Aye, benevolence is the true way of the gods, not Set’s blood thirst, nor Crom’s indifference… 
- —Thor
Appearing in "What If Thor of Asgard Had Met Conan the Barbarian?"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Boars
- Crom (First appearance)
- Black Ring (First appearance)
- Thoth-Amon (First appearance; dies)
- Thoth-Amon's winged messenger
- Serpent-Folk / Snake Men
Other Characters:
- Uatu the Watcher
- Loki (First appearance)
- Storm Giants of Jotunheim
- Corinthian soldiers (First appearance; dies)
- Aesir (Mentioned)
- Mitra (Invoked)
- Unnamed cloaked figures
- Set (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth-83600 (First appearance) (Reality)
Items:
Events and Eras:
- Trojan War (Mentioned)
- Hyborian Age
Synopsis for "What If Thor of Asgard Had Met Conan the Barbarian?"
The story begins with the Watcher, recounting a tale on another earth, a different time in a different realm of a myriad of realities. The battle begins after Thor had beat the frost giants of Jotunheim. Thor followed his brother Loki into a cavern, and there was a fork in the cavern, tunnels, and Loki took one that ended up in Troy. This was the divergence from what is known in our world. Thor came into the world with his hammer, and his usual garb, but he’d lost his memory of being from Asgaard. Thor meets some men, and he is informed the land he is in is Corinthia. Conan tried to push some rocks onto the Corinthians, and Thor happened to get in the way. Conan states he has no conflict with Thor. The two of them engage in battle, and eventually Thors hammer knocks the sword out of Conan‘s hand, but Conan throws a large stone at him and knocks Thor down. They subsequently engage in hand to hand combat, and Thor throws Conan further than he’s ever been thrown before, and he won his respect, and Conan states he would no longer seek the life of Thor.
In a short time, Conan has taught Thor to rob for gold, and Thor questions whether it is right or not. Inside a tavern Thor inquires what gods, like Crom are like. Conan tells him he cares not, and does not care about the affairs of mortals. Conan says it’s better to stay silent, then to call attention to him.
Eventually, Thor talks Conan into going on a quest to seek Crom on the high mountains. In the snow, they scale the mountain, and Thor, even out claims Conan who states he’ll stay back and roast a boar that they had killed just prior. On the mountain peak, Thor finds three wraiths that point to where the throne of Crom is. When he asked who he is, Crum acknowledges that he is Thor of Asgaard at another age. Crom ask of his hammer and states that he has lost his power in this time. Thor did not want to give up his hammer Mjolnir, but Crom took it out of his hand. In this realm, Crom states that he is supreme. And that all thing are subject to his will. Thor states Crom is not like a god because he shows no mercy. He returns to Conan, he states it seems like he was only gone for minutes, but Thor states that he is a god from a different time. Conan retorts, “it seems I’ve underestimated your imagination as earlier I did your strength, friend“ Thoth-Amon looks to see if the blood sacrifices to Set has given him the hammer that was cast into the depths of the Earth by Crom. It has.
Thor and Conan now go on a quest to find where the hammer has gone. They go from city to city, and one man tells them that Thoth-Amon has it in the city of the magicians. The two of them come to a fortified castle, where they break in, and the guards confront them. In short order: Conan has slain several with the sword, Thor, realizing who he is, has sworn not to take a mortals life, and thus subdues them. They learn of the blood sacrifice about to be offered, and the two of them interrupt Thoth-Amon calling down lightning on the altar with Thor’s hammer.
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A Noble Sacrifice
In the conflict, both Thoth-Amon and Thor are eventually killed, but Thor lingers longer, and charges Conan to return his hammer to Crom, and states that in the future gods will operate with love rather than blood sacrifice and indifference. Conan climbed the mountain, but there the story ends, and the watcher says that it did not matter, because that day Conan was taking a step to become much more than a mortal man..
Notes
- Although the issue number isn't mentioned in the story, the divergent point between this universe and Earth-616 is "Thunder Over Troy.". On Earth-616, a young Thor went through the tunnels and ended up participating in the Trojan War. Here, Thor went to the tunnel on the left instead, and ended up in Ancient Hyboria instead.
- The story seems to start at the events from Conan the Barbarian #8, with Corinthian soldiers tracking Conan, who set a boulders-falling trap for them.
Trivia
- This is the only time Thor and Conan met.