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darknight3904 · 6 months

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The Dress

Masterlist / Main Masterlist

Asgard 1971 A.D. (Thor 26, Loki 26, Astri 24)

"I think she'll wear green, brother," Thor said

"Why does it matter what she wears?" Loki asked dismissively

Thor smiled knowingly at his younger brother who was sipping at his wine pretending not to hide his face in his beverage.

"Oh, it does not. Not to me at least. The last time she wore green I thought your eyes were going to pop out of your head." Thor teased

Thor's words continued to bounce around in Loki's head all day and into the night. He hadn't seen much of Astri today since she was sparring with Sif and then practicing some new magic technique with his mother. They hadn't had lessons together in years after she and Loki got in a fight which ended in Frigga's favorite vase breaking and Loki's ego feeling rather bruised when Astri refused to talk to him for a week. He hadn't meant to antagonize her but his jealousy got the better of him and after she had been able to successfully multiply herself faster than him he had let out a string of insults which ended after he brought up her mother and father. Astri had shot him across his mother's chambers so fast that he barely had time to blink.

"Say another word, Loki and I'll toss you from the balcony next." Astri's voice was dripping in malice as her hands were still glowing their soft blue hue her magic put out.

"I'd like to see you try," Loki had quickly quipped back righting himself while Frigga demanded they cease their actions at once

Astri's hands had glowed once more and this time he went to the other side of the room and into his mother's favorite vase, a gift from his father when they married.

Loki tossed and turned now in his bed, wishing he had been at whatever lesson his mother had been teaching today. No, it wasn't because he wanted to be better at whatever was being taught. He liked seeing Astri's face light up whenever she got something right. He had seen it often when they were children when learning about the history of Asgard in their shared classes.

A quiet knock sounded, interrupting his nightly brooding. Loki removed himself from the pile of blankets and pillows he slept with nightly and pulled the door open to reveal Astri and a tall stack of books.

"I missed seeing you today so I figured I'd come to you." She explained entering his room without even asking and tossing the books onto his already overflowing desk.

"It's very late, Astri." Loki sighed trying to pretend that he was tired and not at all happy to see her.

"So? We used to sneak into Thor's room and then hang him from the ceiling by his toes around this time when we were younger." She pointed out before selecting a book and jumping onto his bed

"Yes, we did. But..." Loki trailed off eyeing her legs that were exposed by her night dress moving up as she got comfortable among his many pillows

"Why do you have so many pillows? It's kind of impractical." She said utterly missing his wandering eyes

Loki felt a lump rise in his throat as she tossed a pillow towards him to get his attention as if he wasn't always watching whenever she entered the room.

"Are you gonna put on a shirt and come over here or keep standing there?" She asked

Right. Clothes. He fumbled for the shirt he had discarded on the floor before climbing into bed hours earlier. He tried to calm his nerves before sliding under the covers next to her. One of his many pillows was squished behind her acting as back support while she began to explain the plot of whatever book she had chosen for their evening. Loki watched as her long hair moved while she gestured to the hand-drawn pictures of a large mountain on the first page. Her hair had always been mesmerizing for him. Even as a child, he had been interested in it, pulling at it for fun and just to get her attention. The result had been Astri cutting her hair up so it was chin length so she could avoid Loki's mean hands. Now, it was long again, streaming over her shoulders and down past her chest. God don't look at her chest!

"Are you even listening to me?" She asked suddenly, reaching out to flick his forehead.

"Of course." He lied, moving her hand away from him.

"Then what just happened in this book?" She asked

Loki smiled before gently taking the book from her hands and setting it aside.

"Does it matter? Why don't you show me what my mother taught you today?" He asked, leaning towards her

"Are you going to get angry if you can't do it yourself?" She asked

"No, of course not. That time I wasn't angry at you...I was upset with myself." He admitted

"I know..." She softly said reaching for his hand with her smaller ones

"So what did you learn today?" He asked letting her play with his fingers

"Well I didn't succeed but Frigga was trying to teach me how to take over others' bodies." She responded a little sadly

"Ah, enchantment. I've read about it." He nodded

"Can you do it?" She asked

"No. Not yet." He said, "I've tried on Thor in the past."

Astri nodded and looked back down at his hand in hers.

"What are you wearing at tomorrow's festival?" He asked suddenly

"Wouldn't you like to know," Astri smirked

"I would actually," Loki replied

"Why? Scared we'll show up in matching dresses?" She laughed

"Perhaps." Loki softly said

"Guess you'll just have to wait and find out." Astri smiled

Loki woke the next morning to a stiff left arm and a slightly sore neck. The cause of the issues? Astri had fallen asleep next to him last night. She had convinced him to read to her and then proceeded to fall asleep almost immediately despite insisting she was not tired. He tried to slowly move her head off his arm and to the pillow next to her but instead was met with an ugly groan as she awoke.

"What're you doing I thought it was your turn to read." She groggily said

"Yes, it was my turn but you fell asleep mere moments after I began." He said standing up from the bed

"Impossible, I wasn't even tired." She yawned before glancing out the glass doors that led to the balcony, "Damn it."

"It's alright, no one's perfect." He assured, "Except perhaps me."

A large pillow came flying in his general direction before smacking the wall to his right.

"Awful throw." Loki commended

This time, another one came flying and it hit him in the stomach with a surprisingly strong force.

"I win." Astri declared before slumping back into the bed and pulling the covers around her.

"You can't go back to bed, Astri," Loki said

"Sure I can. Watch me." She responded, her voice muffled by the pillow under her

"Today marks the beginning of the festivities for the Winter Solstice." Loki reminded

Another loud groan came from the cocoon of blankets that was his friend before she unceremoniously removed herself from the bed.

"I'll see you later I guess." She said walking towards the door "I hope your dress is as nice as mine."

"It'll be far better," Loki said seriously

Astri just shook her head and laughed as Loki shut the door behind her.

⋆⭒˚｡⋆

"It appears I was wrong, brother," Thor said amid sips of his drink

Of course, he had been wrong, Thor was always wrong. Astri wasn't in green but rather a light blue and silver one, and somehow this one was even more breathtaking than her green one. Loki watched her greet Sif and the other noble women who stood around in small groups while they chattered about unknown topics. Loki felt his legs moving without even a thought towards her as they finally made eye contact.

"Loki, where is your matching dress?" Astri teased

"I must have left it behind in my room." He breathed "You look...good." Damn. Why did he stop at just good?

"Thank you. Frigga has a good eye. Astri smiled

Loki glanced around the room, searching for his mother.

"Looking for me?" Her voice suddenly said from behind him

"Mother." He greeted

"Astri, come we want to show you something." A noble lady had looped her arm with Astri's and pulled her away from Loki.

"Do you like her dress? I helped pick it." Frigga smiled

"Of course I like it," Loki admitted

"Good. Then you should have no problem dancing with her." Frigga said before gently pushing her son towards where her ward had walked "Don't forget to complement her hair!"

Normally, the heat at festivals never affected Loki. But, as he approached Astri again he swore he felt himself break out in a sweat. The instruments of the entertainers his father had summoned to the palace seemed twenty times louder as he held his hand out to Astri.

"Lady Astri." He finally found his voice, " May I have the honor of a dance?"

Thor's eyes scanned the room, he was looking for his brother who had left his side the moment their childhood friend had entered the room. What surprised him though was that Loki wasn't just speaking to Astri as he normally did but instead leading her to the dance floor among other couples. He couldn't help but smile as he watched his younger brother smoothly lead the clumsy Astri in a traditional dance they had learned when they were younger.

Astri felt as if a thousand eyes were on her as Loki led the dance. As they spun, she could see Frigga's smiling face among so many other noble Asgardians.

"You're rather stiff." Loki pointed out

"It feels like everyone is watching us." She said, her voice barely above a whisper

"That is because they are." Loki smiled down at her, "They're all watching you."

Astri felt her face redden as Loki's drew closer to hers. She tried to focus on anything but his words and his bright blue eyes that stared into hers.

"You know, I love the way you look in green." Loki said "But this..."

She felt his hand gently squeeze at her waist.

"You're stunning in blue, Astri."

Astri swore it was out of embarrassment that she hid her face in his shoulder while his frame lightly shook from laughter. When she unburied her face, he was still looking at her with that intense gaze of his.

"Don't let it go to your head." He joked

Instead of quipping back she just nodded and pressed herself closer to him, wishing for the moment to never end.

I drabbled in Loki's POV a little more for this part. Also, the Attack on Titan finale still has me on the floor. Like, I knew what would happen in the end but seeing it all animated in front of me is a whole different thing. I listened to Lover by Taylor Swift while writing the dancing scene so if you want to set the tone, there you go. Also, starting in the next chapter I will be beginning to follow the plot of the first Thor movie. This means that the plot will be more cohesive and that updates might take longer since I won't just be writing from my imagination but instead sticking to what the MCU says is canon. Hope you are enjoying the story so far!

Astri's Dress

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gloriousburden · 3 months

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Debunking the “thanos brainwashed loki” theory (kind of)

DISCLAIMER: i don’t really have any problems with people taking this theory more lighthearted/just as an headcanon/au sort of thing, my issue is when it is accepted as fully canon, and words, meanings, and statements in interviews are completely twisted. people too often use it to mischaracterize loki, and disregard any of his motives, acts, and issues.

when i first got into the mcu and started interacting with the fandom, i too believed this theory when i first heard about it. until i thought about it a little more, and learned more about loki.

i’m aware that this is a little controversial to say since a lot of people truly take the theory as canon and have basically forever now… but in all honesty i REALLY don’t think it’s true. but let me just state that yes, loki definitely was persuaded/coerced into doing the things he did in avengers by thanos and his goons in order to retrieve the tesseract, that’s very canon as we can see in the scene of loki interacting with the other. loki fears thanos for a reason. thanos is a piece of shit and is shown to be a piece of shit to others including nebula and gamora, who were supposed to be his “daughters”. if he would torture his own “children”, why wouldn’t he torture and subject a stranger that he wanted to use to get the tesseract? so loki definitely was tortured.

i know there’s these two interviews, one with tom hiddleston (here) and the other with joss whedon that confirm loki went through a lot of horrible things between the ending of thor 1 and the beginning of avengers. they don’t necessarily give any specifics, just that it was really bad for him. please forgive me as i cannot find the joss whedon one right now, but i believe it was a video. the article with tom hiddleston which i’ve linked, is him saying “I think somewhere between the end of Thor and the beginning of The Avengers, Loki has been to the Marvel equivalent of the 7th circle of hell. At the end of Thor you see him let go. He lets go of the spear, he lets go of Asgard, and he lets go of the need of his brother and father’s affection and approval. He has bigger plans now.” and joss whedon pretty much said the same (in regards to loki going through horrible things between thor and avengers) from what i remember.

(but even with that being said, i’m going to focus more on canon rather than interviews.)

i’m not here to disprove that loki was tortured, i fully believe that he was and it makes sense considering thanos’ character, but i’m here to prove that he wasn’t FULLY brainwashed into doing what he did.

also trust me, i know that most of the movies loki has been in disregard a lot of the shit he’s been through, but i do feel that if he was truly forced into it, it would’ve been elaborated on. which i will elaborate on in this post.

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if anyone was brainwashed into committing the acts loki committed in avengers, they would be very distraught and traumatized when they eventually gained full consciousness and realized that they did those things. examples of this in the mcu being clint (who is literally in the same movie), as well as bucky who really was brainwashed by hydra into being an assassin, and is shown as being deeply traumatized when the brainwashing is undone. even if he didn’t commit those acts intentionally, and in his own will.

we can see in the dark world that loki was not really shown to be regretful about what he did. and honestly, i don’t think that was just them choosing not to show loki as being vulnerable, or them disregarding loki’s issues (per usual) because we actually get to see some of his true feelings, as well as him having a breakdown in the movie. he is willingly vulnerable. “now you see me, brother.”

he is shown to be deeply troubled, and vengeful about the possibility of him unintentionally leading algrim/kurse to frigga, the fact he was locked up and unable to be of any sort of help, as well as obviously frigga’s death in general. it was something that was truly done unintentionally by loki.

if loki had really unintentionally, and unconsciously committed the acts he did, he would be shown to be very distraught about it in the dark world, and it would’ve been elaborated on.

the approach the writers, as well as tom hiddleston wanted to take for loki’s character in the dark world was one that showed us as the audience, and as fans of loki more about him, as well as to see him at his most vulnerable, so why would they leave out his supposed trauma from brainwashing? because that’s not really how it happened.

they would have shown him be vulnerable about being brainwashed, and doing something unintentionally if it were something that really happened. since loki’s writing in the dark world was meant to “humanize” him. we’ve seen him at his most villainous in the last movie, so now let’s see him at his lowest in the one after that.

a major point of mine that disproves the theory is that although loki is shown to fear thanos, he’s not necessarily doing this whole thing JUST for him. he is also focused on ruling over earth, rather than just retrieving the tesseract.

if he was brainwashed, however, he would’ve got the tesseract to thanos without anything in return. thanos wouldn’t have had to bargain with loki, or offer earth/an army to him. he would have just mind controlled him with the scepter, the same way loki did with clint, and called it a day.

another point that disproves the theory is that if loki truly was mind controlled by the scepter, he would act almost robotic, and would be quite still, only doing things when told/motioned to the same way clint was when the scepter was first used on him in the beginning of the movie. (i’ve linked this scene further down in this post when i talk about the misconceptions of loki’s eyes being the same blue as the character’s who were mind controlled.) loki clearly says, and does whatever he wants in the movie. this would not really be the case if he were being mind controlled.

(also another example of loki realizing he had partially caused something unintentionally was thor’s banishment. he is shown to be quite nervous about the fact that thor got banished, although it did end up working in his favor later on in the movie.)

loki has shown many times, even before avengers when he is undeniably a villain, that he has no issues with hurting people to get what he wants. people who use the theory and accept it as canon often (i kind of hate this word, so forgive me for the lack of better words) infantilize and mischaracterize loki as being this character who is completely innocent, and helpless. and that he only became “bad” in avengers. meanwhile loki has always (always meaning since after/during the events of thor 1) been shown as a manipulative character with dark thoughts and violent tendencies. in thor 1, he committed genocide against the frost giants BEFORE he was under the influence of thanos or the scepter.

(let me state that i’m not saying loki is a bad person or a psychopath who just goes off hurting people left and right merely for the fun of it. i’ve elaborated on this, as well as loki’s motives in this post. but basically i’m saying that loki does everything he does with reason, and purpose. he is conniving, and calculated with his decisions. he doesn’t get satisfaction in hurting people, he gets satisfaction in getting closer to his goals.)

loki is already a “tragic victim” type character. you don’t need to erase that he’s capable of and willing to do wrong, and imply that those things were very out of character for him to prove that. characters can simultaneously do bad things out of their own will, while having a shitty past. not all victimized characters are completely innocent, and without flaws.

loki is never shown to have any love for midgard, or midgardians in general. he genuinely wanted to rule over them. in thor 1, loki says “i never wanted the throne, i only ever wanted to be your equal.” in thor 1. but in avengers, he says “i’ve grown, odinson, in my exile.” showing that he, and his motives have changed since then. he’s not the same person he was in thor 1, begging for his father’s love and recognition. not wanting a throne isn’t the case for him anymore. if he wasn’t able to prove himself to his own father, then midgardians were the next option.

in the dark world, loki no longer cares for odin’s approval. “he’s not my father!” “i didn’t do it for him.” as well as banishing/exiling him, and taking his throne. his focus shifting from odin’s approval as his own son in thor 1, to the approval of midgard as their king in avengers, to the approval of asgard as their king in the dark world, shows how loki’s character and his motives developed and changed with each movie. he realized that odin will never approve of him as his own son, let alone as king of asgard. thor 1 was just the start.

the reason this is relevant to disproving the theory, as well as the points i’m trying to make are:

1. the motives were already there. the will to do bad things, was already there before thanos and even the scepter’s influence/interference.

2. loki has changed between thor 1 and avengers, and he didn’t need to be brainwashed for this change to happen. he didn’t change and become “evil” because of what thanos put him through.

3. some people who take the theory as canon, believe that loki is fully good and would have never willingly hurt others to get what he wants, or to prove a point. which could not be further from the truth.

i know most of this won’t really make sense to people who already know these things, but my words (and this post in general) are more directed to/are about those who use this theory to try and make loki seem like he’s a character who only started doing bad things, due to being brainwashed. that he’s a character who would never do anything wrong against his own will. meanwhile, he’s exhibited “bad” behaviors willingly since the first movie he was in.

he’s a character with manipulative tendencies, and deep rooted resentment and jealousy towards those put above him. he is insecure, and is willing to do anything to prove himself worthy.

also a lot of the things and points that the people who believe this theory as canon use as proof are things that have been debunked. a point that they often use is that marvel has confirmed that loki was influenced by the scepter. but the only thing they confirm is that it heightened his anger and negative feelings. a big issue is that people hear “influenced” and misunderstand, taking it as a confirmation that loki was mind controlled, and not that the scepter was just amplifying his negative emotions that were already there, and have been since thor 1.

(link to the whole page.)

nowhere does it say that he was brainwashed, or mind controlled. influenced? yes, that’s what the scepter does.

another thing is people talking about his eyes supposedly being the same blue as clint’s, and erik selvig’s when they were under the influence of the scepter. when in reality… their proof of this is just lighting, edited photos, or them mistaking loki’s eyes as being green when they’re actually blue. tom hiddleston has blue eyes, and loki in avengers has the same blue eyes that he did in thor 1, before he even met thanos. his eyes aren’t green, and have never been. (also if loki was MIND CONTROLLED by the scepter, his eyes would be EXTREMELY blue, considering his natural eye color is blue.)

examples:

he has the same beautiful big blue eyes eye color. not the insanely bright blue that clint, or erik selvig had when they were mind controlled by the scepter.

more examples:

guys, if loki was being controlled by the scepter… his eyes would be the same color as theirs since the cgi was purposely used to make their eyes very unrealistically blue so that everyone would know they were being controlled. these two characters both have blue eyes. these pictures show them before being mind controlled/brainwashed, versus afterwards. also… his eyes would be that same blue throughout the movie. which they’re not… clint’s eyes remained that bright blue until the mind controlling was undone by natasha.

it won’t let me add any more pictures so forgive me, but trust me… it’s not the same blue. loki’s eyes do look a little brighter here so maybe i understand the misconception a little bit, but that’s due many factors that can be explained. one being the makeup put on tom hiddleston in this scene to make his skin lighter as well to make him appear exhausted. another factor being the lighting!! as someone with blue eyes, i know that basically anything can make them appear a different shade. but that even goes for other eye colors. that’s just how it works. another thing to mention is that tom hiddleston is naturally blonde and has warmer skin than this. the contrast of the darker hair and the makeup (ESPECIALLY the makeup used to make his under-eye area look dark, which is only used like that in this scene btw) will make his eyes look really bright especially when he already has bright blue eyes. here’s the scene.

another example of his eye color being this post of mine right here. he literally has the same eyes

we can see that the avengers, specifically the hulk, were influenced by the scepter as well. but their eyes weren’t bright blue, because they weren’t being brainwashed by it and instead their negative emotions that were already there were being heightened. this caused cap and tony to argue even more, bruce banner to become angry and emotional about being the hulk, everyone else to become more hostile, etc… these were pre existing issues. loki’s resentment towards thor as well as his need for approval were pre existing.

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anyway i will probably update this in the future if there’s anything i left out/to correct mistakes.

moral of the story is, loki was canonically tortured, subjected, and manipulated by thanos. but even with that being said, he was not necessarily brainwashed and he was definitely not brainwashed by the scepter. there is no canon proof of that. the scepter only heightened his negative emotions that were already there.

if loki really was brainwashed, don’t you think he would’ve just retrieved the tesseract for thanos without wanting to rule over earth? it would’ve been that simple. but since that isn’t true and loki was consciously and intentionally doing these things, he wanted something in return. neither clint, nor erik selvig wanted anything in return. they did whatever loki needed them to, unconsciously.

people tend to take the proof of his torture, and mistake it as proof of him being brainwashed for some reason. loki is not an innocent character who only started exhibiting “bad” behaviors in avengers. just because he’s done bad things doesn’t mean that you cannot love him, sympathize with him, or see him as the true victim in the story. he is the god of mischief. he is manipulative, and has deep rooted issues that causes him to do bad things in order to prove himself. you don’t need to dumb down his character, and motives in order to like him.

sorry if none of this makes any sense. i’m really bad at explaining my own thoughts and putting them into words, and i’m sure this could’ve been worded better. i just made this to clear things up as well as give my own take on the theory. don’t take it too seriously but also feel more than welcome to correct me on anything, as well as add your own take or anything else onto this.

thank you for reading!!

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