Erika the Red was a Viking leader who had led her clan into battle against the forces of Harald Jaekelsson. As the battle ensued, the thunder god Thor joined the fray much against Erika's liking. But their meeting was orchestrated by Loki with Odin's permission in order to punish Thor for spending more time on Midgard instead of his home realm of Asgard.

Erika eventually became enamored with Thor after he saved her people against the threat of a Rock Troll. The two became lovers and traveled the world by Erika's boat and also on Thor's two flying goats Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder. Erika spent most of her time with Thor and explained that his father was only good for one thing, giving him something to rise above.

Angered by Loki's plan for being a failure, he was going to put an end to the romance but Loki asked him to trust him as the only way to pry the two apart is for Asgard to go to war. This caused Thor to leave Erika's side with the promise of his return. After the long war between the Dark Elves and the Dwarves, Thor made it back to Midgard to be with Erika but all he came back to was a empty house were she once lived.

As he searched for her, he came upon a woman who told him that Erika passed away as she waited for Thor's return. Not understanding what was going on, the woman took Thor to a stone burial site with an etched marking of a dragon which happened to be Erika's grave. The woman said that 40 years have passed since Thor left Erika and she spent everyday at the edge of a cliff awaiting his return. She died three days before he came back. Thor was in disbelief not understanding how that much time had gone by as he just left like it was yesterday.

Loki thought his plan of having Thor return to Asgard due to Erika's death was a success but this only pushed Thor to stay in Midgard permanently, which angered Odin more.^[1]