Thor #299: Review

Sep 1980

Ralph Macchio, Chic Stone

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Story Name:

Passions and Potions

Review & Comments

Rating:

Thor #299 Review by Peter Silvestro (October 14, 2019)

Review: A treacherous soap opera is what we have this issue and it’s the kind where nobody lives happily ever after. Thomas, Pollard, and Stone do a good job of cramming the complicated story into 18 pages and still include a couple of action scenes. Well, the big deal comes next time in issue #300 and we’re almost out of the Eternals Saga (even though it’s been quite some time since we’ve seen an Eternal).

Comments: Part seventeen of the Eternals Saga which spans issues #283-301.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thor #299 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

The Eye of Odin continues its synopsis of the Ring Cycle as Thor grows impatient….

Having pledged their love, ex-Valkyrie Brunnhilda encourages Siegfried to go forth and seek his destiny while she remains atop the mountain; she bestows on him the gift of invulnerability: no one can harm him in battle unless Sieg turns his back on his enemy. Sieg gives Brun the Ring of the Nibelung as a pledge and he descends the mountain and rides off on Grane, Brun’s ex-winged horse….

Further downstream lies the stronghold of the Gibichung Clan: Lord Gunther and his sister Gutruna sit in state, listening to their half-brother Hagen (whose father was the evil dwarf Alberich seen in past issues). They are unaware that their sib is a villain as he outlines a scheme to gain the royal couple spouses. Gunther can marry Brunnhilda and Gutruna shall wed Siegfried and Hagen has a magic love potion that can capture the two. At this point, Siegfried arrives and fights a handful of guards to enter the castle where Hagen tell him it was a test to see if he was the real Siegfried. He is brought before the royals and given the potion to drink, whereupon he falls for Gutruna. Gunther offers to allow Sieg to wed Gutruna if he can retrieve Brunnhilda from the fiery mountain and they swear a blood oath upon it. Hagen informs Sieg that the helmet he took from the Rheingold is a magic one that allows him to change his appearance at will (and he reveals to the reader his plot to get his hands on the ring and rule the world, a plan approved by a vision of his father Alberich)….

Meanwhile on the fiery mount, Valtrauta, Brun’s sister comes to warn her about the curse on the ring Sieg gave her but Brun won’t listen as it came from her beloved. Then Sieg arrives, magically transformed into Gunther and he carries Brun off and returns to the castle. The whole clan gathers for the double wedding but Brunnhilda balks and pleads with Siegfried to tell the truth. Confusion ensues in which Gunther comes to believe Sieg had his way with Brun the night before and orders his guards to kill the betrayer. With the sword Needful in hand, the hero slashes his way through the assembled guards wreaking havoc—and then Brun lets slip that Sieg can only be harmed from the back. Denouncing her brother for his trick with the love potion, Gutruna calls a truce and intends to go through with her marriage to Siegfried. Hagen suggests to Gunther that a) the love potion will make Brunnhilda fall for him and b) Siegfried must die….

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