Loki's (Not So) Glorious Purpose

this is Loki he's the god of Mischief Thor's brother erstwhile agent of the time variance Authority and he is burdened with glorious purpose [Music] welcome to explainiak I'm Dan Casey and today we're taking a look at the horniest dude in the MCU at least when he's wearing his helmet I am of course talking about Loki this god of Mischief commands you to kneel and request safe Passage through the anus I'm asking for safe Passage through the anus okay but Double Double Toil and entender's aside this magic wielding Mischief maker represents something much greater within the context of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the comics Loki was the original villain that brought the Avengers together to assemble for the very first time in the MCU he served a similar and some might say glorious purpose it's a phrase that Loki loves to use glorious purpose but what does it actually mean to be burdened with glorious purpose what exactly is Loki's true glorious purpose in the MCU and how has it evolved since we first saw him doing his best impression of Edmund from King Lear in 2011's Thor well we're gonna break it all down for you in just a moment but in order to do so we have to spoil well basically anytime Loki's been on screen ever but especially Loki season one what so if you haven't seen the show yet somehow and you were like saving it to watch right before season two I don't know man you'll find something to do for like the next 30 minutes or so I have been falling for 30 minutes okay let's get into it shall we so I was planning on immediately delving into a complex discussion of the nature of Free Will and entropy and chaos but I kind of just realized something you know if you're about to tell me to look on the bright side um Loki's journey in the MCU is basically just Mr Brightside what you know Mr Brightside the 2004 anthem from the killer seminal album hot fuss now I know what you're probably thinking Dan how is Brandon Flowers upbeat owed to feelings of deep-seated jealousy and anxiety around his partner's infidelity in any way comparable to Marvel's god of Mischief what well allow me to explain the song opens with the refrain coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine Loki has been getting locked up and breaking out since Earth's Mightiest Heroes defeated him at the Battle of New York let's talk about your escapes whenever he comes out of his cage Loki is doing just fine and nowhere does that seem more applicable than when he escapes captivity in the 2012 timeline during the events of Avengers end game the song continues gotta gotta be down because I want it all Loki was on the verge of acquiring everything he was after but he's down because he winds up defeated by The Avengers and then despite temporarily escaping he gets captured by the time variance Authority the song continues it started out with a kiss how did it end up like this it was only a kiss it was only a kiss what's he doing what are you doing for Loki the kiss is metaphorical but it's also literal and that's why the lyrics mention it twice bear with me the first kiss was the kiss of Freedom snatched away but more on that in a little bit the second kiss was between Loki and Sylvie moments before the god of mischief's variant through the sacred timeline into utter disarray due to what a pair gosh in both cases Loki someone who embodies chaos yet seeks control is left helpless to wonder how did a simple kiss turn into such a catastrophic series of events now I could go on but honestly we don't have enough money to cover the ASCAP fees but you know what I'll do the chorus I'll just do the chorus let me let me do the chorus jealousy turning Saints into the sea at the end of the original Thor Loki's jealousy of his brother sent him hurtling into the Seas below the bifrost during their climactic battle and I know it's more like a sea of stars by the very end but they definitely start plummeting into water at first Loki found himself swimming through sick lullabies and choking on your Alibis as his perceived Birthright to rule Asgard was repeatedly denied to him over the years it's what ultimately poisoned his mind to the point where he was willing to throw in his lot with Thanos by the time of the Avengers the song continues but it's just the price I pay Destiny is calling me Loki is someone who repeatedly proclaims to be burdened with glorious purpose he heeds Destiny's call and usually pays the price for it lastly the song's iconic refrain of open up my eager eyes cause I'm Mr Brightside perhaps describes Loki to a t because no matter how many times his schemes are upended his plans brought to ruin or his Destiny snatched away from him he remains optimistic maybe to a narcissistic degree that he is still meant for greatness even when that optimism is wrapped up with a deep well of sadness that we learned a lot more about in Loki season one what's so funny glorious purpose now I'm only sort of kidding with this comparison because it actually worked a lot better than I expected but it wouldn't be a video about Loki if we didn't start off with a little bit of Mischief I'm a trickster this is so mischievous so on a more serious note let's actually talk about Loki's glorious purpose or more specifically why he feels compelled to search for it Loki has been searching for his purpose his entire life in Thor he grilled Odin about why his adopted father took him as a baby from the frost Giants of yotenheim alongside the casket of ancient Winters as it turns out Loki was a mere Pawn in Odin's political game he was a contingency plan a means to bring peace between their two warring kingdoms it made Loki realize how little agency over his own life he actually had despite his godhood even when Loki was technically free he felt like a prisoner in his father's Kingdom so I am no more than another stolen Relic in that revelation of Loki's Birthright proved to be a deeply formative and radicalizing experience it was the impetus for Loki's first sense of overwhelming and glorious purpose to seek power as a means of exerting control because for Loki that was always the thing out of his reach at home in Asgard he was initially a bargaining chip to his adopted father he was overlooked in the line of succession he was regarded as a mere Mischief maker compared to his more traditionally heroic brother Thor and that must have left him feeling pretty rudderless so it makes a lot of sense why Loki's big speech to a captive audience in Germany keeps hammering home Mankind's desire for someone more powerful to tell them exactly what to do he says it's the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation the bright lure of Freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad Scramble for power for identity you were made to be ruled in the end you will always kneel but wanting effective leadership and structure is not the same thing as craving subjugation it's a testament to Loki's ultimate immaturity at this point in the timeline that he believes he can simply strong arm his way into Power Loki believed that power will give him control which will give him purpose which will fill the hole in his heart it's a sentiment that Loki hotly repeats in the first episode of the Loki series The aptly named glorious purpose the first and most oppressive lie ever rotted was the song of freedom how does that one go now the song of freedom for Loki is kind of like when you're listening to an absolute Banger for the first time and you start trying to sing along but you don't know the words yet but that doesn't stop you you keep singing Loki knows the song of freedom is catchy but he doesn't know what the words actually are at this point in time he doesn't know what it means to be free because he's a prisoner to his own deep-seated insecurities this version of Loki fresh off his defeated the Battle of New York has not yet internalized that his approach might be a bit flawed you weren't born to be king Loki you were born to cause pain and suffering and death also that others can achieve their best versions of themselves and it's what makes his Evolution over the course of this series that much more poignant his ego and narcissism can't let him accept that he might be wrong about this what a incredible seismic narcissist but change is still possible Loki is someone who's gone from attempting to gain the power he believed to be his Birthright through enemy means necessary to gain a sense of control to trying to escape from and dismantle the power structures that control the universe as we know it in the pursuit of Freedom it's what makes thanos's words to Loki in Avengers Infinity War so chilling that CrossFit California Raisin Seas right through Loki's facade I know what it's like to lose to feel so desperately that you're right yet to fail nonetheless it's frightening turns the legs to jelly but I ask you to what end dread it run from it Destiny arrives all the same but that notion of Fate already being decided is fundamentally at odds with Loki's very being while Loki believes that his glorious purpose is one of true greatness achieving it will be because Loki exerted his own willpower to do so not because it was already written in the stars and that's probably what makes Loki's repeated failure so hard for him to stomach even the ones we didn't get to see in Loki season 1 like when he turns Thor into a frog and yet Loki's world view is ultimately a fragile one while he clear really believe that he is capable of greatness he's also deeply insecure after Mobius thoroughly deflated Loki's ego with a series of Home Movies Loki still feels compelled to Bluster but his Heart's Not really in it he says I was I am on the verge of acquiring everything I am owed and when I do it'll be because I did it not because it was supposed to happen or because you were the time variance Authority or whatever it is you call yourselves allowed me to honestly you're pathetic your inner relevance a detour a footnote to my Ascent his delivery is much better it's an arrogance that's crystallized by a lifetime of feeling passed over and that's what makes Loki's emotional response to seeing his father's death reconnecting with his brother and his own eventual death that much more crushing in this moment you can actually feel Loki's glorious purpose shift it goes from wanting to become a god king to much more simply to take the Reigns of his own destiny what's so funny glorious purpose it's a task made exponentially harder with the realization that an organization of Highly bureaucratic time cops will try to police his every action now get out of my way thank you Loki's purpose is to ultimately create chaos amid order after all what is Mischief if not a micro dose of chaos to spice up life what can I say I'm a mischievous scam and as we've seen for Loki that Mischief can take on many different forms Loki as a Perpetual agent of chaos also speaks to the deeper meaning of the Multiverse Saga it's not just about a Cavalcade of cameos who instantly get turned into a fine Red Mist it's not an excuse to make jokes about a world where all food is ball shaped preferably Pizza it's a deeper rumination on chaos order and who gets to decide which stories matter and this ties into another popular reading of Loki's role in the MCU especially in light of Loki season 1. it reimagines Loki as a wild card fighting back against the established Cannon and those who dictated I.E the timekeepers and the TVA for example consider Loki's heated exchange with judge rensslayer during his trial you ridiculous bureaucrats will not dictate how my story ends it's not your story Mr lavison it never was and she's right it wasn't Loki's story it was The Avengers story Earth's Mightiest Heroes were the ones we were made to care about to root for to follow Loki was a catalyst for their development although he did undergo quite a bit of growth himself by the time of Avengers Infinity War even so that was largely in the context of Loki's relation to Thor rather than on his own merits so it was never really Loki's story it was everybody else's and that feels particularly fitting because Loki himself became the god of stories and the Loki agent of Asgard Comics so is that Loki's glorious purpose in the MCU to provide fuel for a never-ending franchise to serve as the spark that ignited a powder keg that exploded The Avengers to the heights of global popular culture or is it to provide a thoughtful commentary on the true nature of the Multiverse Saga the Multiverse Saga itself is yet another example of art imitating life massive comic book crossover events like Crisis on infinite Earths or Secret Wars arose because the powers that be realized they were collapsing under the weight of Decades of increasingly convoluted Canon to preserve the viability of their shared universes and to continually attract new customers they had to clear the board and they did so in spectacular Multiverse destroying fashion it's a constant ebb and flow that repeats itself time and time again and now it's the mcu's turn because after nearly two decades dozens of movies and TV shows long time Stars departing in a shifting Studio landscape they feel the need to hit the reset button time travel the Multiverse Saga is building towards a massive event where these stories and timelines collapse in on each other the Fateful events of Loki season 1 lit the spark that will lead to incursion events universe is destroying each other because they cannot coexist in an overcrowded Marketplace of ideas as journalist Matthew Jackson wrote in his 2021 essay for sci-fi wire Loki's purpose takes on a new dimension in the context of this metafictional reading because even if he does exist on someone else's timeline even if he's consigned to live the same fate over and over again in an omniversal fiction machine Loki's understanding that he was writing a character within himself gives him the power to rewrite at least a few things it gives him the power to become a better version of who he was always supposed to be and that's a hopeful sentiment for a character who's been something of a lodestar for us and what's ultimately a doomed fictional Universe controlled by a hat wearing robot huh much like Thanos entropy is also inevitable in the MCU not even the time variant Authority can prevent the slow drift towards chaos and that is embodied by Loki's very existence he is a spanner in the works of their fascistic pursuit of preserving the sacred timeline it's something that Loki himself is keenly aware of as well speaking with den of geek Tom Hiddleston said I think the TVA the institution that claims to govern the order of time is a fascinating place to put Loki Loki represents chaos and mischief and transgression and disruption and he's playful and charming and can be very dangerous to have these two forces of Order and Chaos meet in the middle is really exciting gosh so to recap Loki began as the arch villain he was a god whose idea of Mischief involved serving up New York on a silver platter to a genocidal warlord with a deep-seated belief in Thomas Malthus he chased a purpose that he thought would bring him glory only to find it was a hollow Pursuit but now Loki's purpose is different it's one that doesn't relegate him to playing second fiddle to his brother Thor's heroics or to act as a means for The Avengers to stake their reputation he is at last a hero on his own terms and someone who finally seems comfortable to be in his own skin and for someone whose whole life has been spent in the pursuit of trying to escape a perceived Destiny of being the bad guy knowing who you are what you stand for and what you want to do is about as glorious a purpose as anyone can hope to achieve with me anyway folks there you have it that's our long-winded analysis of Loki's glorious purpose in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far with Loki season 2 debuting on October 5th that purpose will likely evolve yet again and you'd better believe we'll be there to explore it in depth over on Nerdist for now though tell us what do you think do you agree with our assessment what do you think that Loki's glorious purpose actually is can't believe you were DB Cooper come on let us know in the comments below and give me a thumbs up while you're there and remember not everything in life can be explained but for everything else there's this shell [Music]

Channel: Nerdist

Views: 17,844

Keywords: Nerdist, Nerdist News, Dan Casey, Loki, Marvel, MCU, Season Two, Kang the Conqueror, Mobius, Renslayer, Avengers, TVA, Time Variance Authority, Fan Theories, Theory, Comics, Loki Season 2, Disney+, Video Essay, Analysis, villain, character theory

Id: qIkYOBGI3tY

Length: 16min 36sec (996 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 04 2023