How Did Odin Defeat Hela?
A relationship between a tyrannical daughter and an almighty father is one that was certainly going to be turbulent. We mean, a relationship with a normal teenage daughter and her normal father tends to get chaotic, so just imagine what it could be like when each of them has so much power that they can obliterate an entire planet. Such a relationship is the main topic of today’s article, as we are going to tell you how exactly Odin, Marvel’s All-Father, defeated his infernal daughter, Hela, and saved the world in that way. Interested? Keep reading to find out everything!
Odin and Hela have fought several times in the comics, with Odin usually slaying her each time before she would be revived in some way; the manners of her death are as diverse as they are not. As for the MCU, Odin used complex magic to seal Hela away.
Today’s article is going to give you a lot of interesting information about the relationship between Hela and Odin. You’re going to find out the balance of power that was between them and then we’re going to tell you how the All-Father managed to defeat his evil daughter. Finally, you’re going to find out why Odin didn’t kill his daughter but rather decided to imprison her. You’re in for a thrilling article so keep reading!
Was Hela stronger than Odin?
Seeing how she was a constant menace in the comics and a one-time powerful enemy in Thor: Ragnarok, people often ask themselves whether Hela was actually stronger than her father, Odin. This is quite an interesting question, as Hela has demonstrated that she was powerful enough to slay Thor on several occasions and she even fought Odin several times. Namely, Hela was given reign of the dead, but her lust for power was so big that she wanted to expand her powers to rule over Asgard and not just Hel. This is why she often clashed with both Thor and Odin.
As far as the degree of Hela’s powers is concerned, we know that she was able to defeat and slay Thor on several occasions. The God of Thunder was revived, either thanks to Odin’s intervention or someone’s sacrifice, but Hela has proven that she was powerful enough to defeat Odin’s son. What about Odin?
While the two of them have clashed on several occasions, Hela was never able to defeat her father. In fact, she would usually end up being slain by Odin and then later revived. Hela had to ally herself with Odin’s other enemies or wait until he was asleep to do some damage, which does suggest that she was not able to defeat her father. Also, Odin did slay Hela on several occasions, proving that he is much stronger than her. The same goes for the MCU – Odin managed to imprison his daughter using complex magic and she was unable to escape her prison until Odin died, which clearly means that he was more powerful than her.
How did Odin defeat Hela?
Well, there are a lot of possible answers to this question, since the two – despite being father and daughter – have a history of heavy fighting between them. They have fought on several occasions in the comic books and whether it was a direct clash or Odin’s later intervention in a fight between Hela and someone else, most commonly Thor, the fight would end with Odin using his All-Father powers to simply kill Hela. That’s how he would defeat her – simply. Because he’s stronger than her.
In Thor #190, for example, Odin simply killed Hela with his powers, stepping in to save Thor from being killed by his sister. It was a strong blast of energy that simply killed Hela, although she was later revived by Odin himself after he had been persuaded by Thor to do so in order to preserve the balance of life and death. This scenario happened on more than one occasion in the comic books, as Odin would simply just blast Hela, thereby defeating her.
The situation in the MCU is a bit different. There, Odin and Hela conquered the realms together until her ambition outgrew Odin’s and the All-Father deemed her too dangerous. Hela was imprisoned by Odin via very strong, complex magic. She was too powerful to simply defeat, so Odin used the Valkyries to draw her attention until he managed to imprison her. Yet, the spell was tied to his own life energy, so when he died, Hela was released, which resulted in her clash with Thor in Thor: Ragnarok.
Why didn’t Odin kill Hela?
This is yet another complex issue in the relationship between Odin and his daughter. If you look at the comics books, Odin didn’t really hesitate with killing Hela, and he did it more than once. She was revived, though, so it does raise the question – why even kill her if you’re going to revive her again? The two of them had a very complex father-daughter dynamic and why Odin never killed her permanently is not really know. It is possibly because Odin had emotions for her, she was his daughter after all, and he believed that she was worthy of redemption if taught the right lessons.
As for the MCU, the situation is somewhat different, although not much. Hela was too powerful to simply kill, which is why Odin decided to imprison her instead. She was intrinsically bound to his life force, so when he died – she was free. Hela wasn’t immortal, if you thought that was the reason, she was just too powerful to have been killed off so simply as in the comic books. In addition to that, Odin was more of a teacher than a punisher. He wanted to teach his children certain lessons, which is why he banished Hela instead of killing her, but even he admitted that it was a bad move on his side. This is why, later, he just stripped Thor of his powers, as a form of educational punishment, until he became worthy once more.
And that’s it for today. We hope you had fun reading this and that we helped solve this dilemma for you. See you next time and don’t forget to follow us!
