dictionarywrites:

honestly, guys, thor and loki have been told all their lives that they are equals, but there’s no point in saying “you kids are equal” when all of your behaviour exhbits the contrary. 

of course thor thinks loki’s “place” is beneath him. of course he assumes the worst of him – that’s what he’s learned to do, all his life, from odin. of course he doesn’t know how to communicate with his brother, or ask questions about his feelings – where would he learn that behaviour? who would teach him? of course he’s arrogant: he grew up knowing he would be king, and being told it was his right.

of course loki feels trapped on asgard. of course he wants to show up the hypocrisy that surrounds him. of course he wants to be seen, at the most basic level, as a person of equal value to his brother, who he’s been told all his life he is equal to, and who has been shown all his life he is not. of course he’s terrified to be revealed as a jotunn, when he is already plagued by a sense of inexplicable rejection. of course he’s scared, and of course he lies. how can you do anything but lie, when everybody around you does nothing but lie to you?

healthy, stable relationships with strong communication do not, in fact, just spring from the ether, ready-formed. if you have been taught your whole life to act a certain way, and have no conception of an alternative, it’s going to be impossible for you to break out of it until somebody else, outside that cycle, points it out to you – whether sb close to you, or whether you read like, an article or hear a radio snippet about building good relationships.

thor and loki exist with a big chasm between them, and they both want a bridge, but neither of them have the tools to build it. these things are not instinctive! they are hard!