#what if 2x07

[itsladyliv]

well well i guess odin sucks in every reality huh

[lucianalight]

Odin's Family Dynamic - Part 7

It's been days and I still can't stop thinking about What If 2x07. So I decided to write my thoughts down. While I did mention Hela in previous parts of this series, there wasn't enough material to do a complete analysis of her role in the family. But with this episode we have a more complete picture. Reading Parts 1, 2 and 5 might be necessary for a better understanding of this analysis.

Part 1- Odin: The Narcissistic Parent

Part 2- Thor and Loki: Golden Child and Scapegoat

Part 3- Frigga: The Enabling Parent

Part 4 - Can Loki Trust Thor?

Part 5 - Did Odin Love Loki?

Part 6 - Is Loki a Narcissist?

Hela: Golden Child Turned Invisible

In a relation to this series, I was asked what would happen to the golden child without a scapegoat. The answer is the dynamics of a dysfunctional family with a narcissistic parent are not set in stone. The roles the narcissist assign to members of their family can change based on the needs and desires of the narcissist parent. And sometimes a person can have multiple roles or change roles. Usually the only child of a narcissistic parent is given the role of the golden child by default, but they're also prone to having multiple roles.

We see Hela as a happy kid who loves her pet wolf and can't even stand seeing him chained. It is interesting that her first reaction is protesting his imprisonment not that Odin stopped her playing with Fenrir. The scene shows that she cares about others and doesn't want to harm anyone. But Odin seeks to control and tame anything that might be a threat to him, and as he chains Fenrir, he chains Hela too. He grooms her to be a fighter, to never pass on a chance to end a life, to be his executioner and consider that a great honor. He couldn't do that if Hela remained as sweet and caring as she was when she was a kid. And Hela reveling in the love and attention stayed his golden child.

Until Odin decided to stop at the nine realms. Now it's never mentioned why Odin suddenly made that decision. It definitely wasn't because of the goodness of his heart. He still sought powers he deemed others unworthy of with the excuse of "protecting peace". But what caused him to stop his conquests? The answer might be his "new girlfriend who is a dreadful woman" according to Hela and one of the people Hela has a quarrel with.

But why Hela doesn't like Frigga? They have two different personalities for start. While Frigga is a fierce warrior, she doesn't enjoy fighting or war. Definitely not the way Odin, Hela and Thor do(one of many similarities Loki has with Frigga). Also from TR we know Hela was aware of having a sibling but never met them. So her banishment happened when Frigga was pregnant. Stopping the wars and protecting peace might have been Frigga's condition for marrying Odin. It is also possible that Odin pitted Hela and Frigga against each other through triangulation, a manipulation method to provide him narcissistic supply.

"Basically, the game involves two or more people who get pitted against each other and usually they don’t even realize what’s happening. They’re just aware of the conflict between each other and there’s always this conflict. Maybe they can’t figure out what’s going on or where the conflict is coming from. Or maybe it’s very clearly this parent or this other person. Essentially the narcissist does this because they want you to turn on each other while having the loyalty of you both."[1]

The prospect of having another child could be the reason why Odin banished Hela without a second thought. But that's not all. Narcissists don't see their children as people with their own thoughts, feelings and needs but rather as an extension of themselves. The golden child is the positive extension of narcissist but only until they act exactly as their parent wants.

"Narcissists will turn on the golden child when the golden child stops being a source of validation, admiration, and reassurance. Even though narcissists give the golden child many opportunities, privileges, and resources that the other family members don’t get, they still view the golden child as expendable."[2]

That's because the "love" the narcissist parent has for their child is conditional. And if the golden child do anything that contradicts the narcissist's sense of self, they become the negative extension of narcissist and therefore will be treated as a scapegoat. Which happened to Hela. She was banished and imprisoned and forgotten for more than a millennium. Odin turned her literally and figuratively invisible to the world, because she was a reminder of his shameful past and his failures. No surprise that she went mad. She was treated like a tool and discarded as soon as her usefulness ran out. She didn't have any place in Odin's new future.

WI Hela on the other hand got the chance to know herself and choose her own path when she realized what she wanted all along was freedom from Odin's control. Which is a theme that repeats both with Thor's arc in TDW and Loki's arc. Because what Odin did to his children for all their lives and every punishment he sentenced them to, was ultimately for controlling them.

Sources:

[1]Scapegoat & Golden Child | How and why narcissists assign these roles (and not just in the family!) 

[2]Does the Narcissist Ever Turn on the Golden Child?

[florida3exclamationpoints]

I do love me some anti Odin propaganda

[tremorsmackenzie]

what if 2x07 was fun. didnt make a whole lot of sense, but there was a lot to love.

odin is an even shittier dad than we already knew, not that thats surprising.

loved helas entire energy throughout most of this episode.

why the hell did she have mjolnir? elaborate???

why did main timeline odin not also take her power when he imprisoned her? that wouldve kinda prevented a lot of problems down the line

love that they baited and then avoided the trope of the strong woman falling for a gentle man once shes vulnerable

now, the ending. love the message, just dont think the episode actually showed hela advancing to that point. probably just because of runtime constraints, but even with what self reflection we were shown, thats a pretty stark 180° turn if you ask me.

also, kind of contradictory messaging at the end with the "ill unmake your empire" vs. "she built an empire" phrasing.

finally, im pretty sure wenwu is a bad guy. why exactly are we acting like thats not the case?

overall, id say 7/10. really really fun, was rooting for hela all the way through (which i didnt expect), just dont think the writing was thought out too well.

[sun-mooncomics]

Wait Wait wait wait! Are we having a hero Hela?

YES!

Please, Please please please please

[forbescaroline]

235 FAVORITE SHIPS OF ALL TIME (ranked by my followers) 85. sebastian de poitiers and kenna de poitiers - reign

[ichayalovesyou]

STOP I CANT HANDLE THIS

BOIMLER is part of the reason Chapel & Spock fucking BREAK UP

ARE YOU KIDDING ME

Im losing my MIND 😂😂😂

[angelnicknelson]

[hucklebucket]

[mwagneto]

THEY ACTUALLY SET HIM ON FIRE ?????

[mchristelle]

[raayllum]

Just one spell, and you never thought about dark magic again? Well, I've read a lot about it.

[suspendingtime]

PUT A LEASH ON HIM

A tip for everyone in Bridgerton: just don't be in the same room as Kate and Anthony.

[florida3exclamationpoints]

"Darkness cannot beat darkness only light can" what is this Once Upon A Time?????

[tremorsmackenzie]

Jiayi

Jiaying

hm

[sun-mooncomics]

See, Hela falls to earth and speaks to the people in their language AND SHE A GOD