General concept/idea: Asenblut

Just a general idea that hit me yesterday. It's a Manga, centered around nordic deities and legends, a bit like Vinland Saga.

Beowulf Geatasson, a young hero, challenges the gods themselves by slaughtering the monster Grendel, a hideous cannibal, who terrorizes villages among its path. To be punished for opposing "The Greater Plan", the two Ravens Hugin and Munin curse Beowulf with immortality, forcing him to spend his live in self-consuming emotional and physical pain, seeing his loved ones die and surviving even the most grave of injuries. After nearly a century, he decides to finally die and searches for a way to the underworld where he wishes to spend the rest of all eternities.
The Norns presage him the way to find Hel, the underworld, where he meets Baldr, the God of Light, impaled by a mistletoe thrown by his brother Hodur. Baldr tells him, that the only way for Beowulf to die would be to ask Odin himself for forgiveness.. or force him to take the curse back. Being of proud blood, Beowulf decides for the latter and slaughters Nidhöggr, the Dragon of the Underworld.
After that, he works his way up to Asgard, where he wishes to confront Odin himself.. and make him lift the curse or punish him for a century of suffering.

The idea is pretty God of War like I admit, but I find it rather interesting. Also, I have planned for a twist involing another nordic deity, but I do not wish to spoil it.

Any suggestions/ideas?

Great story! It a good idea to base stories and ideas off of mythology because the characters are so flawed, there's tons of room for character development

But I have to say, it feels a bit cliche in some areas. Immortality is a common topic that is beaten up multiple times in manga, so it doesn't feel fresh and original anymore. Especially the part exploiting how immortality is bad because immortal people watch their loved ones die. And if he is immortal, how can he die and go to the underworld? [I'm not very familiar with Beowulf so I don't know if that happens in the original myth, sorry...] Maybe you can say that he's not physically immortal but rather mentally immortal? I mean mentally immortal by he "lives in the past"/always reminiscences rather than "living in the present"/forgetting the past pains and moving forward in life. [Since you know, aging means moving forward in life and leaving one's past self behind.] "Hugin" means reflection [reflecting on past memories?] and "Munin" means memory [memories of the past].

Technically, there's no such thing as immortality in Norse Mythology. All gods had their lives periodically extended by golden apples kept in a special box belonging to the Goddess Idun.*mythology nerd and norse mythology freak*

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 06/05/2012 03:01:54

Thanks for the feedback, first of all.

I am aware that this theme of immortality has been used dozens of times, but as a starting point it still fulfills its purpose. After all, I don't plan to lay my focus on the "curse" of immortality, but Beowulfs struggle to break it.
Technically, Hel was accessible by travelling to the World-Tree Yggdrassil and then following its roots to the River of the Underworld, Gjöll, comparable to Greek Mythologys Styx, Kochyros, Archeron and Phlegeton. Heroes in ancient Greece were said to have travelled to Hades by following those rivers (who could be reached by visiting certain volcaonoes) and some even challenged Hades, e.g. Orpheus.

As for "no real immortality" in norse mythology: The theme of Golden Apples is taken from the Snorra-Edda by Snorri Sturluson, which is generally accepted as the most "authentic" collection of norse legends. However, there have been different records by other Skalds who attributed the gods immortality to other aspects. An example may be the Legend of Odin Thorsson by Frodur Hördesson, who explained at least Odins immortality as well as that of his siblings by Odin defeating death in arm wrestling.

Mm, you wanna go even deeper though, you can read the Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus who insists that the gods were merely kings and real people. I love Norse Myth. No matter which way you want to go, it's super flexible!

Hmm.. After your explanation I think that your story's going a promising way: You taking a hackneyed topic and then flipping it 360 degrees into something original.

I take back what I said; go for this story! It's great!

You flutter me. :3 Need to find an artist for that though, since I can't draw for two cents.

Got me a copy of Gesta Danorum by the way, intend to read it within the next few weeks. Maybe I'll get some inspiration out of that. I did change the story a bit though, making Beowulfs immortality linked with the immortality of the gods - as long as they exist he can't die.

Does he actually want to die? Like he's been alive so long? That might be a fun twist.

He wants to combine both. Take his revenge on the gods and then die. This might be his reason to challenge Nidhöggr in the first place, for he was said to be a beast, powerful beyond imagination. Either he would be killed by him or be assured that he has the power to kill even the gods.. and if he does posess enough power to kill Odin, he will be free for he can't die as long as the gods are alive.