Through five episodes, Loki has provided plenty of answers. The problem is, many have turned out to be lies. Others have raised even bigger, more important questions. With just the season finale left, there’s still a lot we don’t know, from who runs the TVA to whether or not our favorite agent will get to ride a jet ski. Here are the nine most pressing that issues Loki still has to address.
1. “Where” does the place beyond the Void exist?
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It’s impossible to comprehend the end of time itself. It’s even harder to imagine what comes after that. But in the MCU, something does. Alioth, the purple cloud monster, protected a castle beyond the Void. So where exactly is that castle? In what dimension/world/place does it reside? Is it at the beginning of time, suggesting that time is a circle? Could it be in the Quantum Realm, a dimension that the Avengers used to break the boundaries of linear time? Is it a dimension within the Time Stone itself (explaining why its portal is green)? Some kind of afterlife? Or a parallel dimension that isn’t beholden to the same physics as ours?
Where that castle is located is just as important as who lives in it.
2. Who controls the TVA and why did they hide their identity?
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Whoever lives in that castle is the true power behind the TVA. This being is responsible for stealing Variants from their lives and casting them off into the Void. How did this unseen figure gain control over all of time? Why did they install literal puppets to serve as the face of the Time Variance Authority? Why is it necessary for them to hide not only their identity but their home? Why do they even need to live outside of time at all? And did this mysterious ruler create the TVA, or simply take it over?
The answer to this one question could have huge ramifications for the MCU. Especially if it has anything to do with Kang the Conqueror.
3. Is the Sacred Timeline even real?
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The TVA is built on lies. Agents and hunters don’t know they’re actually Variants being used by a secret overlord. The Time Keepers turned out to be elaborate animatronics. And pruning doesn’t actually kill anyone; it just sends them to the end of time and the jaws of a living tempest. At this point, what evidence is there that the Sacred Timeline is real? All we know of the Sacred Timeline is what Miss Minutes told us. And we definitely have reason to question her motives.
Sylvie said the universe creates Variants because it “wants to break free.” Pruning Variants who can make that possible would seem to violate the natural order, rather than maintaining it. The Sacred Timeline might be nothing more than the biggest lie told to control the universe.
4. Why is Renslayer still covering for the TVA?
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Judge Renslayer has worked to conceal the true nature of the TVA. She tried to hide the truth about agents and hunters being Variants. And she knew pruning didn’t mean death, but rather a one-way trip to the end of time in the Void. But she didn’t know that the Time Keepers weren’t real. The being who gave her power and knowledge over the agency lied to her too.
So why is she still protecting it? Why does she want the TVA to maintain its grip on the so-called Sacred Timeline? Even though it meant pruning her friend Mobius and keeping fellow Variants hostage. Does she hate her own past? Fear the future? Think this is the only way to survive? Or does she sincerely believe in the cause, even if she doesn’t know who wields this awesome power?
Renslayer instructed Miss Minutes to find her information on the beginning of time and the TVA. Renslayer wants to learn who truly rules over the Time Variance Authority. Will that revelation explain harden her resolve to serve the cause? Or will it finally push her to abandon the TVA for good?
5. What does Miss Minutes really know?
Even before Loki‘s fifth episode, we questioned whether or not Miss Minutes has been hiding a dark secret. Her joint effort to delay Sylvie, and her uneasy answer to Renslayer about finding documents over the TVA’s founding, didn’t do anything to quell our concerns.
How much does she actually know about what is going on and who is in charge? Is she a villain hiding behind a smile and a kind voice? Is she the eyes and ears of the TVA’s Wizard of Oz? Or is she herself really in charge? We know so little about her true role, identity, motivations, and independence. But we do know she’s hiding a lot behind her clock.
6. What was Sylvie’s Nexus event?
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Our Loki says that Sylvie is unlike all other Loki Variants. Not just because she’s a woman, but because unlike all the male Lokis she wants to destroy the TVA rather than control it. She also spent years doing the one thing no other Variant could: evading the TVA. Sylvie is special.
But the nexus event—which caused her to branch from the Sacred Timeline and end up on the TVA’s radar originally—remains a mystery. She was just a girl playing with her toys when Renslayer took her. What could she possibly have done? The judge said she doesn’t remember. But we can’t trust a known liar. Even if Renslayer is being honest, this life/time/universe-changing nexus event remains an important question for the finale to answer.
7. Is Gator Loki really an alligator?
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All things considered, the presence of an alligator Loki didn’t really seem all that weird. Between alternate timelines, animatronic Time Keepers, and paperweight infinity stones, nothing on this show seems out of bounds. It’s why we didn’t even question the truth about Gator Loki until Mobius did.
He raised the possibility that Gator Loki is really just a humanoid Loki Variant in disguise, pulling off a very long con. We have zero doubts a known-shapeshifter like Loki would do exactly that if it meant surviving. That’s what Lokis do best, after all. The finale could reveal that the perceptive Mobius was right, and that adorable little alligator with the horns is really just a regular Loki waiting to strike. As if a regular gator wasn’t scary enough.
8. What will happen to all the Variants if the TVA is destroyed?
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If Mobius, Sylvie, and Loki successfully burn the TVA to the ground or overthrow its ruler, what will happen to all of the Variants who work there? Can they return to their lives? Will they have any memory of the TVA if they do? If not, is a happy ending even possible for them?
Everyone deserves a chance to live their lives. But if the Sacred Timeline is real, will sending them all back to their realities result in chaos? Can the universe sustain so many branches without breaking? Especially when all future Variants will be free to live their lives without the TVA taking them!
9. Will Mobius get to ride his jetski?
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Let’s face it. As much as we want all Variants to get happy endings, it’s our favorite TVA employee we care about the most. Particularly whether or not he gets to return to the mid ’90s to ride his beloved jetski.
We don’t care who controls the TVA, time, or the universe, so long as they let Mobius go home to hit the water for a killer ride on the sea.