Loki S2 Ending Explained: Tom Hiddleston's God of Mischief Finally Gets His Throne and What It Means for TVA, MCU and Multiverse (SPOILER ALERT)

Let's state this outright: Loki is, by far, Marvel's finest Disney+ show. No other MCU show, excluding the Netflix offerings or Agents of SHIELD, comes close. This is precisely why it's the only MCU show to secure a swift second season. However, it has recently emerged that Loki was always intended to unfold across two seasons—a two-part show with no prospect for a third season. The final episode of Loki season 2 sheds light on their intentions. Loki Season 2 Finale Review: Netizens Hail Tom Hiddleston’s ‘Glorious Purpose’ Episode, Label It As the ‘Best Disney+ Marvel Show’.

In keeping with the show's legacy, the concluding episode, aptly named 'Glorious Purpose,' is quite convoluted, featuring copious time-slipping and time reboots that could vex even Dormammu, making it somewhat challenging to follow. Loki discovers that he can manipulate his time-slipping abilities, allowing him to project his consciousness to his past or future self. Determined to safeguard the TVA and all of humanity with this newfound control, he returns just before the moment when Victor Timely faces obliteration, triggering a series of timeline branches that culminate in the TVA's demise.

Yet, Loki permits it to transpire, realising that Timely's ironic failure lies in the absence of time. Utilising time-slipping multiple times, Loki attempts to navigate the past to ascertain the precise moment to dispatch Timely to the loom, resulting in multiple iterations of Victor's spaghettification. Finally, after journeying back centuries to delve into physics and mathematics, Loki refines his calculations and propels Victor towards the loom well before the original time, leaving everyone bewildered. This time, however, Victor completes the task without being obliterated. Regrettably, the victory is short-lived, as the resultant branching timelines overwhelm the measure, rendering Loki's efforts futile.

Loki comprehends that only one individual can resolve this predicament: He Who Remains (HWR). He opts to time-slip to the moment when Sylvie is poised to kill HWR. The ensuing events and how Loki discovers his 'glorious purpose' will be discussed ahead.

He Who Remains:

During Loki's repeated attempts to thwart Sylvie from killing HWR, the latter discerns Loki's time-slipping and he then reveals a  hidden ability to halt anyone, at that moment, it was Sylvie. This power could have prevented Sylvie's killing of him, but HWR had mysteriously refrained from doing so, perhaps desiring some chaos or wanting Loki to comprehend the significance of HWR's survival for the preservation of a single timeline.

HWR discloses that the loom was always a failsafe, and the TVA's destruction was intentional to facilitate its reconstruction. Loki faces a choice: end Sylvie before she eliminates HWR, preserving the Sacred Timeline, or stand by and witness the potential doom of all existence. Even if the timelines endure, the emergence of numerous Kang variants poses the threat of a multiversal conflict.

Loki's Glorious Purpose

A perplexed Loki travels back in time to the point in the first episode of season 1 where he is interrogated by Mobius. A heartfelt conversation with him, where Mobius reveals a story about how a moment's reluctance out of kindness caused the deaths of many due to timeline branching (and how Renslayer did the deed for him then), makes Loki figure out that he has to kill Sylvie to save at least one timeline. However, when he travels back to the point in the previous episode where his friends got spaghettified, Loki's conversation with Sylvie about dying and getting replaced makes him realise that there is still an option to save all timelines, but it means a great sacrifice.

Loki once again returns to the starting point of the sixth episode, but this time, he goes to the loom instead of Timely, barricading others from stopping him. Even though he doesn't wear protective clothes, the radiation doesn't affect him much this time, as he destroys the loom containing the branches. The branches go dead, but he revives each strand with his new powers. He drags the strands and walks on the steps towards the now empty throne of HWR at the end of time. As he arrives there, the throne adopts a golden colour and he sits on the throne with the branches in his hand. Finally, Loki has his throne and he has his glorious purpose.

What Becomes of Loki?

If you had followed Loki's trajectory from the first Thor film, you know that the God of Mischief always had a craving for a throne, so much that he betrayed Asgard, tried to kill his brother and even tried to capture Earth. He failed all these times - the only time he succeeded, albeit temporarily, he had to disguise himself as his father. The reason, I presume, was because Loki never had a glorious purpose till then. I believe the path for seeking this began when he saw Classic Loki sacrifice himself to save them in the penultimate episode of Loki Season 1, while screaming, of course, 'Glorious Purpose.' Let's not forget that when Loki makes his way to the loom, he also gets back his horns, thus becoming a classic Loki.

The Loki we see at the end of this series is not the self-obsessed, conniving prankster villain we know from the first Thor film. He has friends, he has a love (even if it is narcissistic), and he is now about saving the whole humanity. He even tells Sylvie he has no desire to take any throne. Now that he has relinquished his life-long desire and has possessed a new-found ambition to save humanity, Loki finally gets his Glorious Purpose and that rewards him with the greatest throne of all - being the next He Who Remains controlling all the timelines. Even if this means he is just stuck at that throne for eternity, the smile on Loki's face in his last shot means he is at peace.

Here's also a reminder that Loki has now become a human embodiment of the Loom, and also the final image of him holding those branches makes him look a human equivalent of Yggdrasil - the World tree - that has been referenced in the MCU in the past in the previous Thor movies. Also note that the time-branches and Loki's aura are green colour and green was also the colour of the Time Infinity Stone.

Will We See Loki Again in the MCU?

That's a difficult question. On one hand, like Tony Stark, Loki has achieved his final purpose and he is at peace here. Which means it is not needed for the MCU to bring him back. However, there is a possibility that the timeline shenanigans of Deadpool 3, Avengers: Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars might reference Loki. The door is still open for the character, even if his chapter is closed.

The Multiverse Persists

Thought the multiverse has been established in the MCU in the past, Loki saving the multiple branches and letting it exist along with Sacred timeline, means we are soon to see more of this phenomenon in other films and shows of Marvel Cinematic Universe. He Who Remains had prophesised that this would mean Kangs will be back to start a multiversal war, though thanks to Jonathan Majors' ongoing domestic violence case, we are not sure if he would return to play the character or if MCU would even bother to bring Kang back. Also if you have seen The Marvels, you would know that the multiverse is teased in the mid-credit scene of that film. Anything could happen from this point onwards. The Marvels Movie Review: Iman Vellani Salvages The Show But This 'Mid' Marvel Film Can't Save MCU's Downslide.

What About TVA and Other Main Characters?

The TVA continues to exist with B-15, Casey, and OB still working there. OB thinks they've tethered Miss Minutes to her subservient form, but who knows for certain. The TVA's new task is to track all Kang variants, referencing events from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and acknowledging Kang the Conqueror from that film as the only active Kang variant. It is also established that for TVA, MCU Earth is Earth 616 (Sorry, Iman Vellani). OB creates a new TVA handbook, and we delve into the past to that point where we meet the teenage Victor Timely when Renslayer has slipped the handbook through his window. This time, though, he doesn't receive any handbook, thus preventing him from experimenting with time in the future and closing his loop.

Mobius retires from the TVA, opting to explore his life on the Sacred Timeline. Observing his other self there with his children, the TVA's Mobius is joined by Sylvie, who misses Loki. When Loki asks Sylvie about her future plans, she doesn't give a clear answer, but it's evident she's now free to pursue anything she likes, even working at a burger shack in a sleepy town. As for Mobius, he expresses his desire to remain there and let time pass before moving on. While it's an emotional conclusion for Mobius and Sylvie, the doors remain open for them to return at any point. Sylvie might return to confront the Kang variants, and rumours suggest that Mobius and OB could appear in Deadpool 3.

Ah, we almost forgot about a major character - Renslayer. Having been pruned a couple of episodes back, we now see her in the epilogue waking up within the Void. A growling noise and a violent reflection on her terrified face suggest she's about to be destroyed by Alioth, HWR's pet monster, last seen in season 1. However, this scene leaves a mystery regarding the Void. The ground nearby where she is lying now bears the same bronze insignia as the TVA, reading 'for all time always'. Does this imply the TVA might eventually become the Void? Or was the Void once an iteration of the TVA headquarters before HWR destroyed it and built a new one? Also, why didn't the murals of the Timekeepers change after Loki became the new He Who Remains? Even as the series concludes, Loki leaves us with many tantalising puzzles to solve. Any answers for these, readers?

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 10, 2023 07:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).