretty much it. In addition it is assumed that she was the giantess living in the Ironwood that gave birth to giants in wolf form including Garm, Hati and Skoll, which would also make sense in Marvel Comics due to her dad being freaking Vârcolac, the Lord of Werewolves.
There is also the possibility that she appeared under different names. She could have been Gullveig (aka. Heid, who was burnt thrice by the Aesir and caused the first war between the Aesir and Vanir), Aurboða (Skadi's aunt, Gymir's wife), Hyrrokin (the "fire-smoked," who rode a giant wolf to Balder's funeral and pushed his pyre into the sea) or the Volva (wise woman) that was visited by Odin in Vegtamskviða.
You can find so much more about her on the Internet, but most of it is from very recent sources like the novel The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Cornichec published in 2021. The novel was about Angrboda and was a tragic tale tale that not only saw her die multiple times at the hands of Odin, but also saw her being forced to give up her children to the gods.
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Comments by Donald Campbell on Hela's origins: I just thought I should mention that, in the Marvel Universe, Angerboda is not actually the mother of Hela and Loki is not Hela's biological father. There have been two different stories, by two different writers, which give Hela two different origins. The first origin was written back in 2012 by Kieron Gillen in order to account for the fact that, although Loki was always known as Hela's father, it was also known that Hela had been the adult Goddess of Death even before Loki was born. In this storyline, the reborn Young Loki had become close with Leah, Hela's handmaiden, but she was ultimately restored to her true form as Hela's hand. Later, Young Loki interacted with a duplicate Leah that he had previously created by writing her into history in order to defeat Cul the Serpent. When his life was inevitably drawing to its end due to a scheme his older former self had initiated, Young Loki arranged for Hela to banish Leah into the distant past to protect her from his soon-to-return evil former self. Hela hinted to Young Loki that she might be the grown-up Leah but he didn't seem to understand her meaning. The second origin was written just this year (2023) by Torunn Grønbekk. According to this origin, Hela was an artificial black Infinity Stone created by Thor's grandfather Bor back when he was All-Father. When a Thanos from the future tried to steal the stone, it transformed into a baby girl and more time travellers from the future (Doctor Doom, All-Father Thor and Laurissa) came to keep Thanos from sacrificing her. As they escaped through time, the baby aged into a teenager and Thor, recognizing her as a young Hela, took her to his past where he presented her to a young Loki as his daughter, knowing that Loki and his then-lover Angerboda would raise her together. This is an interesting story but it completely ignores the fact that Hela was supposedly an adult while Loki was still a child. Also, it shows Bor dying differently than he did in that story written in 2009 by J. Michael Straczynski in which it was established that, thanks to another scheme by Loki, Bor had been restored to physical form (after spending ages trapped as snow) and ended up dying in battle with Thor in modern-day New York City. Yes, Marvel's Asgardian continuity is a real mess. |
I call the Hela situation post-Secret Wars shenanigans like every other change in continuity that occurred since then. Hela's 2023 origin is canon now IMHO!
Thanks to Ron Fredricks for cleaning up the undead form image.
Profile by Markus Raymond.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Angerboda should not be confused with:
images (without ads)
Thor I#360, p10, pan4 (main)
Thor I#360, p10, pan5 (head shot)
Thor I#360, cover (undead form)
Marvel's Voices: Pride II#1, p8, pan2 (with Loki's exes)
Appearances:
Thor I#360 (October, 1985) - Walter Simonson (writer/artist), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Marvel Tarot#1 (August, 2007) - David Sexton (writer/designer), Doug Sexton (technical consultant), Jeff Christiansen (continuity consultant), Michael Short & Cory Levine (assistant editors), Mark D. Beazley & Jennifer Grünwald (associate editors), Jeff Youngquist (editor)
Marvel's Voices: Pride II#1 (August, 2022) - Alyssa Wong (writer), Stephen Byrne (artist), Sarah Brunstad (editor)
Thor VI#35 (August, 2023) - Torunn Grønbekk (writer), Sergio Dávila & Juan Gedeon (pencils), Sean Parsons & Juan Gedeon (inks), Wil Moss (editor)
First Posted: 09/02/2023
Last updated: 09/13/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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