Record of Ragnarok (Episode 14) - The Indomitable War God

Ares tells Loki about the time he fought Hercules before he became a god some four thousand years ago. Meanwhile, Jack the Ripper seems to be having fun and can’t hide his excitement. Who will win?

Record of Ragnarok (Episode 14) – The Indomitable War God

What happened?

Hercules’ tattoo grows every time he uses his powers. Each centimetre it grows inflicts massive amounts of pain that even a god would struggle to tolerate. Hercules, however, is not like the other gods. That’s not even the worst of it, if it covers his body he will die. Ares recalled a previous meeting of the gods in the year 2000 BC. Humanity was spared with twenty-six percent voting to save them, but they had also grown too arrogant and needed to be knocked back a bit. Ares offered to take care of it as Thebes was his domain.

Hercules stood as the lone defender against Ares and the Vanguard. He refused to give in and even drank Ambrosia in an attempt to defy the gods. Amazingly, Ambrosia didn’t kill Hercules, it made him stronger. Strong enough to defeat the Vanguard and hold his own against Ares. Eventually, Zeus stopped the fight and offered to make Hercules a god on the condition he wouldn’t hurt the humans any more. Zeus accepted. Back in the fight, Jack the Ripper was making good use of his knives and had even strung piano wires everywhere, using them to fire the blades at Hercules. Hercules fired them back with interest and was left stunned when Jack’s monocle broke, revealing a glowing red eye!

Record of Ragnarok Episode 14 Jack the Rippers crazy eye

What did you think?

I knew it was coming, but I still can’t believe they are sticking to this format. This episode focused almost entirely on Hercules’ past, most specifically how he stopped Ares from destroying Thebes. It was a fun segment, although I can’t help but wonder about its accuracy even based on Greek mythology. I have a reasonable understanding of Greek mythology and this isn’t how I remember things. It might have been a fun segment, but it did nothing for the fight or Hercules’ character.

All I can hope for now is that the end of each fight, which is when the series actually focuses on the fight for most of the episode, is as good as the Kojiro Sasaki fight. Saying that, I’m kind of curious to see how Jack the Ripper’s background goes as it should be fairly dark and probably a little bonkers. Especially as Jack the Ripper was singing the London Bridge nursery rhyme wrong. It’s ‘Falling Down’ not ‘Broken Down’! I wonder if that is intentional and will have some significance.

Record of Ragnarok Episode 14 Hercules stops Ares from attacking Thebes

What have you learnt?

When the idea of humans fighting gods was put forward at the beginning of the series it seemed like a crazy idea. Surely, no human could defeat a god in combat. Then, they added the valkyries as weapons that could hurt the gods. That was a cool idea as it raised the stakes and gave humans the chance to hurt the gods. Then, it added some strange new powers such as Adam’s ability to see and copy everything. Sure, it made the fight more interesting, but it was an ass-pull.

Now, we have Jack the Ripper having some sort of cybernetic eye that allows him to see different visual spectrums. Is Jack the Ripper a Predator or a Terminator? I feel like things may be getting a little silly. They should have had him attacking from the shadows, using his knowledge of the surroundings to stay one step ahead of Hercules. It would have been far more fascinating than a mysterious glowing eye. This series does some things so well and others in the most bizarre manner.