HE DOESN’T EVEN LOOK HAPPY. HE LOOKS LIKE WELL SHIT I HAVE NO OTHER OPTIONS LET’S GET THIS OVER WITH *GRIM RESOLVE*
HE LOOKS…ILL. MOTION SICK. EXHAUSTED.
I AM NOT READING TOO MUCH INTO THIS, LOOK AT HIM.
WASN’T THIS RIGHT AFTER THOR ALMOST GOT HIM TO STOP AND HE HAD TO STAB HIM TO GET AWAY?
TOM HIDDLESTON = the MASTER OF PORTRAYING CONFLICTED VILLAINS.
This is definitely NOT a man excited to kill and destroy.
He looks tired.
What I would like to address at this point of the movie is that, to me, it seemed they only let that first wave through. Just one of those massive beasts I can’t be bothered to remember the name of, and one wave of the Chitauri, basically. It was just enough for the Avengers to get their heads out of their asses and get a plan of attack. They came together as a team, they found out the Chitauri’s weaknesses, and people are being safely evacuated.
ONLY AFTER THIS POINT did Loki have them send the rest. While he is no hero, I really think he did not WANT to win this particular battle. Whether that was his plan all along, or it was what Thor said to him, is hard to say exactly.
I would note, however, the color of his eyes in this scene, (as well as in the scene with Thor, and a few sporadic ‘moments of clarity’ in the film) are green. Most of the time, especially when he first lands on Earth, his eyes are a dark sort of eerie blue color, an almost unreal blue, darker than what we see on Hawkeye, but still far from his natural color.
Essentially, at this point, he WANTS the Avengers to win. He’s all but assured their victory while still making it seem as though he’s all against them. Of course he maintains his hostilities, for he is the God of Lies, and his plans cannot be unravelled. He can not have any discover that his true wish is, after perhaps humiliating the Avengers as much as he can while still being defeated by them, to return to Asgard.
I would indeed say Loki is also a conflicted villain. He is at war with himself, a war that the good inside of him is losing horribly, but it seems to make small peeks through, from time to time (maybe very small, but it’s there still).
He doesn’t want this war. Not really.
As further evidence of his wanting to be stopped, Loki, essentially, deliberately leaves his staff where the Avengers can retrieve it. Though when he first left it, he was escaping a fight, he DOES wind up back on the roof again, and he simply leaves it there. This great weapon that holds so much power… he leaves it there as if it means nothing, as if he doesn’t want it. If he wanted it, truly, he would have picked it back up.
First off, I want to clearly state that these are simply theories and I’m working through my own thoughts still. Also, that this is not justifying Loki’s actions, but merely attempting to analyze why he did what he did. Here are the points I’d like to make:
Loki is flawed but his flaws are a result of a culmination of poor (if partially unconscious) treatment by his parents (mostly his father), his brother, and his peers. He is both a victim of circumstance and his own foolish actions.
Loki’s motivation is desperate desire for self-respect.
Loki is not a villain. He is not a hero. He is an anti-villain.
In first photo he clearly just landed on Earth, and he looks like he was falling through a space dumpster and had been swallowed by a space dumpster monster and got out from it’s rear end - but still, he looks like HIMSELF. He controls Selvig- but it is not zombifying- it is whispering ideas into humans ears, subtle and unnoticable. Like Loki would do.
In second picture it’s Loki again, a year (or so) after he fell through abyss and he doesn’t look like Loki from Thor- he looks like a drug addict in desperate need of a dose. He is all sweaty, shaky, his eyes are hollow, he is pale, and stumbles when he walks. What exactly happened to him?
It was clearly NOT the fall because we’ve seen him after crash landing - and he was OK, relatively healthy (he wasn’t badly injured since he walked without stumbling! ) and in his own mind. But now- he to me is zombified. And also- he already had Selvig under his control before- but in the beginning of Avengers he has to re-do it again as if he never met the scientist.
What the hell happened to him?
Thanos, that’s what. I believe after Loki got a glimpse of the tesseract, Thanos somehow learned about it and abducted Loki. Tortured, threatened, put on “drug” of some sort- may be the scepter or some other sort of energy, poisoned Loki’s mind.
I also think that if Loki wasn’t under the influence, he would have stopped when Thor asked him to. The way he hesitated in Avengers, the tear that fell from his eye when he stabbed Thor- all suggests that he still loves his brother and wants to come back. But he can’t. at least before he gets rid of his connection to Thanos. And this connection was NOT limited to their alliance. It was something more close, more physical.
The way Loki was speaking about freedom- several times- wasn’t it suspicious? wasn’t it like his subconsciousness cry for help?
And in the end- with that “drink” phrase- he suddenly- after all the crazy shit he’d done- turned back into his NORMAL self! as if he was slapped back into consciousness (and well, he was).
Also - think logically- why would Loki, who is a smartass, exchange a source of limitless power (and he knew exactly what tesseract was since it was once held in Odin’s treasury!!!) - the one he could eventually use for his purposes (and I know he would- in time, after thorough research and trials and errors) for a boy scout group of aliens who can be destroyed by not even superheroes, but just regular troops if need be? (I mean, let’s face it- if invasion happened somewhere, say, in San Diego, we would have needed only Tony Stark and Black Widow to close the goddamn hole in the sky. All other “problems” would have been dealt with by Marines and Airforce.) And it wasn’t even an army- one mother ship- ONE? Earth is big and humans have teeth, it wouldn’t have been nearly enough to subjugate us or- it would have led to total destruction of the planet.
Anyway- why would Loki exchange unlimited power that would have granted him ALL the realms if he wanted to for just one realm? It doesn’t make sense.
Only it does.
(To those who think this theory is my attempt to vindicate Loki’s actions and make him an “innocent”- it is not.) The sceptor’s control was not “breaking man’s personality and creating something new”- no- it was bringing up the strongest characteristics of the man and making them extreme.
So, my thought is:
Loki found the Tesseract and thought of using it to conquer Asgard (and Asgard first of all, that would be his first target of revenge and the point of his attention, not Midgard) and return again, as Aesir’s king.(attaching Midgard is not even reasonable from warfare point of view- it is not a strategic place since most of the power is concentrated in Asgard. It is like attacking a farm and leaving a military base for later. Say, Midgard falls- so what? other realms come together and retaliate. Illogical.)
He was contacted by Thanos, who promised him to show tesseracts real power and “lured” Loki in his realm only to later reveal his real plans of claiming Tesseract for himself. And Loki got caught like a butterfly in the spider’s web. And here I repeat- Loki had plans for revenge and thought Thanos would assist him with those plans, only he didn’t expect Thanos had plans of his own and he was nothing but a pawn in them.
Thanos’s influence brought out features Loki already had and made them grotesque- all his anger, pain, jealousy, thirst for attention, taste for mass destruction ( let’s face it, Loki has a predesposition for it- he already tried to destroy the whole planet once). Once done, Loki became a tool for Thanos- a sort of a rabid dog on the leash. The one who bites and thrashes and attacks people and wants to be medicated and saved at the same time but can’t since the collar is still on and the leash is in it’s master’s hand. It only is saved when the leash is thorn off.
My sentiments exactly.
Pretty good. That explains a lot.
Oh my god. This makes perfect sense.
BRAVOOOOOO.
Maybe the cognitive recalibration came from the Hulk smashing him intot he floor at Stark tower…
I really like this theory, as after my second watching I was wondering about Loki’s appearance and behaviour just after landing on Earth. Honestly, he looks awful in this scenes and, of course, he stumbles on the way out- clearly there is something wrong with him. And everything above beautifully explains that and suits my headcanon. Bravo!
THIS.
Yes… yes. This does make sense.
Usually my argument would be “But no he did those things on purpose because reasons,” but I LIKE this theory. Because really. Loki’s not stupid. If he came to earth for the Tesseract he wouldn’t just trade it away. He wouldn’t just use it against people he already thinks are beneath him because it’s fun. He would use it against Thor, against his father, against the people that lied to and abandoned him. Conquering earth is nothing. The person he wants to kneel is Thor.
So yes. Tl;dr - This is brilliant and I love you. And now I have want of a fic in which Loki is a drug addict.
OMFG, it’s long but it’s glorious. I think you should read it even if you know nothing about Supernatural but want to know what Wincest is. This meta is so eloquent and all-inclusive that I sat and read this whole thing in one sitting. THIS IS WHY WE SHIP WINCEST, PEOPLE.
I’m much more prolific in K/S meta, but I can claim at least one F/K meta. This meta has been previously f-locked because it’s a ‘why I like F/K better than F/V’ meta, thus I didn’t want to stir up that old fight, but I feel like enough time has passed to bring it public.
How logical is it to choose a wife before puberty? At first glance it’s not, but I’ll tell you why it is: if left to their own devices, an adult Vulcan in the throes of Pon Farr will choose his mate according to his own desires and may force themselves on this person.
I’m not making shit up, I’m going by nature and what a biological urge is. So why can’t a Vulcan choose a mate later in life? This is where I think telepathy comes in, which is a special element. If anything, I think that would make them more dangerous. Remember ‘A Taste of Armageddon’ when Spock was able to make the guard think they’d escaped? Through a wall? Imagine a Vulcan with no engagement bond, how scary that would be. Think of how the tone of ‘Amok Time’ would change drastically. Unlike a fellow Vulcan who might have the physical and telepathic ability to fight off an unwanted advance, a human has no natural defense to telepathy and is physically weaker than a Vulcan.
Let me lay it out for you: Spock could get anyone he wanted to fuck him and the human would think it was their idea. Worst of all, Spock may not even remember he did it because it’s canon that memory loss is a part of Pon Farr. (This segment also serves as a fabulous kink meme prompt. Takers?) So obviously the bond is meant to protect the Vulcan, to preset him a mate for that time so he does not do something unforgivable.
it is it is it is!!!! what’s the meta you’re working on about?
Pretty much talk of ‘let me help’, not a biggie. I just noticed a couple of things and who doesn’t want to hear about how perfect Kirk and Spock are for each other?
In A Private War, after Spock is woken from a Vulcan healing trance by Chapel and M’Benga bitch slapping him into consciousness, this conversation happens:
CHAPEL: Here, let me help you, Mister Spock. SPOCK: Thank you, nurse. I’m quite fully recovered. CHAPEL: Yes, I see you are.
If you’re not aware, in the City on the Edge of Forever, Kirk relates to Edith that ‘let me help’ is recommended over ‘I love you’, and in the very next episode Spock asks Kirk to let him help, and Kirk responds with, ‘I need you, Spock’ after a very pregnant pause. If you subscribe to the belief that this was meant to be slashy, then maybe we’re seeing the inverse.
Chapel, who is in love with Spock, wants to help him, but he refuses her help. Before he woke up, Chapel held his hand and M’Benga slyly revealed that Spock most likely knows what’s going on in his surroundings and that Chapel was holding his hand. Makes his reaction to her kind, innocent offer of ‘let me help’ seem mighty interesting, like he knows the in-universe code for those words.
My god, it took me a while to read this epic fic, but I am so moved by its phenomenal take on male sexuality and societal taboos in modern British culture. Notice how we are given no setting for the events of this story, yet much like the succinct and sparse writing style of Ernest Hemingway, we are able to fill in the scenery and imagine an entire fantastical world contained within the text. The use of colloquialisms in the prose gives the story verisimilitude. The breadth of emotions stirred within us as we share Sherlock’s exultation will stay in our hearts until the peal of the last church bell of judgement day. This story even dares to take risks, employing the use of a period after a shouted ‘THE END’, punctuating the end of the story as if it were indeed the last words we will ever need to read in our lifetime. I applaud you, jamjamjam, for you have created the written manifestation of beauty itself.
I’ve just started reading this meta and already it’s fucking amazing. dark_orion examines Kirk’s relationships with women and proves that Kirk is not the horndog pop culture thinks he is. Of course a lot of us knew that, but it’s nice to have a touching stone and I’m encountering stuff I’d never noticed before.
