Thor: Difference between revisions

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Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet

Earth Culture of Origin

Norse

Alternate Names / Spellings

Thunor, Donar

Presides Over

Thunder

Earth Mythological References

In Norse mythology, Thor is a son of Odin and Jord, and one of the most powerful gods. Married to Sif, a fertility goddess, he also has a mistress, the giantess Jarnsaxa ("iron cutlass"). Their sons are Magni and Modi and his daughter is Thrud. Thor is helped by Thialfi, his servant and the messenger of the gods.

Thor is typically portrayed as a large, powerful man with a red beard and eyes of lightning. Despite his ferocious appearance, he was very popular as the protector of both gods and humans against the forces of evil. He even surpassed his father Odin in popularity because, contrary to Odin, he did not require human sacrifices. In his temple at Uppsala he was shown standing with Odin at his right side. This temple was replaced by a Christian church in 1080.

The Norse believed that during a thunderstorm, Thor rode through the heavens on his chariot, pulled by the goats Tanngrisni ("gap-tooth") and Tanngnost ("tooth grinder"). Lightning flashed whenever he threw his hammer Mjollnir. Thor wears the belt Megingjard which doubles his already considerable strength. His hall is Bilskirnir, which is located in the region Thrudheim ("place of might"). His greatest enemy is Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent. At the day of Ragnarok, Thor will kill this serpent but will die from its poison. His sons will inherit his hammer after his death.

Donar is his Teutonic equivalent, while the Romans see in him their god Jupiter. Thursday is named after him.

Stargate References

Summary

To the peoples that the Asgard protected under the Protected Planets Treaty, Thor was a powerful god who appeared to them as a mighty Viking warrior. In this guise, Thor issued warnings, edicts, and rather vague advice. The people worshipped Thor and other Asgard as their gods and used perceived signs from them as direction in their lives.

More advanced societies, like Earth, were aware of the true nature of Thor and the Asgard. The SGC knew Thor as the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet, a steadfast and brave ally who saved SG-1 and Earth many times, just as the SGC saved his 'little grey butt'. Thor was understated, patient, enigmatic, unsentimental and brutally honest. He had a fondness for the Tau'ri, especially for Jack O'Neill. He was an uncompromising warrior, and always put the good of his people ahead of individual lives, be they Asgard or human. This set him at times at odds with sentimental humans who were not so ready to sacrifice their comrades to achieve loftier objectives.

Thor died along with the rest of his race when, suffering from a fatal disease, they committed mass suicide rather than allow their legacy to fall into the hands of the Ori.

First Contacts

Thor in Viking form

Thor appears via hologram

Thor coaches O'Neill

SG-1 first learned of Thor when the team went to Cimmeria. Because of his symbiote, Teal'c, and by accident O'Neill, were transported by the Goa'uld-detecting Thor's Hammer to a labyrinth deep underground. Their arrival triggered Thor's Viking hologram to activate. Speaking in mighty tones to Teal'c's symbiote, the hologram said the Goa'uld had defied the unanimous decree of the Asgard High Council that they not visit the planet, under pain of death. The hologram told the symbiote it would have no choice eventually but to visit the Hall of Mjollnir and face the Hammer, where it would die. Meanwhile, Daniel and Carter learned of Cimmeria's culture from Gairwyn; their entire belief system is based on worship of the Asgard, and they believe Thor or others of his kind would one day, when they were ready, come through the Stargate. To save Teal'c, Daniel destroyed the Hammer from outside, leaving Cimmeria defenseless, though there was likely no way for the Asgard to know this (1.10 "Thor's Hammer").

About a year later, the broken Hammer no longer protecting the planet, the Goa'uld System Lord Heru'ur attacked Cimmeria through the gate and began building motherships there. Many of the surviving Cimmerians believed Thor had abandoned them because he was angry that SG-1 had destroyed the Hammer, but they asked the SGC for help anyway. O'Neill and Teal'c fought back directly against the Goa'uld while Daniel and Carter found a way to contact the Asgard in a way that would indicate the Cimmerians had made great mathematical advances. The holographic recording of Thor the Viking was replaced by a live transmission of Thor the Asgard, whose appearance was very different. When told of what had happened to the Hammer, Thor was surprised and irritated at the unanticipated outside interference. Still, Thor came immediately to Cimmeria in an Asgard mothership, destroyed the Goa'uld ships, and made all of the Jaffa disappear. He explained who he was to Gairwyn and promised to leave an Asgard teacher behind to help them. Grateful and in awe, Gairwyn told SG-1 that Thor did not believe they were yet ready to meet the Asgard, and Thor did not appear to them (2.06 "Thor's Chariot").

In fact the Asgard had been keeping watch on Earth for some time. When the SGC killed Hathor and raised the ire of the System Lords, Thor came to Earth, beamed O'Neill to his ship and introduced himself. Thor offered Earth a chance to become named in the Protected Planets Treaty and arranged for the negotiations to take place in the SGC. In the chaotic events that followed, some of Thor's personality traits emerged. First, he showed a powerful knack for understatement, such as when he calmly told O'Neill not to worry about the Asgard ships being detected in Earth's orbit, since they never had before. He dropped bombshells effectively as well, such as when he casually mentioned the System Lords were coming to Earth to negotiate. He also displayed an ability to avoid answering questions completely, or at all. He told O'Neill that being in the Treaty would protect Earth from attack but not that Earth would have its development limited. He refused to advise O'Neill whether Earth should sign the treaty or not, telling O'Neill he had it within him to make the right decision. On the other hand, he was very honest about the fact the Asgard were bluffing the System Lords and depending on Goa'uld infighting to avoid an all-out war with them. Nor did he hedge in admitting he would not save Earth if it meant starting a larger war, one which the Asgard could not win. In the end, of course, Earth became a protected planet but was allowed to keep its Stargate program (3.03 "Fair Game").

An Alliance Blooms

An ill Thor summons O'Neill

Carter shares victory with Thor

Thor defends the SGC

Thor did not appear again until he was near death and, paradoxically, needed the help of Earth. Once again he beamed O'Neill aboard his ship in orbit, where O'Neill saw the Replicators for the first time: they had overrun Thor's ship and flown it to Earth against his will. By beaming O'Neill up, he believed he had sacrificed Jack's life in the slim hope of saving Earth, demonstrating again his willingness to sacrifice some for a greater good. Via his recorded messages, he showed his knowledge of his ship and his penchant for techno-babble, which got Carter's attention once she and Teal'c stole aboard against O'Neill's wishes. Carter and Thor worked very well together to find a solution that would destroy the Replicators without sacrificing Thor or SG-1, though Carter alone had the inspiration to beam up the Stargate and use it to escape to P4X-234 (3.22 "Nemesis Part 1").

Some of the Replicators survived the fiery reentry of the Beliskner, and all of Earth was imperiled. Meanwhile, having been retrieved and revived by his people, Thor arrived through the Stargate, offering his gratitude and ironically asking for Earth's help. Noting that Earth's projectile weapons had succeeded in slowing the Replicators while advanced Asgard technology had not, Thor admitted the Asgard needed the less 'sophisticated' approach. Carter went with Thor back to his homeworld to help him come up with fresh solutions. Thor introduced Carter to Asgard food, including his favorite "yellow ones," which Carter clearly didn't enjoy. Thor didn't seem to notice or mind. Carter and Thor worked well using a question and answer banter that ended with Carter convincing a reluctant Thor to sacrifice their brand new ship, O'Neill. They used it as bait and stopped the Replicators from reaching Thor's homeworld. Thor and Carter were then able to return to Earth in time to save O'Neill and Teal'c from the exploding submarine, and Thor promised the Asgard would one day help Earth fight the Goa'uld in return (4.01 "Small Victories").

Nearly two years later, Thor came to the aid of a protected planet that was under attack by Osiris, in the Adara System. Osiris fought back with his two Goa'uld motherships, destroying Thor's ship. Thor was presumed dead, as Freyr told the SGC. With Daniel having just ascended, the three remaining members of SG-1 travelled to Adara and found Heimdall in his underground laboratory. They learned that Thor was in fact a prisoner of Osiris; O'Neill was able to contact him holographically. Thor knew that Anubis himself was coming to conduct Thor's interrogation. He didn't want to be rescued because he didn't want to risk an end to Heimdall's research, which was vital to addressing the Asgard cloning problem. However O'Neill didn't agree, and Thor turned Anubis' mind probing technology around to help SG-1 free him. They were still imperiled however, until Freyr arrived with three powerful new Asgard ships, the Asgard having gotten the upper hand against the Replicators in their galaxy. They freed Thor, but his mind remained attached to the ship. Soon after, Thor lapsed into a coma and his fate was uncertain (5.22 "Revelations).

In fact, Thor's consciousness was still aboard Anubis's ship and had found its way into the computer core. Thor took control of the ship, disabling many of its systems. Anubis tried to activate the self destruct, but Thor stopped it in mid-countdown. Anubis and his crew were forced to abandon ship. Thor then brought the ship back to Earth orbit, and SG-1 boarded it to investigate. After a crash to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, SG-1 rescued Thor's mind from the computer core, knowing the self-destruct countdown would resume once they did that. SG-1 escaped and returned the computer core to the Asgard so that Thor could be saved (6.03 "Descent").

Thankfully, the Asgard were able to transfer Thor's mind to a new clone body. SG-1 learned this when Thor found them aboard the re-captured Prometheus 1200 light years from Earth. As well as rescuing them, Thor came bearing the news that the Asgard homeworld had been overrun by Replicators and that the Asgard were in need of SG-1 and the Prometheus (6.11 "Prometheus").

As SG-1 soon learned, Thor wanted use of Prometheus because its inferior technology would not be tempting to the Replicators. He also needed SG-1. The Asgard had set a trap for the Replicators, using what was left of the android Reese to send a signal throughout the known universe for all Replicators to "come forth" and then trapping them in a time dilation field that would slow them down by a factor of 10,000. But something went wrong: the field didn't take effect, and Thor needed SG-1 to go in, fix it, and activate it. He asked for this help with his usual understated delivery, mentioning that the entire Asgard race was waiting for word of their response. As soon as O'Neill indicated he was considering saying yes, Thor aggressively began the mission, before O'Neill could even ask permission of his superiors, then abruptly left once he had done what he could to enhance the Prometheus for the mission. SG-1 succeeded in activating the device and trapping the Human Form Replicators, buying the Asgard time, at least (6.12 "Unnatural Selection").

Thor came to the aid of the SGC when Kinsey tried to use the disclosure of the Stargate Program to other governments to malign the SGC and SG-1 in particular, and turn control of the Stargate over to the NID. Thor arrived in the Pentagon conference room, calmly introduced himself, and assured the gathered ambassadors that SG-1 and the Asgard are more than allies — they are true friends. Thor dryly told Kinsey that he was reasonably certain O'Neill was kidding when he suggested Thor send Kinsey to a distant planet. His support for Hammond and the current SGC structure stopped Kinsey's reorganization plan in its tracks (6.17 "Disclosure").

Shared Victory, New Challenges, a Tragic End

Thor aboard Daniel Jackson

Thor prepares disruptor weapon

Carter arrives to help Thor

Thor's intervention was on a smaller but no less important scale when he arrived to stop Loki from continuing his genetic experiments on humans, in particular Jack O'Neill. Thor told O'Neill the Asgard had placed a genetic marker in his DNA to prevent any genetic manipulation, and this had prevented Jack's clone from maturing completely. He also admitted that while O'Neill was an important step forward, he was not the missing link the Asgard had been seeking to solve their cloning problems. Thor was amazed that Jack wanted his clone to live, but honored his wishes by repairing young Jack's DNA so that he would age at a normal human rate (7.03 "Fragile Balance").

With Anubis and the System Lords threatening our galaxy and O'Neill frozen in Antarctica, Carter and Teal'c went to Hala to ask Thor for help, knowing if they didn't find him, they wouldn't make it back. They found him, but Thor was busy fighting the Replicators, who had managed to turn off the time dilation field. Thor calmly explained the Asgard's latest attempt to destroy the Replicators, by turning the Hala sun into a black hole and letting it destroy the planet where the Replicators were trapped. But some of the Replicators escaped, formed themselves into a ship, invaded Thor's ship, and stole Carter away. In boarding Thor's ship, the Replicators learned of the intended new homeworld of the Asgard, Orilla. Thor told Teal'c he would have to blow up the Daniel Jackson with both of them aboard to stop the Replicators from getting to Orilla, and Teal'c accepted the necessity. The Replicators thwarted this plan and headed for Orilla, but Thor was able to warn the Asgard there, and they destroyed the Replicator ship as it exited hyperspace. Thor apologized to Teal'c for Carter's seeming death aboard it, but he never hesitated to take that action (8.01 "New Order Part 1").

Unfortunately the debris from the destroyed Replicator ship rained down on Orilla, threatening it and all the Asgard minds stored in computers there. Hoping that the Ancient knowledge stored in O'Neill's mind might be the key to defeating the Replicators, he brought the ship back to Earth, retrieved O'Neill and revived him, in spite of Daniel's objections because of the risk to Jack. O'Neill did build a Replicator disruptor weapon, and Thor modified it to work on a grand scale to kill all Replicators on Orilla. He was ready to kill Carter in doing so, over O'Neill's objections, but in the end Carter saved herself, and Orilla was cleansed (8.02 "New Order Part 2").

The SGC contacted Thor when a mysterious Asgard appeared on national television. Thor confirmed it was not an Asgard he knew of and travelled to Earth to help with damage control. Thor beamed industrialist Colson to the SGC before he could expose any more details of what he knew publicly, and Thor listened calmly as O'Neill asked for a new hyperdrive for Prometheus. In the end Carter and Colson's own partner Vogler convinced him not to go public with his evidence of alien technology on Earth, and Thor took the spare clone home to use as a new body for an Asgard consciousness (8.08 "Covenant").

Thor unwittingly helped Replicator Carter carry out her deception of the SGC. He built a disruptor satellite for Earth to test at the Alpha Site and delivered it for Teal'c to deploy. He wasn't there when Replicator Carter carried out her plan, destroying Fifth and making herself immune to the disruptor technology by introducing a cipher into the satellite. Teal'c managed to retain her arm, however (8.11 "Gemini").

The arm turned out to be crucial in the final battle with the Replicators. After Daniel was taken by Replicator Carter, Thor arrived and enlisted Carter to help him find the cipher Replicator Carter was using to block the effects of the disruptor technology. Carter activated the arm so that it would begin communicating with other Replicators. They established the link for short bursts, but initially what it showed was that the Replicators were everywhere in the galaxy. Continuing the bursts, Thor and Carter eventually decoded the cipher and adjusted the weapon so it would work again. They travelled through space on Daniel Jackson to engage Replicator ships to test the modifications. They worked for a time, but the Replicators quickly adpated themselves, boarding Thor's ship as he retreated to Earth. Thor beamed Carter to the SGC, against her wishes, and flew the ship away from Earth for its own safety (8.16 "Reckoning Part 1").

When Carter and the others were able to make the Dakara weapon work to destroy all Replicators in the galaxy, Thor's ship was freed as well. He contacted Carter to tell her he would drop by for a visit as soon as his consciousness had been downloaded from his ship's computer into a new body (8.17 "Reckoning Part 2").

As Earth moved on to new challenges with the Ori, Thor was not present, sending his comrade Kvasir to help instead. Kvasir is quite a humorless sort, and his manner prompted Daniel to remark, "I miss Thor" (9.13 "Ripple Effect").

Less than two years later, the Asgard summoned Earth to bring a ship to Orilla. Once they'd arrived, Thor came aboard the Odyssey and explained to Gen. Landry and SG-1 that the Asgard race was dying of an illness resulting from trying to stop their cloning-related physical degeneration. Thor and some of his fellow Asgard installed a computer core aboard the ship; it contained all of the knowledge and history of the race, with a holographic representation of Thor with which Carter or others could interact. Thor told Carter he had worked on the core for nearly a year and had had to overcome the objections of those on the Asgard High Council who did not believe they should be imparting such technological advancments to humans. He also told her not to be sad, that the end of the Asgard had been a long time coming. He hoped Earth would not repeat the same mistakes. Just as Thor finished the computer installation, the Ori arrived and began to attack. Thor left the Odyssey for Orilla and, soon after, all of Orilla exploded. Thor died in the explosion; all that remains of him is his holographic facsimile, and of course the invaluable legacy he provided in that computer. (10.20 "Unending).

Episodes

Related Characters

Actors

Hologram:

(a) Mark Gibbon

Voice Characterization:

(b) Michael Shanks

Puppeteers:

(c) Todd Masters, Paul Hoosen, Luman Coad, and Morris Chapdelaine
(d) Todd Masters, Adam Behr, Geoff Redknap, Paul Hoosen, Jeny Cassady, and Brad Proctor
(e) Todd Masters, Paul Hoosen, Brad Proctor, Morris Chapdelaine, George Grove, and Nicolas Podbrey

--Michelle 22:19, 9 July 2006 (PDT)