I’m not sure I agree Loki ever really wanted the/a throne, even after he discovered his entire life was a lie. The throne is more a symbol or a means to achieve what Loki actually wants at any given moment.
In the latter half of Thor, that’s acceptance and validation from Odin. He works so hard to keep Thor away because, as regent, Loki has the power to defeat the Frost Giants without costing Asgard anything. He thinks that defeating this enemy will prove he’s worthy, and that he belongs on Asgard. That he’s not one of those monsters…
In Avengers, Loki says he wants to rule Midgard, but it seems far more likely that he’s trying to hurt Thor, embarrass Odin, and above all free himself from Thanos. Others will argue that Loki’s trying to lose. Either way, he doesn’t actually want to rule Midgard. At the same time, this is when he begins repeating that he was the rightful King of Asgard, that he was promised a throne, etc. But, again, it’s not the throne Loki cares about, it’s the injustice of being promised something no one ever had any intention of giving him. Being promised his father’s approval, his people’s acceptance, worthiness (or the opportunity to receive it, at least), only to discover that what you are is entirely incompatible with everything you ever wanted. So he harps on about a throne–about that part of the lie–because it allows him to appear detached. He’s much less vulnerable demanding power than he is demanding acceptance, especially when he doesn’t even believe he’s worthy of that acceptance (internalized racism is a bitch).
The deleted scene from TDW contributes to that idea. The fantasy isn’t about ruling or holding power, it’s about the people celebrating him (the way they do Thor). It’s about being worthy. Loki does get the throne again at the end of TDW, but he usurps it because he wants freedom and safety, and he can get that by masquerading as Odin. And even then he offers it to Thor. He might have anticipated that Thor would reject, but he still offered the choice.
No, I don’t
agree with it. This is the trope that TR was trying to maintain by retconning
all the previous canon in the franchise. Thor has never been a love martyr(except maybe once)
because:
1. Thor is
not the perfect and blameless angel who loves his completely evil brother. Thor
and Loki are both flawed characters and their relationship has been on the rocks because they both hurt each other and never actually talked about it.
2. Unlike
what Thor thinks, most of Loki’s horrible actions wasn’t about hurting Thor.
3. It didn’t
take a long time until Ragnarok for Thor to give up on Loki. Thor gave up on him
in Avengers.
Let’s discuss
these points in more details:
Thor starts
his journey as an arrogant warmonger prince. He is the golden child of his
realm and Loki is his shadow. No one respects Loki or take him seriously the
way they respect Thor. Not guards, not Heimdall, not Thors’ friends and not
even servants. The way Thor treated Loki certainly had an effect on Loki’s
situation(aside from other cultural aspects). Thor doesn’t respect Loki: “Enough!”,
“Know your place brother!”, “Some do battles, other do tricks”.
He doesn’t even look at Loki, when Loki speaks with him. The way Loki reacts
after these mistreatments doesn’t show his surprise, it shows that he’s used to
them. Despite all of this, Loki still cares about Thor and Loves him: “You are
my brother and my friend. Sometimes I’m envious but never doubt that I love you”.
Sabotaging
Thor’s coronation was not a betrayal to Thor. Loki knew that Thor wasn’t fit to be a king yet, and
he tried to stop it. Just like Thor tried to take the throne from Hela, who was
the rightful heir, because she wasn’t suitable for the job.
I always
think the worst thing that Loki has ever done to Thor is lying to him when Thor
was in SHIELD when he was already down after failing to lift Mjolnir. Thor’s “Can
I come home?” and his tears always break my heart.
Now the
paragraph says that Loki tried to kill Thor at least twice! No, Loki almost
killed him once with the destroyer. But that was it. In their fight on the
Bifrost he only tried to stop Thor and stall him so he can destroy Jotunheim.
After that Loki never tried to kill Thor. He dropped Thor in the Hellicarrier
because he knew if Mjolnir could crack that glass, it could also break it. He
was never surprised that Thor showed up later. And don’t tell me him stabbing
Thor with that tiny dagger was an attempt on Thor’s life.
Loki trying
to commit genocide on Jotunhim wasn’t about hurting Thor, it was about proving
his worthiness to Odin. Loki killed Coulson mostly because he was in his way
and he was threatening Loki with a destroyer gun. But faking his death to usurp Odin? Really?
*sighs* Loki’s illusions are not solid unless it’s on the person. So Loki
getting stabbed by Kursed wasn’t an illusion. He was really stabbed through
the chest to save Thor. He had no way of knowing what would happen when he attacked
Kursed. This wasn’t planned. And he couldn’t know that he would survive it. So
after he survived he didn’t tell Thor because Thor promised he would return
Loki to his cell. Usurping the throne from Odin had nothing to do with Thor.
Again it wasn’t about hurting Thor. It was about getting his revenge on Odin
for sentencing him to solitary confinement for life and all the other awful
things he’d done. Then Loki as Odin offered the throne to Thor. Loki even asked him to confirm
that it was really what Thor wanted and wasn’t Jane’s wish. None of the things
that the paragraph mentioned was an act of betrayal against Thor. So the line
that Thor says in TR: “I trust you, you betray me. Round and round in
circles we go” is not true.
Now let’s
talk about Thor giving up on Loki and the only situation that love martyr trope can be applied to him. When he found Loki on Earth, first he asked
about Tesseract, then he said Loki’s grievances were imagined slights and then threatened
him. He once again tried to reason with Loki on the Stark Tower and was stabbed
for it. That was the last time Thor ever tried to talk to Loki. That was when
he gave up on Loki. It was obvious that Thor had forgiven Loki after everything Loki did to him in the first Thor movie and still wanted Loki to go home. He made mistakes when he was talking to Loki, but imo forgiving Loki after the way he lied to him and almost killed him was a big deal and that makes Thor a love martyr. But then Thor gives up on Loki after he is stabbed. And that’s the end of him being in the love martyr trope. He never visited Loki when Loki was imprisoned. Not even to
tell him that their mother was dead. Even when he went to Loki for help, Thor
treated Loki like a stolen relic(“locked away here until you may have use of
me”): “I did not come here to share our grief” “I grant it to
you, vengeance, and after this cell”.
Thor and
Loki both loved and cared about each other despite the fact that the other one
hurt them. But Thor is not a love martyr. He never tried to talk to Loki and
understand him about his just grievances. He never asked Loki what happened to
him after he let go. He also made mistakes. He is not blameless in all of this.
And I just talked about the Thor we saw in every movie except TR. Because TR
Thor is very ooc and he constantly dismisses Loki and his pain. In other movies Thor simply doesn’t understand Loki. In TR he just doesn’t care to understand despite Loki trying to explain to him and trying to find a common ground with Thor. What Thor does in TR is a disgusting reverse psychology method, not giving up on Loki. Because “you’re late” implies that Thor knew Loki would come. So imo that paragraph in TV tropes page got it all wrong.
what else can loki lay claim to that thor doesn’t already have?
Oh, interesting.
Of course, for every secret there’s a reason. It’s irrelevant to Thor. It would burden Thor to know. It would only cause Thor pain. And there’s truth in all of those reasons.
But he also just wants the luxury of being the sole possessor of certain experiences or pieces of knowledge, particularly, I imagine, if those secrets are deeply personal.
Somewhere on the Statesman in the land of Infinity War was a Fever Dream…
It had been the seventh time that evening.
Seven times now where Thor heard screaming from next door, seven times now where had Thor shaken his brother, a sweating, shaking mess awake.
After realizing each time he wasn’t being subjected to whatever horrors his dreams held, Loki always did his best to attempt to string together a composure.
“I’m fine.”
“I thought you were good at lying, brother,” Thor replied as he sat down on his bed next to his very annoyed looking adopted sibling, “Unfortunately, your dreams are betraying you. Loudly.”
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)
Loki is the Philosopher King 