Loki and the violence of physicality.
From the very start, Lokis experience with touch is about power & possession.
As a baby, he is taken from Jotunheim, Not rescued. he is handled like a stolen artifact, a trophy of war.
As a child, touch never seemed much about comfort, it was control. A hand meant to remind him where he stands, what he is allowed to be.
Thor, for all his love, is rough. Playful shoves, dragging Loki by the arm, knocking him over. It is familial, maybe, but it is still forceful.
In Asgard, when he is handled, it is with expectation. Servants dressing him, guards grabbing him, Odin guiding him into place. It is all directional touch movement imposed upon him.
Loki learns, very early, that touch is something that happens to him, not for him. That it is a way to move him into place, to contain him. Even when someone means well, it is still a form of control. Until TVA Loki, rarely has he been touched in a way that feels safe. That feels like choice.
when he falls, touch is punishment.
He is slammed by the Hulk, thrown by the avengers in battle.
Loki is bound when captured, muzzled, handcuffed, paraded.
when Loki grieves, no one really touches him with kindness. When he dies, it is by force: stabbed, choked, crushed.
Touch has only ever been about control, submission, violence, or restraint. So of course, Loki learns to be untouchable. He learns to be slippery, a trick of the light, a flicker. He makes himself untouchable before anyone can reach for him first.
Loki does not naturally touch others. When he does, it is intentional, weaponized, or performative.
Lokis hands hold weapons before they hold people, his illusions and projections: they make him untouchable even when he is standing right there. Romance? seduction? typically a tool. it is all performance.
Loki doesnt just avoid touch he redefines it, because if he is untouchable no one can take anything from him ever again. This is a man who has been handled his whole life, so what does he do? he becomes a man who is impossible to hold.
Loki does not seek comfort through touch, he does so through manipulation, words, through proving he is smarter than you. He does not ask for closeness, he makes himself something interesting, undeniable, that you will come to him.
Until TVA loki, if he touched you, it was to hurt you, to trick you, to control you. He touches to remind people he is now the one in control.
