Enchanted, Part 2

Years ago, when they were children, Loki grew jealous of how his brother Thor captured the attention of Sif. Thinking this was due to her long golden hair, Loki sneaked into her room one night and cut it all off. The following morning, Sif was horrified to discover what had happened to her hair. Hearing this and feeling guilty, Loki went to the Dwarves Brokk and Eitri to have a wig spun out of gold to replace the hair he cut. When he gave it to Sif as a gift, she was delighted. However, moments after putting on the new hair, it began to turn black. In a panic, the two tried to remove it, but it had become permanently bonded to Sif’s scalp and so she would have raven black hair forever more.[1][2]

Reflecting about this now, Sif feels that she is an outcast particularly since Thor seems to be interested in both Amora the Enchantress and Brunnhilde, two women with golden hair much like she once had. That morning when Sif joins the others for class, Balder is showing off his new sword (Svraden) to Brunhilda.[3] When she asks Thor about his sword and what makes it special. Thor thinks for a moment because there is nothing special about it. He then tells her that he has been promised to wield the enchanted hammer known as Mjolnir. However, regardless of the fact that he is the son of Odin, he can only do so once he has been proven worthy. Brunnhilda finds this funny and questions if this is some kind of joke he is playing on the new student.

Sif takes this as Brunnhilda insulting Thor and says she will broker no further disrespect. Brunnhilda is pleased to see that Sif has found her tongue after pouting all day yesterday. Sif responds by sucker punching Brunnhilda and soon enough the two young women are brawling with one another. In the end, Sif’s long black braids prove to be her undoing, as Brunnhilda uses them to turn the tables and subdue Sif.[4] The fight is soon broken up by their instructor who reminds them that fighting outside of lessons is strictly forbidden. When asked who started the fight, everyone — including Thor, albeit reluctantly — says that Sif was the first person to throw a punch and that Brunnhilda was only defending herself. With that, Sif is told to spent the day with the sorcery school to see what they can do for her instead.

On her way to wash up, Sif is mocked by Amora the Enchantress, who suggests that Thor is more interested in ones more womanly than her. This cuts deep and Sif runs off crying. After she has run away, Loki comes out of the shadows and commends Amora on a job well done. Now it is Loki’s turn to do his part.

He visits Sif while she is washing up at a nearby fountain and tries relating with her plight, as he is no stranger to jealousy. Sif knows that Loki doesn’t like her anymore than she likes him and tells him to spit out whatever he has to say and to stop pretending to be nice. Loki figures he can help out by telling her the location of the fabled Mirror of Mycha. Not only that, but he has discovered the magics needed to unlock its ability to make whoever looks into it fall in love with the person holding it. Seeing this as the only way to finally win Thor’s love, Sif is very interested in getting it. Loki then hints that he has a use for the mirror himself, to use against a certain maiden. Sif thinks he means Amora, but he will not answer the question directly. Still, Sif doesn’t think she should trust Loki, let alone what Odin would do if he ever learned the truth. Loki then convinces her that her love for Thor is well worth the risk. He promises to honor his deal and even shakes on it. Little does Sif know that Loki has crossed his fingers behind his back.

Duped into going along with this plan, Sif is told how to obtain the mirror. That evening, she sneaks into the palace throne room. There she passes through a mirror which is a portal to a room where many mystical tomes and artifacts are stored. Sif quickly finds the mirror and upon looking into it she can see a reflection of herself getting kissed on the neck by Thor. She quickly absconds with the Mirror of Mycha thinking nobody has seen her. However, the entire theft is observed by one of Odin’s ravens.

The next morning, Sif takes the mirror to Loki and demands that he cast the spell that will unlock its power. When he does so, Sif runs the mirror down to where Thor is in sword fighting practice with Brunnhilda. However, before she can reach him, she is incapacitated by a magic spell cast by Amora. The Enchantress then pilfers the Mirror of Mycha and uses it on Thor instead. After gazing into the mirror for a moment, Thor stops his practice with Brunnhilde so he can kiss Amora!

Recurring Characters

Thor, Sif, Balder, Valkyrie, Enchantress, Loki, Hugin, Munin, Brokk, Eitri

Continuity Notes

1. This series of events contradicts the previous telling of how Sif got her black hair in Thor Annual #11. In that story, these events happened when Thor, Sif and Loki where around their 20s. In that version of events, Thor found out what Loki had done and forced him to rectify the problem, as opposed to Loki doing it himself out of guilt. Rather than making golden hair that turned black, Brokk and Eitri spun the hair with a piece of the night sky making black hair to start. In the end, the change in hair colour made Sif more attractive to Thor in the end. As of this writing (March, 2024), Marvel has yet to address these contradicting tales and how to interpret them. In lieu of an official explanation, my index presents a theory on this below.

2. Although not identified here and looking more like ogres than they do dwarves, Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Thor confirms that in this issues version of events, Loki goes to Brokk and Eitri and a third unnamed Dwarf for help.

3. Balder was awarded Svraden after collecting the mystical items needed to make it. See Thor: Son of Asgard #1-6.

4. Thor used her hair against her last issue.

When Did Sif Lose Her Blonde Hair?

Over the years of Thor publications there have been many contradictions as to when Sif had lost her golden hair. Early Tales of Asgard stories, such as Journey into Mystery #102 shows Sif with golden hair during a period when Thor was roughly in his 20s. Chronologically, we see her appear in Thor Annual #5 and 11 with blonde hair. These stories happen chronologically Journey #102. According to Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Thor, these stories all happen long after Thor was able to lift Mjolnir as seen in Journey #102. Thor: Son of Asgard chronicles early adventures of Thor leading up to the moment that he first becomes worthy to life Mjolnir (in issue #11 to be precise). The fact that Sif has black hair through this series contradicts the previously established stories. Sif having black hair before Thor lifted Mjolnir is also supported in Avengers Origins: Thor #1.

Confusing matters even more, Thor #403 tells the tale of how Thor first met Sif. In that story, Sif is depicted with black hair when it should have been blonde. Contradicting things even more, as Loki only cut off Sif’s hair to begin with was due to her association with Thor.

In the case of Thor #403, I think her depiction with black hair is likely an error on the part of the creative team that did that story. Or perhaps it was a creative choice so readers would identify Sif since she isn’t identified by name until the end of the story. Perhaps giving her black hair in this tale was a creative choice for readers who were in the know to figure out before the end of the story. Who can say, it was published 34 years ago (as I write this), I’m sure the real reason is lost to memory at this point for such an insignificant tale tacked on as filler at the end of a random issue.

It seems that in later years, Marvel had decided to have Sif gain her dark hair much earlier in the continuity established between the 60s and the 80s. This is notable as a dark haired Sif is depicted in other tales that take place during this contentious period in the more recently published Mighty Thor #12.1 and Thor (vol. 5) #7. I am sure there will be more examples after this writing has been published (March, 2024).

Still, as of this writing, Marvel has yet to address this contradiction. Her last profile was in Women of Marvel: Celebrating Seven Decades Handbook #1. It also places Sif’s hair loss as happening earlier than the originally reported account. However, it does not explain this contradiction. This is also not the only contradiction when it comes to Norse mythology and what actually happened. Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Thor has an entry for the Son of Asgard series. While it addresses the contradiction, it offers no means of how to mitigate it. It merely suggests that of the story in Thor Annual #11 account were true, then Sif would have blonde hair during this series, which is just a very lazy way of looking at it (I’d expect better of the Appendix people who wrote these things).

There is also the issue of the Asgardians spending centuries going through cycles of death and re-birth until recently (per Thor #293) each rebirth having the Asgardians relive variations of the their past lives. Thor: God of Thunder #3 also posits that a downside to Asgardian immortality is that their brains can only retain so many memories. These contradictions could be chalked up to a combination of myth making and faulty memories.

The way I approach the contradictions when it comes to Sif like this:

First, we can rule out that the stories where she has blonde hair until her 20s happened in a previous Ragnarok cycle because according to the Thor Index, both those stories and the ones featured in Son of Asgard all take place during the most recent cycle (which begain around the birth of Christ, per Thor #293). Unless this chronology officially changes this is what we’re working with.

The next factor is: what is the narrative that the creatives at Marvel using more commonly? Well prior to Son of Asgard, it was that Sif had blonde hair until she was in her 20s or so. Since Son of Asgard, creatives have been telling stories where Sif got her black hair much earlier than previously depicted to the point where the number of stories where this happens earlier are more common than the ones that state it happened later. So to me, the least common contradiction is the product of incorrectly recorded myth and/or shoddy Asgardian memory.

These contradictions exist because this is how the stories were remembered at a given time. It took 40 years for the narrative change to happen, we cannot predict if it’ll change back over the next 40 years or be entirely different later. Really, you should treat all “Tales of Asgard” stories as suspect because they are all prone to change or inconsistency.