More Belated Loki/Ragnarok Meta
Now that I’m back on the Loki train, I’ve been reading some Loki meta, including some sad/angry posts about how Thor seems to give up on Loki in Ragnarok. He tells him they should go their separate ways, he actually does go his separate way, he lets Loki run off to his death, etc.
I’m not trying to talk anyone out of this, but I don’t see Ragnarok that way at all. Thor has learned by Ragnarok that chasing after Loki accomplishes nothing. Insisting that he give up his evil ways and become “himself” again accomplishes nothing. The more he gets in Loki’s face and demands that Loki respect their old relationship, the more Loki pushes him away.
In The Dark World, Loki seemed to have come around - he did the heroic sacrifice, he died nobly in Thor’s arms, etc. and it all validated Thor’s belief that the “new Loki” who hated him was false and the “old Loki” was still in there. But he got it all wrong, and Loki knew he would get it wrong. He knew Thor would be fooled by a performance of red-blooded Asgardian heroism because that’s what Thor wanted to see - and wanted in a perverse way because Loki had to prove it by dying! So Loki’s trick basically said “I am not your fantasy of me and I will not die for it, fuck you.”
At some point during Ragnarok, Thor finally gets this. He understands his mistake and changes tactics. Loki does his usual shit, but this time, Thor calls his bluff. He stops insisting that Loki turn back into the person Thor wishes he were and forces Loki to decide if he still wants them to be brothers or not.
I feel like Thor anticipating Loki’s betrayal and doing him one better demonstrates a funny kind of acceptance. And not just patronizing toleration but real acceptance. Thor has lost the hammer, he’s lost Odin, he’s lost everything that granted him the “worthiness” Loki resented so much, and he no longer thinks he’s the moral standard to which Loki should conform. Now they’re just two people with conflicting goals. When he leaves Loki on Sakaar, in a funny way he’s finally treating Loki as an equal. He literally does what Loki would do - did do - and then leaves Loki free to make the next move.
You can tell Thor intended all this by how he reacts to Loki’s return: he’s not shocked, he’s pleasantly surprised. He’d hoped but he hadn’t assumed. And when Loki goes to summon Surtur, Thor trusts him to take care of himself. I’ve seen posts that say he callously allows Loki to sacrifice his life, but Thor knows Loki by now, and knows that 1) Loki can and does look out for himself just fine, and 2) Loki can get out of almost anything. Thor gives Loki the dignity of choice in every way.
TL;DR - Thor lets Loki go in Ragnarok, and he does so because he finally trusts him - not to act how Thor would like, but to be himself and do what he’s gonna do. Thor has stopped trying to change and control him and just hopes he will choose Thor on his own. And because of that, Loki does. I love that.
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