Thor explains more about the relationship between gods, their dependency on mortals, and why the Dark One would probably not survive the destruction of this world to help create a new world which could contain the Snarl.
Cast[]
- Durkon Thundershield (as spirit) ◀ ▶
- Minrah (as spirit) ◀ ▶
- Thor (also in picture) ◀ ▶
- Rubyrock ◀ ▶
- Three dwarves
- A bugbear
Transcript[]
- Panel 1
Minrah: This ride was more fun before.
- Panel 2
Durkon: Och, I cannae ev'n tell if'n me stomach's mad aboot tha trip, or aboot havin' tha fate o' all possible worlds on me shoulders.
Minrah: Actually, if there's one bright side, I don't think this is all on you, Durkon.
- Panel 3
Minrah: If you screw up and the gods need to blow up the world, then the Dark One can still help make the next one, right?
Minrah: It'll suck that it's that world and not ours, but still—cycle broken!
- Panel 4
Durkon: Aye, tha's a good point, lass. Mebbe na ideal but at least—
Thor: Uh, well, in theory, but... he might not survive the process.
Durkon: Och, knew it'd be too good ta be true.
- Panel 5
Thor: Like I said earlier, we gods need certain things from mortals. Four things to be exact:
Thor: Belief, Worship, Dedication, and Souls.
- Panel 6
Cut to a mother and daughter dwarf
Thor (inset): Belief is when mortals know that we exist, in these specific identities.
Dwarf #1: Thor, the Northern god of Thunder.
- Panel 7
Cut to a temple of Thor, where the daughter dwarf is now full grown.
Thor (inset): Worship is active praise and supplication and all that good stuff.
Rubyrock: Thor, our lord and defender!
- Panel 8
Cut to a frozen plain where a bugbear kills the dwarf from the previous panels.
Thor (inset): Dedication is a big burst that's released when a mortal dies and they're sent off to their god.
Dwarf #2: Thor, I'm on my way!
- Panel 9
Cut to Valhalla where the dwarf is playing cards with Thor.
Thor (inset): And Souls just sort of slowly power the Outer Planes and the Afterlives over time.
Dwarf #2: Thor, pass the chips, please.
- Panel 10
Cut back to the Astral Plane.
Thor: In order to keep healthy, we need a specific balance of all four.
Thor: That's why Hel is so much more messed up this time around—She's been filling up on empty Dedications without any fresh Worship.
Thor: We used to have a pyramid diagram that explained this better, but I don't think we use that anymore.
- Panel 11
Thor: The thing is, there's always an interim period after each world's destruction where we have to wait while the Snarl calms down before we can trap it again.
Thor: The Dark One won't have the stores of energy necessary to persist through that gap. He hasn't been around long enough, and hasn't had the followers of a whole pantheon believing in him.
Thor: I've seen new gods with more worshippers than he has fail to make it.
- Panel 12
Durkon: So we must enlist 'is 'elp now, to save this world, while he's still got believers.
Thor: Otherwise the purple quiddity may be lost forever and the cycle will never end.
- Panel 13
Minrah: Wow. I didn't realize the gods were so dependent on the beliefs of everyday mortals like us.
Thor: Oh, you have no idea.
Thor: I used to be a ginger until that damn superhero comic came out.
D&D Context[]
- The details of the dependency of the gods on mortals is an invention of Order of the Stick, and are not elements of standard D&D cosmology.
Trivia[]
- The title and last panel refer to Jack Kirby, one of the creators of the Marvel Comics character Thor, along with Stan Lee and Larry Lieber. In traditional Norse sagas, Thor is generally portrayed as having red hair, but this strip suggests that Jack Kirby decided to make him blond instead, and that the general conception among believers effects the physical appearance of gods.
- In #1141, Thor mentioned that mortals generate what the gods needed to survive. Here, he elaborates on just what that is.
- In the prequel book Start of Darkness, Redcloak believed that even if he failed to fulfill The Plan and the gods ended up destroying the world, the Dark One would at least be involved in the creation of the next one to ensure that goblins get a better life. This strip contradicts Redcloak's belief.
- Thor's comment in Panel 10 refers to any of the various Food Pyramid diagrams published by the USDA and others.