As Thor brings a begrudging Odin out of cosmic retirement, the former Asgardian king reveals exactly why he relinquished the throne.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Thor #13, by Donny Cates, Nic Klein, Matt Wilson and VC’s Joe Sabino, on sale now.
Donny Cates and Nic Klein began their run on Thor, with the God of Thunder resigned to the tedium and lassitudes that came with being crowned King of Asgard after his father Odin abdicated the throne to him following the 2019 crossover event War of the Realms. Since then, Odin had gone into a self-imposed exile on the other side of the cosmos, evidently unaware of the tumultuous events that had befallen his old kingdom in his absence.
But with Thor trapped and Asgard emptied of its mightiest warriors, Odin is called back into action in Thor #13 to fix what he created, and he also reveals the personal reasons that compelled him to agree to step down from the throne in the first place.
Valkyrie discovered Odin in an intergalactic dive bar, far from the regal auspices he usually surrounded himself with as he searched for his own life’s meaning at the bottom of a bottle. After literally knocking some sense back into him, Valkyrie realizes that not only is Odin a mere shell of his former self after relinquishing the vast majority of the Odin Force to Thor upon his son’s coronation. She also realizes the real reason behind Odin’s abdication, as the broken, old man struggles to don his disused Asgardian armor to eliminate an out-of-control Donald Blake before he causes anymore havoc against those that have ever possessed the Odin Force.
It was commonly accepted that Odin abdicated the throne because of all the mayhem that the Ten Realms endured culminating in War of the Realms. Under his watch, the dark elf Malekith had cut a bloody path while Odin appeared to be more preoccupied by internal squabbles and his son being replaced by Jane Foster as the new Thor. After Mangog devastated Asgard, Malekith’s assassins struck and nearly murdered Odin before the Asgardian King was rescued by his son and contingent of superheroes from Earth. Having nearly lost Asgard and the Realms he swore to defend, Odin relinquished the throne and Odin Force to Thor before summarily disappearing.
In his latest confrontation with Jane, with the human now a powerful Valkyrie, Odin recalls that he and his wife Freyja had traveled the Realms to find the spark that kept their romance and marriage alive and enduring for millennia. The two had faced marital troubles when their son was temporarily no longer found worthy of Mjolnir and his abdication gave them the chance to focus on their relationship. Ultimately, the couple failed to reignite their romance, even without the burden of the throne impeding them, which resulted in Freyja apparently leaving Odin to his long, lost weekend in the cosmos’ seediest watering holes.
Odin’s retirement has been far from a blissful chance for the All-Father to enjoy the fruits of his labors in peace with his loving wife. Instead, Valkyrie has found Odin to have hit his absolute rock bottom in the wake of his failing marriage, while one more mess he inadvertently made is poised to doom the heart of Asgard. With nothing else to find solace in away from his birthplace, Odin is back in action and ready to face Blake after emerging from retirement. And hopefully, the Asgardian regent can find meaning to his life back in Asgard by defending the home he helped build and govern for eons as he confronts his worst creation.
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