what do you think loki’s life would have been like if laufey hadn’t “cast him out” and odin hadn’t taken him?
Depends, while I think the what if episode is a nice way to imagine it, clearly Loki was put there for a reason and Odin just grabbing him and returning him wouldn't prevent Laufey from chucking him out again or putting him somewhere else to keep him safe, depending on the reason he was cast out on the first place.
We do see that he is definitely small for a frost giant, being the size of a normal human/Asgardian baby, so something's up with his biology. I do believe it's cannon (at least in the comics) that Frost giants shrink or don't grow properly in the wrong environment so that could've influenced his stature, as well as Odin's spell, but he's also canonically a "runt"?
So let's say he was abandoned for being small? He'd probably just die.
If he was abandoned for protection and Odin never found him? I'd like to think he would've grown up much better, in an environment that supported his biology, eating foods that were actually good for him, I'm assuming foods high in copper such as salmon (thats a myth ref too), that is also assuming frost giant blood contains hemocyanin rather than hemoglobin, turning the blood blue, his mental health would've been better because his health would've been better, he would've been quite a bit taller, but at the end of the day he's still Loki, he'd still be the troublesome trickster, he still would've played pranks on the staff, and he still would've struggled with his mental health. I think this is portrayed well in Arcane with how Au Powder is still mentally ill despite having a much better upbringing, Loki still would've been mentally ill, he just would've been able to handle it better.
