#odin’s a+ parenting

[musclesandhammering]

Just saw a post saying Odin is a reliable narrator in all the movies and the only time he’s ever told a lie is about Loki being adopted. Really.

Fighting with the urge to write a gigantic meta detailing all Odin’s shady shit.

[vlovann]

[thortwenty151]

Thinking about a 5 times Thor went to Heimdall for guidance and 1 time he couldn’t fic (plus bonus TLAT scene)

1. Pre-Thor, a young Thor is scared of his powers and Heimdall shows him the stars

2. Post Thor 1 - going to the end of the bridge for news about Jane, Loki, and space

3. Avengers 1 - Heimdall tells Thor to prepare to go get Loki

4. TDW - Treason Time! Thor can’t trust anyyyyyone but Heimdall

5. Ragnarok - New King Thor doesn’t exactly know what he’s supposed to be doing.

+1. Endgame - all the things Heimdall would have helped with Thor has had to deal with alone

+2. TLAT - Heimdall and Jane discuss Thor and his changes

So now I just have to actually write it……..

[mightily-oats]

I am just so happily surprised by where they’ve taken Loki in season 2. It’s so much more than I let myself believe it could be.

Man it’s been such a ride for us old timey Loki fans. Not knowing if the writers will remember and appreciate the depth of the character they have in their hands over and over again.. for nearly a decade.

And now, for him to have finally found his own power over his story. Shaping his destiny as he deems fit, according to what his true self and values are (AOA!!)

And to have found that power in himself through finally having people around him that see him. See his value as a person. They see past the role others wrote him into. (Comic Loki again!!!!!).

I’m just so relieved to be honest. My boy is back!

It really goes to show how much Loki’s family fucked him up. And the other people around him in Asgard. Look how far he can and will go for you, if you just show him the slightest bit of genuine appreciation. (Though he did do that in the start of Thor 1 tbh, even though they didn’t give him much appreciation for it. The opposite actually)

His parents just used him so much, fucked with his head and his sense of security and trust. And guilted him if he spoke up. Or just yelled at him incoherently for starting to speak up if you’re Odin. Or went into Odinsleep, either way 🤷

[musclesandhammering]

I don’t know how I’ve been meta-ing about the Odinson family for years and never picked up on this, but wow.

You know this fits with my very specific headcanon about their childhoods though.

I think from the time they were born, Odin was super paranoid about Thor- his offspring, his actual biological heir- turning out like Hela, and sort of just saw Loki as this extra kid he picked up at the seven eleven on the way home one day so he wasn’t too worried about him. And so he hyper focused on Thor when they were children- trying so hard to groom him into this honourable asgardian patriot instead of a murderous conquerer- and pretty much just ignored Loki altogether.

But then, when the two of them entered their teens, Thor was arrogant and enjoyed fighting too much, but was otherwise exactly what Odin wanted him to be. But at the same time, Odin suddenly realised how powerful Loki was growing up to be and how underhanded he was and how much rage he was hiding and mentally went “Oh fucking shit.. I worried about the wrong one.” And because Loki was already so old, he figured it was too late to try to shape him into something better, so instead he crucified Loki for every mistake he made, was constantly suspicious of him at every turn, made it clear that he didn’t trust him and thought he was going to turn out to be a villain… and for years Loki had to exist knowing his father saw him as an enemy. And he tried to prove him wrong, but Odin is a stubborn jackass so it never worked. And so the rest of the story goes..

I just love the concept of Odin’s own paranoia being the thing that lead to everyone’s downfall.

so is nobody gonna talk about how Mjolnir used to be Hela’s?!! i can’t believe i didn’t even notice this during the mural scene until my second viewing. like, she didn’t catch the hammer because she is more powerful than Thor (being Odin’s firstborn and all), she caught it because it was her hammer.

i need to go back and watch the first Thor film bc i think Odin said something along the lines of “the hammer is a tool to build and not just a weapon to destroy”, which is why he FLIPPED OUT when Thor went on that little destruction bender against the Frost Giants and HOLY MOLY Thor and Odin’s headbutting matches in the first film mean so much more now than just father and son disagreements about leading Asgard!!!

and then there’s Heimdall’s line during Thor’s vision in Age Of Ultron “You’re a destroyer, Odinson. See where your power leads.“ Destroyer = a family trait.

Meanwhile, we’re all over here worried about Loki doing evil things, but it was never about Loki.

Odin wasn’t concerned about Thor being too immature to lead, he was terrified Thor was headed down the same path of destruction and conquest as his first child, so he banished Thor to Midgard and placed a child-security-lock on the hammer to prevent a potential Hela 2.0 and i need to lay down now 0__0

Odin is still a shit parent for not coming clean about all of this. being straightforward and honest coulda saved a lot of hassle…fuckin odin >:C

[bitchliteraria1906]

I like to think Odin was equally strict with both Thor and Loki in the sense that both of them got equally punished when they did something wrong, but in wildly different ways.

Since Thor was always the one who was gonna be king, his punishments were always turned into lessons. He'd get a chance to prove himself and fix what he did.

Loki's punishments were more the "I need to get this kid out of my face for a while" type, like getting locked in his room for some hours.

That's why when Thor tries to kill the frost giants and endangers asgardian lives in the process, he gets stripped of his power with a slight chance to get it back and banished, but when Loki commits a similar crime, he gets thrown in a cell to rot. Both pretty harsh punishments, but one of them is getting a chance to come back home and prove that he's good, the other is a lost cause.

[lucianalight]

Hela: Father I want to keep fighting because that's all you taught me.

Odin: No. How dare you have so little regard for life exactly like me? Imprisoned and forgotten.

Thor: Father I tried to kill all the monsters just the way you taught me.

Odin: No. How dare you put Asgardian lives in danger and glorify war exactly like me? Banished and stripped of your power.

Loki: Father I could have killed all the monsters without endangering Asgardian lives to prove my loyalty to you!

Odin: No. How dare you think that's what I wanted when I raised you with racism against your own people? Rejected and driven to suicide.

Hela, Thor and Loki:

[thatsolacegirl]

What If...? S2 E7 proves that Odin is the shittiest father of the MCU. Hela's bloodlust was the result of Odin's bad parenting.

Hela was one of the first victims of Odin. She never wanted to be an executioner. She was just a child who wanted to play with her wolf and be happy and free.

ODIN WAS/IS THE PROBLEM.

[purple--queen]

Odin: Your birthright was to die as a child! Cast out on a frozen rock. If I had not taken you in, you would not be here now to hate me.

Evanora: "You were born evil. I ought to have killed you the moment you left my body."

& then they wonder why things ended the way it did.

[tallseaweed]

Buddy Request: are you a Loki obsessed high fantasy lover?

I would really like to connect with fellow Loki fans who want to rant about/analyze Loki and Thor's psychology, family dynamics, Asgardian society, Jotunheim, magic/seiðr, and the Nine Realms. Ideas/thoughts that aren't canon-compliant with the MCU are more than welcome!

Here are some fics with these types of themes that I have thoroughly enjoyed and been inspired by:

Ásgarðrian Galdr by Valerie_Vancollie

Bargaining by proantagonist ( @proantagonista ) [thank you SO MUCH for the rec @alwida10!]

Frostbite by Maiden_of_Asgard

Once More With Empathy by Kairyn ( @bfaymiller )

A Fairytale Beginning by the_lady_amphitrite ( @the-lady-amphitrite )

Let me set the scene:

For the past year and a half, I've been working on developing a longfic featuring a Thor 2011 Loki and an OC Sigyn. Honestly, I don't think that I'll get around to posting it anytime soon (there's still so much work to be done on it), but it's constantly on my mind. It's sort of a hybrid concept of the MCU, Norse Mythology, my own ideas, OCs, and magic systems. It has an epic scope with multiple arcs and characters from most of the Nine Realms. Do you like characters with wings? I got you covered. An imminent threat to the Nine Realms? Check. An in-depth analysis of Ásgarðr and Jǫtunheimr's history uncovered during Loki's identity crisis? A Jǫtunn OC? A Laufey that never wanted to lose his child? Check, check, and check.

I've found it hard to talk to people about all this because it involves a LOT of worldbuilding. Epic fantasy definitely isn't for everyone and this will not be a "light" read. Some non-fanfic stories that have inspired me along the way include the Roots of Chaos series by Samantha Shannon (The Priory of the Orange Tree and A Day of Fallen Night) and Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. So if you like those types of stories, you might like the ideas I come up with.

If you relate to anything I've said, I also want to mention that I would love to hear about your ideas as well! If you feel trapped inside your own head and feel hesitant to "info-dump" on people, I am the person for you. And hey, maybe we can inspire each other :) Fanfiction is not about gatekeeping, and I have been unabashedly inspired by so many different takes on Loki that I've read along the way.

Sending this out into the Tumblr void, hoping it finds the right people!

[nepobabyeurydice]

all odin’s children need is validation from someone they like and then they become kinder more loving people. jane, mobius and ying li & wenwu can literally fix them i swear.

[mary-laib]

I will never not reblog this every time I see it

made this a while back

[thortwenty151]

ODIN: Go learn a lesson.

THOR: *comes back from Earth Woke*

ODIN: No not like that

[galaxythreads]

Loki had no right to envy thor and praise the ground frigga walked on when odin was a shitty dad to all three of his kids

Alright! Time to talk about something that is not discussed enough: jealousy between siblings that grew up in parental abuse/neglectful situations.

As someone who grew up in an abusive/neglectful environment and has siblings, + knows many people who have the same set of parameters, jealousy between siblings is sort of natural byproduct because guess what!

Parents never, never, never abuse/neglect every kid in their family in exactly the same way.

My parents were awful to my siblings in ways they weren't to me, but I'm jealous of the good things they did to for them because they didn't do that with me (i.g. when I was looking for a job last year, i got yelled at every time I failed; when my sister was looking for a job, my parents were very present for her emotionally and assured her she was doing the best she could when she didn't get the job. Their patience was absurd to me) Stuff like that + bigger things. If we were neglected/abused in exactly the same way, my sister would have gotten yelled at, too, or I would have gotten support, but it didn't happen like that because parents don't DO that, even in healthy environments, parents are never the same parents to their kids.

Likewise in ways they were awful to my siblings, they were LESS awful to me, so my siblings are jealous of that. when you're raised in an environment where you have to fight for love and scraps of affection when your parents are in a parenting mood, you are always jealous when someone manages to get the scrap. Like yes, your siblings (often) become your closest friends and confidants in that situation because there's no one else who understands it like they do, but because the abuse/neglect is so different for everyone, it causes resentment.

So here's the thing: Thor, Hela, and Loki were not abused in the same way. Loki can have an amazing, healthy relationship with Frigga (he does not, but we can pretend for a moment) and Thor is fighting for scraps of love from her. (Parents and their parenting moods are weird) and Thor can resent Loki for that because he needs a mom too. Thor can get all the attention from Odin and have a healthier (it is not healthy) relationship with Odin, and Loki can resent him for that, even though he has a "good" relationship with Frigga, because he still needs a dad. Hela can have been banished and raised as Odin's sword and have NO good or even good-ish relationships with Frigga and Odin and she resents Thor and Loki for that because she needed parents.

But is all their trauma valid even though the WAY they were traumatized is different? Yes. Can we look at them and objectively choose the "worst" victim between the three of them? No. We can't. Because different things traumatize people differently. And why should we? it's not a competition. Even though parental abuse/neglect has a tendency to pit siblings against each other despite (usually) said siblings best efforts otherwise, it is NOT A COMPETITION.

Loki has every right to be angry with Odin over what he did to him even though Odin was terrible to all his children because IT! IS! NOT! A! COMPETETION! ABOUT WHO WAS ABUSED MORE! The most suffering victim doesn't "earn" the right to be traumatized. everyone was traumatized. Everyone gets therapy. They're just going to talk about different things in therapy and THEY ARE ALL STILL TRAUMATIZED.

I guarantee to you that if they were real people, Thor would absolutely be jealous of Loki and Hela. Loki would be jealous of Hela and Thor. Hela would be jealous of Thor and Loki, EVEN THOUGH all of them are being abused, it's just the fact they're not being abused in the same way.

And this is WHY I am always in awe of their relationship in canon because it is one of the best written sibling relationships under abuse I have ever seen because it is REAL. (The Umbrella Academy s1 did this spectacularly, also, btw) Sibling relationships under abuse are so so so messy because everyone is in survival mode and it causes SO MANY issues.

and guess what! Everyone IS jealous of each other

^ Thor's resentment that he wasn't taught anything by Frigga (listen to the way he says this, he is very jealous and bitter, i WISH they had poked this more)

^ hela jealous odin replaced her with Thor

^ loki jealous that Thor got more attention than he did from their parents + people in general (all this attention wasn't a good thing) (funnily enough, for someone who is said to be SUPER jealous, this is the only time in canon I can think of Loki actually admitting that he is)

so anyway, sibling resentment HAPPENS but everyone is still abused/neglected and it all sucks and EVERYONE deserves therapy. And hey, if Frigga decided to actually be a parent to one of her kids (she didn't) then I am HAPPY because at least SOMEONE got a parent, even though Thor deserved a mom just as much as Loki did.

[worstloki]

very carefully explaining to the princes of asgard how recessive genes work and skirting around details because eye colour is the textbook example and one of them has green eyes when neither parent does. hair colour is the other example in the textbook but well one of them has black hair when neither parent did.

[purplehalnw]

God the moment in TDW when Frigga asks Loki "Then am I not your mother?" is so fucking painful and sad.

Like Loki was hopeful that he still had Frigga as a mother, that he still had some family that actually loved him, that she was still the good person he always thought she was, but then she starts to manipulate him like Odin, defending Odin's actions, and basically saying "you can either have both of us or neither of us". And he decides that he's not taking it anymore, he already took enough from Odin, he's not taking it from her. So, he responds, realizing that he has no one left, "you're not".

And oh my god just seeing the realization on his face makes me cry