The “yes?” always gets me. He’s so uncertain here. Loki, despite being a prince for his entire life, does not believe his position means anything.
Every main character except Frigga (and even Frigga to an extent) mocked or belittled Loki’s position as a prince in Thor 1. As one of the RULERS OF THE WORLD, Loki has little to no confidence in his ability to DO anything because he doesn’t trust himself. Everyone around him doesn’t see him as a real leader. They don’t see him as a real prince or a true king. They mock his position and his titles. They constantly berate him for his gifts. Loki is surrounded in a world of people who do not see him as an equal, they see him as less than.
Loki, less than Thor.
Loki, less than his parents.
Loki, less than because he does magic.
Loki, acting regent, holding a position he was not ready for and attempting to stop a war with the Frost Giants, is less than. Odin would never ask “yes?”, Thor would never ask “yes?”. Only Loki, who knows that because he is king, he needs to second-guess that anyone would follow him.
The Warriors Three and Sif would never dare to commit treason against Odin, but Loki? Loki who is less than? That is no question. Heimdall would never dare to question Odin’s decisions. But Loki? Loki who is less than? Always.
This is what Loki means when he says he wanted to be Thor’s equal. not Thor’s equal in POWER, Thor’s equal in RESPECT. He just wanted someone to treat him like a normal person.
Loki’s gone from scapegoat with the protection of low status (so nobody bothers to move against him) to full outcast who paradoxically cannot actually be cast out because of his formal high status.
The body language doesn’t say ‘king’ so much as Baby’s First Evil Strut. But he hasn’t quite got the confidence to pull it off. As well as not being evil, and just having been forced into the ‘evil’ corner by having to deal with the stuff OP points out.
Loki himself thinks that merely asking for respect renders him beyond the pale, regardless of any actual deeds.
I‘ve always understood the ‚Yes?‘ as a means of reminding Heimdall of his duties. He is reminding him that he would commit treason if he chose to ignore Loki’s status.
It is a manipulation technique, sometimes used in interrogation or bargaining.
So even though I read that scene differently, I must admit that your meta sounds plausible too.
It reminds me that people indeed see the same thing and still see something entirely different.
There are a lot of different interpretations that can be taken from it, yeah! What you said is part of it for sure, and I do think Loki was motivated to do that, just not with the “yes?” The conversation up to that point was Loki trying to remind Heimdall of his position. Remind Heimdall that I am in charge now, not Odin. But I still have the same amount of power. You know that. Disobeying me holds the same weight as Odin because I’m acting regent.
But all of that comes crumpling when Loki adds the “yes?” he didn’t have to say anything else. He made his point. He’s backed Heimdall into a corner.
“He was your king and you’re sworn to obey me now.” Period. End of the sentence. Loki could have stopped the whole conversation right there and walked off. That would have been enough. He would have asserted dominance.
But when you look at Loki’s face in the last gif, you can see how uncomfortable he is, which is a huge part of why I don’t think he added the “yes?” as a threat. The discomfort is practically oozing from his expression. His eyes are wide, and his body is tight. He hesitates, and THEN he asks “yes?” He stated his point and then he’s like “wait, what if Heimdall doesn’t believe me. What if because it’s me he doesn’t take this seriously” and he adds “yes?” because it is a genuine question. He has no idea. He doesn’t trust his authority or his power. He’s a scared kid who just had a war dumped onto him and has no idea who he can trust or who will follow his lead just because he’s Loki.
This ☝️ I always feel secondhand discomfort when I watch this scene because I know how it feels to have imposter syndrome in literally every area of my life. Loki knows that he has to keep control of Heimdall and the W4 if he wants to stop the inevitable shit storm that is brewing, but he also knows that if he doesn’t believe he’s capable of being king, they definitely don’t.
I almost feel like the “Yes?” was Loki asking for confirmation even though he shouldn’t have had to. Which goes back to the fact that no one respected his position as prince or king. It makes me wonder how Asgard would have responded to him after they discovered that he’d been their undercover leader between TDW and Ragnarok. Clearly, Asgard was flourishing, and the people were doing well. Would they have continued to disrespect him or would things have changed? Obviously, there would be a period of wtf in there after they discovered he’d left Odin on Midgard, but what next?
