Himmelmez is first mentioned in the preview for Volume 5, which appears at the end of Volume 4 of the graphic novel.
Yes, this is where we are introduced to a new character since Himmelmez was never even mentioned, much less alluded to, before this particular preview.
Why she couldn't be properly introduced to us in the story itself, I suppose we'll never know. Anyway, the Volume 5 preview tells us that Himmelmez is apparently both a necromancer and a Valkyrie. She's also one of the goddess Freya's followers. Said goddess sent her to Prontera to get the shard of Ymir's Heart. But how exactly does that work? How can you be both at the same time?
In Norse Mythology, Niflheim is one of the Nine Worlds that is connected to Yggdrasil, the World Tree. This place is the equivalent of the underworld, hell or afterlife in other mythologies.
The goddess called Hel is the ruler of Niflheim. She's the Norse equivalent of the Greek god Hades. So, if anyone is to be the commander of the armies of Niflheim, it couldn't possibly be anyone else but its ruler, Hel.
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| If Himmelmez is Hel and has command over the armies of Niflheim, then why would she work for Freya? |
In the first place, we don't even know who this woman really is. Could she possibly be Hel? That would explain why she can control the armies of Niflheim.
But, if she is Hel, then why would she work for Freya? Hel is the ruler and commander of Niflheim. She doesn't work for anyone.
She is the one who makes all the rules and decisions regarding the dead and her realm. No one else but her has jurisdiction over the place she governs.
Even the other Norse gods and goddesses have to adhere to her decisions when it concerns her abode and those who are brought there. For example, when the god Balder (or Baldr) died, Frigg, his mother and the queen of the gods, sent someone to Niflheim to speak to Hel and ask her to let Balder return to them.
They couldn't just take Balder back, not without Hel's permission because he was in her abode and it was her decision on what to do. Hel eventually agreed to let Balder return to Asgard, the realm of the gods, but only if everyone and everything in the world will shed tears for him.
Unfortunately for Balder, all but one cried for him and so he was unable to return. This is why it would never make sense for Himmelmez to have power over Niflheim's armies unless she is actually Hel, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
If this is something that is actually not based in Norse Mythology (since the comic is only loosely based on said mythology), then this should have been clarified to the readers so that those who know about mythology will not end up getting confused with statements that don't seem to make any sense at all.
In the part of the manhwa wherein we see Sara Irine and Himmelmez talking, the Valkyrie refers to Himmelmez as a life-eater.
But what does that mean? Does it mean anything or is this just some sort of nickname that Sara decides to call Himmelmez?
And what happened to Himmelmez being a necromancer and Valkyrie? Why is she only referred to as a life-eater here? What adds to the confusion and strangeness of the matter is how this is the first and last time we hear the term life-eater.
After that statement from Sara, we never hear this being said ever again. It's almost as if it had never even been said in the first place because no one makes mention of this again. Odd, strange and confusing don't even begin to cover or properly describe that particular scene, so let's just move on to the next scene in Volume 5 that makes us ask a multitude of questions.
This part is where we see one of Himmelmez's followers referring to her as the Dark Valkyrie. What does that mean exactly? So, are there Light Valkyries now? What's the difference between the 2 then? If that term doesn't mean anything, then why bother saying it? And what happened to Himmelmez also being a necromancer?
How come she's only referred to as a Valkyrie now and not a necromancer? Things get even more confusing when we get to the summary at the back of Volume 6 as Himmelmez is now referred to solely as a necromancer as well as being one of Freya's generals. There's no mention of her being a Valkyrie, but why not?
First, she's both a necromancer and a Valkyrie. Then she's a life-eater. Then she becomes a Dark Valkyrie. Now, she's just a necromancer. Why can't this graphic novel make up its mind?
Not confused or miffed enough yet? Take another look at Volume 7 then, specifically the fight scene between Chaos and Himmelmez.
Let's not talk about how this scene lasted way too long and how Himmelmez took way too long to get rid of Chaos even though it was clear that she was more powerful, considering how the main character's attacks easily kept getting deflected as that would just frustrate us more because, honestly, what was Himmelmez waiting for? Why is she taking so much time in trying to off Chaos? It's like she's waiting to lose or something.
What does that even mean? And how exactly does that work? Why does death have a daughter? Even if death has a daughter, why would the child be mortal? Shouldn't the child be like death?
Himmelmez apparently has aspects of mortal life, but, with the heart of Ymir, she can apparently become immortal. How that is supposed to work, we don't know as the woman never bothers to tell us.
She even says that there's no earthly weapon that can harm her. She also apparently devours the souls of others, what she calls their life force and this is supposedly where she gets her strength, not that any of that makes any sense at all.
But all of that is yet another indication that Himelmez is much, much more powerful than Chaos, so much so that it really makes one wonder exactly what she is waiting for. Why hasn't she defeated the protagonist yet when it's really clear that she can easily do this? What do you think? What's your theory on who and what Himmelmez really is?
*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by hayashinomura, CC:BY-SA from deviantArt
- Image is meant to represent the mysteriousness surrounding the identity of Himmelmez - because the figure in said image is facing away, no one can tell who she might be
- 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
