The saddest part abut the red cape is that this is all about Thor again. This is not about Loki. He could imagine a scenario where Sif or Fandral pat his shoulder for slaying their enemies in battle with his illusions or anything else that is about appreciating what and who he is but itĀ“s not. It Ā“s about ThorĀ“s triumph. He is raising the hammer while he could present any of his own talents. We know he has enough of them but he thinks, and has learned that they wonĀ“t be appreciated. ItĀ“s not about himself and what he could have archived itĀ“s about Thor. His hammer, his throne, his friends. No one in the audience is cheering for anything āLokiā they are cheering for Thor. Loki only slipped into his clothes. His whole time living there made him think that he does not stand a chance being himself, not in Asgard and not in front of his father. Being Loki has just brought him behind bars, pretending he is like Thor takes pieces of him into freedom again. He gives people what they want and that is Thor, not him. Loki was never enough. Loki is not enough, not even in his own day dreams.
I see this analysis of it a lot, and I think that itās a fairly accurate analysis of the scene as it stands on its own, but I donāt necessarily agree with what it says about Lokiās character. Thereās a distinction to be made between wanting to be Thor and wanting to be Thorās equal, and my interpretation of Loki is that I believe him when he says he wants the latter (or wantedā¦Iām not 100% sure what Loki wants anymoreā¦probably not to get killed/tortured/used by Thanos). In the first Thor movie, Lokiās plan to impress Odin didnāt involve him becoming like Thor, but revealing to Odin the weaknesses of his bloodthirsty warrior son. Thor charges in and threatens theĀ tenuous peace between Asgard and Jotunheim. Iām not sure what Lokiās plan was after thatāI think things got a bit off track when he found out what he was and Odin took a napābut I assume he would have used his skills to put things right, one way or another.
I think the real tragedy of Loki is that he knows heās powerful, but nobody else realizes. Itās incredibly frustrating to know youāre brilliant and for nobody else to recognize it. For them to keep telling you that youāre not. Not only are you unsure of your skills, youāre unsure about what made you want to cultivate them. It can even lead to you sort of questioning your perception of reality. If nobody else agrees that Iām powerful, why do I think that? Am I deluded? Itās numerous layers of insecurity.
All that said, I could still make a case for a scene like this in the context of the movie. Loki has no hope of ever being loved in Asgard again. Yeah, now they recognize heās powerful. They realize heās a threat, and they hate him. So, I could see him indulging a fantasy of being Thor at that point. It would be much simpler for him to be Thor. I donāt think thatās always been his desire, or is even really is his desire at that point. You could argue that he sort of gets this wish. By the end of the movie, heās living as somebody else, someone that the people of Asgard respect, but is still ultimately Loki. I donāt think heās disappointed with that initially (obviously heās going to be disappointed with it eventually because Lokiās never satisfied).
My mixed-up feelings about this scene mostly have to do with what was going on in my life when it was released. Seeing gifs of it is almostĀ ātriggering,ā in a very minor way… it just gives me a little jolt of anxiety and instantly reminds me of the surrounding circumstances. In short, a close friend of mine had just had a textbook manic episode, which was clear to everyone but her. She agreed to check into a hospital, but shortly thereafter regretted it and decided that everyone else wasĀ āgaslightingā her. I started seeing Tumblr buzz about the scene while I was in class, so I obviously couldnāt watch it then, but I took a moment to watch it while I was in my friendās apartment gathering some clothes to bring to her at the hospital.
I couldnāt help but read some of the symptoms of bipolar disorder into Loki, especially as this scene made him out. I donāt usually do anything with that in my fics; like a lot of other writers, I write Loki with my own set of mental health issues (basically, unipolar depression and anxiety), because itās what I know. But I wonder sometimes if bipolar would be a better diagnosis, given his actions in canon. Maybe his breakdown in the first Thor movie is his first manic episode; it can manifest in early adulthood after masquerading as unipolar depression in adolescence, as it did with my friend. The urge to dwell in self-aggrandizing illusion shown in this scene doesnāt fit comfortably with how I usually portray Lokiās psychology; thatās another reason I tend to ignore it, besides the troubling associations. And I have no idea how to write mania from the inside.
@raven-brings-light, I thought he was saying he did it for Frigga and Thor (because he did intervene to save Thor), which is whyĀ āI didnāt do it for himā is so appropriate. It both echoes and inverts theĀ āI could have done it, Father! I could have done it! For you. For all of us,ā line from the end ofĀ Thor: theĀ āfor all of usā bit is still there (i.e., for his family), but instead ofĀ āfor all of us, especially Odin,ā itāsĀ āfor all of us (you) except Odin.ā
Or, you know, you can just do as the Russians did and make it really Thorki-ish š
Loki is the Philosopher King 