Hel remembers the bet she made with Thor which caused her to not have clerics in return for dominion over the souls of dwarves who die a dishonorable death.
Cast[]
Transcript[]
- Panel 1
Hel: Look at me! I'm wasting away without worship!
Thrym: Are you sure? Because you've always looked like that.
Hel: Yes, I"m sure! All because when we were making this world, Loki tricked me.
- Panel 2
Hel conjures a memory from the past. Loki is floating over to her.
Loki: Hey, uh, Hel, sweetie... what do you think is more important for a god to have, more clerics or more souls?
Hel: Souls, obviously. They give you power, while clerics use it.
Hel: Why?
- Panel 3
Zoom in on Loki and Hel. To their left, Thor is heavily drunk.
Loki: So... would you consider a bet with your Uncle Thor to see who gets the most power in this new world?
Thor: Huh?
Loki: He keeps the normal arrangement, you trade your ability to make clerics among the living for, say, default dominion over all the souls from a major race? The dwarves, for example?
Hel: All of them?
Loki: Sure. Maybe with a small exception for those who die with honor?
- Panel 4
Hel disperses the memory with a furious sweep of her hand.
Hel: I didn't know Thor would TELL them about it!
- Panel 5
Hel: He helped them develop the most honor-bound society on the planet!
Hel: Those ugly little dwarves literally devote their whole llives to denying me what is rightfully mine!
- Panel 6
Hel: But this world is almost done, and when it is, I'll collect millions of souls at once—and my winnings from the bet!
Hel: And then Loki and Thor will have Hel to pay!
- Panel 7
Thrym: Wow, it must be cool to have a name that lends itself to so many good villain puns.
Hel: Yeah, I do actually have to give Dad credit on that one.
Trivia[]
- Despite the similarity of both of them relating to an underworld afterlife destination, there is no direct etymological connection between Hel (the Norse Goddess) and Hell (the word used as a translation for Hades and Gehenna in English translations of the Christian Bible).
- Hel's wager with Thor was previously mentioned, but not explained in #1000, Hel Polls for Thee