Characters / Brat-Halla

The Norse Pantheon

The main characters of the strip. Since the central characters of Brat-Halla are drawn from Norse Mythology, many of the same tropes apply.

Balder

Son of Odin and Frigg and God of Beauty and Light. Balder is Frigg's favorite.

• Amusing Injuries: Despite the severe psychological trauma Balder is shown to endure because of his invulnerability, it's always played for laughs.
  Balder: It wasn't rain... It wasn't rain... It wasn't rain... It wasn't rain... It wasn't rain...
• Blessed with Suck: Balder is invulnerable, but can still feel pain. His invulnerability leads to his brothers using him as a weapon and to disarm traps.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: Balder is invulnerable and Thor is so strong he has a tendency to break any other weapon he holds aside from Mjölnir, so...
• Human Doorstop: Balder is used to disarm traps, as a weapon, and numerous creative uses were found for him when he was once frozen solid.
• Iron Butt Monkey: It's a running gag that Balder will suffer horribly over the course of pretty much any situation the kids find themselves in. His invulnerability allows him to survive injuries that would easily kill the other, but he still feels the pain. Monster eats one of the kids? Balder. One of the kids is hit by a booby trap? Balder.
• KidAnova: Balder loves the ladies. And the ladies love Balder. He's still a virgin, though.
• Momma's Boy: He's Frigg's favorite, and gets a bit of this treatment from time to time. When Frigg was exhausted from caring for the kids while Odin was away during the "Backup Dad" storyline, Balder was explicitly chosen by the others to bring her breakfast because he was her favorite, and therefore the child she was least likely to thrash for disturbing her.
• Nature Adores a Virgin: Balder is even told his virginity is a substantial part of why he did so well in the Goddess of Beauty competition.

Fenrir

Fenrir is Loki's son, a monstrous wolf and one of the biggest rock stars in the Brat-Halla world. He has a tendency to eat his roadies. Bad news for Tyr...

• Affably Evil: While not actively malicious, he's still destined to side with the forces of darkness and cause significant damage during Ragnarok. He's nonetheless actually a pretty nice guy, and gets on well with the cast. Especially Hod, with one Hod's Comic suggesting it owes as much to them both being artists.
• Deadpan Snarker: As guest announcer during the Pantheon Games.
• Fight Fur Your Right to Party: Fenrir is this without need of music video special effects. He's a literal party animal.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Fenrir eats his roadies at the end of his tours. It's in the contract.
• Really Gets Around: Implied as part of his rockstar lifestyle.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Fenrir has big red eyes, and is certainly quite dangerous.
• The Rock Star: Fenrir is portrayed as this in the comic world.
• Savage Wolves: A wolf that eats his roadies can fairly be called "savage".

Frigg

Odin's wife and the Norse Goddess of Love, Fertility and Wisdom. Much of the day-to-day handling of the kids falls to Frigg while Odin is off being All-Fathery.

• The Alcoholic: She takes her mead by the barrel.
• All Women Are Lustful: She's a love and fertility goddess. Her sex drive is through the roof. However unlike Odin, who can't keep it in his pants, Frigg remains faithful to him.
• Axe-Crazy: In the backstory to "Twilight of the Hod" Frigg turns psychotic in the wake of Balder's death (strangely enough, considering Death Is Cheap).
• Blessed with Suck: Frigg has the gift to see the future. She knows everything that will ever happen. She also can't talk to anyone about what she sees, and she can't do anything about it either. Remember, this includes knowing about Ragnarok and how all of her children will die. No wonder she drinks...
• Face–Heel Turn: During "Twilight of the Hod."
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Frigg loves her mead.
• Love Goddess: She has this going on along with Wisdom.
• Seer: Frigg can see the future, and knows everything that will ever happen. She uses this ability to her advantage in the Pantheon Games in her match against Erzulie by looking into the future for the answers Erzulie intended to give. As noted under Blessed with Suck, it has its drawbacks...
• Supernaturally Young Parent: She doesn't look much older than her mid-20s/early-30s, and gets her share of time as fanservice. It kinda goes with being a love and fertility goddess.

Heimdall

A son of nine mothers and no father, Heimdall's keen eyes and ears make him a superb tracker, and his size makes him one of the strongest of the kids.

• Big Eater: Probably the only character to even come close to rivaling Thor's appetite.
• The Big Guy: Occasionally gets to split this role with Thor.
• The Commissioner Gordon: To Thor's Goats during their nighttime crime-fighting.
• Ranger: In the Dungeons & Dragons/RPG sense. Heimdall has keen eyes and ears, and is skilled in survival and tracking. If the gang needs to find someone or something, or figure out the best way to get from Point A to Point B, Heimdall is the one they turn to.
• The Sixth Ranger: Bonus points because his skill set essentially makes him a Ranger.

Hel

The daughter of Loki and Goddess of the Dead. Hel rules Hel/Helheim, the land of the dead, and is generally neutral in the conflicts between Odineye and Odin's family.

• The Antagonist: Many of her appearances are to oppose the antics of the kids as their teacher and/or babysitter. She's more directly an adversary during the "Backup Dad" arc when she assembles a group of Valkyries to attack Odineye (who's out camping with the kids, getting them caught in the crossfire) over an unpaid debt he owes her. However it's unclear how much of this arc is actually Hel and how much is Odineye's shape-shifting Goblin minion.
• Babysitter From Hel: Literally.
• Fan Disservice: When she drops her pants to reveal she's a corpse from the waist down. All we see is a rotted, maggoty leg, but that's enough!
• The Grim Reaper: As Goddess of the Dead she's also the physical manifestation of death.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Literally. Her top half is a beautiful woman. From the waist down however she's a rotted corpse.
• Hot Teacher: Well, from the waist up, at least. Hod crushes on her hard.
• Sadist Teacher: The kids often see her as this. To the students in Odineye's skuul she is this.
• Swapped Roles: After her father ate too many of Idun's apples and got deaged, Hel finds herself in the position of being his babysitter and teacher. Loki does not like it and openly protests the idea of being watched by his own daughter, but Hel isn't about to put up with his crap.

Hermod

Yet another son of Odin and Frigg, and messenger of the Gods.

• The Klutz: Hermod is great at getting from Point A to Point B as fast as possible. However he tends to run into problems with actually stopping once he gets there, and is prone to spectacular wipeouts along the way.
• Motor Mouth: Behold the result of giving Hermod sugar.
• Super-Speed: Hermod can move very fast. Not just his running speed, but even his hands. However as the Ssu Ling proved, speed without the skill to actually apply it effectively is pretty useless.
• We Need a Distraction: A Running Gag with the kids' plans for dealing with monsters is sending Hermod to run around it really fast in a circle until it gets dizzy as a distraction. And Hermod pointing out that if he does it he'll just get dizzy, too.

Hod

Balder's blind twin brother, and the God of Darkness and Winter. Hod is also a poet, whose frequently interrupted attempts to narrate his own adventures are the subject of the B Side Comic.

• Brainwashed and Crazy: By Pookah during "Twilight of the Hod," leading him to ushering in Ragnarok.
• B-Side Comics: Hod's Comic, a series of comics from Hod's perspective, consisting of all black cells with dialogue (because he's blind!). The comics have been used for everything from commenting on the behaviors of the other characters, literary conventions, to discussing various Norse myths.
• Covert Pervert: Because Hod is blind, the Valkyries don't seem to have any trouble getting naked around him and asking him for massages, for which Hod is quick to forgive his blindness, usually accompanied by a huge smile.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Played with a bit. Hod is certainly dark, but is still generally one of the kinder and more thoughtful characters. However under Pookah's influence he starts Ragnarok, though once freed he helps the others set things right again.
• Deadpan Snarker: Hod is very quick with a snarky one-liner.
• Disability Superpower: Also played with. There's been no real explanation given for how Hod is able to write in his journals or read from his immense secret library despite being blind. He's also able to find his way around more or less without trouble (except for when Rule of Funny demands otherwise). At other times, (such as hanging around the Valkyries while they're showering) his lack of sight is a clear disability (at least until the Valkyries start asking him for massages).
  Hod: Curse you foul blindness!
• Ensemble Dark Horse: One of the favorite characters in the comic, based on the comments.
• Face–Heel Turn: Under the influence of Pookah during "Twilight of the Hod."
• Hot for Teacher: Hod has a huge crush on Hel. It's not significantly derailed by her being a corpse from the waist down.
• The Smart Guy: Arguably the most intelligent character in the cast. Yes, even smarter than Loki.
• Stage Fright: Prone to this when giving a poetry reading. He tends to loose control of his powers over darkness and winter.

Loki

Once a peer of Odin's, Loki was turned into a child after accidentally eating an entire pie made of the Idun's golden apples. He is the God of Mischief and Magic, and takes great enjoyment out of pranking...pretty much everyone.

• Butt-Monkey: Though not to the same extent as Balder and Xarenia, chances are Loki is rarely going to get through a confrontation without some sort of Amusing Injury.
• Deadpan Snarker: Probably as much as, if not more than, Hod.
• Fountain of Youth: He used to be as old as Odin, until he accidentally turned himself into a child.
• Good Parents: A Running Gag is many characters refer to Loki for parenting advice. He literally wrote the book on the subject.
• Guile Hero: For varying definitions of "hero." As the God of Mischief, Loki prefers to rely on his wits to win a confrontation rather than brute force. In fact while Loki is usually easily beaten in direct confrontations, he's far more dangerous when he sticks to being clever instead.
• It Amused Me: Pretty much the driving force behind everything Loki does. He's perfectly willing to hamper and humiliate his own friends and family if he can get a laugh out of it.
• Lethal Chef: Not Loki himself, but he took home Odineye's chef, who specializes in sleeping poisons, for his own purposes. A Running Gag involves various characters borrowing Loki's chef when they have someone they want knocked out.
• The Lancer: Loki's intelligence, savvy, and in no small part is manipulative nature frequently lands him as second in command to whoever the Hero of a given storyline is.
• Mister Seahorse: As in the original mythology, Loki birthed Odin's horse Sleipnir while temporarily in the form of a mare.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Loki: The God of Mischief, Lies and Magic. Father of Hel, Fenrir and Jormungandr. He plays with dolls.
• Sizeshifter: One of his favorite tricks is to turn giant-sized. At which point he gets unceremoniously knocked out.
• The Smart Guy: Shares this role with Hod.
• Swapped Roles: Thanks to getting deaged, Loki finds himself in the position of being taught and babysat by his own daughter. Naturally, he lampshades this relentlessly.
• Trickster God: This is Loki, God of Mischief.
• Voluntary Shape Shifter: Loki's favorite trick is shape-shifting, both to mock the others as well as to achieve his goals. Sometimes he uses his powers for good, but mostly it's for whatever amuses him at the time.
• The Worf Effect: Because of his experience, powerful magic and shapeshifting ability, Loki is arguably among the most powerful of the kids. This of course means he's knocked out of a fights he would ordinarily be able to bail the others out of very quickly.

Odin

The head of the family and leader of the Norse Pantheon. Odin must juggle is wife and kids with his duties as a god of war, death, poetry and wisdom.

• Action Dad: Odin doesn't throw down quite as often as his kids, but when he does...
• Big Good: The kids are the main focus of the comic, but Odin is the main force for good in Brat-Halla.
• Genius Bruiser: Odin is not above using a bit of guile to get his way, such as Rules Lawyering the Pantheon Games to get Odineye and his Humongous Mecha to assist him in his fight against Zeus.
• Really Gets Around: Odin and Frigg may share an...enthusiastic love life, but it doesn't keep his eye from wandering.
• War God: One of them, a domain he shares with his oldest son, Tyr.

Sif

The young Goddess of Beauty, Sif is close friends with the rest of the group, and in particular has her eyes on Thor.

• Action Girl: Steps into this role at times, such as in the "Mjölnir Madness" arc, and especially during "Twilight of the Hod." In the latter, she even wielded Mjölnir! Ironically, this is when she actually begins to attract Thor's attention,
• Beware the Cute Ones: She's little, she's cute, she's the Goddess of Beauty. But Gods protect you if you get between her and Thor.
• Green-Eyed Monster: She gets very violent against any other girl she even thinks might try to "steal" Thor away from her.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's no taller than Thor, and she can wield half a Dagda's club!
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: If you threaten Thor, she will tear you a new one.

Thor

Son of Odin and the Giantess Jord, Thor is the God of Thunder and wielder of the mighty hammer Mjölnir. More often than not The Hero of the comic.

• Adaptation Dye-Job: In early comics Thor was blonde before settling into his canonical red hair.
• Amazon Chaser: Crushes hard on the Valkyries, and on Xarenia (though her Action Girl status is somewhat more dubious). He's also much more likely to respond to Sif when she's in Action Girl mode.
• The Berserker: True to mythology, Thor is very much "fight first, talk later," and is prone to entering berserker rages.
• Berserk Button: Calling him "little," and hurting Sif (though he doesn't like to admit it) or his goats will really push him over the edge.
• Big Eater: Thor's appetite has been elevated to a Running Gag. Several times Frigg wonders if she's fixed more food than usual when she discovers they have leftovers, with no one realizing that Thor is missing.
• The Big Guy: Ironically, because in most cases he's actually the smallest of the kids. Played much straighter in future timelines.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Thor loves to fight.
• Fiery Redhead: Just like in the original mythology.
• Girls Have Cooties: Played with. He definitely takes this attitude towards Sif as a child, but is shown to openly crush on the Valkyries and Xarenia (though he shows more attraction to Sif when she's in Action Girl mode). By the time he's an adult this passes, and he's shown to be quite committed to Sif.
• I Got Bigger: When Xarenia and Arazel encounter Thor for the first time in the "Twilight of the Hod" arc they don't recognize him. He uses this to explain it. Later, when he switches bodies with his younger self in the past, his younger self proudly proclaims he finally had his growth spurt.
• Lethal Chef: You're taking your life into your hands if Thor is the cook, as he throws pretty much everything he can find together. He accidentally poisons Frigg during the "Backup Dad" arc when he uses household cleaner because he thought it was the good stuff.
• Shock and Awe: He's a thunder god. He especially displays this power when he wields Mjölnir.
• Super-Strength: Despite his size, probably the physically strongest member of the Norse Pantheon.

Thor's Goats

Thor's pet goats, who draw his chariot. They're also costumed crimefighters in their spare time.

• Big Eater: Just like Thor. In fact their solution to being attacked by an army of grass monsters is to just eat them.
• Comic Book Death: The goats are accidentally killed during Thor's fight with Dagda during the Pantheon Games. However in a nice Shout-Out to the original mythology he is able to restore them after he recovers Mjölnir.
• Shout-Out: Their superheroics are a direct spoof and Shout-Out to Batman
• Talking Animal: The goats are completely capable of human speech. Hod figures it out, until the goats take measures to wipe that particular memory from his mind.

Tyr

The eldest son of Odin and Frigg, and the God of War. Unfortunately, Tyr is also something of a pacifist...

• Actual Pacifist: Despite being the Norse God of War, Tyr is an extreme pacifist.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Although that's actually a good thing, because when Tyr does get worked up, he's downright scary.
• New-Age Retro Hippie: In one short arc, Tyr's dialog turns very counter-culture.
• War God: Despite being a pacifist, Tyr is the primary Norse God of War.

The Valkyries

Servants of Odin and the choosers of the slain, these women fly over battlefields in Midgard to determine which warriors slain in battle are the most worthy of being brought to Valhalla.

• Action Girl: ...Sorta. In something of a subversion of the classic depiction of the Valkyries, one admits they're not actually trained warriors. Not that they don't do their share of ass-kicking, such as during "Twilight of the Hod."
• Breast Plate: Their "armor" consists of this and a loincloth.
• The Ditz: One of the recurring Valkyries has long, dark brown/black hair and is depicted as not exactly bright, and significantly more boy-crazy than the others (at one point she can be seen peeking inside a slain warrior's pants to see what he's packing, and immediately judging him "worthy").
• Giant Flyer: The Valkyries get around on giant ravens.
• I Love the Dead: A Running Gag with the ditzy one, who can be frequently seen hitting on the slain warriors they're collecting for Valhalla.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Played with: The Valkyries (at least most of them, see The Ditz above) seem to be aware about the effect they have on men. However this trope comes fully into play with the blind Hod, whom they seem to feel safe about stripping in front of and asking him to give them massages.
  Hod: Blindness, you are forgiven!
• Ms. Fanservice: Pretty much their entire reason for being, as the Valkyries rarely add much of anything to the plot.
• No Name Given: None of the Valkyries have received a name to date in the comic, though a couple who recur can be identified visually. Particularly The Ditz (see above).
• Valkyries: Exactly What It Says on the Tin.

Odineye's Forces

Odineye

Once Odin's left eye, he was thrown into the bottom of the Well of Wisdom. After years he finally escaped and plots vengeance against Odin and his children.

• Affably Evil: Sure, he's an evil disembodied eye, but damn if he isn't a charming one, too.
• Bad Boss: Zig-Zagged a bit. While he's not above berating the incompetence of his minions, he generally treats them well. On the other hand, he tries to stiff Hel on her paycheck for operating his skuul.
• Big Bad: As much as anyone in the comic can be considered it.
• Butt-Monkey: Odineye's schemes usually end in disaster, and significant bodily harm.
• The Chessmaster: The events of the Junior Pantheon Games were set in motion by Odineye after being snubbed by Odin at the end of the first Pantheon Games arc.
• Chivalrous Pervert: It doesn't help that he's just an eye and lacks the equipment to actually do anything. He also tells Frigg that he was the eye that didn't wander.
• Enemy Mine: Has occasionally teams up with either Odin or the kids to deal with a mutual threat.
• Eye Scream: How he was created in the first place: Odin tore out his eye and threw him down the well. Also, just because of his nature any harm that comes to him is this.
• Faceless Eye: But somehow he still has an eyebrow. And can drool.
• Face–Heel Turn: After being ripped out and tossed down the Well of Wisdom.
• Heel–Face Turn: In "Twilight of the Hod" Odineye is firmly on the good side, with no explanation given for why he turned.
• Humongous Mecha: His go-to strategy for pretty much every situation is to build a giant robot.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: When it comes down to it, Odineye's Freudian Excuse is that he feels unappreciated by Odin. He might even have undergone a full Heel–Face Turn at the end of the Pantheon Games arc had Odin acknowledged his importance.
• The Smart Guy: One of the smarter characters in the series, though that doesn't mean he isn't often outdone by sheer carelessness.

Phil

Odineye's right hand groundhog. He's Odineye's closest friend, and assists him in most of his plots.

• Badass Adorable: He's towering, strong...and a groundhog.
• Berserk Button: Doesn't like being referred to as cute or adorable.
• The Big Guy: Especially considering his boss is a disembodied eye.

The Greek (and Roman) Pantheon

The gods of the Greek Pantheon, Zeus and his deities are often antagonistic and snobbish towards the Norse. The Greeks are also the Roman Pantheon, but some people dismiss it as just a conspiracy theory...

• Ho Yay: In-Universe. Zeus slips a bunch of his cronies into judging the beauty contest during the Pantheon Games, and they unanimously choose Balder over Aphrodite.
• Jerkass God: Pretty fitting, considering the actual Greek gods are pretty much the patron saints of this trope.

Zeus

Thunder God and leader of the Greeks. Zeus particularly puts himself in opposition to Odin as head of his pantheon.

• Enemy Mine: Schemes with Odineye during the Jr. Pantheon Games arc, to exact revenge on the Norse.
• Foe Romance Subtext: There's no subtext about it. When he and Odin are fighting in the Pantheon Games he actually gets wood when the fight ends up as a wrestling match on the ground.
• Jerkass God: He's the Jerkass God.
• The Rival: To the Norse in general, but Odin in particular as both are heads of their respective families and pantheons.
• Sizeshifter: Enlarges himself when facing Odin during the Pantheon Games.
• Shock and Awe: As a God of Thunder, he's able to wield lightning as a weapon.