Like goddamn I really made myself upset thinking about how the entire trajectory of Loki’s arc could have been altered if Odin and Frigga had been slightly more comfortable expressing verbal and physical affection? As in, expressing it at all?
NOT GOOD ENOUGH PLS TRY AGAIN
God look at his face, this is the face of someone who is confident that he is loved by his family. A+ parenting, no hugs required.
*kicks down door of my own post*
AND ANOTHER THING.
God just. Look at how blank his face is. How he’s hiding all the fear and turmoil and anger he unleashed on Odin. He doesn’t trust her anymore, after such a huge betrayal. How can he? But he’s also probably afraid of pushing her away by being angry at her, so he just shoves it all down. What the fuck kind of damage does it do to be betrayed by someone so close to you, but they’re still basically the entirety of your emotional support system? Ugh still crying about Thor 2k18.
This clip. Is one of my favorite Loki moments of all time.
Because as crazy as he’s gone since, we have to remember that Loki used to be the sane one. Like, the only sane guy in the room. Even at his schemiest (totes a word, shut up) and most mischievous, he was the smart one, the quiet one, the one who just really wished Thor would NOT.
And you know what they say about the quiet ones, when they finally do snap…
Never forget facepalming Loki. He’s still in there, somewhere. We hope.
SHIT. I hadn’t consciously made the connection between the fact that Loki is always overlooked and ignored when he speaks and the fact that he’s put in that muzzle at the end of Avengers. I always thought that bit was a link to the bit from Norse mythology where he had his mouth sewn up as punishment for teasing some dude (details elude me right now).
I feel like this entire phenomenon of “SHUT UP LOKI NOBODY WANTS TO LISTEN TO YOU”, besides the sort of mean chuckle at his expense that makes me feel guilty, is fascinating. With giant angst potential that explains a lot about how Loki looks at himself and why he snaps.
No, seriously. Imagine that this sort of thing has been going on for hundreds or thousands of years. Whenever Loki opens his mouth to speak, or share an opinion, or make a suggestion, or voice an objection, there’s a good chance he’ll basically get told he’s insignificant or irrelevant or reprehensible or just flat out wrong. Stop talking. Yeah, he’s a manipulative little shit, but seriously. His words are his biggest source of power. He’s not an up front fighter—his forte lies through persuasion and the ability to reason people into the decisions that suit him. And he’s perpetually being told “YOUR ABILITIES ARE WORTHLESS, GTFO WE DON’T WANT YOU”. So even the thing he thought he was good at is being undermined.
Extra bonus points if you incorporate canon mythology and the “sew his lips up” punishment. I mean just DAMN. Physical pain and the approval of his father in that sentence aside, that literally, physically denies his right to assert or defend himself. He completely loses his voice. He’s basically having it hammered home that people would rather not hear him at all, would rather pretend he’s not there, and he can’t even count on his family to disagree.
It’s just unbelievably fucked up.
(Addendum: he had his mouth sewn shut for making a fraudulent bargain with some dwarves.)
This scene to me is maybe Loki’s most tragic moment in the movies. Because it’s one of the few times we see Loki entirely alone, not putting on a show or lying to anyone, so his panic and heartbreak are real. And he reaches out to Odin – and it’s the reaching out that gets me, that moment where Loki hesitates to touch him – and then he when does dare touch, he almost immediately pulls his hand away, and maybe it’s just shock, but also – Loki was just holding the Casket, has just found out what he is; and he knows what a frost giant’s touch does to Aesir. He’s scared to touch his father, scared that he might freeze him, hurt him further.
(The original script had him holding Odin, but this – this says so much about Loki, about what scares him, how frightened he is of his own self, and what damage he can do…)
Loki is the Philosopher King 