Light in The Darkness

            Who does not want to be a hero? When people watch movies, most of them are rooting for the noble hero. A hero tends to be portrayed as a handsome, kind-hearted man who in the end, will defeat the villain and win the female protagonist. The villain, in the other hand, is portrayed as the epitome of evil. Although most people root against villains, villains are actually one of, if not the most, crucial part of any movie. They are the ones that keep the audiences’ eyes glued on the screen the whole movie. Without them, movies will surely be very dull and boring.

            My favorite movie villain is Loki from The Avengers and Thor movie series. In fact, he is my favorite character of the movie series, over even the titular hero of the series, Thor. Loki Laufeyson is an Asgardian prince, the God of Mischief, and a major villain in The Avengers and Thor movies. In spite of his merciless ways and greed, I find this character intriguing because of his past. Since Loki was a child, he always felt out of place. Throughout his childhood, Loki put a lot of effort trying to prove himself equal to his brother, Thor, who constantly overshadowed Loki greatly. In his teenage years, it became apparent that Thor was the one that their parents and the whole kingdom favored. This is evident by the fact that Thor was the one being groomed to ascend to the throne of Asgard, despite Loki being the older son. However, when both Thor and Loki are grown up, their father, King Odin, banished and put Thor into exile because of Thor’s arrogance. During this period of time, Loki found out about his true heritage.  He discovered that he is truly the son of Laufey, the king of the Frost Giants and the enemy of the kingdom of Asgard. This discovery led Loki to hate his adoptive family even more than before. This moment of discovery can be said to be the true turning point of Loki’s character.

            As the movie series progressed, Loki became more and more ruthless, if not sadistic. Those traits, combined with his cunningness, thoughtfulness, and sharp intellect, made him the perfect nemesis to his own brother, Thor, who is noble, but also careless and impulsive. However, during his interactions with his adoptive family, especially Thor and his mother, Frigga, one can see that Loki still cared about his adoptive family, but also resented them at the same time. However, in Thor: The Dark World, after he indirectly caused the death of Frigga, he fell into a great despair, which evidences his love for his adoptive mother. These moments when Loki showed his weaknesses are the ones that attracts me most to this character. They led me to believe that no villain is purely evil. Even the most evil of all surely have some light in them. People are not born heroes or villains; they’re created by the people around them.