What's Wrong With Frigg's Clue To Find Loki (Ragnarok Manhwa)?

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

Frigg Trivia And Questions (Ragnarok Manhwa)

Frigg is a character that appears in Ragnarok: Into The Abyss. What interesting trivia is there about her and what questions can we ask about her especially regarding her brief appearance in the manhwa?

Frigg is based on the goddess in Norse Mythology with the same name. They are both the queen of the Norse gods (though in manhwa Frigg's case, this isn't exactly true anymore, at least not by the comic's present timeline) and they are the mother of the god Balder. In the graphic novel, Chaos is the reincarnation of Balder, so Frigg is Chaos' mother.

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?

Frigg doesn't explain her supreme knowledge of these things though. But she does give us another explanation (in chapter 22 of the same volume), specifically regarding what happened 1000 years ago.

"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?

Seriously, Frigg was right there and she clearly knew a lot of things about what happened before and about her son, so why didn't Chaos ask about all of these things?

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.

To illustrate this, let's look at one of the more well-known Norse myths. This one concerns Balder, Frigg and Hel.

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

Again, our questions fall on deaf ears as the trio continue talking and Frigg tells the 2 about looking for someone who is human and not.

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