How did Hela break Mjolnir so easily? Marvel fans have been asking that question ever since Thor: Ragnarok hit theaters back in 2017.
Cate Blanchett’s Goddess of Death shattered Thor’s hammer in the first act of Ragnarok, and it looked like it took about as much effort as snapping a toothpick would. That was surprising, considering the weapon’s well-known power, but a new Marvel fan theory inspired by leaked set photos from Thor: Love and Thunder may explain why the weapon was broken with such ease by Hela.
The Theory — Redditor u/kamikazeads believes the reason Hela was able to destroy Mjolnir so effortlessly in Thor: Ragnarok was because Odin (Anthony Hopkins) died just moments before she did it. The user suggests that the enchantments Odin placed on Mjolnir went away when he died, which is why it wasn’t protected from Hela’s strength. That would also explain why Hela, an unworthy individual if we’ve ever seen one, was able to hold it aloft in the air and stop Thor from calling it back to him.
What This Means — Thor: Ragnarok doesn’t offer up much explanation for Mjolnir’s destruction, with the film mainly suggesting that Hela’s power was simply too great for the legendary weapon. However, the theory that Odin’s death weakened the weapon is an interesting one, and it could not only help explain how Hela so easily broke it, but also how it may be wielded by someone else in the very near future.
That other person is, of course, Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, who is set to make her transformation into The Mighty Thor in next year’s Thor: Love and Thunder. Recent set photos from the upcoming Thor film have suggested that Jane will be given her powers in the film after interacting with the broken pieces of Mjolnir leftover from Thor: Ragnarok, which will subsequently result in a reforged Mjolnir being created just for Jane.
If Odin’s enchantments really were stripped from Mjolnir with his death in Ragnarok, it may explain why Jane is able to lift/resurrect the hammer in Love and Thunder. It could also set up the possibility of multiple people being able to lift the hammer moving forward, which would no doubt frustrate Thor (and Chris Hemsworth).
The Inverse Analysis — There’s a chance that Thor: Love and Thunder will further explain how Hela destroyed Mjolnir in Ragnarok, but if it doesn’t, it’s entirely possible this will have to remain purely fan speculation in the years to come.
It should also be noted that there’s a very high chance Mjolnir was broken by Hela even without Odin’s enchantments being stripped from it. Her introduction in Thor: Ragnarok — one of the most memorable villain entrances in MCU history — exists almost solely to set up how powerful and dangerous she is, and Mjolnir’s destruction plays a key role in the scene’s ability to do that.
This theory could then, by that logic, retroactively take away some of the power from Hela’s entrance... which could be a sign that the theory itself isn’t totally correct. But it’s certainly an interesting idea — accurate or not.
Thor: Love and Thunder will be released in theaters on May 6, 2022.
