#look i've thought WAY too hard about this and i just need a slytherin mobius who subverts everyone's expectations about what a slytherin is

[pennylaneforthoughts]

Lokius Hogwarts AU

All right my dudes, hot take time:

I’ve seen a lot of Hogwarts AU headcanons floating around, and having thought waaaaaay too much about it, I’m here to add my two cents.

( @sortinghatchats has my favorite sorting system I’ve seen to date, since it goes so much in depth into themes throughout the HP series that good ol’ JK barely touches on in her pretty surface level commentary on the subject, so that’s the system I’m gonna use. Go to their blog to learn more about the way the system works bc I’m too lazy to go more in depth than I already have.)

This is gonna be Hella Long tho so I’m putting it under a cut.

Loki: Petrified Slytherin Primary/Slytherin Secondary - sorting: Slytherin House

Perhaps it may seem trite, but Loki really is a Slytherin Primary at heart. Yes he is ambitious and all that stereotypical stuff, but that’s not really what makes a Slytherin a Slytherin. Anyone can be ambitious. No, he’s a Slytherin because he unapologetically prioritizes himself and the people he cares about above all else. 

“Slytherin Primaries are fiercely loyal to the people they care for most. Slytherin is the place where “you’ll make your real friends”– they prioritize individual loyalties and find their moral core in protecting and caring for the people they are closest to. Slytherin’s reputation for ambition comes from the visibility of this promotion of the self and their important people– ambition is something you can find in all four Houses; Slytherin’s is just the one that looks most obviously selfish.”

However, Loki’s trauma has pushed him to something this system calls Petrifying.

“Whether through death, betrayal, abandonment (from either side), or through never having had any to begin with, the Petrified Slytherin has decided that having important people is too dangerous. Having those strong ties leaves you open to pain and weakness, and the pleasure of those connections aren’t worth the despair that comes from their seemingly inevitable loss. In this way, they close themselves off to meaningful connections out of what is ultimately fear (though from the inside, it’s far more likely to be experienced as a rational, sensible decision given the circumstances of the world), and gives them a stony exterior that seems impenetrable, resolute, and cold.” 

Loki wants love and acceptance so badly, but he is convinced that the kind of attachments and relationships that that comes from are far too dangerous and the risk isn’t worth the reward. He pushes people away, hides behind a mask of self-aggrandizement, and betrays others before they can betray him in an attempt to protect himself from potential pain.

In the series, however, we see him slowly unpetrify and move towards a more healthy style of attachment because of Mobius and Sylvie’s influence on him. Whereas his circle of priorities used to include only himself (and arguably Frigga and later, Thor, in the movie timeline), he proverbially “thaws” enough to let Mobius and Sylvie in, and tragically, because of that, the loss of them hurts him so deeply because by the end of season 1, they’re all he had.

His Slytherin Secondary, however, is obvious in his methodology. He’s the god of chaos. He loves improvisation, and plans only exist as long as another better idea doesn’t come along and usurp it. He’ll change and adapt (quite literally) to best fit the situation in front of him, and he takes joy in that. But beneath all the running and his many personas, he has his “neutral state” that he lets only a precious few see. Mobius gets to see it, and so does Sylvie, and as he progresses through the series, he starts to be more comfortable existing in that state where he’s no longer hiding behind everything he feels like the world expects him to be and he can just be himself. 

Mobius: Slytherin Primary (Hufflepuff Model)/Hufflepuff Secondary - sorting: Slytherin House

People like to put Mobius in Hufflepuff, but honestly? I don’t think that’s where he’d be most comfortable. Yes, he is kind and caring to basically everyone, and we see this over and over again in the series. The man radiates comfort. However, like it says in Inky and Kat’s description of the Slytherin Primary, 

“Wanting to help someone doesn’t mean you’re loyal to them. Wanting to help them at the expense of your comforts, your values, your commitments and sometimes even yourself–that does.”

Mobius is kind to a fault. But he is not kind at the expense of himself. Not to everyone at least. He is kind to the child in France, but he is not kind to the point of saving him from the resetting of the timeline, and he doesn’t feel guilty about that. He believes in a duty of care, but he does not believe he has any obligation to go beyond what he thinks that duty of care is. He unapologetically plays favorites, and this is mentioned on multiple occasions. Above all else, Mobius values loyalty as a virtue. Sure, he cares about the TVA and its accompanying morality, and he genuinely does believe it’s his duty to care about and be kind to others. He seems to vibe quite well with the Hufflepuff ideal of caring about people simply because they are people, but this is all secondary to his personal loyalties when push comes to shove. For Mobius,

“dropping that model in order to stand by someone you love, or in order to protect yourself, doesn’t feel like a failing. Sticking to that modelled morality at the expense of betraying or abandoning one of their own would make a Slytherin feel guilty and wrong. Being able to put the things and concepts you like aside for the sake of the people who need you feels more righteous than any moral posturing.”

It’s for this very reason that Mobius gets so angry and feels so betrayed when he thinks Loki has abandoned him for Sylvie, and when Ravonna lies to him and prunes him.

“Betraying your own is the worst kind of crime. Loyalty is precious and terrible; it makes you vulnerable. It’s given sparingly, deeply, and a Slytherin will stand by their loyalties through the same death and fire that a Gryffindor would brave for the sake of doing the right thing, or a Hufflepuff to help someone in need.”

Loki is Mobius’ own. Mobius prioritizes Loki over almost everything else, sticks his neck out for him over and over again, and is willing to sacrifice his own happiness for him. He’s even willing to abandon the whole of his former ideology and prior friendships for this relationship that has become closer to him than his own self, the highest tier of trust and loyalty a Slytherin can give.

“It’s an extreme Slytherin who would let the whole world burn for the sake of a friend, but every Slytherin Primary would be at the very least tempted.”

And Mobius very nearly does exactly that. Even says the words, “burn it to the ground” when Loki asks him what he’s going to do. And he doesn’t feel bad about it. Especially after realizing what the TVA has done to him and the people he cares about. He kicks the TVA out of his circle of care, and doesn’t look back. And he does it for Loki.

Mobius’ Secondary is where people get his Hufflepuff vibes from, I think. A Hufflepuff secondary is marked by “their consistency and the integrity of their method. They’re our hard workers. They build habits and systems for themselves and accomplish things by keeping at them. They have a steadiness that can make them the lynchpin (though not usually the leader) of a community.” And that is what Mobius is. It’s why he radiates that kindness and comfort. He quietly and carefully works at and invests in the relationships in his life to the point that people almost automatically trust him, and over time he has learned how to read people and figure out what makes them tick. 

He approaches new situations with a steady head and gentle hand that Loki is unused to, and it’s this approach that eases Loki into learning how to trust and rely on people. It’s an inherently Hufflepuff approach, and it’s the key to his success as an analyst for the TVA and an understanding friend for Lokis across the timelines.

Tl;dr - Application to an actual Hogwarts AU fic:

THEREFORE! There’s a compelling narrative to be had with a tiny, first-year Loki coming into Hogwarts. He comes from a pureblood family that’s very proud of their Gryffindor heritage (they don’t talk about Hela, and Loki and Thor don’t even know she exists until later in this story), and his brother had been sorted into Gryffindor a couple years prior, and Loki has heard very little other than contempt for Slytherin House and everyone in it. Loki doesn’t want to be sorted into Slytherin. He doesn’t want to deal with the disappointment and shame from his father and the sad eyes of his brother. But the sorting hat sorts him there almost immediately, and his heart sinks. He wanders over to the table miserably but determined. If he’s gonna be sorted into the “evil” house, might as well just run with it, right? Best not to get close to people though. It’s Slytherin. Who knows when someone will betray you.

Enter Mobius, the tiny muggleborn, bright eyed, bushy tailed, and having no clue about the prejudices between houses. The hat takes a hot minute sorting him, giving him the choice between Hufflepuff and Slytherin and telling him Hufflepuff would love a kindhearted and welcoming member like him. But Mobius has been eyeing the little black-haired kid who got sorted before him and is now sitting far apart from everyone, and he can’t help but feel like he needs to be this kid’s friend. And didn’t the hat just say Slytherin is where you’ll make your real friends? Friends are what Mobius cares about, so he’d like to go to Slytherin, thank you very much, so that’s where he goes, and he happily plunks himself down right next to Loki and sticks his hand out.

“I’m Mobius. What’s your name?”

 Loki looks at Mobius’ hand disdainfully and doesn’t shake it, but he does answer, “Loki.”

Mobius’ eyes go wide, and he smiles. “Loki? Like after the Norse god?”

Loki nods, eyeing Mobius suspiciously. People don’t often bat an eye at his name. Not in the wizarding world, anyway.

“Wow, that’s so cool! I loved reading about Norse mythology in school and Loki was always my favorite. Names have power, you know. If you’ve got the same name, then you must be just as awesome.”

Loki has no idea what to do with this kid, but he’s immediately aware of two things:

He’s absolutely sure that this Mobius kid is in the wrong house. No way a Slytherin can be this excited without a single hint of deception in his face.

He’s going to be eaten alive by the other students if Loki doesn’t protect him. What a pain.

Loki is completely wrong on both of these points.

[pennylaneforthoughts]

I posted 1,958 times in 2021

36 posts created (2%)

1922 posts reblogged (98%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 53.4 posts.

I added 2,141 tags in 2021

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#look i've thought way too hard about this and i just need a slytherin mobius who subverts everyone's expectations about what a slytherin is

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Omg could you IMAGINE if in season 2 we get Mobius' backstory and he's like. a jet ski beach dude and here's the important part:

He's got the classic fluffy blond Owen Wilson hair

We see him coming out of the water all suntanned and gorgeous and he does the hair flip!!!! And Loki just immediately short circuits bc hes TOO HOT!

COULD YOU IMAGINE!!!!!!

185 notes • Posted 2021-08-31 15:20:08 GMT

#4

Wow after reading this Esquire article today, I am absolutely convinced that Owen Wilson is either:

a) an immortal born in 12th century Ireland

b) a fae being

c) actually, literally, just the real trickster god Loki

I feel like my whole sense of reality has just shifted to the left a little bit. I don't know how it's possible for one man to exude so much magical realism, but I felt like I was reading a modern version of The Great Gatsby but combined with Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten and "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," and now I've got goosebumps and a chill running down my spine. I'm both fascinated and deeply unnerved.

Some highlights that really drove this energy home:

"He’s fifty-two. His skin is tanned and healthy—ruddy—and he has enviable blond hair that always looks like he went swimming in the ocean a half hour ago and it dried in the sun, annoyingly perfect. The blue eyes are as blue as they are in the movies, or bluer."

"He asks questions. He is well-read. Very well-read. We parse the divergent narrative styles of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He tells me about a book his brother Luke gave him recently: a biography of an obscure Swiss writer named Robert Walser. He mentions picking up a copy of The Snow Leopard not long ago, a book he says means a lot to him."

"The smiling blue eyes, fixed on me. You heard me.

'Do you think you could beat me in a race?'"

“Yeah, well, my brothers would say I make up rules.”

"Owen can seem like a man who’s rolling through life, as if he stumbled along from a previous century and will eventually wander off down the road, into the future."

"A butterfly carries his words off into the flowers of a nearby jacaranda tree, and he looks up and says, 'How’s our line doing?'"

"Several times, Owen has used the term “magical realism,” a literary genre in which the writer writes something unreal, or surreal, as if it were absolutely real. Owen seems to be always in search of making reality appear magical. Or making the magic of life more real. Or something."

“As a kid, there’s a lot of things that you think about,” he says. “Death—that kind of landed with me when I was about eleven. And I don’t remember ever talking with my parents about it. Although I do remember one time saying to my dad—and I remember exactly where in the house—saying, ‘I worry about dying,’ and seeing my dad turn away and catch himself. And I was surprised to see that reaction. But who knows, maybe that was part of why I said it.”

“We’re not in the same place we were when we sat down.”

"Owen is after something else, something more fascinating, or fun. Something different, and yet something that’s a thousand years old."

"Maybe it’s like the Aztecs say: “We come only to sleep / Only to dream / It is not true, it is not true / That we come to live on this earth” [beat] And stay hydrated!!!"

I've never seen anyone more encapsulate the emotion of awe, and never before have I so badly wanted to write a magical realism short story than at this very moment.

298 notes • Posted 2021-08-19 00:17:21 GMT

#3

Did I hyperfixate on the Loki soundtrack for the past three hours? Yes. Do I have some Lokius insights? Possibly. Am I going to rant? Also yes.

I preface all of this by saying I am in no way a professional. I simply have ears.

So this guy Christopher Bill on YouTube did a series on the leitmotifs and associated meanings in the Loki soundtrack, and it's very good and on point, and he even does an interview with Natalie Holt on it.

However, he doesn't go over everything, so I'm here to add some thoughts based on the things he identified there in the series.

Important notes for people who don't wanna go and watch all three hours of videos:

1.) Loki's theme is, obviously, the Green Theme as shown in the soundtrack. That melody is specifically his and shows up whenever he's the focus of a scene. Also important: Loki is associated with a grand orchestra, brass and strings.

2.) Mobius' theme does not have a track all to itself, but it is prevalent throughout the series and has two parts: a.) there is one specific instrument associated with him: a delay guitar, and b.) the little melody that goes like this:

The "Lokius" track is very interesting because it doesn't contain these two leitmotifs, which is normally what we expect in a song that is meant to be the combination of two characters. It's especially interesting because Natalie does combine themes like we'd expect in other parts of the score. We hear it twice for Loki and Sylvie's themes, both of which are during their two fight scenes. And we hear it for Loki and Mobius in episode 5 as they and the other Loki variants are staring down Alioth. (14:14 - 14:45). This is, interestingly enough, the "Goodbyes" track.

Now Chris talks about it a little bit and identifies it as the Mobius theme combined with a heroic mode of the Loki theme, but doesn't go into further analysis of it. Personally, within the context of the show, I think that it's extremely interesting that this heroic theme for Loki is so obviously filled with Mobius' theme. It could have been a reprise of the Green Theme, but it isn't. Instead, it's Loki's instruments playing Mobius' theme. In other words, in this scene we see the culmination of Mobius' influence on Loki, to the point that Loki is able to be heroic now because he is now symbolically playing Mobius' theme.

Let that sink in, Lokius nation.

Now before I continue with "Goodbyes" and talk about the music in the hug scene, we gotta go back to "Lokius" in episode 4.

We all know this is the song that plays during the interrogation scene, but I think it's important to note what is playing at what point in that scene.

The first section of the track is full of TVA associated instruments, and this plays when Mobius is clearly upset, but mostly just speaking for the TVA through his job as an analyst, playing the heavy keys and lying to Loki about having pruned Sylvie as Loki lies about not caring about her.

Then at about 0:38 in the track, we get these high sliding, falling notes that are almost choral as we watch Loki process this (false) information that Sylvie is gone. It sounds like grieving, and I'd wager that these notes are Loki's grief for Sylvie sound like. Then at 0:58 to 1:50 or thereabout, a more prominent string line shows up, and I think that's the actual Lokius theme. It's a heavy string melody that goes between minor and major, and with the faster strings beneath it, it feels like yearning, like betrayal, and "god I'm so stupid for liking you all this time how could you do this to me," coming from both of them that plays as Loki looks at Mobius with pain written all over his face and Mobius rants about his reality breaking. Which is interesting, because the only other relationship that gets a whole motif to itself is s*lki, thus placing Lokius in a position that functions arguably as a musical foil to s*lki as much as it is a literary one.

But right after Mobius says "What an incredible seismic narcissist! You fell for yourself!" at 1:50 in the track, the music switches again, this time to the Norwegian fiddle played by Olav Luksengard Mjeklva over Loki's line "Her name was Sylvie." It's the same instrument that's played in "Frigga" and when Loki is mourning Ragnarok in the Archives, but the melody is different, indicating that Loki's feelings about Sylvie are associated with his feelings about Frigga (re: he looks at her like he looks at his mother) and home but aren't exactly the same.

And then it lingers on a high choral note for a second as Loki yells, "Is she alive?!" and Mobius responds, "For now," then cuts out entirely for a while in the scene, only to continue at 2:09 in the track halfway through Loki's desperate attempt to get Mobius to believe him, right when he says "and erased your memories" and goes on about how Mobius might have had a family and a life. And the motif that plays is almost identical to the "Frigga" track there, reinforcing the connection between that motif and the concept of lost family, and by extension, Loki's association of Sylvie with lost family. And it's here that Mobius pauses, looking at Loki and seeing that he's telling the truth because it's the same look he saw on Loki's face when grieving his mother. Though he ignores that insight because of his anger, and as Mobius continues to rant, it holds on the final high, hesitating note that calls back to the prior high notes in the beginning associated with Loki's grief and desperation before the song ends and Loki gets thrown back in the Time Cell.

Like @conniving-craven-pathetic-worm says in this post, however, the Lokius theme gets reprised in "Goodbyes" from 2:50 to 3:03. At first glance it doesn't seem to be the same melody, but it's got the same spacing of notes as the Lokius theme, and musically it resolves happily with swelling strings, which at this point in the show, are instruments we have come to associate with Loki's character.

This brings us back to my earlier discussion of "Goodbyes" and the theory that the whole beginning of the song where Mobius' theme is played on Loki's instruments is meant to represent Loki accepting his new role as hero through Mobius' influence and why I feel that this analysis is accurate.

Normally, when we hear a leitmotif like that, it's paired obviously with the associated character/emotion/thing and we know what it's referring to, like previously where whenever Mobius shows up onscreen, we hear a little twang on the guitar or his full motif. However, in this instance of his theme, what we see on screen is not a focus on Mobius. Rather, it pans over the Lokis looking out over Alioth and then zooms in on each of their faces as this dramatic version of Mobius' theme plays. Musically, this wouldn't make sense unless it was saying that here, each of these Lokis is deciding to take on a heroic role instead of an antagonistic one because of what Mobius has said to them.

It's especially driven home because there is a point in the track where Mobius' theme is played on his guitar as contrast, and that moment is directly associated with Mobius, when he gives Loki that pining look and says "Burn it to the ground!," a scene that is so incredibly for Mobius and about Mobius. And after that is when we get the reprise of the Lokius theme with the adding of the strings associated with Loki.

Mobius is so pivotal to Loki in this scene that it isn't until he physically leaves through the Time Door and is "out of sight out of mind" in a way, that we hear Loki's brass leitmotif (or doom horns as conniving-craven calls them) again.

Tl;dr "Lokius" isn't a mashup of Loki and Mobius' leitmotifs, it's a whole separate theme on its own that parallels the romance motif in the Lamentis nexus event, "Pep Talk," and during the s*lki kiss. However, "Goodbyes" is a mashup of their leitmotifs and as a song, represents how every Loki's positive character development has been because of Mobius, while at the same time reprises the Lokius motif into one more recognizably romantic and sweet.

363 notes • Posted 2021-08-25 23:05:43 GMT

#2

Okay but episode 4 from Mobius' perspective is literally the saddest thing if you let yourself think about it for too long.

Imagine you're Mobius and you have a huge massive crush on Loki, and by the end of episode 2 you feel like you've bonded so well, and you know, maybe there's a chance he likes you back. But then he betrays you, runs through that time door after Sylvie and everyone is telling you he's just yeeted out Like Always but you're like "No there's gotta be another explanation. We were friends. Really friends. We had something."

And then you find out that not only did he yeet after Sylvie, as you're dragging them through the halls, all they look at is each other, and it's not until Sylvie's down another corridor that Loki even pays you any mind or says anything to you. And you're just absolutely seething because of course everyone else was right. How could you be so stupid to think Loki could ever like you back? Hes a literal god. You're just some random guy, a bureaucrat. Of course he would rather be with some crazy, stab-happy version of HIMSELF than you.

And you feel so jealous, so angry, so unwanted you can barely think straight. But you still have to do your job even though you feel like this, so you lie and sneer and poke and prod because you're angry and hurting and a part of you wants Loki to hurt too. And then as you're interrogating him, you see him get all teary eyed over Sylvie, and you think, "How horribly painful and awful is this?" He'd cry over this girl after knowing her for less than a day, but he'd leave you without a care in the world. Not a goodbye or any sort of explanation. Would he even care if someone had told him you were pruned? Unlikely.

And you're so upset that even when Loki's yelling at you, desperately trying to make you see he's telling you the truth, it doesn't relieve you to see so clearly in his eyes that he's not lying, because those are the same eyes that you just saw worried over and crushing on Sylvie. So you slam your face directly into denial because how dare he? How dare he be honest now? And so you run away before you let yourself get sucked back in by those eyes, but it's too late, the damage is done. And even though you're angry and bitter and kind of wish Loki would just disappear, you can't deny he was being honest for very long. So you go and stick your neck out and investigate anyway, because you're nothing if not a lovesick fool, and even being angry at him isn't going to change that, no matter how much you try.

And if you're being honest with yourself, something really has been off about this whole thing, and Loki's rare honesty was the proverbial straw that broke your camel's back in this whole mess. After all, you've never been good at denying him when he looks at you like that. You were bad at it when he wanted to go to an apocalypse with you, and you're bad at it now. So you steal Ravonna's tempad and look for yourself. And where else could you go except to the archives where you and Loki had spent so much time together hidden away? It's only appropriate. And what you find just makes your heart sink.

Not only was Loki telling the truth, it's so much worse than either of you realized. Ravonna had killed C-20. And she had lied to you. And what beautiful, horrible irony that the person who was supposed to do nothing but lie was the one being honest, and your friend for nobody even knows how long is the one lying to you. Your whole world starts crashing down around you, and it's too much. You were already emotionally wrecked by everything going on with Loki. You didn't need this too. And oh God, the implications of it.

This means that everything you've done and said your whole known life has been wrong. And more importantly, it means you've hurt and killed for nothing. And that guilt just eats at your soul as you remember what you've said even just to Loki.

"You were born to bring pain and suffering and death. All so that others can be the best versions of themselves."

What have you done? How much damage have you caused? And it's this thought that spurs you forward. Because screw ideology. Screw glorious purpose. What even are those in the face of a person in pain, much less the person you've found yourself caring about more than anything else?

So you run. Almost on instinct. You run to Loki knowing exactly what memory you've looped him through out of bitterness and jealousy and spite, and you're praying you haven't caused irreparable damage.

"You deserve to be alone, and you always will be."

No, no, no, of course he doesn't. He has you. He'll always have you if you have any say in the matter. He has...

Sylvie.

You remember her. Them. The nexus event. And you have a theory. A theory you hate so much it makes you want to crawl out of your own skin and die, but it makes too much sense, and unfortunately, it could work. So as you step into the time prison, you ask.

"Do you really believe you deserve to be alone?"

And he says he doesn't know, but you can see he just doesn't want to admit that yes, he does. And it breaks your heart because you know that you've had a part in that. So you apologize in the only way you think Loki could begin to accept.

"You can be whoever, whatever you want to be. Even someone good."

And part of you is saying that to yourself too, because heaven knows you need to hear it just as much. And Loki's words are still ringing in your ears.

Friend.

How bittersweet. But you're an adult. You know you can't demand Loki's affection as much as you selfishly want to. If he wants to be with Sylvie, you'll force yourself to find some way to cope with that. It's fine. It only makes sense. You'd rather have Loki in your life as a friend than nothing at all. And you're happy to be reconciled at least a little.

But then you step out into the Time Theatre and everything stops. Ravonna is standing there and she's obviously pissed. She knows. You deflect, you lie, try to be as Loki as you can to get out of this. You're surrounded by Minutemen and pruning sticks but all you can think is you can't let Loki get hurt. Not now. He's the key to taking down the TVA. And it's clear Ravonna is having none of it. But you know her. You were friends. Good friends. And you know she's more angry at you than Loki at the moment. So you realize what you have to do to keep it that way. To protect him.

So you press the button you know will hurt her the most. You answer her question from just a short while ago. You bring all the focus onto you, knowing what it'll likely mean. Knowing it'll hurt her and make her lash out. You're not stupid. You're good at reading people. That's why you're an analyst. And if it means protecting Loki, you know you'd have been willing to die much longer ago than is probably reasonable.

You don't even try to avoid the pruning stick. And honestly? It's not even the most painful thing you've experienced today.

And besides. It's better this way. Now Loki can be with Sylvie, be happy, and you don't have to feel a dagger through your heart every time they look at each other. And it's not like Loki will really miss you.

It's better this way.

476 notes • Posted 2021-07-24 16:28:00 GMT

#1

After some thinking, a conversation with my sister-in-law with a psych degree, and a couple of sessions with my godsend of a therapist, I think I've finally put my finger on the thing about Mobius that Loki (and a lot of the fandom tbh) so quickly latched onto like a man dying of thirst at the first sign of water:

Unconditional positive regard.

This concept is at the core of client-centered psychology and basically is a stance that a therapist will take in relation to their client, where they simply accept and support their client as a person, regardless of what they do or say.

My therapist uses this framework with me, and when the Loki series came out, I immediately saw Mobius and was like "holy crap, this man has the exact same energy as Sami what???" And I couldn't for the life of me figure out why until I was talking about it with my sister-in-law and she mentioned unconditional positive regard. And then it clicked.

Mobius radiates unconditional positive regard from the minute he meets Loki in episode 1, and arguably even from the first time we even see him onscreen. He approaches everyone he interacts with using a basic framework of "I see you and care about you as a person, and nothing you do or say can change that," so we immediately get the impression that this man is soft, kind, and shaped like a friend. However, it's most obvious and pointed in his interactions with Loki.

While yes, Mobius' primary objective in episode 1 is to interrogate Loki, it's important to note that it's not an interrogation where Mobius is trying to find proof of guilt for a crime like we'd see in a typical detective procedural. Rather, Mobius is trying to see if this variant of Loki is self aware enough to be able to help him in his hunt for Sylvie. It's fundamentally a test to find out Loki's current place in his emotional and psychological development. It is not maliciously intended, and it is not designed to harm Loki. On the contrary, the intent is clearly to help Loki begin to come to terms with the reality of who he is and the choices he has made.

In fact, the whole time this is happening, Mobius very purposefully strives to foster an environment where Loki knows that A.) Mobius sees him. Truly sees and knows him. B.) Despite knowing what Loki is and what he's done, Mobius loves him and regards him positively, and C.) nothing Loki can do or say will change that positive regard.

Loki, however, is super not used to receiving unconditional positive regard. He has no idea how to respond to it. He feels like it's a trick, like there's another shoe just waiting to drop. I related to him hardcore in this scene because that's exactly how I felt when my therapist presented me with unconditional positive regard for the first time. It's confusing and strange and difficult to believe at first. Especially because it sets the stage for honest self reflection and personal growth that can be incredibly painful.

Loki is not a perfectly innocent person. He has done a lot of really bad things and hurt a lot of people in his life. He has a lot of very deep seated trauma that has informed these actions, but he still made those choices and he needs to take responsibility for them. This is not a fun process. Mobius knows this is actually a really awful, sucky process. But he also knows that change and growth requires two things: acknowledgement that a change needs to be made and the expectation that change can and will occur when properly cultivated. Mobius clearly laying out the reality of Loki's actions and who he is in the Sacred Timeline is the first part of that equation, and his unflappable, unconditional positive regard towards Loki as a person despite knowing that reality cultivates an environment for the second part to flourish.

"By definition, it is essential in any helping relationship to have an anticipation for change. In the counseling relationship, that anticipation presents as Hope—an optimism that something good and positive will develop to bring about constructive change in the client's personality. Thus, unconditional positive regard means that the therapist has and shows overall acceptance of the client by setting aside their own personal opinions and biases. The main factor in unconditional positive regard is the ability to isolate behaviors from the person who displays them." (source)

Mobius is not Loki's therapist, but he does take on a therapeutic role in Loki's life. He shows Loki that he is fully aware of all of Loki's faults and mistakes. He's seen them over and over again and knows them by heart because it's his job. And in the face of all of that he looks at Loki and says that he doesn't see him as a villain. That he likes him anyway and believes that Loki has the potential to help him and what he believes is the cause of good. (Yes the TVA is corrupt, but neither of them know that at this point, and the fact that both Mobius and Loki believe this to be the side of good to varying degrees is important here)

Mobius maintains this regard throughout the series and his subsequent interactions with Loki and when talking about Loki to Ravonna and others, and it's a big part of why Loki so quickly trusts and feels comfortable around Mobius. I know some people say it's unrealistic how fast it was, but it made a lot of sense just based on my experience. I mean, after one (1) session with my therapist, I was 100% ride or die for him, and it was kind of absurd. But the feeling of being seen like that is so potent when you're starved for it, that extreme reactions to it make a lot of sense. And if anyone's starved for unconditional positive regard, it's Loki.

Mobius is only human though, and he's not perfect at this. Over the course of the series, it's clear that Mobius has emotionally invested a lot in his Loki, and he struggles to maintain a professional distance, though he usually is able to keep his head enough to give Loki that positive regard he needs. The only time we see this regard slip is in episode 4 when Mobius is feeling betrayed and jealous. In these moments, Mobius is unable to step back from his feelings enough to get into a headspace where he can separate Loki's actions from who he is. He calls Loki an asshole and a bad friend, and it comes from a place of hurt and jealousy. It's also what drives Loki into a defensive mode we haven't seen since episode 1. He's no longer receiving that unconditional positive regard from Mobius and he feels betrayed. He worries that maybe it was all an act in the first place and Mobius never really cared for him at all. For the first time, Loki feels like Mobius doesn't see the best in him anymore and it hurts.

Mobius' unconditional positive regard was genuine, though, and this is reinforced in the subsequent scenes where we see him act on his instinctual desire to assume the best of Loki and investigate his claims. We see it again when he returns to Loki and he reaffirms both his desire to trust Loki and his belief that Loki can be "whoever, whatever he wants to be, even someone good." At this point, Loki is able to accept it and no longer pushes back against Mobius' belief in Loki's goodness and that he "has within himself vast resources for self-understanding, for altering his self-concept, attitudes, and self-directed behavior." He's grown and begun to see himself in a more realistic and positive light and it's a direct result of the time Mobius has spent cultivating that relationship based on unconditional positive regard.

That's why their relationship feels so comfortable and satisfying. Unconditional positive regard isn't only a therapy principle. It's something everyone craves in a relationship. To be seen as you are, flaws and mistakes and quirks and all is terrifying and mortifying, but when that person then just smiles and says I love you anyway because you are not your mistakes and you are not your flaws and nothing you can ever do or say can change how I feel about you, the relief and joy and comfort is more than worth the discomfort. So I think the idea that Mobius can look at someone as deeply flawed, broken, and jaded as Loki and love him exactly as he is right there and then, eyes wide open and smiling, believing that beneath it all Loki has the potential to be good, gives us hope that someone could do the same for us. I know that's what Lokius does for me, at least. Mobius represents to me the ideal of unconditional positive regard, and having an image of what that looks like in the character of Mobius gives us the opportunity to apply it to ourselves when we may not get it elsewhere in our lives. And I, for one, think that's very sexy of him.

1014 notes • Posted 2021-07-26 13:02:28 GMT

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