User blog:Mattia Garavini/Pure Evil proposal: Harald Jaekelsson



He appeared only in one story but he is arguably the most einous villain ever faced by the God of Thunder.

What's the work?
What happens when The Mighty Thor gets the Garth Ennis' treatment? You get Thor: Vikings, a 2003 limited miniseries written by infamous writer and superhero hater Garth Ennis, illustrated by Glenn Fabry and published under Marvel MAX, the R-rated imprint of Marvel Comics.

Who is he and what he has done?
Harald Jaekelsson is the psychothic leader of a ship of viking pirates from the year 1003, routinely raiding villages and the lands of the english.

Harald's estabilishing moment is in the very first page of the comic, where he breaks a woman's neck by stepping on it, all while him asking his mooks if they killed all men and children in their village, raped all their women and then ordering them to kill them too after they are done. This scene not only tells you what you need to know about him, but sets the tone for what kind of story this is.

Jaekelsson lead his crew in a raid on Lakstad, with his crew destroying the town. Jaekelsson and his crew murdered all the men and children of the town, and had their way with the women before killing them as well. While the crew celebrated their raid with food and drink, Jaekelsson informed his men that they would sail to the New World, where they would be free to raid and pillage unopposed. As Jaekelsson's crew set sail, the town wise man, the sole survivor of the raid, called out a curse upon the Viking crew. Calling on the power of a rune stone, the wise man damned the Vikings to sail for a thousand years without reaching their destination, only to be killed with an arrow fired by Jaekelsson.

As the curse takes effect, Jaekelsson's crew sailed the seas day after day, year after year, never spotting land in any direction, for a thousand years, until, in modern day, Jaekelsson's ship arrived in New York. Making landfall, Jaekelsson and crew immediately begin slaughtering every citizen in sight, with many of their victims believing the scene unfolding before them to be a film being shot, or a prank set up for a hidden camera television program. As the citizens realize the situation is real, they flee, drawing the attention of police and military officers, a number of whom Jaekelsson personally dispatches.

As his crew spread into the surrounding city causing mayhem and destruction, Jaekelsson was brought a young woman by his crew as a sexual offering. Before Jaekelsson could rape the woman, Thor appeared in the sky, and rescued the woman from the Vikings. Thor then challenged Jaekelsson to combat, but was taken off-guard when Jaekelsson appeared unaffected by a strike to the chest from the hammer Mjolnir, the knock back of which broke both of Thor's wrists. Finding Thor no threat, Jeakelsson dismissed his crew to begin pillaging the city, and proceeded to pummel the God of Thunder. Despite Thor's best effort, all attempts to attack Jaekelsson resulted in further injury to himself. With Thor too exhausted to put up a defense, Jaekelsson took chains and used them to anchor Mjolnir around Thor's neck, before kicking the God of Thunder into the East River. Jaekelsson's crew then managed to slaughter a large numbers of NYPD officers and US Soldiers and force the Avengers to retreat. Eventually Jaekelsson made a throne for himself with the bones of his victims.

With the help of Doctor Strange, Thor managed to bring to the present three warriors from different time periods who are all related to the wise man who cursed Jaekelsson in the past. Thor and the three time warriors destroyed Jaekelsson's army and the god of Thunder challenged Jaekelsson's to a final duel.

Gaining the upper hand, Jaekelsson began choking Thor, bringing the God of Thunder to his knees. As Thor began to pass out, Jaekelsson questioned Thor's companions as to why they were not intervening. To Jaekelsson's surprise, Thor's companions were confident that Thor would prevail, as he was a true God, and Jaekelsson a walking corpse. Distracted by their words, Jaekelsson did not notice Thor regain his wits, at which point Thor delivered a punch so powerful Jaekelsson's body was flung into space, dooming him to float aimlessly in the vacuum forever, a fitting and satisfying punishment.

Heinous standards
In just one miniseries, Jaekelsson managed to be even more cruel, perverted and hateful than Malektih the Accursed, another PE villain in Thor's rogues gallery. Although pretty much most Garth Ennis villains tend to be bloodthirsty edgelords.

Mitigating factors
Absolutely none. Every panel with him in the comics serves only to show what a horrible being he is.

Final verdict
A very easy keep.