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

One of Loki's most lingering questions was how there could be variants if there is a single, sacred timeline. Now, Loki's head writer Michael Waldron explains to ScreenCrush's Matt Singer how he thinks time and timelines work
in the MCU.
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Written and Hosted by Ryan Arey ( / ryanarey )
Edited by Harriet Lengel-Enright and Ian Dugan

[@ScreenCrush]

What other mysteries does Loki need to answer?

[@doge82507]

Idk

[@Persephone_Personified]

Is this tva a separate timeline or rewritten same.. bc if this is the same TVA but rewritten.. how? Bc the TVA is supposed to be out of the timeline so a change in the castle shouldn’t effect the previous TVA

[@danibowen7982]

What is supposed to happen to Sylvie after what she did? I mean, she was literally left alone after sending Loki away. She going to be the new "leader" or "Queen" of the sacred timeline?

[@mrscribbles2693]

@@danibowen7982 something season 2 will answer

[@Fabio78902]

Here's a mystery: why everyone thinks that the meme in 5:55 it's Julia Roberts??? It's a brazilian meme, it's called Nazaré Confusa

[@thelifeofme5221]

I miss when our biggest problem was if you were team iron man or team cap.

[@itscalebgreen]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@el8517]

if it makes you feel better the debate is still very present

[@alano2475]

team cap because you should always question power to keep it in check but team tony because bucky fucking murdered his parents. I like Bucky but brainwashed or not, he did kill them. Tony deserved vengeance and closure before the threat of Thanos made him get over it.

[@kirkgeorgia6058]

@@alano2475 "following isn't really my style." -TS, Av 1. So crazy that we become team cap when Civil War rolls around because he's the one who is a rebel

[@alano2475]

@@kirkgeorgia6058 great catch, I had no idea he had that line. Probably it’s the incident in Lagos that makes Tony question himself and the Avengers

[@JayTomar2598]

I got a theory from this. The nexus event on Lamentis wasn't about Loki and Sylvie touching or feeling for each other. It was about their death. Because if they die then they never are and never will be in the Castle and that's a nexus event. They are supposed to be there. And as they are about to die so fast that's why the branch is happening so fast. And you may ask then why didn't the timeline branch when Loki dies in Infinity War? Because that is needed to happen for Loki go escape 2012. If Loki never dies in IW then Avengers don't go back in time and hence Loki never escapes with the Teserract and hence is never present in the Castle. So in short IW loki needs to die so that he can escape in the past. So complicated but makes sense to great extent.

[@dr.braxygilkeycruises1460]

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 You blew my mind and I totally agree!!!!!!!!! Loki & Sylvie's pending death would definitely be a bigger nexus event than simply touching (they didn't even Kiss on Lamentis 1). Wow!!!

[@David.Andrew]

GREAT THEORY!

[@maks_st]

That's a good one 👏

[@faizdeleo3006]

im still confused, does different timeline mean different universe? like how is there many versions of loki? i just dont get it lmaooo

[@faizdeleo3006]

i understand that if a past was to be altered, a new timeline will exist instead of a "new future". But i dont get how is there a different type of loki (the alligator one)...if different timeline means different universe then it would make sense to me...i guess lol

[@Dark-ki7lf]

So.. Loki has got more people studying physics than Einstein ever could.. 🆒

[@rawrrawr4063]

influence ✨ baby

[@lxax305]

😂😂😂The power of the God of Mischife

[@Cuinn]

I took the "See you soon :)" as him referring to his other variants now coming into existence (aka Kang).

[@pabloquijadasalazar7507]

Yeah, I’ve seen videos that seem to imply it’ll be the same dude, but that’s not what I think it is all; definitely referring to his variants.

[@onyxxproductions8187]

He says in his speech that he reincarnates and has to clean up the multiverse again from the mess made by his variants. So, he dies, reincarnates, his variants start a multiversal war, he wins the war and ends up back in the citidal - same dude over and over again - he said that he's lived a million lifetimes

[@Kriae]

Yes, the Kang war will repeat itself then a new HWR will emerge

[@mattheww9772]

@@onyxxproductions8187 I don't know if there's any reference to him as a singular being capable of returning to life, like a repeating thing in a continuity. I took it to mean he, as a being with reality warping potential, is essential to every timeline in some form (a conquerer, a savior, a overseer, even apart from being the same generic material, that role of a Kang will always be and is now always being.) The promise is that the individual experience of the future by Silvie, now a destroyer of a TVA/ He Who Remains, will cross a being that is a variant of Kang. With the death if HWR a more destructive Kang is bound to appear, HWR whole justification for destroying Silvie's whole life, reality and countless others (basically a genocidal fascist who thought of himself as savior, a perverse version of Loki from Avengers 1.) Would be hard for me to accept that argument for Silvie who has only suffered at this being's hands for his benefit and pleasure.

[@inteallsviktigt]

@@mattheww9772 I think you can think of it more that he is inevitable. Kang will alway come to be and discover dimensional travel. The multi verbal war always happens and one kang always win any take his place. In the same way every Loki variant is Loki. So he is hitler stopping other hitlers who according to him are worse. He did not try to destroy silvy. He literally wrote her story so she and Loki would end up where they did in order for them to make a choice Take his place and control the multi universe or kill him and se the next variant take his pass

[@bicokun]

I think the best metaphor is thinking about the timelines as a play. You can have different casting (even casting a woman as Loki, for instance) and maybe some ad-libbed moments off-script but as long as the basic story beats get hit and everything wraps up the same, it’s the same play and the TVA is fine with it. It’s only if someone decides to totally break with the script such that the play can no longer hit those story beats that the cast needs to be reset.

[@lxax305]

Exactly! I think of it as forcing every theater to only show Hamlet. Every theater has it’s own set of actors and similar scripts. If you are black, white, male, female or gator doesn’t matter. Just stick to your role and follow the script and TVA does nothing.

[@ikeeditz2012]

This perfectly describes it👌

[@mordirit8727]

This matches nicely with my theory about why the TVA waited so long to prune Sylvie. It didn't really make sense they would wait until she was around 13~15 to prune her if her deviation was "Loki was born a female," so the only thing that made sense was that the TVA didn't care about different timelines existing, as long as the variants in those timelines _played the same part_ their "sacred" version played. I really think Sylvie's Nexus Event was not being bitter enough as a kid, all we saw her do was play Asgard's Hero with some dolls. _That_ was her deviation, a Loki who had somewhat of a good nature as a child. This became much clearer to me an episode later, when Boastful Loki informs us Aligator Loki's Nexus Event was _eating the wrong neighbor's cat._ Think about that. The "Sacred Timeline" wasn't bothered by a timeline where Loki (and presumably all of Asgard) is a motherfucking GATOR. Because it doesn't matter what or who he is, what matters is what he does. Under the watch of the TVA, every person who ever existed is merely a "character." Different actors might play said character, but as long as they play their role correctly, the TVA doesn't bother. If anyone ever breaks the script, _then_ the TVA intervenes.

[@stevendevries3279]

Maybe. Though I think in practice, it's a lot less elegant than that. Like, there isn't a room in the TVA where someone is watching the Sylvie TV and all of a sudden stands up and says "GUYS, I THINK WE HAVE A PROBLEM" -- but rather they are just receiving alerts from He Who Remains or some facsimile (Miss Minutes perhaps) when a probabilistic guess is made about whether a specific time strand of the Sacred "time rope" will eventually deviate far enough away to give rise to a variant of Kang the Conqueror. Boastful Loki describes Gator Loki's nexus event that way because it's what the variants understand about what's happening (i.e. very little). Eating the cat is the nexus event to them because it occurred around the same time.

[@panzrok8701]

But her being born female has been probably still a branch of the timeline but it only made a difference later when she was growing up and behaved differently. She even explained it like that in episode 4: "The universe wants to break free so it manifests chaos. Like me being born the goddess of mischief. And as soon as that created a big enough detour from the sacred timeline, the TVA showed up." Classic Loki also survived Thanos and created a branched timeline/universe but the TVA didnt care until he tried to leave isolation.

[@Irked913]

Probably shouldn't be listening to much boastful loki says.

[@rizviaolad6185]

No no sylvie was playing with Valkyrie dolls and that’s what changed her mind and she wanted to become a Valkyrie which was not what was supposed to happen

[@mordirit8727]

@@Irked913 heh, I put a lot of trust in his words when they are about someone other than himself xD

[@brettw173]

Re: multi-universes - I highly recommend "Our Mathematical Universe" by Max Tegmark, a well-respected physicist. It discusses the four different types of multiverse and they would work. Really fascinating.

[@OteeseDreeftwood]

Our Mathematical Universe and Life 3.0 are both fantastic

[@ScarletVoodoo]

Max is my boy. My ears always perk up when he pops up on a science show.

[@nicolaseasdale1394]

That's awesome. There's actually 11 versions of what the Multiverse would theoretically look like, and act like.

[@criixt]

There's a version of Loki who is played by Tom Hiddleston who is in his 30's in The Avengers 2012, and then there's A Tom Hiddleston who plays Loki who's in his 40's who picks up after the events in The Avengers.

[@lisah6928]

This comment made me seriously LOL!! 🤣

[@5353Jumper]

The TVA was not preventing multiple universes or universal timelines, they were just preventing any variation that would lead to a different Kang. This explains why Earth is so important in the universe, because it is the origin on Kang. And Stark needs to fight Thanos to invent time travel tech that eventually leads to Kang's tech. And the Sorcerer Supreme is likely established by Kang to keep Earth on track with a single reality. It also explains why Loki variants are the most common, because they are always trying to rule Earth or interfering with Thor's destiny to fight Thanos, or the infinity stones coming to Earth making Tony invent time travel.

[@GdnationNY]

I don't think Kang is above all things and can make people in that way. He conquers time. And shapes time. Wanda. Dr strange, the sorcerer Supreme, loki, they are all elements of the universe. To conquer time, Kang deals with all of these elements. Think of how we think we have conquered earth and its elements. We have surely have not but we act like we did and keep trying to. We didn't produce water, we try to take it. The question is, is Kang an element? Is he inevitable? We will now find out. The original time keepers were probably elemental.

[@Ahmed-DB]

@@GdnationNY Great reply sir. Also OPs analysis was pretty fun to read as well!

[@itsmeimr2349]

How about this? Only loki have so many variants in the void bcz that's what they do, loki finds a way to survive

[@5353Jumper]

@@itsmeimr2349 yes they said that in the show. So there are more Loki variants than any other in the universes and also only Loki's survive once pruned in the void.

[@Corplos]

The Citadel at the End of Time reminds me of "The Aleph" by Jorge Luis Borges - a hypothetical point in space from which it is possible to see all of infinity.

[@qu0dlb3t]

With these shrooms I shall visit this place you speak of. lol jk dope concept to imagine tho.

[@drewhessler4698]

@@qu0dlb3t hahaha love it

[@qu0dlb3t]

@@drewhessler4698 I..... Am...... There.... (snaps perceived tentacles)

[@mustafaturab3659]

Just had a thought if the such place existed then time would surely pass there too so there would be a higher dimension of time where you could see the events happening at the "citadel" all at once

[@drewhessler4698]

@@mustafaturab3659 time is only linear in the third dimension, not fourth and above

[@DR-pq6ki]

I would like to point out that it, in addition to the timelines inside and branching out from A sacred timeline, I got the impression that there also exist several paralell "sacred timelines" , seen as different plates/rings/black holes. And at the start of the last episode, the camera(viewer point of view) went from one circle into another sacred timeline "ring"

[@AbjectPermanence]

The timeline at the castle isn't even a time line. It's a ring, a big loop with no beginning or end. The time ring explodes at the end, disconnecting the established loop. This means that the beginning is also broken.

[@philliphols]

It doesn’t explode as much as branch over and over. Those new time lines can’t effect the beginning, they are their own new realities

[@AbjectPermanence]

It does explode. The ring breaks and the beginning is no longer tied to the end. It was looped before because he who remains commanded the whole thing from the end of time, connecting the end to the beginning. However, instead of looping back on itself cleanly, the strands of the time ring branch off in every direction. They exploded out, away from the connection that made the ring loop.

[@michaelrizzello3763]

How is it then that the timeline starts to diverge while HWR is still alive? How is he controlling the timeline in the first place? It seems like he takes a lot of time to chat with Loki and Sylvie and while doing so, the Sacred Timeline begins to unravel.

[@whitenoise509]

The actual structure of that ring was left ambiguous on purpose. The audience is supposed to be left wondering not only about how it works, but about how HWR's power affected everything in the first place. Inside that ring we saw multiple universes, which seemed in themselves self contained. The concepts of "start" and "finish" begin to break down at this level.

[@AbjectPermanence]

@@michaelrizzello3763 The branches were already beginning to exist just by Loki and Sylvie being about to do something. A change of some kind was inevitable as a result of them being there, but it still could have gone in two directions. Either the cultivated time ring is kept whole and protected as "he who remains" offered, or the ring explodes into infinitely fraying branches. It wasn't until Sylvie killed "he who remains" that the ring connecting the end of time to the beginning broke completely. Until she did that, there was still a small chance that Loki could have managed to stop her or that she could change her mind.

[@Cauldron6]

Honestly Loki was so good that you could release a Loki video every day for a month and I’d be all in.

[@tekoneiric]

So basically it's wibbly wobbly timey wimey that looks like Jeremy Bearimy when written out. ;)

[@telmoparedes9484]

Ha! I see what you did there! As someone who walks in Eternity, I say to you "Take it sleazy..." 😁

[@ralucaioanagrigoras1489]

I understood that refference

[@whitenoise509]

I absolutely love how confusing and unintuitive this show's whole concept was. Disney+ is taking serious risks with these shows, and it's refreshing.

[@DarkLordLinkOfficial]

I’m glad they came out and explained this. This is the way I understood it based on the show, but a lot of people are jumping to conclusions that there’s no free will and every single event is dictated by He Who Remains

[@kdub3890]

Yes, many are drawing the conclusion that it's all "scripted". No, everything is acting freely, and HWR decides which outcomes are allowed to continue, i.e. one chooses to go right, one chooses to go left...only the one on the left gets to keep going, the other is pruned.

[@onyxxproductions8187]

Ravonna literally says that the only person with free will is the one in charge

[@DarkLordLinkOfficial]

@@onyxxproductions8187 that’s her point of view, not necessarily the truth

[@kdub3890]

@@onyxxproductions8187 I think that was meant in a "grand scheme of things" kind of way, not literally. If there's no actual free will, there's no variances. The whole narrative would be pointless.

[@jondoh9414]

I think of it like a river, there might be countless drops of water but as long as they're all going from point A to point B without diverging into another stream, the end result is still the same.

[@user-be9fn8ch1o]

Basically Loki can be born an alligator but as long as he follows his path and gets killed by Thanos he wont be pruned

[@dianamarcekova9615]

That's what I think too. There is a Loki in every universe and until they are the villain or don't do something that wasn't suppose to happen they won't get pruned.

[@BrandonJuhl]

Alligator Loki might have been born an alligator (maybe in that timeline/universe, all Asgardians are alligators, so there's an Alligator Thor, an Alligator Odin, etc.), or possibly he transformed into an alligator. But yes, I think you are correct: as long as he follows his path and meets his fate of dying at the hand of Thanos, he won't be pruned.

[@gilvinzalsos8734]

Or if that alligator loki does alligator things in isolation like the classic loki did, they wont be pruned

[@faizdeleo3006]

@@dianamarcekova9615 let’s say he did what he wasn’t supposed to, and he got pruned...what happens then? They restore the timeline but how does it get restored exactly?

[@dianamarcekova9615]

@@faizdeleo3006 That's a good question. Does everything end up in the Void or just the person who caused the nexus event?

[@musicnmagic83]

I love this video, thanks Ryan!!

[@EpicMickeyFanOfficial]

This made so much sense. Thanks for making this video!

[@mobyt.3900]

probably the best explanation I've heard so far, good job, you deserve a raise (remember to wash your hands and paws)!

[@bobthedopeman7327]

It's like when you ask how someone ended up in prison and they say " it all started when I was 3 years old"

[@businesstakeout]

🤣😂🤣😂

[@stevenfrazier9676]

Great stuff my friend!! Love it!

[@kremdellacrim4491]

Bro ur breakdowns are amazing!

[@insanejustin]

Great video ryan!

[@IronicSonic83]

The Joey-Rachel example is very clever. TVA is actually protecting us from bad writing!!

[@kirkgeorgia6058]

They were on a break!!!

[@Charolette21]

So it doesn’t matter that there are various Versions of you thats a man, woman, gator, cat, white, person of color, etc., as long as you follow the universal script of the Sacred Timeline, you are free to exist?

[@ClaudiaS_]

Yes, unless someone else in your reality does something out of the script, then he - and you - are both eliminated just for existing in a reality in which something happened that wasn't scripted.

[@Charolette21]

@@ClaudiaS_ so we could have had an Infinity saga with a Sophia Di Martiono Loki getting choked out by Thanos? 🤔 It would have been a timeline violation if Cyberpunk 2077 was a good game and CDPR Decided to not be corpo assholes?

[@mordirit8727]

Think of it this way: the TVA are the art critics of an infinite amount of theaters that are playing the exact same play, let's say Lord of the Rings. They don't care who is playing Frodo or Sam. If a theater decides to make it an all female cast, they are fine; if it is a cooky special production with birds instead of people, they are fine with that too... So long as the play follows the script. So they are totally fine with an obese Chinese man being Frodo. But if that Frodo gives up and doesn't accept to carry The Ring, the TVA bust the Theater and kills everyone involved. They are _very_ dedicated critics.

[@GabrielSouza-ie1tt]

Yes.

[@stevendevries3279]

Tbf, the gator Loki did get pruned.

[@shannond7437]

Would love to see or hear that interview!

[@dimitreze]

it's pretty simple the TVA was taking care of the timeline to end up on that one version of Kang if a variant doesn't create another Kang, the TVA wouldn't bother with it it was clear before his interview

[@stevendevries3279]

I agree. Though as we zoom out more and introduce Kangs to the mix, they can bend that in a few ways. Suppose the events that led to Loki and Sylvie being plucked from their timelines were somehow engineered by a Kang in opposition to He Who Remains.

[@panzrok8701]

It wasnt and everything could have been explained with a single timeline/universe and they always talked about the sacred timeline NOT timelines.

[@yoshikawoshi3728]

Ohhhhh

[@spectaa3138]

No it wasn't clear, because they made it seem like branches were forbidden (the whole theme of free will) , like the existence of a multiverse itself was a danger. "There can be only one sacred timeline" , it's been repeated over and over. People saying it's easy or clear are the ones that missed the most it seems.

[@Lodurrson]

Some people really just believed everything the TVA told them lol

[@maxblonde]

The baseline is every conceivable variation on a moment in time that leads to He Who Remains, including duplicates of the same moment with zero variation

[@stevendevries3279]

Well put. And in fact we've *seen* specific variations play out that diverted from the Sacred Timeline i.e. The Tesseract being knocked out and sliding over to Loki2012 in Endgame. It took the TVA about 30 seconds to respond.

[@StrangersFromTheMist]

AND ... NOW ... I fucking finally understand everything. Thank you SO much for putting this in those words!!!! Holy shit. I finally feel less confused.

[@geeareuu]

you're the best Ryan!

[@EpicLaneday]

If you guys really love time travel you should watch the series Dark on Netflix. My best recommendation!

[@noname-rc2jx]

I recommend 12 monkeys the series because the show is amazing.

[@martinoo71998]

The Sacred Timeline is that which is always present, we create "variations" from it anytime we create distortions in our emotional/thought state. In a state of inner purity, that which is supposed to happen will simply happen... aka it will flow from You

[@BretMuckdogs]

Thanks Ryan!

[@Mithrandir39]

Well explained bud. I can follow things like quantum physics, (I'd never say I understand them, but I can follow them), and this video was very well explained. Excellent as always.

[@HMcQ7891]

He Who Remains/Kang is the inevitability that Thanos thought himself to be. There will be a Kang in every reality - forever - throughout infinite time. And he'll always poke through. But HWR isn't cultivating a timeline in his own image to control the universe - he's pruning those human lives/timelines that will give rise to _new Kangs._ Allowing each universe to thrive unhindered by his interference. He's not a despot, he's damage control. A practical, dispassionate mechanism in a fundamentally unfair universe that is - by nature of itself - affixed to the inevitability of a very specific point of collapse: himself.

[@TheSCIOnce]

Precisely

[@mordirit8727]

Well, not every reality will have a Kang, since you'd have realities where things like Kang's ancestors dying (or even humanity going extinct before Kang's birth) would have happened... But the point still remains, since it's still multiplied by infinite timelines, there will still be infinite Kangs even without _every_ timeline having one.

[@5353Jumper]

Thanos is inevitable because Kang needs him to get Tony to invent time travel, so 1200 years later on Earth Kang can expand on Tony's tech to take over the Multiverse and create the TVA. Which is why Earth seems unexplainably important in the universe. And why Loki variants are the most troublesome because they are always trying to rule Earth, or steal infinity stones, or affect Thor's destiny with Tony.

[@darkbreed]

spoiler, every Kang is not part of the main timeline. All Kang are from a doomed universe, which is why all Kang want to make their timeline the main timeline (the only way he can be defeated).

[@darkbreed]

@@5353Jumper Kang only exist because thanos destroyed the stones. Kang ist not part of the main timeline, he is created by the violance of time that was controlled by the stones.

[@navaneethvsagar6479]

This particular video actually forecasted some interesting things about Loki Season 2

[@njsoapdish]

I'm pretty certain that the branches we see in the final episode is not because Loki and Sylvie are there. Rather, it's because Mobius and the hunter were dismantling the TVA at that time and no one was left to prune the branches. Since Loki and Sylvie were responsible for that, they could have changed course if they chose to take over. And since they didn't, Kang needs to have the interdimensional war all over again to get control, starting the TVA as his army to do so. This is why at the end Loki is back at the early days of the TV before Mobius knows why he is and before Kang invented the Time Keepers to be his proxy.

[@lanilindsey7693]

Thank you for this.

[@Rabanus]

If you watch that scene when "he who remains" says 7,8,9 10 seconds ago...and press the rewind10sec button it loops...crazy amount of detail!

[@TuffleG]

I get it thank you so much I never saw it as one like linear events but as many event strung together to look as one

[@FragRaptor]

I thought it was pretty straight forward in the sacred timeline there are still multiple universes just running parallel and not intersecting with each other. Kang says in it his exposition where 31st century him found universes stacked on top of each other. Then the multiversal war happened which led to he who remains pruning universes and stacking them on top of each other. If there weren't Avengers couldn't go back in time.

[@RamyBakir]

I had the same question and scoured the net for an answer and couldnt find anything till this video...thanks Screencrush

[@henrytoloza8623]

Love the visual of the interview as the dark knight interrogation

[@Taselverse]

Another way to think of it - Imagine you need a cake for a wedding. So long as you get the cake, the wedding goes off without a hitch. Doesn't matter really if it's strawberry, chocolate, with sprinkles, whatever. End result is cake = success. The timeline continues with a lil wobble (or even multiple multiple wobbles) making and eating said cake, but all gets back into what's supposed to happen after that. It's only a problem once someone makes the cake into a brownie and the entire wedding is ruined.....

[@branflake3171]

So an analogy for this would be, He Who Remains is sitting on a couch (The castle outside of time) watching several TV's simultaneously (The sacred timeline, which should be called the sacred timelines) and whenever a show he doesn't like comes on (a timeline resulting in a He Who Remains/Kang variant), he files a complaint about the show getting it canceled (orders the TVA via Time Keepers to prune the timeline). Only thing I don't get is the purpose of arresting variants

[@lxax305]

There was always a large amount of different universes, but they were forced to tell the same/similar story so Kang wouldn’t come to power. The different Loki’s come from different universes. All telling the story of the Sacred timeline. Now give us the Alligator-universe were we can meet AlligatorThor and AlligatorIronman. 🙌🏻

[@guitaraffa]

Holy crap... how many more Loki videos can this channel make?

[@Moonlit.Gaming]

4:41 Fact that they even showed this as temporal loom in Loki Season 2

[@julienmorcy1171]

Assuming the Time Door that Sylvie pushed Loki into has to have a predetermined time period or reality then was that the last place He Who Remains went to? Did he set this up with his successor a version of him who is younger and hungry for more than just apples.

[@JoeEnglandShow]

I agree. The way I see it, right up until the finale there's this underlying sense of despair, as we try to reconcile the apparent revelation that everything we've seen in the MCU up to this point, every exciting adventure and close call, was, in fact, simply staged. There was never really a danger that Thanos would win, or that the Avengers would lose, because the TVA would just make sure it all went according to plan. However, things change when He Who Remains dies. It isn't just the future that begins to blossom into new possibilities, but the past as well! The TVA is no longer keeping history "pruned", and countless alternate timelines are growing from the bottom to the top. So now, not only is there free will, there always WAS free will. Thanos could have won, Uncle Ben could have lived, and Steve might not have gone back to Peggy. Because from a 4-dimensional perspective the wilderness stretches all throughout, the garden suddenly overgrown. Every close call was a genuinely close call, because the TVA is no longer empowered to reduce the odds of an alternate outcome to zero. And that applies to then as well as now!

[@galaxymoossss]

Very interesting....like wow, the potentual in human-beings. Mind blowing, complex

[@alisonrae]

That Rachel and Joey example was on point! 👍

[@WorldWideMusic2000]

So in short: the "Sacred Timeline" is actually *He Who Remains' Sacred Timeline* everyone can have variants, as long as they are not causing a Nexus Event that will create a variant of He Who Remains.

[@donovan8530]

Yes, or atleast an event that will cause someone or something powerful enough to over throw He who remains.

[@MrDrProfessorSir962]

Omg I just synced up the avengers closing the portal in New York to the ending of Loki when Kang says we’ve crossed a threshold

[@decuneh]

Basically the multiverse was always a thing, as long ass every universe follows the path that He who remains created.

[@sohamapshankar1930]

8:21 you can see the castle on that odd shaped rock, the castle is very small and minute but you can see the yellow colored light on it.

[@kwilder2509]

The only thing I don't understand is why the sacred timeline began to branch when He Who Remains was killed. His death didn't cause the destruction of the TVA. They were still monitoring the timeline and keeping order. They were still doing their jobs, so why all of the branches?

[@kingcrabchris]

I wonder if Dr. Strange will find a way to break that meta-loop which inevitably leads to Kang becoming He Who Remains.

[@omarnajam]

ScreenCrush is just the best

[@doge82507]

Nice video

[@adamkirk3143]

Did u cut in the aging couple from Zardoz at the end?!! 😂😂

[@ashenbreese]

wonderful explanation. i have to admit though, whether debunked or not, i still very much love the idea that the scarlet witch had a hand in breaking the controlled flow of events.

[@Carrottopsrule]

Now i understand thank you

[@DoctorFu]

Something I really enjoyed about the finale's editing was how early the timeline starts cracking. This is most likely due to not one but two Loki's assessing all their moves. I wouldn't be surprised if a few versions our Loki kills HWR. Just the god of mischief alone can make for a zany amount of outcomes but potentially finite. Combine with Sylvie and you'd multiply those probabilities together and unpredictable, right? Math is hard. 🤷‍♂️😇

[@lxax305]

🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

[@Itz_KLONOPIN]

I'm such a huge fan of Alan Watts I was so happy to see them use a clip of him in the show

[@MetZelRio]

mind literally blown, figuratively speaking.

[@spenglerb]

the analogy I made in my head is that suppose you want a tree to grow into a big long straight post. You would need to continually trim off the branches that form in order to keep it a nice and tidy. But there still would be lots a clippings on the ground. The long thin tree is the sacred time line, the clippings are all the variants that got trimmed

[@brimfire]

I think the description of the interwoven threads and the writer's description really helps! Like... it doesn't matter to the overall timeline if you have that conversation now or ten seconds from now - neither of those things will have the butterfly effect to cause another multiversal war. So it's allowed to happen in its infinite minor variety. What's WEIRD is that, apparently, Captain America going back in time to marry Peggy Carter IS allowed to happen and won't cause a multiversal war? But the branched timelines were essentially "self-pruned" by replacing the infinity stones from when they were taken, because the stones were gone for, like, .5 seconds or whatever, but it really doesn't matter to the grand scheme of the universe because the only thing the TVA was trying to stop - the only thing it was tracking, their Nexus events - were things that would lead to a new Kang that would start a multiversal war. Got it.

[@brimfire]

NOW EXPLAIN THE STATUE AT THE END, RYAN. EXPLAIN IT.

[@denjipochita8763]

Arrival 2018 is one of the best movie that tells what is sacred Timeline. Time is always linear between past,present & future and its a loop.

[@etiennedewet3694]

Alright. So aslong as an instance of a certain event doesn't create a diffrence so severe that it branches into a separate universe the TVA doesn't Snip it. So what happened to the branches created by Steve when he went back to live with Peggy and the branch created by Thanos when he left 2014. Were some snipped and some left depending on the severity of the branch or were these branches made "after" Sylvie caused the multiverse to take its rightful form.

[@stevendevries3279]

The TVA exists to prune the branches that give rise to other Kangs, thereby limiting the ability of He Who Remains to ensure a stable timeline where all roads lead to him. There is no other moral or practical judgement being made beyond that. If what Steve did didn't create a strand that strayed too far from the rope, then there is no need to prune that reality.

[@etiennedewet3694]

@@stevendevries3279 Ah alright. That makes sense thanks.

[@mikelboyd711]

I used that metaphor way before anyone!! Posted it on your channel and Emergency Awesome...

[@oneleafaday348]

Ok, that's all good and well, but why does the TVA have to be so bureaucratic? Why bring the variants in front of a judge? Either they get pruned or they become agents

[@Taigirr]

i believe they bring the variants in front of a judge to do exactly that. to determine whether they should become variants or get pruned.

[@nevbezaire]

@@Taigirr Exactly. If they say guilty then they're compliant and become agents. Not guilty and they're pruned. Also explains why the noncompliant dude ahead of Loki got pruned before seeing the judge

[@lottietalkie3142]

I have also wondered why they bothered to take variants with them. I was thinking, maybe, for study? Because understanding how variants behave might help them anticipate other variants (or so they believe)? But the idea that they're "testing" them to see if they should become agents is another possible explanation.

[@mawio3763]

I'll take your word for it.

[@KalleNoble]

I guess I'd still like to know why Loki's life is so entangled in creating Kang

[@stunnedmullet420]

You can tell this isn't the first time there has been an event at the castle by the interior design. Compare the japanese art of Kintsugi to the interior of the castle and you can see its been rebuilt which also helps explain the rubble.

[@Mr_jnk]

man you were right on the rope thing

[@VivekYadav-ds8oz]

So basically, multiverse always existed, just as a smaller subset of its truer self. Only those universes that don't lead into new multiversal conflicts were allowed to exist.

[@s00pcan]

I've listened to Alan Watts for hundreds of hours. It's worth your time to hear him.

[@JayMeDee]

This is similar to the way I saw it. At the end of Loki, I immediately said that all the non-MCU Marvel movies (Rami & Webb Spidermans, X-men, Blade, Punisher, ect) all exist NOW...as in right at this moment, at the same time. The branches will only allow them to intersect, but they were always there. I also assume that this is the MCU Secret Wars, and by the end, Loki will bring back the Sacred Timeline somehow, but that it will now incorporate the parts Feige wants (maybe the best parts) of the non-MCU into the MCU proper. Pretty smart, if they do that. That way all those movies were always a part of the MCU, even if they didnt know it ;) OH - and Loki will end up being the hero that saves the Multiverse...and die doing it for real this time.

[@winstonchurchill7822]

Its a different version of my theory that no matter the species,gender,etc. Of a variant. They have to go through their timeline. For example loki no matter what,no matter if he is an alligator, has to die on that ship with thanos. Classic loki survived cuz it didnt affect the proper flow of time. For everybody. He actually did die. tva is a Time variance authority. They control the timeline. An order,a chain of events. Not the universes,not the multiverses. If we consider that events create branches. It would make sense for all the universes be tangled in the same line because all the universes are literally the same due to them having the same order of events.

[@nigirimaki4626]

Lolll throwing shades 4:18

[@Rahul-ll1en]

'Present is pregnant with possibilities' 😂🤣

[@raffaelcapitan4734]

I understand it well now, other universes are jammed up into one big sacred timeline, the tv example you used made it 100% clear, there can be differnt universes with the same “lifestyle” but different versions of it playing at the same time, even in religious books it talks about the after life and how time will be different in the realm we wake up in after death, MY ONLY QUESTION is since sylvie killed “he who remains” how does another reappear if he was the original variant that got killed, because he was controlling the timeline making sure his other variants didnt exist so when he dies how can another one come, just like if loki died how can another one come into plau

[@tyrenmcelwee1404]

Seems like the best solution is to create a better version of he who remains. Loki has broken this sacred timeline but the next new sacred timeline might be what the Kang Wars will be about. Great video I have been on board with your theory since day one. Of course, the multiverse had to be interwoven and I'm pretty sure in a few episodes they mention different "versions" of yourself meaning multiverse.

[@bagrym]

the only thing i missed in this show was loki having a wholesome chat with odin like in Ragnarok. "Loki, you arent just the god of mischief, you are also the god of fire" and then loki proceeds to burn a lot of stuff to the ground. maybe season 2 then

[@Pikasso113]

With Loki now behind us and What If not far from release, I’ve seen some amazing theories that is mind blowing. But not much about the Rat from EndGame… I made a theory on my own where the Rat is the “1 in a million” prediction that Dr Strange got and the multiverse he saw was actually after the rat freeing Scott from the Quantum realm, if it make sense then … if KANG was in the Quantum realm ( based on theories ) I believe it he was freed at the same time.. and that what causes the first multiversal war that Kang talk about in the last episode. My thinking is that the first Nexus event was the Rat pressing the button ( 1 In a million chance ), thus creating this multiple time lines since no body was able to come back from the Quantum realm except when Janet was brought out from the Quantum realm, that is when Kang (evil) realize he can escape, creating the millions years of conquer and multiple KANG which the most evil one was actually imprison by “he who remains” closing the loop again till Loki escaped with the Tesseract in Avenger, creating the variant we all love today… and erased the past decade of MCU we all familiar with and of course bringing the future MCU and the event we all waiting for and based on one video I saw on KZbin for the last 26 min synchronized with Scarlet Witch appearance then the loop was officially broken. I don’t think that Cap America is the one who is responsible for the Nexus event... since KANG was already out there when the Avengers traveled through time to defeat Thanos… And that is why Dr Strange said “if I tell you what happens, it won’t happen…” like if the even already happened so saying that a RAT was responsible just make it less credible for an event as big as Thanos… The Rat is the 1 in a million Dr Strange referred to in my opinion.

[@willrobi9448]

Loki became a variant because him escaping with a time stone could mean that some variant of thanos never was able hold all 6 and make the snap. Maybe lokis possession of power after the defeat from the avengers was going to pursue him to more power creating a winning version of loki... something the sacred timeline cannot have

[@55goldensword]

The complicated explanation was easier to understand than the second one that was supposed to be the easy one 😂

[@gageg8803]

i cant unimagine it now, everytime mobius talked i imagined lightning mcqueen lol

[@insanewizard]

While watching I pondered the similarity of how "he who remains" knows everything and how Dr. Strange discovered the one timeline that beat Thanos. And on that would there be a actual possibility that Dr. Strange actually knows of the TVA due to him "doing something" that deviated from the sacred timeline? I don't know if it was ever said as to why Dr. Strange never did anything to kill Thanos sooner however I assume something in the sacred timeline required him to die later on?

[@user-cd4bx6uq1y]

156th, sad that no subtitles yet. Also 155 is a cool number

[@ShadowIncarnate_]

I KNEW IT!

[@youssufhegazy3436]

Then the idea of The Sacred Timeline is pretty close to the definition of time and how time travel works in Steins;Gate! WOW!!

[@pemimpiradikall]

exactly, when they're mentioned timelines and mutliverse in Loki I immediately think of the rope analogy from steins gate

[@chrundlethegreat2251]

7:42 You're wrong. It's nothing to do with emotion why the Nexus event happened. THEY WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO DIE. I thought that was pretty damn obvious.

[@redpanda9367]

So that mega spike is what inspired He Who Remains to the outcome we saw in the show?

[@dennisfung415]

The variant occurs when you go to the future and then go back to moment of creation. You then have a betazoid, then deltaxoid if betazoid is imprisoned

[@IanICee]

I'm here mad early! Woo!

[@bladeriders]

I’m very interested what Rhodes will look like in What If’s Iron man version since it takes place during movie 1