Asgard (location)

PHASE 1

PHASE 2

Location: Asgard
First Seen:	August 4, 2004

First Appearance - August 4, 2004

Situated in a magical dimension, Asgard is the home of the ancient Norse gods - or beings who have chosen to assume those personas. As a home for gods, it is rather mythic in its landscape, with the full complement of elves, dwarves, bards, peasants, wolves, battles, flying horses and quests.

Time also moves different in Asgard to Earth - or Midgard, as they call it - with a week on Earth spanning several months in Asgardian time.

Inhabitants

Odin The All-Father	Odin is wise, but also cunning, and is not above manipulating events to his own ends, such as training the young Marie-Ange Colbert in the ways of the swordswoman and adjusting her precognition in order to bring down Loki's schemes. He has two ravens - Memory and Thought. PB: Brian Blessed. Socked by Frito.
Frigga	Wife to Odin, Frigga's compassion often tempers her husband's manipulations. She is also an accomplished swordswoman in her own right and rules Asgard during Odinsleep. PB: Rene Russo. Socked by Cai.
Loki The Trickster	Loki is interested in only one thing: himself. Powerful in magic, able to shapeshift as well as manipulate time and space, his interference with Earth could be part of a plan to seize power in Asgard... or it could be that he was bored. PB: Tom Hiddleston. Socked by Walks
Thor The Thunderer	The son of Odin and brother to Loki, Thor was absent from Asgard, exiled by Odin to Midgard to learn humility. He came to light in September 2012, in a small town called Aitkins, and is currently in the 'custody' of SHIELD. See the individual page for details. PB: Chris Hemsworth Modsock.
Sif	Odin's swordwoman, Sif is hard, uncompromising and utterly ruthless, but also completely loyal to the All-Father. PB: Jaimie Alexander. Socked by Twiller.
Baldr	Baldr is the half brother of the Thunder God Thor, companion to the Warriors Three and a loyal follower and son of Odin, ruler of the gods. Being the Asgardian god of light, after a period of intense training, Baldr can generate intense light and heat strong enough to melt the entire fortress of Utgard-Loki. He also has the usual strength and invulnerability of an Asgardian. PB: Paul Walker. Socked by Sam
Nott	Nott is Odin's mother and Thor's grandmother. She's half frost-giant, but nobody talks about it. The goddess of night, darkness and shadows are her element. She'll work her students to exhaustion, then feed them until they can't move. She blatantly flirts with anyone she finds attractive and breeds Viking war horses. Don't ask her about Sleipnir, it's a sore subject. PB: Jasmin Tookes. Socked by Zoila
Hel	Goddess of the Underworld. She is feared by Gods and men alike on Asgard and little is known of her true ambitions. Illyana Rasputin spent her time in Asgard in her service, acting as an enforcer. PB: Carice van Houten. Socked by TBD.
Amora The Enchantress	Feeding off the natural magic of Asgard in much the same way Amanda's mutation works in cities, the Enchantress has used that ability to amass a degree of power. Enough power to warrant the attention of Loki, with whom she has an eternal rivallry. See the individual page for details. PB: Virginia Madsen. Socked by Erin
Skurge The Executioner	Skurge is a legitimate Norse god, called on to execute the lowest and darkest of evil doers. Unlike his more noble brothers, Skurge delights in the killing. He also remains a hopeless thrall of the Enchantress, serving as her ally and muscle on each of her plots. When she spent the 60s on Earth, he followed closely, wrecking death and havok when ever possible. After Zemo was believed killed, they both returned to Asgard, only to slip back to earth thanks to the magical fluctuations caused by the breaking of the astral plane. He appeared on Earth during the Zemo incident, and returned to Asgard following the defeat of Zemo a second time. Skurge, as a god, is super strong, highly resistant to damage, and his great axe can cut through any material, even invulnerable characters or unbreakable materials, like adamantium. He is immune to psionics as his mind is not human, but susceptible to magic. PB: Conan Stevens. Socked by TBD
Hrimhari Prince of the Wolves	With the ability to shift to a part-human shape not unlike Rahne Sinclair, Hrimhari is the leader of a pack of Asgardian wolves. Larger than ordinary wolves, and marginally more intelligent, the wolves have developed a complex society of their own. PB: Tyler Posey. Socked by TBD.

• The Valkyries - Odin's handmaidens, who ride winged horses to collect the souls of those fallen in battle. Valkyries are universally young women of a particular personal strength and loyalty, chosen by their steeds, such as Paige Guthrie. In September 2012, Paige incurred their disapproval by refusing to take the soul of Garrison Kane, and was warned that she owed the Fates a death. That debt was paid during the Dark Phoenix Saga, where, in return for the lives of three students, Paige agreed to join the Valkyries and leave her mortal life.

• The Norns - Also known as the Fates, the Norns are three goddesses who, like Loki, have a sense of mischief when it comes to the affairs of mortals. They usually appear as three beautiful young women, in Shiro's case appearing as the three Fate goddesses from the anime Ah My Goddess!.

• The Elves - divided into two clans - Light and Dark - the nomadic Elves are engaged in an eternal war against each other, and against the goblins. The Dark Elves delight in entangling humans in their magic, seeing mortals as objects for their amusement. The Light Elves, whilst not openly preying on mortals, have little love for them themselves, holding themselves aloof.

• The Dwarves - Living in deep mines and caverns in the mountains, the Dwarves are a hardy race, enjoying the simpler things in life: good food, good ale, a good fight against the goblins and the construction of beautiful and cunning metalwork. They will perform commissions for the various other races of Asgard, but keep largely to their ancestral homes otherwise.

• The Goblins - A 'lower' race, focussed largely on killing their ancestral enemies, the Elves and the Dwarves.

• The Frost Giants - Feared and reviled, the frost giants live to Asgard's frozen north and rarely venture out of their frozen realm, except to wage war on Valhalla. Loki is part frost giant and as such has much power over them, using them as his standing army.

• The Mortals - There are a surprising number of mortals living in Asgard. Some are descendants from those taken from Midgard, others part of the original population. They live a relatively simple life, largely trying to avoid attracting the attentions of the Gods.

Details

Phase 1

The existence of Asgard came to the attention of Xavier's when a mysterious fountain of light erupted in Iceland, giving superhuman powers to any mortal who touched it. It proved to be one of Loki's tricks, and when the X-Men were able to shut it down, he decided he was owed revenge for the interference. This took the shape of the abduction of a number of students and staff during a baseball game several months later. The group was scattered across Asgard, each individual discovering a different aspect of the magical land and having their own adventures before finally coming back together as a group to defeat Amora, the Enchantress and Loki to find a way home.

During this time, Paige Guthrie became one of the Valkyries. Her role as one of Odin's shieldmaidens was brought back to her, many years later, when she bargained for the life of Garrison Kane, severely injured while trying to arrest Thor. Thor had been cast out of Asgard for his arrogance and sent to live as a mortal, biker Donald Blake. While his memories returned as a result of Amora's machinations against him, he remained in SWORD custody.

Phase 2

In January 2015, the debt Paige owed the Valkyries for the life of Garrison was paid as, having fallen in the battle against Dark Phoenix she agreed to return to Asgard and depart her former life permanently. However, three students had also died with her - Molly Hayes, Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen - and unable to abandon her responsibility for them, she made another bargain - the three would be sent to Asgard instead of remaining dead. With that the case, Odin placed the three under a binding, to serve the Asgardians as thralls. During the several years the three spent in Asgard (during which only months passed on Earth), apprenticed to three different masters - Molly to Sif, Tandy to Baldr, and Ty to Nott - they learned much about their powers and developed new skills. When Loki, seeking to force them to break their bindings and incur the wrath of Odin, sent Frost Giants to Las Vegas, the three followed and defeated them, with some help from the X-Men. To Loki's chagrin, however, Sif informed the three thralls that their time in Asgard was done and they were free to rejoin their friends and families.

In March 2015, Thor was seen with the Avengers, and it was his recognition of Garrison Kane from his time as a mortal that ended the hostilities between the Avengers and the X-Men, although the truce was fragile at best as the Avengers asserted the X-Men had no right helping with the prison break and told them to go home.

Plots

Phase 1

X-Men Mission: Firefountain

Asgard (plot)

Zemo

Fenrisulfr

Sonatorrek

Phase 2

The Thralls of Asgard