I don't think Odin collapsing in the vault scene was within his control but I nonetheless think out of context it hits the kind of abusive parent move others can only dream of lol. like they WISH they could faint and nearly die when confronted in an argument, instantly summoning compassion and worry from their child
TW: Cussing, Canon Typical Violence, tension, Angst, arguments, MCU Odin is a shit parent.
Part 29
Gilded Facade - Part 30
The royal chambers that served as Odin's private sanctuary were a testament to millennia of absolute rule, their golden walls adorned with tapestries depicting the great conquests and judgments that had shaped the Nine Realms. But tonight, in the harsh light of crystal fixtures that seemed to burn with cold fire, the magnificent space felt more like a tribunal than a place of refuge.
Odin stood behind his great desk in full ceremonial armor, Gungnir clutched in his hand with the authority of divine judgment. His single eye blazed with fury that seemed to fill the entire chamber, while his weathered face bore the expression of a king betrayed by those he had shown mercy. The very air seemed to vibrate with his barely contained wrath, making even the ornate furniture appear to shrink away from his imposing presence.
Frigga stood to one side of the room, her usually serene composure shattered by the sight of you and Loki being dragged before her husband like common criminals. Her blue eyes were wide with shock and growing horror as she took in your state of dress, the rough handling you had received, and the implications of what Thor's accusations might mean for the plan you'd crafted with her.
Thor himself occupied the space near the tall windows, his broad frame tense with what looked like a mixture of vindication and growing uncertainty. His blue eyes moved between you and Loki with increasing concern, as though he was beginning to question the wisdom of the path he had chosen.
When the guards finally released their grip on your arms, you stumbled slightly, your bare feet struggling to find purchase on the cold floor. Loki’s hand was there in an instant, firm and steadying at your elbow, guiding you upright before you could fall. His fingers lingered, curling just enough to shield you from further indignity, as if daring the guards to try and touch you again.
Beside you, his green eyes blazed with protective fury as he took in the scene before him. But even his imposing presence seemed diminished by the circumstances, his usual elegant confidence replaced by the defensive posture of someone facing judgment he had not expected.
The silence in the chamber was deafening, broken only by the soft sound of your shivering—whether from cold or fear, even you couldn’t tell. The thin fabric of your nightgown provided no protection against either the chill of the marble floors or the weight of royal disapproval that seemed to press down on you from all sides. Loki noticed the way you clutched the fabric close, and without hesitation he shifted subtly, angling his body to shield you.
When you faltered again, trying to keep your nightgown in place, his arm came around your waist, firm and unyielding, holding you against his side. Not just steadying, but guarding. Every inch of him was coiled tension, fury suppressed beneath the mask of restraint, but his touch—on you—was careful, deliberate and grounding.
It was Thor who moved first, his protective instincts overriding whatever doubts had brought you all to this moment. Without a word, he unfastened the deep red cloak from his shoulders and stepped forward, his movements careful and deliberate as he extended the garment toward Loki.
"Brother," he said quietly, his eyes averted, the single word carrying acknowledgment of your dignity despite the circumstances.
Loki's green eyes met his briefly, and something passed between them—not forgiveness, but recognition of shared concern for your welfare. He took the cloak with careful hands and immediately draped it around your shoulders, his touch gentle as he pulled the heavy fabric closed to provide you with both warmth and modesty.
"Thank you," you whispered to Loki, your voice barely audible in the vast chamber as you pulled the cloak tighter around your frame.
The simple gesture seemed to break the spell of silence that had fallen over the room, and Odin's attention focused on you both with laser-like intensity.
"Do you know why you have been brought before me?" Odin asked, his voice carrying the terrible authority of a god pronouncing judgment. The question was clearly rhetorical, but the silence that followed it seemed to demand some form of response.
"We were not informed of any charges, Allfather," Loki replied with careful diplomacy, though his protective stance beside you never wavered. "We await your wisdom in understanding what has brought us here in such... dramatic fashion."
"Charges," Odin repeated, the word dropping into the silence like a stone into still water. "Yes, there are charges. Grave charges that strike at the very heart of trust and mercy, that turn my gift has been turned into a mockery of my compassion."
He raised a scroll that had been lying on his desk, the parchment crackling with official authority as he unrolled it with deliberate ceremony.
"You stand accused," he began, his voice growing stronger with each word, "of conspiracy to deceive the throne of Asgard. Of manipulating an innocent woman into false displays of distress for the purpose of securing undeserved clemency. Of violating the trust that earned you conditional release through elaborate schemes designed to serve your own interests rather than genuine remorse."
Each accusation hit you like a thunderclap, the weight of truth behind them making your knees weak with guilt and growing horror. This was your fault—yours and Frigga's—yet Loki was bearing the burden of judgment for deceptions he had played no part in creating.
"Of using your wife," Odin continued, his single eye fixing on you with disappointment that felt worse than anger, "as an unwitting tool in schemes that may yet cost her everything, reducing her to nothing more than another instrument in your web of lies."
"No," you whispered, the word escaping before you could stop it. Your face had gone pale, and you felt as though you might faint under the weight of accusations that were technically true but fundamentally wrong in their assignment of blame.
"Allfather," Loki said quickly, his voice carrying urgent sincerity, "you misunderstand the situation. The deception was not mine to orchestrate. It was—"
"Silence," Odin commanded, his voice thundering through the chamber with enough force to make the crystal fixtures chime. "I will not hear more lies, more attempts to shift blame and manipulate truth to serve your purposes."
But Loki pressed on despite the command, his protective instincts overriding his sense of self-preservation. "It was Mother who suggested the plan," he said desperately. "She and my wife worked together to secure my release. I had no knowledge of their intentions until after—"
"Enough!" The word exploded from Odin with the force of divine wrath, and you saw Frigga flinch as though she had been struck. "I will not have you drag your mother into your web of deception, using her love for you as a shield against the consequences of your actions."
"My Love," Frigga said, stepping forward with the dignity that marked all her movements despite the tremor in her voice. "Please, listen to what he's trying to tell you. The plan was mine. I saw her genuine distress and proposed—"
"No," Odin said firmly, his attention turning to his wife with something that might have been disappointment or protective denial.
"I know you, My Queen. Your heart is too generous, too willing to see good where none exists. Loki has manipulated your maternal affections just as he manipulates everything he touches."
"That's not true," you found the courage to say, your voice still small but carrying desperate honesty. "Loki didn't manipulate anything. We talked, Frigga and I ... together ... we planned together. I was the one who—"
"Child," Odin said, his tone softening slightly when he addressed you directly, "you have been the victim of schemes far more complex than your innocent midgardian mind could possibly comprehend. That you would defend him even now only proves how completely you have been deceived."
The dismissal of your words, the reduction of your choices to simple manipulation, sent a flash of anger through your chest despite your fear. But before you could respond, Thor stepped forward with growing concern written across his features.
"Father," he said carefully, "perhaps we should listen to what they're trying to tell us. If Mother says—"
"Your mother's heart blinds her to her son's true nature," Odin replied curtly. "Just as this child's inexperience has made her a perfect tool for his manipulations."
The casual dismissal of both your agency, the assumption that neither of you could be capable of independent thought or action, hung in the air like a poisonous cloud. You saw Frigga's blue eyes flash with something that might have been anger, though she maintained her composure with royal discipline.
"You're wrong," you said more firmly, finding strength in your growing frustration. "I chose to help him. I chose to—"
"You chose nothing," Odin interrupted with finality. "You were led, step by step, into believing that deception was necessary, that your emotional displays would serve justice rather than undermine it."
The words stung because they contained just enough truth to be believable, even though they missed the fundamental reality of your partnership with Frigga in crafting the deception.
"Your marriage," Odin continued, his voice growing colder as he moved toward his central accusation, "has been nothing more than another of Loki's carefully constructed lies. A performance designed to secure sympathy and advantage, with you as the unwitting actress in his elaborate theater."
The words hit you with devastating force, striking at the very heart of everything you had come to believe about your relationship with Loki. Your breath caught in your throat as the implication settled over you—that everything you had shared, every moment of growing closeness, had been nothing more than manipulation.
"No," Loki said immediately, his voice carrying desperate sincerity as he saw the impact of his father's words on your face. "That's not true. Whatever schemes you believe I've orchestrated, my feelings for her are beyond reproach."
But the damage was already done. You turned to look at him with tears gathering in your eyes, your heart breaking as doubt crept in despite everything you thought you knew.
"You told me you loved me," you whispered, the words torn from you with painful vulnerability.
"I do," Loki replied without hesitation, his green eyes blazing with intensity as he stepped closer to you despite the guards' restraining presence.
The declaration seemed to hang in the air between you, carrying weight that even Odin's accusations couldn't entirely diminish. But the Allfather's expression only grew more thunderous at this display of what he clearly saw as continued deception.
"More lies," he said with disgust. "More manipulation designed to maintain your hold over someone whose only crime was trusting in basic decency, a fundamental skill you have never possessed."
"I do love you, My darling mortal." Loki’s breath caught, but his gaze never left yours. His voice, when it came, was quiet—stripped of its usual flourish, raw in its honesty.
"Whatever else may be questioned or doubted, that truth is absolute." He bent his head, brushing his lips against your hair in a fleeting kiss, his fingers lingering to smooth it back as if he could shield you from every cruel word spoken.
The cruelty of Odin's assessment had made you flinch, but it was the look of genuine pain that flashed across Loki's features that convinced you the allfather was wrong. Whatever else might be uncertain, the love he had confessed under the starlight had been real.
"The gravity of these crimes," Odin continued, consulting his scroll with the deliberation of someone pronouncing final judgment, "could warrant imprisonment for both of you. Conspiracy to deceive the throne, manipulation of royal mercy, abuse of conditional clemency—these are offenses that have historically carried sentences execution or decades in the palace dungeons."
Your blood turned to ice in your veins as the potential consequences of your actions became clear. Not just punishment for yourself, but for Loki as well, the room narrowed as you considered that in protecting Loki you may have just cost both of you, your very lives. Your husband whose only crime had been accepting the freedom you and Frigga had secured for him through deception.
"However," Odin said, and the single word carried just enough hope to make you dare to breathe again, "I am not without mercy, even for those who have abused it. I am a father before I am a king, and a father's love can temper even the most deserved judgment."
He set down the scroll with deliberate ceremony, his single eye moving between you and Loki with what might have been disappointment mixed with reluctant affection.
"You will both be exiled from Asgard," he pronounced, the words falling like a death sentence despite their relative mercy. "Cast out from this realm until you learn the humility that has so clearly escaped you both. Perhaps time will teach you the value of truth and the consequences of deception."
"Exile?" Loki repeated, his voice barely above a whisper as the full impact of the sentence settled over him.
"You will be sent far from Asgard," Odin continued relentlessly, "stripped of titles and privileges, to live your lives until you prove yourselves worthy of return. No royal protection, no recourse to the positions you have abused."
The sentence was devastating in its completeness—not just punishment, but total removal from everything that had defined your lives in Asgard. You felt your knees give way slightly, and only Loki's steadying hand kept you upright as the reality of exile crashed over you both.
"Father," Thor said urgently, stepping forward with obvious distress, "surely this is too harsh. If there has been some misunderstanding—"
"The judgment is final," Odin replied with absolute authority. "Perhaps exile will teach them both the lessons that mercy and patience have failed to provide."
The journey to the Bifrost felt like a march toward the end of the world, each step taking you further from everything you had come to know and love about your life in Asgard. The palace corridors that had once seemed so welcoming now felt like a gauntlet of memories you were leaving behind as the weight of forever loomed.
Frigga walked beside you, her usual regal composure maintained despite the tears that tracked silently down her cheeks. Her presence was a comfort, but it also served as a reminder of everything you were losing—her maternal guidance, the growing family bonds you had begun to treasure, the security of belonging somewhere.
Thor followed at a distance, his expression troubled as he grappled with the consequences of his accusations. The vindication he had expected to feel was nowhere in evidence, replaced instead by growing guilt as he watched the real cost of his protective instincts play out before him.
Loki walked beside you in silence, his jaw set with grim determination as he processed the sentence that would define your immediate future. The crystalline restraints around his wrists chimed softly with each step, a constant reminder of the limitations that had been placed upon his power and position.
When you finally reached the Bifrost's terminus, Heimdall stood at his eternal post with an expression of carefully maintained neutrality. The Guardian's golden eyes met yours briefly, and you thought you caught a flicker of sympathy before he resumed his official composure.
"The restraints," Odin commanded, and the guards moved to remove the crystalline bonds from Loki's wrists with efficient precision.
The moment his hands were freed, magic flowed from Loki’s fingers like water released from a dam. Green light unfurled around you both in soft, and suddenly you were clothed again—in Asgardian finery. A gown of deep emerald and black shimmered into place around you, the colors unmistakably his, with subtle gold thread woven like starlight through the folds. For himself, he conjured dark traveling leathers trimmed in the same hues, a quiet declaration that you were bound together.
The transformation was immediate and merciful, restoring not just dignity but a sense of belonging. Loki’s hand lingered at your waist as if to steady you, his thumb brushing lightly over your side before he reached up to smooth a loose strand of hair from your face.
“Thank you,” you whispered, your gratitude carrying all the weight of someone who had spent the most humiliating hours of her life in inadequate clothing.
Loki bent, pressing a soft kiss to your temple, his voice low and steady against your ear. “Never thank me for common decency, little mortal. You shall never be made to stand exposed again while I yet draw breath.”
Frigga stepped forward then, her arms coming around you in an embrace that felt like both blessing and farewell. "I will do everything in my power to convince him to reconsider," she whispered against your ear. "I promise you that, child."
The words were meant as comfort, but they carried the painful implication that your return might be years in the future, if it came at all. You held her tightly, memorizing the feeling of being cherished and protected by someone who had become a second mother to you.
When you finally separated, you turned to find Thor stepping forward with obvious intention. His blue eyes held regret and something that looked like desperate need for forgiveness as he extended one hand toward you.
"Sister," he began, the word carrying all the affection and protective instinct that had motivated his accusations.
But the sight of him—the man whose suspicions had destroyed your happiness, whose assumptions had led to your exile—sent a flash of anger through you that surprised everyone, including yourself.
"I am no sister to you," you said clearly, your voice carrying a strength that made everyone in the vicinity take notice. "You have made that abundently clear with your actions tonight."
The rejection hit Thor like a slap, his hand dropping to his side as he absorbed the full weight of your words. The easy affection that had grown between you over the year of Loki's absence was gone, replaced by a chasm that may never be bridged.
"Please," he said desperately, "I was trying to protect you. I thought—"
"You thought," you interrupted with unusual firmness, "that I was too weak or too stupid to make my own decisions. You thought that my feelings were performance and my choices were deception. You were wrong."
The words carried finality that left no room for argument or reconciliation. Whatever relationship you had built with Thor, whatever sibling affection had grown between you, had been sacrificed on the altar of his protective assumptions.
As Heimdall prepared to activate the Bifrost, you felt Loki’s hand find yours, his fingers intertwining with your own in a gesture of partnership that would have to sustain you both through whatever trials lay ahead.
“Are you ready, little mortal?” he asked quietly, his voice carrying both tenderness and determination.
“No,” you admitted honestly, tears welling in your eyes. “I don’t want to go.”
The Bifrost began to hum with cosmic energy, the rainbow bridge preparing to carry you away from everything you had known toward an uncertain future. Guilt clawed at your chest, sharp and unrelenting. You turned toward him, words tumbling out in a broken rush.
“This is all my fault,” you whispered, your voice shaking. “If I hadn’t, if I hadn’t dragged you into this—”
“Shh.” Loki silenced you with a gentle touch, his hand sliding to cradle the back of your head as he folded you against him. His cloak wrapped around you like a shield, his voice a low murmur in your ear. “Do not take any blame in this, darling. Whatever the Allfather decrees, whatever price he demands, I will pay it—gladly—if it means you are by my side.”
You buried your face against Loki’s chest as the world dissolved into light, his arms the last certainty you could cling to as Asgard vanished from sight.
As the light began to build around you, you heard Odin's voice one final time. "Learn humility," he commanded, his words carrying across the growing sound of interdimensional travel. "And perhaps someday you will earn the right to return."
The Bifrost deposited you both in what appeared to be a wooded area, the atmosphere of a sharp contrast to the golden light of Asgard. As you struggled to regain your balance after the disorienting journey, you heard a voice that seemed impossible in its ordinariness after everything you had just experienced.
"So, This the package I’ve been hearing about?"
The greeting would have been comical if not for the circumstances.
"You two better not make me regret this."
The warning carried the weight of acknowledgment rather than surprise, as though your arrival had been expected. Before you could process the implications of that, exhaustion and emotional overwhelm caught up with you, and darkness claimed your vision as the full weight of exile finally settled over your consciousness.
Your last awareness was of strong arms catching you as you fell, and the sound of Loki’s voice calling your name with desperate concern.
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A/N: that concludes Gilded Facade, thank you for reading liking and reblogging !
Now in true Marvel fashion ... (always wanted to do this 😇)
I don't really like the canonical depiction of Asgardians. For the so-called alien race of gods, they look short and slender. In my opinion, Asgardians, as godlike creatures, are tall by an average of 200-220 centimeters (while the average height of (real) humans is 160-170 cm). And as a warrior race, they are muscular, and yes, women too. in this regard, you can see a couple of my redesigns for canonical characters.
(and you can also see my redesigns for other Marvel characters, by tag #heightheadcanons)
Looking In A Mirror: Thanos & Odin (and Their Conditional Love)
Loki and Gamora (and Nebula, even Thor) know the weight of a father’s disappointment, the consequences and the strain it puts on their relationship. Loki and Gamora are opposites in the fact that Gamora was Thanos’ favourite when it comes to hers and Nebula’s sibling dynamic, whereas Loki was made to feel like he was a ‘shadow living in the shade of Thor’s greatness’, only ever wanting to be his equal — same as Nebula. However, what is interesting is how the core mechanics of their relationship to their adoptive father’s are eerily, tragically, similar.
Whilst Odin and Thanos took Loki and Gamora from their home worlds for differing reasons (Odin taking Loki for political purposes, and Thanos taking Gamora because he saw something in her), they both believe they are owed something from their adopted children because of that fact. Both Odin and Thanos share the notion that they ‘saved’ their adopted children from being killed. It is canon that Loki was indeed Laufey’s bastard son and was seemingly left to die (according to Odin), whereas Gamora had a family, she was loved and cared for. However, both Thanos and Odin… were the ones that were creating the bloodshed in their respective home worlds.
Odin and Thanos wholeheartedly believe they ‘saved’ their adopted children from worse fates, showing these innocent children an act of mercy when they could’ve ’left them to die’. Odin has more credit than Thanos when it comes to the claim, considering he believed Loki had been left for dead by his own, however… Both of these men believe that it is now a debt, that they are owed due to the fact they showed them mercy.
Odin and Thanos are both beings with staunch beliefs and bloody pasts, trying to shape the world into what they perceive as ‘peace’ and ‘order’. Both are warlords in differing ways. Odin is All-Father to the Nine Realms, Hela revealing in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ how he achieved such power through violence and force. Hela even described herself as Odin’s “weapon”… Sound familiar?
Thanos is a tyrant, enacting his own plan to bring order to a universe that has a finite amount of resources through violence and death. He also used his daughters as weapons, through brutal training and punishment to make them the “greatest warriors” in the galaxy.
In the beginning of ‘Thor’, Odin tells the story of the battle between Jotunheim and Asgard, painting Asgard as the saviours of Earth, preventing the Jotun’s from plunging the realm into an age of ice… It’s safe to assume that the Jotun’s were planning to take over Earth, to inhabit it and colonise… But isn’t that what Odin and Asgard was doing to the other realms? And when Loki attempts to do the same, to rule over Earth… Once again, it’s deemed ‘a crime against the Nine Realms’.
It’s only acceptable when Asgard, or Odin himself, are the ones enacting such things, being painted in history books as a triumph, protecting and enacting… order.
Hela was cast aside, locked away when her “ambitions grew too big for Odin”, after he had instilled such ambitions in her in the first place. Yet, Odin continues to make the same mistakes time and time again with his children. Both Loki and Thor have ‘disappointed’ him, when he was the one who raised them and instilled such beliefs and values in them. Thanos often weaponised his own disappointment towards his daughters, especially Nebula.
It isn’t a coincidence that both Odin and Thanos see themselves as ‘saviours’. Nor is it coincidence that they both view their children as assets and ‘the future’. Thanos stated himself he had hoped one day Gamora would take over his throne. Odin had expected Thor to be the one to take his. It’s, once again, a system. It’s a system they set up and then are disappointed by when their children object to it — when it fails their agenda. Odin may have changed, ‘softened’ in his later years, however, he is still as much of a warlord as Thanos.
Both Thanos and Odin wanted to use their children to enact their plans. Odin told Loki that he took him from Jotunheim, thinking he could use him one day as a way to bring peace to the realms. Thanos gave orders to Gamora and Nebula to retrieve stones, to spread his gospel. Both men had an agenda, and they weren’t above using their children to push it/succeed in it. And the most nuanced part about all of this, is that both cared for their children. Thanos loved Gamora. Odin loved Loki. It was the wrong kind of love, the type of love that would leave scars, warp their children’s perception of themselves and their relationships, but it was a form of love — as messed up and toxic as it was.
But it’s because their definition of love, whether they realised it or not, was conditional.
It’s no wonder why and how Loki ended up involved with Thanos, as I’ve delved into before, it’s familiar. It’s the type of dynamic that rides on approval — Loki needed Thanos’ approval to survive, and if he failed, he knew he would be punished.
Odin and Thanos are not identical by any means, however, they share a lot of similarities and common characteristics when it comes to their adopted children and beliefs of order. Their love is conditional, and they believed they are owed a debt by the children they ‘saved’ — they will weaponise their disappointment, and use it to punish. It’s only when it’s too late do they reflect on their actions and how it affected their children…
“They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had and add some extra, just for you."
(Yes, I’m aware the Odin quote is from the deleted scene, but it felt right to include as it has a similar tone for comparison to Thanos and Nebula’s moment. And obviously, I’m aware Thanos literally tortured Nebula, whereas Odin never did that to Loki, that isn’t what this post is about).
My guy links this kids self worth on something then later on gose like "What the fuck why is your self worth depended on this"
MY GUY do you have amnesia or some shit??? "are you the god of hammars?" AND WHO THE FUCK MADE HIS CHILD THINK THAT?? YOU! MOTHER FUCKER!!YOU DID!
He sent Thor to learn humility on earth, A LESSON HE DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HIMSELF.
"Why dose Loki think it's his birthday to rule??" I DON'T KNOW ODIN COULD IT BE BECAUSE YOU SAID SO TO HIM AND BUILT HIS OWN LIFE AROUND THAT!?!when it's very obvious you never had Loki on the throne in mind,it was always Thor yet you let Loki live his entire life trying to make you approve of him. Thor is very obviously not ready to be a king.
Like?? This fuckin old man holy shit I wanna beat him up.
these are from a random rb of my own post but i got invested, do you see where i’m coming from?
i empathise with his anger a lot, and the way it drives him to do cruel things and into dangerous hands
“I NEVER WANTED THE THRONE. ALL I EVER WANTED WAS TO BE YOUR EQUAL”
the way his inferiority is a foundational part of his personality. i’ll never know the person i could have been if i wasn’t shaped by what society expects and wants from women.
all the little comments he’s ignored, “know your place, brother” how dare you. how dare you decide my place, why should this be my place
odin loves loki, i don’t doubt that, but he will never see loki as worthy, loki has to scream and break things and hurt people to be taken seriously.
i think loki’s genderfluidity (and it’s underrepresentation) could play into this a lot, and we already know that sexism and gender roles are present in asgard
