History Fanfic / Vainglorious

* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:Odin]] completely depleted the [[spoiler:Odinforce]] to weaken Eden enough for Doctor Mother to kill her. This left him too weak to prevent [[spoiler:Frigg secretly deposing and exiling him]].

** Brad/Hookwolf is hinted to be an amnesiac version of Thor.

** Kevin Norton may be Odin, and Contessa may have a connection to him.

* CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen: [[spoiler:Annette]] tried creating life using [[spoiler:the Aether]] several times, but each attempt failed for one reason or another. Her latest creation, [[spoiler:Taylor]] As it turns out, exists because [[spoiler:the Aether apparently decided to bring her into being itself, something that surprised Annette when it happened]].

* DiscardAndDraw: Eidolon loses his powers, but becomes a student of the Ancient One.

* FusionFic: Fuses the Wormverse and the [=MCU=], especially the Thor and cosmic-level aspects.

** The Doormaker and Clairvoyant are not standard parahumans but conduits for [[spoiler:the Space Stone]]'s power, sealed in life support pods. When they inevitable burn out, they are simply replaced with another disposable test subject.

* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: Fárbauti, the king of Jotunheim before Laufey, allegedly died of old age. Based on his comments, he was actually betrayed and sold to the Collector by his successor. When informed of this he calls Laufey a "little bitch".

** Thor unknowingly triggered a chain of events that allowed events on Earth to reach their current state. His exile led to Loki's near death at Odin's hand, which in turn convinced Frigg to secretly banish Odin. Without Odin controlling the Odinforce, Heimdall could not see the appearance of parahumans or the beginning of the Jotun invasion.

* SentientPhlebotinum: [[spoiler:Taylor]]'s soul is revealed to be the [[spoiler:Aether]], as a result of [[spoiler:Annette]]'s experiments. Apparently several major figures in Earth history were similar experiments.

** [[spoiler: Taylor made one to allow the refugees in Canberra to gain some time to flee the Jotun army]].

* TheUnmasquedWorld: The Jotun invasion starts clueing the Earthlings in to the fact that not only are they not alone, but some legends are more than just that.

* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: [[spoiler: It's all but directly stated that the "Dwarves"/Dvergar that rest in suspended animation on an alternate Earth Cauldron is aware of are actually the Dark Elves that survived the final battle with the Asgardians, given how the technology seems to be a perfect match to the Dark Elven ships Taylor and her mother use/used, and how a single pod (which, as Doctor Mother notes, is far too large to hold a [[Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Disney-style dwarf]]) is open, with enough dust to confirm it happened quite some time ago. They're only even ''called'' Dwarves because the religious group or groups that found them labeled them as such in their left-behind writings]].

** The reason Asgard hasn't intervened in the Jotun invasion is that [[spoiler:Odin was exiled by Frigga, leaving the Odinforce inactive]]. Additionally, they have not interfered with the appearance of parahumans due to [[spoiler:Earth Bet being invisible to Heimdall and Odin knowing the Entities could destroy Asgard]].

* ArtifactOfDoom: The appropriately named Ring of Doom, the ring stolen by Andvari. The dwarf laid a curse on the ring that not only doomed Sigurd's descendants to be taken by Dormammu but also twists those who bear it. Brunnhilde blames the ring for her decision to kill Sigurd's three year-old son, claiming it brings out the worst in its bearers.

* ChestBurster: [[spoiler: Taylor wonders if she came out of her old body this way. She came out of the face, but other than that it did have a lot of elements of this.]].

** Annette settled on Earth in order to [[spoiler:experiment on the stolen Aether. Taylor is not Annette's daughter but the Aether giving a mortal form by the latest experiment]].

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: The Dark Elves under Malekith are directly compared to Nazis more than once. Taylor even notes at one point how the Dark Elf salute is oddly similar to the Nazi one.

* CameBackStrong: [[spoiler: After Taylor resurrects herself with the full knowledge of being the living Aether, she's a lot stronger, and has the benefits of being fully healed with clearly superhuman strength]].

* CloneDegeneration: Dark Elves do not reproduce sexually, but instead shed their old body to create a new one that is better able to survive a hostile universe. With each body they lose bits of their essence; Annette muses she might have ruled a pantheon before the current universe but she can no longer even remember it.

* CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen: [[spoiler: As it turns out, while her previous attempts were intentional, Taylor exists because the Aether apparently decided to bring her into being itself, something that surprised Annette when it happened]].

** Taylor in this verse is half-human, half Dark Elf. It's more complicated than that sounds.

* HybridPower: Taylor's hybrid nature does offer a few advantages, namely that she's more resilient to the universe of light than a pure Dark Elf. [[spoiler: It later turns out that she's only possible because Annette used the Aether for her soul]].

* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: [[spoiler:Taylor]] tried to take out a Jotun patrol and ended up getting everyone but [[spoiler:Gwen]] killed, with the two only surviving due to [[spoiler:Gwen triggering]]. [[spoiler:Taylor]], after getting her to a refugee group, prepares to make a HeroicSacrifice to stop the Jotuns from getting to the group. Carlos/Aegis tells her that she is a real hero before she leaves.

* SunkCostFallacy: Why the remaining Dark Elves refused to change to the new state of the universe. As mentioned above, they were apparently once god-like beings in the dark matter realm before the current universe of light, even if they can barely remember it, and view adapting to the new reality as the Elves did as basically having to admit that they were doing things wrong from the very beginning. This is illustrated in Annette's analog early on, where she compares the Dark Elves to creatures living in a shrinking ocean, who, instead of evolving onto land to survive, would rather try and flood the ocean again at the expense of the land creatures.

* AssInAmbassador: Bor tried and failed to be a good host for Malekith. First he showed up wearing his helmet decorated with the horns of Auðumbla, the ''ancestor of all Dark Elves''. Second he introduced them to the Elves, descendants of Dark Elves who gave up their divine heritage. Third, he offered to terraform a few worlds for the Dark Elves, an offer that was insultingly small. And finally he lost his temper and outright mocked them for clinging to the vestiges of a godhood they can't even remember. It's no wonder things descended into war after that.

* SunkCostFallacy: Why the Dark Elves refused to change to the new state of the universe.

** When Frigg secretly banished Odin she left the Odinforce weakened and Asgard effectively blind to the goings-on of the Nine Realms and their enemies. The arrival of Scion, appearance of parahumans, and invasion of Jotuns went uncontested as a result.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Thor unknowingly triggered a chain of events that allowed events on Earth to reach their current state. His exile led to Loki's near death at Odin's hand, which in turn convinced Frigg to secretly banish Odin. Without Odin controlling the Odinforce, Heimdall could not see the appearance of parahumans or the beginning of the Jotun invasion.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Lung does not react well to questions about why he doesn't fight the Endbringers.

* AssInAmbassador: Bor tried and failed to be a good host for Malekith. First he showed up wearing his helmet decorated with the horns of Auðumbla, the ''ancestor of all Dark Elves''. Second he introduced them to the Elves, descendants of Dark Elves who gave up their divine heritage. Third, he offered to terraform a few worlds for the Dark Elves, an offer that was insultingly small. And finally he lost his temper and outright mocked them for clinging to the vestiges of a godhood they can't even remember.

* {{Irony}}: Loki refused to become Crown Prince, an act which led to Odin's fall from power and eventual exile. Said exile resulted in Frigg's imprisonment and Loki being unwillingly made Acting King.

* BehemothBattle: A three-way battle featuring [[spoiler:Laufey versus Lung and Taylor]].

* MakeMyMonsterGrow: After [[spoiler:Hela breaks the Casket, Laufey]] starts swelling in size.

* PoweredByAForsakenChild: Asgard's wealth of magic stems from the Odinforce, a polite name for the Deathcore which converts the power of death into something usable.

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: While the Aesir may not get along with the Dark Elves, Taylor proves that they can work together in truly extreme circumstances.
** Averted with most heroes and villains after the Jotuns invade. In the face of extinction, many have largely abandoned the hero/villain paradigm and are damn near friendly with one another.

* [[AbusiveParents Abusive Father]]: Odin towards all of his children. It's hinted he inherited this from Bor.

** He broke every bone in Thor's body for some crime, stripped him of his power, and banished him from Asgard. Every sign is that he intended this to be ''permanent'', regardless of what others might have hoped.