Thor #354
Pickin’ Up the Pieces
Asgard
The war against Surtur has come to an end when Odin seemingly sacrificed his life to stop the fire demon from destroying all life in the universe.[1] Unwilling to accept that his father is gone, Thor begins hamming at the ground where Odin and Surtur were swallowed up. Loki stops his brother, convincing him to let it go since by freeing Odin he would also free Surtur, thus putting them all at risk again.[2] Thor thanks his step-brother for making him see sense but knows that the trickster god will begin scheming anew and warns Loki that he’ll be watching.
The Sahara Desert
With the apparent destruction of Surtur, the battle in the Sahara comes to an abrupt end. Without the power of their master to sustain them and cut off from their home dimension, the demonic hordes suddenly burn out. As Beta Ray Bill declares victory, the Warriors Three are happy to see Balder had succeeded in convincing Karnilla to join their fight. Balder tells them that he won’t be returning with them and he and Karnilla teleport away. With the battle over, Bill wants to return to New York City to search for Sif, who went missing in action earlier in the battle.
Flying back to America, Bill and the Warriors Three find Sif being treated for injuries by some field medics. Quickly, Hogun feeds Sif a healing elixir that allows the goddess to recover instantaneously from her injuries.
Asgard
Thor searches the ruins of Asgard and finds Heimdall who is injured but otherwise okay. The thunder god tells him the tragic news, that Odin seemingly perished in battle. This is overheard by a pair of wandering Storm-Giants. Suddenly, Hela appears before Thor and Heimdall to claim the soul of Odin. Thor refuses to allow her to claim his father’s soul and vows to fight her as well as rescue the souls of mortals that are prisoners in her domain.[3] Thor fights with a fury that Hela has never seen before and decides that it would be wiser to depart.
Thor then goes to the ruined Bifrost Bridge to mourn the loss of his father.[4] His vigil is interrupted by the arrival of Sif who found it difficult to teleport back to Asgard since their home has been unmoored from Midgard. He quickly informs Sif of what went down in Asgard and she gives him her condolences. Thor asks Sif and Beta Ray Bill remain on Earth for a time to defend it while he grieves his father’s passing, but also to keep the army of Asgard contained as it will not be easy for them to return home now that the Bifrost is gone. They both agree to keep Odin’s demise a secret for now, at least, so as not to ruin morale. Before Sif heads back to Earth, Thor asks her to carry out one last favor for him.
Meanwhile, Frigga and the children of Asgard have finally reached the mountain chalet they have been trying to reach for safety. After the long trip, Frigga turns down the request for a story as she can sense that her husband has died and needs to mourn. The children pick up on this and provide comfort to the new widow, reminding her that Odin sent the children to keep an eye on her as much as she was to care for them.
New York
The warriors of Asgard have been allowed to set up camp in Central Park while they await the time to return home. When Sif returns she checks in with Beta Ray Bill before telling the gathered warriors that their return home will be delayed due to the Bifrost’s destruction.[5] Welcomed by the mayor of New York to stay as long as they need, Sif and Bill decide to pass some time by exploring the city. To stand out a little less than normal, Bill taps Stormbreaker on the ground, triggering the enchantment that reverts him back to his original, more humanid, form.
Elsewhere in the city a group of armored soldiers communicate with their master through a video link. He tells them that the time has come to strike.
While in a penthouse overlooking the park, Lorelei is furious that her people will be lingering a while longer in the aftermath of the battle. She is visited by Loki, whom she complains to about how boring life on Midgard is and how borish her step-brother can be. She can’t understand how Thor isn’t completely under his spell and wants to give up on this plan.[6] However, Loki insists that her seduction of Thor must continue because he has aspirations to take over the throne of Asgard and needs to get his brother out of the way.
Asgard
Thor leaves the city in the care of Heimdall and then rides up into the mountains to reflect on his father’s passing. He eventually comes upon footprints where there should be none and is curious enough to stop. Hela has been observing Thor from afar and takes this opportunity to strike by casting a spell that creates an avalanche. Thor quickly tries to ride his horse to safety but Hela causes the horse to rapidly age and decompose leaving Thor to be buried under the onrushing snow and ice.
Recurring Characters
Thor, Hela, Loki, Lorelei Karnilla, Balder, Beta Ray Bill, Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg), Sif, Heimdall, Frigga, Hrolf, Gunnar, Gunnhild, Angrim, Green Liberation Front, Titanium Man
Continuity Notes
Odin is not really dead. He is revealed to have been captured by Seth, the Egyptian god of death, in Thor #398-400.
Loki states here that Odin sacrificed himself much like his brothers did centuries earlier. Vili and Ve died sealing Muspelheim off from the rest of Asgard as seen in Thor #349.
He is referring to the humans whose bodies were taken over by Dark Elves between Thor #343-348. Thor will make good on this promise in Thor #360-362.
Surtur shattered the Bifrost in Thor #351. It will eventually get repaired in Thor #426.
Here, Beta Ray Bill states that, while Sif was gone, he helped the Avengers fend off an invasion from the Dire Wraiths. This happened in Rom #65.
Lorelei has been on Earth trying to seduce Thor since issue #340. She attempted to bend his will with a specially made golden mead in Thor #346. However, this scheme was foiled when Roger Willis replaced the mead with a mixture of honey and water in issue #349.
Topical References
The mayor of New York City is identified as Ed Koch in this story. This should be considered topical as Koch was only mayor from 1978 to 1989 and subsequently died in 2013.
Tales of Midgard: Home of the Amazing Human Race
In Chicago, Shawna Lynde, Brenda Barclay, and Nurse Stevens have all met up at the office of Doctor Donald Blake. They have been unsuccessful finding Don who has been missing for months and with his medical practice running out of money, they are going to be forced to shut it down. The women can only speculate what happened to Don, who was last seen being ushered into a car by a pair of SHIELD agents. This gives Shawna hope that Don is still out there somewhere and believes that the reason why he hasn’t been in touch is because he is on some kind of secret mission for the spy agency.[1]
Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Fandral, who is on business from Thor to wrap up loose ends from his former life. He tells the three women that Don Blake is “on a mission for his government” and tells them that he won’t be coming back. He then pays them in gold coins and gives them gold bracelets with small Mjolnir pendants as gifts to remember him by. However, these charms actually make them forget all about Don Blake so that they can move on with their lives. With this task out of the way, Fandral decides to take the name plate off Don Blake’s office door, figuring Thor might want it as a memento of his old life.
Recurring Characters
Fandral, Shawna Lynde, Brenda Barclay, Nurse Stevens
Continuity Notes
Thor, in his mortal identity of Don Blake, had been living in Chicago between Thor #319 through 337. Indeed, he was abducted by SHIELD agents to investigate the approach of Beta Ray Bill’s space convoy. Later, Thor would give up his Don Blake identity when the enchantment that allowed him to change forms was transferred to Bill’s hammer, Stormbreaker, in Thor #339.