Do you think that Thor realizes that he was abused by Odin? His opinion on Odin doesn’t seem to be as high as it used to be, but he still seems to admire him. Do you think that he has any idea how much his father really damaged him and Loki? I feel like he still thinks his father was a great man, despite his faults.

icyxmischief:

//Absolutely not.  I don’t think Thor consciously realizes it at all, and I doubt he ever will.  It can be difficult for the child of abuse in any form to acknowledge as an adult that the parent figure they (and in this case their whole culture) admired (even in this case revered) was toxic.  This often leads to misplaced feelings of shame, vulnerability, and guilt.  Especially in Asgard, which has a no-tolerance policy for the “weakness” of mental illness (and no modern concept thereof).  You literally battle away your feelings there; the lifespans are so long that certain social customs remain antiquated.

When I used to volunteer as a mentor-tutor for underprivileged children, and when I took developmental psychology courses, one of the most striking things I noticed was that children of abuse of varying forms, physical, sexual, or emotional/psychological, are often tremendously DEFENSIVE of the abusing parent.  For instance, the children of parents who use corporal punishment are often, as adults, the people who fly into a genuine fury at child advocates who say that spanking is abusive.  

For Thor to acknowledge Odin abused him, he must acknowledge that every value and principle for which he stands, that derived from Odin–even parts of Thor’s personality–were faulty.  This would mean the exhausting work of reinventing HIMSELF, too.  

This, I think, is exactly why Thor still refuses to fully acknowledge that Loki was also abused, and that Odin’s abuse is partially responsible for Loki’s wildly misguided behavior.  Even as of Ragnarok, Thor sees Loki’s mistakes as 100% of Loki’s own volition, and while LOKI ALONE is to blame for Loki’s actions, it makes a great deal of difference when you acknowledge that Odin’s messed up parenting originates a lot of Thor and Loki’s misunderstandings, as well as Loki’s desperate attempt to emulate and please their father.  

It’s, cognitively and emotionally speaking, easier to blame Loki, because Loki has always been something of a misfit in the family structure.  Loki also has less emotional power over Thor as a sibling than Odin has as a father, both personal and cultural.  It’s a horrible irony that Odin’s abuse of Loki is perpetuated by Thor’s unwillingness to see that abuse, IN GOOD PART BECAUSE ODIN HAS ALWAYS KEPT THOR SO CLOSELY IN ODIN’S SHADOW, AND DENIED THOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO THINK FOR HIMSELF.  One of the best examples of this is in The Dark World, when Odin treats Jane Foster, Thor’s beloved, like a literal animal, and earlier, tells him he should marry Sif instead.  

This only changes SLIGHTLY near the end of Ragnarok, with the “what are you, Thor, God of Hammers?” speech.  

It’s all very sad. I wish Thor had been able to say, “You know, I loved our father, but he was fucked up, and SOME stuff wasn’t actually your fault” to Loki before Loki died.  I thought for sure he would in The Dark World, when Odin literally ordered him KILLED for treason, but Thor remains way more willing to forgive Odin because Odin has Thor in an almost Stockholm Syndrome deadlock, even post-mortem.  

Literally the only time Odin ever let Thor do what Thor wanted was when Odin was actually Loki in disguise.