#angrboda was being hated on even before the game's release

[atrebcda]

it's so obvious that most of these dudebros that hate the ironwood section are racists 🤷🏻‍♀️ and don't even start with "but the pacing.." when it's not even the "slowest" part of the game (and has, actually, plenty of action)

[bellaaldamas]

I had a bigger commentary on Thrud written but then removed it because I didn't know where your stance, as the OP, on her character in and didn't wish to come across as disrespectful. Since our view is similar, I'll add my thoughts:

Thrud storyline, particularly the Helheim interactions between her and Atreus, could have been removed from the game entirely and literally nothing about the story or gameplay would have changed (unlike if you removed Angrboda and Ironwood which would have, as noted, caused the story and logic to crumble). Throughout the Helheim quest with her and Atreus Thrud doubted and/or insulted him and the people dear to him every step of the way (calling Freya a "treacherous ex-wife" of her genocidal maniac granddaddy whom Thrud knew was abusive not only towards Freya but towards her own father; and who caused the demise of both her brothers - but Thrud dismissed the death of at least one of them because she is "better off without him" and Modi can no longer be a deterrent for her goal of getting into Odin's good graces and getting a green light from him to become a Valkyrie)

All while Atreus was giving Thrud pep talks, boosting her ego or attempting to justify himself when he made an honest mistake. Angrboda cheered him up, comforted, reassured him and openly told him she had unconditional trust in him ("of course I do") even when Atreus himself didn't know what he was doing, was plagued with self doubt and was allied with the murderer of at least one of Angrboda's parents (Thor).

On the contrary, Thrud put down and lashed out at Atreus because he dared to not tow her line and accidentally released Garm out of pure intentions. In between that, Atreus was parenting Thrud's parents and convincing them to give her a chance to fulfill her Valkyrie goal (in the Asgardian sections). A goal that also had no bearing on the plot and could have been, again, removed completely from the game (along with Thrud's character herself) but received an unreasonable amount of screen time.

The "myth accuracy" trolls know they are being deliberately misleading and hypocritical when, on one hand, complaining about Angrboda being black not being "mythologically accurate" (that is, when the entire Gow universe is based on mythology so loosely it has a brooding Greek OC who killed most of the Greek gods before traveling Norse and marrying Laufey the Just - whom he only ever knew as "mortal" Faye - despite not being of a giant heritage like mythological Farbauti was supposed to be; then the two of them procreated Loki who was half-Greek and never actually killed Baldur nor was punished for it as mythological Loki was; then there is a talking head Mimir who has a Scottish accent, swears like a sailor and is implied to be a Puck; whilst Loki/Atreus and Angrboda were metaphorical rather than literal "parents" to the World Serpent and Fenrir). While on the other hand, as you note, those same trolls pair Atreus with Thrud despite it not only being a complete deviation from Norse mythology but Atreus explicitly stating on screen he was not interested in Thrud romantically (and pointing out Skjoldr was).

Those people hate Atreus as much as they do Angrboda because he supposedly "takes away the spotlight from Kratos" (whom dudebros project onto whilst "progressives" are attempting to emasculate him and also project onto him by framing all forms of masculinity as toxic when it's not the case). What trolls really want is for Atreus to be a reward/prize for Thrud no matter how incompatible they are.

Cherry on top is their laughably pathetic claim that Angrboda was supposedly "rude" to Atreus.

Angrboda, who put Atreus's emotional well being above her own and above anything else from the second she met him while going through continuous trauma in real time herself. She chose to focus on him and his comfort and stress instead of dwelling on hers: in the very first scene of their interactions in Ironwood (post the introduction/meeting) Angrboda noted it was too painful for her to talk about her deceased parents and how she was left alone in the world. But when she saw how devastated and desperate Atreus was upon seeing the mural and the prophesy of his father's death she did everything to take his mind off of it, including eagerly and repeatedly initiating conversations about her parents: her own father who regretted he could not protect her and she had to grow up too fast; her mother who told Angrboda to eat fruit for strength knowing Angrboda would have to fend not only for herself but for every living being in Ironwood; her mother and grandmother who fought even before Gryla's mind was damaged by grief and resulting addiction (even such a small detail was important for the story and added dimension to Angrboda's character and complex dynamics in her family).

But Angrboda having to yell BACK at Atreus after he lashed out at her first (after she comforted him back into human form when he had nearly eaten her up alive in his wolf form) supposedly made her "rude".

Meanwhile, Thrud is a "better match" for Atreus (as per the trolls) when she doubts and questions his every move in Helheim, swears him off saying she should have listened to her parents about him being an untrustworthy nuisance (all because pleasing granddaddy was more important to her than their friendship), punches him in the face and attempts to kill him twice in that same scene (while Atreus is defending her from Sindri and calling her a "friend"), all in between calling Atreus a "killer just like his father". And the only reason Thrud refrained from killing Atreus was because Sif - who never liked nor trusted him - talked sense into her. Because even Sif had a character arc, development and contributed to the story in ways Thrud never did.

Then there came another unnecessary section of Thrud interacting with Kratos during Ragnarok and both him and Atreus yet again parenting her parents and praising her skills (Kratos goes as far as to praise Thrud in the Codex by highlighting how "different" she is from her brothers). The amount of compliments Thrud received from the people she insulted, assaulted and/or tried to kill (not to mention her family playing an antagonistic role for Kratos, Atreus and multiple realms throughout the game) would have led to her being labeled as a "Mary Sue" and receiving as much flack as Angrboda and many other, more gentle female characters always receive. But Thrud got away with that and with being a filler due to her girlboss status.

it's so obvious that most of these dudebros hate the ironwood section it's bc they're racists 🤷🏻‍♀️ and don't even start with "but the pacing.." when it's not even the "slowest" part of the game (and has, actually, plenty of action)