Occupation: Goddess of love, beauty and sexuality, attendant of Frigga,

Legal Status: Citizen of Asgard

Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of Sjofn's existence except as a figure of mythological origin.

Other Aliases: Samantha Foster

Place of Birth: Unrevealed, possibly Asgard

Marital Status: Single

Known Relatives: Iwaldi (father), Freia (mother), Frey (uncle), Njord (grandfather), Nertha (great-aunt), Ve (step-father, alias Lodur), Odin (uncle), Hnossa (half-sister), Nanna, Syn, Lofn, Sigyn, Idunn, Var, Snotra (sisters), Thor, Balder, Loki, Hermod, Heimdall, Sif, Brynhilda, Hoder, Tyr, Vidar (cousins),

Group Affiliations: The Gods of Asgard, The Asynjur,

Base of Operations: Fensalir in the realm of Asgard

First Appearance: Sjofn has yet to appear in Marvel or DC Comics.

History: Sjofn is the daughter of Freia, the Asgardian goddess of fertility, and the dwarf, Iwaldi, whose sons created many of the treasures of the Asgardian Gods. Although her mother was a member of the Vanir tribe of the Asgardians, Sjofn served as of the Asynjur, one of eleven attendants to Frigga of the Aesir, wife of Odin, the Chieftain of the Asgardian gods, and carried out both duties and responsibilities concerning matters of romance between gods and mortals. On earth, she was all but strictly a deity for women who used spells and called upon her for magic to keep their Viking husbands at home rather than discovering and invading new lands.

In ancient times, Sjofn seemed to unwittingly begin a long enmity with Aphrodite, the Olympian goddess of love, her counterpart in the Greek and Roman Pantheon. While they always compared each other's attraction and beauty over the other, Sjofn exacerbated the feud by prematurely rushing into Greece during war between the Asgardians and the Olympians and started transforming Aphrodite's statues and images into redheaded versions of herself, but only got so far until she came to a direct confrontation with Aphrodite herself. Odin eventually came to a truce with Zeus, King of the Olympian Gods and decreed the Asgardians would not claim any of the lands of the Greeks. Sjofn was preached to by Frigga rather than by Odin, but for several years afterward, Aphrodite visited parts of Ancient Germany claiming to be Sjofn to taunt her into a rematch.

In the First Century AD, Sjofn tried to endear herself to Branwen, the mortal daughter of Leir, the Celtic god of sea and storm. Despite her life on earth as a mortal, Branwen became deified in the Celtic Pantheon as goddess of love to the Celts as a direct counterpart of Aphrodite. Rather than repeat her mistakes, Sjofn attempted to endear herself as a mentor to the younger goddess, but Branwen eventually realized she was being made subservient to Sjofn and retaliated by cutting off all of Sjofn's red hair after being inspired by the story of how Loki, the Asgardian mischief god, cut off the hair of the goddess Sif. Following these incidents, Sjofn swore off trying to compete against her counterparts and instead cater to her own often selfish whims.

In recent years, Loki used Sjofn to steal from her sister Lofn a potion that would bind the thunder-god Thor eternally to the goddess Lorelei. Always obsessed with her beauty, Sjofn was informed by Loki that Lofn considered herself more attractive of the two and then told Lofn that Sjofn had her missing potion. As the two quarreled, Loki used the potion to enthrall Thor to Lorelei, a scheme later revealed and brought to an end by Amora the Enchantress.

When Seth, the Egyptian god of death, invaded Asgard to conquer, Sjofn presented herself to seduce him and turn him away from destroying her home, but he struck her instead and had her imprisoned instead. Rescued by Leir, who had come to the aid of the Asgardians, Sjofn was nursed back to health by Isis, Queen of the Egyptian Gods and encountered Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of love and music. Despite an unspoken rivalry, the two of them both shared interest in music and briefly bonded as peers, but nothing has developed as such from this forced friendship.

Defeated by Thor, Seth later returned to Asgard in order to manipulate Yggdrasil into creating Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Asgardian Gods. Odin, however, saved the Asgardian Gods by tricking Yggdrasil into believing that Ragnarok had already occurred by casting the Asgardians into mortal identities with false identities. Sjofn and Lofn became mortal women named Samantha and Laura Foster, two sisters living in London, England. Believing herself to be a singer and dancer, Sjofn had no memory of her life as a goddess, but during her mortal existence, Branwen secretly amused herself from a far by poking fun at Sjofn's bohemian lifestyle as a mortal woman. Sjofn and Lofn regained their true lives and actual memories afterward, but the experience left them unprepared for attack by the Dark Gods, later espoused from Asgard by Thor, Hercules and the Destroyer.

Following the apparent death of Odin, Thor became King of the Gods, but Loki forced a revised Ragnarok to come to pass. As Asgard fell to Loki's forces, Thor realized that numerous incarnations of Asgard were being masterminded by the shadowy beings known as Those Who Sit Above All. Sjofn and her sisters reportedly lost their lives to Loki's forces, and Thor severed the endless cycle of recreation keeping Asgard from being continually destroyed and recreated again even as Ragnarok occurred. She has since been restored to life by Thor, having recreated Asgard on Earth on property in Oklahoma. During Norman Osborn's attack on Asgard with the Dark Avengers, she fled west for Los Angeles where she was recently seen as a guest of one of the lavish parties of the goddess Circe.

Height: 5' 7"
Weight: 360 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Red, sometimes Blonde

Strength Level: Sjofn possesses superhuman strength enabling her to lift (press) about 25 tons under optimal conditions.

Known Superhuman Powers: Sjofn possesses the conventional physical attributes of the Asgardian gods. Like all Asgardians, she is extremely long-lived, but she is not immortal like the Olympian gods; she has not aged since reaching adulthood and cannot die by any conventional means. She is immune to all Earthly diseases and is resistant to conventional injury. If she were somehow wounded, her godly life force would enable her to recover with superhuman speed. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of her bodily molecules to cause her a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for a god of equal power, such as Odin or for a number of Asgardian gods working together to revive her. Sjofn also possesses superhuman strength and her Asgardian metabolism provides her with far greater than human endurance in all physical activities. (Asgardian flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the superhuman strength and weight of the Asgardian gods.)  

Sjofn also has the ability to tap into and manipulate undefined mystical energies related but not confined to the base emotional patterns relating to lust, physical attraction and human devotion. She can create hypnotic suggestions to force individuals of her choosing to become attracted to each other and create elixirs and potions to stir such attractions between others. Some individuals, such as other gods or mortals of strong emotional resolve have proven immune to her potions and charms or can shake off their effects over several minutes. Victims of her influence often show strong erotic attractions to persons of the other sex (and sometimes to inanimate objects, such as trees and statues) and can develop violent tendencies when the attraction is not similarly returned to the point that they can snap out of the trance, or in cases where the emotional attraction already existed, become compelled to self-destruction.  

Sjofn also has the ability to generate and throw small arrows of electro-static force resembling miniature lightning bolts for defense. She can cross dimensional barriers, such as from Earth to Asgard, or teleport between two points in space. She can also alter and change her appearance to resemble other individuals, an adolescent version of herself, a mermaid, an aged crone, a stone statue of herself and even certain animals such as a dove or white wolf. She can attain an immaterial status to inject herself to inhabit other individuals and assume their identities and even appear to mortals as a giant, usually to provoke a response of fear or intimidation. She can also close herself off from the senses of mortals and appear invisible on earth, but she cannot conceal her appearance from other gods, whether they are native to Asgard or not. She can be sensed by powerful earthly mystics.  

Abilities: Sjofn is well-versed in the erotic arts and is considered a very charismatic and manipulative individual. She also has skills in music and song.

Comments: Sjofn has not yet been depicted in the Marvel or DC Universe; this history is based loosely on the main events in the history of the Asgardian Gods in the Marvel Universe. 

Clarifications: Sjofn is not to be confused with:  

• Lofn, goddess of the passion and romance, @ Thor I #357
• Or any other love-goddess on Earth