Alex Fierro

Alex Fierro is a formerly homeless, transgender, and gender-fluid teenager from Boston, Massachusetts. She is the Norse demigod child of Loki and an unknown man. After dying and being chosen by her half-sister, Samirah al-Abbas, she has become the newest resident of Hotel Valhalla and a hallmate to Magnus Chase and the people from the Nineteenth Floor.

History
Alex is the child of an influential family, which attracted Loki's attention. In the form of a red-headed woman, she seduced Alex's father and nine months later left him with a child. The family didn't take the news well, especially after Loki permanently "opened their eyes" and made them aware of the Nine Worlds and the Norse gods. Alex spent her life being resented for her Norse heritage and for her gender fluidity, which was thought to be Loki's fault.

About two years before The Hammer of Thor, Alex became homeless and began to wander the streets of Boston. At some point in life, she lived in a youth shelter on Winter Street in Boston, roughly the same time when Magnus was there. She remembers hating the place.

The Hammer of Thor
Alex is first indirectly mentioned by Samirah, as the latter receives a message about a potential code three-eight-one: heroic death in progress, which prompts her to run from her meeting with Magnus and their informant (which turns out to be Otis). Samirah initially refers to Alex as her brother, implying that he was male when he died.

After Magnus comes back to Hotel Valhalla, Hunding mentions that a newly arrived "monster" attacked him, after being shown her new room, and completely fouled Helgi the manager's mood. Hunding is also the first one to call Alex an argr. When Magnus arrives at the Nineteenth Floor, Alex – chased by the rest of the residents – charges at him, promptly knocking him back and puncturing several holes in his sneakers. It is revealed that she has been given X's old room and wasn't exactly happy about it, leaving the place in ruins. When the group explores the room, they find broken pieces of ceramics, all decorated with the symbol of Loki – two snakes curled up in an elaborate S pattern.

Alex finally makes her full appearance during a combat exercise. As a weasel, she is carried in a burlap sack by one of Odin's ravens. After returning to her human form, she states that she's calmed down already and will not try to "mess [anyone] up". As the combat starts, and the dragons are released, Alex accompanies the rest of the Nineteenth Floor, and is asked about the shelter on Winter Street by Magnus. She explains that being in the same shelter does not make them friends, as the group is attacked by an elder lindworm called Grimwolf. Alex deduces that it was Loki that somehow unleashed the monster inside Valhalla, and she attacks the dragon along with the group. As Magnus is distracted by a splinter of Loki's consciousness, Alex kills the dragon with her steel wire. Later on, Loki is seen channeling his energy through Magnus, which would kill him and subsequently blow up quarter of the training ground. Seeing no other option, Alex slits Magnus's throat with the garotte.

Alex is later seen sitting next to Sam at the Thanes' table, waiting for her final moments to be revealed. Neither she nor Sam are very comfortable with the Valkyrie Vision video: it started to record much earlier than Samirah intended, and it shows al-Abbas's embarrassing conversation with her grandparents and the Fadlans. The action moves to Alex, saving an older man from wolves – sons of Fenris. The man, a Norse demigod in denial, refuses to fight and leaves Alex alone, which resulted in the latter's death. Alex is then chosen by Samirah and brought to Hotel Valhalla. The video leaves the thanes and the einherjar in awe, as they applaud to Alex for her bravery, and accept her into Valhalla despite being a child of Loki and an argr. Later, Magnus sees Alex accompanied by the people from the Nineteenth Floor, as he talks with Sam. During their discussion, Sam reveals that Alex was initially very hostile when rescued as he thought that dying would restrict him to a single gender.

Alex, now male, is later seen with Halfborn Gunderson as they accompany Samirah and Amir Fadlan. Due to Loki's schemes, Sam's grandparents as well as the Fadlans learned about the Norse gods and their connection to Sam, so she attempts to show Amir the Bifrost Bridge to better his understanding of her world. As her half-brother, Alex was assigned as a chaperone to Sam, and he himself was chaperoned by Halfborn. After Amir is shown the Bridge, all of them are invited to meet Heimdall, but Halfborn decides to stay behind. During the meeting, Alex lies on the Bridge and makes "light angels". After learning about the location of Thor's hammer, Heimdall drops all of them next to the Fadlans' restaurant. Alex joins Magnus, Sam and Amir for dinner as they discuss the consequences of Sam's grandparents learning about the Nine Worlds. Later, Magnus and Alex get back to Hotel Valhalla, but not before Alex asks for a doggie bag to pack up the leftover falafel.

The next morning, they visit Randolph's house in Midgard to look for clues that might lead them to Thrym. Magnus and Alex, currently female, engage in a conversation regarding Alex's gender-fluidity, and Alex explains to Magnus that she does not identify as non-binary and does to be referred to using "they/them" pronouns. Soon after, they find a photo of Bridal Veil Falls, which they believe is where Sam is about to get married. Magnus and Alex regroup with Sam, Hearth and Blitz soon after. With the aid of Stanley the two travel to Jotunheim along with Blitz, where they aim to find Utgard-Loki. After an encounter with a giant called Tiny whose colossal bag they must carry, Alex tells Magnus about the circumstances of her birth.

With Blitzen having altered the bag to shrink down to normal size, the trio head to Utgard-Loki's place, where they reunite with Sam and Hearth. During the contest at Utgard Lanes, Alex and Magnus are tasked with defeating a pair of giants at bowling. However, the giants cast an illusion on the Einherji's lane, making their bowling balls travel through a portal that connects to Midgard's White Mountains. The giant duo roll two perfect frames, while Magnus and Alex's own rolls cannot connect with the pins. During their final frame, she joins hands with Magnus to dispel the illusory portal together. Magnus bowls a perfect frame, while for her frame Alex shapeshifts into an elephant and knocks over all the pins. They subsequently win the contest.

After Utgard-Loki gives them the information they need to retrieve Thor’s hammer, the group is chased by Utgard-Loki’s giants but are almost immediately saved by the goddess Sif, wife of Thor. Sif teleports them to her home in Asgard where Thor also resides via Yggdrasil, and presents Hearth with a bag of runes as a gift. As she rides the elevator with her friends to Thor’s “man-cave”, Alex expresses her initial dislike for Sif, and agrees with Samirah when the latter says that the goddess is both dense and vain. Later, after discussing the retrieval of Mjolnir with Thor, Alex offers to pretend to be Thrym's bride in Samirah’s place, due to the oath of marriage that Sam swore with Amir on the Bifrost as well as her confidence in her ability to be immune to Loki’s powers. When Thor argues that she is an argr and not a “proper girl”, Alex retorts that she is genderfluid and well suited for the task.

The next morning, Alex is dressed in preparation for her “wedding” by Sif, after which her opinion of the goddess changes.

Appearance
Alex is a teenage human, and shares a lot of physical traits with her mother Loki. She is tall and lanky, with sharp and beautiful facial features and the same sly grin as the God of Lies. She has heterochromia, with one dark brown and one pale amber eye, and her hair is dark at the roots but dyed green. She also has a tiny symbol of Loki tattooed on her nape. Magnus commented that there is no way to attribute Alex to one gender, as the subtle features of her body change constantly. He also noted that Alex's physical appearance did not change when he was a boy, except for his hair, which actually seemed to be longer.

Alex dresses rather flashy and flamboyantly, in primarily pink and green. She wears a pink-and-green argyle sweater-vest over a white tee, skinny lime green jeans, and battered rose high-tops. Tied around her waist like a kilt is a cashmere sweater, which conceals a garrote wire and a hunting knife tucked behind a belt. Her appearance has been compared to both a jester motley and a venomous animal giving off warning signs.

General Abilities

 * Pottery: In her room Alex has a pottery wheel, which she uses to make clay vases. Each of her creations is branded by her initials, as well as the symbol of Loki.


 * Fashion Sense: Mallory Keen commended Alex on her choice of fashion, which included a dark green Stella McCartney dress and a tuxedo jacket.

Demigod Abilities

 * Shapeshifting: Just like her half-sister, Samirah, Alex has demonstrated her mother's ability to change forms. When she first arrived at Hotel Valhalla, she panicked and turned into a cheetah. When one of Odin's ravens captured her, she was a brown-and-white weasel. While saving a demigod in denial, moments before his death, he fought off the sons of Fenris as a German Shepherd.

Einherji Abilities

 * Enhanced Physical Abilities: After gaining a new einherji body, Alex's natural abilities greatly increased, making her stronger, faster, more durable and more agile than she originally was.
 * Einherjar Immortality: While within Hotel Valhalla, Alex, like any of the einherjar, cannot die, and will simply keep resurrecting from mortal wounds.

Etymology

 * Alex is a gender neutral name, fitting as Alex is gender fluid. The name comes from Greek "alexandros", which means "protector of mankind".


 * Fierro is Spanish for "iron".

Trivia

 * Alex's gender fluidity is most likely a reference to Loki's ability of shapeshifting and his two feminine forms – a mare that has become a mother of Sleipnir, and an elderly woman called Thokk.
 * Alex is female most of the time, but occasionally has "very male days".