#loki: agent of asgard

[towritecomicsonherarms]

Loki: Agent of Asgard #14

[usedgingertwinkhole]

Loki: Agent of Asgard by Al Ewing and Lee Garbett is genuinely such a good comic, with a super interesting view on grey characters. A decade after it's release it is still the premier Loki comic.

[thenightling]

Why is Loki Called Skywalker? Answer: No, it is NOT a Star Wars reference! You have it backward!

Answer for Why is Loki called "Skywalker" in The Sandman: Season of Mists?

I've seen this questioned a lot lately.

"Why is Loki called Skywalker?" "Is it because he's dressed like a cross between Hon Solo and Luke? Lol! Love it!"

Eh... No. (though I admit he does look like that in that artwork, doesn't he?)

Loki actually had the title before Luke. George Lucas was the one making a reference to Loki, not Loki making reference to George Lucas.

Darth Vader was from the Dutch to mean Dark Father. And Anikin meant a type of giant. Get it? Giant Dark Father. Father of Loki... I mean Luke. It was George Lucas who made the reference. Loki had the name first.

It's a bit like when younger people get weirded out to find out "Canon" originally was used to mean "What is considered true within the Catholic religion." The Catholic church used it first before the word Canon was applied to "Is it true within this work of fiction." In fact canonization is the term used to mean officially acknowledging someone is a saint.

Now... To answer the question of why is Loki called Skywalker?

Well, he is the trickster God.

Skywalker (sometimes translated as Sky-treader) means Loki could travel fast and easily between realms. (Yes, without need of the Bifrost.)

One explanation for this power was given later with the concept of the Seven-League Boots.

A popular trope in European folktales are a magical pair of boots known as The Seven-league boots (roughly twenty one miles as a league is three miles). The boots could let you travel twenty one miles with a single step and could allow the wearer to walk on anything including shadows, mist, and moonbeams.

You could pass from one world to another such as the realm of Faerie with a mere thought.

One of my favorite mentions of the Seven-League boots is in Goethe's Faust Part 1.

In Marvel's Loki: Agent of Asgard, Loki has the Seven-league boots and this is cleverly tied to the Faust depiction of them becuase Loki stole them from Mephisto (who is also the demon from Faust, besides being an antagonist in Marvel comics).

Some more contemporary variations of the Loki myths suggest he's always had seven-league boots, which accounted for his unique ability to travel easier than the other Norse Gods.

[lokiinmediasideblog]

Tournament of Lokis: Round 5

[winter-wise]

Fact: In Agent of Asgard, Loki admits to creating "a most terrible slash upon the internet"

Fact: In Agent of Asgard, Loki sings songs from Wicked in the shower

Conclusion: Loki, son of Laufey, God of Stories, is responsible for one of the most elaborately tagged Elphaba/Galinda fan fics of all time

[mischief-lies-and-stories]

Oh My God What Theory # Is This, I Don't Care

Spoilers for Loki and Loki: Agent of Asgard okay let's crack into it because it's late when I'm writing this and my brain is breaking.

Theory: Loki the series has been an adaptation of Loki: Agent of Asgard this whole time.

I've been complaining about this since season one, namely because Ewing does an amazing job with genderfluid Loki, and the Loki writers, well, you know. But actually story-wise, I think they actually did do their research. Let's break this down.

In the book, Loki takes on a job with the All-Mother to work for Asgard to do missions in exchange for expunging past sins.

In the show, to prevent himself from getting pruned, he takes on a job to work for the TVA to help with their missions.

In the book, he inadvertently hunts down and captures a future version of himself. In the show, he's been hired on specifically to help hunt down and capture an alternate version of himself.

Both selves (unwittingly) serve to provide him with the tools he needs to become a better version of himself and reach his true potential, outside of what the narrative (Asgard/Marvel comics and the TVA/He Who Remans/MCU) says he needs to be.

An unlikely ally (Verity in the comics, Mobius in the show) gives him the compassion and trust that he needs to believe in himself and his capacity for becoming whoever he wants to be.

Loki transitions into the void in the book in flames. In the show, he's pruned.

In the void, he meets his others: Kid Loki and Old Loki (not the future Old Loki, but the Loki he was) and a magpie. In the show, he also meets his others in the void: Kid Loki and Classic Loki (both of whom are similar in name and/or appearance to their counterparts in the comic scene), among others (not a magpie but a crocodile).

The show differs here, taking Loki out of the void but not yet concluding his arc of ego death. Because Loki in the show is still learning to believe in himself, to identify what he cares about, to become a hero and what that means. He's still too wrapped up in Sylvie--in himself--and also in being incapable of separating the fact that she is his variant but that she is also her own person with her own opinions and feelings and needs that differ from his. She wants to be free of the TVA's influence, but she also doesn't really want anything to do with him. Loki is still, at this point, at the equivalent in his personal growth to Kid Loki in Journey into Mystery, with the magpie version of himself, Ikol, as his companion (Kid Loki doesn't always listen to his advice, but he chooses to keep him around for guidance and company anyway). MCU Loki is fascinated by Sylvie, to put it kindly, and wants to keep her close to him as he figures out what she means to him and for his personal development. So ego death does not end when he leaves the void in the show, as it does in the comic.

Because in ego death, this happens:

Loki is focusing on his reasons to grow and change, rather than remain in the void or possibly actually die, or even say fuck it all, and become the person Old Loki (pretends he) wants him to become. His brother, his friend (Verity), and his capacity for change, his determination for change.

This feels very much like his conversation with Sylvie in episode five, and his ultimate realization at the end of the episode. "I want my friends back. I don't want to be alone." And even what he tells Don/Mobius about their relationship: "You saw something in me that I couldn't see in myself." They are his why, his reasons to finally finish the cycle of ego death and become the person he is meant to be, the person so many people have been speculating he's moving towards in this season's arc: The God of Stories.

Which is who they are in the comic when they emerge from the chrysalis of ego death and return to reality (and Verity).

In addition to grappling with his why and discovering it's a who (which I initially thought was himself, but in recalling that panel from AoA when he's in the void, I think it refers to himself AND those he cares about), in addition to finally admitting to himself and out loud that he cares about his friends and is afraid of being alone (WHICH LOKI BASICALLY ALSO SAYS IN THE COMIC)

We come to discover that the original ally, the original first friend, the one who in the source material gives Loki the courage and confidence to undergo ego death at last (the magpie has been heralding this event's approach throughout the comic), has been with him from the very start of his journey in the show as well.

We discover that B-15's true name is VERITY WILLIS.

In the comic, after he returns from ego death, he saves Verity by learning and collecting her STORY. In episode 5, he collects each of his friends and discovers each of their life stories on the timeline. (I worry this similarity to the comics may not yet be concluded in the show, but I'll get to that later.)

So there is something Loki does after ego death in the comics, in addition to being christened God of Stories

This is not the first time she has physically shifted gender in this comic, nor is it the first time she explains that this shape is also her. This does, however, mark a change in how characters in Ewing comics refer to Loki. In Defenders Beyond and The Immortal Thor (and I think Loki: The Liar? But that isn't a Ewing comic), Loki shifts to using they/them pronouns instead of he/him pronouns. This is very very subtle, and we have been badly burned by Marvel lying about canonizing Loki's genderfluidity in the MCU just last season. However,

this moment ultimately serves as a coming-out moment to Verity, since it's the first time she sees Loki presenting as a gender other than a man. So explicitly in the text, it is possible that we will get a similar moment in the finale or the next time we see Loki after the episode (either in a potential season 3 or another movie/series), since so much has to happen in this episode to wrap up the season/series.

The comic concludes with Loki rescuing Verity and their family by collecting their stories and stepping outside of the narrative until the world restarts again. I'm afraid Loki will not be able to save the multiverse before the end of the episode, and the only way forward will be to collect the life stories of his friends in order to save them and walk out of the narrative. Alternatively, this may not happen until a potential season 3. The reason I think this is because in the comic, they save their loved ones from an incursion. At the end of Doctor Strange 2, we watched the beginning of the incursion. We haven't heard anything about it since. The movies in the phase may need to establish this situation before Loki can do anything about it, and he's going to need to figure out how to save his friends and literally walk out of reality. (Please can we get Cloud in the MCU in a couple phases??? That's the natural progression of things, if we ignore everything that happens to Loki's character between AoA and DB, and frankly, we should.)

And finally, as I've been demanding since before season two aired, upon realizing that this show has been AoA Loki's arc all along, merely reimagined to fit the moment in the MCU's arc we are at right now, I am once again asking Marvel

WHERE IS THE COAT GIVE ME THE COAT IF I DON'T SEE THE COAT ON THURSDAY I AM GOING TO RIOT THIS WAS ALL FOR THE COAT GIVE ME THE FUCKING COAT YOU COWARDS

[daffodil--lament]

in agent of asgard when andvari cannot be killed by any weapon he can conceive of but Old Loki exists outside of the bounds of space and time so he pulls out a rocket launcher and blasts the fish to high hell. lives were changed

[treacheroustrickster]

the moon queen n magic theater 

[westiec]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Loki (Marvel Comics) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Loki (Agent of Asgard) & Verity Willis Characters: Verity Willis, Loki (Agent of Asgard) Additional Tags: Animal Transformation, Wolf Instincts, Pack Bonding, Genderfluid Loki (Marvel), Friendship Summary:

"Loki," Verity said, heart suddenly racing.

"Yes?" replied the wolf.

"You're a wolf."

The Loki-wolf did not break his stride. "That happens sometimes." (True.)

[villainspo]

Source: Loki, Agent of Asgard (2014) #17, by Al Ewing and Lee Garbett

[daisybell17]

I NEED THIS IT LOOKS SO COOL

i HAD to STOP MYSELF FROM BUYING THIS BUT I WANT IT SO BAD HUHUYUJYHSHSSH 🥲

[towritecomicsonherarms]

Loki: Agent of Asgard #14

[graphicpolicy]

Loki: Agent of Asgard Infinity Comic #1-10 is FREE on Marvel Unlimited

Loki: Agent of Asgard Infinity Comic #1-10 is FREE on Marvel Unlimited #comics #comicbooks #loki

Ahead of Marvel Studios’ Loki Season 2, Marvel Unlimited has adapted the first five issues of Loki: Agent of Asgard into the vertical Infinity Comics format! Exclusive to the Marvel Unlimited app and web service, Marvel’s Infinity Comics are a lineup of digital comics and series that are designed for vertical, mobile reading. Each Infinity Comics series also offers an ideal entry point into the…

[ikol-art]

Listen to me. Change the narrative. Keep writing your own story. You got this. Just keep going.

[lokiinmediasideblog]

Tournament of Lokis: Round 5 Compilation

[notallthosewho-wanderarelost]

I can sort of answer this! The Asgardians do consider themselves gods, but it’s ambiguous at this point whether they were created by beings on a higher plane above them, or whether mortal beliefs in them led to and shaped their existence. The truth is likely both at the same time, since we have canonical examples of both. (You can click the source link under the wiki quote below for more info.)

In Loki: Agent of Asgard, the series ends at issue 17 when the main Marvel universe collided with the Ultimates universe, leading into an event called Secret Wars. (Not relevant, but presumably the upcoming Avengers movies will be pulling from this event. There are lots of fun AUs and Doom takes over the patchwork world created from the remnants of all the alternate universes that make up Marvel Comics.)

Before that final collision, Loki uses his new powers as the god of stories to take himself and his friend Verity out of the story, where he runs into Those Who Sit Above in Shadow, also known as the Gods of Gods.

When all of reality was eventually destroyed, the trickster Loki was one of the few survivors of the universe, having used magic to both exit reality and safely contain the essence of his fellow Asgardians. After finding himself in a blank void of nothingness, Loki was confronted by Those Who Sit Above in Shadows, who demanded to be given the Asgardians' essence to feed on it. Loki defied Those Who Sit Above in Shadow, and even put into question their origin and existence. If the gods such as the Asgardians come from the stories that have been told about them, it was possible that the gods of the gods didn't create the gods, but had been created by them. Unable to answer or even counter the questions posed by Loki, Those Who Sit Above in Shadows fled.

Source

I’m seeing a lot of comments about the Norns. While the Norns do exist in Marvel comics, they’re not worshipped by Asgardians. They act as oracles and fates; Asgardian heroes will go see them for prophecies much like oracles in Greek myth, and they oversee the fates of everyone in all the realms, just as they do in Norse mythology, similar to the Greek Fates. (Wiki tells me the Marvel Norns are called the Moirae by the Olympians, so apparently in the Marvel universe they are the Greek Fates too.)

The Marvel comics version of the Norns have a queen, Karnilla, who’s a magic user and has been both an enemy and an ally of Thor over the years. All four characters (the three Norns and Karnilla) first appeared in 1964, but here’s some pictures of Karnilla from recent appearances.

Edit: It won’t let me add links to the wiki pages for the Norns or Karnilla for some reason, but if you go to the page linked for Those Who Sit Above in Shadow, you can search the wiki for the Norns or Karnilla from there and their pages will come up.

Okay BUT!!! Do the Asgardians have their own gods they pray to/worship? Obviously the MCU has been pretty wishy-washy about “the Asgardians are Sufficiently Advanced Aliens” versus “the Asgardians are the Norse Pantheon”. Do the regular Asgardians venerate the nobility as god-kings, similar to the Ancient Egyptians? Did Odin reject the God label around the time he imprisoned Hela and renounced his warring ways? Was Odin ignorant of the fact they were gods and instead chose to believe the Asgardians were simply aliens? Loki clearly considered himself a god rather unambiguously, as did Thor.