Odin often receives a lot of flak for being a hardass, manipulative, and often clashing with Thor. Do people judge him too harshly though?

Consider. Odin has the constant pressure of ruling a bunch of unruly gods. Unlike many god-kings who can sort of relax he has to constantly watch his back and maintain a semblance of order among a number of aggressive species. As king his duty is to put Asgard first. Yes, he is manipulative and at times takes questionable actions, but in the end is often proven right as it is those actions which barely save the day in the end. If he doesn't take those actions the nine realms would have been doomed a long time ago. He is very authoritarian, but giants and trolls strike me as the types that they perceive any softness as weakness and would possible be a greater threat they they already are.

His clashes with Thor can be framed in regard to each's respective duties to Asgard. For better or worse, Thor embodies a large chunk of Asgard's military might. As much as fifty percent by the estimation of one story. Odin has to know Thor will be there for Asgard when needed. Thor usually is, but there have been a time or two where his distractions with protecting Earth have interfered with protecting Asgard. For most of his life, Thor was meant to be the future ruler and Odin seems like he has been planning to retire.

All in all, this is a lot of stress for anyone and the morally grey actions Odin has taken often were necessary. So do you think he is sometimes judged too harshly?