One other factor in the fights is whether or not the god treats their opponent as a Worthy Opponent. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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:
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 Jerkass Gods narrative more.
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.
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 Jerkass Gods
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?
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.
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.
Fridge Horror
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.
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.
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 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...
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.
Alternative Title(s):Shuumatsu No Walkure Record Of Ragnarok
