Category: Features

With the title being Loki, all our focus has been on the God of Mischief’s journey. We explored the Time Variance Authority, but it’s time to take a step back. It’s time to explore what exactly the show is all about. Perhaps there is an answer to the events of the original multiverse and the subsequent creation of the Sacred Timeline. Let’s explore the camera’s obsession with a specific Time-Keeper and his potential connection to why the TVA consists of Variants. At the heart of it lie the Time-Keepers. They get described as almighty beings able to create a single timeline that somehow requires an entire organization to supervise. No high-ranking members seem to have met them outside of propaganda videos and stone statues. There may be one connection to the third episode’s storyline: it may all be about a broken love story.

Let’s take a short detour through comic history. Many fans instantly recognized the head judge of the TVA, Ravonna Renslayer. In the comics, she is none other than Kang the Conquerors’ love interest. She was the princess when she appeared in Avengers #23 in 1963. After refusing his advances, she would end up falling in love with him but lost hers when his commander Baltag tried to take down his former ally. Kang traveled through time to save her life but would end up splitting up in two diverging timelines. One where he manages to save her life and another where she ends up preserved in a cryo-tube.

What if a similar type of event transpired in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? At one point in time, the multiverse existed, but Ravonna always had the same fate. She would find an early end. As such, Kang’s multiversal counterparts tried to find a way to save her no matter what but ended up leading to the first Multiversal War. They are Nexus beings like Wanda that unraveled the multiverse for the same reasoning. The events would transpire until they uncovered one timeline where she lived. In reality, the Time-Keepers are a charade. In their wake, the man named Immortus supervises all and keeps an eye on the proper flow of time to secure her life. He is Kang but split from his original to lead the TVA and its true purpose.

Selfishly, he finally had a chance to keep her close when a Variant of Renslayer splintered off from the timeline. She would be the first TVA agent taken from the flow of time and become the foundation of how its members got added. This Variant was the only one chosen to keep her memories, and we see glimpses of that. There is a lot she knows that she is not letting on. Hell, she even hinted at her connection to the Time-Keepers during her sitting with Mobius. There is also the recurring visual of one particular Time-Keeper always hovering behind her head. We see it when she is judging Loki for his crimes and in her office. Marvel Studios mastered the use of complicated mythology through simple storytelling. Perhaps the story behind the founding of a single Sacred Timeline is one simple ulterior motive: love. The only question remains, was Loki right? Is the dagger that represents love truly real? Perhaps a dark and broken future awaits when Ravonna realizes the truth of the TVA that even she didn’t know. For now, it may all lead to Kang even if his future actor, Jonathan Majors, denies any involvement.

Source: Variety

The following article contains spoilers of the latest Loki episode. Only continue reading at your own risk.

Ever since the second episode, we’ve all been wondering what is the secret behind Sophia Di Martino‘s Loki Variant. Her existence goes against the well-established rule of how these characters spin out of the Sacred Timeline. They all commonly look like Tom Hiddleston, even if he went through different transformations. We thought she might just be Loki changing his form. but literal documents are mentioning her as Sylvie. She confirmed it in the latest episode but then reveals that she chose the name. Hell, she even detests the Loki mantle. Is there perhaps a bigger secret at play with her character’s identity?

Now, there are a few things we learn about Sylvie throughout the latest episode. She taught herself how to use enchantments and seems to only possess that specific ability. The version we follow from Avengers: Endgame learned his countless abilities from Frigga, with whom she has no recollection. On multiple occasions, he even questions her if she is, in fact, a Loki. Her personality is similar but doesn’t match with what we understand from the character. She even gets defensive when she is called a Variant. The whole point of the episode seems to create the illusion that Sylphie isn’t truly a Loki.

Well, what do we know about her? The documents found in the TVA offices hint at her name being Sylvie Laufeydottir. It alludes that she was indeed born as the daughter of Laufey, which is a custom in Nordic namings. She also talks bout knowing that she was adopted early on. Yet, we can also assume she never was an Asgardian royalty. She mocks Loki on multiple occasions and never speaks of her time with the Asgardians. It’s almost as if she was down on her luck for most of her life. If she is perhaps part of an old multiverse before the Sacred Timeline was formed, she may be trying to find her old life again. She does hint that she has been fighting this fight for quite some time now.

It makes you wonder if we can even trust the words she is speaking throughout the episode. One thing that stands out is that this episode has a strong thematic tie built around “love.” Even before Loki’s ill-conceived metaphor about invisible daggers, we get a glimpse of her softer side. There is a slight vulnerability and reasoning for her actions that she still is keeping close to her chest. Perhaps she has taken on the mantle of someone she once loved. The planet’s name, besides being a comic reference, as Lamentis might be on purpose. While on the nose, grief plays an integral role in this story. Loki is heartbroken over his “glorious purpose” and is the reason his mother dies.

Perhaps Sylvie isn’t a Loki Variant but an illusion. She knows how the TVA’s technology works but was surprised when her abilities were mute while being present in the location. So, she doesn’t seem to have all the information that we thought she did. Her horn is also strongly inspired by a version of Lady Loki in Loki: Agent of Asgard. In that comic storyline, a younger version of the character was being manipulated by his former self. Perhaps they’re playing around with a similar concept. A Loki Variant achieved their goals but realized there is an even higher power at play. To get them off of his tail, he created a fake version that has some of his memories. The TVA believes she is a female Variant as she is, in essence, a copy of Loki but not the way they think. She is a means to an end while the true mastermind is waiting for his moment.

Loki gives us a thrilling adventure through time and space. It introduced us to the secretive organization that lives outside of time known as the Time Variance Authority or the TVA. The first two episodes offer us a glimpse at the daily life of the bureaucratic society that spends their every day to preserve the Sacred Timeline. They exist to abide by the rules set by the Time Keepers, who mysteriously don’t show their face to the organization except for Ramona Renslayer as revealed in the second episode. Strangely, a top official like Mobius has never even seen them. We also notice a lot of time-based propaganda hidden in the background of the offices. Is there a darker truth hidden deep beneath the TVA’s archives?

The latest episode spends a lot of time exploring the worldviews of our two protagonists. It all surrounds a simple discussion about Mobius’ love for jet skis. We learn in the same episode that only Renslayer gets to keep gifts from some of their cases, which is odd considering every agent is told not to disrupt the timeline. Still, he may swipe a magazine that got discontinued, as many of the products they consume like his favorite drink Josta Soda, only had short-lived shelf lives. Yet, as we learn in the first episode, some of them have no idea what exists outside of their desks. It’s almost as if their entire existence is only to serve the Time Keepers. The TVA may be just a pawn in keeping the timeline alive that truly only serves the Time Keepers to ensure their existence. As time keeps looping, perhaps they are as well without realizing it.

We also briefly discussed the massive amount of propaganda that you can find in many of the TVA-focused shots. There are the massive statues of the three Time Keepers that are spread throughout the location. Miss Minutes’ introduction video also makes them seem like all-mighty beings that rule over time and existence. They are never given names but exist with the cryptic description of their role. In a way, it keeps the mystery alive of their otherworldly role. In a way, it is the belief that keeps these begins where they are and it seems fitting that it’s another god-like being that questions their rules, especially after he was forced to question his role in the timeline. The series plays around with Loki’s classic line in which he claims to be “burdened with glorious purpose.” Yet, it got twisted on its head when he was forced to face the inevitability of his existence in the first episode. Perhaps the TVA will go through that same lesson once Sylvie’s plans are put into motion.