Thor was a victim of Odin’s abuse and brainwashing too, so maybe try not to blame him for thinking Loki was beyond hope because when a parent you’ve been raised to trust tells you that, you’re inclined to believe them
“Thor was a victim of Odin’s abuse and brainwashing too”
AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Yeah, because being the golden child that everyone loves totally isthe same as being the scapegoat outcast whose father literally said his birthright was to die and then locked him in the dungeons for what was meant to be the rest of his life with no content with the outside world.
*snort*
Sure, Thor was totally abused too xD
Not all abuse follows the same pattern and no one is saying Thor was abused to the same degree as Loki was.
Let’s look at the 3rd child, Hela, because her abuse has most in common with Thor. Odin seemed to treat her well and judging from the friezes she uncovered, they seem to show she was respected by Asgard, ruling at Odin’s side. She was given the same weapon as Thor and raised to be a warmonger than Odin could unleash on his enemies.
But he had moulded her into a mass murderer. Do you doubt that doing that to a child is abusive?
It doesn’t excuse what she did, just as Loki’s abuse doesn’t excuse what he did, but it does help you understand why these things happened.
As for Thor, he basically got the Hela-lite treatment. He was raised to love war and fighting, he was even raised to be a cold-blooded killer (just look what he did on Jotunheim), just not to the same degree that Hela was.
Neither Thor and Hela were raised to have introspection, given the ability to question their actions, thoughts, or beliefs.
And when they did what they had been raised to do (wage war) but without Odin’s permission, both were banished.
None of his children were raised with their best interests at heart. Rather, they were turned into what Odin wanted them to be. He viewed them as extensions of himself that he could do what he wanted with, rather than as people in their own right.
Nothing about this is healthy parenting. Nothing about this raises well-rounded adults. He has damaged all his children via the emotional abuse used to turn them into what he wanted them to be.
Thor was able to overcome his abuse and become a wise, rounded adult (well, ish. He succeeded as long as you ignore the BS that was Ragnarok).
Although it wasn’t shown onscreen, Loki seems to have taken strides too, not to overcome the abuse perse, but to become his own person, who he wants to be rather than who Odin wanted him to be, or a rebellion against who Odin wanted him to be.
Some of Odin’s children received different kinds and different levels of abuse, but they were all abused.
The thing that really strikes me about this picture is how it’s similar to this one:
Right before Thor’s coronation.
Odin used his own daughter as no more than a weapon for his bloody wars. He was the mastermind, the brain, and Hela was the brawn. And he brought up his two sons to fit this exact image. Thor was supposed to be the symbol of Asgard’s physical power and Loki the advisor, the strategist. Thor was the brawn and Loki was the brain. It’s interesting how Hela and Thor, who were the muscles, both hold Mjolnir, a hammer. Odin holds Gungnir, a scepter and we know one of Loki’s preferred weapons is a scepter.
The kings wear red, the weapons wear green.
The weapons are on the right side of the kings.
The kings have wings on their helmet, the weapons only have horns.(Another interesting detail is how Odin’s helmet is the combination of Thor and Loki’s. He gave his wings to Thor and his horns to Loki)
It’s also another parallel that when the weapons get out of the kings’ control, they were cast out.
(As a side note I think I should mention that when I say Thor and Hela are the brawn I don’t mean they are stupid. They both are quite intelligent. I mean they are the stronger fire power and physical fights are what they are best at. Odin and Loki are both physically strong too but they are best at mind games and planning. Remember Hela told Loki “You sound like him?”. Because he does. He learned those skills from Odin)
This is such an interesting contrast in reactions between Loki and Thor with the context of Odin’s quote, because you can tell that while Loki is taken aback, shocked, and even saddened by these words, Thor is still reeling from the revelation of Hela and impending Ragnarok and it doesn’t seem like Odin’s words even really register to him.He knows and has always known that Odin loves him; he’s never been made to doubt it and he has no reason to react with anything other than the barest acknowledgement while his head is still spinning with this new truth he must face.
Loki, however, is much more preoccupied and consumed with the verbal acknowledgement of Odin’s love, and the issue of Hela is little more than a footnote to the conversation for him. He knows much better than Thor how deceptive Odin is, and while initially he’s somewhat surprised by the reveal of Hela, he’s not bowled over in astonished shock the way Thor is.
Loki expects Odin’s lies and is far more bewildered by Odin’s love, while Thor expects Odin’s love and is stunned by Odin’s lies. There’s something incredibly straightforward in that, expressed in each of their reactions, that really just drives home the dichotomy between Thor and Loki in general.
The version of Thor Ragnarok I really want is where Ragnarok happens and then Odin dies, so Hela comes out of her prison like “can’t wait to recharge my energy on Asgard where the fuck is asgard”, so instead of being the villain of the movie, she’s at best minor antagonist impotently trying to summon enough magic to do any cool shit while Thor forcibly tries sibling bonding because he’s not letting another sibling go down a dark path
“I already went down a dark path, you idiot, I was your father’s executioner, I killed millions”
“yeah but like a darker path. you know. like a recently dark path.”
“you know our new sibling’s mass murder does put my whole “““conquer earth”“““ thing in context don’t you think”
“shut up loki”
“yeah shut up loki you didn’t even succeed”
“hela you know that’s not why we’re mad about loki’s conquering scheme”
“weak lil mischief bro couldn’t even conquer midgard, a planet asgard like already conquered a billion years ago”
“don’t pick on our little brother”
“loki is a punk ass book jockey and I wish I was back in prison”
Loki is the Philosopher King 