War of the Realms

War of the Realms
Name	War of the Realms}
Reality and Participants
Protagonists	Thor Odinson Avengers, Defenders, Doctor Strange, Fantastic Four, Jane Foster, Odin, Okoye, Sif, Spider-Man, Valkyrie, Venom, Wolverine King Thor
Antagonists	Malekith the Accursed King Loki All-Black Symbiote
Publication Details
Creators	Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman, Matthew Wilson
First	Unknown
First	Unknown

Synopsis

Background

Following the return of the Dark Elf Malekith from imprisonment, he ignited a civil war in his homeworld of Svartalfheim and emerged crowned as king. Malekith additionally began assembling a league of allies from across the Ten Realms, eventually forming the Dark Council which included among its ranks Dario Agger, King Laufey and Loki.

Malekith first announced the beginning of the War of the Realms when he declared war against Alfheim, home of the Light Elves. Malekith slaughtered countless of Light Elves and marched towards Ljosalfgard. Complying to ancient treaties, the Dwarves of Nidavellir agreed to welcome Light Elf refugees into their land. While Thor (Jane Foster) assisted the Light Elves in fighting the invading forces, Queen Aelsa held a meeting with Malekith to negotiate peace. The Dark Elf King had her brainwashed with magic and forced to take his hand in marriage to unify the Light and the Dark Elves. Following the marriage, Aelsa snapped out of the brainwashing, but before she could take action, she was imprisoned in her own dungeons.

The Dark Elves proceeded to raze Afheim and consume its resources over the following months. When the League of Realms traveled to Alfheim to rescue Queen Aelsa, Malekith set in motion his plan to burn down Alfheim after having determined the realm outlived its usefulness. After starting a fire, Malekith attempted to murder Queen Aelsa. While she was plummeting to her death, Aelsa was saved by Mjolnir and taken to safety. Thor subsequently cast a storm to extinguish the flames, but most of Ljosalfgard had already burned down.

In order to keep the Asgardians and Thor occupied, Malekith had Loki goad the Shi'ar deities K'ythri and Sharra into challenging the Goddess of Thunder in a contest of godhood, resulting in the brief Asgardian/Shi'ar War. K'ythiri and Sharra were eventually defeated, but their actions brought the Mangog back. After allying himself with the Queen of Cinders of Muspelheim, Malekith had his new-found allies attack Nidavellir, in an invasion overseen by Amora the Enchantress and Ulik. The Asgardian Volstagg was traumatized after Fire Demons murdered a group of Light Elf children under his protection, and he was sought by the Mjolnir of an alternate universe. As the War Thor, Volstagg slaughtered the Muspel forces in Nivadellir and retaliated against the Queen of Cinders. When innocent Fire Demons were caught in the War Thor's rampage, Thor saw herself forced to stop him. During their battle, the two Thors were transported to Svartalfheim, and War Thor attempted to lay waste to it. As Jane Foster, Thor convinced Volstagg to forfeit the hammer and his quest for revenge.

In the aftermath of the War of the Thors, Malekith and his allies continued moving. Roxxon invaded Vanaheim, Muspelheim invaded Niffleheim, and Malekith himself approached the Queen of Angels of Heven to propose an alliance. The Nornkeep was shortly afterwards attacke by a composite army of the forces of all the realms allied with Malekith. The Norns sought help from Odinson, but he failed to prevent the death of the Norn Queen Karnilla. Before meeting her end, Karnilla had the Norns divide their forces into three and flee to hide and protect them.

When Mangog attacked the Old Asgard, Malekith directed it to Asgardia, the latest home of the Asgardians where Odin Borson ruled with an isolationist iron fist. During this time, a war brewed between the giants of Jotunheim, in which Storm and Mountain Giants joined forces against the Frost Giants, who were allied with Malekith. Additionally, Ulik and the Rock Trolls attacked the forges of Nidavellir. Thor sought help from Hercules, who agreed to ask Zeus for the intervention of the Gods of Olympus.

Following an arduous battle, the Mangog was killed, though at the cost of Jane Foster's ability to transform into Thor since Mjolnir was destroyed. Asgardia was also destroyed in the process, forcing the Asgardians to relocate to Old Asgard. After Jane's fall, she convinced Odinson to gather the strength to step up, reclaim the mantle of Thor and continue fighting the War of the Realms on her behalf.

The war on Niffleheim marched on, and the forces of King Balder were overpowered. Balder was reunited with his brothers Thor and Loki, who telepoted to Niffleheim to put an end to Malektih's plans. Tyr tricked Balder and his allies into liberating Hela, who was being returned to Hel as a prisoner of the Queen of Cinders. Loki convinced Balder and Hela to marry despite their enmity for tactical purposes to unite the realm against Sindr. The ceremony was interrupted by Thanos, with whom Hela had been allied once, but he made an appearance solely to cut his ties with her and leave. Sindr's forces attacked, and Balder was defeated by Gar-Toom, one of Niffleheim's chieftains who had decided to pledge allegiance to Sindr. The cavalry arrived in the form of the Einherjar and the Valkyrior, whom Thor had gone to recruit in the meantime. Thor successfully forced Sindr and her forces to retreat back to Muspelheim.

Issues

War of the Realms #1

War of the Realms #2

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War of the Realms #4

War of the Realms #5

War of the Realms #6

Notes

• The War of the Realms as an in-universe event began in 2015's Mighty Thor (Vol. 2) #1. The War of the Realms as an editorial event focuses of the developments surrounding Midgard's entry into the war. This page documents the War of the Realms in its entirety, including the events before Midgard's entry into the conflict as background information.

See Also

• 15 minor appearance(s) of War of the Realms
• 68 mention(s) of War of the Realms
• 1 image(s) of War of the Realms
• 114 article(s) related to War of the Realms