[toread] [priv] Calving Diamonds – jane_potter – Thor (2011) [Archive of Our Own] – Already well into the war on Midgard, Laufey discovers that he's carrying a child… and that it could be no other's than Odin's. Laufey cannot simply rid himself of his soon-born, no matter that he will have to be on the battlefield while heavy with child. He will keep it, this child who makes him love more than a ruler can afford to, more than a jötunn should at all, and he will defeat Odin anyway, and he’ll do it with his—- their—- child by his side. (Ah, but he does not know that this is not how it will end.)
Ostensibly, this story is about mpreg… but really it's more of a story about pointless war and grey morality and unreliable narrators, culture clashes and miscommunications and misunderstandings, sex and gender and identity and the erasure of disempowered identities by dominant cultures. Oh, and Laufey being an awesome parent to not-born-yet!Loki. And all the heartbreaks.
<blockquote>Odin has not slain them. Laufey will not let Odin slay them with this slow death, this starvation of the soul that wears hollow caves in the bedrock of the jötunn heart.
He has brought his people thus far, and he will take them farther. He will give them little victories to make them live: tjalds rebuilt in spite of Odin's wrath, survival in the face of utter desolation… and a child of Odin's own blood snatched away, kept safe despite all odds and cradled in the hearts of the jötunn people until one day zie rises to tear the All-Father down. Until Laufey's fragile little wonder is everything Laufey was not, and more.
That will be one day. Right now it is fever-dreaming, desperate hope that Laufey holds aloft like a light to make himself believe it is worth struggling forward. Right now, all he truly wants is his babe held safe within the fortress of his great arms, which for all their strength are still only good enough to protect this one thing.</blockquote>
I was skeptical about this story at first because "why should I care about the frost giants?" but this story truly blew me away. The world building was fantastic and she expanded on the little hints that the movie and Norse mythology gives us about them but manages to not relegate the frost giants and Laufey to some savage "Other" but take them on their own turns. A beautiful exploration of another culture and way of life with the added bonus of epic FEELS. Definitely recommend.
tags: ***** Archive:AO3 Archive:MPREG.Big.Bang Author:jane_potter Fandom:Thor Char:Laufey Char:Odin Char:Loki Series:Sins.Of.The.Father Theme:Awesomeness Theme:BABIES! Theme:Character.Death Theme:FEELS Theme:Kids Theme:Kidnapping Theme:Mpreg Theme:oh.my.heart Theme:Oppression Theme:Pregnancy Theme:Pregnant!Sex Theme:World-Building Theme:Enemy.Empathy Tone:angsty Tone:Beautiful WC:16000 via:bookbindbound