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wiki capital h appearance this code You'd think you could only be so invisible, wouldn't you? name>> loki laufeyson age>> millions, looks mid-late teens gender>> male, identifies as both male and female orientation>> omnisexual hair>> black eyes>> green backtagging>> i'll try my best... fourth wall>> yes threadhopping>> sure affection>> loki may or may not reciprocate on his whim aggression>> he may or may not reciprocate on his whim ;) powers>> here Personality Loki is selfish. To me this is the basis for his personality and much of it stems from that focal point. Loki is selfish to the extreme that he went back in time and tricked Odin and Odin's father Bor, killed Bor, guided his younger self, and manipulated Odin all so that he could ensure that his own life went according to the plan he wanted it to proceed along. Loki is so selfish that it causes him both moments of amorality and immorality, as it suits his needs and as he sees fits for any particular scheme or situation. For this current canon point of a teenaged (in body) Loki, we soon find out that a much older Loki is manipulating the situation and manipulating this younger version of himself for plots as of yet unknown. This is one of a multitude of situations where Loki's greatest enemy really is himself, and much of that is derived from the fact that he is so selfish and self-centered. That selfishness also creates other personality traits that Loki is well known for, such as vanity, pride, self-importance, and his sense of superiority. Loki craves attention. Unfortunately this attention craving causes often disastrous consequences, most often showing itself as grabs for power (which is also tied into his selfishness). This particular personality trait has twisted over the centuries into Loki not recognizing the attention and care he is given and taking it for granted, for no matter how much he gets he always craves more. Additionally, the care he does receive he twists in his own mind to think it spiteful rather than caring, and attempts at manipulating him or not recognizing the slights in the past. The best example of this is Thor's continued attempts to make amends with Loki but every time he tries Loki either takes the attention given to him and manipulates Thor with it or becomes upset with Thor saying he is washing away the hurts of the past with such attention. Loki is a liar. This is another fundamental of his personality and what he's probably best known for. His lies produce many other personality traits that are familiar to this iconic character: he is manipulative, clever, imaginative, can be deceptively charming, and is utterly untrustworthy no matter if it seems he is being honest or not. The great irony is that Loki even lies to himself. He creates shadows where there are none, hurts where there are none, and sees himself so often as the victim in plots where he is clearly the victim. As for how all of this shows itself in this particular variant of Loki, the ways are slightly more subtle than a fully adult and fully aware Loki. For example, Loki craves the approval and attention of the All Mothers and so he agrees to help them by doing good deeds that will erase his bad deeds of the past and make him into a hero rather than the villain of his own story. However, his selfishness tells him that the All Mother doesn't know best for him and is using him, and his pride has him going against their wishes right from the beginning. He is the sap of his very own machinations, for while he sees himself as doing good he is outright defying the All Mother who very well might know what is for the best. He is a liar in that he pretends to be working for them while manipulating their schemes behind the scenes. This variant of Loki truly does believe that he is doing good, and that he can be good, while knowing himself well enough to be concerned that it truly is for naught, and that he might just end up the villain after all. His older version wants, for unfathomable reasons at this canon point, for Loki to become the villain of his story just like he always does. This puts teen Loki at war with the "Loki who Burns" as they call him in the comics. The thing is that he is a fragment of Loki (although not the Loki who Burns from the even more distant future). Once kid Loki devours Ikol the magpie, old Loki takes over the young body and effectively kills kid Loki. This new kid Loki, toys around with the Young Avengers, manipulating them for awhile. During this Loki is saying he needs more power and has one of them age him up. This is where teen Loki comes from. Thus, he harbors all the guilt of the unforgivable crime of kid Loki's death, as well as all the manipulation, lying, and narcissism, cruelty, and everything else that makes up the generic archetype we think of as Loki. He seems haunted by the crime of kid Loki's death and his part in it, feeling as if he's merely a weapon that old Loki left in that fragment of his soul to bring about the death of the one variation of Loki that might have actually not become a villain. He is Loki, and while he may have been just the weapon in that moment of kid Loki's death, he still feels responsible because he is part of Loki absolutely. It is my belief through the writing of Agent of Asgard that teen Loki differs the most from the Loki we typically see in the comics through that one factor: guilt. Almost unerringly, any guilt Loki shows in earlier comic arcs, turns out to be false. After teen Loki reveals he's been manipulating the Young Avengers, Loki once again admits to feeling guilt over those actions. Even that moment in Agent of Asgard when he turns Sigurd over to the All Mothers for imprisonment, Loki seems to feel some kind of guilt and decides to spring Sigurd even though he just turned him over. Even before he turns Sigurd over he's planning this -- which I think says a lot -- Loki still commits the crime, but then puts himself in a position to look the hero afterwards. The actions he takes to redeem his name are short-lived, which speaks back to the fact that he is not the same kid Loki who always seemed genuine and redeemable. Teen Loki feels more genuine than old Loki yes, however, there is still that feeling with him that the reasons he is doing these good deeds, is for entirely selfish reasons. Old Loki is known throughout the three volumes of "Thor" comics, for performing deeds that, while sometimes good, ultimately are to bring renown to his own name and make himself seem important, powerful, and worthy of Odin and Thor and all of Asgard. While Thor does good for good's sake, we have learned to not trust Loki to do the same. Kid Loki was different, he did seem altruistic in his own way. Teen Loki is not nearly as trustworthy and partly because of the way he was brought forth through kid Loki's death. Loki has always had a sort of fourth-wall commentary about himself and this is very present in the Agent of Asgard series. Loki realizes that he's not a trustworthy narrator, and he knows that he's doomed to become the villain of his own story. This is made clear by the appearances of the Loki who Burns antagonizing him in his own story arc -- because if that Loki exists, obviously teen Loki is not going to last. His relationship to Thor is a complex one. I would sum it up to say that Thor is the single most important person in his life, and so often everything he does revolves around Thor or somehow involves him. Especially in the early comics (like volume 1 of "Thor"), Loki is obsessed with outsmarting Thor, overshadowing Thor somehow, or trying to make Thor seem a fool or seem incapable. In later comics, Loki's behaviors become more cruel and more complicated, and more far-reaching. Even still, though more twisted, much of his actions are to gain power and feel as if he's bettered Thor. As for teen Loki, he has all those memories of watching kid Loki gain Thor's favor and really, that's what Loki has always wanted. Throughout so many story arcs we've seen Loki trying the most ridiculous stunts to get Thor's attention, and secretly wanting his approval. Kid Loki actually accomplished that. Thor and Kid Loki had a beautiful relationship that was, almost unbelievably, healthy. Their relationship hadn't been that healthy in ages, and teen Loki isn't ready to give that up yet. While Thor is ignorant of teen Loki's part in kid Loki's death, teen Loki is playing off those remaining good emotions and feelings and taking advantage of them while he can. He even gets Thor to participate in his scheme to free Sigurd.  |
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