Fable & The Verbivore

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Episode 148: Thor Ragnarok

Bethany Stedman

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Ep 148: Thor Ragnarok Fable & The Verbivore

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Today, Fable and the Verbivore continue our exploration of Marvel storytelling by talking about the movie Thor: Ragnarok and the journey that Thor and Loki take prior to that film.

Contains Spoilers for Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War

If you’ve listened along to our other Marvel storytelling episodes, you may have noticed that we’ve talked very little about Thor and Loki. That’s because we knew we were going to do this episode on their journeys, sibling patterns of behavior, and how the movie Thor Ragnarok helps them break free of their cycle of dysfunction.

We talk about their interactions with one another by bringing up key story beats over the many movies they’re in together and how many of their conflicts stem from wounds connected with the complicated relationship they each have with their father Odin. Thor believes ruling Asgard to be his right based on his skill and strength and Odin indulges him. Loki often is secondary to Thor and wants Odin to see that he’s strategic and clever enough to deserve the throne – and for his brother Thor to see him as an equal.

In fact, the first scene of the first movie that they appear in shows them as kids and you can already see the tension between them starting to form. We know that this won’t end well. But it also has a sweetness to it, Loki is soft and eager to please, and though he makes a lot of mistakes you can feel the care Odin has for both children. Thor is already overconfident and reckless, but in a child it feels different than with an adult.

In the notes, we’ve included links to the movie clips of each of the major scenes in their journey that we discuss. But here are some of our main writing takeaways from their journey:

  • Opening Scene of Thor - When dealing with complicated or highly flawed characters, show them as children. It can create sympathy and cause an audience to root for them to change.

  • Comparison of Malekith from Thor: The Dark World and Hela from Thor: Ragnarok - Villains are often significantly more interesting (and sometimes terrifying) when we understand their underlying motivations beyond just destruction.

  • Give Your Characters What they Want – Going into Thor: Ragnarok, Loki sits on the throne disguised as Odin, with Loki being hailed the sacrificial hero for what he did in Thor: The Dark World, Thor is running around the 9 realms acting the part of the hero and avoiding home. It all feels empty…and their world comes crashing down around them.

Towards the end, we talk about how the story is set up to explore the cycle of behavior that Thor and Loki are stuck in. The character Valkyrie shows who Thor could become and the Grandmaster shows who Loki could become if they stay on their current paths. The film hinges on whether or not they’ll grow and change or if they’ll stay caught in their roles as they have been over the course of their stories.

The story seamlessly blends together humor, over-the-top action, and heartfelt emotion in a unique and fresh take on Thor and Loki. This film is one of our favorites within the MCU and we’d highly recommend it!

We hope you enjoy this episode! We can’t wait to dig into Loki’s character further in our class on July 20th at 1pm ET where we’ll explore the Disney + series Loki Season One. There’s a sign-up link in our bio at https://linktr.ee/fableandtheverbivore.

Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Notes:

We mention the advice that originally came from our interview author Candice Yamnitz for when you have a character that is difficult to like show them first as a child so that the audience can connect with them. That episode is:

Here are some key movie moments in story order that we bring up in our discussion of Thor and Loki’s journeys:

The Verbivore references several quotes made by Thor and Loki. They are as follows:

  • Thor: “Loki, I thought the world of you. I thought we were going to fight side-by-side forever, but at the end of the day you're you and I'm me and... oh, maybe there's still good in you but... let's be honest, our paths diverged a long time ago.” - Thor: Ragnarok

  • Thor: “Dear brother, you're becoming predictable. I trust you, you betray me, round and round in circles we go. See Loki, life is about... It's about growth, it's about change, but you seem to just want to stay the same. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you'll always be the god of mischief, but you could be more. I'll just put this over here for you.” - Thor: Ragnarok

  • Loki: “I assure you, brother — the sun will shine on us again.” - Avengers: Infinity War

We hope you enjoy this episode! We can’t wait to dig into Loki’s character further in our class on July 20th at 1pm ET where we’ll explore the Disney + series Loki Season One. There’s a sign-up link in our bio at https://linktr.ee/fableandtheverbivore.

Books, Movies, and Graphic Novels Mentioned:

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
‘Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)