WARNING: Spoilers for the season finale of Loki. Do not proceed if you wish to avoid spoilers!
When we last left Loki and Sylvie they were approaching a castle after making their way through The Void.
MAJOR POINTS
- He Who Remains (abbr. HWR) was in The Citadel At The End Of Time
- Sylvie sent Loki back to The TVA and then killed HWR
- Loki is now stuck in a universe where only he knows what is really going on
Loki and Sylvie approach the castle doors, which open for them automatically. They are greeted by Miss Minutes, who welcomes them to The Citadel At The End Of Time and that “He Who Remains” has a bargaining proposal. They can return to The Timeline without any disruptions and get whatever they want. They decline, stating that they will make their own destiny. Minutes promptly poofs away.
Unbeknownst to them, Minutes returns to The TVA and gives Ravonna some files.
One of the doors opens and a black man in a cloak appears eating an apple. The doorway is actually an elevator that he uses to take them to another floor. Sylvie tries several times to stab him but he manages to teleport away each time. He Who Remains tells them that he knows everything they have done or will do.
Back at The TVA Mobius confronts Ravonna. He tells her that he is on to her secret. While she admits that The Time Keepers were a lie, she thinks it was a lie worth having. Mobius tries to restrain her but she quickly kicks him to the floor. Rather than prune him again, she disappears through a TemPad door.
He Who Remains tells Loki and Sylvie that he has gone by many names: a ruler, a conqueror, etc… He explains that a variant of him lived in the 31st century and discovered other universes. Eventually, war broke out between the realities. He was able to end this Multiversal War with Alioth. He then tells Loki and Sylvie they have two choices: Kill him and have the war return, or take his place at The End Of Time.
Sylvie lashes out with her sword but Loki stops her. Loki believes HWR but Sylvie does not. Since neither one trusts, nor can be either one be trusted, they are unable to agree. Loki pleads that he doesn’t want a throne, he just wants her to be okay.
After a kiss, Sylvie responds “I am not you…” and boots him through a TemPad doorway back into The TVA. She stabs HWRm who smiles and says “See you soon…” before dying.
Mobius and B-15 observe the TVA monitors as the Multiverse grows anew. Loki storms in to warn them about the impending Multiverse War and how they have to prepare for it. Mobius stares at Loki blankly and asks who he is and what division he is from. Mobius no longer has any knowledge of what has happened or who Loki even is. Loki is now trapped in a universe where he is the only one who is aware of what happened.
The post-credits scene simply stated that Loki will be back in Season Two.
MAJOR QUESTIONS
- Is this the same universe Loki had been in? Or did Sylvie create a new one?
- If this is a new reality, then could the Loki in Dark World and Infinity War be a different Loki?
- What data did Miss Minutes give Ravonna?
OVERALL GRADE: A
Sure, that ending has been done countless times before in The Twilight Zone or Lovecraft stories. But no matter how old the trope of “Only one person truly knows what’s real” is, it always works when it is done well. And this was done to perfection.
And yes, HWR was a variant of Kang. He had a not-so-subtle hint by saying he has been called “a conqueror”. No other Kang aliases were used that I could tell so maybe those will be used in these other universes.
Season Two will presumably be next year. Whether it will take place before or after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness or not is yet to be seen. In the meantime, those of us who figured this was going to bring about Kong’s presence can at least take comfort in being right.
In case anybody wondered, Jonathan Majors was credited as He Who Remains. He was cast as Kang for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania .