#loki things

:)

From TVA (2024-) #5

The little prince sat alone/There was for him no throne/Not even a metal crown/To which no one would bow.

Red, swollen eyes,/Muffled, silent cries/And a broken heart/Were nothing but the start.

He was lied to all his life/(Poor, small library mice)/Trying to be someone,/Wanting to please everyone.

But they were never satisfied/Told him he should have died/For he was a big mistake:/A monster they should never take.

So he let go into the dark abyss/And it felt like a bliss/Untill full of anger he returned /And they lock him away unconcerned.

They didn't care what he's been through,/Didn't want to know too,/Failed to see the tormented soul/No longer in control.

His brain was at least confusing/On the line between good and bad dancing/Because his tortured mind /Was one of a kind.

He would smile confidently/Not holding back from being sassy/But as soon as they were gone/His act would fall undone.

Pieces of sharp words/Cut him like swords/He tried to keep them at bay/But memories stood in his way.

The little prince wasn't worthy of trust/For he himself didn't know who to trust/He was shattered into a milion bits/Wearing them as outfits.

What so ever he felt hollow/He did not know which one to follow/So sadly he finaly become/What he was seen as by anyone.

So, this has been a hot button issue in the Marvel fandom as of late and I’ve decided to jump into the fray and voice my opinion. 

First of all, I’d like to say that I don’t ship them, but I also don’t think it’s wrong if you do. There are a lot of people who say that shipping them is akin to incest or “self-cest”, partly because of how the different Peters interacted in No Way Home, but I don’t think that’s entirely accurate. I found a post that explained it something like this: each variant is a separate person with separate experiences in a separate universe. They each play the same role within their own universe, but they are still different people and, if they were ever to interact, they would have to decide what their relationships with each other would be. The post I found also pointed out that it was rather hypocritical that some of the same people criticizing Sylki shippers also, very obviously, want to ship Tobey’s and Andrew’s Peters. 

Now, I admit, I understand where people are coming from with the “self-cest” thing. It can be argued that they are all essentially the same person and it is weird to be attracted to/in a relationship with yourself. I have also heard some say that Loki and Sylvie being together shows that Loki is arrogant and self-absorbed. However, I would like to say that the arrogant/self-absorbed persona that Loki often portrays is just that - a persona - a mask that he hides beneath to keep people from seeing who he truly is. In other words, he isn’t self-absorbed - he just plays into others’ expectations of him. He acts that way in Avengers to appease the Other, who is essentially spying on him via telepathy the whole movie and who reports directly to Thanos, who very likely tortured and/or manipulated his darker tendencies to turn him into a villain. 

(Side Note That You Can Skip: I find it rather insulting that Thor: Ragnarok and the Loki show portray Loki as someone who doesn’t really know what he’s doing and is just faking and conning his way through everything, and that he does everything for power and attention. Loki is shown to be extremely intelligent in both Thor and Avengers. And, yes, he does want power and attention, but I believe this to be an overblown “younger sibling syndrome” - he wants Odin’s approval, he wants to be seen as equal to Thor by Odin, he wants to prove himself to Odin. He feels overlooked and underappreciated, and he goes to extreme and twisted measures to gain Odin’s approval. He says in Thor, “I never wanted the throne - I only ever wanted to be your [Thor’s] equal!” I believe his going after the Tesseract was another failed attempt at gaining Odin’s favor and attention - and Thanos decided to use Loki’s darker tendencies against him and use him for his own gain. In Avengers, it’s pretty clear that Loki doesn’t really want to do everything that he’s doing. You can see in his eyes in the scene on the cliff with Thor that he would rather just come home and forget this madness. You can see how he regrets his actions, how he wishes he didn’t have to do what he was doing, as he fights Thor on top of Stark Tower. In all the scenes I have mentioned, a tear falls down his cheek. His emotions are written all over his face - he doesn’t want power - he just wants to be loved and free. In Ragnarok and in Loki, however, he is portrayed and treated as someone who merely fakes his way through life, who doesn’t really have a plan, and who is nothing more than an arrogant trickster (although, I will admit, they still kept in the desire for love, if nothing else). They changed his personality in Ragnarok and the Marvel writers just kept it going to my deep chagrin.) 

As much as I am not fond of the Loki show, I believe that the message with Loki and Sylvie was actually one of self-love. Loki says to her in the end that he’s been where she is, has felt what she’s feeling, that he understands her pain - he’s accepting who he used to be, making peace with his past, through her. People are attracted to those who remind them of themselves, and Loki sees a younger, more lost version of himself in Sylvie - he wants to help her and help himself accept who he used to be. 

I personally would rather he had found someone who reminded him of himself, but was different enough - more positive, perhaps, happier - that it fascinated him. Someone from whom he could learn and be inspired, someone who could help him through his troubles and help him learn to move past his desire to prove himself to the one person who would never truly appreciate him. I don’t see that in Sylvie and I find it rather strange that he is the one helping her, when he is no doubt full of trauma and fear and confusion, when he is the one who would need help and love. 

Just a few pics from my Pinterest board that remind me of Loki.