This happened earlier this year, but it's way too good not to pass along now:A burglar in Scotland was shocked to discover that the home he was ransacking actually belonged to the Norse God of Thunder, Thor!
Or, at least, it belonged to 39-year-old body builder Torvald Alexander, who was returning home from a "fancy-dress party" (that's Brit-speak for costume bash) in his divine attire of red cape, breastplate, and horned helmet!
Thor charged at the burglar (somewhat safer to do in the UK, where guns are harder to come by) and the scared thief jumped out the window. Presumably this was to avoid capture and internment on a slab of rock while a serpent drips stinging venom into his eyes... (Look it up, I'm not doing all your work for you...)
I know. You're thinking, "Holy Crap! That sure would scare me to death if I looked up and saw the Odinsson!" And well, you might if the Thunderer looked like one of the two incarnations above... But this is Torvald's actual costume... Note geek chic decor in the background.
However, I'm sure I can one up this next Halloween. I mean really, dude, where's your Hammer? (Or do you think that's why they only photographed him from the waist-up?)
8 comments:
Spooked a hammerhead...
Saw a lot of other weird tortures, but none from snake venom...
That costume and $45 would get you into Otakon
I'll leave a hint: try "Loki" on wikipedia...
I think Torvald's costume could be improved by use of MultiCam. don't you agree?
Maybe the crook feared the Blood Eagle (Orkneyinga saga,Norna-Gests þáttr or The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, like the man said... look it up, I can't do all the work for you). Although I doubt that Torvald knows of it by the apparent lightness of his loafers. Who knows?
As far as the Loki reference, Thor and Ghost Rider were my favorites growing up. Thor Vol 1 430 brings them together for a good tale. It ends as Mephisto views the finished Soul Shroud with the face of Thor on it( which looks nothing like Torvald by the way) The only thing I would have changed is to get The Punisher in it (my other fav).
I am toying around with the idea of getting a Blood Eagle as my next tatoo. Not sure how to work that yet but have some folks working on it. Should be intresting if I can make it work.
Lystig Jul!
Ah, Sky Ninja...
The last I heard, there was a controversy over whether or not the Blood Eagle was real, or propaganda. But maybe the academics have brought it back into the "accepted as fact" fold. That happens from time to time.
Nice work with the references to specific sagas. Color me impressed. I'm thinking of reading an actual saga sometime soon.
It is disturbing how little Torvald looks like Thor, but then the Marvel Thor doesn't look much like his mythological counterpart (who had red hair and a beard).
I'll raise a horn of Ale in your honor this Yule. Skol.
Hmmmm.... red hair and beard you say? Sounds like some folks I grew up with.
... also, in my opinion, Loki was painted by the winners of Norse mythology much as Judas has been painted by those who won the rites of the Christian cannon.
Was he a straight up sell out, or was he a trusted agent of inevatable and planned change?
Were there winners in Norse mythology? It seems they all die horribly violent deaths at the hands of monsters. A fact which provides some insight into the world view of the average Northman.
The few remnants of Norse Mythology that we have were written down long after the religion disappeared, and so the stories are not necessarily reliable witnesses. One batch of stories was written by a churchman who found the whole subject distasteful and tried to explain it all away as ancient Kings (under Satan's influence) fooling people into thinking they were gods.
Frankly, I think you are correct: Loki is a trusted agent of change, and this explains much about the ambiguous place he holds in the myths. That's the role of most trickster figures in mythology, to be agents of necessary change. Nothing is permanent in the Norse worldview -- even the gods.
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