#txt: icarus foaming @ the mouth analysis

[autumnoficarus]

i can't stop listening to the 'purpose is glorious' track from this season's ost and thinking about how lovely the title and its meaning are. it's just such an amazing underlying theme in this show, and - while i do have criticisms about some of the choices made for the series finale - i really do feel the writers wholeheartedly delivered in sending that message home. for me personally, loki's ending is so gratifying and a large part of that is solely from viewing their arc's conclusion with the perspective of this theme in mind. to have spent years watching this character i hold very dear to my heart struggle to find belonging, to feel as though they matter and there is reason in their existence, finally get a chance to show - and recognize - their worth was so, so rewarding. and honestly, i think the message behind the phrasing of 'purpose is glorious' is all the more meaningful because of how loki's arc finished. yes, the outcome was bittersweet; yes, we're left knowing loki didn't get the happiness they undeniably earned after everything they'd gone through. it smarts something fierce to know their journey up until they deviated from their timeline and became a variant, as well as seen their eventual intended fate. the ache is only worsened after witnessing everything that happens within the TVA and the entirety of loki's character growth leading up to a redefining moment where they willingly choose to undergo a nightmarish amount of time in the endeavor to do the right thing. of course we want them to emerge victorious when they've struggled for so long, but that's not the point. loki's final moments are them forfeiting their right to a happy ending to preserve the stories of others because all stories matter and should inherently reserve the free will to be written; as sylvie says, loki makes their choice so their loved ones and life across the multiverse still have a chance to belong somewhere and embrace their place in the world. the take away is that even burden can be glorious. even with all the hardships of life - all the inevitable heartache, disappointment, and grief we encounter just by being alive - we have meaning in our existence. there is meaning in the trials we face, and the suffering we endure in order to overcome them. our pain gives us purpose; it gives us the ability to love, to grow from and for each other, and choose to sacrifice our happiness for the benefit of another. loki's purpose was forged in the bonds of those they met in their time at the TVA and the sense of value they gained from their companionship. their sacrifice perfectly conveys how the human capacity to love is one of cosmic greatness, which can ultimately surpass our instinctual desire to preserve one's self. we can move immovable mountains and challenge insurmountable adversity in behalf of the ones we love and their welfare. if that isn't an act deserving of glory, I don't know what is.

tldr; loki's purpose is the friends they made along the way = as the saying goes, 'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all'. or: our own lives have purpose because of the connections we share with others, even when we are met with great loss.

[autumnoficarus]

a brief analysis of Lokius and what their characters have to do with numbers, π, and mathematical constants

i really live for meta analysis on cinematography used in shows and movies, so i especially enjoy reading about analyzations of the loki series right now. one of the theories i've seen and immensely enjoy is the visual repetition of numbers throughout the show, and how they symbolize certain elements of the narrative. the fact that pie is significant - the mathematical ratio of π has a constant (3.14159 or 22/7) - and we watched characters being almost drawn there multiple times before the finale is just so neat to me. That being said, I'm not sure if I've missed anyone pointing this out yet - but I think THIS is a very interesting choice, even more so in how it's framed:

The way the scene above ends with Mobius positioned right next to that HUGE '2' is, I think, very telling. He's also standing so that the smaller '5' is almost completely obscured, letting the '2' be displayed more prominently (I'm not sure yet if there's more reason here behind '5' being used, other than that it's to further clarify where we're at in the timeline of the show (the location being where mobius' and loki's initial introduction took place) but I plan to re-watch the series from the beginning solely to find possible points of analysis that may have been missed soon. I will have to see if and how much certain numbers pop up in scenes). Putting the constant of pi and numbers theory aside for a moment, just having the '2' stand nearly as tall as Mobius and Loki while they shake hands and part for the last time...it's a pretty clear nod towards their partnership. I am convinced this was a set design choice to really hone in on the fact that these two characters when paired together are what was needed for a successful solution to the multiverse's instability. Here's my reasonings for that:

Firstly, I think this could have multiple meanings or house numerous symbolizations, but I'm gonna really try to stay on focus and as close to how I interpret the significance of π as I can. Straight away, we could say the '2' is a throwback to the theory of fundamental constants as it is a variable of π's equation. However, I want to break down why I believe the variable's even factor can correspond with what we know about these characters.

1) Mobius represents order in its purest form, which embraces the importance of chaos (which is then mirrored by Ravonna's own representation, order that oppresses chaos and why that inherently cannot WORK). If we think about physics for a moment, or even basic mathematics, integers exist to be combined, divided, and shared - right? And without divisions of integers that create remainders or function improperly, we wouldn't have constants (such as π). Without equations that use both even and odd qualities, there wouldn't be the natural continuum of real numbers that we rely on in order to understand our universe. Mobius' character constitutes as one side of an equation - the side of order and, more specifically, an integer that can further divide into equal distribution - where the sum is a functional constant.

2) I personally like to further interpret how Mobius's character could overall stand for the '2' in π's constant through the fact that two being equally divisible means he has an equivalent amount of 'order' to his mindset as he does 'chaos'. Both components make Mobius who he is and that's ultimately the reason he's 'order at its purest'. And I know I'm silly and crazy, but I'll dive even deeper here. It can also be argued to be just as meaningful that '2' is able to divide and share the same amount of something because of how we see in the show that Mobius' patience, empathy, and other positive qualities start to reflect - and be matched - in Loki's growth as a character.

3) Another thing I want to point out is that there would be no 'change' without sums that end irrationally or are absent of means to be expressed. In other words, if mathematics lacked equations that ended in remaining values and instead only functioned via numbers that divide until nothing is left then there would never be any outcome that can undergo change. Everything would always zero out, and - of course - we saw what happened if the sum is always 0; Timely's invention fails, the Loom still overloads, and no one survives the outcome. Mobius is a necessary factor because of his divisible qualities and sense of order, but so is Loki because without them changes wouldn't be possible. As a duo, they are both equal parts transformed and combined to produce the right outcome of events.

4) Of course, Mobius alone does not finish the equation. It is in the combined efforts of Mobius and Loki that we see a successful end in the finale. Loki does not accept their burden and ascend the throne to become the God of Stories until their last conversation with Mobius where they are reasonably lost on how to solve the problem of the multiverse ending. Mobius' influence, both the entirety of his presence within the series and in the last bit of advice he gives to Loki, is what provides the final results of Loki's arc. Likewise, Mobius doesn't leave the TVA and avoids knowing about his life on the timeline until Loki sacrifices themselves so he can still have that choice to look. And then when he does look, it's heavily implied that Mobius was encouraged by Loki's words during their discussion over pie ('never look, never know'). The sum of their journeys are only achieved after knowing and changing the other. Their arcs and the multiverse status are left uncompleted until they come together as the two variables of an irrational fraction that creates a circle (a loop with a beginning and an end).

5) Returning to my first point and the significance of Mobius + order, we are meant to regard Loki as his opposite. Loki is 'chaos in its purest form', and during Loki's arc they learn to accept the consequences, and viability, of life devoid of any structure (again having a mirrored version in Sylvie who is seen to function under similar chaos, but refuses any semblance of order; this only creates problems that then divide into even more problems. We get confirmation that Sylvie's mentality - like Renslayer - does not WORK, which is seen in Loki's numerous attempts to fix the domino effect that Sylvie starts by killing HWR). Order and chaos being meaningful and having their own separate potentials to be good and bad has been a running theme in this show. Entropy is needed - just like irrationalities and remaining values in mathematics - for life to thrive, but there needs to be a balance in place. Disorder and the regulation of disorder is a necessary constant, and Loki becomes that constant from the sum of their and Mobius' relationship.

6) Hear me out: Loki being at the heart of Yggdrasil is a lot like how the automat was the center of the TVA. The automat had an endless source of pie; Loki fueling the 'tree of life' with their magic creates continual growth and rejuvenation of the multiverse's branches. The finale showed us that the sum of Mobius' and Loki's partnership results in the perfect equilibrium of chaos and order, which becomes the solution to what had been an unsolvable equation - even for HWR. The culmination of their shared bond provides a foundation for the multiverse going forward, and Loki's ability to maintain it stems from the purpose and love that they found from that bond. Notably, the constant of π - 22/7 - is an irrational number. When expressed, its decimal is known to be non-repeating and non-terminating. The multiverse is now a non-repetitive, non-terminating constant that - I say, once again, with feeling - is established only by Mobius and Loki growing and changing because of each other.

I'm not sure if anyone will find this small observation in the goodbye scene and my subsequent insane ramblings interesting, but uhhh. This is just one of the many things I haven't been able to get out of my head since the finale, and I desperately needed to write out at least some of these thoughts or lose the last of my marbles (now asking for donations of any unused marbles towards my mental state, thank you).