Line #24 Fridge/RecordOfRagnarok


1	!Per wiki policy, Administrivia/SpoilersOff applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.
2
3	!Fridge Brilliance
4	* When trying to win by using similar traits ([[WorldsStrongestMan Most Powerful God VS Most Powerful Human]], [[TopGod Father of Gods]] VS [[SuperPrototype Father of Humans]]), it results in a victory for the gods. When trying to win by opposing traits ([[BadassNormal The Greatest Loser]] VS [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer The Greatest Winner]], [[TheParagon The Most Righteous God]] VS [[VillainousUnderdog The Most Vile Human]]), it results in a victory for the humans. This reflects how Humanity's greatest strength is through [[WeakButSkilled being unconventional]] and not through trying to overpower [[UnskilledButStrong the Gods at their strongest suit]].
5	** One other factor in the fights is whether or not the god treats their opponent as a WorthyOpponent. The fights the gods won (1st, 2nd, and 5th matches) were matches where the god gave their all against their opponent, finding them worthy of going all out. The matches they lost were when the god thought himself too above his opponent to bother using his full strength (Poseidon vs Sasaki Kojiro) or underestimated his opponent until it was too late (Heracles vs Jack The Ripper). Gods being gods of course normally won’t think of humans as being on the same level as them until they prove worthy, making this one other aspect humanity can take advantage of.
6	** There's one more layer to the opposing traits between Jack the Ripper and Heracles. According to Shuumatsu no Valkyrie Kitan - Jack the Ripper no Jikenbo, the Jack the Ripper who fought in Ragnarok was a nobody who took the title of Jack for the tournament. Heracles was a renowned hero. Essentially, a celebrity lost to someone forgotten by history.
7	* Adam has shown the ability to injure gods despite being mortal and without a Volund. Why is this? Because Adam’s body was crafted by the gods themselves and can technically be considered a divine weapon.
8	** The reason he is seemingly invincible? Every human fighter is resurrected in the form they were at their peak. For Adam, this means before the exile from the Garden, when neither he nor Eve were affected by death.
9	* Qin Shi Huang doesn’t have a body crafted by the gods but found another way to harm gods. By fighting them with a style based around redirecting their own attacks back at them. Since attacks from gods are divine, any attack redirected back at them from Qin would naturally also be divine and capable of harming them.
10	* Zeus' Adamas form is shown as him compressing all his muscles into his own body. The term ''Adamas'' is Latin for "diamonds". Guess how they're made?
11	* So how did Hlökk become Jack's Volund even though, as she stated, their hearts didn't resonate? As pointed out by a Youtube commenter, they ''did'' with one emotion: ''[[EtTuBrute betrayal]]'' ([[FreudianExcuse Jack's mother betrayed her son which turned him into who he is]], and [[TheUnfettered Brunhilde willingly let Jack get to Hlökk]]).
12	* Jack being declared to represent humanity's worst evil seems like a ridiculous stretch even without taking in the side materials into account due to how small-time he is compared to even more vile people in history like the dictators. ''But that is the point''. He represents the ''average man's'' capability of hands-on ruthlessness, that how anyone under his circumstances can become just like him. Combine that with how there are more serial killers than dictators in history, his story just hits too close to home. His Volund being his gloves is alluding to humanity's ability and tendency to weaponise anything it comes across on first thought.
13	** His side story might make it seem like he was undeserving of representing humanity's worst aspects, even the average man's capability for murder as said above, but one should remember that before he was a government assassin, he was ''still'' a murderer. His parents might not have been the best people, and even against his mother it could be a case of self-defense, but tracking down his father for the express purpose of killing him is still murder. Heck, considering the time skip between his first killings and being an assassin was him going from youth to adult, who knows how many people he killed for the fun of it before he was recruited.
14	* Unlike the other gods, Buddha wears more modern clothes along with indulging in eating foods that aren’t in line with what traditional depictions of the Buddha show him as. This sets him apart from other gods, who aren’t too different from their usual depictions, and possibly foreshadows his true allegiance to humanity.
15	* It seems odd that the Council of ''Valhalla'' and the ''Ragnarok'' tournament is hosted by Zeus instead of you know, Odin. There are multiple reasons:
16	** Comparing the myths, while not exactly a high bar to clear, Odin is a less of a jerk than Zeus. Placing Zeus at the head of the council will fit the JerkassGods narrative more.
17	** [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek mythology]] is more well-known and influential than Myth/NorseMythology.
18	* It is implied that Hercules and Buddha has voted to exterminate humanity alongside the other gods as the vote is noted to be ''unanimous'', which goes into conflict with their later actions. They must have played along because they realized that voting for humanity's salvation will make them stick out like sore thumbs and ''earn the ire of every god in the room'' while only revealing their true nature in the ring.
19	** That doesn't make sense because of who they are. They make their thoughts known & don't care what others think. Plus both are very very blunt especially Buddha who disobey the gods as much as he feels like due to being JerkassGods.
20	** That is, of course, only if they were present for the voting. Buddha would likely skip out out of boredom while Heracles would be away helping humanity. However, if that was the case, why would they agree to participate in the tournament afterwards?
21	** It’s entirely possible that Buddha and Heracles did vote no but so many other gods voted yes that it appeared unanimous. One or two votes for no won’t make a difference when the rest of the votes say yes. And it’s also possible they weren’t allowed to vote on the extinction of humanity because they both used to be human and thus are too biased to make a fair decision.
22	** One of Hercules' important but more understanded traits is his loyalty to the gods who took him. After all, despite wanting to let humanity live, he still fought for the gods because of his loyalty.
23	* Qin Shi Huang's Sword Form seems like an oddity within his moveset, being the only outright weapon in an otherwise martial arts focused ability toolkit. However, swords are the only weapons that the real First King actually wielded, in particular he used a sword to protect himself from Jing Ke. And what do you know it, he defended himself with a slash to the legs, a defensive offense.
24	* Zerofuku seems much weaker than most of Ragnarök's combatants, despite being a fusion of Bishamonten (who is already strong enough to be a combatant in Ragnarök) and the rest of the Seven Lucky Gods. This makes sense on multiple levels:
25	** For one, Zerofuku appears the divine equivalent of a child, having possessed a much more child-like form in the past, as well as a naive view of the world.
26	** Secondly, Zerofuku has spent most of his existence having been split into the Seven Lucky Gods and doesn't seem to have absorbed Bishamonten's or any of their experience meaning that he didn't have much time to actually use the power that he gained.
27	** Buddha is just a very terrible match up for him. Zerofuku’s fighting style is based on overpowering his opponent with sheer strength but that means nothing when you can’t hit your opponent.
28	** Finally, it's been brought up multiple times that Zerofuku used to be a peaceful and relatively minor God of Fortune as opposed to being a WarGod or other important deity, meaning he's never had to wield power like what he eventually gained after his downfall and lacked the experience that other gods built up from centuries, if not millennia, of battle.
29	** On a meta level, Buddha's overwhelming advantages against Zerofuku can be seen as the author demonstrating just what it means for humanity to have a god on their side; whilst their representatives are usually WeakButSkilled humans, Buddha is StrongAndSkilled and it shows, hence how he dominates the majority of the fight.
30	* So far in the tournament, the success of the Einherjar in their rounds depends on how far in life they pushed their limits and how much of a grasp they have on their abilities. Those who never got the chance to push themselves and have to discover their limits during their rounds tend to lose while those who already knew the scope of their abilities and thus only needed to apply them appropriately tend to win. And conversely, whether or not their godly opponents are similar tends to factor in as well. To recap:
31	** For Lü Bu, he had never fought any opponent truly on his level throughout his entire life and has only used the perfected ''Sky Eater'' once without ever testing it against a similarly powerful attack or opponent. When fighting Thor, not only was his opponent just as strong, but also more durable, allowing him to survive the epicenter of their clashing attacks while Lü Bu was unprepared and unable to do so. Plus, Thor made use of different techniques in order to increase the amount of power each of his attacks had, and even before then, wore his special gloves to make sure he didn't destroy Mjolnir before it awakened.
32	** For Adam, while he was made in the image of the gods, had natural talent for combat and even possessed a PowerCopying ability suited for them, there is no indication that he was regularly fighting both prior to and after his and Eve's exile. Even when he did fight, he seemingly never did so against a truly powerful god until Zeus, having only fought the much weaker Serpent onscreen. This meant he had no way to test how far the ''Eyes of the Lord'' could be pushed and he likely didn't even realize they could overheat until Zeus proved too enduring to put down quickly, in particular because Zeus actually changed strategies mid-fight to invoke this.
33	** For Sasaki, he had already trained and tested himself against countless swordsmen throughout his life and even in death, he was constantly striving for improvement. As such, while he did have to switch from his ''Ganryu'' style to the ''[[DualWielding Niten Ganryu]]'' style, he was already very familiar with its associated techniques, having analyzed them and practiced them for years. Even his ''Manju Musō'' was simply an evolution of his already existing ''Senju Musō'' that he again has honed for years. While Poseidon was the most formidable opponent he fought, his existing sword skills and talent meant he could adapt and eventually overcome the god, who had never bothered to improve himself a day in his life and simply resorted to faster, harder versions of AttackAttackAttack.
34	** For Jack, he was already an extremely skilled and sneaky killer in life with a penchant for pragmatic tactics and [[ImprovisedWeapon improvised weapons]] with his fight against Heracles being more of the same, with the exception that his opponent was a god. Even then, given the events of his own spin-off, he was no stranger to fighting physically exceptional foes, and wasn't just a killer, but a bona fide assassin. Combining that with his willingness to take advantage of Heracles' honor, who had never been in a fight which required strategy beyond overpowering his animalistic opponents from his Labours, and a well-suited [[TheMagicTouch Völundr]] allowed him to use his assassination skills to their maximum to take the win.
35	** For Raiden, he never had a chance to use his strength to its fullest in life and certainly had never experienced the full power of his muscles. As such, he was unprepared for the strain that came with using them. While he was able to contend with Shiva for a time, he was ultimately on the clock for how long he could keep forcing his comparatively frailer bones and organs to contend with his overly strong muscles. And in contrast, Shiva could use his Trump Card, Tandava Karma, which burned away at his already damaged body because he'd fought tooth-and-nail to triumph over 1000 other gods and knew his physical capabilities.
36	** For Buddha, his status as a PhysicalGod meant he had naturally greater strength, durability and endurance than most of the Einherjar prior. Combined with his CombatClairvoyance, this allowed him to easily defeat the more unstable Zerofuku. Even when faced with Hajun, he was able to contend with the demon thanks to his training and experience from both his human life and his subsequent godhood. He finally defeated him using the ''Great Nirvana Sword-Zero'', which was born from Völundr, a technique that he, himself, taught the Valkyries and seemed to hold a considerably better understanding of how it works. As mentioned above, there are many likely reasons why Zerofuku wasn't a strong opponent (being a formerly peaceful god, young by divine standard, etc.) and as for Hajun, his original body broke under his own intense power, so he never had a chance to truly flex his capabilities, not that he likely would of with his ego.
37	** For Qin, he was already well-versed in how to make his martial arts effective and had a deep understanding of the nuances of his [[AuraVision Qi Sight]] and Qi manipulation. Even the fact that he felt the pain of whichever wounds he saw wasn't too much of a disadvantage (when compared to the likes of Adam's overheating and Raiden's muscle recoil) given that he had fought in many battles personally and was forced to experience the pain of entire armies. Ultimately, his victory over Hades came from combining several of his existing moves together to weaken the god's attack and take advantage of the stored power to turn the tables. Plus, even before Ragnarok, he'd already fought a godly opponent, Chiyou, and won; thus, he knew he could use his martial art to combat another. Hades' final move, Ichor: Eos, was one which Hades was unaware had a flaw which made it perfect for Qin to turn against him.
38	** For Tesla, he was lacking in combat experience compared to both his fellow Einherjar and especially his godly opponent, Beelzebub. This became a detriment throughout the fight as even when he employed one of his suit's remarkable gadgets to get around his foe's defenses, he would fail to capitalize in a truly significant way. Moreover, the suit is a much more unconventional weapon that no one, not even Tesla himself, has ever used before. Both he and his fellow scientists have stated that they were treating the round as a field test for what was essentially a prototype and like many prototypes, the first test was hardly a complete success. Beelzebub wasn't just more battle-honed and likely just as intelligent as a scientist, but his entire scientific career was geared towards finding something which could kill him, so he had a very strong grasp on his limits.
39	** For Leonidas, unlike the others, didn't seem to have a lack of experience, since he was a warrior-king who participated in many battles, with the gods even commenting on his honed battled instinct. This time, it was entirely his godly opponent's experience and skill that led to his loss, as Apollo pushed himself constantly to master ''many'' different areas of expertise, having formerly been an unremarkable god. Since the Einherjar have to rely on being WeakButSkilled, against a god who was StrongAndSkilled, it was an uphill battle and it proved too much for Leonidas.
40	* The match-up between Adam and Zeus is brilliant on several levels when you take both characters' mythologies into account. Consider that Zeus not only punished Prometheus for creating humans and giving humans fire despite him saying not to, he essentially punished all of humanity for keeping fire by unleashing Pandora and her box of ills on them. Perhaps fearing a threat to his own power (or one who might usurp him, as he did to his own father), Zeus has always wanted to keep humanity down and docile to his rule. Adam, by contrast, is defined by an act of deliberate rebellion against his god: breaking the one rule in Eden by eating from the Tree of Knowledge and half-unwittingly making himself aware of the world's ills in the process. It makes perfect sense that Zeus would want to challenge Adam in particular... Adam is in a way the sum of what he despises in humans, even if he has no actual malice towards Zeus himself. [[spoiler: And when you consider how Genesis ends, Adam was likely doomed to lose his fight no matter what.]]
41	* Nikola Tesla constantly makes various gestures (his extremely flashy appearance, making conversation with his opponent, etc.) which make him seem like nothing more than a LargeHam. Then it's revealed that his Super Tesla Particles (which are essential for his suit and his whole fighting style) take time and electricity to accumulate, strategically justifying his behavior: it's just Tesla increasing his chances of victory
42	* A recurring joke in the series is that in each round Ares reaches a wrong conclusion about the combatants' abilities and Hermes corrects him, giving the impression that Ares is an unintelligent blowhard even in his own domain of combat compared to Hermes. This makes much more sense when you know that Ares is the god of undisciplined war (so he wouldn't understand the finer and more complex techniques) and Hermes is the god of athletes and sports (which such a fighting tournament would fall under).
43
44	!Fridge Horror
45	* Zeus implies he's ready to fight again in the sixth round. It brings up the question; can Gods fight more than once? If so, what is preventing previous super-powered Gods from crushing another human? It's questionable if anyone besides Adam could even touch Zeus, and Thor likewise could fight again with full strength. These previous unbeatable gods could very well steal second wins.
46	** It could be because Buddha switched teams and thus, the gods are now down a fighter. Unless another god takes Buddha's place, it's possible a god would only be allowed a second match once.
47	* The plot started because humanity as a whole is considered beyond salvation due to their actions in the past 1000 years. Sure the onscreen gods like [[UnreliableNarrator Aphrodite]] aren't exactly the most trustworthy types, but what if they were telling the truth? After all, humanity must have screwed up really badly if practically ''every god'' in existence, not just the malicious ones, has voted for their destruction. Considering our own history from the year 1000 to 2000...
48	** The Gods have held this vote 70,000 times and have exonerated mankind 69,999 times. They do make it clear that, while they do find many acts in the last 1000 years to be heinous, they're also just fed up with humanity refusing to, in their own eyes, see the error of their ways and repent despite being given 69,999 chances.
49	* Poseidon is considered the pinnacle of what a perfect god should be - even though he's near-sociopathic, looks down on even his fellow gods if they aren't naturally perfect and cares not for humanity. When he's considered the example all other gods should strive to be like, you have to wonder if other gods will follow his example. If they have, perhaps that's why humanity and the gods are such awful odds.

Context Fridge / RecordOfRagnarok