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Day in Fandom History: July 8…

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at this point, i've become so pissed off by the "does loki have NPD?" discussion that i finally throw my take in it. i usually avoid discourse like this on the internet, but today i feel weak, so. come at me i guess

(i want to state that i do respect everyone's opinions, even if i disagree with them, and *please* continue to headcanon whatever the hell you want. I am just sharing my thoughts. I mostly speak about movies!Loki here, using he/they pronouns. Here's the link i used for research about NPD, the citations are quite thourough.)

my take is that Loki *does* have narcissistic traits, but first of all, we simply don't know enough about Loki to diagnose them especially WITHOUT A PSYCHOLOGICAL DEGREE. And EVEN IF they are intended to be portayed as NPD, the movies, but especially the series are doing an awful job at the representation.

– here's the thing:

However, I would like to more emphatically state that in my non-professional but know-it-all opinion, it is very unlikely that Loki is a narcissist. And I think, OP, you are too generous to those who claim that he is, in treating them as if they collectively have a sophisticated knowledge of NPD; they probably do not.

I think they are, in general, throwing the word around without much understanding of the condition’s complexity. They are (again, mostly) not thinking too deeply about NPD as a mental illness. They are, in fact, using it as an insult to the character.

Of course, it should not be used as an insult. I am simply stating that the mindset of those who typically state Loki is a narcissist is that of a person who would use the term blindly, thoughtlessly, without analysis, and with a shallow understanding; moreover, they would not care to learn more.

I’d also suggest that the typical person who uses “narcissist” as an insulting description of Loki in particular also has a fragmented, shallow, and biased understanding of the character in all of his varied iterations. I would suggest that these people are, in fact, influenced primarily by what they hear said about Loki rather than by the behavior of the character.

To this point, I would not blame most people who have not thought beyond the surface of Loki as a superhero/comic character if they made such an assumption. After all, they are just being entertained. I think that amongst those who have actually taken interest in Loki, there must be few who genuinely perceive Loki as a narcissist. And it is to those few that I would direct my attention at this point.

Loki does not, in fact, fit pop-culture’s understanding of the term “narcissist”. He is not a selfish, pompous, callous, vain character (all terms that might be used interchangeably with “narcissist” in the common parlance).

Loki is repeatedly accused of being a narcissist (even by himself), and disdainfully treated as if he is a selfish prick, but he in fact rarely behaves as one. He isn’t a saint by any means, but he doesn’t deserve to be labeled as simply a vain, shallow, selfish bad guy.

I would argue that characters in the MCU grossly mischaracterize Loki based not only on what others say about him, but even more pointedly, based on where he stands in relation to them.

Until the Loki series (and even sometimes within it), Loki stands as the antagonist to the conventional “good guy” characters. He is their foil. His dramatic purpose in the narrative is to oppose the protagonist and/or reflect back their character as in some way superior.

In other words, Loki generally gets shafted by the writers because he is NOT the main character, and their primary concern is to flesh out the latter—not Loki. (I would further to argue that this still happens to Loki even in much of his own show to a disappointing extent—but if I get into that right now I will get sidetracked.)

Loki seems selfish because he is doing things that conflict with what Thor wants, or what any of the Avengers want. But, if you flip the narrative voice, you can see that Loki is consistently behaving in what he believes to be the greater good.

Dammit, my sister is here—I gotta stop here and pick up with edits later.

————

K, where was I?

Loki.

Is not a narcissist, Brenda.

As noted by OP, it is necessary to take the character in pieces according to which movie/show in which he appears because his characterization varies according to the writing/directing in each production. It’s a tribute to Tom Hiddleston that he can play Loki with a resonant through-line despite how out-of-character some of his lines and actions are in later productions.

Don’t get me started.

It’s a travesty how poorly understood Loki was by writers and directors and writer/directors in literally the last half of his iterations—culminating in the Loki series, Season 1. (The writing in Season 2 had some redeeming qualities.)

Yet, even in these later productions, we don’t see Loki behaving with purely selfish intent any more than the Avengers characters (and in some cases, significantly less). The one arguable exception is the first 20 minutes or so of Loki Series 1, until he is tortured into seeing the error of his ways and instantaneous becomes a good guy.

Yet, what do we see in those 20 minutes? A dude who is interested in self-preservation in a circumstance where he is powerless. How is that different from any hero character who finds themself imprisoned?

In Thor 1, we see that Loki is on Thor’s team of the “good guys” right up until he finds himself betrayed by his own family, learning he is a literal monster and the son of Asgard’s worst enemy. He learns in the worst possible way (by discovering it himself) that he’s not Thor’s brother, he’s not his mother’s son—he is nothing to them. He is monstrous. At least, according to the belief system he was taught by those very family members.

But instead of empathizing with Loki’s horror and despair, the average superhero moviegoer, led by the perspective of a clueless Thor (who owns the narrative), sees Loki’s actions from then on as villainous.

It’s only because Director Kenneth Branagh imbued the film with unexpected (and underappreciated) layers of complexity that we who are paying attention can see past the story’s narrative devices into the perspective of Loki’s character. Branagh treated this superhero movie as a proper family drama, exposing complex motivations on all sides, and he did not neglect Loki. He gave Tom Hiddleston free range to imbue Loki with pathos and charisma that exceeds the typical popcorn movie, and—I’m off track.

My point was that Loki is not simply a narcissistic villain in Thor 1. He’s a lost soul on the wrong side of the story. Loki tries to destroy Jotunheim out of his own new self-hatred. He murders Laufey in a desperate bid to prove his loyalty to Odin. He finally commits suicide because Odin fails to reach out to him literally and metaphorically.

All of which fits not with a narcissistic personality, but quite solidly with the opposite: the individual on the other end of the narcissistic family structure: the scapegoat.

I’m focusing on Thor 1 right now because that is where these characters emerged into being. I am tempted to dig through further examples throughout all of the productions, but that would make this an even longer post, and I do have a life.

Put simply, and inexpertly, the narcissistic family structure is a phenomenon repeated throughout many families in which a narcissistic personality holds power (e.g. as a parent). Family members revolve around this figure, coping with the narcissistic personality using methods that distinguish their roles. There are enablers (often spouses), heroes (usually a favorite child), invisibles (children who disappear from the scene to escape), and there are scapegoats.

I said before that I am not an expert—I meant in that I do not have a PhD in psychology. I do, however, have a PhD in being raised in a narcissistic family structure. So, yes, I do know what I’m talking about.

The scapegoat in the narcissistic family structure is the recipient of all the blame, anger, venom, and shame that the narcissist will not allow themself to feel. The scapegoat—usually someone who is unable to fight back (such as a youngest child)—is victimized, not only by the narcissist, but also by the family members who support the principal figure.

The enabler (Frigga) allows the narcissist to spew their displaced rage down upon the scapegoat. The hero child (Thor) fails to recognize that anything is wrong with the family system because they receive all of the good vibes from the narcissist—though it is an illusion; the narcissist’s favor depends entirely on how the hero child reflects well on the narcissist.

Hero child might not deliberately abuse the scapegoat, but they inadvertently and no less effectively sustain the family narrative, allowing all the negative sh!t to slide downhill past them. Hero child may genuinely believe the scapegoat is truly to blame for all the negativity in the family. And to be sure, there is plenty of negativity to be found in the narcissistic family system.

The invisible child is not appearing in this film.

Scapegoat (Loki) has no voice, no power, and no influence in the family system. It is their role and purpose to bathe in the venom of the narcissist, much as the mythological Loki suffers under the dripping venom of the snake as his punishment for all eternity.

And that’s a whole nother treatise.

If you have actually read this far into this writing, there’s a good chance you are also a scapegoat. Because most people who are not scapegoats can’t tolerate listening to the scapegoat’s position. That would require them to question their own.

Loki is a scapegoat.

I’ll stop there—I have to feed the cat. If you need more examples of how Loki’s family reflects the narcissistic family system, I can easily find them for you. However, I’d encourage you to look for the examples in the narrative yourself. If you can view from this perspective, you will probably see examples everywhere you look in Loki’s story.