1Well this came to me after watching at least a playthrough or two, of a game I don't think I'll play for the lack of money for both the game and PS5, but damn if the story doesn't rip your heart out at times. Especially seeing how some people's addiction rarely hurts just themselves.
A figure was walking through forests of Midgard, normally it would be dangerous almost suicidal, but really they didn't care, how could they after losing it. That pot, all of those experiences, she could remember being a bird flying the trees of Ironwood, a snake eating a small rodent. All of those small experiences, it was better than remembering, anything was.
'Why?' the figure thought. 'Why would she think taking away my happiness would help me. She was just as stupid as her parents, beliving in fate and doing nothing to change. Dammit Gijaguar, why did you have to fall in love with that idiot woman Heiðr.' [1]
The figure felt cold, and it wasn't from the fact Fimbulwinter was ongoing. "Angrboda" The voice was of an old woman. The name meant one who brings grief, it must have been fitting. The woman began panicking.
"No" It was a small silent whisper. It was horrible to imagine, it was a memory. She was staring at Heiðr, but she was pregnant. They were in Jotunheim and it was filled with people.
"This child is a fighter before they are even out of you." It was her voice, but it was alien.
"Hopefully it's a good sign, Grýla, although I think they might be a handful.
"What are you going to name them?"
"If they are a boy Býleist, but I have no idea for a girls name." [2]
"Angrboda." Grýla was feeling something she didn't want to feel, not like this. She was smiling, and so was Heiðr.
"I like it, but I honestly think she will bring us nothing but joy."
"Me too."
"Why, why am I thinking these things? It would be easier if I didn't think." Grýla noticed she was at the Lake of Nine with the temple of Tyr right in front of her.
"It's not the worst advice." Grýla looked and gasped. It was him, wasn't it? He looked to have put on much weight, went around bare chested, and even had had a gash on his side that he did not heal. But there was his distinctive red hair, and blue eyes, but Grýla couldn't recall ever seeing them so sad. Still it was Thor, Butcher of the people, Aesir god, and Son of Odin.
However his eyes looked almost weary for a moment before glaring. "You're a Giant."
"Yes, are you going to kill me too?" It wouldn't matter, that stupid girl was too caught up with Loki. As far as Grýla knew her inevitable death would go unmourned.
'There was another one? Baldur's Prophecy was right? His death was needless.' Thor could remember that determined look in his eyes as he was sent to go hunt down a giant, the last giant in Midgard that could lift his curse. It got lifted alright, and it also saw his brother and his sons dead. But it wasn't from a giant, it foreign god. A destroyer trying to change, when they can't.
"There's no point." Like trying to please the All-Father. He was too stupid, Heimdall too proactive, and Tyr too questioning. The Giantess only looked at him in confusion only to start laughing.
"Am I simply cursed to suffer, that even you would not kill me?" The god only shrugged.
"You could just stay out here, although I don't know why you are here on Midgard, especially when you picked a bad time to come back."
"Why aren't you off in Asgard getting drunk off your ass?" The god's icy blue eyes only glared at her. 'Come on, do it, just end it all now' The glare soon became a tired and sad look.
"No, I'm here to visit my brother's temple, even if Heimdall was annoying me about it. I wasn't expecting company, especially not a giant. Why are you so eager for death anyway?"
"They took something from me, and I don't know how I can live without it, so why bother?"
"What exactly?" Thor felt curious and he did not know why. The woman did not answer, or did not want to.
Thor only chuckled. "Here you are almost wanting me to kill you, but you're afraid of telling me what you lost?"
"It was a cauldron, a magic cauldron, with it I could whisper souls into it." Thor looked horrified. "Don't you dare give me that look. I only used animal souls, I didn't kill people."
"For what?" Anger was clear in his voice. Thor had come to hate having to kill people, maybe this woman would be an exception, and it would be a choice not on the All-Father's command for once.
"So, I could live through their memories. I could think about any animal's life I wanted just, so I wouldn't have to think about mine, and my idiot granddaughter destroyed it" An even worse sadness came across the thunder god's worried features. "What's with that look? Am I seriously being pitied by the likes of you?"
"Yes."
"What could possibly you know about any of that? What would you understand about wanting to forget almost everything, because it hurts?"
"Too much."
"Then you would want to escape from it all too, so you can't judge me." Thor almost wanted to leave, but he was thinking. Didn't the All-Father tell him not to think. But he wasn't here.
"I can judge you. Because I tried to escape from it all too." Grýla seemed taken aback "I figured if I drowned my sorrows in mead I could forget so damn much." But no matter how much he drank, he just couldn't forget.
'Killing Mother, Tyr always told me it was an accident, it was a prank gone wrong, but All-Father would just keep telling me killing was all I was good for. Why did Tyr tell me that? She was his mother too, he always did hope for a world where we were more than fighters. He always said I was more than a destroyer.' [3]
"Drinking never solved anything for me, It never made the pain go away. All it did was make me worse, I beat my own son so badly, he ended up dead in a fight." 'Did I hate Modi, because he looked like me? Damn it I should be dead and in Hel, not them.' Tears came down Thor's face, but he was not crying.
Grýla stood up tall and proud in response.
"I never hurt anyone, all I did was steal the souls of animals, I never hurt my granddaughter." Grýla couldn't help but remember Angrboda collecting food each day for the animals, animals whose souls she stole. She also couldn't forget the look of sadness in her granddaughter's eyes either, Grýla even snuck a peek at some of her murals, even the one that showed them together Angrboda painting while she had made bread. Grýla could only slump down near a tree.
"So stealing those souls didn't help you either." The Aseir's tone was sorrowful, Grýla did not expect it.
"My Granddaughter, I called her worthless." Thor tensed up as he remembered similar words from his father.
"And let's be honest, they were kind of useless." Were the ones who freed me from Hrungnir's corpse when they were boys useless? I should have believed Mimir earlier that they both did it not after they died.
"Did you really mean that?" Thor growled. He almost couldn't believe it, here he was concerned for a Giant.
"No." Grýla whispered barely above the sound of soft wind "But my son saw his fate, and did nothing to stop it. All because he fell in love with that woman. She was reckless and dangerous, he convinced her that adhering to those damn murals were worth it, if they would die. He would be right there with her. They wouldn't follow those damn things alone."
"I take it your son sounds like someone special, he reminds me of someone special who saved me." 'Saw his fate? Mother did tell me about dreams all those years ago.' [4]
"He was, but he's gone, all I have left is her." Grýla looked at the temple in front of them, still majestic yet standing. "Did that fool really believe we could live in peace?" Gryla had a small smile on her face.
"Yeah, he was a preachy show off, and a fool." Thor had a small smile on his face too. "But he did think we could all live in peace."
"So what happens now?"
"It's up to you, As I said before it's pointless to kill you." A sense of bitterness was in Thor's voice, as he remembered Baldur.
Grýla nodded and began to leave. 'I can't bake a loaf of bread and expect everything to be better, not for everything that happened. Maybe I need to take my own advice and change.' Grýla decided she would go back to Ironwood, she had to things make better, even if Angrboda might never forgive her.
Thor sat alone, looking at his brother's temple. "At least she can make things better with her granddaughter. But can I really change from being a destroyer? Tyr believed it and he's not here, and Loki thought I could teach him something, but what can I even tea-. Thor stopped himself as he realized something.
He did teach someone, even if it was through his own sorrow. Maybe he could change, Maybe Tyr and the Ghost of Sparta were right on that. Maybe he didn't need to come here to honor Tyr, maybe he could honor his brother in other ways.
Feeling a relief he hadn't felt in a while. Thor started to head back to the temple of Tyr's realm travel room. Not even Heimdall or the All-Father could bring him down today.
This came about by realizing that aside from being addicts or in Thor's case a recovering one, Thor and Grýla surprisingly enough, work as stand-ins for each other's family dynamics. Thor as something of a stand-in for Gryla's son, at least in being someone who 'foolishly married' and to someone who is 'corruptive'. Grýla has some elements of Odin as an abusive grandparent who is also harsh on her child, although it's really from a place of grief rather than sociopathy.
[1] Angrboda's parents aren't named to my knowledge, but I also wanted to be careful not to use the wrong giant. Thankfully her being a granddaughter of the otherwise completely unrelated Grýla helps.
Angrboda's father, I used one of the Yule lads for his name, they are Grýla's thirteen children from her more Yule-time oriented stories then her as the giantess of old. In this case I used Gijagaur which means Gully Gawk and is the Yule Lad who sneaks into a cowshed to steal milk, namely as a way to tie into Jalla, While Heiðr means bright.
[2] The name of Loki's brother, who is at least attested to, in Snorri Sturlason's Prose Edda. Býleist is an Anglicized version of Býleistr which could mean Storm reliving (byl-leystr), storm flasher (byl-leipter) or violent storm (byl-heistr)
[3] Apparently Fjörgyn is the mother to both Thor and Tyr, with Thor being the older brother. Although I'm not sure if this is ever confirmed anywhere, and it's from the wiki so it could be questioned. If I'm running with this, then Thor couldn't have 'killed' her in childbirth, as some people theorize, but I do think something happened on accident that caused her death and Odin to despise Thor.
[4] I headcanon that anyone descended close to a Giant could have things like their dreaming abilities, including Thor, Tyr, and Magni. But I don't think it would be a frequent occurrence.