Magnus Chase

"Thank you, All-Father. But wherever these friends of mine are - that's my home. I am one of the einherjar. I am one of your warriors. That is reward enough."

- Magnus Chase to Odin, in The Sword of Summer

Magnus Chase is a sixteen-year-old homeless teenager who lives in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the Norse demigod son of Frey and Natalie Chase, as well as the cousin of Greek demigod Annabeth Chase. After dying and becoming an einherjar, he lives in Hotel Valhalla.

History
Magnus was born on January 13, 1995. When Magnus was six years old his mother and uncles got into an argument at Thanksgiving, While Magnus had no idea what the argument was about he never saw his uncles or his cousin Annabeth Chase again.

When Magnus was eight, he and his mother went on a vacation to Mount Washington in New Hampshire where they hiked to the top and had a park ranger take their picture. When Magnus was ten, he cut his left palm on a hunting knife, which left a deep scar. At age twelve, he had his first kiss with a girl named Jackie Molotov, which happened behind the bleachers at a school dance. Apparently however, Magnus didn't at all enjoy the experience, since getting mount-to-mouth from the goat Otis (which he found revolting) years later reminded him of Jackie. When Magnus was fourteen, his mother was murdered by several "wolves with glowing blue eyes" (sent by Fenris Wolf himself). Since then, he has been living on the streets. Magnus became friends with two homeless people: Hearth and Blitz.

The Blood of Olympus
Annabeth Chase mentioned her uncle and cousin Magnus that lived in Boston, yet whom she never saw, because her father and uncle would not get along to Percy and Piper before the three fought the Giants in Athens.

The Sword of Summer
Magnus is a sixteen-year-old who lives in Boston, Massachusetts. He has been homeless since his mother's death two years prior to the series. While sleeping under a bridge, Magnus is woken up by Blitz, a fellow homeless man, who warns him of the flyers going around that feature both his name and face. Magnus immediately senses something is wrong and, as a precaution, packs his sleeping bag. The people looking for him venture closer to his hiding spot and Magnus decides to spy on them. He learns that these strangers are in fact his cousin and uncle, Annabeth Chase and Fredrick Chase.

After overhearing their conversation, Magnus learns that his Uncle Randolph Chase told them that Magnus had been missing for two years, but didn't tell Annabeth and Fredrick until now. Magnus also learns that his life is now endangered, which is why they are looking for him. Magnus decides to visit his Uncle Randolph's place to search for answers.

While in the house, Magnus goes to his Uncle's office to find more clues. He decides to look out the window, but finds Hearth outside signaling to him that he needs to get out. Once he understands the signals, Magnus tries to leave, but finds his Uncle is right behind him. Uncle Randolph tells Magnus that his life is in danger and that he needs to quickly come with him to escape somewhere. Magnus agrees after he hears loud bangs that are slowly getting closer to the house.

Once in the car, Randolph reveals that he believes the Norse gods are real and that Magnus is the son of a Norse god. They reach a pier where Randolph tells him to go towards the water, call towards a sword that he believes has been stuck there for many years, and claim it as his own. Magnus successfully retrieves the sword, but is attacked by Surt, who wants to destroy Magnus and claim the sword as his own. Blitz and Hearth intervene before Surt can attack Magnus, but quickly succumbs to his powers. After seeing his friends hurt, Magnus decides to attack Surt himself. He charges at Surt and hits him in his thigh. Surt then pushes him back and he sees a girl on a horse circling him like a vulture. Magnus then sees his sword is renewed. It then acts on its own and slices the fire giant's nose off. He then throws a sphere of molten asphalt that hits Magnus in the torso and begins to melt his organ. He make a last stand and manages to toss Surt into the Charles river. He dies quickly after.

Magnus dreams that he and his mother are hiking at Blue Hill. The skip stones and have a small discussion about his father. The dream then shifts to Randolph's library where he meets a man in a Boston Red Sox jersey. The man says he is not his father, but Magnus' father will be in contact soon. The dream then shifts to the girl he saw earlier carrying him above 'The Gap' and telling him to hold still or he'll fall in. Magnus wakes up in a courtyard perfectly okay with his clothes cleaned and no sign of his injuries. He tries to exit the courtyard but can not reach the branch. He then walks over to the door when it opens and he is greeted by the doorman-Hunding. He nervously says he'll leave before Hunging tells him he's dead and to fallow him. He is taken to the lobby to check in. He goes to the front desk where the manager-Helgi tells him check in is at three o' cloak. Magnus asked Helgi where he is, Helgi said he is in the Hotel Valhalla where he will stay forever, or until Ragnarök. Magnus remembers his mother telling him about Valhalla and he is shocked when he learns he was really dead. Helgi then gives him a room key and a key for the Minnie bar. Hunding brings Magnus to his room and wanders some of his questions along the way. When they reach it and go inside, Magnus is amazed. His room is cross shaped. The foyer is a sunny summer meadow with trees that reach the ceiling. His bedroom has a king sized bed with a black and beige comforter. His bathroom has a walk-in closet, a walk-in shower, and a fancy toilet. His kitchen and living room area has a leather coach, flat screen television, six gaming systems, a full bookcase and a picture of him and his mother. When Hunding holds his hand out for a tip, Magnus gives him a chocolate bar he swiped from Randolph's house- which he eagerly accepts. Hunding then leaves telling Magnus his Valkyrie will esquire him to the mess hall for dinner.

While he is sitting in his room, he reads a booklet with the room service menu and channel guide. He throws it in the fireplace, it then magically replaces itself, he then turns over the couch, which leaves the damage as is. His Valkyrie, Samirah al-Abbas, walks in and introduces herself. He asks her if his mom is here, which Sam says she is not. When Magnus says he is no hero, Sam slams him against the wall and tells him not to say that, especially at dinner. The horn over the loudspeaker sounds and the two head to dinner. On the way their he meets some of his hall mates before Sam pulls him to the elevator. Magnus is impressed by the great hall and asks about some of the animals in its branches, which Sam answers before the other einherjar enter the great hall for dinner. During dinner Sam explains more to Magnus before the heroes deaths where shown. When Magnus's death was shown it was edited to look like he died in a murder-suicide. The thanes debate this while Sam defends Magnus Until the Norns appear. The Norns approach Magnus and show him the feru, the symbol of Frey. They then say a prophecy and leave. The thanes debate on this and, for the time being, still welcome Magnus as an einherjar, but dismiss Sam as a Valkyrie.

When he got back to his room, Magnus thought about what the Norns said at dinner. When he woke up he went to the bathroom to take a shower and saw that he had muscles. In shock he punched a hole in the wall. After showering he found a note T.J. slid under his door that told him to come to the lounge for breakfast. He got dressed, grabbed a sword and shield from his closet, and went to breakfast. At the lounge he meets his hall mate. They explain to him about the nine worlds and that he could leave the hotel and go the other worlds. But discourage him from doing so for two reasons. One, he just died and it would freak out the people who knew him. Second, if he died again outside the hotel, his soul would go the either Helheim or Ginnungagap-the primordial void. The horn then sounds for training and they head out. During the training, Magnus sticks with his hall mates and desperately tries not to get killed. When he is hit he heals at an extraordinary rate. Once T.J., Halfborn, and X have been killed, the rest of the einherjar gang up on Magnus, who lets out a screen and disarms most of the einherjar, moments later he is hit in the face with an ax and dies.

Magnus dreams of Loki eating Pop-Tarts on Odin's throne while telling Magnus that he has eight days to find the sword of summer. Before Loki leaves he says that his choices can change his fate. The dream then goes to Surt reforming, saying the next time they meet he will kill the son of Frey. Magnus then wakes up and answers his door when Gunilla knock and offers to give him a tour. He excepts, mostly to get a layout of the hotel and find exits, and gets dressed. During the tour, the take the elevator to the food court, where they evidently go to Musspelheim. Magnus heals Gunilla's burns and when they reach the food court she says that children of Vanir normally go to Folkvanger, Freya's hall of the slain. She takes him through the gift shop and then to a tower over looking Asgard. She explains that the gods have not been seen for two years. She pleads with Magnus to let her speak on his behalf to the thanes. When he refuses, she threatens him, when the dinner horn rings she leaves him to go the feast Hall on his own. Once a berserkre finds Magnus he takes him to dinner where he sits with his hall mate. The compliment him on his use of alf seidr, he sees Gunilla talk to Helgi and wanders what the thanes will do with him. Later in his he thinks about their decision until Blitz and Hearth fall out of his ceiling. He mends Blitz' broken arm before the two tell him they were watching him, keeping him safe. An alarm then sounds and Blitz asks Magnus if he knows another way to Midgard. When Magnus asks what is going on, Blitz tells him it's the squirrel. In the hall his hall mates tell him to run while they hold off the wolves and Valkyries. Magnus, Heartstone and Blitzen then go down the recycling shoot. The three end up at Fenway and hide from the sun to keep Blitz from petrifying. Once in a dark area, they tell Magnus that their boss told them that he was a son of Frey and to watch him. They give him his obituary and tell him his funeral is tonight, so he could sneak in with Hearth and get the sword, the agree to meet at Arlington by the fist T stop.

Magnus and Hearth get him new clothing out of a donation bin, jeans, a jacket, and a shirt with holes in it that read Wiggles Rock & Roll preschool tour, to his horror. On the way to the funeral home they hid from Gomez, a police officer who knew them by face. While hiding they talk about alf seidr. When the reach the funeral home Hearth stands watch while Magnus gets the sword. When Magnus finds his old body in a blue suit-his least favorite color, he searches the coffin for the sword but it is not their. Annabeth then spots him. She hugs hi in joy that he's alive, but hesitates to go into detail. She then says Randolph told her their family attracted attention. She offers him to take him to a safe place, but he declines. Hearth then hobbles in with a bruised eye and they leave. They meet Blitz at the T stop where Jearth is shocked sighing the Blitz brought Him. Hearth them signs his assault and points out his attacker, Sam, is across the street. The three track Sam until they loss her. When they think to check the Charles river, Magnus tells them the sword is not their. Sam then attacks them and they have a brief fight until Magnus convinces Sam to join then since they are all after the same thing. The four go to a dock where Blitz pulls a severed head out of his bag and throws it into the water. It rehydrated and is revealed to be the god Mimir. Minor explains that he scenced Magnus had a destiny and figured he could be used for the good of the worlds. He tells then that Fenris' island is only execable on the first full on of the year. He tells the son of Frey that Hearth is the best rune magician in the nine worlds and Blitz is the best crafter amongst the dwarves. He offers them the choice to drink from his well to gain knowledge. He and Sam decline the offer and he leaves. The four desire to talk it over during lunch.

They head to the food court in the transportation building. Magnus had Blitz and Hearth get a table while he and Sam ordered lunch. The cashier at the time, Amir Fadlan, happily greets him as 'Jimmy' he then notices Sam and asks why she is not in school, she says she gets cretic for tutoring 'Jimmy' and his friends in geometry. He tells her to say hello to her grandparents for him. While they wait for their food, a pigeon threatens to make the felafel shop closes forever if he does not give them information on the sword. Despite the others silently pleasing him not to, Magnus agrees and the pigeon open the shop, becomes a bald eagle, and gets their food, which he ate most of leaving only a pickle chip. Sam calls out its a jotnar, Magnus then strikes eagle in the neck out of anger and hunger but his sword sticks, it takes off with Magnus still gripping his sword. The eagle drags the son of Frey around the food court and over the rooftops of Boston. Just as he is about to shread Magnus on pigeon wire, Magnus swears his troth-his word and soul, and they land on the public library. The eagle says that the sword was swept up the Charles and was picked up by Ran- the sea goddess, he tells Magnus to go to the docks and ask Harold to take them to Massachusetts Bay and to us the special bait. In exchange for the information Big Boy-the eagle, asks Magnus to get him a golden apple from the sea goddess. He then leaves him on the roof as his friends find him. He jumps down and tells them that they are going fishing.

When they get to the dock they find the frost giant Harold and said what big boy told them to say. He denied his boat to Hearth and Blitz but let Sam and Magnus take it.The two groups agree to meet at the library later. When they go to the bait storage shed they pick out a giant bull head and drag it on to the boat before the set out to sea. While at sea he asks Sam what Big Boy meant when he called Amir her 'intended' when she tells him a little about her life. When they cross into Jotunheim they throw the bull head into the sea and wait. When they get a massive bite Sam helps him reil it in and stops Harald from cutting the line. When their catch breaches the surface, Sam introduced Magnus to her big brother. Harald pleads with them to cut the line and release the world serpent. Eventually the sea goddess Ran comes to the surface to demand they stop, as she can not scavenge on the ocean floor. The say they will let Jormungand go, but only if she batters with them. She agrees and the cut the line. When Magnus asks them for the sword of summer, she says she will give it to them in exchange for Magnus' soul- as she collects the souls of those who have drowned, like him. He declines her offer and says Surt will send his allies to get the sword from her. She says she cam fend them off. He then threatens to summon the sword which will tear her net and release her treasures and souls She reluctantly gives him the sword and apple for his Valhalla sword. Ran tells Magnus that he has made a powerful enemy. When he holds the sword he remembers him and his mom hiking on the blue hills and starts to tear up. When he and Sam get back to the docks she heads home and they agreed to meet at the public gardens the next morning.

When he reaches the public library he tries to turn the sword in to a pen, which it did not like. It turned into a ruine with a Feru on it. He waits at the library for over an hour for Blitz and Hearth. Big Boy then appears and asks for the apple, which Magnus tosses to him. He them morphs into a Jutnar and reveals his name to br Utgard-Loki. They have a brief conversation before he leaves and Blitz and Hearth appear. They tell Magnus the Jutnar King spoke with them and they compared notes. When they where done Blitz hands out sleeping bags and sandwiches, which the demigod scarfed down. After Hearth goes to sleep they talk about bone steel and elf culture. Blitz tells Magnus they will go to his home world in the morning by climbing Yggdrasil.

The three meet up with Sam at the public gardens by duck statues. Blitz explains that this is the easiest place to get to the world tree. But that Magnus will have to do it because they excused it themselves. Magnus touches the last duckling- the way to Nilfheim. As he goes to the next duckling Gunilla is across the river with two other Valkyries and his ex-hall mates. Sam, Blitz and Hearth stall while Magnus finds the right one. One the fourth one he uses his sword and opens a rift. Blitz goes in first and he and Sam drag Hearth. The four land on the world tree and follow the sword to their destination. When they find the knothole leading them to where the sword wants them to go, Hearth gets stuck in a lichen and can not get out. The others try to free him until Ratatosk appears. Sam and Hearth hide under her hijab while he and Blitz went in to the vanishing knothole.

Magnus wakes up in a sunny field and sees Blitz with out his pith helmet. The dwarf reassures him that the light will not bother him. He asks Blitz where they are and he says the sword lead him to where they needed to go. When they wander across the field- Volkswagen, they are greeted by fallen warriors. Blitz tears him to an upside down ship where they meet the goddess Freya, who reveals herself as Blitz' mother.

Appearance
Magnus is a teenage boy with hair parted in the middle, hanging to his jawline in a curtain of dirty blond. He has gray eyes, much like Annabeth's, which have a haunted, scary emptiness to them, a look that had served him well when he'd lived on the streets. Initially, Magnus was quite scrawny, with a concave chest, sticking-out ribs and very pale skin, to the point that his blue veins were clearly visible. He also had a scar of his left palm, where he'd cut himself on a hunting knife as a child.

However, after gaining an einherji body after his death in The Sword of Summer, Magnus, while still lean and pale, became considerably more muscular, with his arms being better-defined, his skin smoother, less translucent, with all the scars, rashes, nicks and bites that came from living on the street completely disappearing.

According to his mother, Magnus resembles Kurt Cobain, though he also bears striking resemblance to his father, Frey.

Personality
Magnus is street smart from living on the streets for two years. He feels he has an obligation to protect those in danger, like he did on the Charles bridge while facing Surt.

Abilities
General Abilities=
 * Alf Sign Language: Magnus is fluent in ASL, which he always uses while communicating with the deaf Hearthstone.
 * Survival Skills: Magnus learned how to survive in the wilderness from his mother. She taught him how to start a camp fire, navigate by the stars, and who to pitch a tent.


 * -|Demigod Abilities=
 * Alf Seidr (Elf Magic)
 * Disarmament: Magnus can disarm anyone in his surrounding area of their weapons.
 * Healing: Magnus can heal both himself and others from wounds at incredible rates.
 * Seasons Alteration
 * Harsh Temperature Insensitivity: Magnus has a great deal of resilience to both temperature extremes, since he was able to sleep outdoors in the winter with nothing but a thin blanket without a problem, and was unfazed by Surt's flames. However, he isn't completely immune, since Surt managed to kill him by impaling the demigod with a red-hot sphere of steaming asphalt, causing Magnus' organs to slowly burn away from the molten tar in his gut.


 * -|Einherji Abilities=
 * Enhanced Strength - after gaining a new einherji body, Magnus gained a degree of superhuman strength, to the point that he could punch through the wall of his room in Valhalla without much effort.
 * Einherjar Immortality - while within Hotel Valhalla, Magnus, like any of the einherjar, cannot die, and will simply keep resurrecting from mortal wounds. Due to his healing abilities, however, Magnus resurrects even faster than most other einherjar.

Magical Items

 * Sumarbrander - Magnus' sword, formerly owned by his father, Frey, said to be the sharpest sword in the Nine Worlds.
 * First Sword - a Hotel Valhalla sword, which he later gave to Ran in exchange for Sumarbrander.
 * Shield - a circular green shield, with the golden Fehu Rune in the middle.

Etymology
Magnus is a Latin name meaning "great". It became popular in Scandinavia after the time of the 11th-century Norwegian king, Magnus I.

Chase is a middle English surname, an occupational name for a hunter. In Middle English the word "chase" means "hunt".

When translated into their respective languages, "Magnus Chase" means "Great Hunter".

Trivia

 * Magnus Chase is the cousin of Annabeth Chase, a main character from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus.
 * There's a Chase family inside joke that Magnus looks like Kurt Cobain.
 * Magnus is left-handed.
 * On the UK cover, Magnus is holding Sumarbrander/Jack with his right hand.
 * Prior to meeting the Norse gods, Magnus considered himself to be an atheist.
 * Magnus' favorite colors are black and beige, while he hates the color blue.
 * This could be a nod at Percy Jackson, whose favorite color is blue.
 * Much like Nico di Angelo, Magnus is extremely pale, and had a penchant for avoiding physical contact at the beginning of The Sword of Summer.
 * Magnus is a fan of Doctor Who.
 * Magnus likes to read. Before his mom died he had a collection of books, which were destroyed in the fire. While on the streets he spent time in the Boston Public Library. Magnus' favorite authors are Stephen King, Darren Shan, Neal Shusterman, Michael Grant, and Joe Hill. His favorite graphic novel series are Scott Pilgrim, Sandman, Watchmen, and Saga.