Changes: Magni

Revision as of 13:05, 1 August 2021

“	You. Surrender. The Allfather demands it." "No." "Ah... Good.	”
–Magni and Kratos

Template:Infobox gods

Magni is the eldest son of Thor and a tertiary antagonist in the God of War (2018) game. Both Magni and his half-brother Modi accompany their uncle, Baldur, on his mission to hunt down Kratos and Atreus, with the aim of bringing them to Odin in Asgard.

Norse Mythology

In Norse mythology, Magni is the prodigious son of the Aesir god Thor and his lover, the jötunn Járnsaxa. Through his father he is the elder half-brother of Móði (referred to in game as "Modi") and Þrúðr (referred to in dialogue as "Thrud"), and through his mother is the half-brother of Heimdallr.

According to the third poem of the Poetic Edda, Vafþrúðnismál, both Magni and Modi will survive Ragnarök, inheriting their father's legendary hammer, Mjölnir.

In Snorri Sturluson's book Skáldskaparmál (a second part to the Prose Edda), three year-old Magni is said to be the only Aesir god strong enough to lift the jötunn Hrungnir's leg off of Thor. As a reward for his strength, Hrungnir's horse Gullfaxi is gifted to Magni by Thor.

In the God of War Series

Despite both being children no taller than shrubs at the time, Magni and Modi were the only Aesir mighty enough to free their father from beneath the leg of the dead jötunn Hrungnir. However, because Mimir was the sole witness to this event, all the credit for Thor's rescue was given to Magni.

In his youth, Magni would quickly come to be regarded as Thor's favorite child. Resulting in Modi slowly resenting him and their father, though not to an extreme extent.

During the Aesir-Vanir War Magni, along with his brother, took part in battle. Together, they fought and killed the Vanir goddess Nerthus.

Magni and Modi are summoned by Odin and ordered to aid Baldur in his hunt for Kratos, after the former's failed first encounter with the Greek god. They visit the imprisoned ambassador of the Aesir tribe, Mimir. Seeking to know the location of Kratos' and Atreus', as well as how to deal with them. However, Mimir does not know their location and refuses to oblige them, even after Baldur promises to reason with Odin once he returns to Asgard.

With Modi, Magni is able to track down Kratos and Atreus at Thamur's corpse, noting that the hammer they moved "...didn't fall by itself." Magni eventually finds Kratos and Atreus when he drops to the ground from above while battling an ogre. Tossing the beast's corpse aside, he orders the pair to surrender, to which Kratos promptly refuses, starting a fight. After a long and gruelling battle, Kratos eventually overpowers Magni, and savagely buries the blade of his axe deep in Magni's skull, killing him instantly. Modi is horrified upon witnessing his brother's death, and quickly succumbs to his fear and flees the battle.

Aftermath

Mimir believed that while Magni may have been a minor Aesir god, his death would not go over well in Asgard. Kratos, Magni's killer, fears no judgment but Mimir states it's their vengeance he should worry about.

According to Brok, Magni's death will be bad news for Kratos and Atreus if Thor finds out.

Magni's father, Thor, indeed became furious upon learning about his favored first-born son's death, taking his anger out on his surviving son, Modi. Thor brutally beat Modi within an inch of his life, calling him a coward for supposedly leaving Magni to die.

Appearance

Magni was an incredibly tall and extremely muscular man with icy blue eyes and blond hair. His body is covered in scars from previous battles, as well as several tattoos of Norse runes which cover his chest, back, and his face.

His hair was tied into three separate braids, and his beard was tied into two smaller braids. Magni wears black leather pants secured by an armored loincloth with added belly armor, held together by a leather belt attached to a decorative piece of blue armor, while most of his upper body is exposed. He also wears two blue bracelets on his left lower forearms, a blue guard on his right arm, and a second guard around his right bicep,

Personality

“	I can't remember the last time we faced an actual challenge.	”
–Magni to Modi fighting against Kratos and Atreus.

Like his fellow Aesir, Magni was arrogant, sadistic, and bloodthirsty, as seen when he makes threats to Mimir after refusing to help the trio find Kratos and Atreus. Magni seems to specifically enjoy battle, showcased in his pleased reaction after Kratos naturally refuses to surrender. In short, he does not care what Odin wants from the Spartan and his son, solely desiring a worthy opponent to fight.

While he and his brother tended to bicker, Magni, in particular, seemed irritated by his brother's brashness. Regardless, the two were still close to a point, and together in battle, the duo was a formidable force. Both brothers also had a reputation of apparently low intelligence, as they were constantly called idiots/fools by a number of characters, such as Baldur, Mimir, Kratos, Sindri, the latter who referred to them as "Thor's idiot sons" and Brok who called Magni a loudmouth. Mimir states that they would do anything their uncle put them up to.

Out of the two of them, Magni was the one who appeared to be the smartest, or at the very least, the less impulsive and immature. Also unlike Modi, who expressed skepticism towards trusting Baldur given the latter's sanity, Magni was willing to oblige his uncle's orders due to Thor's own trust in him. He also smelled Sindri's scent which led to him telling Modi to find him as well. However, Magni's weakness was his boastful confidence. He believed he could easily defeat Kratos and his son, taunting them all the while, eventually leading to his downfall. Regardless, he takes the battle more seriously, considering Kratos and his son as a "challenge" maybe as some degree of respect to Kratos power; comparable to Modi, who shrugged off Magni's comment and referred to Kratos and his son as "an old man" and a "stillborn lamb."

Magni also appeared to demonstrate some twisted sense of honor as he was willing to give Kratos and Atreus a chance to surrender without a fight but was perfectly (even preferably) willing to fight them when they refused. He also showed blatant disgust at his brother after Modi asked if he could keep Atreus to himself, suggesting that, unlike his brother and uncle, there were limits to how far he was willing to go in his depravity. This is also seen as Kratos tells Atreus to go out from their fight, understanding his effort and worrying about his son but still let him to Modi.

Another notable factor that motivates Magni, much like his brother although to a lesser degree, is to please his legendary father and prove himself worthy to inherit Mjölnir. Thor himself favored his eldest son, and was furious at Modi after Magni's death, believing that he left him to die.

Powers and Abilities

As Thor's firstborn and strongest son, Magni was a very powerful demigod, enough to challenge Kratos, although he was eventually overpowered and defeated.

Superhuman Strength: Magni has incredible godly strength, far surpassing that of any mortal or monster. Even as a child he was able to flip a Giant. He is also strong enough to snap the neck of an ogre with his bare hands and cast its corpse aside effortlessly, and was able to contend with Kratos himself, at no point in the battle allowing the latter to overpower him.
Superhuman Speed & Agility: As a demigod, Magni's speed and agility far surpass that of any mortal and monster, but he was not as fast as Kratos, and this ultimately proved to be his undoing.
Superhuman Durability: Magni is incredibly durable, much more than his brother Modi, taking extreme punishment from Kratos and Atreus's attacks head-on without dodging or even blocking. He could also survive falls from great heights.
Electrokinesis: As a son of Thor, Magni is able to generate electricity and lightning, sending powerful electrical shocks through his sword and others on contact.
Master Combatant: Magni was a highly skilled combatant with extensive training and experiences, proven by many scars on his body. In fact, he gives quite challenge Kratos himself until that later uses his superior strength and speed to kill him.
- Sword Mastery: Magni has shown to be very skilled with his cyclonic blade, despite using reserve holding on him. He can also further enhanced him with his lighting to deal more damage to his opponent.

Weapons

Cyclonic Blade: Magni carries a huge broadsword hardened by cyclonic thunder. This sword allows Magni to summon a "Snowblind" together with his brother, Modi; and can also act as a channel for the demigod's thunder and lightning abilities. He uses a reserve grip when fighting with him.

Trivia

According to Sindri, Magni and Modi have a sister but he is cut off by Kratos so he can get useful and relevant information about Magni and Modi.
- If the game is faithful to Norse mythology, their sister's name would be Thrúd.
Mimir seemed surprised that Magni did not come back to life immediately after his death, as when Atreus pointed it out, he noted that it may significant that he didn't return. Modi also later states that he will now be getting his fathers hammer by default since his brother is now "gone", which would not make sense if Magni had simply returned to Valhalla after he was killed. This indicates that Magni has been permanently killed and will never be seen again.
His Greek equivalent (in term of being Demigod with tremendous level of strength) is Hercules.
In mythology, his mother is the jötunn Járnsaxa.
Magni's sword design resembles the Mercenary Sword.
Magni's name literally means "great".
During the course battle, the pair of them will shout "ÓÐR BRÓÐIR BLINDR!", followed by Magni striking his sword on Modi's shield, and a tremendous flash. ÓÐR means mental faculties or voice in old Norse. BRÓÐIR means brother, and BLINDR means blind. So, it could mean "brother's voice of blinding" or "brother's blinding voice". As Magni and Modi are brothers, this makes sense, as well as the fact it blinds the target.
- "ÓÐR" often translates to "frenzy" or "fury" when used as an adjective. With this in mind, the chant can mean "brother's blind frenzy" or "brother's blind fury". The snowblind acts as a divide and conquer strategy. Where you'd sperate your enemies to prevent cooperation and pick them off individually. Or create enough dissent between your enemies to create self-destructive paranoia. In this case, the brothers wanted to separate Kratos and Atreus so they can kill them off individually while they were disorientated by the storm.
Possibly due to his Jötunn heritage; Magni is remarkably tall, towering at least a foot over Kratos, who himself is taller than most at around 6 and a half foot.
Magni is voiced (and possibly mo-capped) by Troy Baker, who previously voiced Orkos in God of War: Ascension.
- Incidentally, Baker also played Sam Drake in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, playing older brother to series protagonist Nathan Drake who was played by Nolan North. North also portrayed Modi in God of War.
- Baker is perhaps best known for his role as Joel in The Last of Us, which many people have compared the latest God of War too, as both feature an older man escorting a child on a journey through dangerous territory.
During the boss battle, if Magni and Modi are far away from each other before initiating the Snowblind then the brothers will share some dialogue with each other. In the first phase, Magni yells "Right! Get ready!", in the second he yells "Always, brother!" and finally in the final third he says "Time to die, freak".
There are some indications that suggest Thor had already chosen Magni as his successor due to his favoritism.
- Despite both sons freeing Thor from Hrungnir's body, the act was immediately accredited the act to Magni. Modi's attitude while searching Thamur's corpse implies it wasn't the only time Thor did this.
- Magni's character design is also more refined than Modi's design as it has jewellery that may have been made from bronze, a valuable trinket in the Norse era that was mainly used for the creation of weapons. The rune on Magni's belt "Othala" represents ancestral heritage, reflecting his title as Thor's favorite child and Magni's own desire to be Thor's successor.
- The most condemning piece of evidence comes from Magni's weapon; as it was respected by Sindri and appears to have similar properties to Mjölnir, meanwhile, Sindri calls Modi's weapons "a cheap knockoff of my elegant work on their dad's hammer".
Magni's chest and back tattoo are likely a reference to "Megingjörð", the mythical belt worn by Thor that would double his strength.
Strangely, Magni's greatsword resembles a 14th-century executioner sword, a weapon that shouldn't really exist inside Magni's time period.
The rune on Magni's belt is the Othala rune, which means inheritance, tradition, and persistence. As a symbol, it's considered "Odin's Rune" and to mean ancestral heritage.