Thorgal

Main characters

• Thorgal Aegirsson: Son of Varth and Haynee, grandson of Xargos – a captain of a spaceship on a way to Earth in search of energy sources. He is raised by Vikings after the spaceship crashed on Earth, but not one of them; he possesses character traits and morality that many Vikings consider a sign of weakness. If needed, however, Thorgal is a courageous and skillful warrior and an exceptionally skilled archer. His life's goal is to find a place for his family to live in peace. For a time he is stripped of his memory, and becomes the pirate lord Shaigan, though his compassionate personality remained unchanged.
• Aaricia: Thorgal's wife and daughter of Viking leader Gandalf the Mad. She is bound to Thorgal from the moment of her birth by a magic object named Tjahzi's Tears. Aaricia is a spirited, strong willed woman, who loves her family dearly despite all the mishaps Thorgal's fate brings to their lives.
• Jolan: Thorgal's son who possesses supernatural powers – the heritage of Thorgal's mysterious ancestry. During the majority of the series his power is limited to molecular agitation, and although at first not entirely in control of it, he gradually learns to use it.
• Louve: Thorgal and Aaricia's daughter. She has the ability to communicate with animals.
• Kriss of Valnor: Young, beautiful, unscrupulous and deadly warrior, and also a skilled archer. She first appears in Les Archers, and re-appears intermittently in the following stories. She is in some ways Thorgal's greatest nemesis, and repeatedly tries to hurt him and his family, but occasionally shows hints of admiration and even secret love for Thorgal. When Thorgal loses his memory, she tricks him into believing that they are married, and convinces Thorgal that he is the ruthless pirate lord Shaigan. She becomes pregnant with his son Aniel, whom her father Kahaniel of Valnor wished to reincarnate himself, but Thorgal eventually regains his memory and leaves to find his true family. Later, she ends up as a slave in Byzantium and apparently sacrifices her life to help Thorgal's family escape from the same slave pits, but is later revealed to be alive and queen in the northern lands.
• Aniel: the child son of Thorgal and Kriss of Valnor, conceived while Thorgal lived as the pirate lord Shaigan. He and his mother fall prey to Byzantian slavers, and his vocal cords are cut to forestall crying, leaving him mute. Later, Kriss and Aniel escape the slave pits with Aaricia, Jolan and Louve, who had also been brought there. When Kriss is wounded by her pursuers and prepared to make her last stand, she asks Aaricia to take care of Aniel. Aaricia agrees and takes Aniel in as one of her own children. Aniel is later kidnapped to serve as a host body for Kahlim, grand master of the Red Mages of the oriental city of Bag Dadh. With the help of Armenos the Mage, both Kahaniel and Kahlim are exorcised from him, but having become hateful of Thorgal, he leaves with his mother.

Other characters

• Ogotai : the war-loving, merciless "god" brought by the sea into the land of Qâ. He leads his people into countless conquests of the neighboring tribes and orders endless human sacrifices to himself. He has superior intelligence, knowledge of highly advanced technology, and supernatural powers, which he uses to trick people into believing he is a true god. In reality, he is a grief-stricken, crazed man, driven by the vengeance against the planet he believes responsible for the death of his beloved wife and son.
• Tanatloc : another "god" living in the land of Qâ. He is the nemesis of Ogotai, with whom he shares a secret past. He is kept hidden from his people.
• Darek and Lehla: brother and sister children of banished Vikings who met Aaricia and her family after they had been banished from their village following Shaigan's raids against their people. They joined Thorgal and his family on their journey, but after a few adventures they decided to stay behind on an island Thorgal and Louve had just liberated from a tyrant. However, Lehla later turns up a slave in the northern lands, where she is liberated by Thorgal and taken along for his search for Aniel. They later recover Darek from slavery in the jungle kingdom of Zhari, and subsequently join Thorgal's extended family.
• The Key Guardian: a powerful magician, who is a beautiful woman. The gods have entrusted her with the task of guarding the passages between worlds. She walks between the worlds, wearing nothing but a golden girdle that grants her powers and immortality. She has a crush on Thorgal, but she respects his loyalty to his family.
• Tjall : the young, hot-headed nephew of Treefoot and friend of Thorgal. An excellent archer with a good heart and a silly mind, who has a crush on Kriss. He later dies while accompanying Thorgal to the City of the Lost God, saving him from a raging mob.
• Argun Treefoot: He's uncle of Tjall. He's a warrior past his prime and with a pegleg, but still an exceptional archer and bowmaker. One of Thorgal's few friends.
• Solveig: she is a Viking who is the best friend of Aaricia. Devoted friend she will help the family Aegirsson.
• Shaniah: a teenage girl from a village enamored in the adult and married Thorgal. Out of jealousy she causes a great tragedy in Thorgal's life, but later redeems herself by giving her own life to save Aaricia.
• Gandalf the Mad: Aaricia's father and king of the Vikings of the North. He became the leader of his tribe after Thorgal's adoptive father's death. Greedy, cruel and mad, he makes repeated attempts at Thorgal's life, whom he perceives a threat to the legitimacy of his own rule.
• Tiago and Ileniya: brother and sister descendants of a group of space-farers who had landed on Midgard and formed the fabled kingdom of Atlantis. They foiled their elders' plan to enslave the world and travelled together with Thorgal and his family. Soon afterwards, however, they were all taken as slaves to a Byzantinian governor and his sadistic son Heraclius, who made Ilyena his personal 'pet". When Tiago tried to stop Heraclius from abusing his sister, the nobleman murdered him; in revenge, Ileniya killed Heraclius later on and, facing imminent death, joined her brother by throwing herself off a cliff.
• Snake Nidhogg: a powerful, mythological monster creature, which Thorgal dared to go against in his youth with the help of the goddess Frigg. Based on Níðhöggr from Norse mythology.
• Volsung of Nichor: A cunning, treacherous schemer. He first appears as Thorgal's competitor in Three Elders of Aran, but apparently dies in the tests they have to face. Actually, Nidhogg saves him to be her servant; his mission is to gain the Girdle of Immortality from the Guardian of the Keys. For betraying her, she transforms Volsung into a toad and keeps him with her trapped in the neverness.
• Muff: A dog that belongs to Jolan & Louve. He appears for the last time in "The Blue Sickness", when he stayed on the island of Our Ground, together with Darek de Svear and his sister Lehla, because he was too old to travel any further.
• Alinoë: Appeared in the volume of the same name as a violent, primitive boy with green hair and was revealed to be part of Jolan's imagination and he vanished when Jolan's mysterious bracelet was removed by Thorgal.
• Manthor: a Viking Half-God who cures Thorgal in "Sacrifice". He is the son of Kahaniel of Valnor and the half-brother of Kriss of Valnor.
• Vigrid: One of the lesser Gods of Asgard who is indebted towards Aaricia for having helped him after having gone blind. He repays this debt by helping her husband reach Manthor and bringing her back to her ancestral home.
• The Kingdom of Zhar
• *Zarkaj and Zajkar: The twin princes of Zhar. To avoid dynastic disputes, Zajkar was chosen to be killed right after birth, but survived and was taken in by the Myrms. After growing to manhood, and with Thorgal's help, he reclaims his rightful place and reconciles with his brother, with whom he rules the realm as a diarchy.
• *Armenos: A reclusive mage and inventor. He first saves Thorgal and his family from the Blue Death disease, and later Aniel from his dual possession.
• *Zim: A member of the Myrms, Zharians afflicted with dwarfism and made outcast swamp-dwellers. Zim falls in love with Thorgal upon his first visit, but respects his faithfulness to his family. When Thorgal returns to Zhar after completing his search for Aniel, Zim loses her life in the last decisive battle against a horde of Amazons.

  Fictional character biography

Collected editions

Jean Van Hamme (story) and Grzegorz Rosiński (art)

• 1. La Magicienne Trahie
• 2. L'Ile des Mers gelées
• 3. Les Trois Vieillards du pays d'Aran
• 4. La Galère Noire
• 5. Au-delà des Ombres
• 6. La chute de Brek Zarith
• 7. L'enfant des étoiles
• 8. Alinoë
• 9. Les Archers
• 10. Le Pays Qâ
• 11. Les Yeux de Tanatloc
• 12. La Cité du Dieu Perdu
• 13. Entre Terre et Lumière
• 14. Aaricia
• 15. Le Maître des Montagnes
• 16. Louve
• 17. La Gardienne des Clés
• 18. L'épée-soleil
• 19. La Forteresse Invisible
• 20. La Marque des Bannis
• 21. La Couronne d'Ogotaï
• 22. Géants
• 23. La Cage
• 24. Arachnéa
• 25. Le Mal Bleu -
• 26. Le Royaume sous le Sable
• 27. Le Barbare
• 28. Kriss de Valnor
• 29. Le Sacrifice

Yves Sente (story) and Grzegorz Rosiński (art)

• 30. Moi, Jolan
• 31. Le bouclier de Thor
• 32. La bataille d'Asgard
• 33. Le bateau-sabre
• 34. Kah-Aniel

  Xavier Dorison (story) and Grzegorz Rosiński (art)

• 35. Le Feu écarlate

  Yann (story) and Grzegorz Rosinski (art)

• 36. Aniel

  Yann (story) and Fred Vignaux (art)

• 37. L'Ermite de Skellingar

  Spin-off ''[Les Mondes de Thorgal - Kriss de Valnor] (Thorgal - Kriss of Valnor)''

Yves Sente (story) and Giulio De Vita (art)

• 1. Je n'oublie rien!
• 2. La sentence des Walkyries
• 3. Digne d'une reine
• 4. Alliances
• 5. Rouge comme le Raheborg

  Xavier Dorison and Mathieu Mariolle (story) and Roman Surzhenko (art)

• 6. L'Île des enfants perdus

  Xavier Dorison and Mathieu Mariolle (story) and Fred Vignaux (art)

• 7. La Montagne du temps
• 8. Le Maître de justice

  Spin-off ''[Les Mondes de Thorgal - Louve] (Thorgal - Louve)''

Yann Le Pennetier (story) and Roman Surzhenko (art)

• 1. Raïssa
• 2. La Main coupée du dieu Tyr
• 3. Le Royaume du chaos
• 4. Crow
• 5. Skald
• 6. Le Reine des Alfes noirs
• 7. Nidhogg

  Spin-off ''[Les Mondes de Thorgal - La Jeunesse de Thorgal] (Thorgal - The Youth of Thorgal)''

Yann Le Pennetier (story) and Roman Surzhenko (art)

• 1. Les Trois Sœurs Minkelsönn
• 2. L'Œil d'Odin
• 3. Runa
• 4. Berserkers
• 5. Slive
• 6. Le Drakkar des glaces
• 7. La dent bleue

  Besides series

• Aux Origines des mondes - a collection of interviews about the creation of spin-off Thorgal series, interviewed by Patrick Gaumera with Grzegorz Rosiński, Giuliano de Vita, Yves Sente, Roman Surzhenko and Yann Le Pennetier.

  English version

1. Child of the Stars -
2. The Three Elders of Aran -
3. Beyond the Shadows -
4. The Archers -
5. The Land of Qa -
6. City of the Lost God -
7. The Master of the Mountains -
8. Wolf Cub -
9. The Guardian of the Keys -
10. The Sun Sword -
11. The Invisible Fortress -
12. The Brand of the Exiles -
13. Ogotai's Crown -
14. Giants -
15. The Cage -
16. Arachnea -
17. The Blue Plague -
18. The Kingdom Beneath the Sand -
19. The Barbarian -
20. Kriss of Valnor -
21. The Sacrifice -
22. I, Jolan -
23. Thor's Shield -
24. The Battle of Asgard -
25. The Blade Ship -
26. Kah-Aniel -
27. The Scarlet Fire -

Other media