They were killed by a hammer. By Mjolnir. 

—All-Father Thor

Appearing in "God of Hammers - Part One"

Featured Characters:

• All-Father Thor (Main story and recap)

Supporting Characters:

• Sif
• Odin (Main story and flashback)

Antagonists:

• Unnamed alien gladiator

Other Characters:

• "Titans", "ancient giants", "elder gods" (Referenced)
  • Black Winter (Referenced)
  • God Tempest (Behind the scenes)
  • King in Black (Knull) (Referenced)
  • Phoenix (Referenced)
• Thor (Jane Foster) (Only in recap)
• Mangog (Only in recap)
• Beta Ray Bill (Mentioned)
• Bor (Mentioned)
• God of Hammers (Mentioned)
• Angela (Aldrif Odinsdottir) (Mentioned)

Races and Species:

• "Titans", "ancient giants", "elder gods" (Referenced)
• Dinosaurs
• Pterosaurs
• Dwarves of Nidavellir (Only in flashback)
• Asgardians (Main story and flashback)
• Unidentified alien species
• Valraven

Locations:

• Ten Realms
  • Asgard (Main story and flashback)
    • Nidavellir (Main story and flashback)
      • Furnaces of Nidavellir (Main story and flashback)
        • Godmaker (Main story and flashback)
    • City of Asgard
      • Bifrost
• Black Hand of God (First appearance)

Items:

• Mjolnir (Main story and flashback)
• Hofund

Events:

• War of the Realms (Referenced)

Synopsis for "God of Hammers - Part One"

In the ancient past, the cosmos was a battleground between warring Elder Gods like the King in Black, Black Winter, God Tempest, and the Phoenix; beings capable of casually annihilating entire solar systems in their wrath. In a brawl between two such warring elder gods, one grabbed a moon made of Uru and bludgeoned the other across its face. Chunks of the moon were scattered across the cosmos, one of which annihilated a planet populated by alien dinosaurs. A smaller fragment of the moon made its way to Nidavellir, where it was found by the dwarves and eventually forged into Mjolnir for All-Father Odin of Asgard, who sealed the God Tempest within it when it threatened Asgard. Millennia later, Jane Foster -- as the Mighty Thor -- used Mjolnir to hurl the godlike dark entity Mangog into the Sun. Only a small fragment of Mjolnir survived, but during the War of the Realms the divine hammer was reforged from the Sun's flames and the divine power of the God Tempest and Yggdrasill at the behest of Thor Odinson.

In the present, Thor strides down the Bifrost towards Sif and tells her that Mjolnir has been stolen, ordering her to show him who the thief is. Sif hesitantly replies that she cannot see the thief, Thor angrily demanding to know how that's possible. Sif questions whether Thor should really be hunting down someone powerful enough to steal Mjolnir and evade her sight, informing him that Beta Ray Bill has returned to fulfil his duty as Asgard's Minister of War. When Sif bluntly accuses him of neglecting his duty as king, saying there are matters in Asgard that require his attention Thor informs her that he found a book called the Great Tome of Kings, which contains a prophecy wherein Asgard is brought to ruin by Mjolnir wielded by a being known as the "God of Hammers", who will kill the Golden King of Asgard. Thor tells Sif to take care of the matters in Asgard that require his attention, angrily threatening to take Hofund from her if she protests. Sif relents, and Thor tells her to send him to where his father is.

At the Black Hand of God -- a gladiator arena made from the severed hand of an elder god reputedly slain by Knull billions of years ago -- Odin Borson battles an alien warrior who surpasses even him in strength. Before the alien can deal a finishing blow, Thor arrives and catches his sword before kicking him across the arena and into a wall - the crowd jeering at Odin having apparently cheated. Annoyed to see his son again, Odin nevertheless lets Thor help him up and grouses that Angela dumped him there after they'd parted ways on Vanaheim. Revealing that he already knows Mjolnir's been stolen, Odin mockingly asks why Thor thinks he'd help track it down before warning him of an oncoming attack by the alien warrior. Thor lops the alien warrior's arm off with his own sword, silencing the jeers of the crowd, and tells Odin to help him clean up his mess in return for having saved him.

Arriving at Nidavalir, Thor asks Odin - who is now clad in armor - why they have come to the realm of the the dwarves, saying he doesn't need a new weapon but to find Mjolnir before it falls into the wrong hands. Odin retorts that the dwarves can track the location of their creations across the cosmos, but falls silent with a horrified expression and tells Thor to arm himself. Approaching the entrance to the Furnaces of Nidavellir, Thor sees that the guardian Valravns have been killed before they could defend themselves. Entering the forge, Thor and Odin are horrified to see that the dwarves have been brutally slaughtered and the forge shattered. As Thor wonders who could have done this, Odin bluntly tells him to stop lying to himself and that he'd wielded the weapon responsible for over a thousand years. Thor grimly admits that he sees the truth, that the dwarves were killed by someone wielding the stolen Mjolnir.

Solicit Synopsis

See Also

• 8 image(s) from Thor Vol 6 19
• 3 reprint(s) of Thor Vol 6 19

Links and References

References