Tag: my fanfiction

I just want to ask if your ask-page title is a Nietzsche quote (I’m pretty sure it is, but I can’t remember from where). Also, currently I am rereading the Gay Science and Beyond Good and Evil, and I really miss your philosophy-centric works in the past. They are amazing, and I say this after reading countless fan fiction. (p.s. After reading the plot of Thor Ragnarok, I feel so upset that I didn’t see the movie even though I have been waiting for it for a long time. Should I see it?)

I had to check to see what the title of my ask page was, because I set it a while ago… and it was exactly what I suspected it might be. (“What questions has this will to truth not laid before us! What strange, wicked, questionable questions!”)  Yes, it is a Nietzsche quote, from section 1 of Beyond Good and Evil. Are/were you a philosophy student yourself?

When you say you “miss” my philosophical fanfiction, do you mean you wish I would write more of it? Yeah, I kind of wish I would too; I’ve just been really depressed about the fact that I’ve applied for more than 60 jobs over the past 6 months but I still don’t know where I’m going to be next year or how I will be making money, and my creativity seems to have fizzled out. Maybe it’ll get better if I actually get a job? Or maybe Infinity War will inspire me? (I’m seeing it in 2.5 hours… AAAAHHHH!!!) I guess if you’re missing the philosophy porn, you can always reread what’s already posted…

Should you see Ragnarok…? Interesting question. It might be worthwhile to form your own opinion about it. If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I am extremely critical of it, not so much because of the plot (though of course there are some plot elements that infuriate me) as because of the way it botched the characterization of Thor, Loki, and Bruce Banner. The way I (and a community of like-minded folks) understand it, it maliciously mocks the elements of pathos and character depth in the previous movies and the fans who love them. There are, of course, fans who disagree, and you might understand it differently if you watched it. But if you were that pissed off just reading the plot summary, I suspect you’ll come to the same conclusion I did.

well…WHAT WAS THE OPERA???

I went with Richard Strauss’s Elektra because (1) I couldn’t determine that it wasn’t on in April 2012, (2) it was short enough that it could have played before a late-evening gala event, and (3) it’s about a family that’s arguably even more dysfunctional than Loki’s.

(The unfinished fic, probably soon to be rendered canon-non-compliant by Infinity War, is here.)

OK, that answers my question about what was going on with the Ben & Jerry’s joke…

More importantly, though, Bruce Banner’s wording is interesting: “He sent Loki.” One possible interpretation of what was going on in The Avengers was that Loki wanted to invade and rule Earth anyway, and Thanos offered to help him in exchange for the Tesseract. Bruce’s wording, if it’s deliberately chosen (rather than just being imprecise), suggests that instead, Thanos was the one who chose the target because Earth was where the Space Stone was. Incidentally, that’s consistent with my fanfictional account of how things went down…

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

foundlingmother:

philosopherking1887:

buckeed:

Thor: The Dark World || Thor: Ragnarok

#this is an interesting difference between the brothers#thor refuses the even give loki an answer#and only comes to loki because he needs him for the plan#loki comes and shares their grief#and offers to help thor#despite him being unnecessary for loki’s plan#thor loves loki#i don’t dispute it#i think he works really hard to stay mad at loki#and he tries really hard in avengers to bring loki back#but he also sometimes acts like a massive thoughtless dick to loki#and i think it’s that same malformed view of loki that i’ve spoken of#thor conceptualizes loki as a bad person who needs to be fixed or managed#and it’s much more complicated than that#and he’s going to feel horrible about everything#when he realizes that (via @foundlingmother)

I think the relevant difference between these two scenes is that in the first, Thor is still hurt and bewildered and angry at Loki over what happened in The Avengers (and probably toward the end of Thor 1, too), while in the second, Loki isn’t shown as having any particular reason to be mad at Thor. (He probably should be mad at Thor for blowing his cover and potentially allowing Thanos to discover where he is, but the movie doesn’t even acknowledge that as a reason why Loki was pretending to be Odin. Or any reason other than “mischief, hur hur.”)

Maybe there is more continuity between Thor’s thoughtlessness toward Loki in earlier movies and in Ragnarok than I’ve acknowledged, but earlier on it seems more complex and well-motivated.

I don’t think I would say that Thor consistently “conceptualizes Loki as a bad person who needs to be fixed or managed” before Ragnarok.

Thor’s callousness in TDW seems put-on, deliberate, and painful even for him; in Ragnarok it’s just a matter of course.

In my experience hurt doesn’t work that way. They’ve never dealt with their issues, so I’m pretty sure it’s all festering. I think they’d both still be holding on to a lot of pain that relates to one another (and Odin, that gets attached to one another unfairly). 

You know, I think that brings up something I hadn’t considered. Maybe the problem with how Thor acts towards Loki in Ragnarok isn’t the actions (at least most of the time *glances at that one scene that is too ooc*) or words themselves, but the feeling behind it. See, what I mean when I say that Thor sees Loki as a bad person, I think it’s, 1. pretty forced on his part and something he has to keep reminding himself of, and 2. something he sees as a new and hopefully temporary (though he tries not to hope) insanity Loki’s experiencing. It’s painful for him how far he feels Loki’s fallen, and he wants his brother back.

Ragnarok just kind of makes him mad at Loki, and you don’t feel the love that’s tangible even under the anger in the previous Thor movies and Avengers. 

Honestly, I don’t feel like I can take any of Loki’s (or Thor’s) actions in Ragnarok to shed light on preexisting aspects of their character. Would Loki share Thor’s grief even while being (justifiably) mad at him? I think so, but Ragnarok is just so blatantly OOC all the time that I don’t think it counts as evidence in favor. Rather, the evidence is that throughout his three movies, Loki never disregards or dismisses Thor’s feelings. He’s very attentive to them, whether he wants to flatter him, soothe him, provoke him, or outright wound him.

Of course I think Loki has a lot of reasons to still be pissed at Thor, but Ragnarok doesn’t frame it that way. It presents all of Loki’s grudges and resentments as childish and insignificant, things he just needs to grow up and get over. So the scene doesn’t present him as comforting Thor in spite of his hurt and anger; it presents him as trying to mend fences when Thor is still (justifiably, yes, but not as righteously as the movie makes out) pissed at him.

Your last point – “Ragnarok just kind of makes him mad at Loki, and you don’t feel the love that’s tangible even under the anger in the previous Thor movies and Avengers” – seems exactly right. Some of it surely is the words and actions themselves (it’s hard to believe he would say or do some of those things to someone he loves), but a lot of it is also the affect. Thor consistently has an air of “done with Loki’s shit” that’s supposed to show that he’s wised up, he has Loki’s number, he’s nobody’s fool anymore (pick your cliché), but all it says to me is that he’s given up on understanding Loki as a person and now just wants to control/manage him (as you said). And this might make sense if we were to accept Ragnarok’s retcon of Loki’s character as a capricious trickster who does bad shit just for the hell of it… but in light of the complexity of Loki’s emotions and motivations as shown in previous films, it just seems inexcusably cruel and obtuse (which also serves as an apt description for the entirety of Thor’s character in TR…).

P.S., on the subject of Thor figuring out how complicated Loki actually is, have you read my fic Starting Over, which is basically my fantasy version of Thor and Loki’s post-AOU reunion conversation (+ sex)?

Non-dirty (sorry) Thorki ficlet

philosopherking1887:

I’ve been having trouble working on my long WIPs because they’re sitting there on AO3 being all long and unfinished and it’s kind of intimidating. So I thought maybe the way to get back into writing fanfiction was with a short little Tumblr fic. And since I got a little beetle in my brain after reading something, I thought I’d try writing it up and see if I can break through the writer’s block.

Loki was gazing out at the unmoving stars through the wall-sized window in what seemed like the only empty room on the ship, probably because it seemed to have no other purpose than as a viewing platform for the unchanging scenery. He had many reasons to hate and fear this view of the endless blackness of space, but he could not afford to let them master him. So he looked out at the star-strewn dark and thought not about falling into a darker hole in the darkness, not about the dramatic backdrop behind Thanos’s massive throne on Sanctuary, but instead about all the strange worlds out there where he could have made his fortune, thrived even, if he did not feel bound to Thor… and yes, even to Asgard, which he had to admit was the closest thing he’d ever had to a home. And if Asgard was its people, then he was home now, though he could not make himself feel it.

When he heard the sound of boot-shod feet behind him, he assumed it was Thor; anyone else would probably turn around and walk away when they saw him standing here alone. So when it was Heimdall’s smooth bass, molten gold like his eyes, that said “Good evening, my prince,” Loki startled a little… though not visibly; he was careful of that.

“What do you want?” Loki said shortly, not turning.

“Only to gaze at the stars, as you do, Your Highness,” Heimdall replied, unruffled. “Why do you assume that I must want something in particular?”

Now Loki turned to fix him with an unimpressed stare. “Under present circumstances, I see no more point in dissembling. You don’t like me. You don’t trust me. Why pretend otherwise?”

Heimdall nodded slowly. “It is true that I do not entirely trust you; and you must admit that that is simple prudence, in light of my experience. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t like you.”

Loki scoffed, then turned back toward the window and didn’t grant that claim the distinction of a further response.

“Perhaps ‘like’ is putting it too strongly,” Heimdall conceded. “But I do admire you, greatly; I long have. That you found those secret pathways between the worlds, and kept them concealed from me, as young as you are—it is extraordinary.”

“Thank you…?” Loki ventured.

Keep reading

Non-dirty (sorry) Thorki ficlet

foundlingmother:

philosopherking1887:

I’ve been having trouble working on my long WIPs because they’re sitting there on AO3 being all long and unfinished and it’s kind of intimidating. So I thought maybe the way to get back into writing fanfiction was with a short little Tumblr fic. And since I got a little beetle in my brain after reading something, I thought I’d try writing it up and see if I can break through the writer’s block.

Loki was gazing out at the unmoving stars through the wall-sized window in what seemed like the only empty room on the ship, probably because it seemed to have no other purpose than as a viewing platform for the unchanging scenery. He had many reasons to hate and fear this view of the endless blackness of space, but he could not afford to let them master him. So he looked out at the star-strewn dark and thought not about falling into a darker hole in the darkness, not about the dramatic backdrop behind Thanos’s massive throne on Sanctuary, but instead about all the strange worlds out there where he could have made his fortune, thrived even, if he did not feel bound to Thor… and yes, even to Asgard, which he had to admit was the closest thing he’d ever had to a home. And if Asgard was its people, then he was home now, though he could not make himself feel it.

When he heard the sound of boot-shod feet behind him, he assumed it was Thor; anyone else would probably turn around and walk away when they saw him standing here alone. So when it was Heimdall’s smooth bass, molten gold like his eyes, that said “Good evening, my prince,” Loki startled a little… though not visibly; he was careful of that.

“What do you want?” Loki said shortly, not turning.

“Only to gaze at the stars, as you do, Your Highness,” Heimdall replied, unruffled. “Why do you assume that I must want something in particular?”

Now Loki turned to fix him with an unimpressed stare. “Under present circumstances, I see no more point in dissembling. You don’t like me. You don’t trust me. Why pretend otherwise?”

Heimdall nodded slowly. “It is true that I do not entirely trust you; and you must admit that that is simple prudence, in light of my experience. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t like you.”

Loki scoffed, then turned back toward the window and didn’t grant that claim the distinction of a further response.

“Perhaps ‘like’ is putting it too strongly,” Heimdall conceded. “But I do admire you, greatly; I long have. That you found those secret pathways between the worlds, and kept them concealed from me, as young as you are—it is extraordinary.”

“Thank you…?” Loki ventured.

Keep reading

I love fics that explore Loki and Heimdall’s relationship to one another, and you had me giggling with them coming up with a plan for Heimdall to look away. I’m curious what Thor’s reaction would be if he caught Loki drawing the rune in the air. 

Yeah, I’m not completely sure yet… I guess he could say it’s important for keeping them hidden from Heimdall? It wouldn’t entirely be a lie…

Non-dirty (sorry) Thorki ficlet

philosopherking1887:

I’ve been having trouble working on my long WIPs because they’re sitting there on AO3 being all long and unfinished and it’s kind of intimidating. So I thought maybe the way to get back into writing fanfiction was with a short little Tumblr fic. And since I got a little beetle in my brain after reading something, I thought I’d try writing it up and see if I can break through the writer’s block.

Loki was gazing out at the unmoving stars through the wall-sized window in what seemed like the only empty room on the ship, probably because it seemed to have no other purpose than as a viewing platform for the unchanging scenery. He had many reasons to hate and fear this view of the endless blackness of space, but he could not afford to let them master him. So he looked out at the star-strewn dark and thought not about falling into a darker hole in the darkness, not about the dramatic backdrop behind Thanos’s massive throne on Sanctuary, but instead about all the strange worlds out there where he could have made his fortune, thrived even, if he did not feel bound to Thor… and yes, even to Asgard, which he had to admit was the closest thing he’d ever had to a home. And if Asgard was its people, then he was home now, though he could not make himself feel it.

When he heard the sound of boot-shod feet behind him, he assumed it was Thor; anyone else would probably turn around and walk away when they saw him standing here alone. So when it was Heimdall’s smooth bass, molten gold like his eyes, that said “Good evening, my prince,” Loki startled a little… though not visibly; he was careful of that.

“What do you want?” Loki said shortly, not turning.

“Only to gaze at the stars, as you do, Your Highness,” Heimdall replied, unruffled. “Why do you assume that I must want something in particular?”

Now Loki turned to fix him with an unimpressed stare. “Under present circumstances, I see no more point in dissembling. You don’t like me. You don’t trust me. Why pretend otherwise?”

Heimdall nodded slowly. “It is true that I do not entirely trust you; and you must admit that that is simple prudence, in light of my experience. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t like you.”

Loki scoffed, then turned back toward the window and didn’t grant that claim the distinction of a further response.

“Perhaps ‘like’ is putting it too strongly,” Heimdall conceded. “But I do admire you, greatly; I long have. That you found those secret pathways between the worlds, and kept them concealed from me, as young as you are—it is extraordinary.”

“Thank you…?” Loki ventured.

Keep reading

Since I get very little uptake if I don’t tag, I’m tagging some people who seem to still be reading my shit: @angrymadsygin, @darklittlestories, @foundlingmother, @ghostxforest, @illwynd (it’s post-Ragnarok, sorry…), @stmonkeys, @writernotwaiting. Reblogs are greatly appreciated.