#i guess this could count as a follow up to @/stupidrant 's post?

[lullabyofthejotnar]

While I do think Odin's design on it's own is great, I feel like it's a bit conflicting when put with the story's context.

The main intent of his character was to make him look like an nice, weak, old man who could possibly do no wrong. Meanwhile his clothing and overall behavior is meant to remind you of something like a mafia boss.

The writers put too much emphasis on the "mafia boss" aspect, while still keeping the "old man" aspect intact. Combined with how a lot of his scenes have a sort of comedic flair to them, Odin ended up making the impression of posing no threat. Not because he seems weak and sweet to do anything terrible, but because he seems dumb. Even his design tells me I'm not supposed to take him seriously.

There's also this thing writers in a lot of media tend to do with characters like Odin. They are so focused on subtlety of the character's manipulation, that they forget to give them scenes that remind the audience of their true nature. So instead of coming up with clever ways of showing it, they quickly throw in some dialogue by other characters, then a moment of them going completly out of character under the guise of "they lost their cool". Odin's attacks on the Jötnar and Vanir, his abuse of Freya and many other things done by him are told to us by everyone else. We didn't get a lot of or almost to none exploration. There is The Rift plot, but it doesn't give us much of his perspective on anything and is barely developed. However this could be excused by majority of his actions happening in the past. But entirety of the false Tyr plot was ruined by the "genius manipulator suddenly loses their cool", which is also how Thor's death scene happened. I can't think of a possible reasoning for it, besides the dreaded "Odin lost his cool".

I personaly wish they leaned into him giving an illusion of an old, weak man. Like him being introduced as a mysterious and lonely traveler who has a suspicious amount of information, whom Atreus meets behind his father's back and goes to him for advice and such. Then over the course of the story, his true identity is slowly revealed. Although, that wouldn't probably work well in the current story. It could however, if the Norse saga was a trilogy.