LOKI: What's the Point? | EVERYTHING Explained + Full MARVEL Series Breakdown

[Music] and so loki is finished but as we gaze at the black mirror in our home that used to display the time traveling misadventures of the god of mischief we have time to reflect on the sum total of the experience a moment to gaze at our own reflection and ask ourselves what was the point loki is a character defined by loops this trait stretches all the way back to his roots in norse mythology see myths are stories that have been repeated again and again over the centuries unlike a film or a novel loki's story has been told retold and shaped by countless people and everyone told their stories of the god of mischief a little differently resulting in tiny variations just like in the show there are variations of loki from many different timelines but what is a timeline if not another story another way of telling this tale loki's story like all myths is always in the process of being told by someone somewhere so unlike the mcu loki his mythological story never ends this is one of the many loops that defines loki's existence myths like a circle are ongoing without a defined beginning middle and end but also within norse mythology loki's story is defined by a loop he instigates ragnarok the destruction of asgard which in turn leads to the rebirth of asgard and the loop begins anew this loop is also symbolized by the world serpent that encircles midgard so it's only fitting that loki's personal cycle has been reflected in the mcu's version oh dear brother you're becoming predictable i trust you you betray me round and round in circles we go your loki life is about it's about growth it's about change but you seem to just want to stay the same loki always felt like an outcast the comic book reading nerd in a small town where people only love basketball or in this case the boy who loved magic and trickery in a society where warriors were honored my firstborn so long entrusted with the mighty hammer mjolnir as a weapon to destroy or as a tool to build it is a fit companion for a king loki grew up to resent thor for the way people loved him and he secretly wanted to be his brother he acted out to get attention like cutting off sif's hair in episode four the memory loop with sif is an indication of loki's own personal loop he can never escape his self-hate and guilt because no matter what he did those bad things i'm a horrible person i get it i really am and no amount of mischief or attention will ever make him loved like thor and yet he tried to imitate and outdo his brother by attempting genocide of the frost giants if thor wanted to kill a few frost giants as an example then loki would kill them all to sever all ties to his birthplace and prove that he was asgard's greatest hero but he was rejected i could have done it for you when loki realizes the people would never love him like they do thor he decides to play the role of a villain the monster they always saw him as i wish i was the monster you think i am or as loki himself explained because it's part of the illusion it's the cruel elaborate trick conjured by the weak to inspire fear thus mcu loki began his own vicious loop pretending to be a villain faking his own death all ploys to get the attention that he craves so he won't feel alone when he steals the throne from odin he doesn't try to conquer the nine realms he doesn't unleash the casket of winters on midgard he creates the illusion that his father loved him he poses as odin just to aggrandize himself i'm sorry i tried to rule earth god they'd be lucky to have you if loki can't earn his father's love then he can steal it but this just kept him inside his loop until he allowed himself to truly connect with others okay i thought the world are you i thought we were gonna fight side by side forever but at the end of the day you're you and i me loki finally did break his cycle if you're here i might even give you a hug only to have it reiterated again in this show give me the tesseract or i'll gut you like a fish casey but loki's relationship to loops is also reflected in the philosophy of the tva they consume media on reels and reels are a kind of loop the film reel of loki's life appears linear when viewed in one frame at a time but when you step back the story of his life is actually a loop a flat circle so the flat circle theory of time travel states that a fourth dimensional being could step back and see existence not as a film strip but as the reel itself a flat circle where our lives have already been burned into the film and our fates have been written this is how the tva perceives time that's the proper flow of time and it happens again and again and again because it's supposed to because it has to so loki's life story this film strip is just another cruel loop but now we know what's causing this loop loki has not been allowed to change or grow whenever one of us dares try to fix themselves they're sent here to die nothing can change until the tva has stopped and now it looks like the mcu is in a time loop as well he who remains tells loki and silvi an infinite amount would be start another of war and i just end up right back here anyways and sure enough she kills him kickstarting the multiversal war that led he who remains to create the tva like he says but the show's obsession with time loops and rebirth is best symbolized by this logo of the tva at first glance it shows an hourglass a symbol that implies that time is running out and this is what tva workers believe that they are working till the end of time no more nexus events just order and we meet in peace at the end of time but notice that on ravona rinslayer's door and the door to the timekeepers this symbol has been rotated this makes it look like an infinity symbol indicating the infinite time loop of the multiversal war and creation of the tva but this symbol is also a degas an ancient rune that indicates birth death and rebirth just like the death and rebirth of he who remains or the death and rebirth of the universe following the big crunch in the big bang but most importantly it's a symbol of loki's ongoing struggle with the vicious cycles of his life you are alone and you always will be and all of these ideas about loops and cycles hit on the series central theme determinism these are two boring schools of thought determinism claims that all of reality is predetermined maybe even by a higher power whereas free will means that we're all just out here bumping into each other like restless apes nothing matters the tva is built on determinism they believe the timekeepers have created a sacred timeline where everything has a place and a purpose mobius begins as the poster boy for belief and determinism he swallows tva propaganda and feels grateful for their control existence is chaos nothing makes any sense so we try to make some sense of it and i'm just lucky that the chaos i emerged into gave me all this the tragedy here is that mobius is a prisoner and his free will has been stolen from him this is also indicated by his namesake the mobius strip an impossible geometric figure with no ending or beginning another loop and he refuses to indulge his greatest desire to ride a jet ski i think a tva agent showing up on a jet ski on the sacred timeline that would create a branch for sure but being around loki slowly changes mobius you'll be fine though yeah he gradually believes that fates aren't predetermined and people can choose their own paths you could be whoever whatever you want to be even someone good i mean just in case anyone ever taught you different and that's what the variants actually are the embodiment of choice maybe you started an uprising or were just late for work whatever it was stepping off your path created a nexus event loki is the god of chaos and mischief is the embodiment of free will he flouts the conventions of the dining hall choosing to wreck mobius's lunch when the sign here clearly says no talking in the cafeteria the mere existence of a variant proves the sacred timeline is a lie everything can't be predetermined if some people can choose to go off that predetermined path if everyone in the universe has a proper place then there would be no need for the tva or the void or for aliath in fact the void is filled with variants urban myths and legends that didn't fall into mainstream society's idea of normal we even learned that loki himself is the cause of another urban myth d.b cooper uh miss yes mr cooper you might want to take a look at that note i have a bomb now this is all confirmed in the final episode when he who remains claims that he's planned everything every step you took to get here clementis the void i paved the road you you just walk down it but this is a lie so i feel this is because they have reached the end of the known timeline the point when existence could continue or branch away this is the moment determinism ends and existence is finally determined by free will this was also foreshadowed by miss minutes are you recording or are you alive uh sort of both miss minutes was created and programmed with certain functions just like human beings are born with certain drives and instincts but within her programming miss minutes can improvise and respond to her environment at the end of the season he who remains is finally free of his own script and chooses to let loki and sylvie write the final page of his story and now you're just gonna sit there with all that freedom and let us decide your faith now this is after he's tried to convince them that the tva is beyond morality it is necessary tva it works you kill me and destroy all this and you don't just have wine dabble you have an infinite amount or you two you two run the thing without their harsh control of the timeline the multiverse would fall into anarchy and with such dire consequences he argues individual freedom has to be sacrificed for the greater good so the only person who actually does have freedom is he who remains only one person gets free will the one in charge this sets up the ideological battle that's analogous to free will versus determinism fascism versus anarchy in a fascist state one person has total control over every aspect of society from the government the economy all the way down to what people are allowed to think and feel be yourself just be sure it's your best self the tva provides their workers with daily tasks and jobs just like in most societies people stop wanting to upset the system if they have security and something to keep them occupied every day these people are told that surrendering their freedoms will keep them safe just like the tva has promised mobius i don't get hung up on believe not believe i just accept what is the tva is the quintessential fascist state they've installed an all-powerful figurehead the timekeepers and the tva believe in strong divine leadership much like ancient egyptians believed that the pharaohs were god made flesh it's actually kind of appropriate since kang first traveled back in time to become a pharaoh rama tut and like any fascist state the tva is built on propaganda tools like posters and miss minutes herself the timekeepers created the tva and all its incredible workers fascist state the tva maintains power by oppressing a minority in this case the variance i don't want anybody out there to forget what you are oh your only hope of capturing a murderer no a cosmic mistake and this also shows a similarity to the tva and loki they both have a sick mischievous sense of humor these workers have no idea that they are the very same people that they've been demonizing and hunting i looked happy the plight of hunter b-15 resonated with author syed jones who wrote someone being told that they have committed a crime they didn't even know it was possible to commit just by trying to live their life in a way that makes sense to them perfectly sums up what it's like growing up queer in an anti-queer society the series also revealed that loki is gender fluid and bisexual your prince must have been would-be princesses or perhaps another prince a bit of both showing that he's a member of a group that has often been shunned and victimized by the system this is one of the many ways that loki shows us the price of fascism we trade safety for freedom and individuality but the wake up call for loki is the toll that ruling takes on he who remains i'm older older than look in the avengers loki portrays himself as a fascist despot is this not your natural state and he continues to spout these lies in the show the first and most oppressive lie ever uttered was the song of freedom but the truth is loki believes in individual freedom and breaking free from control when he's not acting out to impress his dad it's in his nature to encourage others to break free you and i here at the tva we're the only ones who are actually free in norse mythology loki is the instigator of change he cuts off siff's hair which leads to the creation of mjolnir and inadvertently helps thor rise to become his best self in the comics and movies his actions lead to the creation of the avengers he shakes up the status quo and frees people from their mundane lives all so that others can achieve their best versions of themselves loki represents the forces of anarchy the idea that nature will always break down systems of control the universe wants to break free so it manifests chaos this is why the polite ordered society will always reject the loki's and they will always be pushed to the outer edges of society because we my friends have but one part to play the god of outcasts loki isn't a cool kid he acts out to get attention from sif i crave attention [Music] glorious and his older brother's friends pick on him what happened silver tongue turned the lead as guardians don't care for loki because he's different i didn't have friends odin never accepts loki and this rejection by odin and by extension the society that he rules makes loki feel like the universe is working against him do you think that what makes a loki a loki is the fact that we're destined to lose because in myth loki does always lose over and over and over as the tales have been retold throughout the centuries so loki much like hunter b-15 just wants to be seen your savior is here his heel turn in thor was a ploy to earn his father's attention i went down to midgard to rule the people of earth as a benevolent god just like you he makes a big show out of his appearance in germany and tony stark figures out where he's taken the tesseract by realizing his craving of attention he wants to beat us he wants to be seen doing it he wants an audience even when he poses odin thor ragnarok he didn't use his power to wage war on the nine realms or conquer midgard he built statues of himself commissioned plays to rewrite history also the asgardians would love him because they believed that now odin loved him you were merely a little blue baby icicle that melted this old fool's heart this guy really needs therapy thor ragnarok shows the end result of loki's self-aggrandizement the grandmaster has built monuments to himself and the people of sakhar suffer and hate him oh well i tried to start a revolution but didn't print enough pamphlets so hardly anyone turned up but even then loki still only thinks of power and taking the grandmaster's place perhaps in time an accident befalls the grand master and then but instead thor helps loki to break this cycle by finally giving him the love that he needs okay i thought the world to you and also by explaining his vicious cycle your loki life is about it's about growth it's about change but you seem to just want to stay the same in the tv show variant loki is able to break out of his cycle because he meets other outcasts like himself but we don't die we survive classic loki even shows him the price of living your entire life alone i got lonely to tell you the truth i missed my brother and i wondered if he missed me if anybody else did so it's his love for sylvie that breaks him free from his loop of attempted conquest and defeat i don't want a throne i just want you to be okay and of course the only person that a narcissist like loki could love is himself and how fitting that his other self uses a moment of connection to turn on him [Music] everyone relates to loki because he's the god of outcasts see everyone at some point in their life has felt like an outcast there's a lot more of us in our view any of you that have ever felt stepped on left out picked on put down whether you think you're a nerd or not why don't you just come down here and join us okay see everyone at some point in their life has felt like the outsider the other loki takes his role as an outcast and has fun with it [Music] he's the life of the party no but i like this and even encourages others to embrace their own inner loki i think a tva agent showing up on a jet ski on the sacred timeline that would create a branch for sure not be fun though yeah it'd be really fun loki is the villain that we all look at and say that looks like fun we want to break out of our mundane job dance and sing i'm talking about putting a brick through the other guy's windshield i'm talking about taking it out and chopping it up we all want the god of chaos to come into our lives and invite us to scream into the void nothing matters nothing has any consequence dance while you still can dance while you still can that's the point of loki but that's just what i think let me know your thoughts down in the comments below or at me on twitter and if it's your first time here please subscribe for screen crush i'm ryan airy [Music] you

Channel: ScreenCrush

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Keywords: Loki easter eggs, Loki, loki screencrush, what is tva, loki ending explained, loki breakdown, marvel, marvel cinematic universe, MCU, what is a time variant, marvel easter eggs, lady loki, lady loki plan, every new timeline, loki easter eggs, jet ski, mobius, sylvie, variants, time keepers, old loki, richard e grant, moki mid credits, loki episode 5, kang, one who remains, loki finale, who was the statue of in loki, loki statue explained, loki 6 easter eggs

Id: -bJLEnYRJp0

Length: 19min 22sec (1162 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 27 2021