#and sylvie is only there because loki gets her mcdonalds

[professional-termite]

i forgot why i made fhis. can you tell i completely forgot what sylvie looks like

[gender-thief2]

i have SO MANY thoughts on the new episode holy shit, first off my girl sylvie is too hot to work at MCDONALDS they did her dirty.

second of all brad being the only one to ever call loki and sylvies relationship weird was a major unexpected W and it KILLED ME and mobius was just like “yeah.”

ALSO BRAD IS SUCH A FUN CHARACTER.

AND OB AND CASEY ARE SO CUTE I CANT WAIT TO SEE MORE INTERACTIONS WITH THEM.

also i hate to say it but loki and sylvie are a great duo, even if making it romantic was huge mistake they do work great together and the fighting scene was awesome.

BUT THE LOKI AND MOBIUS EATING PIE SCENE WAS MY FAVORITE OMG loki trying to comfort mobius and ACTUALLY DOING A GOOD JOB AND BEING LIKE “lets go get some pie”

ALSO WATCHING MOBIUS STRAIGHT UP PUNCH A BITCH WAS SO AWESOME I WILL FOREVER LOVE HIM. SEEING HIM FINALLY LOOSE HIS COOL WAS SO REWARDING BECAUSE HES ALWAYS BEEN KIND OF PUT TOGETHER AND SEEING HIM GET MAD WAS SO FUN

but yeah will definitely be posting more thoughts as i process this episode

[percheduphere]

Hi, I’m @loki-us and if you ever need inspiration, I’ve always been curious to see someone do an analysis of this scene from 2x2, because I believe it’s the only time that Sylki is mentioned/referenced in season 2 and I can never tell how Mobius is feeling here — his words sound a bit bitter/jealous but it also might be showing that he’s accepted Loki’s interest in someone else and just wants him to be happy like Mobius did when he came to let Loki out of the time cell in 1x4 ?? I keep thinking about this scene and would be interested to hear your thoughts if you ever run out of ideas. Love all of your analyses, thanks!

Mm ... I love doing analysis dealing with specific scenes! Thank you for the ask @loki-us!

Before we get into this specific scene, it's important to highlight that at the beginning of this episode (S2E2), Loki assumes that a film premiere in London 1977 "isn't Sylvie's style" because it isn't apocalyptic or chaotic enough. Yet the audience knows that Sylvie is now living a quiet life in the midwest, working at McDonald's. This signals to the audience that Loki, despite being the same as Sylvie, doesn't understand what she really wants.

When Loki, Mobius, and Brad enter the McDonald's, Sylvie's automatic reaction upon seeing them is understandably fear.

From Sylvie's point-of-view, it's likely a couple years have passed (based on her hair length) between the time she kicked Loki through the time door and the time she established herself in Broxton, Oklahoma 1982. She no doubt did not expect Loki to find her.

A confrontation with her ex is bad enough, but Loki also has with him one of the highest ranked agents at the TVA, Mobius. Next to Mobius, she sees a man in a TVA jumpsuit and collar. All of this must signal to Sylvie that she is about to be apprehended.

Mobius, who is high on emotional intelligence, seems to recognize what this might look like.

Mobius therefore puts on a friendly smile. He then slides his hands into his pockets and assumes a slack posture to show he is no threat. He avoids using his trademark "dominant pose" of placing his hands on his hips, which may come across as authoritative and intimidating in this context.

Mobius's micro-emotions and attention in the gif below are subtle but interesting. Though his body language remains relaxed, his smile from earlier fades to a neutral expression, and his gaze darts between Brad, Sylvie, and Loki. He is likely assessing a few things at once: how likely Brad might flee, how Loki is feeling, how Sylvie is feeling, and if the confrontation between Loki and Sylvie poses any risks.

Once Loki arrives at the counter and it's established no physical harm is forthcoming, Mobius adjourns for lunch with Brad.

While Loki and Sylvie are outside, it is Brad, not Mobius, who questions the nature of Loki and Sylvie's relationship.

Unlike S1E4, Mobius's response is mild, reluctantly supportive, and frustrated.

The scene is meant to be played for humor, which it certainly accomplishes. However, the way Owen delivers the line, "They say opposites attract. No" sounds jealous. Through this line, the audience can infer from subtext that Mobius sees himself as Loki's opposite, and therefore it is Mobius who should be the most likely candidate for mutual attraction. He is annoyed to be reminded that isn't the case.

The micro-emotions Owen performs after this line are a treat to observe as well: Mobius shakes his head, comfort drinks, pauses, and stares. Whatever is happening between Loki and Sylvie outside is of blatant interest to him, and like Brad he jumps to the conclusion that the pair are still romantically involved. But because Mobius cares about Loki's happiness, he chooses not to interfere. Unfortunately, he can't stop looking on in envy either.

Envy creates resentment over time. Having Brad as a companion-observer briefly provides Mobius with someone who is safe to vent to. With Brad, he allows himself to be a little bit of an asshole, and may be internally throwing himself a small pity party while he can.

As of this is episode, I think it is fair to believe that Loki still has some feelings for Sylvie, but those feelings are not mutual. By the end of this episode, once Sylvie leaves and refuses to help, Loki's romantic feelings for her appear to fade.

Unbeknownst to Mobius, they quietly blossom in his favor.

[loki-us]

Welcome to my Mega Problematic Sylvie post

I wanted to make a list of everything problematic about Sylvie in s1 and s2 because she gets away with whatever she wants and it bugs me to no end that she never takes accountability for any of the pain she causes.

You have been warned. So let's get into it.

1. Sylvie’s way is the only way and she expects everyone else to just bend to her will without complaint

2. She is physically mentally and emotionally incapable of trusting anyone besides herself

3. She uses other people's emotions to manipulate them into getting what she wants

4. She refuses to even entertain the possibility that anything besides her own opinion is correct

5. She criticizes others' attempts to clean up the mess she caused while she herself does absolutely nothing about it

6. Always looking to ruin and run, taking the easy way out and avoiding any accountability

7. Puts her own need for revenge above the well-being of everyone else in the multiverse

8. Blames everyone else for the problems she herself caused

9. Insults everyone at the TVA for their lack of empathy despite it being the exact reason she didn't want to return in the first place. Every critique she delivers just illustrates how much of a hypocrite she is

10. Berates Mobius and all the people who are actually trying to fix her problem even though they never once blamed her for the mess they're in

11. Acts like she's doing everyone a favor just for being there and insulting everyone when in reality, Loki had to ask multiple times before finally getting her to return

12. Never willing to put in more effort than just destroying everything and walking away

13. Even when directly asked for her help, Sylvie straight up refuses. She couldn't care less about anything besides her McDonald's employee-of-the-month badge

14. Sylvie gaslights Loki into thinking they're the same, that she's not in the wrong because they're both only thinking of themselves. In reality, Sylvie is thinking only of going back to her own timeline, alone, while Loki is thinking only of making his friends happy, because that's what makes him happy too.

15. While being completely unsympathetic to Loki struggling with his greatest fear, Sylvie makes the decision that Loki's friend's are all better off where they are now. But is it really better for them, or just better for Sylvie?

16. And now, after 11 episodes and countless requests for Sylvie's help, she actually cares about the rest of the multiverse. And yet it's still solely because her own timeline is finally in danger

17. When Loki ends up sacrificing himself to solve the problem Sylvie created, her only response is a joyful shrug that she's now happy, alone, and responsibility-free.

Overall, I know Sylvie's only purpose as a character is to be a darker mirror of Loki and everything she does is understandably informed by her trauma. This is likely a result of having a limited-episode-series and having all male/not diverse writers creating female characters. Sylvie is used only as a comparison to Loki before he met Mobius, and unfortunately is never given any thoughtful character moments like Loki had showing how he was aware that his actions hurt others. In 1x1, Loki talks about how he doesn’t enjoy hurting people and only does it to maintain control. The only time we ever see Sylvie reconsider her actions is when she didn’t kill Timely, which I think is more because she saw herself in Timely as someone who didn’t want to be controlled by their ‘destiny,’ not because she developed any kindness or compassion toward him.

I understand the fact that Sylvie was never given someone like Mobius to allow her the opportunity to change like Loki did, but I don't think that should excuse her causing so much pain and being so self-centered. Sylvie never trusted or cared about anyone and that's also my biggest argument against Sylki; her loving or being driven by anyone besides herself is just so inconsistent with her entire character.

Anyway, my purpose here was not to be hateful or to search for any reason to criticize Sylvie, but instead to look critically at her character since I've seen a lot of people praise her as the strong, independent female Loki whose behavior can always be forgiven. Unfortunately, the way she was written is that Sylvie turned her own trauma into everybody else's problem and they all spent 2 seasons trying to clean up her mess. That's my take thank you and goodnight

[sheliesshattered]

Sylki fic: When She Sings She Sings Come Home

Loki/Sylvie, 3200 words. Post s02e06 fix-it, angst with a happy ending. Also available on AO3 under the same title and username.

--

When She Sings She Sings Come Home

Sylvie wakes with Loki’s voice in her ears.

It’s been months since she last saw him, striding out to the Loom to save the timelines. Winter has come and gone, here in this little corner of a branch that she’s made her home. Every day that’s passed, she’s half expected to turn around and see him standing there, like that night he appeared in the parking lot next to her truck. But for months, there’s been nothing but the absence of him, growing larger and more crystalline every day.

She wakes with his voice in her ears, singing that ridiculous song from the train on Lamentis.

To Sylvie, everybody! he’d said, grinning at her, not drunk only too full. She would give anything to see him smile like that again. She would give anything to see him again.

And it isn’t that she hasn’t looked. Of course she had. She’d barely gotten through a single shift at McDonald’s after leaving Mobius standing outside his variant’s house before she’d used He Who Remain’s TemPad to try to find Loki.

He wasn’t dead. She knows he isn’t dead. But he also isn’t anywhere. There are an infinite number of branches now, layers of reality twisting around each other into something larger, a shape she can almost see, almost recognize. But Loki isn’t on any of them. No matter where she searches, he remains just outside her grasp.

Sylvie goes to work, she drives her truck home, she listens to music at the record store, she checks in on Mobius, she tries to sleep. But everywhere is marked by Loki’s absence, and every moment is overlaid with the sound of him singing.

She can’t find Loki, but that song is a thread she can pull at. Where did he learn it? The words were almost Asgardian, but not quite. Something similar, a branch of the original. A variant. Because of course it was.

It’s not until she thinks to quietly spy on the New Asgard settlement in Norway, forty years on from her quiet life in Oklahoma, that she hears the language again. Norwegian.

Remember this place, she hears Odin say, in a memory that is not hers, rippling through the interwoven timelines because it is what she needs in this moment. Home.

She turns her back on New Asgard, on the man who is almost but not quite her brother, on the Valkyrie who will come to lead their people like the hero out of a saga that Sylvie had once wished she could become. She turns her back, and walks into this strange, beautiful land. Norway. One tiny place on one tiny planet in one insignificant branch of the ever-growing tree of time, where the syllables are shaped into words that resonate with Loki’s voice from so long ago.

Sylvie wanders into pubs, into taverns, into bars, into concerts. She hums the few notes that never leave her head, and hopes to find someone who knows the song.

Until, miraculously, one day, she does.

“It’s an old drinking song,” the bearded man at the bar tells her, gesturing with his beer. “It’s about taking the long way home, but knowing you’ll get there in the end.”

“Can you teach it to me?” Sylvie asks, unblinking, gaze trained on the stranger’s face.

“For that, I will need a lot more beer.”

So she buys him beers. She coaxes the song out of him. She buys rounds for the whole bar, until they are all singing it. They teach her the words in Norwegian, teach her to shape the vowels as carefully as any incantation, and then teach her the meaning behind the words.

In storm-black mountains, I wander alone

Over the glacier I make my way

In the apple garden stands the maiden fair

and sings, “When will you come home?”

“You, I think,” her drunk bearded acquaintance says to her, “you are the maiden fair.”

“And what if I am?” Sylvie asks, raising her chin, still dead-sober despite the bourbon clutched in her hand.

“Then you must sing for him to come home!”

“From an apple orchard, if you can manage it,” leers his friend next to him.

“Will it work?” she hears herself say.

“Of course it will work! Music is magic. Galdr, they used to call it, in the old religion. The power of your voice to shape reality.” The man is drunk, but his words tug at something in Sylvie’s memory, long buried. “Sing, and he will come home.”

“As simple as that?”

The bearded man laughs uproariously. “When has love ever been simple?” he demands jovially. “When has magic ever been easy? But that does not mean it is not worth trying. There is beauty in the trying. There is love in the longing.” He’s slurring his words, barely managing to stay atop his barstool.

But he’s not wrong.

I know what kind of god I need to be, Loki had said, tears shining in his eyes. For you. For all of us.

But Sylvie is a god, too, she reminds herself, as she tosses back her bourbon and turns her back on the little Norwegian town, with the northern lights rippling over head. She’s not the goddess of chaos anymore, and she hasn’t felt mischievous since she was a child.

But the goddess of galdr, yes, that perhaps is something she could be.

She returns to her little Oklahoma town, cloud cover obliterating the stars, and drives her truck to the record store. There’s only one song she wants to hear, only one voice to sing it, but music has been her comfort since she came to this place, and she cannot simply become the goddess of music-turned-into-magic because she wishes it to be so. Music has been her shield, her cocoon, her comfort these long lonely months. Now she must learn to form it into other shapes, into weapons and tools. Into a lighthouse, shining out into the vast dark of the multiverse.

She taught herself enchantment, while running for her life from one apocalypse to the next. She can teach herself galdr in this quiet little record shop in this quiet little town.

Sylvie slides the headphones into place, and lets the music move through her.

Oh, sweet nothin'

She ain't got nothin' at all

Oh, sweet nothin'

She ain't got nothin' at all

But what if she had something? What if she had the one person who would make all of this worth it?

I know what kind of god I need to be, she tells herself. For you, Loki.

She murmurs the words along with the music, infusing them with intent, with magic.

And for one fraction of an instant, she can see him.

He’s alone, on the throne he never wanted, surrounded by the threads of the multiverse, pulsing green as they grow and twist. There is nothing, nothing else, only Loki alone in that vast emptiness, in that expanse of everything that ever was or ever could be.

His eyes are dull, unfocused, far away. And then— a flicker of recognition, a spark of life—

Sylvie loses the connection.

She’s alone on the sofa in the back of the record shop, with Lou Reed singing in her ears.

He ain’t got nothing at all

She drives home. She tries to sleep. She keeps hearing Loki’s voice, keeps seeing him alone in that emptiness. She murmurs into the darkness— not quite a song, not quite a spell—

But trees dance and waterfalls stop

When she sings, she sings “come home”

There is a shape to the enormity of what Loki has done. There is an order to the way the branches of the multiverse wrap around each other. It is just outside her grasp, but Sylvie feels that if she could just see the shape of it, she might understand.

She might be able to reach him.

In storm-black mountains, I wander alone she whispers to the emptiness of her tiny apartment, in this tiny town, in this little branch of a timeline, one miniscule part of a greater whole, and falls asleep dreaming of trees dancing, of waterfalls stopping, of Loki taking her outside the flow of time to tell her that there was no other way to keep her safe.

Sylvie wakes with her own voice in her ears.

The song is coursing through her, jeg saler min ganger, and she can feel the magic at her fingertips, on the tip of her tongue, pushing at the insides of her ribs, swelling her lungs and begging to be released.

I know what kind of god I need to be.

She gets into her truck and drives. North and east, away from everything she knows, vaguely towards those northern lights dancing over the fjords, too far away to reach on roads such as these.

But once upon a time, when she was very young, there was another road. A rainbow road, the Bifrost, that could take her anywhere just like magic.

Every bit of magic she has now she has taught herself. And this, too, this song swelling in her chest, is magic of her own making.

There is beauty in the trying. There is love in the longing.

She drives past fields of wheat and fields of corn, through days and nights, with the glare of the sun or the pattering of the rain against the windshield. Sylvie drives and drives and drives, and keeps the song tucked away inside her, growing in fury like a hurricane in a bottle, like the storm that had raged outside the night they met.

She drives until the scent of apples wafts through the open windows of the truck, and then she pulls over, knowing this was her destination all along.

Iðunn, a childhood memory whispers, too long ago now to have any meaning at all. The apples of eternity.

Home she thinks, and then hears, from a memory not her own:

Asgard’s not a place, it’s a people.

This could be Asgard. Asgard is where our people stand.

Her brother’s voice. The voice of the man who had once raised her as his daughter. The family she lost and can never regain, no matter what shape the multiverse twists itself into. Words reaching across time, across branching timelines, to reach her here and now, because it is what she needs to hear.

Sylvie climbs out of her truck and walks into the apple orchard and doesn’t look back.

She walks until she can no longer see the road from between the trunks and branches. She walks until there is nothing but the smell of apples, the soil under foot, and the sky over head. She walks until the song finally bursts out of her, all of her desperation and loneliness flooding out of her lungs to shake the very air around her, in the shape of words that are his but also hers, now.

But trees dance and waterfalls stop

When she sings, she sings “come home”

In storm-black mountains, I wander alone

Over the glacier I make my way

In the apple garden stands the maiden fair

and sings, “When will you come home?”

But trees dance and waterfalls stop

When she sings, she sings “come home”

When she sings, she sings “come home”

When she sings, she sings “come home”

When she sings, she sings “come home!”

And then he is there, standing beside her in the sunshine and the scent of the apple orchard. Loki glances around at the trees dancing in the wind, his eyes bright, before his gaze snaps to hers.

“You’re here,” Sylvie croaks, her voice burned through with the force of the magic that poured out of her, the magic that’s brought Loki to her.

“No, not really,” he says, his eyes never still as they trace over her face. “I’m still there too. I’m sort of everywhere, really. It’s hard to explain.”

“Help me to understand,” she says before the words even have the chance to fade away. “You said you knew what kind of god you needed to be. You saved us, you saved everything, and then you disappeared. Make me understand.”

“I can’t, Sylvie,” Loki says gently, and there is a sorrow in his eyes deeper than oceans, more boundless than the vastness of space. “It’s been centuries for me. Lifetimes. I wouldn’t know where to start.”

Enchant me, he had begged her once, standing in the McDonald’s parking lot in his ridiculous TVA uniform. You can see what I saw.

“You don’t have to say anything,” she tells him, raising her hands slowly towards his face, green magic flickering between her fingers. “Just let me see what you saw.”

“Sylvie,” he starts, and there are tears in his eyes again, like there were in that last moment before he turned his back on her to destroy the Loom.

“We’re the same, remember?” she says, and if her voice cracks it is only because of the abuse it’s suffered, only because of the magic that poured out through her vocal chords to shape reality to her desires. “You shouldn’t have to bear this burden alone, Loki,” she tells him, with as much tenderness as she can force into her ruined voice. “Let me understand.”

“It was the only way,” he says, as if in warning, but Sylvie cups his face in her hands before the tears can fall from his eyes.

Centuries. Lifetimes. The same day, over and over again. Reality unspooling, starting with Victor Timely and ending with her, again and again. Their fight in the Citadel at the end of time, relived hundreds of times, always with the same ending. Always the death of He Who Remains, and the unraveling of everything, failure after failure after failure.

And yet in all of them, she does not kiss him. And he cannot bring himself to kill her. Until only one choice remains.

I know what kind of god I need to be. For you.

Sylvie watches in Loki’s memory as the temporal radiation burns away his TVA uniform, as his magic replaces it with something older, something primal, something true. She watches as he grasps the decaying branches of the multiverse and breathes life into them, wills them to live, to be whole and part of a whole.

She watches as the branches twist around each other, each variation of the timeline finding support in its neighbors, building into something greater than the sum of every moment of every timeline that has ever existed.

She sees the shape of what Loki has done, the enormous, infinite tree dancing in the nothingness outside of time. Yggdrasil, the worldstree, green and glowing, alive and growing, all because Loki willed it so. To restore freewill and safeguard it forever. For all of us.

His hands cover hers and Loki gently pries her fingers away from his face. “Enough, Sylvie. Enough. I know what I’ve done.”

There are tears on her face, the apple-scented wind plucking at the wetness as she stands there, staring at Loki. Even without the enchantment, she can see him sitting on his throne, alone but for the infinite tree he tends.

“It was the only way?” she asks in the ruins of her voice. It is only when he folds his hands around hers that she realizes she is shaking, trembling like a leaf in the wind. Not like dancing. Like shattering, collapsing in on herself with the weight of what he’s done.

“No,” Loki admits. “There was one other way. I could have left He Who Remains in charge. I could have let the TVA go back to pruning the timelines. But I would have had to kill you. I would have had to kill you with my own hands, and watch as you died, and then betray everything you ever believed in. I lived every variation of every action I could possibly change, but not that one. Not that.”

“You don’t even know me,” Sylvie blurts out before the words have fully formed in her mind. All of this, to save her? She cannot, she cannot—

Loki’s expressive face twists, stung by her words, hurt in this moment even beyond the deep sorrow that he wears like a cloak. “Of course I know you,” he says, wounded, his gaze searching her face. “Like I’ve never known anyone. Sylvie, I lov—”

She surges up onto her toes and kisses him, there among the apple trees. She kisses him for what he’s done, for what he refused to do. She kisses him for the loneliness they have both known far too much of, she kisses him for coming when she sang for him to come home. She kisses him because there is nothing else she can do, because there was never any other way for her, either.

And Loki kisses her in return, with a desperation borne of years, centuries, lifetimes of facing this alone. He kisses her in the apple garden, as the trees dance and the waterfalls stand still. He is there, kissing her, but also somewhere else, far away and outside time, tending to the tree that he gave his life to save.

“I can’t stay,” he says when they finally part, pressing his forehead to hers, his hands cupping her jaw in an echo of how she had enchanted him moments before. “I want to stay, more than anything, Sylvie, but I can’t, I can’t.”

“I know,” she assures him, even as she clutches at his robes for fear he will disappear at any moment. “I know you can’t stay here with me,” she says, then takes a deep breath to steady her ragged voice, her thundering heart. “But you don’t have to be alone.”

Loki pulls away abruptly, only far enough to see her face, confusion pinching his features.

“We’re gods, you said,” Sylvie explains, tripping over her words, her voice trembling with the weight of what she has already done, the weight of what she plans to do. “We have a responsibility. That’s what you told me, in that ridiculous room full of pie. We can’t just give everyone freewill and then walk away.” She offers him a small smile, the best she can summon at the current moment. “You have to sustain Yggdrasil. But you don’t have to do it alone.”

“I did this for you,” he says, holding on to her as desperately as she is clutching at him. “So you could have a life. That’s what you said you wanted, to live.”

“It’s freewill, Loki,” she says, shaking her head. “You can’t just give it to everyone and then be surprised when I use it to choose to be with you. I know what kind of god I need to be. You taught me that. I won’t let you bear this burden alone. That’s the kind of god I choose to be.”

“I can’t let you sacrifice yourself for me—”

“The only sacrifice would be giving you up.”

He gazes at her for a long moment, his uncertainty slowly transforming, then sings softly, “I stormsvarte fjell, jeg vandrer alene,” and this time Sylvie understands the words. “Over isbreen tar jeg meg frem. I eplehagen står møyen den vene, og synger: ‘når kommer du hjem?’”

The apple orchard dissolves around them, replaced by the rippling greens and blues and purples of Yggdrasil, shimmering in the darkness outside of time.

“Home,” Sylvie says, and kisses him again.

[therese-lokidottir]

Yeah, having Sylvie work at McDonald's is a way of getting us to see her as "one of us", like they want us to see her as "the peoples' Loki", the sentimental favorite, and using McDonald's to play on our nostalgia.

Because she is Loki, but she's the good Loki, the Cool Loki, the one whose pain is actually real and legitimate. The one who would rather kick back at Mickey Dee's with a Big Mac rather than chase power or sit on a throne - I guarantee you that this is what they want us to think.

I've noticed for some time that the MCU have treated their god characters as if they are unaware of their godness, as if they'd rather just hang out in Midwestern America than do anything else, and as if they are complete idiots who are unworthy of their titles. And it's so disappointing.

And having Sylvie work at McDonald's because she sees it as the warm, safe place she never knew as a kid, and sees kids with their families and friends, all the while knowing that if she had finished growing up in Asgard her life would never involve a McDonald's at any point, just makes me roll my eyes. Yeah, I'm playing the world's smallest violin right now!

You know, I always thought that Loki was the most human, relatable character in the Thor franchise. Without any gimmicks or product placement. His pain was real, it was legitimate. Growing up in someone's shadow (a pretty significant, massive shadow too), never feeling seen, always feeling different, on the outside, only to have his worst fears confirmed in the worst possible way. I think the some of the worst pain you can ever experience comes from being betrayed by someone you love and trust and look up too, but what do I know, I'm just a fangirl, right?

But yeah, they're going to milk that "Poor Sylvie" thing for all it's worth.





I fully agree. People related to Loki because no matter how rich or poor someone is anyone can understand what it feels like an outcast. Anyone can relate to the feeling of wanting to be seen and loved. That's what the creators completely don't understand when they try to portray Loki as a spoiled prince, Loki was relatable. There can be a humanity in characters that even though they're god royalty, space captains or talking animals viewers can still see themselves in. They don't need to be "normal people" with "normal jobs".

Like, I get Sylvie finding the appeal of finding a place to settle down, but you can't ask me to take it seriously when its McDonald's. She could find that comfort in settling down in a village on Asgard or Jotunheim.

She's not human, why does it have to be on earth.you? It's like the point Loki brought up in TDW these people are a heartbeat to her. It's a comfort that wouldn't last that long.

[peach-fiz]

I actually didn't even bother watching the second season of Loki because of the cheap marketing and inconsistent storytelling.

It just felt like the plot was lifted off somewhere it would have made sense, and a character with a similar ego was replaced with Loki and goes through an arc that might have made sense for a blank slate character, but not someone who already has a backstory.

Loki doesn't even feel like Loki after three episodes in S1. The whole point of having a show like that just seems to be about the TVA and Sylvie.

Also the whole genderfluid thing. They 'confirmed' it in the promo and had a line in the script that went completely against anything they just said.

I knew at once that the writers, directors and other parts of production were really just pulling it in different directions and it would probably sound like a jazz trumpeter and a metal guitarist trying to improvise after knowing each other for 15 minutes.

I've been meaning to watch it just so I can have educated opinions on all of it but it's just,, so hard to get into. I definitely agree the marketing was cheap, they did with the 80s McDonald's like they did DB Cooper!Loki and made it centric to the advertising because McDonalds was also getting something out of it which is kinda ass seeing as realistically Loki Laufeyson would burn 6 of them down before he ate in one 😭

I personally don't like either of the major ships in the show but the forced Sylki shit in season 1 really got to me. Like not only did she completely replace him as the main character in HIS show, she's also a variant of him who he wants to make out with and overall it just reads as lazy writing and it's extremely disappointing that Mike Waldron has been put in charge of Multiverse of Madness and The Kang Dynasty since, due to the popularity of the Loki TV show. I was talking to my boyfriend about this last night but it kinda reminds me of the complaints people had ab the last Indiana Jones movie but opposite? Like everyone complained his best friend's daughter was gonna replace him bc she's a Mary Sue and she rlly isnt, she's more reminiscent of Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark she just doesn't wanna fuck him. But the difference is Indy is a character who's majorly blank for little boys to project themselves onto. Which is great!! It works for those kind of movies, but they're not character development centric like the individual mcu movies tend to be. Loki is characterized in a way that he's drowning in identity issues and family problems and he experiences growth in every installment whether it be positive or negative. It doesn't make sense to take the formula of an Indidna Jones movie where he meets up with a woman who's typically a love interest and has her own issues that are only slightly touched on because that's not the focus, and they go do the plot.

Sylvie is not an Indy Girl, they straight up are trying to replace Loki with Sylvie. And you can tell the character wasn't supposed to have as much importance as she does in the show bc the character was worked on more after the actress they chose was buddies with a producer ( and this is no hate to the actress I'm sure she's delightful everything I've seen her in in terms of interviews has been lovely ).

I also absolutely agree they should've just made a tva mini series to introduce the tva rather than bringing back a dead character who soon will not make much sense anyway because Tom Hiddleston is getting older (and also he deserves to branch out in his career).

The genderfluid thing was a cash grab and it sucks ass, they just want money for acknowledging things already canon in the comics, same with confirming him as bisexual.

My boyfriend is actually writing a fic on ao3 called Find Me that's rlly good if you want Loki content that isn't related to the show.

(YES this is shameless promotion sshhhhshshsh) but fr the loki TV show makes me more confident in my screenwriting bc t h a t got put on disney plus. I'm also working on a Loki show rewrite in my spare time!!

[tardisesandtitans]

Still absolutely appalled there'll be no season three of Loki. There's so many unanswered questions. So many things left in SEASON ONE that weren't even addressed. The only conclusive thing was Loki's sacrifice. I know he'll probably (hopefully) show up in the 2025/2026 Marvel films, but even Eric Martin said that the goal is to get Thor and Loki together again. Did that happen? No

But is the series over? YES.

Aside from Mobius' ending being depressing, Miss Minutes new status being undecided, the weird pie never being addressed, Brad having fucked off god knows where and Sylvie ending the series with a smile when every episode she's (rightfully) been angry, SYLKI NEVER GOT RESOLVED. MICHEAL WALDRON SAID THE CORE OF THE SHOW WAS THAT IT WAS A LOVE STORY. If You Love Me was chosen by Kevin feige himself. All we got was a small smile from Sylvie and Loki just B4 his sacrifice. And something that makes no sense was Sylvie shouting that she hits to get down there when he was on the walkway, yet she never did.

Which is all even weirder once you remember that the show was said to be like two chapters of a book. Well, they must have been reading two entirely different books because Sylki started in S1, but they ended there. The only hints at it we got was BC Tom and Sophia are brilliant actors who conveyed everything with their eyes (Soaf made a Sylvie playlist! She's commented on what she thinks Sylvie could do post s2. She's best girl, love her)

What makes this even more sad is that I read somewhere Sylvie had a whole backstory that the writers hoped they could use in S2. But Sylvie's screen time was cut in half, then most of the half she had was cut into smithereens. She was just there to work at McDonalds, be angry and be a prop for the men.

(That 'there you are!' scene in the first ep seemed a lot more romantic than what we actually got. Oh and Loki saying 'I promise this will make sense'. She was told fuck all.)

[whispering-about-loki]

I had a thought!

Possible future episode LOKI SPOILERS!

Okay, here I go...

What if General Dox is actually a Variant of Sylvie from a branched timeline?

It's weird, I know, but bear with me...

I was rewatching the episode, and there was something about the way Dox carried herself -- about the way she walked down the hallway that evoked younger Sylvie for me. Also, there was the familiarity with which she spoke of Sylvie in the war room and the... odd relationship with X-5.

In a previous post I suggested that Rafael Casal might be playing a version of Brad Wolfe (Zaniac) that was possessed and ordered to hunt down Sylvie, but now I am wondering if this Brad Wolfe is fully aware of who he is as X-5 and that he had some kind of deal with Sylvie on that timeline. I mean, in the clips where X-5 is shown "hanging out" with Mobius at McDonalds there is definite familiarity there, so he clearly knows Mobius enough to banter with him. And hell, why would they take him to the McDonalds where Sylvie works at all unless there was some connection there?

Okay, so maybe this is how it happens: The Sylvie working at McDonalds and the one in the record store from the trailers are not the same person. We know that the screen said that when Sylvie ended up in Broxton, Oklahoma in 1982 it was a branched timeline. That implies that there are other branched timelines that Sylvie could have ended up in. What if one of the branches took her somewhere else, and while she lived a peaceful life in Oklahoma for one of them, she had a somewhat more complicated life in another?

I mean, we can assume that the Sylvie we saw in the record store is a Variant Sylvie and not the same one as in the McDonalds, because there is a poster on the wall of the record shop for the German band Camouflage in concert, and they did not tour until 1989; while the uniform Sylvie is wearing at McDonalds was phased out in the early 80s. Additionally, the Sylvie shown working with Loki and the others in the TVA later has the same earring that the McDonalds Sylvie is wearing, while the Record Store Sylvie does not appear to have one.

So, here's my thought: The Sylvie at the record store is living in the late-80s to early 90s and is in a relationship with Brad Wolfe, the actor. He knows about her and what she is, and she has helped him to be successful while she (for good reason) stays out of the limelight. But for all this, she is not happy. Then, one day, everything all begins to unravel. Literally. While Sylvie is listening to records, the time tendrils begin to twist and wind.

She knows that time has caught up with her, so she tries to escape by stepping through a time door, only to find out that it is too late to go that way.

So she makes a decision. She goes and gets Brad, then takes him with her to an alternate, branched timeline. There, they are captured by the TVA, by Sylvie's design. Once in the TVA, she manipulates the system and sets herself and Brad up as Hunters, making sure that neither of them lose their memories. Over time, Sylvie makes her way up the ranks to General (Dox), all the while trying to eradicate the Lokis so that this will not all happen again. Eventually, she finds herself as a child and has her captured, hoping that this time things will be straightened out. But again (as it was meant to happen all along) Young Sylvie gets away and it all begins again, with Dox!Sylvie now realizing it was her that set this all in motion, she again tries to fix her mistake by hunting down the other Sylvie and pruning all the timelines that her mistake caused.

I know this was all a bit out of left-field, but it was something that came to me and I really wanted to share it, and if it does turn out to be true in any manner, you can find me over here pondering my orb.

Oh, as an aside, Camouflage (the band I mentioned above) had a song that came out in 1989 called "Love Is A Shield", some of the lyrics of which are:

There is a feeling that flows through me When you are near you make it real And we could live for this ideal And all the pictures we run through Seem to be perfect, seem to be true But nothing is quite forever, especially staying together

...make of that what you will

[starryfox0]

am i a convinced lokius shipper? yes. do i want sylki to happen? absolutely not.

but the reason i dont like sylki isnt because sylvie is a loki variant and they basically the same. i mean, it is kinda weird but still, loki got pregnant by a horse ok. the reason also isnt that it wouldnt be queer (although i would argue it still is).

i just think that loki and sylvie have absolutely no romantic chemistry. ofc there is an understanding, they are the same, they get each other. but that isnt a reason for them to pursue their relationship romantically. i think that loki and sylvie both thought that the only one able to ever truly love them is themselves. (i dont think loki rly loves himself or sylvie but öhm cmon ykwim). i also think that both thought they didnt deserve anyone else. but both of them grew. both started to find value in themselves and around them. loki found it in the tva, in mobius. sylvie found her life at mcdonalds and started to live a quiet, calm and normal life. they arent as dependent on the other like before. they might realise that they deserve someone who loves them and gets to know them.

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Loki Mid-Season Trailer Breakdown

SPOILERS!

So I just watched the mid-season trailer and there were some interesting shots in there that I want to talk about, I've also looked back at some of the footage from previous trailers that were released, so this is going to be a kind of breakdown/theory post on what I think is going to be happening in the last two episodes.

I've already said in a previous post that I think Loki will timeslip away right as the loom explodes and then go around recruiting the gang together and I think from this trailer that is still the most likely scenario.

We get this shot in previous trailer of Loki time-slipping to the Mcdonalds Sylvie works at:

I think this might be linked to the behind the scenes images of Loki and Sylvie outside the Mcdonalds. I also think at first she will reject Loki and walk away just like she did in episode 2. We get some shots in this trailer of Sylvie listening to a record and we know that record spaghettifies from other trailers. So I think after dismissing Loki's concerns, Sylvie goes home to listen to her record and then the world literally starts disintegrating around her, she'll go find Loki and that's when they'll have the conversation in the bar about what Loki really wants and then Loki will take her back to the TVA.

We also see Loki talking to Mobius in the Jet Ski shop trying to tell him that the TVA is gone, of course Mobius has no idea what he is talking about.

There is also this shot that shows the whole gang in what I think is a recreational room of some kind in the TVA:

From the clothes they are wearing it looks like this is right after Loki recruits them and they are still in their timeline getups. I did notice that OB isn't in his usual TVA uniform so it looks like we might find out what his life on the timeline was too, I am really excited to see what all of their lives were like in the timeline and we do get a few more clues in this new mid-season trailer.

In both this trailer and previous ones there was a shot of Casey in an underground tunnel of some kind but in this trailer we got this shot just before we are shown Casey:

So actually it looks like Casey was in some kind of prison or labour camp, I am wondering if the shot of him in the underground tunnel is him attempting a prison break.

We also get alot more information about Mobius' life on the timeline and it looks like from this shot:

Where you can see kid's bikes, a basketball hoop and other toys. There's also a sheet rope hanging out the window as if a rebellious teen has snuck out. So it looks like Mobius has a family, with kids. Honestly this makes me so sad, like I kind of suspected back in season 1 when Loki said Mobius could have a family on the timeline that he probably did, but actually seeing it is going to be a gut punch, it just shows how tragic it is that these people were all stolen from their lives. They weren't just taken away from their jobs or their homes but also from their families and loved ones. I don't know there is something about a father being taken away from their kids that just gets me.

But it did get me wondering, if he has kids then its possible, even likely, that he also has a partner. We now know that TVA Mobius' love of Jet Ski's comes from his job on the timeline where he worked as a Jet Ski salesman. The other thing we know he loves is pie. So what if the reason why he loves pie so much is because his partner used to like to bake and would always make him a pie to come home from work to. I can just see him sitting around the dinner table with his family enjoying a homemade pie. And now I'm sad again.

Anyway moving on. Something else I think is going to happen is a time loop of the events of the last episode where they are going to keep trying the scenario over and over until they get it right. There are a few shots that make me think this, one is where we are back at the scene where OB has made the model and is explaining the plan only this time OB asks Loki how much he knows, there is also a shot of two Loki's in the same place, so I think time-slipping Loki is going to tell past Loki what is going to happen to Victor and the Loom and then plan-making Loki is going to remember the conversation as it happens like OB did when Loki spoke to the past version of him and that caused present OB to remember in real time, if that makes sense. Another clue that Loki is going to try and get a different outcome to ep 4's events is there is another shot where Loki is talking to OB, (can't remember if its in this trailer or one of the previous ones) where Loki asks OB what they could have done differently, as they are in the Loom Room at the time I think this might be where they attempted it again but it still failed so Loki is asking OB how it might be fixed if they do it again and then he'll go back and relay that information to past versions again.

Unfortunately for Victor I think he is going to be spaghettified a few more times. There is this shot where we see him get spaghettified from a different angle:

what's interesting about this shot though is that for some reason he isn't wearing the helmet yet and he hasn't yet picked up the device thingy, through put multiplier? Or something like that, anyway it begs the question, why are the doors already open when Victor clearly isn't ready yet?

We also see Loki talking to presumably Victor through a microphone telling him what he needs to do, which is again interesting because first off why is it Loki directing Victor and not OB? Unless Loki is using all the information from all the failed attempts he's witnessed to try and get Victor through it maybe? But also we see that Victor has trouble pushing the green button, at one point he is pounding on it trying to get it to activate. It's hard to see in this screenshot but it looks like Victor begins to spaghettify again whilst trying to push that button:

I think that he will spaghettify before he manages to push the button and that is what will lead to this scene where we see Loki on the loom's walkway:

I think the reason why he isn't wearing the suit is because Victor was already wearing it and it got spaghettified along with him. The reason why Loki isn't carrying the through put multiplier is because it is already at the end of the walkway, after Victor dies, again, I think Loki decides to sacrifice himself to get to the end of the walkway and push the button himself. Although to be clear I don't think Loki is going to die, something will come along and save him. You can see bits of black coming off of him, but I don't think that's him beginning to spaghettify and think its similar to what was happening to Mobius suit in ep 1 with the temporal radiation aging it away, I think Loki's clothes are being aged away.

Another shot that I found really interesting was a simple one but I think it holds alot of meaning to it and its these two:

It shows the word 'believe but then the word flickers and when it does you get a quick shot of the word 'lie'. So who is lying, what are they lying about? It could be in reference to the lie the TVA workers were told about their former lives on the timeline but I feel like it might be something else. The lie told to the TVA workers is something we already learnt in season 1 so I would assume this is referencing some other lie. I don't really have any guesses to be honest, it could have something to do with HWR, but I am curious to see if this does connect to the last couple of episodes at all. I would love to hear other peoples theories if anyone has any.

We also get some interesting shots of Sylkie in this trailer. I actually think we might get some repeats of their scenes too. There is this shot of them in another trailer in what appears to be the same recreational room the whole gang were in above:

I'll be honest when I first saw this clip, with the way Sylvie slowly moves closer and closer to him I did wonder if this is going to turn into a kiss scene, it's just giving me that vibe, of course that could be my shipper googles clouding my vision. But I do think this moment between them is one that we are going to see at least twice and the reason why is because of this shot in the mid-season trailer that shows this room but in its spaghetti form:

Loki is holding up his hand and to me it kind of looks like he might be counting, like he knows what is going to happen next and begins counting down to it. So I wouldn't be surprised if he gets to the end of that countdown and we find ourselves back at the beginning of that scene.

Another scene that I think might possibly be repeated is the pie room scene between them. We have this shot in this trailer where Loki is going into the room:

We can't see anyone else in the room but what makes me think it might possibly be a repeat of the sylki pie room scene is that in ep 4 when Loki says 'we are gods' it is a wide shot, yet in the trailers it is a close up shot when he says the line. It could just be a case of they decided to use a different shot for that moment, but there does also seem to be this theme of time loops and things repeating so I'm taking any scene that is from a slightly different angle or distance as a potential repeat scene.

Ok so that's everything I've got for the trailer. But I do want to make a quick prediction on what I think might happen to all our characters in the end.

I think ultimately it will end up being Loki and Sylvie working together to run the new TVA. I think they hinted at this when they had HWR make that offer for them to run it back in 1x6. I think them actually ending up running it would bring it full circle, they would end up as the benevolent rulers as HWR put it, but they would have done it their way and not HWR's way. It would also fit into the whole we are gods conversation.

I think Mobius might possibly end up going back to his timeline and getting his life back with his family. As much as I love the friendship between him and Loki I do think that would be the best ending for Mobius, but I would want it to be his choice and I don't want it to be a case of his mind is wiped. As to whether its even possible for the TVA workers to return to their timelines, I think it might be. We never got confirmation on whether the timelines they were taken from were pruned after they were taken. My theory is that once they took them instead of pruning the timelines they instead wiped the memories of everyone who knew them, as if they never existed to start with, in which case that could be undone and they could potentially go back to the moment they were taken. But who knows, I guess we'll see. Even if Mobius does go back to his timeline I could see him coming back in future projects and helping Loki out with any problems that show up. I don't think Mobius having his happy ever after on the timeline with his family necessarily has to mean the end of the Loki and Mobius' bromance.

Casey I think might end up choosing to stay with the TVA and maybe he'll get a promotion. I just don't think his life was very good from the clips from the trailers and so he might decide he is better off staying and helping build the TVA into something good.

Another person I think might end up staying is B-15. Although we know from 1x5 when Sylvie showed B-15 her life on the timeline, B-15 said she was happy I could see her choosing to sacrifice that life in order to help more people by protecting the timelines. She would become this kind of opposite of Brad who was willing to sacrifice his colleagues and values for that perfect timeline life, she'd do the opposite and sacrifice her life on the timeline because she knows she can make a difference in the TVA.

I really don't know about OB as we still don't seem to know too much about his past or his life on the timeline. So I think its anybody's guess there.

I suspect Ravonna, Brad and Miss Minutes will all meet their end come the series finale. It's possible they might get a redemption but I just don't really see it happening at this point.

But yeah those are my thoughts on the midseason trailer. I'm even more excited for the last couple of episodes and can't wait to see where its all going to go.

[percheduphere]

Okay. First post trying to use gifs properly. I've switched out improper gifs for these type for my last 3-4 posts. Gonna work on some more corrections tomorrow when I have time. Please let me know if I'm misstepping anywhere. Thanks for your patience! That said...

LET'S TALK ABOUT SYLVIE💕, INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM (SYLVIE & LOKI)✊🏽, AND QUEER REPRESENTATION (LOKIUS)🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️!

SYLVIE

I'm rooting for Lokius, AND I also love how much Sylvie has forged a life for herself in S2. A lot of her development is implied, so I think it's worth looking at her growth outside the context of Loki himself: She found a job, locals know her by name, she has friends and acquaintances, she has hobbies!

People call her by name in her timeline on 4 occasions:

1. When the McDonald's shift manager (John) checks in on her after work. See the kid with the tie in the image below. I couldn't find any gifs of him visiting Sylvie at her truck. She asked him if his mom was gonna pick him up to make sure he was gonna be okay late at night. 🥹

2. When a customer picks up their McDonald's order and thanks her (cheerfully). Also note how many employee stars she had on her badge! Queen.

3. Lyle at the record store. They seem like really good friends, and I got the "beginnings of an attraction" vibe between the two of them. Unfortunately, the gifs below are the only ones I could find of him and I'm still searching for the source. His interaction with Sylvie before spaghetti-trauma was so sincere. He could tell she was down and offered her Velvet Underground. Come on, that's a solid move.

4. Eric at the bar, who comments 2 shots of bourbon is a good choice. Let me tell you, finding a gif of Eric was like finding a needle in a haystack, but here he is leaning close to Sylvie. Thank you, @zehiiro!

I tried to find more gifs of all the people Sylvie has in her life but couldn't find any, which is a darn shame because there are so many subtle cues she's built a support system on her own and she's thriving.

She's a regular at many places in her timeline, and when people greet her, they do so with a smile. She loves music, a hard drink, and punk fashion.

When she engages with Loki, she may come across as cold, but I honestly think she's being firm with her boundaries and true to her beliefs. The TVA threatened her life for centuries. I don't doubt setting foot in the building is traumatic for her, which may explain why she was more harsh than usually in S2E4. Her psychological defenses were all on overdrive. Yet when Sylvie's in her own timeline, far away from the TVA, she can be her real self. Turns out, her real self is pretty well-liked! (I'll talk about how this is mirrored in Loki soon).

INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM

Sylvie's an unapologetically "selfish" woman who knows what she wants, wants it on her own, is doing it on her own, and isn't afraid to put her foot down when it comes to her personal boundaries. We should be applauding all of that!

This is exactly the kind of female representation we need, but the show did Sylvie a disservice in S1 by coming at her character as a love interest first (look at all the media promos classifying her as such) instead of more thoughtfully showing how badly she has been affected by the TVA and planting what her desires are throughout. If they had done this with more intention and finesse, her position in S2 wouldn't come off as completely irresponsible.

As a result of this apparent marketing and pre-production development decision, her perception as a character (by both lokius and sylki shippers) is muddled by the question of her relationship status with Loki. This truly isn't fair, most especially to Sophia Di Martino.

Of course, Sylvie isn't perfect. No well-written character should be. I just think she's cooler than she gets credit for precisely because her character arc doesn't require the fulfillment of a romance. She will be fine whether or not she ends up with Loki. It's very feminist!

Loki, in turn, found safety, belonging, and love at the TVA. All the things that are the complete opposite of Sylvie's lived experience. I often see fans complaining about how Loki is ooc in his own series.

The thing is, and Loki admits this himself: it's all part of an illusion.

This illusion started far before the first Thor movie. He comes from a hyper-masculine (dare I say toxic-masculine) warrior society. His true nature doesn't conform with this, so he has to overcompensate with some (genuinely awesome) bad assery.

BUT he doesn't like it.

As a comparison to a far lesser but more relatable degree: imagine putting on a customer service persona 24/7. UGH. It's just not sustainable without becoming increasingly angry and bitter, which is what Sacred Timeline Loki becomes. Mobius gets ahead of this.

In the series, Loki can finally TURN OFF that persona, and TURN IT ON again when it's needed (and fun!).

He also now has the freedom to be silly, expressive, and magical (unapologetically queer!) without anyone making fun of him for it.

The end result is a much calmer, happier, likable person (like Sylvie in her timeline, his defenses are no longer on overdrive!). Who shows him this is possible?

Here's the receipt:

QUEER REPRESENTATION

Sociopoliticaly, Loki and Mobius come from a different angle. A lot of men (cis, fluid, trans, or otherwise) struggle with the social expectation of burying feelings and never ever showing vulnerability, especially to another men. Now, some might argue that shipping men together perpetuates this construct. There's some truth to this, but only through the lens that it is shameful to be gay. In order to get to a point in society where there's no shame in being mistaken as gay (or queer, generally) when being affectionate with another man, there must be continuous positive representation of homosexual relationships in which the characters are not stereotypes. Loki and Mobius are exactly this, especially Mobius.

Whereas Loki, on Asgard, represents the openly queer oppressed (i.e. magic and cunning, qualities historically tied to witches or "immoral women" instead of brute strength), Mobius can represent the closeted repressed.

In S1, Mobius was much more uptight, rule-abiding, and just shy of holier-than-thou. The power structure in which he existed perpetuated this, until Loki reveals to him it was all a lie (an illusion).

In S2, he becomes more flexible, more fun-loving, and more expressive in his affection. In S1, most of his support of Loki manifested as words of affirmation. In S2, his support extended to physical touch and bonding. Mobius, if seen through the lens of a closeted man allegory, finds the courage (and partner) to slowly come out.

[inwantofamuse]

The whole "Jack from McDonald's is Mobius" theory. I like it, the only thing I'm conflicted about, is : does Sylvie know ?

She doesn't seem to, but to borrow a phrase from episode two, Sylvie is tactical. She's been running from the TVA most of her life. She had to purposely pick that time and place, because she used a tempad to get there. I just don't believe she's completely unaware of it. And if she is aware, that's not good, because she didn't say anything about it.

I think that kid, Mobius or not, had an alcoholic single mom who drank up all their money and he went to work because if he didn't, they would be homeless and starving. It's hinted at that he's been left likely walking home more than once because he was forgotten, likely because mom was passed out at home.

Maybe Sylvie even drove him home once or twice ?

Or, maybe mom is ill and he just doesn't say so.

If he is Mobius, it's another parallel with Loki. Both devoted to their mothers. Mobius's line to Loki about killing their mother. Could it be, just a thought, that Sacred timeline Jack is supposed to stay and care for her forever, but branched timeline Jack leaves, and she drinks herself to death ?

It fits my theory that Mobius had a sad, likely lonely life (he said he could handle "bad", but), and he believes he killed his mother because of something that happened. He instinctively has guilt over what he did.

The only part that's funny to me, as a southern American, is that Oklahoma and Texas (where OW is from) have completely different accents.

It could be a sweet way to bond Mobius and Sylvie, I just don't believe she's unaware of who he is.

[mobius-m-mobius]

Thinking back to the Loki finding Sylvie at McDonalds for the first time in s2 … I was SO curious how Mobius would react after his jealous fit over Sylvie in s1, and tbh on a first watch I was a bit disappointed, despite a proper double-take over the opposites attract line. I suppose I was primed for disappointment anyway, having assumed that for all the first ep was so much more than I’d hoped for, it would from here on invariably be pure Loki and Sylvie romance.

But now. The season having been That. Oh boy does the scene hit different!! Sure it’s not the blowout that is Mobius’ jealousy in s1; rather it’s transformed by now into a far more tragic resignation. He seems to have decided that if this is what will make Loki happy, he won’t stand in his way, but oh boy did I miss all the tells of how *hard* he is shoving all his emotions away to get there. The way he attaches himself to *Brad* rather than have anything to do with the reunion. The way he keeps yanking himself from his general air of grave heartbreak via strange outbursts at Brad, from going off at him before there’s any shred of evidence of double-dealing, to strangely enthusiastic assertions of how strange and cool life is. The way he tries to muster a grin when they see Sylvie really is there, and he, god of folksy cheer for all—can’t. The way he tries so hard not to watch Loki and Sylvie and to steer the conversation away from them, but his eyes get sort of stuck on them every time he glances their way.

And just. Above all. The way the season drives home over and again and again that the way Mobius deals with discomfort and emotions he doesn’t want to face is a). Comfort food, and b). Distract himself by talking to whoever is handy, even if the only folks available for talking are people he isn’t especially close to or friendly with. And going back to the scene with that in mind, well whaddya know, guess what our boy is up to !!!!!!

Yes yes YES to every word of this anon!!

As a lover of how pettily obvious Mobius was in S1 with his jealousy I was also looking forward to seeing what his reaction to Loki and Sylvie meeting again would be, and like you had expected something almost equally as brash as the interrogation scene but it turned out what we got was as good if not better in so many ways 👀👀

The way he hangs back as Loki approaches her, trying to look as casually friendly and nonthreatening as possible before IMMEDIATELY bee lining to get some apple pie when we'd only just established the key lime been a major comfort of his at the TVA?? Babe we see you and we're here for you 😭

That alone already had me waiting to see what extremes he was about to go to but I wasn't prepared at all for how the forced cheer from eating his meal fell aside the second Brad brought up not understanding what was going on with Loki and Sylvie outside, then that hint of bitterness we rarely see in "they say opposites attract? No." What a line, and he's so clearly thinking of how easily he and Loki fit together in comparison that as he continues hearing about how weird Loki and Sylvie are you practically see the thoughts racing through his mind range from agreement to a momentary embarrassment he thought that at all, then resignation and finally defeat because if this is what Loki wants he'll support and be there for him just like always.

Cue his default reaction to push his own feelings out of existence in favor of everyone else's (especially Loki's) as he plasters his usual positivity and charm back on, taking Brad's attention away from the window and towards a change of subject he knows is guaranteed to work without coming across as suspicious because there's nothing Brad would enjoy talking about more than himself and of course Mobius is such a great analyst that it worked a bit too perfectly 😅

[jimintomystery]

Getting to okay

A lot of people on here seem confused by Sylvie's motivations, and why she's upset with Loki, so let's recap.

Loki's character arc in Season 1 is pretty clear. He started out wanting a throne--to rule over Asgard, then Earth, and finally the Sacred Timeline. Meeting Sylvie upends all that, and for the first time he finds he's less interested in grabbing power than making sure someone else is okay. After meeting He Who Remains, Loki believes all of reality is in great danger (which would make Sylvie not okay) so he's prepared to make hard choices to confront that threat. Instead of chasing the glory of taking the throne, he's accepting the duty of protecting the realm.

Sylvie's character arc in Season 1 is less direct, seen mainly from Loki's point of view. She's introduced to raise the question "Is our version of Loki the superior Loki?" Sylvie outwits Loki a few times, but her backstory and even her name emphasize that she's not a Loki, and this isn't the horn-measuring contest we expected. She's clearly touched when Loki declares "all I want is for you to be okay." But her response addresses the original question--Sylvie is not Loki. All she wants is to be rid of the TVA, even if that means she will not "be okay."

With all this in mind, the conflict between Loki and Sylvie in Season 2 makes sense. Loki is gradually taking on more leadership in the TVA, because he doesn't know any other way to avoid the apocalyptic time war that He Who Remains warned of. But Sylvie's never known anything except apocalypse and time war, thanks to Loki's TVA buddies. For her, anything better than "eating a possum's face" or "being in ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴘʀɪsᴏɴ" is a step up. So of course she's happy working at McDonald's. Of course she hates seeing Loki becoming more and more like He Who Remains, whether he realizes it or not. Of course it won't impress her that Loki is trying to clean up the "mess" she made, or that he's doing it for her sake.

It's easy to take Loki's side in this conflict, because he's doing what we expect the protagonist in a superhero story to do. We know Sylvie can't simply run away from this crisis, and we know Loki probably won't turn into the kind of evil time lord he's trying to stop. But it's simplistic to decide Loki is right and therefore Sylvie's position can be dismissed. She still has a point, and Loki needs to hear her out. It's the only way he can avoid making the mistakes He Who Remains made. And it's the only way he can help her be okay, which (as previously established) is all he really wants.

[lokiinmediasideblog]

Loki S2 Ep 2

Spoilers ahead

I really am enjoying this season way more than the first. There's just more going on, and I like that.

I was pleasantly surprised that the pruning of timelines was not framed as a "necessary evil" as I expected it to be, and our protagonists tried to stop this or mourned it.

Also, I kinda love that there's a bunch of grey or somewhat scummy characters that are either similar or worse to Loki? I was expecting Loki to torture some guy that randomly grew a conscience for being a little shit, either in some copagandic move by Disney or "look at how evil Loki is" move. And lol, this will inspire a lot of Dark!Loki fic...

I mean, Loki DID get to be an evil little shit, after Brad brought up his mother (these people need to learn that's how you get on Loki's shit list). But Brad was just some self-serving guy that only cared about his own survival and fame, and would have let the rest of them die if his neck wasn't on the line as well. I will have to rewatch it because he either distracted them so Dox got to achieve her plans, or he was just self-serving and happy to let them all die as long as he was safe. Seemed pretty loyal to Dox until his neck was on the line.

I am STILL hoping the pie is drugged , and I am upset that it doesn't seem likely yet. The muscle memory of the TVA workers thing is very weird though, so it's not a discarded theory yet. Their bodies yearn for the pie. Hope it doesn't affect Loki too, as he had some as well.

I thought OB being like "figure it out yourselves; I've got to keep this place from collapsing" was so relatable, as someone in a technical field. Casey fanboying over OB was cute. And I liked how Sylvie has that cool punk aunt vibe towards the McDonald's kid, and she's shown be so traumatized to not be able to stomach the TVA, to the point of staying in a potentially pruned branch.

I liked how Mobius can't stomach the idea of having lost some good life.

I think my only complaint for now is that the dialogue in the reunion felt a little weird (and somewhat frustrating, but that might be intentional). Maybe my opinion will change after a rewatch.

I won't really complain over Loki claiming it's his feelings getting out of hand that caused the invasion. Loki has a tendency of being euphemistic regarding pain (e.g. time slipping being "not that bad"). And it still does not fuck up my head cannons (and a part of me would be scared the MCU will go the "Thanos was a good boss that gave everyone employee benefits" route because he's some writer's pet due to his whole eco-fascist schtick being framed as an "ethical dilemma", so I am scared of them touching that, like they did in "What If?" despite him canonically torturing children for the lulz).