History Characters / MCUOdinBorson

[[center: [- [[Characters/MarvelCinematicUniverse Main Character Index]] > Other Individuals and Organizations > [[Characters/MCUCosmic Cosmic]] > [[Characters/MCUAsgard Asgard and the Nine Realms]] ('''Odin Borson''' | [[Characters/MCULokiLaufeyson Loki Laufeyson]] | [[Characters/MCULokiLaufeysonVariantL1130 Loki Laufeyson (Variant L1130)]] | [[Characters/MCUSylvieLaufeydottir Sylvie Laufeydottir]] | [[Characters/MCUOtherLokiVariants Other Loki Variants]]) | [[Characters/MCUKnowhere Knowhere]] | [[Characters/MCUNovaEmpire Nova Empire]] | [[Characters/MCUSovereign Sovereign]] | [[Characters/MCUSkrulls Skrulls]] | [[Characters/MCUEternals Eternals]] -]]]

* AdaptationalVillainy: Subverted. Odin is more villainous in this version because this is set far earlier in his life, and shows what the Sacred Timeline Odin was like when he conquered the Nine Realms. How he turned his daughter into a weapon to fight his battles is shown and that despite his claims of wanting peace, he's very quick to resort to violence. He's also shown to be a hypocrite, having sent his daughter to Earth to learn about mercy but becoming angry when she actually learns it.

* SummonToHand: It's revealed that he can do this with Gungnir. It makes Hela and Wenwu trying to disarm him of it ''extremely'' difficult.

[[redirect:Characters/MCUAsgard]]

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[[center: [- [[Characters/MarvelCinematicUniverse Main Character Index]] > Other Individuals and Organizations > [[Characters/MCUCosmic Cosmic]] > [[Characters/MCUNineRealms Nine Realms]] ([[Characters/MCUAsgard Asgard]] | '''Odin Borson''' | [[Characters/MCULokiLaufeyson Loki Laufeyson]] | [[Characters/MCULokiLaufeysonVariantL1130 Loki Laufeyson (Variant L1130)]] | [[Characters/MCUSylvieLaufeydottir Sylvie Laufeydottir]] | [[Characters/MCUOtherLokiVariants Other Loki Variants]]) | [[Characters/MCUKnowhere Knowhere]] | [[Characters/MCURavagers Ravagers]] | [[Characters/MCUNovaEmpire Nova Empire]] | [[Characters/MCUKree Kree]] | [[Characters/MCUSovereign Sovereign]] | [[Characters/MCUSkrulls Skrulls]] | [[Characters/MCUEternals Eternals]] -]]]
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!!''Allfather Odin Borson''
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/allfather_odin.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"A wise king never seeks out war, but he must always be ready for it."'']]
!!!'''Species:''' Asgardian
!!!'''Citizenship:''' Asgardian
!!!'''Affiliation(s):''' Asgard
!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/AnthonyHopkins
!!!'''Voiced By:''' Creator/GabrielPingarron (Latin-American Spanish dub), Camilo García (European Spanish dub), Jin Urayama (Japanese dub), Guy Nadon (Canadian French dub), Creator/IsaacBardavid (Brazilian Portuguese dub)
!!!'''Appearances:''' ''Film/{{Thor}}'' | ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' | ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' | ''Series/{{Loki|2021}}'' [[note]] Archive footage from ''Thor: Ragnarok''[[/note]] | ''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder'' [[note]] Archive footage from ''Thor: Ragnarok''[[/note]]

->''"We are not gods! We're born, we live, we die, just as humans do."''

Lord of the Aesir and King of Asgard. After Thor starts a war with the Jötunns, he exiles him in hopes of teaching him humility. Upon a particularly strenuous conversation with Loki, his old body goes into the "Odinsleep". Loki promptly takes advantage of this and starts scheming.
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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:A-I]]
* ActionDad: Odin is not only the warrior king of Asgard, but he is also the father of Hela, Thor, and Loki.
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: In ''Ragnarok'', he's actually more ''impressed'' that Loki managed to trap him on Earth than anything else, praising his adoptive son with belief that Frigga, who taught Loki magic, would be proud. His chuckle as Thor tells Loki to remove his magic just says it all.
* AdoptionDiss: PlayedForDrama in ''The Dark World''. During his trial, Loki attempts to appeal for his birthright as a son of the king and Odin retorts that his birthright (as an abandoned child whom Odin adopted) was to die.
* AdvertisedExtra: Played straight in ''Ragnarok''. He gets a prominent spot on the poster but dies in the first act, and his only subsequent appearances are in a pair of visions Thor has later in the movie.
* AmazonChaser: Implied. His wife is Frigga, a LadyOfWar, and he ships his son with Sif, another LadyOfWar.
* AmbiguousSituation: The end of ''The Dark World'' left it vague as to whether Loki killed him or not. The first stinger of ''Film/{{Doctor Strange|2016}}'' reveals that he actually ''is'' alive, and ''Ragnarok'' shows that he was living in a New York retirement home that Loki had banished him to. At some point, though, he left and ended up in Norway (possibly as a result of the retirement home being demolished).
* AndIMustScream: When he goes into the Odinsleep, Odin is perfectly capable of hearing and seeing what is going on around him, but powerless to do anything about it until the sleep is over.
* AndStarring: "And Anthony Hopkins as Odin."
* AngerBornOfWorry: Odin is furious at Thor when he foolishly goes to Jötunheim to pick a fight with the Frost Giants, which nearly gets him, his brother, and his friends killed, not to mention nearly starting a war.
* {{Angrish}}: Odin just growls loudly at Loki when he tries to speak up for his brother after returning from Jötunheim. [[KnowWhenToFoldEm Loki gets the message.]]
* AngstComa: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. Odin was already close to the Odinsleep, but he eventual collapses from the stress of banishing Thor and arguing with Loki after revealing the truth about his real heritage.
* TheAtoner: It's implied that Odin's current status as protector of peace across the Nine Realms is to make up for his past as a pillaging warmonger who obtained his power through violence and bloodshed. Certainly, it's worth noting that his key message to Thor is that "a wise king ''never'' seeks out war" (though must always be ready for it).
%%* BadassCape: Like his son Thor, he wears a red cape.
* BadLiar: It's lampshaded by Frigga when she observes in ''The Dark World'', "You've never been a very good liar." It explains why it's easy for her to manipulate him--Odin has ''no idea'' that his wife has totally disregarded his royal authority and has been visiting Loki's cell for the past year.
* BarrierMaiden: Is this, surprisingly enough, because his death is what allows Hela to break free from her imprisonment.
* BattleCouple: He and Frigga work together in protecting Asgard from the Dark Elves.
* BigDamnHeroes: Shows up just in time to save Thor and his friends from the Frost Giants near the beginning. Granted, it is only one hero, but he is [[HorseBackHeroism on a horse at the time.]] A horse with eight legs no less. Then he does it a second time to save Thor and Loki from falling into a wormhole.
* BigGood: He is the king of Asgard and the highest authority against Laufey, the king of Jötunheim. The fragile peace between them is the catalyst of the plot of ''Thor''. However, he is not without his flaws.
* BigSleep: The Odinsleep. Ultimately {{subverted}}. It's a power recharge, not death.
* BrokenPedestal: Loki and Thor loved and admired him for centuries, but as his lies about Loki's parentage and the conquest of the Realm cause them both to become disillusioned with him.
* CallingTheYoungManOut: Rakes Thor over the coals for nearly starting a war with Jotunheim in ''Thor''; in an astonishing display of arrogance, Thor actually tries CallingTheOldManOut for perceived cowardice, only for Odin to reply with a full-blown ReasonYouSuckSpeech that ends with Thor being stripped of his powers and banished to Earth.
-->'''Odin:''' You are a vain, greedy, cruel boy!
* CelebrityParadox: Nick Fury mentions Franchise/HannibalLecter in ''Film/CaptainMarvel'' when the Kree put a muzzle on Goose. Anthony Hopkins played Lecter from the 1980s to the early 2000s.
* ChewingTheScenery: Whenever Odin gets angry and raises his voice. Magnificent in a way that only Anthony Hopkins can deliver.
* CoolHelmet: Odin's helmet is a mixture of his sons' helmets: It has two wings and two horns.
* CoolOldGuy: Sure, he sits on his throne most of the time and never really goes into action, but if he decided to use his power, he would make ''Thanos'' look like a street thug in comparison.
* CrusadingWidower: After Frigga's death in ''The Dark World'', he is willing to sacrifice Asgard's entire army and risk countless civilian deaths to avenge her.
* DeadPersonConversation: In ''Ragnarok'', he appears to Thor in a vision during the FinalBattle to share his wisdom.
* DemotedToExtra: He plays a much smaller role in ''Ragnarok'', only appearing briefly both alive near the beginning and posthumously near the end (not counting the parts where Loki is impersonating him) but in a still plot-critical role.
* DespairEventHorizon: Succumbs to it when Frigga is killed in ''The Dark World''. He throws aside all the virtues he preached about to Thor in favor of bloody revenge. He even drives ''Heimdall'' to go against him!
* {{Determinator}}:
** Has been putting off [[DeepSleep the Odinsleep]] for quite a while. In the opening for ''Thor'', he takes an ice mace from Laufey in the face and ''continues fighting anyway.'' He doesn't even stop seeking treatment for his eye until ''after'' the Frost Giants are driven back to Jötunheim.
** Takes this to a dark place when he's strategizing how to get vengeance for his wife. When Thor says that his plan to [[WeHaveReserves fight Malekith's forces in Asgard until he stands victorious on a pile of Asgardian and Dark Elf corpses]] only makes him as bad as Malekith, Odin responds that his will to win is what separates them (as Malekith doing something similar was purely out of cowardice and trying to run away from battle). While he is probably right, his determination [[PyrrhicVictory would ruin the kingdom]].
* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: The original Ragnarok myth had Odin being swallowed in battle by Fenris (Fenrir), not dying of old age on Earth (Midgard).
* DisabledDeity: Just like in Myth/NorseMythology, he is missing an eye.
* DisappearsIntoLight: Upon death, his body turns into motes of light that disappear shortly after. In the rendition of this scene in ''Ragnarok'''s credits, against the blazing sun it [[https://imgur.com/a/UJMoSn9 looks like]] he [[ReducedToDust turns into ashes]].
* ElderlyImmortal: Odin looks like an elderly human, but he's actually a thousands-year-old HumanAlien.
* EvilParentsWantGoodKids: Odin, as per Hela, was a GalacticConqueror and tyrant who butchered whole civilizations, and plundered their wealth to build the splendour of Asgard. He had a HeelRealization, banished Hela, and raised Thor and Loki in the hope that they would become better than both Hela, and him.
* TheExtremistWasRight: Odin imposed peace on the Nine Realms through bloody conquest, destroys the entire civilization of his enemies, and regularly intervenes militarily to maintain that peace (though avoids it, where possible). Yet, without Asgard's constant policing the realms have been shown to quickly descend into chaos with wars spreading and the strong preying on the weak. The extreme methods he employs are often necessary because Asgard's enemies are that dangerous.
* EyeScream: Loses his right eye to Laufey in ''Thor'''s opening. There are few shots of Odin with a gaping, bloodied hole where his right eye should be. The moment he loses an eye is also shown on screen although it is not graphic (he appears to lose it in a battle, which does not correspond to mythological origins where he willingly gives it up to gain knowledge and wisdom).
* EyepatchAfterTimeSkip: Odin is seen with two eyes (or a dead, patch-less eye) in flashbacks.
* EyepatchOfPower: Odin, natch. He even has different patches for different situations -- a golden armored one for battle, for instance.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: He is quite content to spend his last months of life wandering the Norwegian countryside on Earth, and seems barely bothered by it by the time his sons find him.
* FantasticRacism: He doesn't like the idea of his son being fascinated by a mortal. He has a point (Midgardians only live a small fraction of the life of an Asgardian), but he's really a dick about it. He's also pretty genocidal toward the Dark Elves, following in his father's footsteps.
* FatalFlaw: As pointed out in ''Thor: Ragnarok'', he kept hiding his less admirable past actions [[NiceJobBreakingItHero until they blew up on everyone]]. Specifically, Loki's true parentage until he learns it in the worst way and Hela's existence leaving everyone unprepared for her return.
* FormerBigot: In the past, he had been a vicious imperialist and an avid believer in [[FantasticRacism Asgardian supremacy]]. After his HeelRealization, he leaves this behind but has his relapses, such as likening the human Jane to a goat or raising his adoptive Frost Giant son to believe that Frost Giants are inherently evil.
* GalacticConqueror: ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' revealed that he used to be this before changing his ways. Hela even noted how she used to be his favored tool of conquest and lamented that such glorious days were long gone.
* GodEmperor: Odin is the TopGod of Asgard and rules over the Nine Realms that he conquered in the past.
* AGodIAmNot: When Loki asserts that the Asgardians are like Gods compared to Humans, Odin succinctly declares that they should not act HolierThanThou in spite of their advantages as a species. However, this does not stop him from acting superior to Jane when she comes to the realm, probably because he feels that she's not good enough/too mortal for his son, more than anything else.
* GoldAndWhiteAreDivine: He wears various combinations of silver and gold and has white hair. Notably, his sons each appropriate one of the two colors for their own outfits.
* TheGoodKing: Taking care of his people is his number one priority and his anger at Thor is based on his fear that his son cares more for war than for them. In ''The Dark World'' his despair drives him into the very BloodKnight behavior he scorned.
* GoodParents: ''Thor'' shows that Odin loves ''both'' his sons, even if Loki is an adopted Frost Giant, a racial enemy, and gives Thor a '''much''' needed object-lesson to teach him the value of kindness and compassion. His main failure is being too proud of his sons to teach them the lessons they needed to learn until it was too late. This leads to some less than stellar parenting decisions later on, to say nothing of his relationship with Hela.
* GrandpaGod: Odin's role as the TopGod of Asgard is expressed through his white beard signifying the wisdom he has gained from eons of experience and learning. He also goes by the title "Allfather," which dates him a bit.
* HandicappedBadass: His missing eye doesn't get in the way of his ass-kicking.
* HeavySleeper: Nothing can wake him from the Odinsleep once it begins, although he still sees and hears everything going on around him.
* HeroicBSOD: Odin goes into one, since Loki's discovery of his ancestry and consequent outburst are the final push into Odinsleep. Frigga points out that he's been putting off the Odinsleep longer than he should have, and several days' worth of... extreme stress and high power expenditure finally pushed him past his limits.
* HorsebackHeroism: Odin arrives on his eight-legged horse to save his sons and their friends on Jotunheim.
* HorseOfADifferentColor: Odin, true to the myth, is seen at one point riding [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleipnir Sleipnir]], the eight-legged horse.
* HolyHalo: In ''Ragnarok,'' the Asgardian frescoes he has commissioned as part of official propaganda depict him with it. However, his past sins hardly make him worthy of one, even as he tried to change.
* {{Hypocrite}}: He admonishes Loki's way of thinking that Asgardians are not looking down on humanity as inferior from a place of godhood, yet scoffs at a mortal within Asgard as though she were a being that had no place among higher life forms such as themselves.
* IAmNotYourFather: Finally admits to Loki that he is an adopted Frost Giant when Loki confronts Odin about his changing skin colour in the vault.
* IdentityAmnesia: The spell Loki casts on him offscreen in ''The Dark World'' is implied to make Odin forget who he is. As shown in ''Ragnarok,'' Loki then sent him off to a retirement home on Earth, where Odin eventually broke free of the spell.
* IHaveNoSon: After Loki murdered hundreds of innocent New Yorkers, Odin no longer considers him his son. In the ''Dark World Prelude'' comics, he underlines this by calling him Laufeyson to his face. In ''Ragnarok'', since getting free of the enchantment put on him by Loki, he has mellowed out and refers to both Thor and Loki as his sons. Still played straight with his ''first'' child, Hela, though. She's actually his firstborn daughter whom Odin banished and erased her existence because she's too dangerous to be set free.
* InterspeciesAdoption: Adopts Loki, a Frost Giant found by Odin during a raid on his homeworld, since he couldn't bear to let the child die after he'd just killed everyone else in the area.
* ItsAllAboutMe: A major aspect of his character arc is his difficulty in avoiding this behavior, being aware of it, and wishing better for his sons.
* ItsPersonal: Odin falls off the DespairEventHorizon and becomes a hateful war-mongerer, desiring only to draw Malekith and his forces close enough to engage in a battle within Asgard, no matter how many lives are lost or destroyed on either side. One can read his warmongering frenzy as driven less by bloodthirsty pride and more by his grief at Frigga being killed in battle against the Dark Elves.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:J-Z]]
* {{Jerkass God|s}}: The Allfather is revealed in ''Ragnarok'' to have been a ruthless conqueror who once bathed the Nine Realms in blood together with Hela, and then decided to change his ways.
* JerkassHasAPoint:
** Loki defends his invasion of New York City by stating that a throne is his birthright. Odin fires back with the harsh but hard to argue with the point that given the circumstances of Loki's birth he really has no grounds to claim this, and it certainly didn't excuse the death and destruction he caused.
** Although he stepped off the DespairEventHorizon by that point and was ready to expend unit after unit to fight Malekith in Asgard, Odin did have a point about Thor's plot to bring Jane to Malekith in Svartalfheim if Thor can't destroy the Aether once it's extracted from Jane as that's precisely what happens.
* LargeHam: Obviously, since we're talking about Creator/AnthonyHopkins... ''as Odin''. At one point in ''Thor'', he downright barks at Loki.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: Both sons take after him in some aspects:
** In ''The Dark World'', he shows himself very much like Thor in the first film, with his bloodthirsty ways in the fight with the Dark Elves. Granted, he has a better reason. He also shares Thor's courage, nobility, and ability to lead.
** While he respects humans as a race and government, he also shares Loki's attitudes about being superior to individual humans. Justified, because he would first have encountered humanity in the early Bronze Age, through to the Viking Era. He also shares Loki's intelligence and diplomatic skills, as well as magic (he had embedded a spell within Mjölnir in ''Thor'', and also shows signs of it in ''The Dark World'' when he examines Jane for the Aether).
* LittleNo: Gives one of these when Loki lets himself fall into the abyss below the Bifrost.
* LoveObstructingParents: He addresses Thor's affection for Jane as impractical, considering he's a [[MayflyDecemberRomance nigh-immortal Asgardian]] (give or take five thousand years) [[InterspeciesRomance and she's a mortal human]]. Mark how he likens Jane's presence in Asgard to the presence of a goat at a banquet table, and for that matter, [[ShipperOnDeck he lets slip he's a Thor×Sif shipper]] (admonishing Thor that "the one who's right for you is right in front of you", right as they're watching Sif during training/sparring).
* MachiavelliWasWrong: He realized after his lengthy conquests that he wasn't comfortable ruling through fear and force, and preferred Asgard to be a peacekeeper. When Thor declares they should make the Jotuns fear them too much to attack Asgard, Odin retorts that he's only thinking of pride and vanity rather than true leadership.
* MyGreatestFailure: Hela was instrumental in helping him build his empire, Asgard's unquestioned domination over the Nine Realms, but "her bloodlust grew too great for me to contain". He exiled his daughter, stopped at the nine realms, and covered over the history.
* NecessaryEvil: His view on war. He views it as ugly, but something kings have to be ready for. He views his father's extermination of the Dark Elves as necessary to safeguard the universe due to the threat they posed. His conquests and intervention of the other realms can also count to force peace on them because without Asgard to maintain security they fall into war and chaos. As he told his children:
-->'''Odin:''' [[MartialPacifist A wise king never seeks war, but must always be ready for it.]]
* NeverMyFault: He doesn't take any responsibility for how his sons turned out. It doesn't dawn on him at all that Thor's war-mongering behavior is because of him, or that Loki's issues were due to neglecting him as a child, which resulted in his madness. This is subverted with Hela, whose insanity he ''does'' take responsibility for.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** He never told Loki of his true heritage because he felt it would cause him to feel like an outsider. Even when Loki didn't know the truth, he still felt overshadowed by Thor and Odin. Finding out just made things worse, much '''worse'''.
** He went into the Odinsleep after banishing Thor, which put Loki on the throne.
** If he had listened to Thor when he argued that their best course of action was to take Jane off Asgard so Malekith wouldn't target them a second time in order to get the Aether, Thor wouldn't have sprung Loki from his cell and subsequently the actions that led to Loki usurping the throne of Asgard would not have come to pass.
** He never told his sons about their [[BloodKnight bloodthirsty]] sister and goddess of death (who he knows will be free to invade Asgard once he passes away) right up until he was close to death.
** He put a fake Infinity Gauntlet in the vault in order to appease Asgard's fears about it. This means when Thanos shows up with the real thing, Asgard is completely off-guard.
* NoBodyLeftBehind: When he passes away, he dissolves into wisps of light.
* NotSoDifferentRemark:
** When the stress of combating Malekith's forces and the loss of Frigga has gone to his head, he basically bellows he intends to fight to [[WeHaveReserves "the last drop of Asgardian blood"]], earning him a justified remonstration from Thor, (who he was supposed to have cured of this bellicose tendency [[{{Film/Thor}} a film prior]] through banishment to Earth):
--->'''Thor:''' [[ArmorPiercingQuestion Then how are you different from Malekith?]]\\
'''Odin:''' ''[bitter laughter]'' The difference, my son, is that '''[[MightMakesRight I will win]]'''.
** During his and Loki's first scene together, Loki points out that his actions in leading armies to subdue and conquer the other realms is not that different from Odin's (and Bor's) own war-torn history. Odin doesn't really address this, except by denying that Loki was ever in line for the Asgardian throne and thus has no birthright.
* OffingTheOffspring: The only reason he doesn't kill Loki is that [[DefiedTrope Frigga spoke in his defense]]. If it weren't for her, he'd have Loki executed without a second thought.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Half a million years ago, he fought Surtur when the latter was at full power[[note]]Keep in mind that at full power, Surtur flicked Hulk aside like a gnat and was able to kill ''Hela'', who herself easily slaughtered the Einherjar and the elite Valkyrie, while barely reacting to her all-out power.[[/note]] and not only won but defeated him so thoroughly Surtur walks with a limp in the present.
* OutOfCharacterAlert: In stark contrast to how imposing and no-nonsense Odin is normally, Odin in ''Ragnarok'' has become a LazyBum who sits around in his bathrobes eating grapes and watching theater while the Nine Realms burn. This is to clue you in that he's really Loki in disguise.
* PapaWolf:
** Goes into Jötunheim, by himself, to rescue his sons and pull Thor's ass out of the fire. He then scolds him for not only putting Asgard and the other warriors in danger, but his own little brother as well.
** When the Rainbow Bridge starts to crumble, Odin awakens from his sleep to rescue his feuding sons from falling into the abyss of space. Unfortunately, he only managed to rescue one of them.
* ParentalFavoritism: Odin paid more attention to Thor, who is his eldest son and whom he shares a lot in common with, as they both embody the ideals of Asgardian masculinity. Creator/TomHiddleston [[https://uproxx.com/hitfix/thor-the-dark-worlds-tom-hiddleston-reflects-on-his-big-comic-con-entrance-watch/ confirms this]] when he affirms that "[Odin] connected much more with Thor. They were sort of cut from the same cloth." Odin's preference for Thor initially made him blind to the latter's faults.
* ParentalHypocrisy: In ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', he accuses Loki of bringing war, ruin, and death wherever the latter goes. As revealed in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', this is exactly what Odin himself was doing in the past when he conquered the Nine Realms with Hela at his side.
* ParentalNeglect: Although Odin does love Loki, he found it difficult to forge a close bond with his second son because Loki isn't manly like he is, and being of Jötunn descent may also have contributed to Odin remaining somewhat distant. It's lampshaded by Loki.
-->'''Loki:''' You know, it all makes sense now, why you favoured Thor all these years, because no matter how much you claim to love me, you could never have a Frost Giant sitting on the throne of Asgard!
* ParentPreferredSuitor: Tells Thor that he would prefer him be together with Sif rather than Jane:
-->'''Odin:''' Human lives are fleeting, they are nothing. You'd be better served by what lies in front of you ''[points at Sif]'' I'm telling you this not as the Allfather but as ''your'' father.
* ParentsAsPeople: Odin's parental skills leave a great deal to be desired and caused many of the problems and insecurities associated with Thor and Loki, which in turn snowballed into major conflicts such as Loki's invasion of Earth and Hela's... everything (indeed, they could be said to be at the root of the conflicts of ''Thor'', ''The Avengers'', and ''Thor: Ragnarok''). That being said Odin loves both of his sons deeply and, in his last moments, made sure to tell them this in spite of everything Loki had done.
* ThePatriarch: Odin may be a kind father who wants the best for his children, but he is also far more powerful than any of them and shows no hesitation to discipline them with banishment or imprisonment whenever they get arrogant enough to ignore his counsel.
%%* PrimaryColorChampion: He wears a red cape and his armor is covered in gold accents.
* PyrrhicVictory: Stricken with grief over his wife's murder, he is willing to "win" such a victory by allowing the Dark Elves to invade Asgard a second time. Thor tries to point out that this is crazy and a reckless waste of his people's lives, but his fury blinds him to it.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure:
** In the first movie, he wants to avoid war and does a good job of handling things when he's not in the Odinsleep. Just mind the HairTriggerTemper.
** This goes away about halfway through ''The Dark World''. He becomes bloodthirsty and irrational due to grief from Frigga's death, leading to Thor and his friends committing treason just to do the right thing.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** Gives one to Thor around the beginning of the film, but it was meant to inspire some humility in him, and not just for the sake of being mean-spirited.
--->"You are a vain, greedy, cruel boy!"
--->"Through your arrogance and stupidity, you have opened these peaceful realms and innocent lives to the horror and desolation of war! You are unworthy of these realms! You're unworthy of your ''title''! You are unworthy!... of the loved ones you have betrayed. I now take from you your power! In the name of my father and his father before, I, Odin Allfather, '''''cast you out'''''!"
** Also gives a brief one to Loki before sending him to the dungeon in ''The Dark World''.
--->"Do you not truly feel the gravity of your crimes? Wherever you go, there is war, ruin, and death."
--->"Your birthright, was to '''die''', as a child, cast out onto a frozen rock. If I had not taken you then, you would not be here now to hate me."
%%* RedIsHeroic: Just like Thor, Odin wears a red cape.
%%* RedIsViolent: Odin wore his red cape when he and Hela attempted to conquer the galaxy.
* RetiredBadass: He led the charge back in the 10th century AD, but now he prefers the diplomatic approach.
* RetiredMonster: As per Hela, Odin was once a GalacticConqueror who drenched entire civilizations in blood, with Hela as his executioner. After conquering and subjugating the nine realms, Odin stopped expanding his empire and decided to become a peaceful monarch, so banished Hela from Asgard, making her an UnPerson, and more or less rewriting history so that his children would have a kinder legacy to build on.
-->'''Hela:''' ''[to Thor, in Odin's throne room]'' Where do you think all this gold came from?
* RevengeBeforeReason: Frigga's death at the hands of the Dark Elves in ''The Dark World'' turns him into a blinding rage and he becomes much like Thor was prior to his CharacterDevelopment, willing to throw as many Asgardian lives as is needed to crush Malekith. Thor comments that [[NotSoDifferentRemark this makes him sound like Malekith]], to which Odin scoffs/laughs and replies that the difference is, ''he'' will win.
* RoyalBlood: He is the king of Asgard, and most conflicts in ''Thor'' trilogy revolve around who of his three children will succeed him.
* RoyaltySuperPower: While all Asgardians are strong and tough, he possesses supernatural powers that make him a literal god among his people. He passes his powers down to his biological children, Thor and Hela.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Personally led the Asgardian charge against the Jötunns to defend Midgard during the Dark Ages.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: If Thor was to be truly exiled to Earth forevermore, there was no reason for Odin to send in the Mjolnir after him with it actively trying to determine when he was worthy of its power again. Indeed, the entire event was an exercise in forcibly instilling a sense of humility in his son, and once Thor does find it, Odin welcomes him with open arms again.
* ShipperOnDeck: In ''The Dark World,'' he lets slip he's a Thor×Sif shipper by admonishing Thor that "the one who's right for you is right in front of you", right as they're watching Sif during training/sparring.
* SilenceYouFool: Thor, together with his brother and friends, has gone to Jotunheim against his father's orders to investigate the Jotuns' appearance in Asgard. It eventually leads to a huge fight, threatening to break the truce between the two realms. When the group is surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered, Odin suddenly appears through the Bifrost:
-->'''Thor:''' ''[shouting]'' Father! We'll finish them together!\\
'''Odin:''' ''[angrily growling]'' Silence!
* SoProudOfYou: In his last moments on the cliffs near Tønsberg, he confides this in Thor and Loki. He even relents in his condemnation of Loki, commending the trickster on his feat of illusory magic that had entranced Odin for months.
* SpiritAdvisor: He serves as this to Thor in the climax of ''Ragnarok'', revealing how Mjölnir was a PowerLimiter for his true power while the latter is having the life choked out of him by Hela.
* SuperheroTrophyShelf: Odin has one underneath Asgard in his vault. Throughout the movies, it houses among others the Tesseract, a replica of the Infinity Gauntlet and Surtur's skull.
* TookALevelInJerkass:
** In ''The Dark World'', he stops treating Loki like his son and is openly disapproving of Thor's infatuation with Jane, comparing bringing Jane to Asgard to bringing a goat to a banquet (and says this to her face, as if her response doesn't matter). Most likely, it was probably caused by the fact that his second son, who he does still love, went insane, slaughtering droves of innocents (which probably reminded him very unpleasantly of Hela), and the fact that his first son is in love with a mortal who will break his heart by dying a millennium or three before Thor starts even going grey.
** He takes another level in the second half of the film due to grief and anger over Frigga's death and shouts WeHaveReserves.
* TookALevelInKindness:
** In ''Ragnarok'', when Thor and Loki find him, he doesn't hesitate to refer to them as his sons and has generally softened, likely because he knows he doesn't have long to live.
** Also from ''Ragnarok''. As it turns out, Odin was once much closer to the Odin of Myth/NorseMythology. The reason the Nine Realms exist is that he led a series of massive wars that devastated the cosmos; the Realms are the areas he had conquered by the time he was finished. Then he had a HeelRealization about being a GalacticConqueror, stopped at Nine Realms rather than continue to conquer the cosmos with Hela, and retreated to Asgard rather than continue direct rule over all nine of his realms.
* TopGod: He's the "King of the Gods" type, the Allfather who presides over all other Asgardian PhysicalGods, including his two sons, the God of Thunder and the God of Mischief, and his daughter, the Goddess of Death.
* TwistingTheWords: When he explains that he saved Loki as a child because he hoped that one day Loki can serve as an example that Frost Giants and Asgardians can peacefully co-exist, Loki instead believes that Odin saved him only because he wanted an extra war trophy. Odin even reacts by asking, "Why do you twist my words?"
* UnreliableNarrator: When he is telling young Thor and Loki about the war with Jötunheim, he just happens to leaves out the part about Loki's background in which he finds the Jötunn king Laufey's abandoned baby and adopts him.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: He has a strong habit of leaving things or sending things to Earth that cause destruction. For example, his sending Thor and his hammer to Earth helped the Earth realize they were outmatched as they were, which caused S.H.I.E.L.D. to revive HYDRA tech, based on an Asgardian power source, the Tesseract. This snowballs into attracting the intentions of Thanos and the Chitauri, which brings to Earth the Mind Gem. That gives power to Ultron and the Vision.
* WarIsHell: After having lived through the war between Asgard and the Frost Giants, which is repeatedly described as destructive and terrible, Odin is very dedicated to ensuring that sort of thing never happens again. Laufey, to an extent, feels the same, but in contrast to Odin, he's very vindictive and thus not shy about starting another one should the situation arise, and even then he tries to prevent such a situation from occurring.
* WeHaveReserves: In ''The Dark World'', he is ready to get as many Asgardians killed fighting the dark elves as needed. When Thor asks how Odin is different from Malekith (who sacrificed most of his own race in the past) Odin replies that unlike Malekith he intends to win.
* WrittenByTheWinners: Hela angrily and resentfully reveals in ''Ragnarok'' that Odin is only known as a peace-keeper because he covered up his bloody conquests once he ruled all the Nine Realms.
[[/folder]]

!!Weapons

[[folder:Gungnir]]
!!Gungnir
!!!'''Appearances:''' ''Film/{{Thor}}'' | ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' | ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' | ''{{Series/Loki|2021}}'' [[note]]Archive footage[[/note]]| ''[[WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021 What If...?]]''

The spear of Odin and the symbol of kingship in Asgard.
----
* AncestralWeapon: Is wielded by the ruler of Asgard, so it passed on from ruler to ruler.
* BladeOnAStick: Gungnir, the "Spear of Heaven". It fires blasts of energy, controls the Bifröst, and activates the Destroyer.
* BoomStick: It can fire energy blasts.
* CasualInterstellarTravel: Controls the Bifröst.
* NamedWeapons: A spear named Gungnir, which is Old Norse for "penetrating".
* PublicDomainArtifact: It is taken straight from Myth/NorseMythology.
* StaffOfAuthority: Is the symbol of kingship in Asgard.
[[/folder]]

!!Steed and Familiars

[[folder:Sleipnir]]
!!''Sleipnir''
!!!'''Citizenship:''' Asgardian
!!!'''Portrayed By:''' N/A
!!!'''Appearances:''' ''Film/{{Thor}}'' | ''Thor: The Dark World Prelude'' | ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' (fresco)

Odin's steed, an eight-legged horse.
-----
* CoolHorse: Sleipnir is Odin's personal steed since the time of the Asgardian wars of conquest and expansion.
* UnrelatedInTheAdaptation: In the myths, Loki is Sleipnir's mother which makes Sleipnir half-siblings with Hela and Fenris.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Sleipnir is only seen in ''Thor'' and the comic book prelude to ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld''. His fate remains unknown.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hugin and Munin]]
!!''Hugin and Munin''
!!!'''Citizenship:''' Asgardian
!!!'''Portrayed By:''' N/A
!!!'''Appearances:''' ''Film/{{Thor}}'' | ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' | ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld''

Odin's raven familiars.
-----
* CleverCrows: The two serve as Odin's spies in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' and watch over Odin during the Odinsleep.
[[/folder]]

!!Variants
[[folder:Party Thor's Odin]]
!!''Allfather Odin Borson''
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3641c367_b6c3_4a6e_a74a_89c2af863d7b.jpeg]]
%%[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]
!!!'''Species:''' Asgardian
!!!'''Voiced By:''' N/A
!!!'''Appearances:''' ''[[WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021 What If...?]]''

The Odin of Earth-72124, who returned the infant Loki to the Frost Giants rather than raising him as his own son.
----
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Compared to the Odin of the Sacred Timeline, he returned baby Loki to his people instead of taking him for himself. The fact that Asgard's influence also seems benevolent enough that nearly everyone in the Universe is well disposed to Thor also suggests his empire-building was done in a more benevolent fashion (at least more than it already was--especially since the backstory does not imply the absence of Hela).
* BigSleep: Just like his Sacred Timeline counterpart, Odin goes into his Odinsleep here, which puts Frigga in charge. Thankfully, he does this willingly rather than collapsing from stress like in the Sacred Timeline.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Odin only appears briefly in ''What If'''s seventh episode, but him falling into the Odinsleep and Frigga subsequently leaving Asgard to visit friends on another planet is what allows Thor to sneak down to Earth and host an Asgardian's equivalent of a WildTeenParty.
%%* TheVoiceless: He doesn't have any lines.
[[/folder]]
----
->''"Remember this place. Home."''

* AntiVillain: His backstory as a GalacticConqueror would paint him as a straight-up villain, if not for the heavy implication that the realms were in a constant state of war that required a unification through conquest.

* BadassCape: Like his son Thor, he wears a red cape.

* BloodKnight: For all his talk of keeping the peace in the Nine Realms, he goes into full RoaringRampageOfRevenge mode, willing to [[WeHaveReserves shed every drop of Asgardian blood]] to destroy Malekith after he attacks Asgard and murders Queen Frigga. And he [[MightMakesRight justifies the righteousness of it by saying that he will win.]] ''Ragnarok'' reveals that Odin was a genuine one in the past (meaning that ''Dark World'' was a relapse), and it was only much later that he renounced it in favour of becoming a peacekeeper.
* BrokenPedestal:
** To his youngest son Loki, who greatly loved him, looked up to him, and wanted nothing more than his approval in ''Thor''. The breaking part started once Loki finds out Odin had lied to him his whole life about his origins and planned to use him as a political tool. Odin's rejection of the Bifröst puts the final nail in the coffin. In ''The Dark World'', his harsh justice is treated by Loki as another rejection.
** His behaviour in ''The Dark World'' also disabuses Thor of a lot of his illusions, and leads to him outright rejecting kingship for the foreseeable future.
** It's taken up even further in ''Thor: Ragnarok'' after his death where Thor is deeply disturbed to learn of Odin's history of violent conquest with Hela, especially considering Odin went to great lengths to teach him of the consequences of war in the first film (though it is also made pretty clear that Odin taught him those consequences ''precisely because'' he learned that lesson long ago, and had seen what a BloodKnight child of his could become).

* CharacterDevelopment: He started as a bloodstained conqueror, but came to regret his actions and ruled as TheGoodKing instead.
* ChekhovMIA: The first stinger for ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'' states that Thor and Loki are in New York looking for him because of his disappearance in ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld''. They finally reunite in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', where Odin warns his sons of the threat Hela poses to the universe.

* TheExtremistWasRight: Odin imposed peace on the Nine Realms through bloody conquest, destroys the entire civilization of his enemies, and regularly intervenes militarily to maintain that peace (though avoids it, where possible). Yet, without Asgard's constant policing the realms have been shown to quickly descend into chaos with wars spreading and the strong preying on the weak. The extreme methods he employs are often necessary because Asgard's enemies are that dangerous.
** After Thor attacks the Frost Giants, he makes it very clear that Thor's brazen and reckless actions threatened ''all'' nine realms and that just because the Asgardians ''won'' the War does not mean that the Frost Giants were ''defeated''. His dialogue with Laufey implies there is a very tentative peace barely held between the two and they are effectively in a [[JustForPun Cold War]].

* FatalFlaw: As pointed out in ''Thor: Ragnarok'', he kept hiding his less admirable past actions [[NiceJobBreakingItHero until they blew up on everyone]]. Specifically, Loki's true parentage until [[GoMadFromTheRevelation he learns it in the worst way]] and Hela's existence leaving everyone unprepared for her return.

* GenreBlind:
** Believed that Loki would be able to forge a lasting peace with the Frost Giants, despite the fact Laufey left him to die as a baby.
** Didn't see that Loki would be incredibly upset or jealous about not being Crown Prince. Even worse -- he ''didn't'' make it clear Thor was the Crown Prince when they were young, dangling the throne in front of both of them, telling them "only one of you can inherit the throne, but you were both born to be kings." Alan Taylor, the director of ''The Dark World'', has commented on how Odin really shouldn't have done that.

* GoodParents: Goes from straightforward in ''Thor'', to played with in ''The Dark World'', and to played with all over the place in ''Ragnarok''.
** ''Thor'': Odin loves ''both'' his sons, even if Loki is an adopted Frost Giant, a racial enemy, and gives Thor a '''much''' needed object-lesson to teach him the value of kindness and compassion. His main failure is being too proud of his sons to teach them the lessons they needed to learn until it was too late, resulting in Thor becoming a boisterous warmonger and Loki becoming a repressed ball of jealousy. Only one of them gets better (since any opportunity to correct Loki's immaturity was missed when he fell into the Odinsleep, leaving his adopted son to run amok with power).
** In ''The Dark World'', he reminds Loki that his birthright was "to die, as a child, on a frozen rock" and if he hadn't saved Loki that day then Loki wouldn't be alive to hate him in the present. How much of the punishment is from the "Allfather" and how much is from "Loki's father" is ambiguous in the film [[note]] The ''Dark World Prelude'' comics suggest that it's both of them [[/note]]. In any case, he's given up hope that Loki will amount to anything more than a murderer -- which considering that that was how Hela turned out, with the two bearing more than a slight resemblance, is probably a pretty heavy blow.
** While ''Ragnarok'' shows that Odin really does love both of his sons and is incredibly proud of them, it also reveals that he used his ''first'' child, Hela, as a weapon to conquer the Nine Realms. According to him, her ambition grew too great and he was forced to [[SealedEvilInACan banish her somewhere she would never escape while he lived]]. According to her, he had a sudden and unexpected change of heart and simply [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness cast her aside]] since she wanted to continue the conquest. Since both are liable to be {{Unreliable Narrator}}s, the truth is left unclear.

* HappilyMarried: To Queen Frigga.

* IHaveNoSon: After Loki murdered hundreds of innocent New Yorkers in ''The Avengers'', Odin no longer considers him his son. In the ''Dark World Prelude'' comics, he underlines this by calling him Laufeyson to his face. In ''Ragnarok'', since getting free of the enchantment put on him by Loki, he has mellowed out and refers to both Thor and Loki as his sons. Still played straight with his ''first'' child, Hela, though. She's actually his firstborn daughter whom Odin banished and erased her existence because she's too dangerous to be set free.

* MayDecemberRomance: Implied. ''Infinity War'' refers to Hela as Thor's half-sister meaning Odin was married to someone before Frigga.

** When the stress of combating Malekith's forces and the loss of Frigga has gone to his head, he basically bellows he intends to fight to [[WeHaveReserves "the last drop of Asgardian blood"]], earning him [[WhatTheHellHero a justified remonstration from Thor]], ([[{{Irony}} who he was supposed to have cured of this bellicose tendency]] [[{{Film/Thor}} a film prior]] through banishment to Earth):

* OutOfCharacterAlert: As soon as Thor arrives back on Asgard in ''Ragnarok'', the film all but spells out that "Odin" is really Loki disguised as him (with the real Odin dumped into a Midgard retirement home with a memory wipe). In stark contrast to how imposing and no-nonsense, he is in the previous films, Odin has become a LazyBum who sits around in his bathrobes eating grapes and watching theater while acting apathetic to the chaos the Nine Realms have fallen into and is far too soft-spoken and genial (the real Odin took his job ''very'' seriously and didn't take crap from anyone). To say nothing of the fact that Odin inexplicably ordered a 60-foot statue of Loki to be erected and put on bad plays glorifying him, something the real Odin would '''never''' have done given Loki's attempts to destroy Jötunheim and conquer Earth in the previous films. Not to mention he had [[IHaveNoSon disowned Loki as a son]] and sentenced him to life imprisonment for his crimes (and nearly had him executed instead of that) in ''The Dark World''. But the part that fully spoils the ruse is that he's visibly terrified when Mjolnir is flying towards his head while Thor is behind him--the real Odin was worthy of it and wouldn't have been in any danger of being struck by it at all.

* ParentalHypocrisy: In ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', he accuses Loki of bringing war, ruin, and death wherever the latter goes. As revealed in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', this is exactly what Odin himself was doing in the past when he conquered the Nine Realms with Hela at his side -- although his attitude to Loki could be because it was a ''very'' unwanted reminder of what he once was like, and has spent the last couple of thousand years trying to undo.

* ThePatriarch: Odin may be a kind father who wants the best for his children, but he is also far more powerful than any of them and shows no hesitation to discipline them with banishment or imprisonment whenever they get arrogant enough to ignore his counsel. Even at the end of his life (and while under Loki's enchantment before he broke free), he was still powerful enough to keep Hela imprisoned. She achieved her freedom mere moments after his death.
* PrimaryColorChampion: He wears a red cape and his armor is covered in gold accents.

* RedIsHeroic: Just like Thor, Odin wears a red cape.
* RedIsViolent: Odin wore his red cape when he and Hela attempted to conquer the galaxy.

* ThisIsUnforgivable: Not in so many words, but Thor's banishment. It's implied Odin has forgiven Thor for cocky transgressions and rule breaking in the past, but inciting a new war on Jotunheim with the Frost Giants was the absolute last straw. Except Odin isn't completely ready to give up on his son without secretly adding a RedemptionQuest loophole, and enchants Mjölnir with: ''Whosoever holds this hammer, [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield if he be worthy]], shall possess the power of Thor!''

* WrittenByTheWinners: Hela angrily and resentfully reveals in ''Ragnarok'' that Odin engaged with this in regards to how Asgard records its history. While Odin now emphasizes his role as peacekeeper and hegemonic police of the Nine Realms (as well as the actions of his sons and family), his throne and the glory of Asgard were revealed to be once founded in conquest and imperialism, with Hela by his side. This is evident in the Sistine Chapel-like ceiling art of Odin's throne room. Those scenes of the Royal Family and peace among the Realms are actually the ''second'' layer. The first depicts Odin and Hela leading a series of bloody wars across the universe and was (literally) covered up after Odin banished Hela.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Their fate after Loki casts down Odin remains unknown. However, ''Thor: Love and Thunder'' implies that they are living in New Asgard and are tasked with delivering "raven mails" to Valkyrie.

* TheVoiceless: He doesn't have any lines.

[[center: [- [[Characters/MarvelCinematicUniverse Main Character Index]] > Other Individuals and Organizations > [[Characters/MCUCosmic Cosmic]] > [[Characters/MCUNineRealms Nine Realms]] ([[Characters/MCUAsgard Asgard]] | '''Odin Borson''' | [[Characters/MCULokiLaufeyson Loki Laufeyson]] | [[Characters/MCULokiLaufeysonVariantL1130 Loki Laufeyson (Variant L1130)]] | [[Characters/MCUSylvieLaufeydottir Sylvie Laufeydottir]] | [[Characters/MCUOtherLokiVariants Other Loki Variants]]) | [[Characters/MCUKnowhere Knowhere]] | [[Characters/MCUTheRavagers The Ravagers]] | [[Characters/MCUNovaEmpire Nova Empire]] | [[Characters/MCUTheKree The Kree]] | [[Characters/MCUTheSovereign The Sovereign]] | [[Characters/MCUTheSkrulls The Skrulls]] | [[Characters/MCUTheEternals The Eternals]] -]]]

[[center: [- [[Characters/MarvelCinematicUniverse Main Character Index]] > Other Individuals and Organizations > [[Characters/MCUCosmic Cosmic]] > [[Characters/MCUNineRealms Nine Realms]] ([[Characters/MCUAsgard Asgard]] | '''Odin''' | [[Characters/MCULoki Loki]] | [[Characters/MCULokiVariantL1130 Loki (Variant L1130)]] | [[Characters/MCUSylvie Sylvie]] | [[Characters/MCUOtherLokiVariants Other Loki Variants]]) | [[Characters/MCUKnowhere Knowhere]] | [[Characters/MCUTheRavagers The Ravagers]] | [[Characters/MCUNovaEmpire Nova Empire]] | [[Characters/MCUTheKree The Kree]] | [[Characters/MCUTheSovereign The Sovereign]] | [[Characters/MCUTheSkrulls The Skrulls]] | [[Characters/MCUTheEternals The Eternals]] -]]]