Stabbing should be a small thing for Asgardians. That’s why I don’t understand why Thor was so stricken when loki stabbed in Avengers. Or was it because loki is using their childhood games in a fight against his brother? 🤔

veliseraptor:

dictionarywrites:

veliseraptor:

I’d imagine it had more to do with the rejection of Thor’s attempt to reach out, and the aggression behind the gesture even if it wasn’t a serious injury. Regardless of whether it hurt Thor a lot, or did serious damage, it’s the intent behind the gesture and the fact that it came with Loki slapping Thor’s olive branch away that I think actually hurts Thor more. 

i’d just like to add that like, the childhood game thing was a completely different context. Loki was playing at being a snake, Thor got excited and saw a snake, and Loki took the chance to surprise his brother, as well as punish him for letting his guard down – much like wolf cubs wrestling, that play is rough and tumble, but it’s a learning experience as well. Loki and Thor would have been very aware of one another’s weaknesses and one another’s strengths, and I think the two of them would have learned a lot from fighting with one another.

But the scene on Stark Tower is… So completely different.

The motion we see from Thor, grasping at the side of Loki’s neck and holding him really close, isn’t just a gesture of intimacy (as we see in Thor 2011, where Thor does the same thing putting his hand on Loki’s neck), but is a gesture of trust.

Remember that the AEsir are a warrior people. Many of their gestures of intimacy and trust are based on showing the other person they don’t have weapons to hand – when they grasp one another’s arm, it’s a symbol that shows neither of them is concealing a weapon; when they stand like this, hands on one another’s necks, they are leaving their bodies open and vulnerable to attack, and that is a hugely significant display of trust.

And what did Loki do?

Instead of returning Thor’s trust, instead of accepting the gesture of openness and intimacy, Loki rejected it, and he used the vulnerability of the position to attack Thor. This is like, the most basic betrayal of Thor’s trust here.

a very, very, good addition.