#Loki meta

[percheduphere]

LET'S TALK ABOUT LOKI'S SHOES (ACTUALLY, HIS WHOLE WARDROBE)

Production costs aside, clothes tell the audience about how characters think of themselves.

Loki's shoes in the S2 finale raised a lot eyebrows, but I find them quite fitting: they are comfortable, practical, and most importantly, they are humble. The camera brings this to our attention to communicate his evolution in character.

Loki has always dressed well, often times ostentatiously. Whether he is at war, passing as a Midgardian, or held captive as an Asgardian prisoner, Loki communicates his social class and sense of superiority through clothing. For him, clothing armors his fragile sense of self and against others' opinions of him. He intends to be perceived as deadly charming but ultimately unapproachable.

His attire in the first Thor movie is roughly equal parts green and gold, signifying his royal status. His style is dressed down for his brother's misadventures in Jotenheim, yet overall both silhouettes are lofty, princely, but not hardened or threatening.

In Avengers, Loki's look has more black and leather, with exaggerated emphasis on his shoulders meant to intimidate as he assumes the role of villain. The silhouette is very hard, heavy, and edgy. Gold detailing is prevalent as well. Combined with the goat's helm, this is Loki's most pretentious outfit, which speaks to an undercurrent of low self-esteem and a compulsive need to impress. There's no mistaking he is the main antagonist of the story.

In Thor 2, Loki's attire is similar to Avengers but the overcoat is exchanged for a less bulky version (perhaps conveying he is less guarded now that the effects of the Mind Stone are no longer influencing him). Loki's role likewise pivots from the harsh lines of a villain to the more flexible edges of a reluctant villain-turned-ally. This aligns with his character arc when he protects both Jane and Thor, seemingly sacrificing himself.

In Thor 3, Loki's silhouette is streamlined even further. The overcoat is done away with in favor of what appears to be a leather doublet, pauldrons, and vambraces. Gold accents are minimal. While stylish, Loki's attire is more practical than showy, and his helm serves the dual purpose of protection as well as weaponry. At this point in his arc, Loki has become a full antihero, joining his brother's side in rescuing as many Asgardians as possible, and eventually dying in a vain bid to protect Thor from Thanos.

The TVA does something very fun and interesting in taking away Loki's ability to dress himself. Since Loki cannot use his magic in the TVA, he is forced to wear the same clothing as his captor/advocate, who eventually becomes his best friend and peer.

Perhaps, on a subconscious level, this helped Loki to feel included. We know by his pwn admission that Loki fears being alone and desperately craves a sense of belonging. At the same time, he intentionally dresses to put people at a distance, thereby protecting himself from potential rejection at the cost of isolating himself further.

When Mobius gives him that TVA jacket for the first time, Loki seems uncharacteristically pleased. It is not an attractive jacket by any means, yet he neither scoffs at it nor refuses to wear it. Instead, Loki puts it on and is content when Mobius says it looks "smart" on him. He continues to dress like Mobius and, indeed, mimic some of his mannerisms such as placing his hands on his hips. Without clothing meant to push people away, Loki opens up, has more fun, and makes friends.

Loki's choice of attire as he assumes the mantle of God of Stories (and time) is fascinating. Setting aside the clear design inspiration from the comics, Loki's silhouette is soft, remarkably so. His colors are earthy hues of green, and the only bit of flare are the light gold trimming and crown. The look brings to mind the garb of sages and wise wizards rather than royalty or warriors. He's powerful yet approachable because there is humility in his bearing. And that humility springs from a well of healthy self-worth, self-love, and a deep love for others.

The shoes are not meant to be attractive. They are meant to help him ascend the throne, nothing more.

#loki #mobius #lokius #loki season 2 #loki spoilers #loki series #loki meta #my meta

[ftmwillz]

sylvie’s character essentially functions as a narrative device to remind the audience of how loki *would* have reacted to challenges, frustrations, and difficulties in the past

she’s an externalization of everything he is outgrowing, and every conversation they have had this season has driven that point home

the “love triangle” at the center of this season isn’t really about loki’s feelings towards sylvie or mobius, it’s about loki’s internal struggle to grow and become better without betraying his core identity

#despite the way this post opens i swear it is not sylki wank #to be fair i AM a lokius girlie through and through #but i just feel like we’re all missing the point a bit #it has been stated that the entire point of this series is to facilitate loki’s personal growth #loki #loki series #lokius #loki season 2 #loki meta

[prettydjarinsoloinspires]

one of the big things i noticed was that Loki doesn’t seem to spend any time telling Mobius what’s going on. that he’s controlling the time slipping and trying to find a way to save literally everything.

there’s no moment where they have a brainstorm or Loki asks his advice. or tells him nothing is working. that he’s been trying for CENTURIES and he keeps losing.

he just tells him to trust him. “trust me” “trust me” and Mobius does.

and Mobius loses EVERYTHING.

#loki #mobius #lokius #loki spoilers #loki season 2 #loki meta #loki series #loki laufeyson #mobius m mobius

[ifisawyoueverydayforeverwill]

I want yall to look at this image and tell me if that's not the look of someone longing but knowing it's not the time for what he wants.

This happened multiple times before and he knew how to respond to Mobius so he could stand back and let him continue.

But that leaves me thinking, how did he figure out? How did he first reacted to Mobius demanding his attention? What did he have to say first to get to the conclusion that he just needed to say "trust me" and "watch" ?

Did he ever tried explaining it to him? How did that go? I need so much answers and that's a perfect opportunity for heartbreaking fics (or in the best of cases a cannon spin off)

But I can't sleep and my heart aches with Loki's tragedy. I feel like a child having watched a very well performed Shakespeare play for the first time in my life.

#somebody help me #the feels are to much #loki meta #marvel meta #marvel loki #fic prompt #loki fanfic #loki #loki series #loki season two #loki season 2 #lokius #mobius m. mobius #mobius m mobius #mobius #tom hiddelson #owen wilson

[charcubed]

This is literally a love story.

Loki in season 1 thought love is an imaginary dagger because he’d never had a real love (and everything with Sylvie wasn’t real either) but Mobius has been redefining love for him the entire time and showing him what love is or can properly be!!!!!!!!!!

#I CANT BELIEVE IT TOOK ME A WEEK TO NOTICE THIS!!!!!!!! #FOR FUCKS SAKE!!!!! #Loki #lokius #Loki meta #Loki show #Mobius #lokius meta #Loki series #chars Loki posts

[supervillainarchaeologist]

Any time I see someone say "Marvel knew what they were doing when they cast Tom Hiddleston" I feel a bit like...they didn't though? I think you're projecting some 4D chess grandmaster stuff onto Marvel Studios that doesn't really exist.

Tom was cast via Kenneth Branagh and yes it was PHENOMENAL casting but let's not pretend like Marvel Studios didn't spend the next near-decade and a half deleting Loki's scenes, killing him then instantly reviving him, deleting yet more of his scenes, killing him again, retconning killing him, sticking him off-screen for almost half a decade, removing yet another scene and not even compensating his fans with a DVD extra, killing him again, then suddenly remembering he's popular (again) and coming up with something to use a now-for-real-dead character as the lead but it wasn't exactly the same character (just another version of him) and now they're apparently done with him again when it's pretty obvious he'll be wheeled out of that tree at some point.

I love Loki. I love Tom's portrayal of Loki but the only people who have consistently genuinely seemed to care about the character are the fans. Because we've been given nothing but crumbs by Marvel and yet produce all this beautiful fan art, fan fic and meta. Marvel have just kinda stumbled around Loki like some perpetually confused pigeon in a hall of mirrors that keeps crashing into its own reflection shrugging "huh...what IS this? Ooh shiny!"

Knew what they were doing? More like lucked out with a very talented and charismatic actor and a dedicated fanbase that formed 2011-12 and is somehow, despite everything still here.

#loki (marvel) #marvel cinematic universe #loki meta #even after people cooling on marvel #some fans still give them too much credit #tom hiddleston

[delyth88]

I was watching Avengers the other day and noticed something I haven't ever joined the dots on before.

In this shot of Barton just before he shoots the arrow at the helicarrier, he's pale, sweating, and has dark circles under his eyes. I can only assume this is due to having been under the influence of the sceptre for the last few days.

And then there's this more familiar shot of Loki having just come through the tesseract's portal...

...pale, sweating, and with dark circles under his eyes.

Barton still has those bright blue eyes that indicate he's under the direct influence of the sceptre, and Loki doesn't.

So what I'm concluding from this is that Loki was recently under the direct influence of the sceptre just before he was sent to earth.

This direct control was removed before he was sent, but he remains under the more indirect influence that the sceptre has on people nearby (e.g. the Avengers on the helicarrier). We see his physical health improve the longer he's on earth, which would work with this theory, and this is the same as how Barton recovers after the influence is removed.

I'd never subscribed to the theory that Loki was under the direct control of the sceptre at any point during Avengers, but this makes me think it's very likely he was being directly controlled by it for a period of time shortly before he was sent to earth.

Maybe this was some form of conditioning? Maybe it's easier for the sceptre to influence someone indirectly after they've been directly connected with it? I don't know. Possibly these effects were due to something else, but since Endgame we know it's not travel by tesseract that causes this. Although there's a possibility whatever the SHIELD scientists did on this end of the portal could have had some effect. But it's just too similar a set of symptoms to be unrelated.

I curse it again that we were never given more of Loki's story with Thanos in the series or the Avengers films!!!

#anywho #make of that what you will #i'm late to the party #but i'm here now #and maybe this is of interest to the new Loki fans #if so. welcome! :) #loki #og loki #avengers 2012 #meta #loki meta

[musclesandhammering]

And another thing-

All of the little details about OB just break my fucking heart, like

-him being so excited to see Mobius again even though the only interaction he ever had with him was Mobius accidentally showing up in his workshop once and then immediately leaving

-it being 400 years since his last visitor

-when Loki asked past!Ouroboros if he could call him OB and he says “OB? I like that :)” because he was happy that someone would want to give him a nickname

-him explaining what the TVA guidebook was after realising that no one in the group had ever read it and then quietly saying “I wrote it myself.”

-him saying “it’s great being part of a team :)” after explaining that he takes care of all the engineering stuff for everybody and no one ever interacts with him, and then hopefully asking “how’s the team doing up there?” like he’s sort of desperately trying to reassure himself that he is, in fact, important and a part of the team

-in one of the tube things in his workshop (I think this is in the credits sequence) there’s just a moldy banana and the work slip says it’s from a hunter, which maybe sort of implies that the hunters play mean jokes on him :(

-there’s also a prop poster on his floor that says sending inappropriate notes, live animals, and some other stuff down in the tubes is prohibited, which implies he’s had that happen enough times to make a poster about it. Which also implies the other workers just like to mess with him

-the fact that he seems to be the only TVA worker that didn’t have his memories wiped- which could mean he’s some all powerful being or something- but I’m pretty sure it just means that even Kang didn’t find him significant enough to brainwash, and he probably knew OB stayed alone in the basement all the time anyway so there was no chance of him blowing the ruse

-the way that all the other people at the TVA (even B-15 and Mobius) had to be convinced that pruning people was bad, but when OB mentioned deleting a bunch of timelines and B-15 said “that would kill all those people, we can’t do that.” he immediately just agreed and said he’d find another solution

-Mobius asking how tf he’s supposed to hoof it in that suit and OB saying “You have to!!” Like he has no reason to care about Mobius dying but he does

-there are “Danger!!! Maximum radiation!!!!” signs all over the walls of the loom room or whtvr but OB’s office is just like… feet from it. And he stays in there all the time. And no one seems to care ?

-how he was just so solemn and frantic and emotional throughout the whole astronaut Mobius scene, when again, none of that should even matter to him. The only thing he needs to do is close the loom door- all this fixing Loki business is extraneous.

I just love him. He has so much heart, he has such a big personality. And we’ve only known him for like 50 minutes so far 😭. I require this show to end with a found family, and I require Ouroboros to be part of it. He deserves friends, damn it!!

#ouroboros #ob #loki 2x1 #loki spoilers #loki season two #loki season two spoilers #loki 2x1 spoilers #loki meta #loki series

[flowersbian]

thinking about that season 1 mobius is basically:

"there's this god ive been obsessing over studying for my entire life. i know everything about their life from beginning to end. i know all their tricks, i know all their tells, i know how they'll react if i do something, i know all of the games they play, etc. etc. etc."

and then he giddily jogs to the courtroom because he pulled the strings to get this Loki kept around long enough for a trial, just so he can save their life and then subsequently give them space to heal emotionally and be themself (silly, chaotic) without any dangerous consequences. He also proves to Loki that they're not a monster, that everyone makes mistakes, that their past does not have to define their future, that they can be cared for and care for in return. He gives them a place to let down the walls that were permanently in place; he doesn't push for progress aggressively, but he doesn't relent with his gentle probing.

He gives Loki the opportunity to learn how to be a friend. He allows him to make mistakes, and he proves to them that other people can make mistakes and own up to them and move on.

I doubt Loki would consider Mobius a bad person, or say, a monster, do you? Despite the fact that Mobius has (either directly or indirectly) killed millions more than Loki has.

I think that's so important to think about too-- Mobius moves on and decides instead of wallowing in his past, he'll fix the future. An inspiration for Loki if I ever saw one; Loki's always hung up on their past (their legacy, their heritage, their actions, etc.)

Season 2 Mobius continues not giving a shit about his past, too, which I feel like should be mentioned because that!! Is very important to his character!!! He does NOT linger in the past-- until Loki's gone.

When Loki's gone, he doesn't know what to do with himself, because what was once his glorious purpose is now no longer there for him to study. So he has nothing to look forward to- in his brain, there's no future to think of, not when his past has the thing he wants.

I habe so much more to say about Mobius oh my GOD

#mobius m mobius #lokius #loki tv #analysis (sort of) #loki meta #lokius meta

[silenceinternalmonologue]

can't stop thinking about the way all of loki's brushes with death came from a choice. first the attempted suicide. then the attempted self-sacrifice. and finally a successful self-sacrifice, in which he not only threw himself in death's way but threw himself into the hands of his torturer, a being he had been hiding from for years.

people make jokes about loki always pretending to die but the truth is he is always trying to. he is convinced that his death will be a solution to other people's (mostly thor's) problems.

he is constantly choosing to die. his first instinct in any crisis situation is to solve it at the cost of his life. he doesn't seem to have any self worth or a sense that maybe it's better for him to live, and it's fucking tragic.

#loki #loki meta #there are so many root causes for this too #his belief that jotun lives are worth less #his fear of thanos #his unwillingness to show weakness #his all-consuming need to protect thor (even from himself) #he sees himself as an expendable villain to thor's undying hero #and it's breaking me apart

[emeraldsworld]

something.. something. interrupted confessions

#I feel like no one has pointed this out yet and im going insane #the implications… #loki #loki spoilers #loki laufeyson #mobius m mobius #mobius #sylvie laufeydottir #loki meta #loki parallels #lokius #loki show #loki season 2 #loki s2 spoilers #loki s2 #loki s1 e4 #loki s2 e1 #tom hiddleston #owen wilson #sophia di martino

[percheduphere]

I am 95% certain that what Loki says in this scene:

Is what Loki would have told Mobius in this scene:

But Mobius never got to hear it. He didn't want to hear it because there wasn't a scenario in which he could imagine (or accept) Loki not coming back.

#loki #lokius #mobius #loki series #loki season 2 #loki meta #my meta

[thank-you-my-friend]

I like to think that one of Mobius' past habits, before he was reset, was to go to this tva room to eat his delicious slice of pie at the most stressful times. Unconsciously he guided and welcomed Loki into his comfort zone, but not only that, he managed to communicate his anger and fears to Loki.

#mobius #owen wilson #loki #lokius #tom hiddleston #time husbands #husbands #loki 2x02 #pie room #mobius analysis #loki meta

[prettydjarinsoloinspires]

no but think about the Loki from Thor. from Avengers. the fact that he’s fighting for something good that he believes in means so much. the fact that he can sit there and say he just wants his friends back. these friends. the ones who see him for him. who don’t judge him. who he feels like he BELONGS with.

when has Loki ever felt like he belongs anywhere? he’s always been the outsider, the outcast, the villain. at the TVA he has felt appreciated and accepted. no one is singling him out or giving him a hard time for being himself. he FITS. he has come so so far. and shipping aside, the main reason for that is Mobius. someone who has seen every dark crevice of his life and his bad choices and his darkest moments and treated him with compassion and understanding.

the orphaned, abandoned, misunderstood villain has been able to write his own story because one ordinary man believed in him.

#loki #mobius #lokius #i am not ok #this has me reeling #i don’t think you understand how much Loki means to me and Mobius with him #what a beautiful fucking story #what a character arc #loki season 2 #loki spoilers #mobius m mobius #loki friggason #tom hiddleston #owen wilson #marvel #mcu #avengers #pretty rambles #loki meta #loki analysis #loki laufeyson #loki series #loki odinson

[illwynd]

Eternally confused by assertions that Thor and Loki don't like each other.

They love each other, obviously. And sometimes they fuckin hate each other (well, Loki sometimes hates Thor. And Thor is sometimes at least very goddamn righteously pissed off at Loki, whether he'd call it "hate" or not.)

But they do also like each other.

Thor clearly likes Loki. Enjoys and appreciates his company and admires many things about him, despite their many conflicts. And although that's a comics reference, consider Thor's "well of course I want to have my brother come with me on an adventure!" attitude when he's trying to convince his friends to go to Jotunheim with him at the beginning of Thor 2011, and it seems like it's pretty applicable to the MCU as well, at least before TR's moronic retcons.

Is it mutual, though?

... is that a real question?

Loki idolizes him, wishes he could measure up to him, thinks the sun goddamn rises and sets on Thor. "Loki felt no rancor [...] -- his stepbrother was perfect: beautiful, powerful, golden. He adored him. And if Thor repaid that adoration with little slights and humiliations, it was a price Loki was only too willing to pay for his company" (R. Rodi, Loki: Blood Brothers). Yes, another comics reference, but doesn't that also jibe with the movie depiction of Loki who clearly has a less than ideal relationship with the rest of Thor's crew but hangs out with them nonetheless because that's the only way to spend time with Thor?

Genuinely, I can't think of a better metric for liking someone than wanting to hang out with them even when the circumstances make that less than fun for other reasons. Seeing their company as satisfying even if you're both just sitting there doing something that would otherwise suck. And they both seem to have each other as first choice for that, with everyone else a very distant second if they rank at all.

So I just don't get how anyone can try to slot them into some cliche of "siblings who love each other i guess but also can't stand each other at all." These dumb bastards would spend their lives in each other's pockets if they could. They probably had their own secret language as kids, like figured out a way to get around the Allspeak to invent one no one else could understand. Anyone else that either of them dates had better be ready to have the other brother as a constant topic of conversation, because the moment you express annoyance at that they're going to be shoving breadsticks into their bag and making excuses to gtfo. "they don't like each other" what the fuck are y'all talking about.

#thorki #loki meta #thor meta #grand unified theory of loki #theories of thunder #sorry but idc #marvel salt

[charcubed]

Another one for the collection:

"Audio of a line / subtitle deliberately put over a very specific choice of shot to have a very obvious layered meaning."

Loki really, REALLY wants Mobius 😭

#Loki #lokius #Loki meta #lokius meta #Loki spoilers #loki season 2 #Mobius #Wah :( #chars loki posts