Was it Loki that decided the reality stone would go to the collector?
That's not a very Loki decision. To willingly give away an infinity stone. And for him to give it to the collector. Why is the collector even on Lokis radar? We're not really told when Loki takes Odins place. We know its some time after or I guess even during Thors fight with Malekith. So its possible it was Odin but its also possible its Loki.
Thor telling Quill that giving it to the collector was a genius move makes me think it was Odins decision but Thor might not even know for sure.
I was just saw the scene in infinity war with Thor and the guardians and it made me wonder. Because as it turns out Star Lord was right, the collector folded and probably pretty quickly. So decided he was a good guardian for the reality stone?
Thor telling Quill that giving it to the collector was a genius move makes me think it was Odins decision but Thor might not even know for sure.
I was just saw the scene in infinity war with Thor and the guardians and it made me wonder. Because as it turns out Star Lord was right, the collector folded and probably pretty quickly. So decided he was a good guardian for the reality stone?
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The guard meets with Odin to report Loki's death while Thor & Jane are back on Earth reconnecting with Erik & Darcy. Then all the fighting happens, and Thor recovers the Aether. Then there's a scene in Jane's(?) apartment with Jane, Darcy, Erik, & Ian where they say Thor's been gone for 2 days. Then we see the farewell scene between Thor & Loki/Odin. The final end credit scene where Thor returns to Jane is the same day as the scene at the breakfast table(same clothes, etc).
The scene with The Collector lands in the credits between Thor's farewell and his reunion with Jane, so I agree it probably isn't precisely linear storytelling in those scenes. The placement of the scenes makes sense IRL though as the more important scene from a narrative perspective is the scene with The Collector because the audience needs to know why the Aether is at Knowwhere in IW, so that would be earlier in the credits incase casual audiences don't wait until the very end.
It seems less risky for Loki to enchant Odin and take power while Thor is otherwise occupied on Earth than to be lurking around Asgard as a guard waiting for Thor to return. If that's the case, Odin would never have had the opportunity to make any decisions regarding the Aether, on top of the fact that sending Sif & Volstagg off on quests away from Asgard is a smart move for Loki, and that I believe Loki had more valid reasons for sending the Aether away from Asgard than Odin did.
That's Volstagg you uncultured swine!
Plus why would the real Odin give the stones to an odious individual such as the Collector?
He could have easily made it happen once hes in the palace morphed into a guard down on the weapons vault.
We do see at this point in time that Loki isn’t really interested in having all that power, the Tesseract is sitting in the vault the whole time while he’s commissioning plays and statues. If he’d really wanted to rule earth or do some damage, that would’ve been the time to do it but instead, he’s lounging around, enjoying his self created glorification.
I disagree that Star Lord was correct however. It was as good idea to separate the stones, and The Collector was as good a place as any. It was someone who feared Asgard enough that he wasn’t going to do anything stupid right away, and they can theoretically keep tabs on him. I’m not sure it matters how quickly he folded. Thanos took out Xander/Nova Corp pretty easily, there wasn’t really many places in the universe any of the stones were going to be safe from him.
I think it was Loki's decision after Thor left. Thanos was afraid of Odin, who could allegedly hold the stones, so the stones were more or less safe together on Asgard while he was there and alive. When Loki sent Odin off to Earth, he may have been concerned that Thanos might figure out that Odin was more or less incapacitated, and come for the stones on Asgard, so it would be safer to separate them. Loki has the most experience with the Tesseract, so it was logical to keep that with him and send away the Aether. If Loki/Odin had suggested this to Thor, Thor might have questioned it because Odin can wield the infinity stones. It's unlikely Sif and the Warriors Three would question Odin's order, so I think he waited until after Thor left.
IRL answer, the writers wanted the Aether at Knowwhere at the beginning of IW, and that was a reasonable way to get it there, and they knew we'd all headcanon the rest anyway. :) Edit: also, from an IRL narrative perspective, they had to get the Aether out of Asgard before Ragnarok.
Says: "one down, five to go" immediately after receiving the Aether.
In Universe answer:
It's a matter of perspective. Does The Collector believe this when he says it? Yes, of course he does, he is, after all, The Collector. Does he actually have a chance of doing this? Probably not. From Loki's perspective, he can return anytime he wants as Odin and demand the Aether back, if The Collector refuses, he'll show up with the Tesseract and an army. It's not likely The Collector is going to cross him. Also, Loki knows Thanos is also out there looking for the stones, and that is a much greater threat than The Collector.
IRL answer:
This scene is the first time the infinity stones are mentioned in the MCU on screen. The conversation lets the audience know that they exist, are powerful, and that the Tesseract is also one. That last line lets us know that there are 6 of them. It also set up The Collector's character as threatening for GotG. I don't know that they would have included this line if it wasn't for the necessity of conveying important information to the audience as opposed to this actually being a possibility.
If Thanos could be sufficiently distracted with tracking down other stones, that would buy Loki more time to think of a plan to save his own ass. They figured The Collector would be more capable of defending his collection.
Maybe he thought he could use the Stine's location as a bargsining chip when Thanos arrives. Or he thought the Collector was someone he could bargain with should the need arise.