SNOW GIANT
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Orc , Extradimensional being (Asgardian)
Occupation: Plague of Asgard
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Loki
Enemies: Odin, Thor and probably all Asgardians
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: North Orc
Base of Operations: Plague Cask;
formerly Northern Asgard
First Appearance: Thor I#308 (June, 1981)
Powers/Abilities: The Snow Giant was an Orc, gigantic in
size, whose skin was apparently
made of snow and ice.
The Orc had incredible strength and endurance, probably Class
100, against Odin he had a chance.
He could easily
create objects of ice and snow to use as weapons to hit with and throw. Like a
gayser of ice was his blow.
Weaknesses: Fire and heat.
History: (Thor I#308 (fb) - BTS) - The Snow Giant was one of the Plagues of Asgard. In past eras, even before Thor was conceived, the Orc fought Odin in the North of Asgard, almost defeating him. Their battle endured for weeks and Odin's arm strength was not enough to defeat the Orc. The Giant, sure of his power, pursued Odin, who, cunningly, continued the fight luring the Orc more and more to the south. When the climate became warm, Odin realized he had won the battle. The Snow Giant was no more a threat, without snow. In the end, the Orc was captured and imprisoned by Odin in the Plague Cask.
(Thor I#308) - For eras the Snow Giant remained captive in
the Cask until one day when Karnilla and Loki freed the Cask from the eternal
ice of the Ice Mountains and then magically sent the Snow Giant to New York, where a
magic snow storm, caused by Loki and his Crystal of Transferrance, was freezing
the city. There, the Giant arose, in the middle of Central Park and was soon
confronted by Thor.
Learning from his opponent that he was the son of Odin, the
yet angered Orc unleashed his power against the God of Thunder.
Thor wasn't able to defeat the giant with his strength and Mjolnir.
But Thor recalled his father's story about his battle against the Snow Giant and ignited an underground gas pipeline and also blew up a fuel container.
The fire and the heat around, weakened the Snow Giant, who tried to run
away, but didn't succeed. He soon fell uncoscious to the ground.
But the evil and the danger were still there, because the cold storm above New
York was still raging, and soon the Snow Giant would rise again. But,
just then, Loki appeared on the scene, still trapped in the Crystal of Transferrance.
In exchange for his freedom, Loki inverted the enchantement which freed the Snow
Giant, shrinking the Orc to the size of a puppet and taking him back to his
prison on Asgard.
(Thor I#308 - BTS) - Loki probably imprisoned the Snow Giant again in the Cask.
Comments: Created by Doug Moench (writer), Keith Pollard (pencils), Stone & Severin & Milgrom (inks), George Roussos (colors), Jim Salicrup (editor).
The fight between Thor and the Snow Giant is retold in Code of Honor#3.
Thor called the Snow Giant "Orc" so
it is supposed he belongs to a different race than other Asgardian giants.
Englehart's origins about the Asgardian Pantheon
told something about Ymir, whose first sleep let him to be melted by warm winds,
and about his awakening and his fight against Odin and his brothers. Also in
that occasion, Ymir, the first of the Frost Giants was defeated by Odin. Points
in common, among the two stories, exist.
The issues depicting or describing Ymir's origin that
Spidermay mentions are Tales of Suspense I#97, Thor
Annual#5, Doctor Strange III#35, Thor II#83 and to a
lesser degree Savage Tales I#1 (which has an Aesir
wiseman claiming that the first-born of Ymir was
Atali). Elements of some of these stories have been
denied as representing literal truth in Thor I#293,
Blood Oath (where even Asgardians mock the story), and
the Official Handbook entry for Ymir.
--Per Degaton
The Plague Cask, used in combination with the Snow Giant and the snowy storm reminds me of the Casket of the Ancient Winters (Thor I#345), Ymir and the ice realm of Niffleheim, too. A good writer could state that the two Caskets are the same thing, and that the Fimbulwinter was only one of the Plagues contained in the Cask. Another good writer could take hint from this story and write and draw a long saga using a Casket, a snowy winter, an army of demons and a Giant, enemy of Odin, someone like Walt Simonson, for example.
The demons conjured from the Cask by Karnilla were identical to the Mindless Ones of the Dark Dimension. Karnilla could recall an entire army of them, and the Mindless Ones are many. Using a scientific explanation, the Cask could be a "tesseract" containing one or more dimensions. Among them, the Dark Dimension, too, or only the part contained in the Great Barrier. Using a supernatural explanation, the Cask could be the portal for reaching other worlds. Hypotesis:
In the All-New OHotMU Update#4 it was revealed that the demons from the Plague Cask were indeed members of the well known race of Mindless Ones.
--Markus Raymond
Profile by Spidermay.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Snow Giant is probably connected to
and has no known connections to
A Crystal of Transferrance
is an enchanted crystal globe which enables the person who controls it
to concretize in reality what happens inside the globe. The controller of the
globe can create a copy of a place inside the globe, and perform various
actions on the globe, and the same thing happens in the reality where the real
place is.
There probably exist more than one Crystal of Tranferrance,
but they are very rare or very difficult to create, even for a sorceress of great
power like Karnilla.
(Thor I#308) - Loki was in possession of a Crystal of Transferrance. Exiled by his father Odin in a cold, stormy, snowy castle far away on the Ice Mountains, Loki used the Crystal to let his half-brother Thor suffer his same discomforts, making a snow storm appear over the city of New York. As the storm had magic origins, it didn't stop, even when Thor tried to cancel it with his own powers.
Later, Karnilla extracted the Snow Giant from the Plague Cask and Loki placed the Giant in the Crystal. Few moments later, the Snow Giant arose in the middle of New York.
Imprisoned by Karnilla, Loki used the Crystal to go and ask Thor for help. As he entered the Crystal he was transported to New York, but entrapped in the Crystal. He made a pact with Thor, who carried him on Bifrost, then hurled Loki and the globe far away. The globe flew, reaching the outpost of Loki's exile, till it smashed just in front of Karnilla, freeing Loki from his prison. Meanwhile, with the breaking of the Crystal, the snow ceased falling on New York.
--Thor I#308
The Plague Cask was an important, enchanted item, which contained the Plagues of Asgard. Among them: The Snow Giant, and the Mindless Ones. The possessor of the Cask, if skilled enough, could free and control the Plagues.
(Thor I#308 (fb) - BTS) - In past eras, Karnilla's magic hid the Cask under the Ice Mountains of Asgard, and there it remained for many years. As time passed, the ice above the hideout became so thick that even Karnilla couldn't retrieve the Cask anymore.
(Thor I#308) - Karnilla, then,
convinced Loki to help her retrieve the Cask, and use it against Thor.
The two sorcerers' combined magic fires succeeded in freeing the Cask from the eternal ice.
Following the plans of revenge still started by Loki, Karnilla opened the Cask and fetched the Snow Giant,
who was immediately inserted in the New York scenario inside the Crystal of Transferrance.
Shortly after, Karnilla extracted three Mindless Ones from the Cask and used them to capture Loki.
However, with Thor's help, Loki was freed by Karnilla's enchantement and managed to grab the Cask. Opening it, Loki menaced the sorceress to unleash the Plagues against her, unless she left the outpost, and she did so.
--Thor I#308
images:
Thor I#308, p11, pan5 (Snow Giant, main image)
Thor I#308, p12, pan6 (Snow Giant, head shot)
Thor I#308, p13, pan3 (Mindles Ones)
Thor I#308, p3, pan4 (Loki and the Crystal of Transferrance)
Thor I#308, p7, pan2 (Plague Cask)
Appearances:
Thor I#308 (June, 1981) - Doug Moench (writer), Keith Pollard (pencils), Chic Stone, Marie Severin & Al Milgrom (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Code of Honor#3 (April, 1997) - Chuck Dixon (writer), Bob Wakelin, Derick Gross & Paul Lee (artists), Kelly Corvese (editor)
Last updated: 02/19/08
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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