History ComicBook / Valhalla

* [[Main/{{Asexuality}} Asexuality]]: Loki quite notably expresses his lack of interest repeatedly throughout the series. The only times that he tries to seduce someone or expresses his love for someone it's a matter of [[BlatantLies blatant lies]] as he is really after something else altogether, be it winning a bet or avoiding getting beaten to a pulp by the other gods for his misdeeds.
** RomanticAsexual: At the end of the series it is revealed that [[spoiler:Loki has had a lock of Freya's hair in his possession, in a heart shaped box]]. Røskva insists that he was in love after all, but this of course does not mean that he is not asexual. Rather it comes down to the question if he is aromantic or not, and if he is perhaps he still cannot help being in love with the goddess of love. He does tend to either react negatively or not at all when she tries to flirt with him -- in the second album there's a scene where she is naked and trying to seduce him, and he doesn't even notice.

* KissingCousins: Possibly an oversight on the authors part, but since Loki is the blood-brother of Odin and explicitly calls himself "uncle Loki" around Odin's sons, [[spoiler: Baldur and Hel's relationship becomes this. Of course, Loki passionately denies being Hel's father, being rather indignant at the suggestion, claiming that he's the victim of slander. Since this particular version of Loki is pretty much [[{{Asexuality}} asexual]], and the same album also shows that thanks to his self-serving and untrustworthy nature, he ''does'' tend to get the blame for things that really weren't his fault, the comic never truly answers whether he actually is Hel's father or not.]]

** Quark, the ill-tempered Jotunn kid, does not appear in any of the original myths but was invented for the series. He appears in TheMovie and the two albums based on it, as well as some background appearances in other albums. For a while was considered the BreakoutCharacter, starring his own animated TV series and newspaper comic, but he avoids becoming TheScrappy largely because his actual appearances in ''Valhalla'' are so sparse.

* KissingCousins: Probably an oversight on the authors part, but since Loki is the blood-brother of Odin and explicitly calls himself "uncle Loki" around Odin's sons, [[spoiler: Baldur and Hel's relationship becomes this.]]

* AmicableExes: Skadi and Njord end up separating, but not because they didn't get along or love each other -- it was simply because they couldn't find anywhere to live where they could both be happy. Njord, being a sea god, couldn't handle living in the mountains, and Skadi, being a mountain jotunn, couldn't stand living by the sea. Wherever they lived, at least one of them was miserable. They aren't shown interacting a lot after their separation, but there's no bad blood between them.

* AttractiveBentGender: Subverted with Thor, who does ''not'' make for an attractive woman.

* FamilyOfChoice: Like in the original myths, Loki is a Jotun but was adopted into the Aesir after becoming Odin's blood brother. [[spoiler:Tyr is also revealed to be the son of a Jotun, but chose to be an Aesir.]] Averted with Skadi, who despite marrying an Aesir considers herself Jotun and eventually separates with her husband because she doesn't fit in.

* PollyWantsAMicrophone: Huginn and Muninn, Odin's ravens, are full-fledged {{Talking Animal}}s who spend their appearances in roughly equal parts giving cryptic advice and making bad jokes.
** In TheMovie, the "Cryptic advice" part is [[{{Flanderization}} emphasized to the point]] where the other characters seldom understand what in the world the two ravens are even talking about.

* AdaptedOut: Due to Loki being portrayed as asexual, his wife Sigyn and sons Nari and Vali are excluded, though they do appear in a dream sequence where Loki sees his fate from the original myths. In the dream, Loki reacts to their existence with confusion.

** RomanticAsexual: At the end of the series it is revealed that [[spoiler:Loki has had a lock of Freya's hair in his possession, in a heart shaped box]]. Røskva insists that he was in love after all, but this of course does not mean that he is not asexual. Rather it comes down to the question if he is aromantic or not, and if he is perhaps he still cannot help being in love with the goddess of love. We do get two incidents when he is around Freya naked in the series, at one point she is trying to seduce him even, and he just doesn't care.

* NeverSayDie: Hilariously played with in the thirteenth album, when Loki upon finding himself in the underworld tries to ask Hel if he's really dead or not. He uses every every possible euphemism for "death," only to have her completely misunderstand them all, until he breaks down and screams the real word. Translated and paraphrased:
-->'''Loki:''' What brings me here... to the kingdom of the dead... ''ulp!'' Does this mean I have... passed away?\\

'''Loki:''' Danced the last dance... perished... pushing up the daisies... snuffed out... croaked... '''''Am I DEAD, damn it?!'''''

'''Hel:''' ''rolls eyes'' Calm down, you're '''dreaming'''.]]

* Loki gets a few in the first volume, ''Cry Wolf.'' He pleads with the Aesir to allow the Fenris wolf to roam free (note however that in that volume Fenris has the temperament of a loveable pooch who just happens to be oversized, even if being chained up is his BerserkButton.) Also near the end of the volume when he tells Røskva she can take Fenris out for walks as long as she isn't seen. Makes sense if you know that Fenris is Loki's son.
* Vili and Ve are tremendous {{Jerkass}}es to everyone, not to mention horribly incompetent, but they do have a small moment of kindness towards Heimdall after they've essentially sacked him by moving the Gjallarhorn to Valhalla, effectively rendering both it and him useless. Seeing how upset he is at losing his job, they tell him to that he now has the new job of maintaining and guarding the horn in Valhalla.

** [[spoiler:He isn't, he's just dreaming.]]

* InsistentTerminology: Mimir would like to kindly remind you that nobody chopped off his head, they chopped off his ''body''.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Thor, in ''Through Fire and Water,'' is so set on proving that he's got more wits than people give him credit for that repeatedly ends up focusing on the wrong things. Especially notable is this conversation, when Thor and Loki are walking through Jotunnheim:

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Heimdall is for the most part portrayed as a self-important, blustering fool with a huge cowardly streak... but as Loki finds out, if you actually get him riled enough, he becomes ''dangerous.''

'''Thor:''' The goat cart? That won't help against the cold, as far as I know!\\

* BigDamnHeroes: Thor comes to the last-minute rescue of Tjalfe and Røskva no less than twice in the last album.

** To be more specific: all roosters know they have to duck. The Valhalla rooster know it has to dodge mjollnir ''twice''.

* InnocentlyInsensitive: Balder, NiceGuy that he is, can occasionally be this. It's most prominent in his relationship with Hoedir, whom he genuinely loves and just wants to look after, but unwittingly treats in a rather patronizing manner. He has a bit of a HeelRealization about this at the end of ''The Ballad of Balder.''

** Loki, though he's ''usually'' not a malicious one... just extremely greedy, self-centered and with a strong {{Gadfly}} streak.
** Vili and Ve have almost no redeeming qualities, quickly becoming tyrants when left in charge of Askgard. Unlike Loki, who at least occasionally uses his wits to be helpful, they are pretty much useless in every way.

* {{Jerkass}}: Loki, though unlike in the myths not a malicious one (usually).

* PetTheDog: Loki gets a few in the first volume, ''Cry Wolf.'' He pleads with the Aesir to allow the Fenris wolf to roam free (note however that in that volume Fenris has the temperament of a loveable pooch who just happens to be oversized, even if being chained up is his BerserkButton.) Also near the end of the volume when he tells Røskva she can take Fenris out for walks as long as she isn't seen. Makes sense if you know that Fenris is Loki's son.

* SingleMindedTwins: It's never said whether they actually are twins or not, but Odin's brothers, Vili and Ve, play this trope completely straight.

* LighterAndSofter: A lot of the darker aspects of the myths have been toned down here. While they haven't been done away with altogether, the tone is overall more positive and friendly, and there is nary a DownerEnding to be seen over the course of fifteen albums, even the ones adapting some of the bleaker myths. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools It's done exceptionally well, though.]] Who would have thought you could take the story of Balder's death, and give it a happy ending that ''didn't'' feel like a cheap cop-out?