Avengers fic: No Such Liberty

[xparrot]

So it's finished!

No Such Liberty (147330 words) by Xparrot
Chapters: 32/32
Fandom: The Avengers (2012), Thor (2011)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Loki & Thor
Characters: Thor (Marvel), Loki (Marvel), Odin (Marvel), Frigga (Marvel), Sif (Marvel), Warriors Three, Original Characters, Tony Stark, Clint Barton, Other Avengers
Additional Tags: Post-Movie, Drama, Angst, Brothers, Asgard, Loki Feels, Thor Feels, so many feels
Summary:
Thor takes Loki back to Asgard in chains, but this does not mean that Loki's schemes are ended, or that Thor has or ever will give up on his brother. Though when danger threatens the realm, on which side will Loki fall?


Made it at slightly under 150K words (I ended up cutting about 4K in the editing, here and there). Feels strange to have nothing more to post, after putting up chapters approximately-weekly for the last six and a bit months. ...Yeah, it took longer to edit & post than it did to write the thing, geesh! And people have actually read it - and liked it, even! and left me amazing comments! - which kind of amazes me, considering it's gen, and so tightly focused on Loki & Thor, and my Loki isn't in step with a lot of the fandom anyway, being far too woobie for some and not woobie enough for others. But it's the story I wanted, the one I'm not going to get from Thor 2, so in the end I'm glad I did it.

Now I have to get back to writing - something! I've been slacking off, editing instead of writing new stuff, for the last couple months, stuck in my regular winter hibernation; but February tends to be the month I get going again. There's things there that want to be written, bubbling right under the surface; I just need to bait a hook and toss it in...

(...and stop playing Fallen London, or at least stop stalking my candle waiting for it to refresh, AGH sholio! :P :P :P)

Comments

[sholio]

Sweeeeeet, congrats on finishing it!

(Sorry!!! XDDD Well, not THAT sorry. Isn't it horrendously addictive? You can see why I sometimes have to block it in order to get work done.)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Thanks! ^_^

and yes, I see...though right now I've got an alarm set, so I'm not checking it more than once an hour and a half, as it refreshes...that's not TOO much...right?

[qualapec.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to say I really, really loved this fic. You have huge attention to detail as a writer, and in a lot of ways, this was one of the stories I've been looking for ever since I entered Avengers fandom. I've wanted a fic with Loki on trial since forever, and I've wanted a nice, well balanced, LONG redemption arc for him since forever. And this fic was all of those things.

Okay, so, I wanted to give myself a couple months after finishing it before coming back and commenting, because otherwise the comment would have been really, really long and would have had me gushing about all the things I liked, which was most of the fic. I loved the plot, and the characters, and your ASGARDIAN WORLDBUILDING THAT PUTS MINE TO SHAME. I love that you wrote 150K fic about Thor and Loki and EXPLORED THEIR RELATIONSHIP AS BROTHERS. I like that although you had Sif in something of an antagonistic role, you didn't refuse to acknowledge that she was friends with Loki once and that that meant something (pretty much whenever someone doesn't ship them and writes the two of them in a fic, they reduce Sif down to someone who hates Loki and never ever even liked him, so it was damn refreshing to see a nuanced take on it, partly because that means your narrative didn't turn her into a cardboard cutout which makes me REALLY HAPPY).

So yeah, all that. The primary thing I wanted to talk about was your characterization of Loki. It definitely ranks as one of my three favorite Loki characterizations in the fandom. And I wanted to say that your fic addressed an aspect of his characterization that I think is either ignored or barely touched on in fanfics, even the other two I love to pieces. Like, the others hint at it, but you brought it into the narrative in an immediate and relevant way. I think it's a good choice for those other fics, since it's only hinted at in the MCU, it makes sense that only fragments of it creep into any one story. All the same, I was happy to see someone finally come out and just address it.

The idea that Loki has a death wish.

It's something I've decoded from his character strongly. Like, to me, his invasion of Earth wasn't some huge, convoluted plan to bring him into proximity to the Infinity Gauntlet. To me, it was the act of someone who viewed his life as forfeit unless he could rule. To me, the set-up on Earth looked like this: if he loses and is captured by the humans he's dead, if he loses and he's captured by Thanos he's dead, if he's taken back to Asgard and tried he's dead, and if he wins he rules a whole planet with relatively small concessions. I interpret him as walking this very fine line between single-minded obsession and not minding if he doesn't exist anymore (of course, he can't admit that to himself, so he drowns it out with the obsession). I'm not saying that I'm assuming your views align 100% with my perspective at all. It's mostly to convey that it's something that I actually look at as pretty intrinsic to my interpretation of his character, and to see that in SUCH a long and thoughtful fic made me extremely happy.

So...I just really loved the whole scene with Thor. Not only Loki trying to goad Thor into killing him, but then you flat-out took it a step father and had Thor realize that his brother didn't want to live any longer. Not only did your narrative hint at it through Loki's actions, it was brought into the focus and another character saw that behavior and understood it for what it means. Like, it's the kind of thing that has a huge punch all on its own, but the fact that Thor realized what was going on and his response was sadness and protectiveness was just amazing.

Seriously though, thank you for the whole fic. It was wonderful and thoughtful. One of those "I didn't know this if the fic I've been looking for my entire time in this fandom" moments.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Wahh, thank you for this amazing comment - I'm so glad you enjoyed the story!

Yay Sif - I really like Sif and didn't want to reduce her to villain or bitch even if she was cast as an antagonist. I feel for her; betrayal hurts, and it's even harder to forgive the betrayal of someone you love. Frankly in her place I would've been even harder on Loki, much as I might love him from a safe distance...

And I am so glad that Loki's characterization worked for you - especially, yes, the death wish (which he doesn't fully acknowledge himself that he has...because Loki can lie to no one if not first himself...) That was something I was hesitant about getting into...I do see it as a fairly crucial part of his character, but at the same time it touches some themes that can get deep for comic-book movie fanfic...but it seemed important for the story I wanted to tell, to have Loki's truths laid bare to himself and to Thor both.