Like I can’t even enjoy Richard E Grant looking ridiculous in the classic Loki costume today. We got Kid!Loki holding a fucking alligator in a crown and y’all wanna argue about selfcest and queerbaiting. This is no fun, I watch these shows to have fun dammit!
I knew as soon as Sylvie was introduced we were gonna get discourse. I thought it would be quicker to come to this, but here we are I guess.
1) Loki being queer is not changed by his alleged attraction to an alternate female version of himself. Loki is not a gay man who’s whole sexuality has been changed because he met a female version of himself. Bisexual/pansexual people are no less queer because they are attracted to the opposite sex.
2) Selfcest is not incest. If it grosses you out, that’s fine, but it’s not incest. They were not raised together, there are no unhealthy power dynamics inherent with a lot incest related sexual content, and it’s also literally impossible to have sex with yourself outside of fiction, so who even cares?
3) Loki never even said that he was interested in Sylvie. Mobius assumed he was because he thinks Loki is still a raging narcissist and also because he’s half in love with him.
4) Mobius probably isn’t dead since Loki isn’t dead, so this isn’t a Bury Your Gays situation yet (though I’m prepared to eat my words here)
5) Everyone thinks it’s hilarious that Loki in Norse mythology was fucked and impregnated by a horse. Stop acting like sex between two consenting sentient beings would be weirder than getting fucked by a horse.
It’s great that Mobius spends all of episode 2 calling Loki arrogant, but is somehow completely shocked that Loki escapes custody at the end of the episode. Like what did you think was gonna happen dude? You spent all episode being condescending and smug about being able to read Loki, being really noncommittal about even giving Loki a chance to not die once he does his job; of COURSE he’s gonna leave the second he gets an opportunity!
You hire a trickster, constantly brag about him being predictable, and then when it happens it’s all shocked pikachu face xD
So now that Lady Loki/possibly Sylvie is here, I hope everyone buckles up and straps in for the discourse. If she’s evil, then there’s gonna be posts about how they had to make the evil version of Loki female in order to make the male one look good and how female Loki is the TRUE deviant. If she’s secretly good, then it’s gonna be like the Mistress all over again, where they had to make an evil character a woman because women are inherently good or whatever. If it turns out she’s actually Sylvie, then there’s gonna be posts about how we were queerbaited again and Disney couldn’t actually commit to having a gender fluid Loki.
Obviously you’re allowed to have one, all, or none of these opinions. Just…be prepared for arguing.
Ok, so that scene of Loki discovering that he’s destined to completely destroy Asgard would have made me cry, especially given Tom’s excellent performance…
But then I noticed the event is code named “Revengers” and it took me right back out of it
loki believing that he can be something more, an “amazing” version of himself, is put into direct contrast with the part of him that believes that he is as memory loop sif says, a “craven pathetic worm who is alone and will always be alone”. sylvie is a version of himself who he can respect even though she was alone and losing all her life, without the foundation of the home and family he tethered his own identity to in the first place. there is a version of him that isn’t bound to the people and place he came from that can still survive against all odds. that is amazing! he realizes that there are people who will support him if he only asks, and reaches out to mobius with an offer of friendship immediately after mobius is ready to meet him halfway. and that’s what causes the nexus event: a loki who believes in himself is so powerful it could supersede an apocalypse. that’s why the time keepers have it out for him, and even possibly why other versions of loki may have it out for him too. this is a loki, much like kid loki in the comics, who is on track to finally score a major win: in moments when he could give up on himself or give in to despair, he is choosing to take action to change and better and savehimself.
Good meta, yes, absolutely.
“A Loki who believes in himself is so powerful it could supercede an apocalypse”
The Loki variants that we have seen throughout the show weren’t chosen at random, though. I think it’s pretty clear for anyone with some understanding of narrative tools that the relationships Loki is forging with his variants are a metaphor for self-acceptance and for coming to terms with who he is.
Loki is genderfluid in the show, and although it has never been actually said out loud, giving that he canonically comes from a sexist society with very outdated views on sexuality and gender norms, it’s safe to say that Loki has problems accepting that part of himsel. Whatever their relationship is textually, in a subtextual level his friendship/love for Sylvie is meant to represent Loki’s acceptance of his feminine side.
Kid Loki is supposed to be Loki’s inner child. He is Loki’s mischievousness and curiosity, his innocence and sense of wonder, and I love the fact that they decided to make him the King of the Void and one of the strongest variants because they are essentially saying that these are Loki’s strongest, most important personality traits and that just breaks me
President Loki is his cruelty, ruthlessness and lust for power, and the despise/embarrasment he inspires in Loki represents the rejection of those parts of himself. That’s also why President Loki wants to overthrow Kid Loki. Because those two parts of himself (his innocence and his cruelty) are forever at war with each other.
Old Loki is a future in which Loki lives out the rest of his days alone and forgotten. He is a living representation of his greatest fears coming true and that’s why Loki refuses to make a toast about them being the Gods of Outcasts. Because he is choosing to reject that future and work on himself to become better and finally find happiness. That is also why in order to help Sylvie and Loki fulfill their destinies, Old Loki had to die.
The series really has so many layers and hidden meanings while at the same time being entertaining and funny. This is really the most well written, complex, character driven production of the marvel universe, and honestly fuck everyone who is saying that that the show is bad just because they aren’t showing Loki as the coolest bitch in town and kicking everyone’s asses.
