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14 - Aaricia
Aaricia
Authors
Story by

Jean Van Hamme

Art by

Grzegorz Rosiński

Publication
Issue

14

Last comic

Between Earth and Sun

Next comic

The Master of the Mountains

A set of beautiful short stories, with the young Aaricia as main character. Lovely stories, witnessing the predestination of Thorgal's and Aaricia's life in each other's company.

Synopsis[]

Odin's Mountain[]

The story takes place when Aaricia was 5 years old. She runs away from her village after being told her mother has left her to go live in a palace at the top of Odin’s mountain. Along the way, she meets two wood elves, who offer to take her to the mountain she seeks. Thorgal notices Aaricia being carried by the flying creatures and find her just in time to save her from death. He explains to her that the elves were in fact evil creatures that enjoy leading humans to their death and that her mom is living in a palace but that it resides in another world.

First Snow[]

The story takes place when Thorgal was 9 years old. Leif Haraldson, Thorgal’s adoptive father dies and is buried with the honors of a great Viking king. Having lost the only person who protected him in the village, Thorgal decides to leave afraid that the future king, Gandalf the Mad will make him disappear to steal Leif’s ancestral land. Aaricia tricks her father into saving Thorgal by telling him that Leif hid a secret treasure and that Thorgal is the only one who knows the location. As Gandalf is beating Thorgal for the location of the fake treasure, a representative of the Viking Clans arrives with a King’s Crown to accept the clan in the Althing. However, to be accepted, the clan must follow the ancestral laws which requires, among other things, that a Viking king must protect the weak and the children. Gandalf is thus forced to accept the presence of Thorgal in the village.

Holmganga[]

Aaricia, visiting Thorgal who lives alone outside of the village, is manhandled by her brother Bjorn who doesn’t like that she associates with him. Thorgal comes to her defense and hit Bjorn who decides to ask his father for reparation through the Holmganga, a duel to the death that can resolve conflicts between vikings. Bjorn and Thorgal are led to a rock surrounded by the sea by Hierulf so that only the gods can witness the battle. As the battle starts, two mercenaries join the fight, having been hired by Gandalf, to make sure he would be rid of Thorgal. The battle seems lost in advance for Thorgal but Aaricia appears, having hid on Hierulf’s boat, and threatens to reveal everything to the villagers. The mercenaries do not want to kill all the children, as Bjorn changes side when they threaten Aaricia, decide to leave. Bjorn and Thorgal agree to say that they resolved their differences without resorting to the duel.

Tjahzi's Tears[]

Vigrid is a young poet god, unknown to men, who seeks to accomplish a feat that would establish his renown in the world of Midgard but gets blinded and discarded by the first enemy he encounters. Aaricia discovers him in a boat stranded on the coast and as they meet, the boat drifts and takes both occupants off towards a violent storm. Vigrid uses his powers to fly above the storm but crashes when trying to land under Aaricia’s direction. After the crash, they meet two thieves but Vigrid turns into a big green dragon and routs them. Aaricia, to please him, pretends that there was 12 bandits the size of trees instead of two small thieves. With this feat, Vigrid can leave for the world of the gods. With the Tears of Tjahzi, Aaricia cures Vigrid of his blindness as well as calls up the Bifrost that leads to Asgard.

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