Skip to main content

marvel - What makes up Midgard?


Marvel Universe describes Asgard as:



a small planetary body that serves as home to the Norse gods such as Thor, and their ruler, Odin. It exists in another dimensional plane and is about the size of the United States.



There is currently no completed entry for Midgard, but the Asgard article addresses it briefly.



Another of these worlds that is in a different dimensional plane is the world of Midgard, or Earth.




and



Midgard, or “Middle Realm”, is home to humans and does not seem to be affected by the motion of the other worlds of Asgard. Jotunheim is the world of the Giants and is also on its own dimensional plane hidden from Asgard or Earth’s. The only thing that prevents passage between Midgard and Jotunheim is Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent.



The term "dimensional plane" mentioned evokes the concept of parallel dimensions/universes, a concept not foreign to Marvel Comics.


What defines Midgard and its boundaries? Is Midgard just the planet Earth? Our entire Solar System? The entire Milky Way? An alternate universe?



Answer



For Marvel Comics, Midgard is the entire single Universe that was once separated from Asgard. Matter in the Asgardian realm was more molecularly dense as are the natives of that realm. The common parlance used by most Asgardians seems to imply that Earth, specifically, is considered to be Midgard, proper.





  • Marvel, while co-opting the Norse mythos' Nine World's concepts, did not clearly define (any more than the ancients did) what the boundaries for these realms might have been.




  • Since the fate of the Asgard Realm is currently unknown, the Asgardians are currently displaced and living in Midgard.




  • Considering the ancient Norse had a very limited worldview, Midgard, back then would have comprised only the Earth as they knew it. Each of the Nine Realms was considered to be a place like Earth, housing only a single race or groups of similar races.




enter image description here




Midgard (an anglicised form of Old Norse Miðgarðr; Old English Middangeard, Swedish Midgård, Old Saxon Middilgard, Old High German Mittilagart, Gothic Midjun-gards; literally "middle enclosure") is the name for the world (in the sense of oikoumene) inhabited by and known to humans in early Germanic cosmology, and specifically one of the Nine Worlds in Norse mythology.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...