One of the first mentions of the goddess Frigg in the manhwa is in Chapter 21, Volume 3, during the conversation between Chaos and Fenris Fenrir. Fenris tells Chaos that it's because of his divine mother that he was able to summon Nidhogg. The question is, of course, why? What does Frigg have to do with Nidhogg?
Unfortunately, we don't get an answer as the two continue to talk, and, as you can expect, the very person they were talking about just happens to show up (which makes you wonder just how likely such a thing can happen in reality).
Upon the goddess' entrance, she says that Sara Irine and Skurai are both still alive (because Chaos and Fenrir were just talking about these two). How does Frigg know this tidbit of information though? She wasn't there when it happened, was she?
"Great," you say. "Finally. It's about time. We'll finally be able to understand exactly what happened 1000 years ago. I can't wait to see the flashback and maybe we'll even see Odin and Freya and all the other Norse gods and goddesses. I'm going to go check it out now."
Well, I hate to break it to you, but, none of that happens. Yeah, I was also very disappointed. There was no flashback and the so-called explanation (if you could even call it that) on what happened a thousand years ago barely told us anything new at all and merely served to confuse us further.
No, there was no mention of Odin. How nice of Frigg to neglect mentioning her husband and Chaos' father. No, I don't get why Chaos didn't ask about his father. You'd think he would have, but he didn't.
Really, who knows what he was thinking? That was not a rhetorical question, by the way, because I would really like to know what the resident main character was thinking and what reasons he had for not asking his mother for more information regarding his past life. Anyone else would have been curious, right?
Why didn't he ask his mom to elaborate and explain some more? Regrettably, it doesn't look like we're going to get any answers to all of the above, so let's just move on to part of what Frigg did manage to explain.
She says that when Fenris and Balder were dying 1000 years ago (cue questions about this that have yet to be answered and which our resident main character, for some unknown reason, refuses to ask about), she made a deal to save them from Hel (this could be referring to either the ruler of the Norse Underworld or Niflheim, which is what said Underworld is usually called though it's also known by the name of said ruler).
This deal apparently involved offering herself (or her soul) to Nidhogg, so that she's now tied to him. That piece of information brings a whole lot of questions in and of itself actually. For starters, what does Nidhogg have to do with any of this? Okay, admittedly, it could be said that he has a bit of a relation to Niflheim, but that doesn't really explain anything though. What does that mean exactly?
In Norse Mythology, Nidhogg is a dragon, whose sole purpose in life seems to be to forever gnaw at the roots of the World Tree (known as Yggdrasil). This dragon lived somewhere in Niflheim, so this could account for its relation to the Norse Underworld. However, the fact remains that the ruler of Niflheim is actually Hel and that she is the one in charge of the dead.
When Balder died (it's a long story), his mother did all that she could to bring him back. In this regard, the manhwa character really fits her portrayal of the Norse goddess because they both care about their sons very much.
According to the myth, the queen of the gods had someone go to Niflheim to get Hel to return her son to the world of the living. Hel actually agreed to do this, but, of course, it came with a price.
She said that she will only give back Frigg's son if everyone and everything (dead, alive, animate or inanimate) would weep for the dead god. Unfortunately, all but one cried for Balder and so he was unable to return. But this myth clearly shows that it's Hel who has authority in Niflheim, which is to be expected, of course, since she is its ruler.
Since the graphic novel is only loosely based on Norse Mythology, it's understandable that it made some changes. However, it would have been so much better if it cleared these things up for us and adequately explained what Nidhogg had to do with saving Balder and Fenris. That's not the only confusing thing though.
- How does Frigg being tied to Nidhogg work exactly?
- So, is she dead or what?
- Can she go wherever she wants?
- Why did she have to disappear 1000 years ago when she so easily showed up now as if there was no problem at all? With this, she gives the impression that she can come and go as she pleases
Balder's mother then says that she wishes she can say more about this and I have to ask, well, why can't she say more? What's stopping her from saying more?
Who's stopping her? If she has more information (which she implies by her aforementioned statement), then why doesn't she tell her son and Fenris about this?
The goddess ignores all our questions and neither Chaos nor Fenris Fenrir seem to feel the need to ask on our behalf. It's like they just don't care to find out any more than what they're told. Why this is so, I guess we'll never know.
Just when you think you can't get any more frustrated or miffed than this, Frigg then says that she can't stay any longer. Maybe if we all scream and ask her why she can't stay any longer, she'll answer us because, really, why can't she stay any longer?
What's stopping her? Who's stopping her? Is there some sort of limit as to how long she can be here? What's the limit then? For that matter, why can't she go with our resident protagonists? What's stopping her from accompanying them on their journey?
More than that, in the first place, how exactly did Frigg find them? Seriously, it's like she came from out of nowhere, but how did she know where her son and Fenris were? Huge sigh. It doesn't look like we'll be getting any answers right now, which is really too bad. So, what are your thoughts on all this then?
Are you feeling frustrated about all the unanswered questions regarding this manhwa? Do you wish that Frigg had explained more and that Chaos and Fenris Fenrir had actually asked sensible, logical and useful questions that won't just benefit the readers but will also help them in their journey?
*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Said image is meant to represent Frigg because the figure looks like a queen and even appears to be able to pass herself off as the queen of the Norse gods
- The rest of the pics are enlarged product images from Amazon.com; links shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads widget
