Odin began to understand. In Lucas's eyes, some events were "Nodes of the Timeline"—points of destiny that couldn't be changed. For example, Ragnarok.
Hela would definitely escape. Ragnarok would definitely happen. Even if it didn't happen naturally, Odin had to find a way to make the prophecy come true. Otherwise, all of Asgard would be utterly destroyed.
Not just the physical place, but the people. They would all die at the hands of his eldest daughter.
Hela would be content with a kingdom of the dead. She didn't care. She only needed an army to fight for her. Whether that army was living or undead made no difference to her.
This was the fundamental conflict between father and daughter.
This was why the civil war broke out.
One wanted a kingdom of the living. The other wanted a kingdom of conquest/death. How could they reconcile?
They couldn't.
Worse, Hela's Divinity and Authority were Death. The more people died, the stronger she became. How do you fight that?
If Odin wasn't tough enough—if he were just an ordinary Skyfather—he probably couldn't suppress Hela.
But his wife's death... that might not be a "Node of Destiny."
Whether Frigga died or not didn't affect Ragnarok. It didn't affect Hela's release.
Odin's death was different. If he didn't die, Hela wouldn't escape. If Hela didn't escape, Ragnarok wouldn't happen (yet).
So Odin accepted that he likely had to die. He could face his own death calmly. But he couldn't face his wife's death.
He had to change this ending.
"Calm down. Think about the sequence of events," Odin said to his son. "Tell me, what do you think is the cause?"
Odin wanted to analyze it himself, but he needed to train his reckless son to use his brain.
In the future, Odin would die. The throne would pass to Thor.
If Thor only knew how to swing a hammer but not how to think, the consequences would be disastrous.
A king who only knew killing was a tyrant. And even as a tyrant, Thor wasn't strong enough.
To put it bluntly: Even if Thor wanted to rule by force, he lacked the power to do so (compared to Hela or Thanos).
Loki was willing to use his brain and didn't just want to kill, but he was too biased, too sinister. He relied entirely on schemes.
If Loki took the throne, everyone in Asgard would live in fear.
So Odin didn't pass the throne to Loki. Not just because he was a Frost Giant, but because he lacked the quality of a King.
Who rules like that?
"Dark Elves. Dark Elves. I said we shouldn't have left them alone! They are too bold!" Thor looked at his father with resentment.
He had wanted to take his axe (or hammer) and hack his way from Nanjing East Road to the South Heaven Gate (Chinese idiom for "slaughtering everyone in his path") to re-establish Asgard's dominance over the Nine Realms. To deter them.
But Odin stopped him.
Not only stopped him, but used it as an excuse to banish him to Earth to "relearn the meaning of being a King."
Outsiders looking at their father-son drama might think it was a power struggle.
Hearing this, Odin felt awkward. His old face blushed. He realized his son had a point.
Although Thor was instigated by Loki to attack Jotunheim...
Facts proved that Odin's rule did have problems.
He was nominally the Lord of the Nine Realms. But in his jurisdiction, aside from Earth (which was a nominal territory) and the Dwarves (who were genuine allies), the others—Frost Giants, Fire Giants, Dark Elves—were restless.
The Dwarves were loyal because they lacked combat power and their talent was forging. They made weapons for Asgard in exchange for protection. Similar to the relationship with Earth (Ancient One handles magical threats, Asgard handles aliens).
Mutual need.
But the other realms? One was more arrogant than the next.
In the past, Odin could turn a blind eye to maintain peace. But now? The Dark Elves' actions were intolerable.
Asgard had been crippled in the previous civil war (Hela) and still hadn't recovered. Asgardians lived too long, which meant they didn't reproduce much.
Raising a child took centuries. The population remained stagnant for millennia.
Accumulating strength took tens of thousands of years. Asgard hadn't recovered yet. And Odin was injured and suppressing Hela, unable to go into seclusion to heal.
So his style became softer. Not just because of age, but because of declining strength.
If he had his prime strength and temper, he would have plowed through those rebellious realms one by one.
Now he had to pretend to be a benevolent monarch. It was a tiger skin to scare off predators.
If they knew he wasn't benevolent but weak, they would invade immediately.
"It is time to beat some sense into them," Odin smiled awkwardly at his son's resentful expression.
"Just 'beat some sense'? Father, that is too cheap for them!" Thor said dissatisfiedly.
He was extremely unhappy with his father's soft policy now.
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