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Plot-bunny: Thor
Jun. 20th, 2012 11:05 pmSince I've been writing a Thor fanfic, reading a whole lot of Avengers fanfic, and have already seen Avengers in theater as many times as I'm going to, I decided it was time to rewatch Thor. I needed to recalibrate some of my characterizations and remember what is fandom and what is canon. I'd forgotten how much Thor-the-character changes over the course of Thor-the-movie. I had apparently also managed to blank out in my head exactly how awful a father Odin is. Wow. There are some pretty awful fathers out there and Odin isn't at the top of the list but he's certainly offering stiff competition.
My first impression was that he was just an idiot. Like, an extreme idiot who somehow managed to make every wrong decision in the world regarding what and when and how to talk to this kids and all those people who say he's wise aren't talking about the Odin in the movie. But then I had a thought.
What if he is wise? What if it's not that he's just that much of an idiot, it's that he's just that ruthless?
What if the original goal had always been to set up Loki as a nemesis for Thor?
Think about it:
There they are in a warrior culture, where Odin his making a name for himself as a warrior-king by defeating the enemy to such an extent that they will never recover. Yay, and all that. But oh, what of his son who will never be able to fight in glorious battle like that because there are no major enemies left to defeat? And Odin, being a good king as well as a good father, doesn't want to introduce a threat to his kingdom such that will hurt his people just to allow his son to grow into a warrior king, too. But, lo, what is this? An infant child of my defeated enemy? Just the right age to make a good nemesis for my son, a stone upon which my son can whet his blade?
Of course, leaving such a child with the Jotun won't raise him to become a suitable nemesis, so Odin brings him back and raises them together, working to both keep them together and turn them against each other.
Seriously, he tells the two boys: "You were each born to be king, but only one of you can sit on my throne" (paraphrased) ?
And he raises them on stories of his battles against the monstrous frost giants? If you adopt a frost giant kid and are any kind of good parent, you should probably stop talking about how frost giants are all evil vicious monsters to be killed. Unless, of course, you want one of your sons to turn evil.
And in the final battle, brother against brother, there is much angst, they both fall to their deaths, but Odin is fast enough to grab his true-born son, and tell his adopted son "No" he really couldn't have proved himself to be a good son to Odin. So Loki is heart-broken and betrayed and Odin is pleased that Thor has finally grown up to be a man, as decided by such a vicious warrior culture.
And Thor, a man now and wise in the ways of kings and men of Asgard, while still mourning for his lost brother, turns to his father and says, no one could have a better father than you. Apparently it's not every father that arranges such a semi-mock battle as a coming of age present for their son.
I think it is perhaps meaningful that in the opening story, as told by Odin to the two boys, people of Earth once accepted that there were other realms and while they believed some were the home of the gods, others they knew to fear. Doesn't that imply a bit of self-awareness on Odin's part that people should be scared of all of them?
This, then, is a wise king and a good father who lives in a world of monsters and rules among them.
My first impression was that he was just an idiot. Like, an extreme idiot who somehow managed to make every wrong decision in the world regarding what and when and how to talk to this kids and all those people who say he's wise aren't talking about the Odin in the movie. But then I had a thought.
What if he is wise? What if it's not that he's just that much of an idiot, it's that he's just that ruthless?
What if the original goal had always been to set up Loki as a nemesis for Thor?
Think about it:
There they are in a warrior culture, where Odin his making a name for himself as a warrior-king by defeating the enemy to such an extent that they will never recover. Yay, and all that. But oh, what of his son who will never be able to fight in glorious battle like that because there are no major enemies left to defeat? And Odin, being a good king as well as a good father, doesn't want to introduce a threat to his kingdom such that will hurt his people just to allow his son to grow into a warrior king, too. But, lo, what is this? An infant child of my defeated enemy? Just the right age to make a good nemesis for my son, a stone upon which my son can whet his blade?
Of course, leaving such a child with the Jotun won't raise him to become a suitable nemesis, so Odin brings him back and raises them together, working to both keep them together and turn them against each other.
Seriously, he tells the two boys: "You were each born to be king, but only one of you can sit on my throne" (paraphrased) ?
And he raises them on stories of his battles against the monstrous frost giants? If you adopt a frost giant kid and are any kind of good parent, you should probably stop talking about how frost giants are all evil vicious monsters to be killed. Unless, of course, you want one of your sons to turn evil.
And in the final battle, brother against brother, there is much angst, they both fall to their deaths, but Odin is fast enough to grab his true-born son, and tell his adopted son "No" he really couldn't have proved himself to be a good son to Odin. So Loki is heart-broken and betrayed and Odin is pleased that Thor has finally grown up to be a man, as decided by such a vicious warrior culture.
And Thor, a man now and wise in the ways of kings and men of Asgard, while still mourning for his lost brother, turns to his father and says, no one could have a better father than you. Apparently it's not every father that arranges such a semi-mock battle as a coming of age present for their son.
I think it is perhaps meaningful that in the opening story, as told by Odin to the two boys, people of Earth once accepted that there were other realms and while they believed some were the home of the gods, others they knew to fear. Doesn't that imply a bit of self-awareness on Odin's part that people should be scared of all of them?
This, then, is a wise king and a good father who lives in a world of monsters and rules among them.
