Os links desta resposta são principalmente teorias de conjecturas e fãs. Eu tenho algum material canônico, mas faltava encontrar algo sólido.
Aparece se eles são apenas para proteção (teoria), também em uma nota menor eles parecem manter sua capa (em alguns projetos).
Minha teoria de que eles eram para proteção e também eram símbolos de sua honra e status é mostrada quando Odin os rasga e diz a ele que ele não é digno de seus amigos e de seu título.
Eu não coloco muita coisa na teoria de que eles são para proteção, pois Thor tem seu cinto e seu martelo para proteção. Além disso, se bem me lembro, os discos acertam e refletem ou diminuem o impacto, então eles podem ter algumas qualidades de proteção.[Incensed about Thor and the Warriors Three's mission to Jotunheim, Odin brings them back to Asgard]
Thor: Why did you bring us back?
Odin: Do you realize what you've done? What you've started?
Thor: I was protecting my home.
Odin: You cannot even protect your friends! How can you hope to protect a kingdom? [speaking to Heimdall] Get him to a healing room! Now!
Thor: There won't be a kingdom to protect if you're afraid to act. The Jotuns must learn to fear me, just as they once feared you.
Odin: That's pride and vanity talking, not leadership. You've forgotten everything I taught you about a warrior's patience.
Thor: While you wait and be patient, The Nine Realms laugh at us. The old ways are done. You'd stand giving speeches while Asgard falls.
Odin: You are a vain, greedy, cruel boy!
Thor: And you are an old man and a fool!
Odin: Yes. I was a fool to think you were ready.
Loki: Father...
Odin: [to Loki] HEY! [to Thor] Thor Odinson, you have betrayed the express command of your king. Through your arrogance and stupidity, you have opened these peaceful realms and innocent lives to the horror and desolation of war! You are unworthy of these realms! You're unworthy of your TITLE! YOU'RE UNWORTHY!.. of the loved ones you have betrayed. I now take from you your power! In the name of my father and his father before, I, Odin Allfather, CAST YOU OUT! [banishes Thor to Earth] Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor. [throws Mjolnir to Earth]
Este é um fórum que explica isso , mas é uma palestra de fãs (então cuidado).
Outras notas:
Thor wears a full body hauberk composed of Asgardian steel. It belt has the Norse symbol of physical health as a belt buckle along with the Norse symbol of Gemini most likely to symbolize his bond with Dr. Donald Blake.
As you probably saw in the Thor movie, Odin rips them off of Thor when he is banished to Earth and his armor disintegrates. The six of them compromise Thor's hauberk, a highly complex biological weave made of some kind of durable nanocarbon. In addition to its physical hardness, the armor indirectly protects Thor from ballistics, extreme heat and cold, cutting weapons, energy weapons, psychic attacks, vacuum, and it also protects against a few things that are hard to describe (due to Earth's primitive level of technology).
This is why Thor doesn't usually bother with a helmet, his armor is advanced enough that even his face is protect even though it's not covered. Anyways, the point is that the discs are the major component of his armor. Most of the rest of his armor (and a fair amount of Thor's combat toughness) is generated by the discs.
This is why Yasgardians prefer melee weapons. Their defensive technology is so good that range is almost immaterial in combat. Bear in mind, Yasgardians are just sufficiently advanced aliens. Their technology may look like medieval armor and weaponry, but it only looks like that because Yasgardians like the aesthetics.
The primary example of this is Thor's hammer, a simple-looking weapon that can demolish buildings, call lightning, and exert enough force to pin a medium-angry Hulk to the floor.
Note: Most of this is speculation taken from SHIELD's data vault and compiled into the official report given to Congress on extraterrestrial threat assessment. The description is vague because Thor has to follow strict Yasgardian policies regarding civilizations which are less technologically-advanced. And even if he wanted to share his technology he would have a hard time explaining it because Thor is a warrior, not an engineer.
Se você acredita neles.
Isso fala sobre a mitologia que o filme deu errado.
