"I thought I was... scenery, more or less. Part of the chorus, maybe: one more follower to show off the glory that was Thor, and thoroughly unimportant otherwise." Loki spoke slowly, weighing words before he actually let them out. It was difficult to describe this. "You loved playing 'big brother' and the respect and affection it got you from your audience - such a good brother to such a poisonous creature and so on. You loved your role, which translated at least to loving my presence in a way, but I didn't really exist to you. Without me, you'd just have to get respect and affection some other way, which would take, oh, six seconds at most."