LOKI Writer CONFIRMS How Variants Exist in Sacred Timeline EXCLUSIVE | MARVEL Explained

welcome to screen crush i'm ryan airy all throughout our coverage of loki ever since the very first episode i've gotten the same question over and over if there's one sacred timeline then how could there be variant timelines how could there be a variant of loki that's a woman or an alligator if every deviation is a threat to the sacred timeline i've made a lot of videos theorizing about this appeared on podcasts talking about flat circle time theory and that's all been a lot of fun but guess what now we have an actual answer straight from the show's head writer michael waldron screen crush editor-in-chief matt singer interviewed waldron and point blank asked him that question if there is a sacred timeline then how could there be variants waldron gave a very insightful answer but it does take some explaining so thank you for your patience buckle up and let's answer one of loki's most burning questions waldron told screencrush the best i can explain it is that our approach with time travel was the philosophy that basically time is always happening so there are infinite instances of time occurring all at once okay so before we go on let me explain the principle of what he's talking about episode 6 begins with this quote from philosopher allen watts now this is taken from watts's lecture time and the more it changes which you can watch for free on youtube watts argues that we actually have no way to measure time and moments our view of time is flexible time flies at disneyland but it drags when you're in algebra class even the most accurate clocks can drag or speed up he goes on to explain that the way we measure time is flawed world war 1 started in 1914 but the events that shaped it began hundreds of years before and we're still filming the repercussions from that war so the idea of beginning and ending is actually very flexible that how big a thing is or how long an event is is simply a matter of definition instead life is made up of the present moment and in the present anything can happen i can drop this mic and go watch tron you can turn this video off and read a book the present is pregnant with possibilities waldron goes on to say so you and i are having this conversation right now there's another instance of us having this conversation 10 seconds ago there's another instance of time of us having this conversation 10 seconds in the future generally those three instances and you could literally say that they're all different universes and in a way different timelines all of those instances are the same there are my new little fluctuations in each instance of time so in our conversation five times out of ten i pick up and say hello and four times out of ten i say hey nice to meet you and then maybe one time out of ten i'd say hey man you i don't want to do this interview so what he's saying is the time is not made up of the past present and future time is always happening right now do not think of time in a linear way this is also the root of the multiverse the multiverse isn't necessarily physical dimensions that exist that you can travel between the multiverse simply represents the possibility of other things happening and for all you know the life you're living right now might not even be the actual reality this could just be a possible reality maybe simulated in a computer somewhere so remember in the last episode of loki how the castle is encircled by the sacred timeline that timeline is not the past present and future it's a ring with trillions of tiny possibilities and different moments all playing out at the same time think of it like this contains billions of tv sets all showing different variations of events kind of like interdimensional cable it's called two brothers two brothers it's just called and one of these tv sets does not affect the tv set next to it every single show is happening at once because you see in reality there are no separate events life moves along like water confused all right it gets clear waldron goes on to say the tva has their own barometer their own gauge of what constitutes a deviation from the baseline the way it's supposed to go the way it went to produce he who remains that is their baseline so all of these tvs in the timeline are showing different shows but they all have the same ending with he who remains in charge of the tva and kang not being born so the sacred timeline isn't one version of events it's actually more like a bass line made up of several events and this bass line is displayed on the tva screens the variations in the timelines are when there's a change to that baseline event just like if you're watching a tv show there's certain ways the characters are supposed to behave like rachel and joey are friends but when characters deviate from this understanding and suddenly hook up for no reason it makes no sense and it doesn't feel like the same show anymore friends strayed from its baseline waldron goes on to say if you zoomed in on the timeline it wouldn't necessarily look like a straight line it might look like almost the intertwined strands of a rope fluctuating and spiking here and there now this is actually the metaphor that i've used to describe the sacred timeline for weeks now and look i feel pretty validated for that once in my life i was right about something you were right about me in fact we even see this in the finale when the camera travels into a black hole and then through the dr strange multiverse tunnel it passes into the sacred timeline itself where we can see that it's not a solid monolith of events it is several small timelines that form together into one strong strand back to waldron he says when it becomes a problem for the tva is when according to their own rules when could something branch off in a way that it could actually produce a new timeline that could produce a new version of he who remains that is the practical thing that they're guarding against so the tva is actually cool with all of these multiverses as long as they stay within the confines of the actual sacred timeline in other words as long as all of these variants conform to the result that they want which is awesome it further speaks to the show's themes of fascism and enforced conformity that we've been talking about in so many of our videos the timeline being a fourth dimensional loop also reinforces the idea that loki's life is lived in loops both in mythology and the mcu which we've also talked about in several loki videos so the question you're probably still asking is if time is constant and events aren't cause and effect then how did the timeline change how did loki and sylvia alter reality well there's a long explanation and a short explanation first the long detailed one the very presence of loki and sylvie starts to disrupt the plans of he who remains now this is visualized here showing the sacred timeline beginning to split when it's past the tower in other words the events that are happening in the tower make the fate of the whole timeline uncertain remember how waldron said that time isn't the past present and future it's just a series of moments like it's always in the present by that logic if he who remains is watching over the timeline then he has always watched over the timeline and he always will for all time always the tva agents are able to see all these moments of time at once in the time theater that's the proper flow of time and it happens again and again and again because it's supposed to because it has to but they were never certain about the ending they're toiling away in their chamber untangling the epilogue from its infinite branches i see i knew everything up to a certain point and that point was about seven eight nine ten seconds ago this is the moment they couldn't see the aftermath of he who remains his time ruling the tva and you'll notice that this castle is not part of the sacred timeline that's very important it's apart from it this is how he who remains death was able to change the sacred timeline because just like all events there isn't a past and future there is only now he who remains is either controlling all of the timeline right now or he isn't and he never was when loki and sylvia arrive they throw his rule into question as symbolized by the branching timelines this is why loki and sylvie scared the bejesus out of the tva why they are touching diverted the timeline so far from the tva's baseline you ever seen a branch like that loki and silvi always had the power to step out of the sacred timeline and dethrone he who remains and because every moment in time is technically occurring in the present then they've always been in the castle looking out at the sacred timeline and like a norse myth that is retold over and over they will return to that castle again again and again and this is why he who remains was not surprised by his own death so okay so that's the complicated way to put it this is the easy way sacred timeline is like looking at a bunch of tvs where everything is happening at once the castle in the middle moves at regular time where people can age and die and because this castle is in the center of the sacred timeline loop then you can control all of time from there when he who remains dies no one is left to control the timeline you still confused well throw me a question down in the comments 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

Views: 137,269

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, loki easter eggs, jet ski, mobius, sylvie, variants, time keepers, old loki, richard e grant, kang, loki finale, who was the statue of in loki, loki statue explained, loki 6 easter eggs, loki how variants work, why are there variants in sacred timeline

Id: nBehFiXwVY8

Length: 8min 53sec (533 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 29 2021