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The enchantment on Thor's hammer laid out by Odin prevents anyone "not worthy" to wield it as we can see on the famous Arthuresque scene on Avengers: Age of Ultron.

This enchantment, pronounced by Odin in the first Thor movie goes:

Whosoever holds this hammer, be he worthy, shall posses the power of Thor.

One of the biggest moments of Avengers: Endgame comes close to the end when

Captain America picks up Thor's Hammer and gains the power of Thor, while Thor screams "I knew it".

However, given at the beginning of Thor: Ragnarok we see that:

Odin dies of old age.

Since the enchantment of the hammer comes from Odin and, from my understanding, it is that enchantment that grants the power of Thor to anyone weilding the hammer, shouldn't the enchantment laid out on top of the hammer have dissipated and therefore those not​ have happened?

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    I voted POB because of the assumption that the enchantment dies w/ Odin. Unless that is first proved, everything else is speculation imo
    – NKCampbell
    Aug 21, 2019 at 21:14
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    @NKCampbell that’s something for the answers to suggest/correct and doesn’t have too much of an affect on the answer anyway considering what the actual answer is here.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Aug 21, 2019 at 21:30
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    Also, I think the only other indication we've had in the MCU is that spells don't just disappear on death. See when Ebony Maw captures Doctor Strange - "You'll find removing a dead man's spell troublesome". Now that COULD be a bluff, but ~
    – DariM
    Aug 21, 2019 at 21:46
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    It was hardly a scream.
    – Lightness Races in Orbit
    Aug 22, 2019 at 10:58
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    I think the bigger contradiction is that Thor is told that Hela's power "...comes from Asgard, just like yours!" and since Asgard is now gone, Thor's power should be, too.
    – tbrookside
    Aug 22, 2019 at 13:02

4 Answers 4

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The key here is that the Mjolnir we see in Avengers: Endgame is from the past/a different timeline. I believe it comes from the Thor: The Dark World time, so 2013, whereas the events of Thor: Ragnarok take place in 2017 and so Odin had not died yet with respect to that Mjolnir’s enchantment.

Objects taken out of their timelines still function as they did in their original timeline even if that object was destroyed in the timeline they are brought into. Whilst we see this with Mjolnir, we also see it with the Infinity Stones; if it didn’t work this way the whole Time Heist and plot of Avengers: Endgame would not have worked.

However, it is also worth noting that the enchantment on the hammer is:

Odin: Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.

Thor

The enchantment then seems to engrave a rune on Mjolnir and so it is bound to the hammer. It doesn’t appear to need any further involvement from Odin to work properly. However, as we don’t really see Mjolnir post Odin’s death, as of course it is destroyed by Hela almost immediately afterwards, we can’t say for sure whether or not his death would have affected the enchantment anyway.

The short answer to your question though is: of course the enchantment should stay and give people Thor’s powers because it does as we see with Cap.

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  • I don't think this is correct because you are accepting the fact that if Odin dies the enchantment goes away, meaning that the enchantment is not intrinsic to the hammer but based on the power of Odin. The Infinity stones are not a good comparison because their power is intrinsic
    – Antheloth
    Aug 22, 2019 at 1:27
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    @Antheloth to be clearer my answer is it doesn’t matter if the enchantment goes away or not because this Mjolnir is from a time when Odin was still alive so that fact is irrelevant. On top of that I have the disclaimer that we don’t actually know if the enchantment does still work because we don’t see the hammer post Odins death.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Aug 22, 2019 at 1:54
  • The hammer is pretty much instantly destroyed after Odin dies in Thor: Ragnarok
    – XtremeBaumer
    Aug 22, 2019 at 8:24
  • @XtremeBaumer Correct but I don't see your point.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Aug 22, 2019 at 8:24
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    @AcePL I seem to be missing something here because I'm not understanding the relevance that has here.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Aug 22, 2019 at 8:42
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You are starting from an assumption which has no basis anywhere in canon.

What has some basis in canon is a line said by Doctor Strange in Avengers: Infinity War:

Doctor Stephen Strange: It's a simple spell but quite unbreakable.

Ebony Maw: Then I'll take it off your corpse.

Doctor Stephen Strange: You'll find... removing a dead man's spell... troublesome.

He is the Sorcerer Supreme, with some understanding of Asgardian magic even. It seems like the death of Odin actually made it harder to remove the enchantment of Mjölnir.

Some people may think that Hela proves my idea above wrong. I have a few things to say in support of my idea:

  • "seems like" is not the same as "proves without a doubt";
  • Just the same, "harder" does not mean "impossible";
  • I don't see enchantment removal in the Mjölnir destruction scene, I see a non-indestructible object being broken. Give me your keys and I am able to total your car without removing its paint job.
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  • The hammer is pretty much instantly destroyed after Odin dies in Thor: Ragnarok. Therefore, your last sentence holds no real value
    – XtremeBaumer
    Aug 22, 2019 at 8:24
  • I have to agree with the above comment, whilst I like this answer there's a difference between the Sorcerer's spells and Asgardian "magic". We also don't see Mjolnir for long at all after Odin's death either so we have no evidence really of what happens with the enchantment afterwards.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Aug 22, 2019 at 8:45
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    That moment was to show Hela was stronger than the enchantment on the hammer. We haven't been given any indication that any enchantments would die with Odin. There could be some confusion in that upon his death he could no longer keep Hela contained, but that was because he had been actively holding her back all this time, not the work of an enchantment.
    – Dave
    Aug 22, 2019 at 10:18
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    I definitively think it can be argued that Hela is able to break the enchantment on the Hammer only because Odín is dead at that point and she wouldn’t have otherwise, while at the same time that implies there IS an enchantment to break still in the hammer (even though Odín is dead), it just easier to break as it is not backed up by the Odín Force at that point. Speculation though one way or the other.
    – Jorge Córdoba
    Aug 22, 2019 at 12:33
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    @JorgeCórdoba Hela was an earlier wielder of Mjolnir, and quite possibly was around when it was originally forged. I don't think you can draw ANY conclusions about her power level or knowledge over Mjolnir, and its weaknesses.
    – DariM
    Aug 23, 2019 at 3:26
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You are working under a false assumption.

It should be remembered that it's a different Mjolnir from before Ragnarok....so it will still have the enchantment. Odin isn't dead when Thor regains that hammer in Endgame....as that sequence takes place before Odin's death...even assuming the enchantment fades on his demise.

Mjolnir was destroyed in Ragnarok and this hammer is from before that movie took place. It's just brought forward in time.

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  • Mjolnir is taken from TDW timeline as Jane is there so 2013 or ~4 years before Odin’s death in that timeline as I show in my answer.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Aug 21, 2019 at 17:16
  • False assumption or simple plot hole? I think all that needs to be squared with this quote from Thor:Ragnarok: Are you Thor, the God of Hammers? Hmm? That hammer was to help you control your powers- focus it. It was never your source of strength. I keep wondering what really is going on with the Hammer...
    – AcePL
    Aug 22, 2019 at 8:34
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Since the enchantment of the hammer comes from Odin and, from my understanding, it is that enchantment that grants the power of Thor to anyone weilding the hammer, shouldn't the enchantment laid out on top of the hammer have dissipated and therefore those not​ have happened?

This appears to be based on the assumption that the enchantment Odin made will end when he dies.

In Thor: Ragnarok, Odin says of Hela:

THOR: I've stopped Ragnarok. I put an end to Surtur.

ODIN : No. It has already begun. She's coming. My life was all that held her back, but my time has come. I cannot keep her away any longer.

The implication is that Odin is no longer able to stop Hela from returning once he dies. Hela is a sentient being who is trying to escape her imprisonment, so it makes sense that Odin is actively opposing her (even if that is done in a some subconscious or off-screen manner).

It doesn't follow that Odin also has to actively maintain the enchantment he put on Mjölnir, which is a magical (but inanimate) object.

We see Hela catch and destroy Mjölnir shortly after Odin passes away, and Thor is visibly shocked at this. But we have never seen a "senior" Asgardian attempt to destroy Mjölnir before; Hela may have been able to do so anyway if she weren't imprisoned. Thor may simply not have encountered anyone with both the will and ability to do so before now.

In summary: There's nothing that explicitly states that Mjölnir should lose its enchantments after Ragnarok.

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