#spells!analysis

So Loki’s behaviour in avengers 1 is largely driven by the way he’s been treated by Odin. It’s not the only reason but it is a Massive part of it!! He’s trying to take over the Earth to get the throne Odin waved in front of his face his entire life, and additionally prove a point by acting the way Odin did when he was conquering and enslaving the 9 realms. He specifically says in Thor 1 that it was never about the throne itself, it was about being Thor’s equal. There are a lot of factors as to why he turns towards wanting an Actual, Physical throne, but part of that motivation is to prove a point to Odin.

I could go on endlessly about this and there is So much more to say but I’ll keep it short and circle back to the specific point I’m making here.

The way Loki acts on earth is absolutely reminiscent of Odin’s own behaviour. While we don’t actually see what he does when taking over the 9 realms, even if you don’t take Hela’s words at face value, she turned out that way for a REASON. Her character combined with the murals Odin hid paint a strong enough picture of the man he clearly was getting his throne. I believe Loki himself says something about how he acted beforehand in Thor 1 but I may be wrong.

Loki’s behaviour mimics, if not mocks Odin’s own behaviour. Odin would have been willing to do the exact same thing to get his own throne, and no doubt did Worse than what Loki did to get it. The mcu isn’t very nuanced when it comes to this topic, as a lot of residents in the 9 realms are sorta palmed off as just different flavours of bad and evil so don’t worry about it!!! Look, Thor’s protecting poor defenceless Vanaheim again isn’t that nice? But I think it’s incredibly interesting. The reason Loki is framed as the villain here is because he’s attacking Our guys who are clearly innocent, we don’t need to prove that, and we don’t deserve to be taken over!!!

We don’t see enough of the other realms to make many concrete points in canon about the Actual morality and details of most of the realms. What we Do know is some of them definitely needed a reality check and to be knocked down a peg, because trying to take over your neighbouring planets isn’t very cash money, I’m looking at you Jotunheim. But almost all of our knowledge about the other realms comes from Odin, and by extension Asgard’s very pompous and elitist viewpoint. And the narrative actively establishes time and time again that Odin is not a trusted source.

Odin says the other realms are all either weak and need support, or are evil and bad and pose a risk. And either way, Asgard is better than all of them and doesn’t like to be affiliated closely with any of them (save for maybe trading with Vanaheim and accepting warriors from there, which are notably the realm with inhabitants MOST SIMILAR to Asgardians), instead serving better simply being apart from them and looking from a distance. The only times we see Asgardians acting on other realms (save for Thor’s behaviour for the most part because he actually stops being so elitist.) it’s because they want something, or they’re being forced to clean up a problem They caused. So Loki, while he is a good person at his core, logically would have absolutely no problem killing off earth’s residents once he’s been pushed over the edge. That is exactly the kind of behaviour Asgard’s rhetoric and beliefs push for in the hands of someone willing to do harm.

Now, the reason this relates to my au is because of the position Loki is in during this part of the story, when he arrives at Stark Tower ready for the portal to open and the fighting to start.

Odin, the leader of this conquering force, makes his way to the centre of the city (in this case, Jotunheim’s castle), and finds a child left there by his father. Loki, the leader of this conquering forces, makes his way to the center of the city (in this case, Stark Tower), and finds a child left there by her father.

Odin believes Loki was abandoned, Loki knows Atlas was sent there to be protected. Either way, an innocent child, seemingly marked for death.

And Loki, who at this point has kind of collapsed under the belief that he's an irredeemable monster: it explains why everyone has always treated him so differently and with so much distrust and animosity, that everyone could tell even when he himself didn't know, why he would never be equal to Thor, why Odin had never truly loved him- he's thrown in the towel and given up on trying to be a good person. But it doesn't replace the desire to be respected, adored, loved, etc. Between his shattered mental state and the manipulation from Thanos and the mind stone, he is now in a position where the assault on Earth seems to be a mix of multiple things. It's about getting back at mostly Odin and Thor for the way he's been treated his whole life, it's about finally 'giving in' and becoming the horrible person everyone always insisted he was, and trying to claim his own throne to try and get what he feels he's entitled to. I still don't even think a throne is something he truly wants. Yes people change their minds, but in Thor 1 even with the state he's in he directly states it was never About a throne, it was about being seen as equal to Thor. If anything it'd align more with it being what he's convinced himself/has been convinced by Thanos that he deserves, is entitled to, and will fix his problems and fill the void in his heart. That at least if he has a throne, he has Something of note, that is his, that will finally make people listen to him.

That's why I find the similarities to how Odin conquered the realms to be so interesting. Because that was just. Something Odin did, probably justified by noble means that he then covered up and buried to make sure he was now seen as stern but benevolent, instead of violent. Loki only gets to that point when he is at his absolute lowest. And even THEN, he only goes through with it with the mind stone feeding into his worst emotions and thoughts, while being actively monitored by The Other, the guy likely responsible for TORTURING HIM. So Loki, who's in this volatile and destructive state, acting out trying to get back some autonomy of his own while additionally doing so to spite Odin, comes face to face with Atlas, who's 12 at this point.

For all the people he's fought, injured or killed up to this point, they have been adults. Still innocent people, but mostly SHIELD Agents who have explicitly signed up for the danger of this line of work, or bystanders who have stood between his goals or done something to specifically piss him off. Shield and the Avengers are actively standing in his way, he needed the Gala attendee's eye, the old man actively disrespected and refused to back down to him.

They aren't GOOD reasons to be attacking people, but with everything discussed combined with Asgard's embedded attitude that Midgardians are pathetic little wimps, it makes sense how we've ended up here. Still, he doesn't Actively go around killing everyone at the gala. Yes a lot of them end up in the crowd during his speech (WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY HIM PROJECTING but. I should at least TRY to stay on topic), but even so, from the way everyone is dressed its mainly just random bystanders. Killing more people probably wouldve made a stronger point honestly. The entire reason he's there is to get the eye and get the avenger's attention. But he doesnt kill more people, because he knows he doesnt need to. They're tracking him, just showing up and making a big show will get their attention without question. Its interesting, don't you think? Even unquestionably positioned as the villain, falling off the deep end and doing whatever it takes to get what he wants, he Chooses to only kill a few people here.

Even in his fight with Steve, he doesnt Actually try to kill him and get him out of the way to make the takeover later much, much easier later on. Which, mind you, wouldnt have stopped shield from taking him into custody. They have to, they need the tesseract's location. He doesn't even try to mind control him to get another powerful ally on his side (though tbf, this is probably just since his goal isnt to flee). The scene where he tells Steve to kneel he ACTIVELY POINTS THE BLUNT END OF THE SCEPTRE TOWARDS HIM. HE FLIPS THE ANGLE OF THE BLADE SO THE BLUNT END IS AGAINST HIS HEAD. There is absolutely an element of Loki's behaviour that stems purely from just. Pride. He's stronger than anyone on Earth, he's one of the most talented magic users in the realms if not the universe, he knows this very well. But I also think writing things like this off by just saying "he didnt think they were a threat/worth the effort" or something along those lines is discrediting his intelligence. He's one of the best strategists on Asgard and is responsible for saving Thor's ass countless times. He is incredibly smart, and if he was GENUINELY committed to taking over Earth no matter what, he would've killed Steve there and then. Hell, he INTENTIONALLY waits until all of the Avengers are present before sending the full force of the Chitauri through. It seems to be played off as him being overconfident/wanting to prove even at full strength they are no match for him. But remember, it's shown in the film and made explicitly clear in the deleted scenes from avengers 1 that The Other is monitoring his behaviour the Entire time. Thanos is ALSO nearby as well, which makes sense considering he's currently risking his only infinity stone. Loki also has very little access to his magic throughout this film, and that seems like its intentional rather than an oversight. He casts very few spells, and that is almost exclusively illusions. Any actual magic blasts he uses the sceptre for. And even when he Does cast illusions, during the scene with him talking over the crowd in Germany, he only casts a handful of illusions of himself, and they flicker. I am almost 100% certain this is the ONLY time we see this happen with his spell throughout the entire mcu. Which implies that he is struggling to sustain the spell. There's a conscious decision by the director to include a clear shot with one of those illusions in frame, clearly flickering like it's an active effort and is difficult to keep it going. We KNOW this isnt normal, because in Thor 1 he summons like a dozen clones all at once to attack Thor at one point. Sure they arent up for as long, but he is CLEARLY capable of doing this without much real struggle even in the middle of a one on one fight against Thor, where he's been in combat for an extended period of time. Loki is in this incredibly difficult to pin down position, where we'll likely never know for sure just how much of this was his idea and how okay he is with it all. But there are so many details put in that Didn't need to be there, that you can't just write this off as him purely being evil. He is without a doubt in the wrong in Avengers 1, he's the villain and the main antagonist for a reason. He DOES see himself as better than everyone on this planet, he's more than prepared to kill people and tear through whoever he needs to get what he wants. He's doing all of this for selfish reasons and to make a point to the people who've wronged him. But at the same time, there's more to it if you are willing to look. And there's far, FAR too much more for it not to be intentional.

So yes, has no issue with killing people, is angry, stuck in his own head/fears/view of himself, and is clearly to some extent still at the mercy of Thanos. But now he has to decide how to deal with Atlas being present. Because there wasn't meant to be a child here. And I don't think the similarities to his own origin would escape him. He believes himself to be worse than Odin at this point, that he is irredeemable and there is no real point in trying to be good or do good. That getting himself into a better situaiton/circumstance justifies his actions. And Odin didn't even kill him when he was found.

So... what does he do?

Atlas does nothing to piss him off particularly. But she doesn't know the full picture. She knows he's killed people, that he's dangerous, that him being here Obviously means something went very wrong and she's cautious and scared of him and scared of whats happened to the avengers and to Tony in particular.

But she's also spoken to Thor about Loki. Thor who was mainly mournful and sad about the way things are turning out, and outright explained that Loki wasn't like this before now. And Atlas is 12, and stupid, and cares about people, and thinks if he could be stopped peacefully that would be good for everyone, right? And she doesn't have the frame of reference to know why that wouldn't work. She doesn't think there's no point in trying. So Atlas tries to talk to him. After all, she doesn't want anyone else to get hurt.

And Loki has to decide what part of himself he wants to believe in now. What does he even say to this? What can he say to this? He should be insulted that even a child thinks he's so pitiful. But that's just it. She's a child. She isn't doing this out of malice, or to look down on him, certainly not cause she thinks she's better than him. She just. Wants to help. Herself, her people, her family mostly. But there's a genuineness to it that even extends to him, to some extent. Despite what he's done, this child, this stranger for some reason seems to care about him.

But he can't go back now. He can't stop. And all it's doing is making him confront whatever morals he's buried because he knows deep down that this isn't right. That he's becoming the monster that lurks in his blood and he doesn't have a choice to stop it, he can't take that offer, he can't back down. He can't go back to the way things were, and he can't go back to the void. Certainly not empty handed. But Atlas unquestionably reminds him that he wants to, and that terrifies him. And it isn't exactly comforting to The Other, who can see this happening, and is probably reminding him of exactly why he can't, insisting he doesn't want to, insisting that he shut her up. Atlas shakes him in a way no one else was capable of, because she is the only one he'd even come close to listening to because he knows what kids are like, how easy their lies are to pick apart, and yet outside of Thor (who he's too caught up in bitterness and betrayal and hurt to listen to) she's the only one who's shown an ounce of care to him, concern without strings attached, in who knows how long?

So, what does he do?

Does he try and find another solution? Does he show mercy? Does he choose another option, the same way Odin did?