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1 Avengers Line Perfectly Set Up Loki’s Redemption Story To Mirror Another Major Fantasy Character
Loki has come a long way since The Avengers, and one line from the 2012 film perfectly sets up his Marvel Cinematic Universe arc to mirror another fantasy character’s redemption. Tom Hiddleston is confirmed to make an appearance as Loki in Avengers: Doomsday — the one who becomes the God of Stories during his Disney+ series, not the one from the main timeline, whom Thanos kills at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War. Both iterations of the character undergo big changes during their time on-screen, though, proving that Thor’s brother has some good inside him across every universe, even if it fails to excuse his actions early in the franchise.
And due to its imperfect nature, Loki’s redemption is arguably some of the best character work in the MCU, especially given how callous and self-interested he is throughout Thor and The Avengers. One of his best lines from the latter draws a parallel to another great redemption arc — one from a more straightforward high fantasy story. Like Loki, this character starts out arrogant and uncaring, so much so that he utters the same words at the God of Mischief in The Avengers. They both walk similar paths, too, but I’m hoping the MCU’s new Loki variant will get a slightly happier ending after all’s said and done.
This Avengers Line Sets Loki’s Redemption Arc to Mirror Jaime Lannister’s in Game of Thrones
Despite both characters having near-perfect redemption stories, most wouldn’t immediately place Loki and Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones together. However, one of Loki’s most memorable lines from The Avengers is identical to a Jaime quote from A Clash of Kings (and later, Game of Thrones Season 2). After arriving on Earth, Loki tells a square full of Germans to kneel, suggesting that human beings “were made to be ruled.” While most of the people around him do as he says, one — an older man — stands up and tells him he won’t kneel, “not to men like you.” It’s a powerful moment, but it’s one that Loki responds to with his typical arrogance. He shoots back, “There are no men like me.”
If that rings any bells for Game of Thrones fans, it’s because Jaime Lannister says the same thing to Catelyn Stark when he’s a prisoner in Robb Stark’s war camp. When Catelyn confronts him, she tells Jaime that he’s “going to the deepest of the seven hells. This prompts Jaime to question the gods’ existence, wondering why there’s so much injustice throughout Westeros if they’re truly real. Catelyn tells him it’s because of men like him. And like Loki, his kneejerk response is to say, “There are no men like me. Only me.” The fact that these scenes mirror one another likely isn’t intentional, but it does highlight how much these characters have in common. It’s not just their cocky reactions that connect them; their narratives also mirror one another, especially when you consider how realistically non-linear they are.
Similar Dialogue Isn’t All Loki Has in Common With Jaime Lannister
Jaime and Loki follow strikingly similar paths in their respective franchises, with both characters being jaded by the world around them — and turning their cynicism into cruelty by the time they’re introduced. They both gradually come to make better choices, with their brothers being some of the only characters who can draw the good out of them. (For Jaime, there’s also Brienne, and you can argue that Sylvie and Mobius serve that purpose for the MCU’s new Loki.) Most importantly, both characters are humbled repeatedly, despite their egocentric attitudes at the beginning of their stories. And they both come to care for the greater good of their worlds and people, with Jaime acting against Cersei’s wishes to fight for the living, while Loki tries to save Asgard alongside Thor in Thor: Ragnarok and attempts to deceive Thanos in Infinity War.
Both the original timeline’s Loki and Jaime face tragic endings, too, though the former doesn’t regress quite so drastically before Thanos takes his life. He does go back and forth between his darker impulses and better instincts throughout the MCU though, which drives home the same point that Jaime returning to Cersei does: redemption isn’t always a straight line. Hopefully, the MCU’s newest Loki variant won’t have to learn that the hard way. However, with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars shaping up to have massive stakes, that might be unavoidable.
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