meta – Page 3 – I'm a defeatist but I don't have to be

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THOR: RAGNAROK AND I CAN’T USE A CUT BECAUSE I’M ON MOBILE, SO IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE PLEASE SCROLL ON BY

I am extremely proud of Loki Odinson, my very own child, for finally starting to make better life choices

(no but for real though, one thing that’s really struck me in thinking more about his actions in Ragnarok compared to the other movies is just how much of what he’s done previously has been purely reactive–he’s still making choices, but in many cases they’re significantly constrained by others or otherwise in response to others, whether that’s expressed by lashing out at somebody, taking defensive action, or otherwise feeling like he’s backed into a corner and making the best of some very bad and limited options, looking out for himself because (he believes) no one else cares to. I can’t remember if he actually says “I had no choice” at any point but I feel like the idea is there in the first Thor movie, especially when he’s telling the Warriors that he’s the reason Odin rescued them from Jotunheim and also by the way Thor’s not ready to be king, and it just kind of keeps snowballing from there, decision after terrible decision made in response to Thor, Odin, the Warriors, Thanos and the Other, Thor and Odin again. His suicide attempt at the end of the first movie is a prime example–he’s making a choice, arguably, but I don’t think it seemed that way to him. I think it felt like letting go was his only real option. This is especially true again in TDW, where he’s reacting to and going along with others’ plans; even taking Odin’s throne at the end is as much a reaction against Odin and Thor as it is a choice for something.

And then in Ragnarok? Well, he starts out that way. He’s been generally fucking around on Asgard for three years and working out some of his issues in weird ways, again in reaction to Thor and Odin; then Thor shows up and Loki lets himself get dragged around, resulting in Loki somewhat stranded on Sakaar and again opportunistically making the best (…his best, anyway) of a not-super-ideal situation he didn’t choose. He keeps going in that vein for a while, where everything he does is some kind of reaction to the Grandmaster and an attempt to manipulate the existing situation, and I would bet that if he’d had a chance to talk longer when he was going to sell Thor out again, he would’ve said something along the lines of “come on, brother, you know what the Grandmaster’s like, I have to keep him happy, I didn’t have a choice.”

Except Thor is completely done with that. He short-circuits the whole process and leaves on a suicide mission to save Asgard because that’s his choice, and he forces Loki to think about what he actually wants and make a choice.

Once Korg showed up, Loki had plenty of options. He could’ve stayed on Sakaar and taken advantage of the revolution either to ingratiate himself with the Grandmaster or take over. He could’ve taken a ship and gone literally anywhere. Maybe Hela would’ve hunted him down eventually, but it’s a big universe and he’s good at disguising himself. He probably could’ve managed pretty well. Thor probably would’ve died, Asgard would’ve been destroyed, but Loki would survive by looking out for himself. He’s good at that too, after all. No one could really blame him for not wanting to throw his life away on a suicide mission.

Or he could do…the stupid thing. The Thor thing, not to put too fine a point on it. He could go through a not-really-stable wormhole, play the Big Damn Hero for once, and jump in on what is probably the losing side of a battle against the actual Goddess of Death. He could try to help Thor and save as many Asgardians as possible while running an extremely good chance of dying in the process.

And faced with that choice, he chooses Asgard. He chooses Thor. He commits, putting himself between Asgard’s people and their enemies and then going even further into danger without hesitation on what could’ve easily been a one-way trip to raise Surtur. He returns to Asgard’s remnant on the ship when it really would’ve been reasonable to take off and do his own thing after having helped save the day. He chooses–several times over–to take the hard, dangerous route for the sake of his people and his brother.

And I’m so fucking proud of him.)