After 12 episodes and multiple years, Loki is done on Disney+. Loki Season 2, Episode 6 “Glorious Purpose” doesn’t just bring the streaming series to a close, it attempts to close the book on Loki (Tom Hiddleston) entirely — or at least sum up what he means to the universe, himself, and us as viewers.
But, that said, the episode is a bit of a mind-bender involving (of course) time travel, magic, and an ending that might leave you scratching your head. With that in mind, let’s break down a recap of the episode. And attempt to give you a Loki ending explained.
Spoilers, of course, past this point.
Loki Season 2, Episode 6 “Glorious Purpose” Recap:
At the end of last week’s episode, “Science/Fiction,” Loki finally got control of his time-slipping powers. This week, he uses them to do a Groundhog Day by repeatedly jumping back in time to try and fix things before The Loom explodes, taking the Time Variance Authority (TVA) — and all of existence — with it.
The only problem, Loki discovers that even when he gets things 100% right, The Loom still explodes. That’s because these scientific geniuses didn’t realize at any point that an infinite multiverse is, in fact, infinite. There is no amount of space they could give in The Loom to be able to weave an infinite multiverse because it is simply too large.
Loki realizes at this point he needs to go even further back: to the Season 1 finale, where he needs to stop Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) from killing He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors)… Or at least take a beat to figure this whole thing out. Surprise: this was He Who Remains’s plan all along. He set up The Loom as a failsafe in case he was killed. The actual purpose of The Loom is to take all of wild time and weave it into one timeline, the Scared Timeline. AKA, the timeline He Who Remains keeps in his control.
He Who Remains gives Loki a choice: let Sylvie kill him, and it lets loose a multiversal war that destroys everything. Or kill Sylvie, and keep the Sacred Timeline and all of his friends (except Sylvie) intact. Possibly important at this point to mention that Loki has powers as great as He Who Remains due to the thousands (maybe millions?) of loops he’s gone through, including being able to stop time, remove people from the timeline, and more.
Unsure of what to do, Loki jumps all the back to the first episode of the show, when he was being interrogated by Mobius (Owen Wilson). And yes, both the first and the last episode of the show are titled “Glorious Purpose,” because it’s like an ouroboros, you see. It all loops together like a snake eating its tail. Also, it is confusing for Google reasons, but I digress.
Anyway, he lays everything out for Mobius, and gets the answers he needs, even if it isn’t the answers he wants. Using his new powers, he spaghettis the branched timeline, and once again returns to “Science/Fiction.” Specifically, the moment when everyone was starting to spaghetti in that episode. The only one left is Sylvie.
Loki Season 2 Ending Explained:
Sylvie almost instantly figures out what’s up, and tells Loki she’s not going to give him permission to kill her. That’s not exactly what he wants, though. Instead, he’s saying a sort of goodbye.
From there, Loki jumps back to the moment when Victor Timely (also Majors) went out to expand The Loom. Instead, Loki heads out onto the bridge himself, without a suit to protect him. That’s okay, he’s a nearly impossible-to-kill time god now and transforms his suit into a classic Loki look featuring green robes, a cape, and an enormous horned crown. As he walks the waves of wild time buffet him, but he keeps walking as everyone watches from the safety of the TVA.
Loki uses his now immense powers and breaks The Loom, freeing the strands of time… But the branches are dying or dead. Loki then gathers them up, using his magic to revitalize the spark of life in them, and walks up to He Who Remains’s citadel at the End of Time. Or at least, what’s left of it. The only thing left? His chair, turned into a golden throne by Loki’s new powers. Loki sits, the gathered timelines around him, and reignites them all.
Instead of the Loom configuration, all of time at first looks like an hourglass… And then a tree. More on that in a second.
Where Does The Cast Of Loki End Up In The Epilogue?
The epilogue catches up with the TVA, which is revitalized in its new mission: help the Tree of Time stay safe and grow, and track down and capture He Who Remains variants wherever they can. Mobius notes that one caused some problems in “616 adjacent,” which is definitely a reference to Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania.
Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) is a prime member of the new TVA. Ourobrors (Ke Huy Quan) and Casey (Eugene Cordero) are working together to bring back Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) less murder-y than before. Ramona Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) looks to die at the smokey hands of Alioth at the End of Time.
And then there’s Mobius, who finally goes back to see his Variant timeline, his kids, and his jet ski. Sylvie for her part doesn’t know where she’s going to go next but seems excited about it. Mobius just wants to spend some more… Time.
Does Loki Die?
No, Loki is not dead at the end of Loki. In fact, he got what he always wanted — or at least what he always said he wanted. He has a throne. He has a crown. Loki is arguably the most important creature in all of creation. At long last, not only has Loki won, but he’s found his glorious purpose. Hey, there’s that title again!
Does Loki Turn Into Yggdrasil?
So, this part isn’t clear, and purposefully so. But the tree of time seems to be a nod to Yggdrasil, the World Tree. You can call it Yggdrasil, the Multiverse Tree if you like. But whereas the former is a way the Asgardians organize their nine realms and refer to them, this seems to be a more literal tree right out of the comics; even if it is made out of strands of timelines instead of, say, an ice planet and a cave where some Dark Elves live.
Is Loki The God Of Stories? The God Of Time?
So, what is Loki now, though? He’s clearly not the God of Mischief. There’s been a lot of online chatter that he’s now what was referred to in the comics as the God of Stories. That’s possible, given he is the one who is powering the entire multiverse through sheer will alone. But God of Time seems perhaps more fitting in this case. Whatever Loki is, because he isn’t dead there’s always a chance we’ll see him again. Perhaps in some sort of “secret war” where the multiverse is getting blown apart? Just a thought.
Is There A Loki Post Credit Scene In Episode 6?
Nope, there’s nothing past the credits in Loki Episode 6, other than more credits. It’s a bit of a surprise not just because The Marvels goes ham on those post-credits scenes. But also because Disney+ doesn’t suddenly tee up the next thing to watch at any point — or at least they didn’t for me. Instead, enjoy the dulcet tones of Natalie Holt’s score as they pay tribute to the hard-working people who made this show.
Will There Be A Season 3 Of Loki?
There will most likely not be a Season 3 of Loki. The show was reportedly originally planned for 12 episodes, and they’ve filmed and released all 12 episodes. It’s always possible there could be a Season 3, but even a Season 2 is a rarity for an MCU show at this point.
That said, as mentioned you can certainly speculate about Loki, the character, showing up in the MCU in the future. And the TVA will show up again. They’re supposed to be a big part of Deadpool 3… Including Mobius, who clearly stopped looking at his jet skis and children at some point.
So there you go: a definitive “probably not” but also “maybe.”
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