Before you updated the logs, I didn't understand who Shanta really was, but now I get it. I'm just confused as to who Hela is and why she's in a relationship with Shanta?
Thanks for asking, anon! I’m sure there are plenty of people asking the same question!
In mythology, Hela is the daughter of Loki and Angrboda, born quite literally half-dead. When she was young, she was banished from Asgard to Helheim (also known as Niflheim), where she ruled over the souls of the dead that didn’t travel to Valhalla. In Marvel canon, she lies around naked a lot and has a really weird crown/helmet thing with lots of twisty horns and I’m pretty sure she has green hair. In CHATZYVENGERS canon, Hela is fully clothed at (almost) all times, will bitch you out at 130% effectiveness in five seconds flat, but she still rules over Helheim, although for plot purposes she pops into Midgard occasionally. During the Helheim plot (Log 12), she returned the souls of half the Avengers to Midgard—for a price—which was the first real interaction with Hela in Chatzyvenger canon. In Hole in the Heart, Shanta ‘died’ due to a Magic!Anon and Sam went to go get her, blah blah blah.
Shantela, or the Shanta X Hela ship really started in just the Hole in the Heart plot, the log of which hasn’t hit the blog yet (sorry!), and we found out we really liked the dynamic between them. Then Hela called Shanta ‘snowbird’ and it all went downhill from there. ‘Downhill’ became ‘a sheer cliff of despair’ when the Modern AU came about, which basically placed Hela and Shanta in a mercenary/corporate assassin setting and lots of pretty clothes.
We admit, Shantela is a long shot—but it’s also the only Shanta ship we’ve consistently liked. Other than Sharanda. But that’s another story.
If you’d like to know more about mythological Hela, here’s the wikipedia page. Our Hela is right here. If you have any more questions, don’t hesitate to ask!
