Thou didst treat the sick, and the afflicted! Thou didst walk amongst the weak... and give them strength! Yet, ever wert thou son of Odin... though thou knew it not! 'Twas I who placed thy hammer in an earthly cave... so thou wouldst one day find it! And find it thou didst... when thy lesson had been learned! The lesson of... humility! 
- —Odin
Appearing in "The Answer at Last!"
Featured Characters:
- ⏴ Thor ⏵ (Origin revealed)
- Dr. Don Blake (Origin revealed)
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Loki
- Storm Giants (Only in flashback)
Other Characters:
- Gondolff (First appearance)
Locations:
Items:
Synopsis for "The Answer at Last!"
After completing a surgery successfully, Dr. Donald Blake returns to his apartment where he begins to ponder about the secrets of his double identity. Namely, is he really Thor or Donald Blake? And if he is the latter, what happened to the original Thor? Drifting to sleep, he dreams about going to Asgard in his godly form and asking Odin for the answers that have been plaguing him. Hearing this request from Asgard, Odin decrees that Blake shall be told the truth, and when Blake awakens, Odin appears before him and tells him the fate of what happened to Thor many years ago:
Odin tells of a time when Thor was brash, arrogant, and reckless. One day while chasing a birdbeast, the Thunder God trespassed into Niffelheim, violating a truce between Odin and the giants that lived there. This led to a confrontation between Thor and an army of giants. Balder would be called in to pull Thor from the fight, citing that the Thunder God was at fault for the conflict.
Returning to Asgard, Thor would go to a local tavern with the Warriors Three and engage in an arm wrestling competition with one of the other patrons. This would end in Thor winning, and the other patron accusing Thor of cheating. This leads to a huge bar brawl that is eventually broken up by Odin who summons Thor to his side.
Meeting Odin on a mountain where Odin berates his son, telling him that he lacks humility and is sorely needing a lesson on the subject. He turns Thor's attention to Earth, and decrees that he is going to send Thor there to live the life of a frail mortal so that he might learn his lesson and someday regain his godly identity. Odin would banish Thor to Earth, and turn him into Donald Blake, with no memory of his past as the Thunder God.
With the story done, Odin explains that he had placed Thor's mystic hammer where he might find it after he had learned humility, and that changing him into a form with a handicap and giving him a profession that made him heal the sick and frail was all part of this lesson.
With the explanation done, Odin departs leaving Blake to consider everything he learned. The doctor realizes that his romance with Jane Foster was doomed to failure from the start, and he never would renounce his godly heritage because he was indeed, truly Thor. As a final acceptance of these revelations, Blake taps his cane on the ground changing into Thor where he proudly embraces his true heritage.
Notes
Trivia
- This is the first time the true nature of Thor and Donald Blake's split personality was revealed. Journey Into Mystery #83 established that Blake found a cane in a cavern in Norway and upon striking it on the ground, became Thor. No explanation was given for what happened to the original Thor, even though young Thor began appearing in Tales of Asgard (the backup feature for Thor in Journey Into Mystery) as early as Journey Into Mystery #100.