Genshin Impact Emotes [31/?]
Mobius: so you see. you’re not destined to rule loki.
Loki: ….
Mobius: …
Loki: Is that it? I thought you were building up to some big revelation. I already know that.
Mobius: What? No you don’t. You think you were born to rule and this is the big moment when I crush your self image and break you.
Loki: Well not to assist with my own torture–
Mobius: It says in the script that this is therapy.
Loki: But it’s not and we’re not going to call it that even in this joke post (*leans on the 4th wall*). Anyway. Not to assist in my own torture but I think you really need to try something else because I’ve known that all along. If I thought I was destined to rule I wouldn’t have felt inferior to Thor - who WAS destined to rule - all my life. My father always favored him. Not me. I said as much. It’s kind of an important part of my character. The whole reason I tried to delay - not stop, delay - Thor’s coronation was because I thought he would start a war when (not if, when) he became king. Then I tried to kill myself.
Mobius: and then in Avengers you literally said “I am burdened with a glorious purpose–”
Loki: While being coerced threatened and mind influenced by Thanos. Minutes after saying that I was literally stumbling and barely able to stand because of the recent torture I had undergone. I didn’t actually believe that even though I wanted to… Even Coulson could tell. He said I lacked conviction even though he’d never met me before that day. But even if I did believe that, it would be a new belief I’d gained after learning I was destined to be King of Jotunheim until Odin stole that legacy from me. Not something I’d always believed.
Mobius: But. The script-
Loki: Was written by some who knows nothing about my backstory. Mike Waldron didn’t even know I killed Laufey even though it’s one of the most critical moments for my character. Because he never even watched the movie that explains my backstory. Are you really going to take his word on anything?
I think the reason Viren’s redemption works is that he ultimately got nothing out of it. The popular idea of a villain redemption is a bad guy changing their ways and eventually being accepted by their former enemies, often becoming one of the heroes themselves. But that wasn’t the case with Viren. Soren didn’t forgive him. Ezran didn’t forgive him. He wasn’t welcomed with open arms. He was locked in the dungeon, presumedly for life. And when he atoned for his past through a heroic final act, no one except Soren even knew about it. And that still didn’t earn him forgiveness.
But that’s how we know that Viren truly changed. For seeking the right path, he received nothing but rejection and death. And he was okay with that. He understood these were the natural consequences of his actions. He accepted what he had done was wrong. His sacrifice was sincere, a servant dying for his kingdom, a father dying for his son. He wasn’t seeking forgiveness, or glory, or power.
Because he had changed.