@FairyGodfeather If you’re looking to incorporate some Norse mythology into your CoG, you should take a look at the Norse mythological figure “Hervor”, she’s one of the few cases in Norse mythology that entire saga is devoted to a female protagonist, and not as a damsel in distress (looking at you, Brunhilde). She’s the granddaughter of Arngrim the Berserker, who killed Odin’s grandson in combat and claimed from his corpse the legendary cursed sword “Tyrfing”. When Arngrim died it went to the eldest of his twelves sons, Arngatyr the Berserker, who had a child (Hervor) with a jarl’s daughter. But he was killed and his brothers were killed, and they were all laid to rest within a barrow with the cursed sword before Hervor was born.
Because of her father’s ruthless, fear-inspiring reputation, the people under the jarl, when Hervor was still just an infant, wanted her to be cast out into the woods to be torn apart by wolves, fearing that she’d grow up to be just as bloodthirsty and vicious as her father. The jarl refused, and well… sure enough Hervor grew up to be a vicious, bloodthirsty woman, she didn’t grow up like the other girls, she was more tomboyish and was trained in the arts of warfare and battle thereby becoming a Shieldmaiden. When she learned of who her father was, she took off with a warband (that she had taken control of while posing as a man), and when arriving at her father and uncles’ barrow, she straight up broke into it, challenged their spirits as they summoned fire and lightning down upon her. She bust right through their magics though, ripped open her father’s coffin and literally ripped the legendary sword Tyrfing out of his cold dead hands.
What made the sword cursed though (which the curse was placed upon it by the pair of dwarven smiths who made it when Odin’s grandson forced them into making the sword for him), was that when ever the sword is drawn someone must die by its blade, and if its wielder attempts to sheathe the blade without first having killed someone with it, it will drive its wielder mad into killing someone. Hervor’s father’s ghost warned her that the curse would destroy their line, but she blew’em off taking the sword, and went on to continue a bloody rampage of straight up raping and pillaging along the coasts classic viking style while leading her own warband.
Eventually within her saga she does settle down, and actually marries the son of a Giant king, and rules at his side over a realm of the giants, essentially making her a queen over giants. She had two sons, one of which was killed by the curse of her sword, while the other Heidrick, it was because of him the curse of the blade killed his brother; which in turn lead to his father casting him out, but Heidrick went onto become King of the Goths, and it’s his tale that carried on Hervor’s saga.
But there’s other legends about Hervor, because actually in her saga there is no mention of her ever dying. Of the four wielders of the sword while it was cursed, she is the only one who was never affected by the curse or killed by it, the curse wound up being broken with Heirdrick’s death (Heidrick being its fourth wielder during its time under the curse) and then uncursed it was passed on to his son. There’s a poem of a Germanic Swan Maiden by the name of Hervor, and some legends suggest they were one in the same. But there’s also legends utilizing that Germanic poem that place her as a valkyrie rather than a Swan Maiden, albeit some attribute that to mistranslation. Still there’s several references out there that she was or eventually became a valkyrie, hence why there’s no mention of her death within her saga, she simply ascended to the gods as a demigoddess. But she isn’t mentioned in the “official” listing of valkyries, so there is a discrepancy on that front.
Anyhoo’, I’ve babbled enough about it, but it’s something to look at if you want to utilize someone of Norse mythology aside from the norm.
Well that and Avengers I suppose. Marvel Loki is not the same as Norse Loki though.