Loki! (spoiler thread)

[Zaukrie]

We may be talking at cross purposes here. I was talking about the possibility that Loki substituted a duplicate of himself when he did the green flashy magic thing just after they entered the mall, and that the real Loki was off hiding or exploring invisibly elsewhere for the rest of the episode, while the Loki we followed on-screen was a duplicate - a solid, interactive illusion through which the real Loki could perceive, speak and act.

I get that....I'm talking about all the Lokis.....given he's been disintegrated over and over as a variant, how does he exist?

Of all the other Lokis in existence, they must not be aware of each other completely, or "our" Loki wouldn't need to find the one he finds to communicate with her.

To be clear, I'm trying to figure out two things:

1. How is Loki alive if they keep getting rid of him?
2. If there are a lot of Loki out there.....can they not communicate? Does that make them not really Loki? Etc.....so many questions here.

 

[MarkB]

I get that....I'm talking about all the Lokis.....given he's been disintegrated over and over as a variant, how does he exist?

Of all the other Lokis in existence, they must not be aware of each other completely, or "our" Loki wouldn't need to find the one he finds to communicate with her.

To be clear, I'm trying to figure out two things:

1. How is Loki alive if they keep getting rid of him?
2. If there are a lot of Loki out there.....can they not communicate? Does that make them not really Loki? Etc.....so many questions here.

The suggestion seems to be that they're all variants from different timelines that have been closed off, though given that supposedly the only way that could happen these days is by branching off from the main timeline, the extreme physical variance of different Lokis is hard to explain.

And I didn't get any suggestion that they're working together or even aware of each other - just that he seemingly happens to have had a lot of variants.

 

[Umbran]

To be clear, I'm trying to figure out two things:

1. How is Loki alive if they keep getting rid of him?

Okay, so the long list of Loki Variants each come up when new timelines are created. When that happens, a duplicate of every person is also made, as it is a full universe. They catch the variant Loki and collapse his variant timeline, leaving the original in the Sacred Timeline.

This is separate from Loki's ability to make duplicates of himself - that's magic that stays in his universe with him, and is not a separately free-willed individual.

2. If there are a lot of Loki out there.....can they not communicate?

They are, generally speaking, in different timelines. Loki doesn't generally have the power to skip between timelines, so the variants don't generally interact. They stay in their own universes.

Does that make them not really Loki? Etc.....so many questions here.

Well, define what it means to "be Loki." Note that every time an alternate timeline is created that means alternate versions of everything. Every rock. Every person.

 

[Rabulias]

We may be talking at cross purposes here. I was talking about the possibility that Loki substituted a duplicate of himself when he did the green flashy magic thing just after they entered the mall, and that the real Loki was off hiding or exploring invisibly elsewhere for the rest of the episode, while the Loki we followed on-screen was a duplicate - a solid, interactive illusion through which the real Loki could perceive, speak and act.

Interesting, but I doubt it. IIRC, Loki's previous duplicates have been clearly shown to be illusions when touched or struck. This episode's Loki gets tossed around too much in the store fight to be a duplicate IMO.

 

[Stalker0]

Well, define what it means to "be Loki." Note that every time an alternate timeline is created that means alternate versions of everything. Every rock. Every person.

And suddenly the opening title sequence just made a lot more sense to me. Dozens of "lokis" in various forms. Can't believe I just got that.

 

[Zaukrie]

Okay, so the long list of Loki Variants each come up when new timelines are created. When that happens, a duplicate of every person is also made, as it is a full universe. They catch the variant Loki and collapse his variant timeline, leaving the original in the Sacred Timeline.

This is separate from Loki's ability to make duplicates of himself - that's magic that stays in his universe with him, and is not a separately free-willed individual.



They are, generally speaking, in different timelines. Loki doesn't generally have the power to skip between timelines, so the variants don't generally interact. They stay in their own universes.



Well, define what it means to "be Loki." Note that every time an alternate timeline is created that means alternate versions of everything. Every rock. Every person.

I actually meant that last part about when he creates duplicates of himself, assuming I understood that. Like, did he think he was hunting himself?

 

[Zaukrie]

So, help me out on the variant thing....you are saying that a full new timeline is created at every variation, not just "when it goes red" and duplicates are created, and only the duplicates are killed?

 

[Marc_C]

Didn't like it. The retro aesthetic of the time police is also a turn off. Maybe we will like it more after the second episode.

 

[Zaukrie]

If, when the TVA first encountered our Loki, they weren't out of time and space, how was their puny mortal weapon able to incapacitate a god so easily?

 

[MarkB]

So, help me out on the variant thing....you are saying that a full new timeline is created at every variation, not just "when it goes red" and duplicates are created, and only the duplicates are killed?

When a new timeline diverges sufficiently to hit the red line, that means it's diverged too far to be reined in with a few reset charges, and is now a full-fledged alternate universe. But even in the time before it reaches that point, if someone manages to somehow skip out of that divergent timeline, as Loki did using the Tesseract, that person becomes a rogue variant and needs to be hunted down, before their actions beget yet more divergent timelines.

If, when the TVA first encountered our Loki, they weren't out of time and space, how was their puny mortal weapon able to incapacitate a god so easily?

They do potentially have access to every puny mortal weapon ever created in any timeline.