Emotional Intelligence in LOKI

Like many MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) fans, I watched the season finale of the Disney+ series, Loki last week. While there is a lot to be discussed about its impact on the franchise’s trajectory, I want to talk about what the series shows us about Emotional Intelligence. In this post, I will be giving a summary of Emotional Intelligence, a summary of the Loki series (spoiler alert), and share what the series shows us about Emotional Intelligence. 

Emotional Intelligence Summary

Emotional Intelligence (often abbreviated “EQ”), is a leadership skill that focuses on one’s personal and social competencies. There are four components to emotional intelligence. The following definitions are from Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves. (This is also one of my recommended books).

#1. Self-Awareness: “To know yourself as you really are” (p. 61).

#2. Self-Management: “Your ability to use awareness of your emotions to actively choose what you say and do” (p. 97).

#3. Social Awareness: “Your ability to recognize and understand the emotions of others” (p. 136).

#4. Relationship Management: “(To have) a relationship that has staying power and grows over time, and in which your needs and the other person’s needs are satisfied” (p. 177).

Loki Summary 

Loki (the series) starts with a flashback to Avengers: Endgame with the titular character stealing the Tesseract. Loki (the character) doesn’t get far before he is apprehended by the Time Variance Authority (abbreviated “TVA”). The TVA is essentially the multi-verse police. Their main job is to keep nexus events (events that aren’t supposed to happen) from happening. Shortly after being apprehended, Loki is informed that the Avenger’s “time heist” was supposed to happen but that his stealing the Tesseract was not. When a nexus event happens, The TVA resets the timeline and removes the “variant” nexus offender. Throughout the series, Loki encounters other Loki variants, including a female version of himself who goes by the name Sylvie. 

Emotional Intelligence in Loki

Though Loki is known for his mischief, narcissism, and deceit, the series shows us that he also has high EQ skills. As I just mentioned, there are four components of emotional intelligence. I think the God of Mischief is proficient in all four. 

In the series premiere (Episode 1, “Glorious Purpose”), Loki shows self-awareness when he shares that he doesn’t want to hurt people, he just wants to be in control.  TVA Agent, Mobius M. Mobius responds, “You do know yourself.” This leads to Loki agreeing to help the TVA track down another Loki variant (Sylvie). You can’t get any more self-aware than that. He literally has to go find himself. 

In addition to this, Loki shows both self-awareness and social-awareness when he is stuck in a time loop (Episode 4, “The Nexus Event”). Essentially, he is forced to relive a moment over and over again until he admits his narcissism and acknowledges the effect it has on other people. 

Finally, we see Loki’s high EQ in the season finale (Episode 6, “For All Time. Always”). Loki and Sylvie have a seemingly impossible decision to make and there are only two bad options to choose from. It’s a position that no leader ever wants to be in. To make matters worse, Loki and Sylvie don’t see eye-to-eye and end up fighting over what to do. 

“Why aren’t we seeing this the same way?” Sylvie asks. A good question as they are basically the same person. 

“Because you can’t trust,” Loki responds. “And I can’t be trusted.”

At this moment, the God of Mischief demonstrates that he is proficient in and four components of Emotional Intelligence. Loki acknowledges Slyvies’ trust issues (Social Awareness) and admits his deceitfulness (Self-Awareness). Loki stops fighting (Self-Management) and asks that they discuss what decision would be best for everyone (Relationship Management). If you watched the season finale, then you know how this ended. If you haven’t watched the season finale (or the series, for that matter), then I’ll let you find out on your own. 

Further Reading:

If you’d like to learn more about Emotional intelligence, then I highly recommend you check out Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves. It is filled with practical ways to grow your Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, and/or Relational Management skills. You can also check out my blog series on the topic.

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