What's Wrong With Frigg's Clue To Find Loki (Ragnarok Manhwa)?
Posted by Freya Yuki Tuesday, April 29, 2014 at 8:56 AM
The main characters of Ragnarok: Into The Abyss manhwa are tasked to find someone with their only clue being that this person is "human and not". What could possibly be wrong with said clue?
In Volume 3 of the graphic novel, the Norse queen of the gods and the mother of Balder, the goddess Frigg, shows up to talk to both Chaos and Fenris Fenrir.
As the trio talk, we find out that, apparently, the fate of the world rests on Chaos' shoulders and that he's the only one capable of saving said world.
Why this is the case, I have no idea. But, apparently and supposedly, this is his destiny. Yeah, right (insert eye-roll here?). Let's just forget that for now and get back to what this post is about.
So, Frigg then says that before the main characters can get started with their quest, they first need to "find the one who is both human and not". The protagonists have no idea who this could possibly be. But the readers know that this statement refers to Loki thanks to the very helpful image of said assassin that appears right beside those words.
However, even if we know who the words refer to, we still don't know exactly how and why this is the case. Why is he considered the one who is human and not? How can he be both human and not? I suppose we'll just have to wait to find out when we get to that part of the story.
Well, that's what I would like to say, but, unfortunately, we got to the part of the plot where this should have been explained (when Loki meets up with Chaos and the others and ends up joining their party and it's revealed that he's the one they're looking for) and there is no explanation at all.
This point is simply overlooked and glossed over, practically forgotten as no one bothers to question Loki.
Let's just go back to the trio's conversation before this baffles us further.
Frigg adds that they need to find this person because he's necessary for their success and survival, implying that the heroes will fail in their quest without this guy.
Frigg then says that she wishes she can say more, but, apparently, for some unknown reason, she just can't. Yeah, very believable, no?
Chaos then asks his mother how they can possibly find the one who is human and not. Frigg's answer is simply the word 'west'. Very helpful, no?
With Frigg's departure, the only thing our heroes are left with are the clues that they're supposed to head west. And therein lies the problem. Seriously, look at those supposed clues.
How can anyone even classify those as clues, much less helpful and useful clues? Let's start with the 'head west' clue. While it's good that the main characters don't have to search the entire world, the west isn't exactly a small area.
Frigg didn't even give them an address, just a general direction. How can that help them?
They could traverse the entirety of the western area of the world, but if they don't know exactly who they're looking for, well, how can they find that person then?
And that brings us to the 'human and not' clue. This might be the worst clue of them all. How are they expected to find Loki with such a clue?
It's not like the guy will be walking around with a sign helpfully informing our heroes who he is. What, are the protagonists going to walk around and ask everyone that they come across if said person is the one who is human and not?
Even if they get a response from people with such a question, how will they know that that person is telling the truth? You know that there's something really wrong with the clues and that said clues are really useless when you have one of the main characters agreeing with you.
In Volume 4 of the manhwa, Chaos, Fenris Fenrir and Iris Irine arrive in the city of Prontera. The trio have no idea how or even where to start looking for the one who is human and not. Fenris herself says, "I wish Frigg could have given us more of a clue" and "we don't even know what he looks like". That is exactly the point and the problem.
So, with such clues, how did you think they were going to find Loki? What did you think was going to happen? To say the next scene was rather disappointing would be putting it mildly, to say the least.
With such less-than-helpful clues, it's no wonder that we had to have a deus ex machina in order to have the trio meet up with Loki. Perhaps that's the only term that can be used to describe what happened next. Why, you ask?
It's because the protagonists didn't even have a hard time finding the guy. You think they would have had a hard time especially considering the clues (if you could even call them that) they've been given.
But no. Instead of having a hard time, the person they're looking for is practically handed to them in a silver platter. That's how easily they were able to find him. And the whole 'human and not' clue didn't even factor into it. Or, to be more precise, that's how easily Loki found them.
If he hadn't found them, they most likely never would have been able to find him, not with such useless clues. But, if you really look at it, even the way the assassin found Chaos and the others could be said to be questionable and bordering on deus ex machina (actually, maybe it is really deus ex machina).
This is because of how easily he found the main characters; he didn't have reliable clues either. But that's discussed in another post, so, if you're interested, just check out the tags below and/or this post.
Anyway, Loki easily found Chaos just by seeing the symbol on the back of the latter's shirt. So, how ridiculous does that sound? After all, anyone could wear shirts with that symbol, no?
Besides, for all Loki knew, maybe Chaos just bought that shirt somewhere or maybe Chaos borrowed that from someone or something.
What do you think? Do you think that Frigg should have given the main characters useful and reliable clues in order to find Loki? Were you disappointed at how Chaos and the others met up with the assassin? What do you think is the meaning of the clue that Loki is both human and not?
*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by MizuSasori, CC:BY-SA from deviantArt
- Image is meant to represent the mystery of the identity of the one who is human and not because the figure in said image is wearing a mask
- The rest of the pics are enlarged product images from Amazon.com; links shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads widget
- Last image is also from Amazon.com; link shown above
In Volume 3 of the graphic novel, the Norse queen of the gods and the mother of Balder, the goddess Frigg, shows up to talk to both Chaos and Fenris Fenrir.
As the trio talk, we find out that, apparently, the fate of the world rests on Chaos' shoulders and that he's the only one capable of saving said world.
Why this is the case, I have no idea. But, apparently and supposedly, this is his destiny. Yeah, right (insert eye-roll here?). Let's just forget that for now and get back to what this post is about.
So, Frigg then says that before the main characters can get started with their quest, they first need to "find the one who is both human and not". The protagonists have no idea who this could possibly be. But the readers know that this statement refers to Loki thanks to the very helpful image of said assassin that appears right beside those words.
However, even if we know who the words refer to, we still don't know exactly how and why this is the case. Why is he considered the one who is human and not? How can he be both human and not? I suppose we'll just have to wait to find out when we get to that part of the story.
Well, that's what I would like to say, but, unfortunately, we got to the part of the plot where this should have been explained (when Loki meets up with Chaos and the others and ends up joining their party and it's revealed that he's the one they're looking for) and there is no explanation at all.
This point is simply overlooked and glossed over, practically forgotten as no one bothers to question Loki.
Let's just go back to the trio's conversation before this baffles us further.
Frigg adds that they need to find this person because he's necessary for their success and survival, implying that the heroes will fail in their quest without this guy.
Frigg then says that she wishes she can say more, but, apparently, for some unknown reason, she just can't. Yeah, very believable, no?
Chaos then asks his mother how they can possibly find the one who is human and not. Frigg's answer is simply the word 'west'. Very helpful, no?
With Frigg's departure, the only thing our heroes are left with are the clues that they're supposed to head west. And therein lies the problem. Seriously, look at those supposed clues.
How can anyone even classify those as clues, much less helpful and useful clues? Let's start with the 'head west' clue. While it's good that the main characters don't have to search the entire world, the west isn't exactly a small area.
Frigg didn't even give them an address, just a general direction. How can that help them?
They could traverse the entirety of the western area of the world, but if they don't know exactly who they're looking for, well, how can they find that person then?
And that brings us to the 'human and not' clue. This might be the worst clue of them all. How are they expected to find Loki with such a clue?
It's not like the guy will be walking around with a sign helpfully informing our heroes who he is. What, are the protagonists going to walk around and ask everyone that they come across if said person is the one who is human and not?
Even if they get a response from people with such a question, how will they know that that person is telling the truth? You know that there's something really wrong with the clues and that said clues are really useless when you have one of the main characters agreeing with you.
In Volume 4 of the manhwa, Chaos, Fenris Fenrir and Iris Irine arrive in the city of Prontera. The trio have no idea how or even where to start looking for the one who is human and not. Fenris herself says, "I wish Frigg could have given us more of a clue" and "we don't even know what he looks like". That is exactly the point and the problem.
So, with such clues, how did you think they were going to find Loki? What did you think was going to happen? To say the next scene was rather disappointing would be putting it mildly, to say the least.
With such less-than-helpful clues, it's no wonder that we had to have a deus ex machina in order to have the trio meet up with Loki. Perhaps that's the only term that can be used to describe what happened next. Why, you ask?
It's because the protagonists didn't even have a hard time finding the guy. You think they would have had a hard time especially considering the clues (if you could even call them that) they've been given.
But no. Instead of having a hard time, the person they're looking for is practically handed to them in a silver platter. That's how easily they were able to find him. And the whole 'human and not' clue didn't even factor into it. Or, to be more precise, that's how easily Loki found them.
If he hadn't found them, they most likely never would have been able to find him, not with such useless clues. But, if you really look at it, even the way the assassin found Chaos and the others could be said to be questionable and bordering on deus ex machina (actually, maybe it is really deus ex machina).
This is because of how easily he found the main characters; he didn't have reliable clues either. But that's discussed in another post, so, if you're interested, just check out the tags below and/or this post.
Anyway, Loki easily found Chaos just by seeing the symbol on the back of the latter's shirt. So, how ridiculous does that sound? After all, anyone could wear shirts with that symbol, no?
Besides, for all Loki knew, maybe Chaos just bought that shirt somewhere or maybe Chaos borrowed that from someone or something.
What do you think? Do you think that Frigg should have given the main characters useful and reliable clues in order to find Loki? Were you disappointed at how Chaos and the others met up with the assassin? What do you think is the meaning of the clue that Loki is both human and not?
*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by MizuSasori, CC:BY-SA from deviantArt
- Image is meant to represent the mystery of the identity of the one who is human and not because the figure in said image is wearing a mask
- The rest of the pics are enlarged product images from Amazon.com; links shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads widget
- Last image is also from Amazon.com; link shown above
Tags
Chaos, Fenris Fenrir, Frigg, Loki, Manhwa, Ragnarok: Into The Abyss, ReviewsFreya Yuki has been an anime fan for years. She loves watching anime, reading manga, and writing about it in a thought-provoking way. For more information, check out the Author page on her main Google Blogger blog, the About page on her main Tumblr blog and the About page on this blog. Have questions? Need some help? Want to hire Freya? You can contact/get in touch with her here.
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