The majority of storylines surrounding Loki in the Loki, will likely take a closer look into his past, so it’s worth analyzing this father-son dynamic.
What some fans may find is that this relationship has had several inconsistencies from both sides. Stuff like Loki’s resentment for Odin and the latter’s intentions with making Loki king someday are plagued with a lack of logic in places. It’ll be interesting to see if the MCU does decide to shed more light on these matters in order to fix these inconsistencies.
Odin's Logic Behind Placing Loki As Jotunheim's King
Odin itted his plan behind taking Loki in as his son had to do with his hope that Loki would one day become king of Jotunheim, thus ending its conflict with Asgard. However, there’s a big flaw in this logic in that Odin actually had an uneasy peace treaty with Laufey.
This meant that the only way for Loki to become Jotunheim’s king was to either betray Laufey or publicly acknowledge that Loki was Laufey’s biological son. Neither of the two scenarios had any chance of working out, especially since Loki would have felt even more like a tool to be used than he already did.
How Odin Explained Loki's Birth To Asgardians
It’s expected that the Disney+ series will answer long-standing questions, with Loki’s birth among them. As Thor revealed in Ragnarok, he and Loki are actually very close in age, but it’s also clear that Thor is the older of the two.
If that’s the case, then it’s hard to understand how Odin would have announced Loki’s birth to the Asgardians since Frigga would never have been seen pregnant by the people. It’s also obvious that no one knew that Loki was adopted, meaning there’s a lot of inconsistency over how baby Loki was established in Asgard.
Why Loki Couldn't Detect The Spell Odin Had On Him
Loki was shown to have dabbled excessively in the magical arts, to the point where he had knowledge of spells and enchantments that even Odin didn’t. And yet, Loki didn’t even have an inkling about the spell Odin had placed on him for over a thousand years.
This was the spell that hid Loki’s true nature as a Frost Giant, which only appeared again once Loki touched the Casket of Ancient Winters. However, considering Loki dabbled in Asgardian magic more than perhaps any other individual, it doesn’t make sense he never detected Odin’s spell on him.
Loki's Decision Not To Kill Odin But Not To Track Him Either
Loki pulled off one of his trademark betrayals by sneaking back into Asgard and usurping Odin’s position as king in Thor: The Dark World. He did so by enchanting Odin into believing he was a human man and left him at a nursing home.
However, this decision doesn’t have any real logic behind it since Loki specifically placed Odin in a certain location, yet never bothered to keep tabs on him. It didn’t serve any purpose to have Odin remain alive if he wasn’t going to stay on track with him, meaning Loki’s decision to banish his father didn’t have any thinking behind it.
Loki's Insecurity With Not Being Odin's Favorite When Odin Never Showed Any Bias
Overall, the reason why Loki developed such an insecure streak was due to his belief that Odin liked Thor more. This would have been understandable had there been any proof of it, as Odin never outright displayed any bias toward Thor.
In fact, he banished Thor to Earth the moment he considered him unworthy while placing Loki as his successor. Odin even assured Loki that he saw him as his actual son, so it didn't make much sense for Loki to continue insisting that he was overlooked.
Odin's Plans To Make Loki King But Never Trained Him To Be One
Thor was considered as Odin’s natural successor due to being the firstborn and it was shown that he’s been raised into this role since birth. However, Odin also promised Loki that he would be king during his youth, yet never followed through with this.
While he claimed he changed his mind, that was much later, so it doesn't make sense why he didn't teach Loki what it meant to be king if those were his original plans.
Odin Saving Loki's Life But Then Claiming He Was Supposed To Die
In Thor, Odin claimed that he had taken Loki as his son because he was a child abandoned on Jotunheim and he didn’t want him to die. This was in complete contrast to Thor: The Dark World, however, where he stated Loki’s birthright was to die.
He then made it appear as if he had done Loki a favor by adopting him, which also went against his statement in Thor that he always saw Loki as his son. While it’s more than likely that Odin said all this out of anger, the ease with which he twisted his words makes it rather dubious what his actual intentions were.
Odin Not Acknowledging Loki's Misguided Attempts To Impress Him
Although Loki’s move in attempting to destroy Jotunheim to impress Odin was wrong, the intent he had behind this was to prove to his father that he was worthy. At its core, Loki just wanted to make Odin happy, yet the latter openly rejected this.
The reason why this doesn’t make much sense is that Thor attempted the very same thing earlier and was welcomed back once he had itted his mistake. Going by this, Odin should have understood that Loki was misguided and had misconstrued Odin’s intentions for Jotunheim, but this never came up.
Loki's Acceptance That He's Odin's Son But Then Claiming He's Not Asgardian
Before Loki was killed by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, he accepted that he was an Odinson by calling himself as such while also stating that he was a Prince of Asgard. This was supposed to be a way of showing that he had made peace with the memory of his father, but there was one last inconsistency.
When Thanos called Loki out to be an Asgardian, the latter claimed that he wasn’t one. He was referring to his true status as a Frost Giant but this clashed with his claim of being an Odinson since accepting himself as a Frost Giant should have entailed Loki calling himself Laufeyson instead.
Loki Being Instantly Forgiven By Odin
By the events of Thor: Ragnarok, Loki had done a number of bad things to live up to the tag of being the worst. Oddly enough, it was here when Odin chose to forgive him when he saw Loki before his death. At this point, Odin even praised Loki for using an effective enchantment on him.
Odin didn’t bring up any of the bad blood between them from Thor: The Dark World, nor did he have any anger toward Loki. Although this can be considered as Odin letting things go due to his incoming death, the fact that Loki’s banishment is what caused him to become weak in the first place didn’t come up either.