Asa-Thor

The lightning flashed as he hefted the hammer and thunder struck, as so many times before. The thunder rolled across the plain and broke against the far mountainside, followed by the cheer of the Einherjar, who stood lined against the horizon, an army of immortals in numbers beyond counting – and yet not many enough.
So often had he smiled whenever he had lifted Mjolnir, the warden of Asgard, but this time he felt nothing of elation, nothing of triumph. As he turned to the wind and faced the plain of Vigrid, he knew that this time would be the last one he carried Mjolnir into the battle. The last contest, the last hero’s deed, the last fight. The enemy had come in legions, the spawn of Hel and Utgard, the forces of Chaos. They had come to destroy the world he loved.
He blinked away a tear as he thought of Sif and his sons and all he was about to lose – but he did not waver for a moment. He had lived a life of millennia, the life of a God, and he had no regrets. He had fought, feasted, loved, and defended those who had been given into his care. He might die today – no, would die certainly, her corrected himself – but his death would be the fulfillment of a warrior’s life, a story never forgotten, as long as a single soul would live to remember it. He wished for his world and his loved ones to prevail, alas all beyond the power of his arms and his battle-craft was Wyrd, was the doing of the Norns, and no God, not even Odin, could hope to change that. So let it be! If it must end, it ends. Ragnarok!
He raised the hammer high above his head, and as the Einherjar cheered again, he finally smiled his crooked, defiant smile. With a steady stride, his brothers by his side, he led the armies of Valhalla against the enemy. He wore no amour, no fancy warrior’s adornments, his muscular frame alone would be sufficient emblazonment for his last fight.
So come, warriors, he thought, and finally joined in the battle cry.
Live for nothing, or die for something!

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A lot of words, but this more or less was the scene or mood I had in mind when I worked on that picture. This now is my entry for Ferun-Namids Thor-Contest (ferun-namid.deviantart.com/jou…). Lots of thanx for that - here and now it was the motivation for sitting down and finishing the rough sketch I had begun some three weeks ago. I'm not sure anymore if the picture qualifies for the contest... I started by the rules and begun with a design of Thor that came to my mind - well, and then I got carried away. So no Viking armour and kit as I originally intended, just the man and his weapon and an overall feeling of judgment day! No colour in it, so I can pretend he has red hair!
Somehow in the process the Einherjar appeared in the left corner, but they are pretty restrained not to invade the picture
Contest fitting or not, it's secondary now as I'm nearly content with the outcome for now. Time pressure was tight, but otherwise it would have taken months to finish...

Thor was drawn in b pencils and digitally altered using Photoimpact x3 (don't know while I still use it...). The background sky and all was almost exclusively done on my old Aiptek HP tablet with Photoshop. I did about two hours sketching and another five hours for executing the picture.

Musical inspiration was provided by bands DoomSword, Rebellion, Darkest Era, Atlantean Kodex, and of course Manowar!


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