Norse Mythology Expert Reacts to God of War

Jackson Crawford, a Norse Mythology Expert & Media Consultant for projects such as Assassin Creed Valhalla and Disney's Frozen, to react to God of War, how it portrays Nordic culture, how authentic God of War's runes are, and more.

[hotnickles]

Awesome informative video. There were a couple things I’ve never heard.

[UnSelf]

Turn up ur volume

[hotnickles]

Are you disagreeing or making a joke haha

The part about tattoos and the meaning of Loki’s name were interesting to me.

[VerminSC]

I liked this video. I’m actually not a huge fan of the Thor character model but I get that it’s more accurate to mythology. I also have no doubts that the game will be phenomenal so I can overlook one minor thing I don’t like.

[specialguest]

I think it's odd that boy has an American accent while everyone else has an accent that seems more fitting to the world

[victorMaje]

This was one of main original issue & that he sounded too modern for the world he was in, but then the gameplay happened :)

I still maintain that original feeling though, I think grown up boi may sound more grounded which may be more fitting.

[Daeloki]

In my head-cannon it's just because everyone else in that world are ancient, and he's literally just a kid so it made sense that he would speak more immaturely.

[Daeloki]

On his comment about elves and dark elves: If I remember correctly, Mimir at some point explains that both types of elves are actually from Alfheim, two sides of same coin etc, and Svartalfheim is actually only called that because Odin thought dwarves were dark elves. Still isn't based on actual mythology (as far as I know) but still a pretty important detail.

[aaronaton]

I would of loved to be in the meeting where they decided that Atreus would be voiced by an American child...
It would be nice to hear the reasons behind it.

[Alex_vance21]

Since this Norse mythology expert is reacting to God of war reboot. I imagine he was not consulted on whether or not to make Thor fat. Since the lore never explicitly says Thor is fat. Furthermore the god of war ragnarok's interpretation of Thor being fat is flawed. For starters, he is applying modern societal standards of gluttony and alcoholism to a character from a Nordic myth that long precedes the Edda's. The Nordic mythology was probably cr afted by the first Vikings and what the creative director does not do is apply the context of the creators of the myth. That context would include the fact that the Norse/vikings enjoyed feasting and drinking as it was part of their culture. The Norse gods love of feasting and drinking would be based on the myths creators fascination with feasting and drinking. Therefore Thor would not be a glutton or an alcoholic since eating and drinking a lot was a societal norm when the myth was created.

A further problem with Thor being fat is the other gods enjoyed feasting as much as Thor and you are going to tell me they were all fat as well. Not to mention most ancient depictions of Thor have him having broad shoulders and a large frame, not short and fat as he is portrayed in the upcoming god of war sequel. In closing, thor being fat is a flawed interpretation as explained by the above reasons.

[Ron_Danger]

Jeez… We get it… you’d rather look at a buff guy.

[Alex_vance21]

That just simplifies my argument. This is what I expected from the N4g comment section. You can't refute my argument so you try to insult me. What you and many others do not seem to understand is the issue is not that Thor is fat, but that the god of war Ragnaroc director uses the Norse myth as a justification of making Thor fat when the lore just does not support it. What adds further to the problem is if you criticize Thor for being fat in the god of war sequel the god of war creative director says you are wrong and he is right about Thor being fat when the lore does not definitively say it. So him treating his interpretation of Thor as fact is problematic. It is not fact , but an interpretation, as flawed as that interpretation my be, he is still entitled to his interpretation of Thor. No one is saying he is not entitled to his interpretation or that he is completely wrong. Even though he is not completely wrong, his interpretation is flawed because he is using modern standards as context for the Norse God Thor's behavior in the poems.

[Ron_Danger]

Oh jeez… relax dude. Just cracking a joke with how many people on this site are suddenly Thor experts. It’s a video game and you’re acting like you need a make a whole dissertation on the whole subject. The same people up in arms about this are the same people that complained about the character models in TLoU2.

No one of importance actually cares about this “issue.”

[Alex_vance21]

What, someone of importance has to care about an issue for it to matter. That is a very narrow minded way to look at things. Everything matters to some degree. All you are doing is trolling and diminishing valid criticism of the design of Thor. I have yet to hear a valid argument from you, just constant trolling. I am an academic and I like to think about things and games through an academic lens, including the design of characters. If a game developer makes a creative decision it is fair to ask them to provide evidence or a justification for their design choice. Then if the evidence is lacking as in the case of Thor being fat it is my right as an academic and consumer to criticize the design choice based on the lack of a proper justification.