Thor Annual #7
And Ever — The Eternals!
With Balder hanging between life and death, Odin has dispatched Hermod to petition Hela, the goddess of death, for his life.[1] With Asgard on the brink of Ragnarok and Odin focused on other things, Thor explains to Sif how Loki had tipped them into this situation. The thunder god’s anger and frustration comes out and he apologizes for lashing out, telling Sif that he needs time to think.
Wandering the palace, Thor soon realizes that he has ventured into the room where the Well of Wisdom, the home of Mimir. When the omnipotent flame mocks the current threat of Ragnarok, Thor asks why the entity hates his father so much.[2] Mimir tells Thor how, centuries ago, the realm of Asgard was at war with a rival tribe of gods who called themselves the Vanir. During an exchange of prisoners, the Vanir sent Mimir’s severed head back to Odin. Although disembodied, Mimir could now see all and was placed in the Well of Wisdom where he came to hate his current state. He then begins mocking Thor over his love of Earth, suggesting that this is in part due to his mortal identity of Donald Blake.
This raises some questions from Thor, who wonders if Asgard is as intrinsically tied to Midgard as the legends speak. He points out how the Olympians also claim dominion over the Earth, and how this also conflicts with the theory that humanity evolved from beasts without the divine intervention of gods. Amused by this, Mimir decides to reveal a memory from Thor’s past that he was made to forget. These events took place not long after Thor’s ill-fated war against the Olympians centuries ago…..[3]
…. Frustrated over being denied new follows, Thor decided to go to Earth without getting permission from Odin. When he arrived on Earth, he was drawn to a mountain range by the mental calls of an entity named Dromedan. Dromedan begged Thor to free him from his prison but, sensing an aura of evil around the prisoner, Thor decided against doing so.
Going to a nearby village, Thor was attacked by the natives who had no interest in worshiping him. Even though the thunder god was able to shrug off their attacks, they continued to attack him. That’s when Thor was suddenly attacked by four flying men who arrived on the scene. Although they had great strength and the ability to fire optic blasts, Thor holds his own against the new comers. Realizing that they are dealing with something beyond human, the four attackers stop. Introductions are made and Thor learns that they are Viranko, Valkin, Druig, and Ajak, members of a race of humanoids who call themselves the Eternals. When they explain their origins and that they hale from a place called Olympus ruled by a man named Zuras, they clarify they have no connection with the Grecian gods that are similarly named after.[4] They also mention how the Celestials have returned to Earth on a number of occasions and that they are preparing for the arrival of the Third Host.
Thor also learns about how primitive man was experimented upon by a race of space gods who call themselves the Celestials. These entities created three different offshots from primitive man: baseline humans, the god-like Eternals, and the hideous Deviants.[5] When explaining how the Deviants also create mutates of great power, Thor mentions his earlier encounter with Dromedan. This concerns the Eternals who leave Druig to investigate while they take Thor back to their city in the mountains, little knowing that Druig has asperations to use Dromedan’s power for his own ends. While Virako and Valkin take Thor to their city, and later bring him on their mission to civilize local tribes in order to construct massive temples, Druig works on a helmet that he believes will allow him to take control of Dromedan. Eventually, Thor grows bored with the Eternal’s mission and goes seeking adventure elsewhere for some time.[6]
When Thor eventually checked back in with the Eternals in South America they had just finished civilizing the early Mayans and moved on to doing the same with the early Aztecs. In each instance massive temples were built and a single Eternal — which the locals confused with one of their gods, remained behind.[7][8] Valkin, Virako and Ajak then decide to go back to check on Druig’s work with the early Incans. There they discover that Druig’s attempts at taking control of Dromedan have backfired and the Deviant mutate has enslaved the Incan people.
Thor agrees to help the Eternals stop Dromedan, but when they attack the Deviant directly he summons two other mutates named Thunder and Tutinax to help him in the battle. While the Eternals deal with Tutinax, Thor clashes with Thunder as he commands the storm much in the same way as the thunder god. In the ensuing battle, Thor defeats Thunder and Tutinax suddenly vanishes during his battle with the Eternals.[8] Focusing their attacks on Dromedan, the Deviant mutate unleashes a massive worm upon them. Seeing no other choice, Virako absorbs a deadly amount of radiation and flies into the worm’s maw causing an explosion that kills both. While Thor and Valkin distract Dromedan, Ajak manages to recover the control helmet made by Druig and uses it to incapacitate their foe.
In the aftermath of the battle, Valkin chalks up Druig’s machinations as nothing more than poor judgement. With Virako’s atoms scattered beyond recovery, Valkin decrees that he will adopt his friend’s son, Ikaris, as his own.[9] With the danger over, a massive Celestial ship appears in the air above them. When Thor begins asking too many questions, Valkin realizes that there are some things the thunder god should not know. Using his mental powers, Valkin then erases all of Thor’s memories of their encounter and his knowledge of the Celestials and sends him on his way….
…. As Mimir concludes his story, Thor undergoes a moment of instant recall and realizes that the entity is speaking truth. He then demands to know what the Celestials are planning to do. Mimir gleefully shows Thor that the Fourth Host of Celestials has since arrived on Earth and are examining their work. He then tells Thor that they will spend the next half-century to determine if humanity is worthy to continue its existence. This all disturbs Thor, but he leaves to deal with the coming threat of Ragnarok. With the thunder god now gone, Mimir is satisfied that he has successfully made Thor concerned over the fate of Earth as well as that of Asgard.[10]
Recurring Characters
Thor, Odin, Hermod, Mimir, Slepnir, (in flashback) Heimdall, Ajak, Druig, Virako, Valkin, Arishem the Judge, Gammenon the Gatherer, Thunder, Tutinax, Dromedan,
Continuity Notes
This story takes place between the events of Thor #275.
Mention is made of how Odin recently sacrificed one of his eyes to Mimir to learn of the coming apocalypse. That happened in Thor #274.
Thor attempted to wage war with Olympus in Thor Annual #5. Odin and Zeus then conspired to make both armies think they won the conflict to teach Thor and Hercules that their respective pantheons could not expand and claim ownership over humans who worshiped the other side.
This of course plugs Eternals #1-19. Here, Virako states that — as far as he knows — the Olympians and the Eternals of Olympia are not named after one another. However, the Zeus entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #9 explains that at one point, Zuras and Zeus met and noticing their similarities formed an alliance of sorts. Many Eternals were then given similar names to that of the Greek gods. For example, Zuras’ daughter Zura changed her name to Thena, after Zeus’ daughter Athena.
The origins of the Eternals, Deviants, and humanity were originally told in Eternals #1. Here, Thor asks Virako and Valkin if the first humans were Aske and Embla. These were the first humans according to Norse mythology. There are two conflicting tales that explain this origin. Journey into Mystery #103 states that Thor played a part in the creation of the first humans with the magical aid of King Mimir. Whereas Thor Annual #5 states that the pair were created from a pair of trees found on Earth by Odin. Thor #294 suggests that Odin crafted this myth and put it into the minds of the Asgardians during the most recent Ragnarok cycle.
These adventures are not explained in any detail here. I suppose it was teasing some other untold tale from Thor’s past, but as I write this (in May 2021) this plot threat has not been expanded upon.
This story also implies that the Eternals activities here helped found the Incan, Mayan and Aztec mythologies due to their activities in South America. While these Eternals were mistaken for both the gods of the Apu, Ahau and Tēteoh pantheons. These gods do exist in the Marvel Universe going on to appear in Thor #300-301 and Conan the Barbarian #65 respectively.
It’s explained in Eternals #1 that the Incan, Mayan, and Aztec temples were built as “landing sites” for the Third Host of Celestials.
Tutinax will resurface again in more recent times, as seen in Eternals Annual #1.
A footnote here reminds readers that Eternals #19 goes into detail about how an Eternal can die. Basically, they have to be atomized beyond recognition, but don’t worry they have McGuffin to work around that as well as we’ll see in Eternals (vol. 3) #1-7.
This entire story is setting up the “Eternals Saga” that will run from Thor #283-301.
