
“ | Baldur: I can't taste. I can't smell. I can't even feel the temperature of this... this room. Feasting... drinking... women. It's all gone. Gone! Freya: But you will never have to feel pain again. Death has no power over you now. You would rather die? Baldur: Than never feel again? Yes. YES! I would rather die. |
” |
Baldur's curse was a powerful spell designed by Freya to prevent her son from dying a needless death. It is designed to make the victim/recipient invulnerable to any and all injuries no matter how minor or serious, but at the cost of being unable to physically feel anything.
History[]
On the day of Baldur's birth, it was prophesied that he would someday die a pointless death. Freya, unable to accept that her son would one day die for no reason, would create a powerful enchantment that would literally prevent Baldur from being hurt no matter how minor. It worked but had the unfortunate side-effect of stripping Baldur of any ability to feel whatsoever. As he was unable to feel anything good or bad, Baldur eventually went insane.
At some point, Odin demanded that Freya cast the same spell of protection upon her husband and king, to which the former leader of the Vanir declined.
Effects[]
Baldur's curse primarily acts as a way to counteract against any wounds and or injuries inflicted during combat. In exchange for the ability to not feel anything physically, the wielder of this curse can regenerate from any damage, even injuries that should've caused death to the user. This allows the user to persistently fight and live in any condition, even in realm as hostile as Helheim, where Odin himself reportedly cannot survive in.
his invulnerability to almost anything, even Kratos' Blades of Chaos. While he can be harmed, his injuries are only temporary, as the curse enhanced his existent supernatural regenerative abilities to heal him almost instantaneously. Despite his invulnerability, Baldur can be dazed and incapacitated for brief periods, such as when his neck was snapped when he first faced Kratos. He cannot physically feel any injuries, nor any amount of physical exhaustion, enabling him to continue to fight without being slowed down. For instance, he was able to easily attack the World Serpent, a creature that gave his brother Thor a challenge and walks out of the cold depths of the lake within which it resided without any noticeable exhaustion or discomfort.
He could also survive in Hel unharmed despite the immense coldness of the realm. However, his invulnerability came at the cost of robbing him of most of his senses (touch, smell, taste, and pain), ultimately driving him insane. Also, despite his invulnerability, Baldur can be dazed and incapacitated for brief periods, such as when his neck was snapped when he first faced Kratos. His only true weakness was mistletoe, which voids this ambiguous advantage. Upon striking Atreus and stabbing his hand with a mistletoe arrow, the spell was broken, and Baldur was not only vulnerable but able to feel everything, causing a sensory-overload and euphoria, even claiming he hasn't felt "more alive."
Baldur's curse also made him invulnerable to death by any form of sorcery, even if they were spells cast by other gods. However, magic could like how weapons or physical combat couldn’t kill Baldur or cause him to feel still worked in the way that it could be used to fight him. Magic still affected him as when Freya bound him with her vines like Kratos. Thanks to the curse, even if Baldur was "killed," he would only be temporarily incapacitated. When he faced Kratos for the first time, Kratos snapped Baldur's neck and he had managed to revive himself and fully recover from a broken neck by the time Kratos left the wildwoods with Atreus.
Limitations[]
It had the unexpected side effect of removing sense of touch, smell and taste, essentially rendering the victim completely numb to all physical things. The victim can still be dazed and incapacitated for short period of time when sufficiently harmed, although the curse will heal them from those injuries.
“ | What is this? I can feel this... I can feel everything! | ” |
–Baldur after the Curse is broken when impaled by the Mistletoe after punching Atreus |
Mistletoe is apparently the only thing that can break the curse, which Mimir attributed to the fickle nature of the otherwise powerful Vanir magic.
Since the curse causes sensory deprivation, it also prevents the sufferer from enjoying sexual pleasure, making the victim unable to feel orgasms. Apparently, this also means they cannot procreate given that reproduction requires bodily contact with someone of the opposite sex. It also removes the sense of taste, leaving them unable to enjoy the pleasure of food and drink; and for gods whose prerogative to eat or drink is basically "useless" but with the sense of taste being "wanted" in that their biological functions are usually not maintained by an upkeep of edible sustenance along with drinkables, and only intake food and drink for the sake of pleasure that the consumed taste provides, such a disability can be crippling. In addition, suffering from the curse for extended amount of time also has the side effect of causing sensory overload if the curse is broken, making the victim unable to comprehend the immense amount of sensory input and may even interpret excruciation as euphoric exhilaration.
Despite the curse removing any kind of physical feelings such as sense of touch and pain, the victim is still capable of feeling emotions. Moreover, since Freya never resorted to repeating the curse once again, it can be assumed that it was a one-time deal.
Known Sufferers[]
- Baldur (formerly, broken when impaled with the Mistletoe arrow after punching Atreus)
Trivia[]
- Baldur's curse appears to work similarly to how Achilles' curse did. Though Baldur's curse is far superior in that it affects the user's whole body unlike Achilles' who still had one mortal body part as a weakness: his heel.
- In Norse Mythology, Frigg stated that the reason she didn't ask mistletoe to swear an oath to never hurt her son, was because it seemed far too non-threatening and unimportant.
- Baldur's curse also makes him invulnerable to weapons that are not even from the Norse realm such as Kratos' Blades of Chaos, despite it being forged from a foreign realm.