Almost 14 years ago, Tom Hiddleston began his Marvel Cinematic Universe journey with his first part playing Loki. (Did you know, he’d actually tried out to play Thor, but was given the role of Loki instead?) He was 1000% villain, a dark character with brief glimmers of good intertwined with his acts of mischief that always seemed to be desperate attempts to seek attention and receive love. Despite how many people he hurt or killed, his fandom snowballed as he continued to appear in Avenger movies over the years, resulting in him becoming one of the most beloved characters in the entire MCU. Before we go further though, did you watch the Loki season 2 finale yet? There may be slight spoilers, so be warned!
If you’ve followed Loki’s story at all, you know he was born on Jutenheim as Loki Laufeyson. Odin brought him to Asgard during the war, and raised Loki alongside Thor as brothers. Loki always wanted to be a king, while Thor didn’t. “One who wants too much to be a king, one who doesn’t at all.”
Odin: “All this because Loki desires a throne.”
Loki: “It is my birthright!”
Odin: “Your birthright was to die as a child! Cast out onto a frozen rock. If I had not taken you in you would not be here now to hate me.”
Odin : “One son who wanted the throne too much, and other who will not take it.”
The dynamic between Loki, Thor and Odin was always tense and dramatic, but in Thor: Ragnarok, it came to a head as the three stood along the cliffs as Odin passed. As Odin told the sons he loved them, we saw Loki’s expressions change and diehard Loki fans everywhere were vindicated; we all knew he had it in him, but he just hadn’t gotten to a place yet that allowed him to reveal it.
Fast-forward to Loki season one on Disney+. We learned Loki had survived in the multiverse; in fact, he had survived so well that there were multiple variants, from an alligator to a president to a woman. It was such a clever series that explored Loki’s introspection and evolution into a loving human who put others first, which was never more displayed than in the Loki season 2 finale.
Pardon me while I go get a tissue…
Lots of things to process after this finale. A big concern (?) is that Tom Hiddleston said this week that this finale is the culmination of 14 years in the MCU. One could take that as a goodbye, an end….except we know he has to remain, as in another He Who Remains, to hold together the branches of the timelines, so he can’t be dead. But is he reachable?
Loki is the God of Mischief. In many movies, we’ve seen him duplicate himself, using enchantment to change his appearances or to look like someone else. Can he duplicate himself and ‘live’ elsewhere while still holding the timeline together?
The throne. Is that symbolic? Manifested? Real? The visible shattered circle behind is straight out of the end of The Dark World.
At the beginning of the season finale, the gangway from the TVA towards the Temporal Loom changes colors and swirls, strongly resembling the bifrost. Why?
If you know about Norwegian mythology and old Norse stories, you’ll know about the Tree of Life. As Loki attempts to reignite the branches of the timeline, you see the tree appear. It also is known as the Yggdrasil, or world tree. This is from the 2011 Thor movie. How does this relate?
Renslayer: what’s the sound she hears as she stares at something seemingly come near her as she lays on the dirt in an unknown place?
Is Thor somewhere, living his best life, totally unaware that it’s his brother that’s literally holding time together? Does anyone get to know that he’s redeemed himself, and then some? That he found his throne, something entirely different from what he initally envisioned, but probably the best one for him? If he’d been given the throne when he tried to demand it, the Marvel universe would have been an entirely different thing, and Loki would be a different person.
Be careful what you wish for.
Loki had an easy out. He used to be able to kill people simply for not kneeling to him, and now he only has to kill one person, conceivably, to both save the timelines and to prevent a war — but he couldn’t kill Sylvie. And was anyone else bothered by her when she speaks with Mobius at the end? She seems already so disconnected and ‘moving forward,’ when the man loved her so much that he wouldn’t kill her. I know she’s a variant and her life wasn’t a good one for many years, but a little emotion wouldn’t hurt her. I feel like that was a fail. Even Mobius seemed more upset.
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