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delicatedragonpartysalad · 9 months

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A rant about Loki - Where Mischief Lies

Loki - Where Mischief Lies is probably one of my favorite Loki contents, the book portrays this young Loki and a bit of his life in Odin’s court, it dives deep in his magic and how he feels growing up as a sorcerer in a warrior’s society, it also shows his relationship with Amora, who in the story is Karnilla’s apprentice and heir to the throne of Nornheim, Karnilla is the Norn Queen and Odin’s royal sorceress.

I think I love the book so much because Mackenzie Lee (the author) is not afraid to explain to the readers what’s going on inside Loki’s head. Sometimes I feel like I'm reading some meta analysis of the character (and I mean that as a compliment!), she really understands Loki, what his motivations are and portrays him as this charming young boy who’s so insecure about who he is but is so eager to please his father, to prove himself worthy of the title of prince of Asgard, to impress Amora, to be a good sorcerer, to be a good soldier, a good son, he is just desperate for someone to see his value, even though he doesn’t see any value in himself.

The book is supposed to show us who Loki was before he became the villain of the Avengers, before he embraced his role as a antagonist and in my opinion it does a really good job on that, we see how reluctant he is to accept that in the beginning of the story, but by the end he is sadly ready to take the mantle of The Villain and to become the awful man everyone around him assumes him to be.

Right at the beginning of the story we see a boy who lives under the pressure of being a son of Odin and a prince of Asgard, Loki says at some point:

“He wished he could afford not to care, not to feel like everything he did right or wrong was ticked off in a corresponding column and kept on file for the day Odin would name either him or Thor as the heir to the Asgardian crown.”.

Now, that is a lot of pressure for someone to grow up under, and this bit is specially heartbreaking to me because we as an audience know that Odin has no intents to put Loki in the throne of Asgard, but the boy feels like he has the responsibility to prove himself worthy of the throne, he feels like he is failing his father and his people and he is also so immensely alone, he has no friends in court until Amora arrives and no one in Asgard has a good opinion on her. Loki is very clearly in love with her, I find so sweet the way he describes how he feels when around her, he’s like this teen awkwardly in love for the first time, he sees her as a model of perfection, he wants to be like her, she is everything he ever dreamed to be: confident, skilled with magic, strong, witty and funny.

There's a few moments where he talks about himself and we can see that the self loathing is strong, he despises all the things that make him him and would gladly throw it all away if it meant he could become Asgard’s “ideal prince”, wich by the way is Thor, that’s it, in Loki’s opinion (and apparently in Asgard’s opinion) Thor is the perfect prince, he is blonde, muscular, strong, and an excellent warrior, Loki even says:

“The gods could not have handcrafted a more obvious model of kingship than Thor”.

Loki praises him (not out loud of course) for his appearance and describes himself as

“the scraps of (Thor’s) silhouette, the part that was discarded on the workshop floor to be swept up and tossed into the fire—thin and pale, with a hooked nose and black hair that hung flat to the nape of his neck, where it flipped into an unflattering curl. While Thor’s skin bronzed in the sun so that he seemed made of armor, Loki was pale as milk, and soured just as easily.”

It’s very clear Loki does not think much of himself, he hates pretty much everything that makes him unique and is very sad to see how desperate he is to fit in, to belong. We see his desperation when he talks about Amora arriving at court, he says he had never interacted with another sorcerer besides his mother and states that he thought of Amora as an equal, someone just like him. In his first conversation with her we can see clearly how unsure of himself he is, he wants to be more confident and open but fears she’ll not find him interesting enough to talk to him:

“He wanted to sit beside her, but somehow that felt too presumptuous, a bold assumption that he was interesting enough for her to want around.”

That almost seems like another character entirely, right? Imagine Loki from the MCU, that arrogant man who treated everyone else as being beneath him as a shy, insecure teenager who was scared the girl he had a crush on would not want to talk to him. That’s why I love that book so much, it shows who Loki really was before adopting the persona of the God of Mischief. The way he describes some of their interactions is literally so sweet and relatable, he really was just a boy in love with the new girl in town, there’s a bit where they’re in the gardens and this happens:

“Loki sank down beside her, close enough that their knees pressed together. Even through the hazy gloom lingering from his conversation with Thor, an electric shiver went through him when she didn’t pull away from his touch. No matter how small that touch was.”

This is so sweet, he is so in love with her, is so shy and insecure, he is always nervous when around her, always trying to hide things she would consider weaknesses, it’s clear he considers himself to be weak, as i said before he despises himself and all of his particularities.

He is also always seeing other people as being superior to him, is always looking down on himself and trying to be someone else, someone he thinks is who he should be. He wants to be accepted so bad, he wants to be loved, wants to know that he belongs in his family, wants to be just a good prince as Thor is, wants to feel seen by his father, this may sound silly but he just wants attention, he is tired of feeling inadequate, he is desperate for Odin to acknowledge his value and to consider him worthy of his attention.

Loki is almost obsessed with his father, everything he does he does to impress him, sadly he never succeeds, each time he creates a scheme to praise Odin he fails and his opinion on Loki only gets worse, Odin starts to see Loki as this corrupted man with darkness in his soul, with an evil and calculating nature and a danger to Asgard.

What he fails to realize is that Loki at his core is just (as Mobius himself put in the series) a scared little boy, he needs guidance and validation from the person he considers the most, he depends so much on Odin’s opinion of him, he lets it define who he is, he is not strong enough to stand up against this perception of himself, probably because he hasn’t got a single friend, no one he can be vulnerable with without fear of judgment, he bears his burden alone and is nearly falling apart under the weight of everything he has on his shoulders, he really needs someone he can be real with, but he probably will never feel comfortable enough with anyone to let his guard down.

He doesn’t even allow himself to be in love, when he realizes he’s starting to become too fond with people he immediately pushes them back, he puts on the act of the cold, bad guy, but at the same time he is desperate for connection, contradictory fellow innit?

Loki struggles with his need for love and acceptance and the fear of showing his true colors to people around him, he views himself as weak and he’s not willing to show weakness to anyone, he needs a friend he can be real with (and I feel the Loki series has hit the nail in the head with Mobius, he is exactly the kind of friend Loki needs), a friend who sees the man behind the mask of villainy and is willing to accept Loki for who he is.

I couldn’t help but feel impotent reading the book because at some parts you really wants to jump on the pages and hold him close to you, whilst telling him everything will be okay and that he is enough, that his worth is not tied to Odin perspective of him and that he is capable of doing everything he ever dreamed and more.

Well, that was quite a long post, sorry if I talked too much, this book is so important to me as a Loki fan, I could rant about it for hours!

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in-defense-of-loki · 2 years

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I'm sorry, but if you tell me "go touch some grass" that's just my incentive to ignore you. Because all that tells me is you no longer have any rebuttal, no longer have any arsenal in your argument left, no more parroting repartee. You've been backed into a corner, so now you wanna attack the fact that I'm passionate about my interests, regardless of what they may be. You're the one that needs to get a life, because mine is filled with interesting engagements, fascinating metas, intellectual exchange of concepts and ideas, artistic interpretations, and more. I like the way my life is, you're the one that has a problem.

Just sayin...

#in defense of loki #in defense of bucky #in defense of any character i like tbh #loki character analysis #2011 to 2013 Loki supremacy #loki series negativity #anti loki show #mcu loki #yeah its mostly loki tags cuz thats who someone came at me about

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prettydjarinsoloinspires · 6 months

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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.

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bitchliteraria1906 · 1 month

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A thought:

If it weren't for the TVA mess, Mobius would be... such a normal guy. Not only that, but a rather silly one.

Just... think about it.

He looks like a normal guy, and doesn't try to compensate that with extravagant clothes. He is genuinely a nice person who looks like he'd own a bunch of dogs, or at least feed strays. He has a random hyperfixation that no one else around him cares about. He likes key lime pie. He makes knock knock jokes. And if it weren't for being a TVA agent, he doesn't look like he'd have any kind of extraordinary skill.

And we ship him with a norse god who has a bunch of powers? Who's been through so much shit?? Who has killed people???

And sure, it's hillarious, but it also has the potential to be so fucking sweet.

Because Loki has spent most of his life unable to find peace, always trying to prove himself, to get out of Thor's shadow. Then, coming to terms with being a frost giant. And then, the New York thing.

And after all that, he gets to interact with a guy who, despite working for an organization like the TVA and being able to be intimidating when needed, somehow still manages to have such a comforting aura. A guy who makes stupid knock knock jokes in the midle of a serious interrogation and infodumps about jetskis, and who, most importantly, treats him like a normal person, even after studying his life and seeing all that he has done, and all that he's capable of.

And it's so clear that Loki appreciates it. He smiles at the joke in the interrogation scene. When Mobius is excited to finnaly experience some (very simple and mundane) things outside of the TVA while they search for Sylvie in season 2, Loki goes along with what he wants and humors him.

Loki is a god, who is used to being surrounded by other gods. He could so easily just see Mobius as less for being a human and a fairly normal guy with such dumb little quirks, but he clearly values him so much (both his company and him as a person), and sees him as a complex individual that's worth respecting/caring for, and I think that's amazing and an extra reason to enjoy their relationship.

#loki #lokius #character analysis #kind of?#mobius #mobius mcu #mobius m mobius #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki friggason #why does this bitch have so many names #anyway #i love them #they deserved so much better

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sheliesshattered · 6 months

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I've seen some posts going around expressing frustration with Loki not telling Sylvie how he feels, at least as of the third episode of season two. And I'm not saying you're wrong, but like, can we just take a minute to think about this from Loki's point of view?

When they fought in the citadel at the end of time, the last thing Loki said to Sylvie was that he just wants her to be okay. Nothing else -- not power, not a crown, not the ability to rewrite time to his desires. He just wants Sylvie to be okay.

And in response, she kissed him. For those of us who ship them, obviously that was The Moment, and it probably felt like it to Loki, too. But then Sylvie immediately pushes him through a time door and kills He Who Remains, exactly what Loki was trying to keep her from doing.

We don't really know how Sylvie feels about Loki, but from Loki's point of view? That wasn't a kiss because she has feelings for him too, or even to acknowledge his feelings for her. That kiss was a trick, just as much as Loki creating a double or Sylvie enchanting someone. She used it to get him out of the way, because she realized she couldn't kill him and she couldn't convince him. So she kissed him to distract him long enough to get rid of him.

Loki has to have realized that pretty immediately. His face after she pushes him through the time door certainly looks like he knows exactly what Sylvie just did, and why. He tells her he just wants her to be okay, and she betrays him with a kiss. He looks appropriately heartbroken.

He then spends the first two episodes of season two trying to find Sylvie. Not just because the TVA is falling apart, but because he still wants to make sure that she's okay. She killed He Who Remains, she completed the one goal she'd had for so long, and Loki knows she would have been alone at the end of time after killing He Who Remains. Even before the TVA crises start piling up, he wants to find Sylvie, just because he needs to know that she's okay.

We as the audience get to see how desperate Loki is to find Sylvie, and it's obvious to everyone at the TVA, even Brad who has been off on his own on the sacred timeline for however long.

But when they finally find Sylvie, she really doesn't seem happy to see Loki. Her face falls, her posture is distinctly cold and defensive. When they talk, she tells him that she just wants to be left alone. She tells him that she's happy living there in that branched timeline, that she just wants to stay there, alone.

And once Sylvie makes that clear to Loki, he backs off. His feelings for her haven't changed -- but from his point of view, she's just reinforced that the kiss didn't mean anything to her. Because he loves her, Loki just wants Sylvie to be okay. And she makes it clear that she is okay, living a quiet life of her choosing.

Personally, I read Loki's behavior in the most recent two episodes as him intentionally respecting Sylvie and her wishes. All he wants is for her to be okay. All she wants is to be left alone to live the life of her choosing. He loves her, so how could he do anything other than give her what she wants?

#Loki #Sylvie #Loki show #Loki series #Loki season 2 #Loki spoilers #Loki and Sylvie #Sylki #pro Sylki #meta #character analysis #Sylki antis do not interact #ship and let ship

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cleabellanov · 2 months

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Jet-Skiing through identity: a deep dive into Mobius M. Mobius (part 2) 🛥️

Even the kindest of hearts have a trigger point, a spot that can catch a bullet without bleeding; making it part of the heart's anatomy.

I'm only saying that because I associate Loki as Mobius's soft spot("I know you have a soft spot for broken things"), and Loki turning his back to that in s1e2 as the trigger point. Imagine you have that courage, to do something everyone around you thinks is wrong. Then, just as you were going to prove the opposite,our efforts turn to be in vain.

For Mobius's character, this means he has to turn around at 360, to where he came from; with inovative ideas not working, it all comes to accepting defeat.

He manages that excellently in front of Ravonna: caring more about reassuring her everything will work out rather than focusing on himself. Another example of how much Mobius cares about others, even when he should care more about himself.

Episode 4, season 1, is crucial for where Mobius's story is going.

We can see so many interesting things in his conversation with Loki, like the way he handles stress through amusement. Asif this emotion isn't worthy enough, but to be laughed at:

"You like her! Does she like you?"

After all, let's not forget Mobius was already (and even earlier than this episode) catching feelings for Loki. His own words put this straightforward: "Just kind of an asshole. And a bad friend". Notice how he doesn't use any word similr to "traitor". He still considers him a friend, albeit a bad one, after everything he's done. Mobius might do his best to hide it, but he's still forgiving deep down. And it's not even Loki's departure in time and space that matters the most to the analyst. It's his alliance with Sylvie, hinting once again at the jelaousy of his character I talked about in part 1. "It's ruining my reality right now!" in Mobius's words.

But when he is told by Loki that they're all variants, Mobius doesn't simply dissmiss the idea. He could, and should, given the position he is in. But the brightness of his mind, and that little flicker of hope he still has in his Loki makes the difference. After all, hope is what makes us believe: it's the desire of having something to believe in.

Watch his reaction when he is told all this:

He is masking it flawlessly in front of Loki and the hunters, but that raising hope makes him search: is the trickster out of tricks for once? What if, all this time, that feeling he had inside himself but hid away is actually a sign, gently whispering to him there is more he should know about? That is a bravery so different from live action, and battling with superheroes: the bravery of discovery. Loki telling the truth means Mobius living a lie - a scary thought of course, but not scary enough to stop him.

This all drives Mobius to finding out what actually happened with hunter C-20. And the rest is history.

There is a certain honour in telling Loki he was right from the beginning. This new approach, this insight Mobius now gains over everything give him not only a rush of adrenaline, but also the confidence he didn't allow himself before. Therefore, he wasn't just working half a measure. The limits that were set were not part of his perimeter, but of the TVA's. Now that he sees that, he can also break those limits.

He is also free to speak his mind. And Loki is so deserving of these words that this scene right here is one of the most precious in the entire series. Their wonderful dinamc certainnly gives extra points to that.

Now Mobius isn't just an analyst anymore. He is a rebel, betraying the only thing he believes in, the one institution that shaped his entire existence. This rebellion isn't just external, but internal as well. Ultimately, only one part of the internal conflict won, but the other still exist, like two sides of the same coin, spinning and spinning. But he still has the hope that he'll find something better on the other side, and doesn't stop just because it's a hard thing to do.

If it was easy, everyone would do it. (Loki in Thor The Dark World)

I wanted to write more but this is already getting too long (like damn I'm fangirling hard) so see you for part 3!

#if you liked this reblog so it can reach more people?#marvel #loki #lokius #character analysis #owen wilson #tom hiddleston #mobius #mobius my beloved #writing #writblr #variants #mcu #marvel fandom #comics #the tva #cinema #sorry if I did any mistakes English is not my first language #💛💚

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vanofasgard · 9 months

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i have to rant about this or i might cease to exist.

lokius...

for one, i love queer ships (canon or not) but i also like to stay true to the show i’m watching, and i personally don’t have a big problem with sylki (just a little underwhelmed with it if i’m being honest). but the more i look at loki and mobius’ relationship, the clues and that damn song, the more it feels actually plausible that this could turn into something real.

i’m going to somewhat rank these from 1 downward, 1 being its probably coincidental, down to this is too spot on to be nothing. all while i sip leisurely at my tea.

1. “i’ve studied almost every moment of your life..”

it kind of speaks for itself. its a pretty simple bit of dialogue, and most likely doesn’t mean all that much, but what is mobius’ fascination with loki variants? this is higher on the list mainly because mobius has been assigned this case, he's a detective and its his job to dig deep, he's consumed by his work, therefore it isn't strange for him to know so much about loki's life on the sacred timeline.

2. the tie adjustment scene

trust me, i'd love to put this lower on the list, but theres one thing that makes me believe this is-- albeit disappointingly-- a coincidence. it was improv. maybe that, for some people, is more of an indicator of canon lokius, that tom hiddleston felt that that scene was being led in such a flirtatious direction, however, this scene was more his following along owen's playful presence on set, which just makes it kind of sweet. but this is one of my favourites scenes, regardless of the intention behind it. loki will always be a flirt, after all.

3. loki's bisexuality

as much as i would have loved to see more on loki's sexuality-- perhaps slightly more explicitly given his status as the god of mischief-- i'm not going to hate on sylvie and loki, because that would simply erase the existence of bisexuality, hetero-presenting relationships exist and to deny so would again, erase the meaning of bisexuality. however, the ending of season 1 does raise some questions. loki and sylvie's separation sets up the future of marvel, it needed to happen, so this might not mean much at all and we now know that season 2 will focus on loki searching for sylvie through timelines. but how purely queer would it be for loki to realise some stronger feelings toward one agent mobius, and perhaps loki and sylvie's relationship was something that was meant to stay platonic, who knows? this is considerably more fanon than my other theories, but i had to include it, given that to me, its a reasonable arguement. lgbtq+ characters need to be introduced and this was kate herron's goal from the beginning. she also said that she hoped marvel went further with this new information and explored more thoroughly. forgive me for this more outlandish inclusion, but it has been on mind for awhile now.

4. the presence of the dagger / "love is a dagger..."

we all know this one, we've all screamed over it and we all hope it means something more than just a coincidence. with marvel's history of in-depth attention to detail (comic references, foreshadowing years prior to a movie's release), it feels a little too purposeful, doesn't it? again, i'm trying to keep rank these into something somewhat believable with viable evidence, so something i will mention is that loki has lacked any close friendships his whole life. gaining a relationship like this would hold deep value to him, and parting ways would likely pull forth some deep bittersweet emotions. platonic love is arguably more important than romantic, the need to be understood without judgement and that is what both mobius and loki have given each other. the tears in loki's eyes during this scene is a clear indicator of their care for each other, but whether that goes deeper is unclear.

my thoughts fluctuate on this one. for one, its simply so beautiful and meaningful to loki's development (and mobius') that whether its meant platonic or with an underlying romance, feels like it hardly matters, because it holds as much meaning either way. "love is a dagger", it appears in so many forms throughout the series: mobius giving loki his daggers, only for them to be taken away by B-15 a second later, this hug scene and loki and sylvie's fight in the citadel. its so prominent in this scene, its hard to dismiss, yet marvel fluctuates so much with their details that its hard to tell if this was intended the way i'm seeing. regardless, its beautiful and definitely a worthy inclusion.

5. the lokius song / mobius' apparent jealousy

lets get one thing straight, natalie holt is an amazing composer and i will back that to no end with my spotify wrapped this year, trust me on this. so when i first started listening through the second album, like a true neurodivergent kid, i was memorising every song name and i have to say, i lost it a little when i saw the name of this song. natalie confirmed that sif and loki had a 'thing' during the point that the time loop scene was set, so one cannot dismiss the possibility that she could know a little more about the prior scenes than we realise. i was skeptical when i first saw people's impressions of these scenes, after all, they had all reunited after loki technically betrayed mobius, so it was understandable that mobius wouldn't exactly be pleased with the circumstances that they're meeting again. but something about the way he looks at loki and sylvie when he's leading them down the hall, he just looks kind of heartbroken and disappointed. again, this could have been the result of loki's betrayal, if the way he calls him a bad friend is anything to go by, but the substance of this scene holds so much in it. and his little rant about loki and sylvie's "twisted romantic relationship" breaking his reality, hits a little hard. maybe this wouldn't have meant much if it hadn't been with that bloody song, because tell how just an angry, hurt mobius = lokius? it can be jealousy regardless of romantic feelings, friendships feel it too, but this feel a little more substantial.

worthy inclusions:

sylvie's "he cares about you" comment in the void, and loki's near dismissal of it.

loki falling asleep in the archives, he trusts mobius.

am i the only one that finds it cute how loki hangs out at mobius' desk while mobius is off doing other work?

conclusion:

look, i'm going to be honest here, i grow sceptical of my own arguments at times. these are very minor things, and i didn't even realise they were pushing loki and sylvie in the direction they were until they kiss (in other words, i'm a little oblivious), so i want you all to take this with a grain of salt. i like to stay true to the actual characters and their makers, i don't have unrealistic expectations and i am no director, actor or screenwriter. i am not saying how i think the next season should go, i just wish it could go to in this direction to some degree. i have my doubts, but my hopes too. regardless, i'm just happy to see these characters at all!

this is what so many seem to forget. there may be restrictions (cough cough disney), but everyone working on these shows and movies have put their hearts into it and i want to appreciate that for what it is! this doesn't mean you aren't entitled to your own opinion, of course you are! but just remember the show/characters you've fallen in love with and if you didn't have them at all. i'm overjoyed to see loki with a close friendship after so many years of watching him being proverbially kicked while he was down. ultimately, loki and mobius' friendship (and possible romance) is what technically saved loki and that's something beautiful in and of itself.

I don't think its impossible! but i keep an open mind for both directions their stories could take.

#lokius #wowki #mcu loki #loki #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #mobius m mobius #loki series #loki x mobius #shipping #lgbtqia #character analysis

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superectojazzmage · 4 months

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Of everything that happens in the new issue of Immortal Thor, this scene stands out the most to me as something I feel will be one of the most important scenes of both the issue and the run as a whole.

In the very beginning of gods, of Earth, of humanity, of stories, among the very first incarnations of the archetypes that Thor and Loki embody - the mighty warrior and the devious trickster - see each other and immediately get into a fight out of sheer revulsion of everything their twin stands for.

Good vs evil. Light vs dark. Order vs chaos. Brawn vs brain. Control vs freedom. Life vs death. Fate vs choice. Peace vs war. Mundanity vs magic. Law vs crime. Creation vs destruction. Love vs hate. And many more. Clashing opposites, battling for supremacy. A cycle of violence and debate passed down the generations, from father to son, mentor to student, predecessor to successor, and so on. Brother waging battle against brother just to prove a point, to fulfill their role in the story. An ideological blood feud applied to archetypes and titles and narratives. Trickling all the way down into it's present expression... Thor and Loki.

Already it's clear that cycles of this sort are going to be a very large theme of Immortal Thor. The concept of recurrences and stories being retold over the years have been talked about a lot by the narrator. The comic goes to great lengths to draw attention to how Thor and his cast and, by extension, their own world in the form of comics are falling into patterns that transcend through time. And I feel that's going to be the crux of a great deal of the plot.

Loki hates the cycle. In their roles as both the goddess of stories and the god of mischief, they abhor stagnation and repetition. They want to be free of the roles "assigned" by the narrative. They want to be free of the debate, the never-ending battle of good and evil that ha destroyed their family time and again. Thor would want to be free of it too, if he realized he were part of it. But he struggles to do so. He's a rock in the sea of time. A god among mortals, a child of two worlds watching in confusion and grief as his human friends age and change and die around him while his divine brothers and sisters continue to stay the same. In this, they are trying to do what Gaea wanted to do but couldn't; to break the cycle.

Toranos and Utgard-Loki don't want to break the cycle. They ARE the cycle. Embodiments of the sins of the forefathers carrying down to their children. Representations of the archetypes of Thors and Lokis at their absolute worst, shorn of all true depth and compassion and true belief in their aspects in favor of continuing the godforsaken argument. Shades of the old festering in the blood of the young, infesting them with their baggage, holding them back from growing better, and lashing out at them when the new generations fail to meet the standards of the elders. And they may not even realize they're doing so.

This isn't the first time this theme has come up in Al Ewing's work.

Immortal Hulk presents the conflict between the Hulk and his archenemy, the Leader, as a similar generational feud. Both in a literal familial sense (the Banner and Sterns families being divided and warring after Robert and Samuel Sterns turn on each other) and a larger ideological sense (people using the power of gamma for good or ill, going all the way to the first Hulk being born from a leader's selfish desire to misuse magic as a tool of conquest). Sometimes the thoughtful man is the hero, sometimes the brute is. But they always fight. Senselessly and pointlessly. And the Green Door and the horror it brings was only stopped... by breaking the cycle. By defying it. By Hulk choosing to never sink to Leader's level, or those of his predecessors, and instead choose to forgive.

And Ewing makes clear cycles and wars spanning centuries like this are common in the Marvel Universe. The Eternity Mask is passed down generations of men and women, always fighting for freedom against those who would deny it. Nick Fury passes his name and identity and role onto his son. There's always an Ant Man, inheriting their predecessor's problems, and there's always an Ultron, trying to claim dominion. Arakko and Krakoa alike are divided between those who hold to the old ways and those who seek new ways. Ebony and Ivory Kings do their work, from within and without. On and on, the wheels turn.

It even goes back to the very beginning. To prior multiverses. All tracing back to the first super battle, the first superhero and first supervillain - Lifebringer-One and Anti-All, the cosmic knight and the entropic dragon - fighting for the fate of the nascent world.

Effectively, Ewing views and represents the narratives of superhero comics as we know them, as a sort of repeating song. The metatextual commentary is that all this has happened before and will happen again, because humanity will always dream of heroes battling monsters. There will always be a knight and a dragon. A warrior and a trickster. A superhero and a supervillain.

But he also acknowledges how this can go too far. How comics can fall into stagnating loops of repeating stories and stall status quos. Spider-Men being denied their stories because editors want to live in nostalgia instead of the now. X-Men getting their progress towards coexistence undone because writers can't handle change.

And this is all what Immortal Thor is about and will be about. The struggle for balance between opposites and extremes. Cyclical narratives and worlds. Ideas and stories being inherited and passed on. And all of it a commentary on comic books themselves and their history and role in culture.

It's brilliant stuff.

#immortal thor #the immortal thor #thor #mighty thor #thor odinson #loki #loki laufeyson #marvel #marvel comics #marvel 616 #earth 616 #marvel universe #al ewing #comic books #comics #media analysis #character analysis

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sylvies-kablooie · 5 months

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do you think i want to be here?

a big part of sylvie’s character that gets overlooked is shown in one particular line in s2 ep3 when she explains to loki why she has to kill victor: do you think i want to be here? do you think i’m gonna get any joy out of killing that man?

because that is what she has done, for centuries, is bring death. she’s run from one end of the world to the next, watching the connections she makes fall apart. what good would more killing bring to her? how would ending this trembling man before her repair any of the damage she has sustained? the minutemen she burned to get to he who remains were all variants, too, but she needed to do it. like she needed to kill hwr, like she needed to kill victor. what pleasure would more death give her at this point, after it has so thoroughly stained her it’s almost baptismal? what she wants is the softness of the ordinary, a uniform, a job- but her moral compass requires her to be a blade, and so she will. there is no joy in the ending of lives, especially in the name of freeing the destinies of the multiverse. she feels no love for death despite it raising her. her whole life has been more a means to an end more than that of an individual experiencing the universe. so if that means she must once again plunge her sword into a chest, she feels that she has been summoned once again to do her duty, and she must. even while she trembles at the thought, paces back and forth, and cries at what she knows she must do.

except, this time, she can’t.

#characters who see themselves as weapons dedicated to a cause more than individuals are so special to me #It’s about the loyalty to the mission to an extent that it erases your humanity #That doing the right thing can come at any cost and that cost can be yourself #and i find Sylvie to embody this perfectly #The setting aside of any sort of desire to accomplish The End Goal of free will #sylvie you are more than a blade. you deserve softness and to learn who you are outside of death.#there’s more to be said about the innocent face of victor being the only thing after centuries to break her willpower #and i have said things about it in the past and will likely say more things about it #but there is this nebulous complexity to her that fan characterization has denied the complexity of #it makes my heart ache. it is a life of sacrifice she leads.#anyway.#loki series #sylvie #sylvie laufeydottir #loki s2 #loki #loki tv show #loki meta #juni analysis

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villainboygirl · 4 months

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The evolution of pain expressed by characters in the MCU

MCU's characters crying in the Infinity Saga:

MCU's characters crying in the Multiverse Saga:

I love how they finally show without filters the pain of characters. Not a sad face and a single sexy tear rolling down a cheek, but pure, raw emotion out of control.

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godlesslostsoul · 5 months

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Character arcs are everything when it comes to good media. You fall in love with a character or a story because of that well rounded arc, and when it has meaning, even better. Not to go back to Marvel but I'm going back to Marvel. Overall, the MCU has examples of good and bad character arcs.

A couple examples of good: Carol Danvers, Peter Parker, Nebula, Loki, etc. If you look at these characters and their motivations from the beginning to the end, not only does it feel like there's growth, it also feels REAL and makes sense for their character and the story being told.

Now a couple of characters that didn't have the best arc and I can think of at this moment were Wanda and Steve but in SPECIFIC movies. Overall, they're good characters. But Steve in Endgame felt out of touch and Wanda in MoM didn't make sense. I do not understand why Steve would stay behind to be with Peggy. He had a life in the present time and to go back to be with Peggy doesn't make sense ESPECIALLY since he can't do anything to change the past. That's super isolating in hindsight. I do like the theory of how Stan Lee was supposed to be old Steve, but that's not confirmed and doesn't make up for this weird plot point. Then with Wanda, there's a very easy answer to why it felt off. Wandavision was apparently not finished by the time MoM started and the directors/producers had not seen Wandavision yet. So, that obvious disconnect makes sense but I feel like it could have been avoided if Marvel waited and had better inter-department/project communication.

#godless is being a nerd leave me alone #adhd #hyperfixation #marvel #mcu #character analysis #carol danvers #peter parker #nebula #loki #loki season 2 #steve rogers #avengers endgame #wanda maximoff #wandavision #doctor strange multiverse of madness #I will forever look for the little details

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remarcely · 5 months

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I didn't like Sylvie in S1, mostly because of the whole sylki thing, but S2 has made me her number 1 defender.

It blows my mind that people watched the show and went away with 'wow, Sylvie's a bitch' because it just reeks of misogyny and not having the capacity to understand a complex character.

Sylvie, since the age of 10-ish, has been fleeing a constant threat to her existence and grew up in apocalypses. She couldn't have anything permanent other than herself because she has to keep moving and anything she leaves behind is destroyed. No friends, no family, and no universe of her own.

Then she gets put in a room with the one guy who ruined her entire life and countless others, of course she's going to be determined to kill him. She started as a scared child, it makes sense that she became and angry adult. Nothing, not even Loki begging her, could stop He Who Remain(ed)s death.

And lets be honest he deserved it.

Then in the finale, she watches a variant of herself and a friend she faced hell along side sentence himself to an eternity of sitting on a throne, holding the multiverse in place. Loki gave everyone a chance to live and, most importantly, a choice. To stay at the TVA or go home. Verity (Hunter B-15) and Frank (Casey) chose to stay, Mobius found it too difficult without Loki and left, and Sylvie's choice was obvious.

It's unfair to be angry at her for showing happiness in the finale. Time has clearly passed since Loki left, though we're not shown how much, of course she's managed to move on. I don't see anyone pissed off at B-15 for continuing with their life? What about Casey or Ouroboros?

Also, we saw Sylvie's face as Loki made his sacrifice.

Does she look happy to you?

That is a face of horror and distress as she watches yet another person in her life essentially give up his freedom while she survives.

Do you ever think about the survivors guilt Sylvie has? That in all of the apocalypses she hid in, she saw men, women, and children be killed knowing she technically could save them but it would make them a variant and doom them further. That she is the only one from her own universe that wasn't reset, making her the lone survivor of her world?

Even with the infinite possibility for the future multiverse, those worlds will have their own Sylvie. There's no place for her there, so she has to make her own somewhere else.

From the end of Season 1 to most of Season 2, Sylvie has been fighting for the chance to live a normal life. When she gets it, through such suffering and loss, is she really supposed to be miserable forever because one person is gone? She quite literally got the only thing she's ever wanted, that's got to give her a lot of relief.

Don't be the person to think 'this silly woman gets between my gay ship, brrrr rage what a bitch' or take her as one dimensional.

She's selfish because she's sacrificed everything she had, I think by now she's allowed to be. Sophia Di Martino did a wonderful job and deserves to have her character be enjoyed and understood, not labelled as annoying and 'the real villain'.

Some people only paid mind to the shipping when watching the show, ignoring the plot, and it really shows.

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ortofosforico · 6 months

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Loki spent his whole life scheming, thinking about what other people might think or say about him, so he could predict and outsmart them. In a way, living a parallel life of projecting intrusive thoughts in his head. Finally, now he wants to experience real people.

Mobius spent his life talking to other people, trying to connect with them, have conversations pulling the same empathy 101 strategy, playing the therapist friend as his main job. Now, he can finally explore his own thoughts: see what Mobius needs and what he wants.

Parallels? Am I reading too much into this?

#loki #loki mcu #loki theories #mobius m mobius #character parallels #marvel cinematic universe #character analysis #I don't know though #these are the vibes I get #lokius #because why not.

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bitchliteraria1906 · 1 month

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I'm so sorry for spam posting about Lokius. It will happen again.

Anyways, I wanna talk about how the fell first x fell harder thing works with them, in my personal opinion.

Let's get it out of the way: Mobius fell first, Loki fell harder. I think most of the fandom agrees with this.

Mobius studied Loki's life. He's seen all the bad and even downright unforgivable things Loki is capable of.

But he's also seen Loki interacting with his family and the people of Asgard, how he never seemed to fit in, how there always seemed to exist an emotional wall between him and pretty much everyone that wasn't Frigga. He's seen vulnerable moments other people in Loki's life can only dream of knowing about.

As I said, something Mobius definitely noticed is the big emotional wall that exists between Loki and other people.

So the first thing he does when he gets a chance to talk to Loki is try to break down said wall, and he does that by pressing him with questions and pushing all the buttons possible.

"Do you enjoy hurting people? Do you enjoy killing?"

"I'll kill you."

"What, like you did your mother?"

It's a cruel tactic, and considering Mobius’s personality it's safe to assume he didn’t enjoy doing that, but it's what you're expected to do with prisioners at the TVA, and in this case, it works. Loki opens up, and it makes things easier.

I've seen a lot of people joke about how Mobius studying Loki is basically him having either a hyperfixation or being a fanboy with a little celebrity crush, and... yeah? That's pretty much it?

I mean, come on. Even though it was necessary to understand Loki to work with him, you can’t tell me Mobius wasn't genuinely interested in him too. Even in season one, when things were far from perfect and there was still trust to be built, he seems to think of Loki as fascinating/endearing sometimes, and did nice things for him without expecting anything in return, like giving him the daggers, complimenting him, just overall speaking softly whenever they're talking. He wouldn't do that if he didn’t see Loki as more than a variant he was being forced to work with.

All of this, paired with his reaction to the possibility of Loki having a thing for Sylvie, paints Mobius as the person who fell/noticed his feelings first for me. I personally think he pushed these feelings aside due to a "It would never work" train of thought, even before Sylvie.

As for Loki, while he obviously didn't trust Mobius at first, once they started spending more time together, he seemed to start feeling safe and comfortable around him to a degree that he had not felt with anyone else in a long time. He sleeps peacefully around Mobius, allows himself to be playful, and seems to genuinely appreciate the nice things I mentioned Mobius did for him.

But he's also a very traumatized person who hasn't felt genuinely connected to anyone in a while, so he obviously has no idea what to do with this, and the high stakes he's dealing with obviously don't help. He doesn't have time to sit down and process how he truly feels about this random analyst that just came into his life and flipped it upside down. And even if he had the time, would he even manage to accept he was falling for someone? We're talking about Loki here.

This is where the biggest difference between their situations shines for me: Mobius had a long, boring time to think of Loki before even meeting him in person, and even when they did meet, he was dealing with less shit than Loki. He had time to think about Loki, come to a conclusion about his feelings, and make the conscious choice to not act on them/push them aside.

Loki was thrown on the TVA shortly after the events of Avengers, watched a tape of his entire life play before his very eyes, had to learn everything about the TVA and timelines and then met Sylvie and the other variants. It's not that he didn’t reciprocate, he simply didn’t have time to process his feelings.

Personally, I can see him having a moment of realization at the end of season one, when he realized how desperate he was for Mobius's comfort after being kicked through the door by Sylvie, and when the horror of Mobius not recognizing him set in.

And that's what I mean when I say he "fell harder": it's not that he loves Mobius more, it's that Mobius developed and accepted his feelings slowly, while Loki's feelings hit him like a train at the worst time possible.

#loki #lokius #loki series #mobius mcu #mobius #mobius m mobius #loki odinson #loki laufeyson #loki friggason #character analysis #character headcanons #headcanons #lokius headcanons

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brsb4hls · 6 months

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Another try at getting into Mobius' character, because there's so much to unpack there.

So, Mobius' pov:

He was at the tva for at least 400 years, we know that much.

That is a very long time.

And the whole time he was convinced he was on the right side of the story, thought he did the good thing.

While internally acknowledging how hard it was.

He also represses. A lot.

When he corrected Loki "pruning, we prune around here", he refuses to call what he does "killing", but is very much aware of it, which is why he could not "prune" the 8yo.

He speaks to Loki about 'scare tissue'. Meaning Mobius carries a fair amount of trauma.

He does like his job and tries to make the best out of it. He enjoys all his little outings on the time line and the interactions with his coworkers.

But it's the 'detective work' part of his job that he enjoys.

He points this out to Loki, makes clear he takes (read 'preferrs') a more cerebral approach, not the 'hands on' (violent) one.

Mobius is an analyst, so he might not have to do the messy work that often, that's what the minute men are for.

Which means most of the time he might be able to seperate the two parts of the job.

He finds the variants, the minute men erase them.

(And he is not a fighter, Ravonna knocked him on his ass in 3 seconds flat).

With both Lokis showing up his world view is challenged.

Loki challenges him in the way that Mobius builts a friendship with him. With a variant that was supposed to be killed.

So Mobius has to face the fact, that variants are not variants, but people. With lives and dreams and feelings. Like he had to face that fact when confronted with the little boy.

Then Mobius finds out he is a variant himself.

And his first instinct is to deny. When he accepts it and also bonds with Sylvie, he wants to burn the tva to the ground.

He had a moment where he realized that he was manipulated and used and that he was in fact not on the right side of the story.

That wasn't his fault, he is as much a victim of HWR like everyone else.

But he still has to process that.

And Mobius never gets the time.

He has new revelations, challenges and possible new trauma dumped on top of him constantly with no time to work through it, because stuff keeps happening.

So he pushes everything aside, tries to do the best he can (help Loki and reform the tva) and eats pie.

Up until everything is resolved and Mobius cannot escape his own mind and his feelings anymore.

So he does the brave thing and tries starting to process.

He looks at his would be life and makes peace with not getting to actually live it (acknowledging that Don is doing a good job).

But everything must be immensely overwhelming for him.

That's what he is in that last shot. Overwhelmed.

By his past and by his future possibilities.

By the bad and the good things.

So he takes his time, lets time pass.

Which is something that didn't happen at the tva, because there quite literally is no time.

Mobius was stuck in a vacuum and now he is out of it and trying to cope.

And I hope he manages.

I liked the 'let time pass' very much for the symbolism and I hope time helps him process and heal, so that only a bit of new scar tissue remains.

#loki spoilers #loki #loki disney+#loki series #mobius #mobius m mobius #mobius character analysis #meta

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cleabellanov · 2 months

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Jet-Skiing through Identity: a deep dive into Mobius M. Mobius (part 1) 🚤

The story started when you said hello.

Our first interaction with this character dates back almost three years now, on the 9th of June 2021. That was when the first episode of the Loki series was released.

So it goes: we see Mobius at the guiding side character, someone to follow in this vast new space the main character is suddenly thrown in. He is a calm, steady figure. However, his serious status as an analyst not cancelling a friendly character. The first ever shot in the series introduces Mobius under the sunlight. The following scenes show him speaking French to a little girl, proving a soothing behavior despite the tight situation they were in.

For someone who works at the TVA, he shows to be quite open minded. He, of course, has a very analytical mind - while still considerating he could think outside the box, whereas other of his colleagues wouldn't accept that a box exists. Even having studied variants, having a focus point is Loki, and knowing the danger it would bring to have to trust one, he still gives this variant a chance. More than that, he takes full responsability for it: when Ravonna says: "If anything goes sideways, it's on you" he responds with a relaxed "Okay".

The first impression Mobius leaves is, therefore, one of a relaxed, almost joyful one.

Although meant to be playful, his response to Loki's threat to "burn this place to the ground" with a flippant "I'll show you my office, you can start there" hints at a potential underlying dissatisfaction with his own situation within the TVA.

But that's not all, and when the easygoing dialogue doesn't work to get under Loki's skin (which couldn't have happened so easily anyway) we get to see where studying variants brought Mobius: to knowing how to manipulate through emotions, using the information at his hands. The only way to get Loki talking was to shatter the illusion he was maintaining, and Mobius knew that. Being able to see this variant for what they truly are proves his smartness, but "lack" of empathy. However, it is more of a block than a lack- for the sake of efficiency- as a consequence of not only working, but living your entire life in the TVA. As a consequence to this, great strenght is also required to keep your true nature instead of just letting it be erased by time and the utter dedication to the time keepers- the only beings allowed to tell right from wrong. Mobius proves that strenght too.

Then, in the second episode of the series, the frame narrows down: from the big scheme to a lower one. Now, a more comfortable theme seems to be growing in the atmosphere between these two characters. We can see Loki sitting with his feet on a desk, magazine in hand, having a small quarrel with Miss Minutes. This is when we find out that Mobius still has more to introduce about himself. There is something that gets him closer to the viewers: having a personal interest with no specific corrrelation with the rest of the story: jet skis.

Going on the first mission of finding the rogue Loki variant (Sylvie, as she is later called) Mobius doesn't let himself be fooled away by Loki's silver tongue, even if in attempt to give him the chance he brought him in for, he almost gets into his play. "You almost had me for a second. My ears are sharp too" Therefore, this character with a first impression of a calm guide and a comic relief isn't to be underestimated. Just because he believes in his cause (collaborating with Loki to fin his variant) it doesn't make him a fool. -> If you have to courage to believe in something impossible, you also have the strength to make it possible.

There is also a soft jelaousy in his character; and seen not only in his attitude towards Loki finding an ally in Sylvie. It's there when talking to Ravonna Renslayer about "other analysts", and the traces left by them in her office.

This might appear as a personal pride, when for Mobius, it is more like a fear: he's afraid of being abandoned or replaced. (Remember the "Who's gonna miss an old analyst with a heart of gold" from season 2?) This internalized feeling therefore translates to the jelaousy we see on screen (or the blocking of emotions once again, but we'll get to that later).

Ravonna's "I know you have a soft spot for broken things" reveales how this character always cared, maybe more than he should have. This desire to help Loki get better (spoiler: he succeeds) is rooted in his own heart, in need of the same care he is giving away. -> Look at you comforting others with the words you wish to hear.

It also grows quickly into something more, that strictly has to do with this variant, a sympathy that is not put into words, but is seen in actions.

He once again proves to be gentle with Loki, despite the latest mission not going the way he was supposed to. He's stubborn, still wanting to go his way even when there are so many others: safer, and that conform to the TVA. He wants to give Loki his daggers back (LOVE IS A DAGGER WHO?!?), clear proof that he is confident in what he is doing. While the potential consequences outweigh his previous actions , Mobius's determination stays the same.

The one unforeseen factor that disrupts his meticulously ordered plan is Loki's escape through the time door after Sylvie bombed the sacred timeline. For the first time, we see Mobius's cool crack, his frantic calls of "Loki!" echoing in vain.

#please tell me if I did any mistakes English is not my first language :)#if you liked this reblog so it can reach more people?#part 1: episodes 1-3 #mobius m mobius #loki #loki friggason #TVA #tvarchive #infinity stones #multiverse saga #infinity war #loki series #character analysis #but make it my personal one because i know this has probably been done before #tom hiddleston #owen wilson #mobius #lokius #tumblr writers

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