SALT LAKE CITY — Writers have been telling Loki’s story for centuries, but in “Loki: Where Mischief Lies” (Marvel Press, 416 pages), Utah author Mackenzi Lee takes on the task of telling teenager Loki’s story.
In Lee’s version, she highlights Loki’s desperation to prove himself a hero instead of the villain everyone thinks he is.
“I don’t think anyone is born good or bad or predestined for something — it’s our life experiences that shape us and bring out different characteristics in us,” Lee said. “Thinking of what had to happen to Loki as a young person in order for him to become the older version of himself we’ve seen previously in Marvel was the main inspiration.”
Lee said she was approached by Marvel to write about the god of mischief. “Loki: Where Mischief Lies” is the first in Lee’s historical fiction trilogy, set in the Marvel world and focusing on antihero characters.
In “Loki,” Loki and Amora, Asgard’s sorceress-in-training, share opinions on magic and have become close. But when they destroy one of the kingdom’s treasured relics, Amora is banished to Earth — the place that slowly kills magic — and Loki is left without any magical allies.
When Asgardian magic is detected on Earth, King Odin sends Loki — who believes this to be a punishment — to assist the Sharp Society. As Odin’s contact on Earth, the society is investigating the murders that are tied to the Asgardian magic.
The events Loki experiences and the people he meets on Earth play a part in his journey toward becoming who he’s meant to be. And Loki’s character is especially an enigma in whether he’s the hero or the villain.
“Usually, when we see villains in books, or even when we study the ‘bad guys’ in history, we know from the start where they end up, rather than where they begin,” Lee said. “As a result, we tend to think of their descent or eventual actions as inevitable. It can be hard to remember that stories happen in the present moment — the characters don’t know where they’re going to end up, or what the consequences of their choices will be.”
Loki discovers stories about him that seem to tell the end of his story before he’s lived it, and he struggles with the idea that his choices are already laid out before him. Members of the Sharp Society continue to tell him that he always has a choice.
“Usually, when we see villains in books, or even when we study the ‘bad guys’ in history, we know from the start where they end up, rather than where they begin.”
“None of us can control what happens to us, but we can control how we react,” Lee said. “Which is something Loki realizes over the course of the story, while also becoming aware of how he can use his own choices to manipulate those around him. Which then of course leads to another question, which is how much he wants to use that power.”
The idea of being faced with important life choices and how we use those choices are part of the reason Lee believes young adult fiction is the perfect place for Loki and his road to self-discovery.
“I love YA fiction because it’s all about young people deciding what kind of adult they are going to be,” Lee said, “And getting to write about that moment in the life of one of the most iconic characters in the Marvel Universe was such a lucky thing to get to do.”
Lee writes Loki as a classic teenager, wanting to prove himself to his father but also figuring out what he really wants out of life, something Lee hopes readers will relate to.
“I think we are all constantly struggling to figure out who we really are,” Lee said. “When you’re a teenager, that feeling can be very pronounced because you are balancing your own growing self-awareness with others around you and their expectations and definitions of you. For Loki, the fate of his realm relies on his answer to this question, but it also matters on a much more personal level. He wants to know who he is as much as everyone in Asgard does.”
Loki doesn’t want to believe he’s the villain he’s painted to be. He’s spent his life in the shadow of his hero brother, Thor, and seems to be unable to catch a break in being who his father wants him to be. It seems in sending Loki to Earth, Odin was hoping it would change Loki’s path to a better one.
“At this point in his life, he’s spent most of his time in Asgard and doesn’t have a ton of understanding of the wider galaxy around him, so seeing the variety of experiences of people outside his realm gives him more perspective and more empathy,” Lee said.
But for every step forward, every right choice, Loki takes another step in the wrong direction. The choices Loki makes in Lee’s story come to define his fall into antiheroism. But Lee enjoys writing about the antihero and believes that “their awareness of their presence on the precipice between good and bad makes their choices more affecting to readers.”
“I think the most interesting characters are antiheroes.”
That’s why Loki’s story, along with the other antiheroes featured in the upcoming installments of the Marvel series, are intriguing to Lee, and something maybe readers may see in themselves.
“I think the most interesting characters are antiheroes ... ,” Lee said. “None of us are all good or all bad. We’re all varying shades of grey. We all make choices that hurt those around us and act in our own self-interest, but most of us want to be good people.”
And in the end, Lee will write Loki’s story and let us know if for Loki, the desire to be good is enough.
If you go ...
What: Mackenzi Lee book reading and signing
When: Sept. 3, 7 p.m.
Where: The King’s English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East, Salt Lake City
Note: The event is free to attend, but tickets are required. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and attendees must bring a printed ticket or bring a phone and have the barcode ready to scan. A $20 ticket includes a copy of the book. Tickets are available online.