Today we'll talk about this bi-disaster diva
Soooooooooooooooo I have not seen this take before but hear me out.
It’s been made pretty clear that Loki in Thor 1 was basically a young adult by Asgardian standards, like late teens to early 20s in human maturity terms. Asgardians age slowly, so by the end of Infinity War, he’s honestly not THAT much older mentally. And even if you disagree with that, the Loki series literally resets us back to 2012 Avengers Loki hence he's the same emotional mess of a disaster man. My boy is basically going through the universe’s worst teen-to-adult breakdown and handling it catastrophically.
Tom Hiddleston aging gracefully distracts us from the fact that THIS.......
is the guy the Avengers were beating the hell out of in New York. THIS is the guy Thanos strangled.
And mentally? Loki is so obviously not okay. You can see it in everything he does. He’s intelligent, emotionally perceptive, mature in some ways far beyond his age but that’s what happens when you grow up neglected. Yes, he was loved. Obviously he was loved. But love does not magically heal insecurity when that insecurity is constantly reinforced. Imagine growing up with:
1. A father who openly treats your older brother as the “better” son.
2. A brother who gets praised for recklessness while you get judged for every mistake.
3. A mother who loves you deeply but mostly comforts you after the damage is already done.
Let me explain. Loki is fucked up. He has done so many cruel things. This is not to diminish his crime but to understand his brain fart decision making skill. Becquse he's obliviously smart.
I'll start with Frigga and I know people love to defend Frigga, but honestly? She was not a perfect parent to Loki. Better than Odin by a mile, yes. But still emotionally absent in the moments that actually mattered. She always feels like damage control instead of prevention. She loved Loki, but love alone cannot save someone drowning in comparison, isolation, and impossible expectations.
Thor loved Loki too, but pre-Earth Thor was SO wrapped up in himself. It’s hard to imagine Loki ever truly emotionally connecting with him on a deeper level. On the outside they’re “best bros,” but internally? Their relationship is full of imbalance. And they were clearly very different people too. Thor thrives in glory and battle. Loki? Loki is academic. Theatrical. Dramatic. This man is one missed theatre scholarship away from becoming Asgard’s greatest playwright. Yes, he trained as a warrior because he’s a prince, but spiritually? He’s a theatre kid forced into military school. If he’d been allowed to fully become the scholar, magician, writer, and chaotic diva prince he naturally was, he probably would’ve thrived.
And Odin… this is the complicated part. For the matter of the fact, I do think Odin loved Loki. Because Odin absolutely loved Loki in the way deeply emotionally damaged patriarchs sometimes love children ; possessively, conditionally, and proudly, but without true emotional attunement. The problem is that Odin never fully allowed himself to see Loki as truly his. Because Loki wasn’t his blood. Loki was a stolen child from a people Odin hated. I think Odin genuinely believed that giving Loki a royal life, raising him as a prince, and protecting him was already an act of immense love. But that’s exactly the tragedy. Odin gave Loki status, education, privilege, protection. In his mind, that probably was extraordinary love but Loki did not need prestige. He wanted immense blind fatherly love he has seen Odin give Thor.
“I gave him everything. Why is he acting like this?”
Meanwhile Loki is sitting there feeling fundamentally lesser his entire life without understanding WHY.
Then everything in Thor 1 happens right when Loki is already in the middle of a full identity collapse.Then Thanos may or may not have tortured him. Hence, he invades Earth while still mentally spiraling.
And another thing people forget: Loki was raised being taught that the other realms were beneath Asgard. Thor 1 literally opens with Odin narrating past conquest and dominance like glorious history. So Loki’s worldview is not emerging from nowhere. He was raised inside hierarchy, conquest culture, royal exceptionalism, and “protector” imperialism.
So from Loki’s perspective, Earth is a “lower realm.” Midgard is insignificant. Conquering it is not some horrifying unforgivable evil in the worldview he was raised in. It’s imperial Asgardian logic taken to its extreme.Conquering Midgard is horrific to us, but to Asgardian royal logic it’s an escalation of values already present in the system. That’s why Loki seems genuinely confused that Odin is furious about New York when Thor literally almost restarted a war with Jotunheim and still remained the golden son. Thor nearly destroys a peace treaty because he’s arrogant? Redeemable. Loki attacks a lower realm while mentally spiraling and suddenly he’s the monster. And that hypocrisy absolutely mattered to him.
He becomes obsessed with proving he’s worthy of the throne because kingship is the ONLY thing he thinks can validate his existence. He removes Odin and Heimdall because in his mind they’re obstacles between him and finally being enough. And by Ragnarok, this man is STILL operating on pure emotionally-stunted young adult chaos energy. He’s clever. He’s traumatized. He’s theatrical. He’s deeply lonely. He wants love and validation so badly that it curdles into power hunger.
Like. Jesus Christ. Somebody give this man a therapist and a theatre degree. Well! We can't because he's dead now.
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