Ever since the first Avengers movie and the subsequent reveal in Avengers: Age of Ultron that the Mind Stone was present in Loki’s Scepter, fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have wondered why Thanos decided to risk sending one of the Infinity Stones away with an underling of questionable allegiance, especially since it didn’t work. Considering Thanos had his own invasion force and loyal servants, he didn’t necessarily need Loki for any part of his plan.
On paper, it looks like a simple two for one gamble of gaining the Space Stone and the Mind Stone that ultimately didn’t pay off, but a theory on Reddit posits that there may have been a deeper, more long term reason for why Thanos gave Loki the Mind Stone at all. According to Reddit user TheMediocreCritic, it was to destabilize Asgard and pave the way for Thanos to gain access Nidavellir so he could create the Infinity Gauntlet, which was ultimately vital to his long term goals. After all, having all the Stones isn’t necessarily useful without some sort of device to wield them all properly.
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It’s a rather brilliant theory that makes the MCU’s Thanos look even more intelligent by playing a massive game of three dimensional chess and manipulating several major cosmic players to his own ends. More to the point, it ensured that no matter the outcome, Thanos still gained something out of his partnership with Loki. If the God of Mischief succeeded, Thanos could’ve had two Infinity Stones. Conversely, his failure still ended up serving Thanos’ purposes by destabilizing Asgard itself, throwing the royal family into chaos and eventually resulting in Loki stealing the throne from under everyone’s noses. This left Odin as an amnesiac old man and left Thor wandering the cosmos searching for answers.
Of course, since Loki was never properly taught how to rule or lead, he ran Asgard’s empire into the ground, completely neglecting their duty to protect the Nine Realms and leaving Nidavellir wide open for Thanos and his forces to attack. And since Loki exiled Heimdall, the one person who could have provided an early warning for the major events in the universe and seen the attack on Nidavellir coming, Loki left himself completely blind to the goings-on in the cosmos outside his own little kingdom. In the end, he had absolutely no idea how badly he had been played by Thanos.
And even if Loki had succeeded in killing the Avengers and delivering the Mind and Space Stones to Thanos, he still could have been used to destabilize Asgard. After all, Odin was clearly keeping an eye on the situation, which was why he sent Thor to Earth to retrieve him and the Tesseract. It might have taken longer due to the destruction of the Bifrost, but the incident still diverted Asgard’s attention away from Nidavellir, which ended up serving Thanos’ goals.
The theory definitely has some merit, as the Mind Stone seemed to have some sort of effect on Loki during the events of the Avengers. His personality seemed far more morose and somber than it was in other MCU films. Furthermore, the movie showed that Loki could use the Scepter as a direct communication line to Thanos and his underlings, as well as the fact that the Scepter inflamed tensions between the Avengers during its time on the Helicarrier. These moments imply that the Mind Stone could be manipulated remotely, similar to how the Tesseract was activated from a distance to bring Loki to Earth in the first place.
And considering Thanos likely had and studied the Mind Stone for some time, he most likely figured out a way to use it even across vast distances. The Scepter itself may have even been designed with this ability in mind. So it stands to reason that the Mad Titan could have been subtly manipulating Loki’s mind through the Stone all along, pushing the God of Mischief into unknowingly serving Thanos’ own ends.
In short, this theory could explain a lot of things about Avengers and Infinity War, such as why Thanos ever trusted Loki with an Infinity Stone, why the God of Mischief seemed weirdly out of character during the events leading up to the Battle of New York and why the Asgardians had no idea about what happened on Nidavellir. It could also further reinforce just how dangerously cunning and manipulative Thanos really was by orchestrating the fall of Asgard and removing one of the biggest players that could have impeded his hunt for the Infinity Stones.
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