The ‘Loki’ Finale Is Our New Roman Empire—and the Fan Art Proves It
My beautiful boy ...
The second season of Loki ended last week on Disney+, but we still cannot stop thinking about the fate that awaited our beloved trickster god.
The Loki series was a journey of discovery for Loki (Tom Hiddleston). At first, he was an angry god, fresh from his defeat in the first Avengers movie. After being taken to the TVA, he fought against finding his variant and plotted his escape. Over time, he developed a very close relationship with his TVA partner, Mobius (Owen Wilson), and his variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), and by the end of the second season, Loki fought to save the TVA rather than destroy it.
He just wanted to save his friends, your honor.
**Major spoilers for the finale of Loki season 2!**
In the last episode, “Glorius Purpose,” Loki works for centuries to fix the Time Loom and save all the branching timelines. However, no matter what he tries, the system always fails. After going back further in time, Loki discusses the problem with He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), and it’s only then that he figures out the system he is trying to fix will always fail, and the only way to save everyone is to change how time flows. Easy enough for a god, right? Loki says goodbye and walks down the platform towards the infinitely branching timelines. The energy from the timelines burns away his TVA uniform to reveal a green outfit and a crown with long, cracked black horns.
Seeing Loki wearing his trademark horns again was good for the soul.
Taking the timelines from the loom, Loki manipulated them until he created a tree with them. Not just any tree, but the Norse tree of life, Yggdrasil. To keep the timeline growing properly, Loki must sit on a throne in the center, watching time pass without him.
It was a beautiful moment, but it was also heartbreaking. Loki had spent the previous episode trying to save his friends so he would no longer be alone. Our wonderful boy finally found people he loved who cared for him in return. He may have saved everyone in every timeline, but now he is completely alone.
It’s not just Loki that finds a solitary fate. Sylvie and Mobius meet after it is all said and done. We know Sylvie will find happiness—she’s our brave girl. But Mobius just wants to watch the variant version of himself live while he “lets time pass.” Those are also the last words of the show as they echo around Loki, the new God of Stories, sitting within his tree.
Understandably, this kind of pain over a beloved fictional character caused a huge response from the fans. For some of us, it is our new Roman Empire, that one topic that we can never stop thinking about. So much of the fan art inspired by the show centers on Loki either creating or sitting in his new home. Most of the works don’t convey happiness, just a beautiful sadness.
Now is the time to wrap ourselves in the comforting cloak of fan fiction and fan art. It’s time to heal.
(featured image: Disney+)
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