foundlingmother

Loki dismisses his father’s council (made up of wealthy lords and ladies with little practical knowledge) and forms a new council with younger members, some of them nobility, but many of them common. Their unifying trait is that they are all super competent in the area they’re overseeing. He delegates his kingly duties (the daily grind) to many of them. Loki finds the day to day requirements of being a king tedious, but he’s got a vested interest in everything running smoothly, and he’s not an idiot. To explain why he delegates more duties, he claims his years are catching up with him, and that Frigga’s death drained him. People respect that.

Loki spends time researching the Infinity Stones. He does so covertly, so as not to attract the attention of Thanos or any of his people. He specifically studies the Tesseract in secret.

Loki doesn’t bother to send armies to the other realms. One, they're in chaos because puppet governments are falling apart. Loki’s not one for order, particularly not Odin’s order, so he lets the revolutions run their course. Two, he wants to bolster their army for Thanos’ inevitable appearance.

To that end, he allows rapid advancement among the ranks based on skill (he does away with any nepotism that occurs). It’s not out of a sense of justice. It’s about practicality. Everyone’s got a shot based on their merit. Considering the natural strength of the Asgardian forces compared to other alien races, nepotism likely ran wild. Odin meant to appease the nobles. I imagine Hogun, a Vanir, only got as far as he did because he had Thor’s support. (He does deserves it. I’m not saying he doesn’t. I’m saying the opposite. Like Sif, he had to fight tooth and nail to get respect in Asgard.)

Loki increases the demand for practitioners of seiðr. He diverts resources to training interested Asgardians.

If Loki had anything to do with the other realms, he traded with them (both the puppet governments and the rebels). In effect, he prolonged the instability in other realms in order to increase Asgard’s treasury.

The theater, complete with a statue in front, isn’t dedicated to himself, but Frigga. The statue is of her.

He does write plays. However, Loki’s eloquent, artistic, and he’s read countless books and plays. He isn’t a bad writer. The play is well written. It is also well acted since Loki would not be satisfied with such shitty acting. Essentially, watching Loki’s play is every bit as emotional and dramatic as watching the scene in TDW, if not more so.

He takes a lot of baths with bubbles and scented oils. It’s very relaxing.

The paperwork he can’t avoid he does in Frigga’s gardens. He hires the best people to tend to the gardens. Not only does sitting in the gardens make him long for Frigga, it also makes him miss Thor. Being all about the fertile earth, Frigga encouraged him to walk through the gardens and reinvigorate her plants. The gardeners just can’t achieve that loveliness.

Pie in the sky, not actually serious headcanons:

Odin never told Jotunheim who attacked them using the Bifrost, either because he didn’t see a reason to or because Loki did it. If they discovered one of Odin’s sons did, they’d demand the crown pay.

Loki uses that fact to his advantage. He’s aware the Frost Giants are a match for the strength of Asgard (they’re a legitimate threat in a fair fight). He goes to their king, one of his brothers, and reveals who he is. In small ways, he helps them rebuild and earns their trust. He never exposes that he’s currently ruling Asgard, and therefore could give them the Casket at any point. He does all this to facilitate his escape plan should Thor return. He doesn’t want to live in a ruined realm (hence why he’s fixing it up a bit), but Jotunheim’s a good place to hide from the people who want to see him dead/tortured/imprisoned. If he escapes there, Thor won’t follow. He’d risk war. Loki would grab the Casket on the way out to make extra sure Thor wouldn’t risk it. Thanos’ minions, Loki assumes, won’t get far facing an army of Frost Giants with ice powers. It’s the safest place for him to hide after Asgard.

I also love this headcanon because imagine how pissed Thor would be to discover that Loki told his Frost Giant brothers he was alive but didn’t tell Thor. The amount of trouble Loki would be in for that….

If he’d had to enact this plan, Loki would have grown depressed, and he would often sneak back into Asgard disguised as another Asgardian or an animal.