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After the universe began, many things happened. Before humanity was even a sparkle in the eye of some basic tiny mammal in the Cretaceous, there was interplanetery drama in the Nine Realms and far beyond it. Sex, death and war are the three unifying factors of almost all sentient races in the universe, though sex tends to differ strangely from place to place, and war is occasionally less a full-out affront and more just conflicts in general.
Within the Nine Realms themselves, events were as tangled as human history; a convoluted game of thrones and territory that settled sometime around Midgard's 13th century, with the final repression of Jotunheim by the combined forces of Alfheim and Vanaheim and the removal of the Casket of Ancient Winters from the central Jotunn temple.
Svartalfheim's troubles had indeed been many during when Asgard was ruled by King Bor, who had crushed an attempt for the mostly infertile and barren planet to gain more room and stockpile more resources to allow expansion and confined the Dark Elves mostly to their homeworld. After his death and his succession by his eldest son, Vili, control of the Svartalfar race began to slip as internal affairs were stabilised, allowing trade and travel restrictions for Malekith's forefathers to be lifted and commerce on Svartalfheim to begin once more.
Following that, Vili's younger brother Ve stabbed his own sibling eight times in the chest with an enchanted blade while he was sleeping (or convinced a guard to do it; there was never enough evidence to prove anything) and took the throne of Asgard for himself.
The intense public rift formed in the Aesir by this piece of fratricide resulted in the eventual collapse of the Asgardian monarchy and the removal of Ve from power. As no one had a legitimate claim to take over, the entire realm divided.
The void left by the power Asgard had held was what actually prompted Jotunheim, led by their king, Laufey, to begin a conquest of other worlds. It started with Asgard, destroying the last of the golden citadels and bringing the Aesir back to their roots as magi, farmers and traders, before they spread across the Nine Realms and eventually to Midgard, where they were finally repelled by the Elves and the Vanir and shoved back to their homeworld.
And, as the Svartalfar had taken to sneaking into Alfheim and bartering their wares to increase the wealth of Svartalfheim while the war went on, they were ejected forcefully and stuffed back into the overpopulated and infertile planet they'd come from.
The old magicks and the technological advancements weren't enough to sustain the Svartalfar on their mostly barren planet, and they entered a dark age in which everyone was starving, barring the very rich. As is the case in such situations, the peasants soon revolted, and civil war and anarchy broke out. Because they had no allies in the Nine Realms, they were given no assistance, and Svartalfheim was forced to ride out the social unrest.
Malekith was born around the 17th or 18th century, Midgardian time. No one quite knows, because by that point on Svartalfheim, the population had dropped to worrying levels and most people couldn't write, never mind keep track of when the third son and fifth child of the family was born.
The only things keeping Svartalfheim going 400 years after being confined and abandoned were the people's determination and the magic they possessed, which could be used to force crops into growth and keep sickly animals alive.
Birth rates had dropped. The introduction of a new satellite into their solar system had thrown off the orbit of Svartalfheim around Hien, their star, making summers harsher and winters so much colder for the Northern Hemisphere. The entire population lived in the south when Malekith was born, and it was there that he was raised.
Once his talent for theurgy and magic made itself known, mostly through his mismatched eyes - the lighter blue one a typical sign of a spellcaster - Malekith Laehn Landaer (Malekith, son of Landaer) became an apprentice for the guild in his settlement. Magic was the heart of the Svartalfar race, and as an elf with a particular talent for it, Malekith was at least guaranteed food from the people of his settlement and a decent amount of job security.
During Malekith's childhood, Svartalfheim was a terrible place. It improved a little as he got older, and indeed when he was nearing adulthood the alliance of Vanaheim and Alfheim conjoinedly realised that many ancient secrets of magic could be lost if the Svartalfar died out completely, so talks began between the Dark Elves and the Light Alliance for their freedom.
After Malekith's graduation in which, like other members of magical guilds, half his body was tattooed a light blue to match his eye, he joined the diplomatic forces in the hall of Queen Gullveig of Vanaheim around the Midgardian year 1850.
The entire party was forced to colour their skin like the Light Elves and the Vanir. They had to wear their own ceremonial dichromatic robes, though, just to mark them out, so they weren't about to fit in. But blue or dark skin was considered a sign of a lesser race, like the Jotnar, like the Svartalfar, so the commander, Algrim, suggested it as a way to bring themselves to a more even footing.
It didn't matter. His father spat at Queen Gullveig. Landaer Laehn Daechir remembered how Vanaheim had left Svartalfheim to rot until it was convenient to them, and thought this should not be forgotten.
His father doomed Svartalfheim. As arguments broke out, raids were launched by the Vanir to simply take the magical tomes that Malekith had spent his life poring over.
Needless to say, since the majority of the diplomatic envoy were magi like young Malekith, they fought back and killed the raiding parties on their return.
Three Svartalfar from the envoy survived, Malekith Laehn Landaer among them. They were put on trial and sentenced to execution for attacking the Queen and her fellows, but as the most powerful sorcerer present, Malekith escaped from prison after being there for half a turn of his home planet while the trial was organised.
Winter had passed.
Without the magic tomes the Vanir had taken, the plants and crops had died.
Without the food for them, the animals had died.
And without the animals and crops, what remained of the Svartalfar had died out in the cold, all by around 1860, Midgardian time.
Desperate for companionship, Malekith had launched a one-man attack on the Vanir courthouse, trying to free his older brother and the commander of the Svartalfar, Algrim.
He'd failed. In the process he'd killed eight Vanir and put a price on his head.
To say Malekith went feral would've been largely accurate.
His Wanted poster was distinctive in that they were the first people to call him Malekith the Accursed instead of his true name, and while the name was mostly just to make him sound like a villain, most people who knew the story agreed that the Svartalfar in general just had shit luck.
Not that there were any left.
After attacking and destroying a large section of the Vanaheim hall where the diplomatic proceedings had taken place, Malekith fled.
Unfortunately, everyone liked the Vanir and didn't like the Svartalfar, who were viewed as a race of scabs and weaklings, which meant that finding sanctuary anywhere in the Nine Realms was not going to happen.
Malekith the Accursed, son of Landaer, last elf of Svartalfheim, high sorcerer, wanted by the Light Alliance, had nowhere to go.
He left the Nine Realms, where the Light Alliance was actively hunting him, and made his way as a mercenary in other parts of the universe where someone with dichromatic skin and a shittonne of magic wasn't blinked at twice.
Enchanting on demand, killing on demand, stealing on demand. It didn't really matter to Malekith, who'd been raised that way, and so long as he was safe and alive it didn't matter.
Then he'd been drinking alone in a bar when a rather unpleasant-looking grey creature with a hood over the top of his face and a metal cage over the lower half came to talk to him.
Alcohol or similar intoxicants, another theme of sentient life.
As it turned out, the Other had intimate knowledge of Malekith's crimes against the Light Alliance, which, in the around 140 or 150 Midgardian years since his departure, had broken down. The Vanir still wanted his head, though, for disgraces against their Queen and their legal system.
Malekith was to return to the Nine Realms and attack Midgard, being their puppet. They'd come to him specifically because he was powerful, smart and magical, and because he was disposable. If he didn't comply, then they'd hand him over to the Vanir authorities. If he did, then he could have Midgard as a trophy. He couldn't run. The name Thanos, remembered from the short span in which he'd actually attended school, intimidated him enough that he wouldn't dare.
It was the most no-brainer thing Malekith had encountered since choosing between receiving a cow or a concubine in return for enchanting a sack of eifer seeds so they would germinate and grow to maturity.
Pity Keta had died with all the other Svartalfar, but still, it had been worth it.
So Malekith was given traditional Svartalfheim magi dress of a two-toned robe and a spear magically anchored to the Tesseract.
This was how Malekith ended up standing opposite the Tesseract in a hall, with SHIELD agents pointing weapons at him and a job to do.
-O.O-
Malekith had less moral qualms about attacking and enslaving Midgard than most. He was raised as a warrior first and a mage second, and as such, being trusted with a great army and sent into war was actually quite the compliment. People would die, yes, but that was a universal constant. Malekith's people had died. Malekith's people had killed others. It happened.
With Clint 'Hawkeye' Barton under his control, Malekith spent a fair amount of time getting to know the enemy. That was, the potential defenders of Midgard, filed under the Avengers Initiative.
Malekith just scanned over most of them, finding them to be of little interest.
From the list, Clint picked out the people most likely to be called up about the Tesseract, and gave Malekith a lot more information about them.
The information on Stark was useful - his arc would be useful in activating the Tesseract and his resilience and power should be remembered.
Rogers, while an interesting piece of human history, did not seem someone who required a huge amount of research to understand. The perfect soldier by Midgard's standards, yes, but nothing overly viable.
Banner was a serious concern. He was dangerous and powerful, but he was like a bomb - useful if activated in the right place.
Romanov? Clint's close relationship with her made it very interesting, and with the amount of information Clint gave him about her history, she'd prove Malekith's thoughts about someone of her gender in the warrior role and be easily manipulated.
Clint Barton was right in front of him and so brainwashed that he'd tell Malekith anything.
But Laufeyson?
Oh, that name made him stop.
It wasn't the Laufeyson so much as just the Laufey. Seeing the name of Jotunheim's king here of all places had certainly surprised him.
When questioned, Clint simply said that as far as he knew Loki was 100% human. Paperwork and everything, and lots of pictures of younger Loki on the internet. It had just been a matter of interest to Malekith, because the only being he knew that bore the name of Laufeyson would be the Jotunn crown prince, Loptr. And any other children of Laufey, of course - kings were known to have plenty of legitimate children and a few bastards here and there - not that Malekith knew of any he could name.
But, well, it had to be a coincidence. Loki's father's father was Danish, apparently. Patronymics weren't uncommon there, according to Clint, and someone had to have been called Laufey at some point in history.
Malekith ignored it. Questioning the last name of a physicist from England wasn't exactly the priority.
-O.O-
After attacking Stuttgart to get an eye for Clint, then attracting SHIELD's attention by indiscriminately killing people on the front steps, Malekith was captured by Stark and Rogers, as was his plan. Malekith was not stupid. If he was stupid, he'd be dead by now.
And then he met Loki Laufeyson. He'd been curious as to this person, mostly just because of his last name.
But Loki appeared on the plane making its way to the Helicarrier, and, well, if Malekith had been curious about him before then he was doubly so upon seeing him.
Apart from the obvious lack of blue skin and red eyes, Loki was the spitting image of Loptr, with the accentuated cheekbones, high forehead, slim build and even the similar manner of speech. Malekith hadn't seen Loptr for a couple of hundred years, but still, the similarities were pronounced.
He said as much, and Loki looked fairly curious about the matter.
Unfortunately, after their drop from the plane, he remarked that Thanos would likely like Loki, and he was electrocuted into unconsciousness.
When he woke up, he was being escorted onto the Helicarrier, and played out his plan perfectly while thinking vaguely of the enigma that was Loki.
Malekith leaned boredly against the control panel of the cage after his simple teleportation out, flicking up an illusion of him exiting the doorway. Loki rushed in and glared suspiciously at the image.
He's not fooled. Either he knows magic or he's just smart enough to realise it's fishy, Malekith thought. Oh, I like this one.
In any case, sentiment was not part of his job, and he simply snatched Loki by the back of his jacket and used his super strength to throw him into the cage. Knowing Loki's capabilities, he threw up a field that prevented electrical activity around Loki.
And then he grinned and said "You are a smart one. You saw through it, didn't you?"
Loki didn't look impressed.
As things proceeded, Malekith summoned his staff, killed an agent that threatened him, dumped Loki out of the Helicarrier, and released the electrical inhibition field. Didn't want to kill him, after all. Not until he figured out this Laufeyson thing.
He spent just a moment collecting himself, and for a second, he felt like he had after the conflict of the Svartalfar magi and the Vanir, and he wasn't sure why.
And then it clicked.
Loki was an anomaly - beyond an anomaly. His resemblences to Loptr Laufeyson were terrifying, and what's more, Loki looked Svartalfar.
Tall, slim, pale, angular, dark haired - he looked like a Svartalf, but a Svartalf after the spell Algrim had suggested to put them on a footing with the Light Alliance.
Apart from the green of his eyes, he was almost indistinguishable from the real deal, and it sent a jolt of emotion that he hadn't felt for a long time through Malekith, remembering Landaer, Daenik, Ethren, Algrim, and so many more.
Again, it was the wrong moment for sentiment. He needed to win this war. The Vanir couldn't touch him if he had an army to tell them to fuck off with.
-O.O-
Things continued. Malekith fought. People died. Universal constant and Malekith didn't care.
He fought Loki on the balcony of Stark Tower. Loki effectively won, so Malekith ran.
Loki fought like a dancer, fought like an elven creature should.
Loki, well, Loki was an anomaly and by far the most fascinating thing on this planet.
The Hulk smashed Malekith. He fled back to his masters and they began to plot their next strike.
Malekith had to admit that it was a pretty poor idea by Thanos to just continue attacking Midgard. Securing the Tesseract would be useful, yes, but fighting for no reason when the Tesseract could simply be stolen was approximately as useful as a head injury and wasted soldiers and resources.
That said, he had orders to follow, and he did fancy the idea of owning a planet.
When asked about Midgard and its inhabitants, Malekith said that the best one to pick in terms of intelligence, strategic thinking, and knowledge of Midgard was Loki Laufeyson. Well, it mightn't be true, but Malekith could get closer to someone who defied logic and who seemed brilliant.
He took Loki. He teleported into Loki's lab and used the sceptre on him, keeping the relatively young human to himself.
Loki worked with Thanos for several hours in the simulated day/night cycle, of course, after ordering that the Other be executed for incompetence. But as Malekith's thrall, they shared a dormitory, and, well, there was plenty of time for talking, especially when Loki couldn't or wouldn't eat most of the food available, regardless of his orders.
It was a big adjustment, living in space. Especially for someone who'd generally given himself the best he could get. One of Malekith's more unpleasant tasks had been pinning Loki down, keeping him still to give him his inoculations. The last thing anyone needed was Loki dying thanks to a contagion his body didn't recognise.
The first thing Malekith ascertained was that Loki had less than no knowledge of the universe beyond his solar system and vague knowledge of nearby galaxies. The name Loptr meant nothing to him and Frost Giants were something he'd heard of vaguely in the mythology part of social studies.
Which only piqued Malekith's curiosity more. Loki couldn't lie, not with his eyes glowing blue from the sceptre, which only meant that this bizarre coincidence was exactly that.
But once he'd finished that line of conversation, and after Loki had formulated his plans to reattack Earth, they talked about other things.
After Malekith demeaned a female Skrull captain simply for her gender, Loki spent about twenty minutes scolding him and telling him why sexism was wrong.
Oh, Loki could go on about equal rights, as it turned out.
Once Loki had gone over women's rights to Malekith for a long time, and Malekith was beginning to see the logic in it (though a lifetime of conditioning was difficult to correct) Loki continued on about other prejudices on Earth, including how he'd been wronged. As it turned out, someone of Loki's sexuality tended to get a fair amount of mocking.
For Malekith, gender was not too much for a concern, though he could never marry a man; it was forbidden, because no children could come of it.
Loki said that rule was stupid. Marriage was about love, not about reproduction.
As with the women's rights, Malekith sort of understood what he meant, but was not convinced.
In the time he was there, Loki taught Malekith a lot about a large number of things, though Malekith never told Loki many things. He told him about the fate of Svartalfheim, but nothing about Loptr, and little of any future plans he had.
But as time went on, well, Malekith just liked to hear Loki talk, see his face light up on a subject he was particularly passionate about, feel the excitement Loki gave off when talking about home, about Darcy and his favourite books and the Avengers and Stark.
It didn't take too long for Malekith to loathe Stark.
Occasionally Malekith felt legitimate guilt for enslaving Loki like he did. He knew that Loki didn't want to tell him all these personal details. But no one had ever said Malekith wasn't selfish, and, well, Malekith was just selfish enough to force Loki to speak to him. The human was so clever, so free-spirited, and for someone who'd spent serious time in back alleys or alone, it was delightful.
And Malekith did have to admit Loki was rather attractive. If he was dark blue, he'd be gorgeous.
Losing Loki in Denmark had hurt.
It had hurt a little less when he played back the memory of Loki firing on him in the Chitauri cruiser, and he realised that Loki had hesitated long enough to let him escape. It hadn't been luck; Loki had been openly apprehensive about firing on him.
Thanos had punished Malekith severely for not keeping a hold of Loki. This served to dispell whatever tiny shreds of loyalty Malekith had to his master, and he would've left if he didn't know Thanos had put a tracking spell on him.
If any other sorcercer or mage had done that, then Malekith would've broken it with ease, but Thanos's knowledge of binding and thrall spells was unmatched.
As the months passed, Malekith considered running to another galaxy and finding someone to break the spell, but he was fairly certain that he couldn't pull it off in time.
No, he would carry out the plan. He'd spare Loki on Earth and keep the rest as a deterrent against criminal charges.
The invasion started. Malekith manned the Tesseract.
Loki appeared and greeted him like a friend, telling him Thanos was dead and he had a way out.
So he took it, of course. He shut down the portals, heeded Loki's advice and spent a short time camping out on Svartalfheim (it was spring there, so he camped in the north and lived on the sparse eifer plants that self-seeded there with impeccable determination). He also paid a quick visit to Jotunheim to catch another look at Loptr, and yes, he looked almost identical to Loki.
Also, Laufey had died in an accident (though the accidentalness of this accident was in question) and Loptr was now king.
And when Malekith returned to Earth, while Loki did not wish to be anything more than a friend, he did offer him a job.
Malekith took that too. Fifty years serving Earth, in exchange for citizenship should Vanaheim come knocking.
Fifty years spanned the rest of Loki's human life, and Malekith had time now.
That was, he had time to spend with that effervescent human, Loki Laufeyson, and figure out exactly how he related to Loptr Laufeyson, past prince and now king of Jotunheim.