Ask Jot

Chosen Answer by SirNavid 

I can guess that second order is based on Records and dates inside the story .

Chosen Answer by Lord Bearclaw of Gryphon Woods

There are no such things as merfolk, and there is no such thing as a mergene. Proof of their non-existence is obvious for anyone with the intelligence to employ critical thinking skills. A sentient species always leaves behind artifacts of its existence. Merfolk could not exist at depth and be even vaguely similiar in appearance to humans, so they would have to live in fairly shallow depths, so they are definitely not "hiding". Artifacts would include architecture, articles of day to day life, such as tools, jewelry, and possibly written records, carved onto stone slabs. Merfolk items would be so different from anything a land-based lifeform could produce that it would be instantly identifiable. No such evidence has ever came to light - and in our time of submarines, underwater sonar imaging, remote camera robots, bathyspheres, privately funded treasure hunts, scuba divers, underwater nuclear tests, etc. it is impossible for a shallow-depth culture of "mermaids" to exist and not be found. The human body, with its specialized developments, has designed itself for land living in a gravitational environment. A merfolk would not need the body to be so bipedally designed and the buoyancy of the water itself offsetting the pull of gravity allows for a more symmetrical alignment of the organs from front to back instead of from side to side. You cannot "evolve" backwards. By the time Homo Sapiens superseded Homo Neanderthalensis, there was a millions of years interval between us and the time our mammalian ancestors differentiated from amphibian life. No such "regressive mutation" is possible - therefore human/fish "merfolk" are impossible. Aquatic creatures, as stated above, evolved along far different lines than land-based animals. Even if a branch of fish could have developed human level intelligence (which is not possible - our brain development is a direct result of our environment and cannot be duplicated in the ocean) the closest possibility is the dolphin, which is the only sea creature that shows evidence of cognitive function anywhere near our level. There is absolutely no environmental reason for a cognitively developing sea creature to physically develop into a half human. It doesn't work like that. As to "magic" - if "spells" actually worked to transform humans into their wishes, the world would be full of vampires, werewolves, unicorns, merfolk, elves, dwarves, etc. etc. ad nauseum, and all of these "emerging races" would be hunted by humans as oddities, captured for display, or studied for scientific purposes. If humans could transform into any creature, don't you think they'd "become" the property of the U.S. government so fast it'd make your head swim? (a little like the Monsters vs. Aliens movie). ***There are no spells or potions to do this, and anyone telling you that mermaids exist is either lying, or delusional.*** No, humankind is the only sentient race on earth, and all these fantasy creatures are nothing more than wishful thinking. There are no mermaids, vampires, werewolves, faerie queens, lake monsters, or bigfoot/yetis. No dead mermaid has ever been found. The Youtube video is a hoax, and a rather obvious one at that - the "mermaid" is on the beach in a "frozen" crawling position. Sorry, dead bodies don't do that. A mermaid crawling back to the water would have collapsed, face down. Also, the cameraman is eerily silent. No emotion whatsoever. Looks like a college art video to me. I am a Nurse - real education, real experience.

Chosen Answer by Radical One

The answer to your first dilemma... Since you're near the statue of Thor, I presume that there's a S.H.I.E.L.D. access point nearby. If you don't already have Thor on your team, switch out one of your team members and replace Thor with the hero or heroine. Next, assign Thor's power "Thor's Rage" to one of the buttons. Accept your new team temporarily and return to the game. Now, cast the power "Thor's Rage" onto the statue. No other power in the game will work on the statue. If done correctly, the wall up ahead will be wide open to your team. If you wish to do so, you can switch back your original team member in. If, however, you don't want to swap characters, or you want a bit of extra XP, then proceed ahead. Many enemies will spawn, but they should not be too difficult to defeat. One method to dispose quickly of your foes is to grapple with your adversary by pressing the Square button when nearby, then moving the Analog Stick in a certain direction to toss him into the fire. Eventually, the waves of enemies will cease, and you can continue. And the answer to your second question... I'm not sure whether the hammer is required to proceed, but I believe that it is in your best interest to pick it up, for it will make the very last part of the Bifrost Bridge section less arduous.