Did Odin know how the events of Ragnarok were going to turn out?

Question

In the movie Thor: Ragnarok when Odin, Thor, and Loki met up in Norway, Odin starts off dialogue by emphasizing the beauty of the area. He then begins to elaborate about how Hela was banished and what not. He ends the conversation by telling them to "remember this place-home". What mind boggles me is how he transitions from talking about Ragnarok and then reminds them about home. Could it be that Odin actually knew that one way or another Thor and Loki were going to make it out but Asgard the physical place would be destroyed?

Answer 1

It's very possible that Odin knew, or at least strongly suspected, how the events of Ragnarok were going to turn out.

In the comics, Ragnarok is a cyclical process. The same basic events happen over and over again, with Asgard being destroyed, the Asgardian "gods" dying, then eventually being reborn, rebuilding Asgard, and starting the cycle again. In an early Thor comic book we are told of the Ragnarok prophecy itself -- which always involves Loki leading an army against Asgard, a final showdown between Thor an Loki, and the death of both. In the previous Ragnarok, Odin's surviving family would go on to become the new Odin (in the comics, the "big name" gods are more like archetypes than individuals) and rebuild Asgard.

We don't actually know if something similar is happening in the MCU or not, but it's entirely possible that it is. Thor certainly knew about the prophecy of Ragnarok as far back as Age of Ultron, where he sees it in his Scarlet Witch-induced fear vision. If Thor knew of it, then Odin definitely knew of it as well. It's very possible that, much like in the comics, Odin was himself a survivor of a previous Ragnarok, and knew how it was likely to play out in the end.