#about loki

LEGAL NAME : Loki Odinson (né Loki Laufeyson)

ALIAS(ES) : God of Mischief, God of Stories, Prince of Asgard, various other titles, nicknames etc. verse dependent

DATE OF BIRTH : 20th June 965 AD (likely had a past life he can't remember and was reincarnated at this age)

GENDER : Complicated, usually presents as male. Changes on whim.

PLACE OF BIRTH : Jotunheim

CURRENT RESIDENCE : Verse dependent. OG Loki canonically will be in Valhalla, Hel, Limbo, or reincarnated as a kid in France (no, really, that's what happened in the comics XD). GOS Loki is out in the multiverse void. Default I have OG Loki either in New Asgard or at Avengers Tower (or on Asgard if set earlier in timeline). GOS Loki default either on his throne or homeless and seeking a home.

SPOKEN LANGUAGES : All-Speak, Asgardian, Norwegian, English, smattering of other languages across the realms though All-Speak allows him to be heard in a person's mother tongue.

EDUCATION : Asgardian royal teachings. Martial/military training. Magic from his mother and alongside Amora. Self-teachings from anything he's had his mitts on.

OCCUPATION : Lol. God/Prince/King/Nuisance. Protector of the Multiverse if GOS.

HAIR COLOR : Black

EYE COLOR : Blue except when transformed, in which case will either be the colour of who he's pretending to be or will have green eyes if another version of him/herself.

HEIGHT : 6'2

RACE / ETHNICITY : Asgardian Jotun (Frost Giant)

SEXUAL ORIENTATION : Pansexual

AFFILIATIONS: Verse dependent. Asgardians, The SHARP society, The Revengers, TVA, The Avengers, Cosmic Avengers.

FATHER : Adoptive and true = Odin. Biological = Laufey.

MOTHER : Adoptive and true = Frigga. Biological = Farbauti.

SIBLINGS :  Thor, Hela (in some verses Loki's previous reincarnation was Hela's father)

CHILDREN : None. Verse dependent. Has had children in some timelines. Also when following more mythological threads, potentially has Sleipnir, Jormungandr, Fenris(r), Hela, Narfi, and Vali.

PETS : Any volunteers? Uh, I mean, verse dependent. Horse called Njol on Asgard.

Tagged by: @divinityrisen (thanks!)

When Tom Hiddleston landed his career-changing role in Marvel’s Thor back in April 2009, he never dreamed he would be playing the character for nearly 15 years. To be fair, no one did—except maybe Marvel’s mastermind Kevin Feige, who had begun laying the cinematic groundwork for a multi-billion dollar franchise. At the time, Hiddleston happily threw himself into extensive research and prep to play the duplicitous brother of Thor (Chris Hemsworth). 

“I was cast in April 2009, and I had about eight months to build the character from the ground up,” Hiddleston says on this week’s Little Gold Men. “So that was a deep dive into everything Loki from any comic book, any Norse myth, any saga, everything—from the whole run of Marvel comics to the ancient Scandinavian stories, and how he pops up in The Ring cycle for Wagner, and Jim Carrey is wearing the mask of Loki in The Mask.” Hiddleston was trying to discover “this sense of, what's Loki's impact on human imagination and culture? And then synthesizing all of that into the story we’re telling. That was such a delightful period of discovery and curiosity.”

Hiddleston’s scene-stealing portrayal made him an instant fan favorite, laying a formidable foundation for a character who went on to appear in six more films and the stand-alone series Loki. The two-season series threw the character into a new dimension and timeline, stripped him of all his creature comforts, and gave the actor new challenges to tackle.

“In successive iterations, [my approach] has been, how do I keep it interesting?” he says. “I genuinely say this to myself and to others: ‘We're not reheating yesterday's meal in the microwave. We're cooking up something new.’ It's trying to find new ingredients or new challenges for the character, for us as actors, so that it feels like the same person is growing. Because that's what human beings do. They don't stay the same, they grow. Sometimes they regress, but there's always movement.”

Hiddleston has gone on to star in a wide array of projects outside the Marvel universe, of course, from his Emmy-nominated, Golden Globe-winning work in The Night Manager to Jim Jarmusch’s acclaimed romantic vampire drama Only Lovers Left Alive and Steven Spielberg’s epic War Horse. But he’s definitely spent the most time with the God of Mischief. And though no official announcement has been made, the final episode of Loki season two strongly indicates the closing of a formative chapter.

The actor and executive producer stopped by Little Gold Men for a thoughtful discussion about the gift of developing and playing a single character for so long, the surreal fun of working with drama school classmates turned costars Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Wunmi Mosaku, and getting to come up with the character's last line (for now). Listen below, where you can also read excerpts from the conversation.

Vanity Fair: Did the series version of Loki feel a little more stripped down, or did you have the same kind of mindset playing him as you did in the films?

Tom Hiddleston: Yes. I think it was stripped down literally in the sense of taking away the costume, but stripped down spiritually and in his soul. I thought [the concept] was such a brilliant idea, and it wasn't mine. It was [executive producers] Michael Waldron and Kevin Wright, and the great and the good at Marvel Studios. I thought for any character, if you were presented with your life and watching a kind of highlight reel of it, what would it add up to? Would it be satisfying? Would it be meaningful? Would it be amusing? Would it be disappointing? And I thought to do that with Loki especially, as it's the journey of a life that the audience is familiar with, but he hasn't seen it. I just thought it was a brilliant conceit. And then I leaned into this idea of the leopard being challenged to change his spots. Because you'd have to if your life ended up in murder by Thanos and humiliation. You'd want to try something new.

And that was really fun, developing a story which was actually very philosophical. It asks the question of Loki, as I hope it asks the question of all of us: Are we in control of the course of our lives? Do we have any free will, and can we break free from any kind of predetermination? It seemed like a great question, and a fun way to ask it.

You’re also an executive producer on the series. How did you take on that role? What did you get to do?

Honestly, it was such an honor and I loved it. I loved the extra imagining and problem solving. I was invited into the writer's room really early, season one, even earlier on season two. And to borrow the words from Lin Manuel Miranda, to be in the room where it happens, and to sit around the table and break story and crunch through the great creative ‘what if’ questions—what if Loki did this? What if Mobius [Owen Wilson] did that? What if they couldn't find Sylvie? What if the TVA ran on an energy source, and it wasn't energy, it was time?

Can you take any credit for bringing Ke Huy Kwan or your RADA buddies Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Wunmi Mosaku on board? I love that that was a little bit of a through-line, that you all got to work together.

Well, when their names came up, Gugu and Wunmi particularly, I was able to say, those guys are great. And Ke was just an amazing idea because actually, [his character] Ouroboros was coming to life on the page. Somebody suggested Ke, and Everything Everywhere All At Once had just come out. And I was like, genius: somebody call him now before we lose him. He was so joyful and optimistic and happy to be there, so honored to be there. He'd wanted to be in a Marvel project his whole life, I think, and, and he brought everything and more to that character. The day he landed, he came from the airport straight to the studio, probably thinking, ‘I'll just say hello and go back to my digs.’ And Owen and I were actually rehearsing the scene before Mobius and Loki meet OB for the first time. And he came in and he listened. And then we got to the bit where we were like, ‘You're in the next bit. Do you want to do it?’ He said ‘Okay!’ And he stayed and rehearsed for three hours. I think he felt completely crazy having just [traveled] across the continents, but it was so brilliant. And the chemistry was so immediate between the three of us, and so funny. We all love Ke.

Thinking about your journey with this character and all the places he has taken you, has there been a surreal aspect to it? I think about you being in drama school with Gugu and Wunmi—now you're getting paid to play.

It's a wonderful question, and I'm never unaware of the great gift that this job is. Especially because it happens all the time,: I go out into the world and I meet young people or children, and they're so amazed that they’re meeting Loki. I'm obviously not Loki, but the response is so immediate and so emotional and so joyful. What a gift. It's the best job in the world. And I never dreamed back then that I would be part of something with such reach and for so long. It just is the most unlikely, surprising, delightful thing. And we—Wunmi and Gugu I've known for a long time. It is amazing to look and go, ‘Can you believe we're here, we're doing this?’ It is exciting too, because it feels right in some way and they're great actors. They are brilliant.

Do you get recognized as the character, or are people starting to recognize you for your other work?

Oh, it's always different. I went to a friend's birthday party the other day—a friend and his wife, both turning the same age. They got a taco stand. I went to get my taco and the guys were like, ‘Only Lovers Left Alive, man. Love that film.’ And I said, ‘Thank you very much. That's very kind.’ Some people say The Night Manager. Some people stop me in the street and go, ‘It's you! You're the dancer.’ And they're referring to some talk show, some bit of dancing I did on a talk show from like a thousand years ago, which really tickles me.

Speaking of dancing, I wanted to bring up your physicality. With the most recent season of Loki in particular and that time slip, did you have to have massages and stretch after? Because it seems like such a jarring movement.

It's jerky, yes. I had to put my body under a kind of relentless physical stress. But I think it pays off in the way it's presented. In terms of movement and physicality, it comes from my own admiration for other performers when I sense that there is a really, alive and visceral physicality in the performance. Some of people are great actors, very cerebral, very intelligent, but sometimes not always fully embodied. And I love the actors who are giving me a sense that the whole body is occupying whichever space that is. They could be on a horse, they could be driving a car, they could have just run in through the jungle. I don't know, it could be anything, but a real sense of physicality is always something I admire in other actors.

One of my favorite things in doing a little research about your work on this season was that you got to craft Loki’s last line and it also maybe came from going on a run. Can you talk about that?

Well, first on running, I love it and it is a big part of my life. And a big part of my creative life. Running outside, in space, in the world with only your own legs to carry you and your own breath to fuel you, I find incredibly freeing. And it's where I do some of my best thinking and dreaming and imagining. Things bubble up from inside you. So I often run at the beginning of a day, very early and with an awareness of what's coming, what the scenes of the day are. Sometimes things will bubble up. And maybe that's just extra oxygen in the brain, who knows?  But to the point about that last line: one of the things I kept trying to guide our team back to was that the whole series, both seasons, was really about finding purpose, or re-finding, re-defining, re-discovering a sense of purpose. And I think a primal need in all of us, is that we need our lives to mean something. So I kept coming back to this line from The Avengers, ‘I am Loki of Asgard and I am burdened with glorious purpose.’ And we kept thinking, well, if Loki has a second chance, he gets to redefine his purpose or re-imagine it. I went for a run and was listening to some film scores, and it was a beautiful day. I was thinking about the journey of playing this character and where it started, and all the people that I have had the great good fortune to work with and become friends with—that completely unique kind of soul-sharing relationship where you make something together. And I remembered the end of the first Thor film, and how emotional that felt and. I just suddenly thought, that's what he should say—but it should mean something completely different. Loki's last line in Thor, directed by Kenneth Branagh, is, ‘I could have done it, Father. I could have done it for you, for all of us.’ And of course his effort to gain his father's pride has been misguided and ill thought-out. And then at the end of Loki season 2, 14 years later, he turns to Mobius and Sylvie and says, ‘I know what I want I know what kind of god I need to be. For you. For all of us.’ It felt very resonant somehow. I hope the audience picked up on that.

Are you able to just say goodbye when it's wrap time, or do you have any sort of meditative, formal way of saying goodbye to a project or a character?

After years of reading fanfiction where Loki is portrayed as a psychopath and a cunning scoundrel (for some reason this is the majority of fanfiction in my bubble?), I accidentally decided that this trope was canon. But damn, how wrong I was. Hiddleston's Loki is a very sensitive, vulnerable character who needs support and love.

Unfortunately, his mother's recognition and love are not enough. The boy needs recognition from the male part of the family. He always felt abandoned. I would like to read more fanfics where Loki is a sensitive character.

(His vulnerability is so desperately visible. The 2012 version of Loki is brutal, but we don't know what crap and heartache the character went through.)

Loki's in the series.

Disney's Loki reveals even more of the character's sensitive side. We see his pain as he looks at his life story, we see his sincere friendship with Mobius (honestly, it's amazing)

And we see how he wants to keep Sylvie safe, which could also be a hint that he is finally ready to support himself ( literally damn he supports himself) and we see his sacrifice for the sake of all loved ones and strangers.

This is what Loki would have ended up with if he had not died in Thor 3. One way or another, this version of Loki would have become the god of stories (whatever that means).

Thor

And I would also like to see a more interesting Thor, who often thanks his brother, consults, and treats him with respect.

Thoughts on Thor. We know that Thor cares about Loki, but I got the feeling that for a very long time, before Thor 1, he treated Loki like a child who doesn’t understand anything (while Thor is a teenager) and this prevents Thor from accepting him as an equal and allowing him to show Thor's mistakes.

After the 1 chapter, Thor finally matures through grief over the loss of his brother.

I really don't see much of a role for Jane Foster in his changes. I think initially he treated her as one of his hobbies, respected her intelligence, but still... I think she was more fascinated than he was.

(After all, in The Avengers he 100% had the opportunity to drop by for tea, which he didn’t take.) I think the fact that he had a lot going on and the loss of his brother played a role in his attachment to Foster.

In The Avengers and Thor 2 we see that Thor does not know how to communicate with Loki, his brother grew up the same way as him, there is awkwardness around.

Later on Sakaar we see Thor let his brother go. I imagine that he doesn’t want to witness another fake death, doesn’t want to relive it again. He is calmer knowing that Loki is somewhere, he is alive and doing his insidious deeds.

In the third part there is a feeling that they are finding a connection and an understanding of how to communicate, although this is not the end yet. Loki returned to Thor precisely when Thor let him go, allowing his brother and himself to “be themselves,” took up the affairs of his people, and took responsibility.

At this point, their growing up against the backdrop of a showdown can be considered almost complete.

I think in the end they would manage to become a good team. But it would take them a long time to learn to fully accept each other’s shortcomings. And I think one day Thor would say that he got too excited by blaming Loki for his father's death.

Oh I don't know, I just want a fanfic written by a psychologist XD

And the tragedy of how he hoped he could stay 'human' to be happy, only to realise that the responsibility of godhood was the inevitable, inescapable, and only answer.

Really Mobius? Really? Everywhere? Please name one (1) instance of the “literal end” of a world at Loki’s hands. I’ll wait. Oh that’s right. You can’t. 

Odin and Thor, who have known Loki for centuries, both took Loki’s attempted destruction of Jotunheim and his invasion of Earth pretty seriously and seemed to think that these incidents were deviations from his usual behavior pattern. 

Also when Loki tried to destroy Jotunheim he was having a suicidal breakdown and tried to kill himself moments later; he had also been raised with extremely xenophobic attitudes towards the Jotnar and while he initially actually was less violent towards them, when he discovered he was one he tried to enact the views he had been taught were correct - from childhood Thor frequently spoke about wiping out the Jotnar and received nothing but praise from the adults around him. And in Avengers he had been tortured and conditioned and was under the influence of mind control. So neither of these incidents were the result of Loki just waking up one morning and going “hey I think I'm in the mood to wreck a planet for fun.”

Anyway this quote is MUCH more descriptive of Thor. Think of the opening scene of Dark World. Or the dozens of Jotnar he slaughtered on Jotunheim - while laughing and clearly enjoying himself! Loki uses violence when he deems it necessary, but he never seems to relish it despite the fact that he was raised in a culture where taking pleasure in warfare is encouraged.   

Also let’s not forget the worlds that Odin conquered and enslaved! 

So yeah. Mobius. You get a 0/100 on your Loki fandom quiz. You are a #FakeFan. I’m against gatekeeping usually but in this one case I’m gonna say it. You don’t belong in the fandom. 

Bye!