[SPOILER] The new character in the season finale

[samsnee]

Want to talk specifically about you know who. Will spoiler tag just in case

Spoiler

First, really enjoyed his performance. He was mesmerizing to watch for basically someone giving exposition for the whole episode. I assume the versions we see in the future will be different personality wise.

But why does he need to prune variants? If he’s worried about his variants starting another multiversal war, why not prune just his variants and leave everyone else?

 

[chintai80]

Want to talk specifically about you know who. Will spoiler tag just in case

Spoiler

First, really enjoyed his performance. He was mesmerizing to watch for basically someone giving exposition for the whole episode. I assume the versions we see in the future will be different personality wise.

But why does he need to prune variants? If he’s worried about his variants starting another multiversal war, why not prune just his variants and leave everyone else?

i feel like he's basically adopting a scorched earth policy.
just burn the whole forest down to ensure no stone left unturned.

 

[FlareKnight]

Spoiler

I suppose his approach represents why he's still the villain of Loki. If he simply focused on his own variants then I could understand it. Although I'd still question him if he straight up killed any version of himself to ever exist.

Maybe his logic is that if his variants can get out of hand and cause devastation then any variant has that potential. Of course it's still a messed up perspective since he's willing to allow atrocities across reality itself just so long as they don't threaten his intended timeline.

 

[Albright]

after the disappointment of the finales of WV and F&WS I didn’t expect this to happen.
I’m still speechless.
The future of Disney Plus series is glorious

 

[bubbadoom]

While I liked the eventual set up for future MCU outings, I found his performance very underwhelming - I do hope this version is gone and that the future ones are played a little less...casually...

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Want to talk specifically about you know who. Will spoiler tag just in case

Spoiler

First, really enjoyed his performance. He was mesmerizing to watch for basically someone giving exposition for the whole episode. I assume the versions we see in the future will be different personality wise.

But why does he need to prune variants? If he’s worried about his variants starting another multiversal war, why not prune just his variants and leave everyone else?

I think the term "mission creep" applies.

At first just take care of your variants directly. Then take care of the events leading to said variants. Then take care of the events that lead up to THOSE events. Then look at other individuals that may also be on the same path to understanding the true nature of the Multiverse... It can get "out of hand" real fast.

Before you know it you aren't just snipping a branch or twig but cutting the tree down to the stump and then pulling it right out by the roots.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yeah I would also look at it like this. Everyone is the hero of their own story, even if they aren’t the least bit heroic, right? Most people, however misguided, think they are either doing things for the right reasons or, if they are sociopaths, don’t see anything wrong in most of the stuff they are doing even if it hurts a lot of people.

So presumably, if you were able to see multiple versions of yourself doing horrifying things, that would lead you to presume that alternate versions of other people would do the same ****, if not worse. Because surely, you’re one of the good guys, right? So if a version of you is capable of committing atrocities that make your own stomach turn, what about some worse version of some other person who is already a tyrant in your world?

It’s not a perfect analogy for He Who Remains, because he seems to be aware that his variants ARE some of the worst of the worst. But regardless, he probably figures that all divergent branches need to be clipped so that other, similar variant tyrants don’t emerge.

 

[#root]

I loved his performance. Did not expect them to take this direction with the character. I’m curious to see how many variants of him we’ll see or if we’ll only just get the one big bad one. That would actually be pretty interesting if we see lots of different versions with different characterisations.

 

[Web-Head]

‘Loki’: Meet the Man Behind the Curtain, He Who Remains

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

Want to talk specifically about you know who. Will spoiler tag just in case

Spoiler

First, really enjoyed his performance. He was mesmerizing to watch for basically someone giving exposition for the whole episode. I assume the versions we see in the future will be different personality wise.

But why does he need to prune variants? If he’s worried about his variants starting another multiversal war, why not prune just his variants and leave everyone else?

Nexus events create new timelines. Obviously it's way easier to keep track of one single timeline than infinite.

But i'd even go one further to say that infinite timelines create infinite possibilities for a variant you know who to appear.

 

[metaphysician]

I would say the key thing to remember is that. . .the whole reason there was a problem in the first place is that he and his alternates were terrible people. He Who Remains? Not exempt from this, his solution to the "problem" is equally terrible, because he himself is just as much part of the problem as all his variants. He's just the terrible person who happened to win. If he had any non-horrible variants, most likely they got killed/pruned during the original time war by their more bastardly cousins.

Which is why. . .

Spoiler: Do we really need spoilers for this thread?

He Who Remains/Immortus totally did need to die, even though Loki was right that they probably should think things through more carefully rather than accepting this obviously manipulative megalomaniac's proffered choices. The system he had established averted temporal war, sure, but at the expense of executing and perpetuating the greatest atrocities across the multiverse, just in a *subtle* manner. You don't gain any karma points for achieving peace, if you do so by killing all the belligerents and bystanders first, yourself.

I can't really blame Sylvie for doing what she did either, though. She had *really really* good reason to murder Immortus, and ultimately Loki is not quite in the right position to make a sincere moral plea, even though I think he was struggling to make just such a thing. Its not like she decided to surprise murder Loki over the disagreement, either.

( Oh, hypothetically speaking, what would have been their best move? If I had to guess, it would be "Once Immortus admitted to be beyond his knowledge horizon, grab the bastard and enchant him." That would let them suck him dry for whatever details, plans, and contingencies he's leaving out of his spiel, and better come up with a third option. Mind, this is risky itself, as its entirely possible that going into his mind is a Very Bad Idea, but its a better move than playing his game.

 

[FlareKnight]

I would say the key thing to remember is that. . .the whole reason there was a problem in the first place is that he and his alternates were terrible people. He Who Remains? Not exempt from this, his solution to the "problem" is equally terrible, because he himself is just as much part of the problem as all his variants. He's just the terrible person who happened to win. If he had any non-horrible variants, most likely they got killed/pruned during the original time war by their more bastardly cousins.

Which is why. . .

Spoiler: Do we really need spoilers for this thread?

He Who Remains/Immortus totally did need to die, even though Loki was right that they probably should think things through more carefully rather than accepting this obviously manipulative megalomaniac's proffered choices. The system he had established averted temporal war, sure, but at the expense of executing and perpetuating the greatest atrocities across the multiverse, just in a *subtle* manner. You don't gain any karma points for achieving peace, if you do so by killing all the belligerents and bystanders first, yourself.

I can't really blame Sylvie for doing what she did either, though. She had *really really* good reason to murder Immortus, and ultimately Loki is not quite in the right position to make a sincere moral plea, even though I think he was struggling to make just such a thing. Its not like she decided to surprise murder Loki over the disagreement, either.

( Oh, hypothetically speaking, what would have been their best move? If I had to guess, it would be "Once Immortus admitted to be beyond his knowledge horizon, grab the bastard and enchant him." That would let them suck him dry for whatever details, plans, and contingencies he's leaving out of his spiel, and better come up with a third option. Mind, this is risky itself, as its entirely possible that going into his mind is a Very Bad Idea, but its a better move than playing his game.

Spoiler

Honestly I feel like this captures everything I wanted to say. In a sense it's just the Winter Soldier plan with the Helicarriers. Just...taken to a cosmic extreme. Pointing a gun at everyone in the multiverse and calling it protection. Just even worse than that since no one realizes they've got the gun pointed at them until they get yanked in for being a variant. And even then they don't exactly live very long. They either get killed before going to trial or get killed immediately after going to the trial itself.

I'm not even sure what the best move really was. The enchanting option was there. But even then it was a ticking clock until the timelines started to go beyond the 'red line' anyways. Maybe the option was there to take the lunatic's offer and then try enchanting or some slow revolution of the system from within. But again I'm not sure how well that would have worked out. You either continue the atrocities of purging people from existence for things that aren't even necessarily bad or you don't. In which case I think Sylvie's choice to just kill the guy is legitimate. Can't say he didn't have it coming and if things are going to become a mess anyways...might as well get to it.

 

[Pennywise]

'Loki' director Kate Herron and star Jonathan Majors on his pivotal character's wild debut

 

[Pennywise]