Loki’s Nexus Events Hint At The God Of Mischief’s Secret MCU Tragedy

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Loki episode 4.

In Loki, the mysterious nature of the MCU’s nexus events conceals the sad tragedy that underpins all of the Loki variants. The series has avoided providing too many concrete details about what has caused the different Loki variants’ nexus events, merely noting that the characters have stepped off the sacred timeline. The TVA notes that it has pruned a lot of Loki variants and “no two are alike,” but what makes Loki so likely to spawn a nexus event?

While there are hints about some of the other Loki variants, the show has so far only shown us the TVA responding to a Loki nexus event three times. First, at the very start of the series, when Loki has escaped with the tesseract and is quickly apprehended. Second, when Sylvie was a young girl at a point when she was playing in Asgard. And finally when Loki and Sylvie hold hands during the destruction of Lamentis-1.

All of these points caused a diversion from the Time Keepers’ sacred timeline, but are also points where a Loki seems to be finding fulfillment or happiness. When Loki escapes with the Tesseract he has avoided being taken to a cell on Asgard to remain until the events of Thor: Dark World. Sylvie’s capture by the TVA happens as she seems to find a type of peace while simply playing with toys. And the nexus event on Lamentis-1 is such a drastic departure from the timeline because Loki and Sylvie make a genuine connection, finally realizing that neither of them are as alone as they thought, and two Loki variants are at risk of finding fulfilling happiness at the same time. As Mobius observes in episode 1, losing is in Loki’s nature: on the sacred timeline, as determined by the Time Keepers, Loki is always destined to fail and any deviation must be pruned.

Although she has previously stated that her nexus event was her birth as a woman, in Loki episode 4 Sylvie asks Ravonna what her nexus event was. While she gets no answer, it is clear that she is unsure that it really was her birth – and if it had been her birth, the TVA would presumably have pruned her at a much earlier age. Episode 2, “The Variant” and episode 4, “The Nexus Event,” show multiple Loki variants that would have had to have been wildly different since birth and were able to reach maturity before the TVA found them. The Sylvie that is captured by the TVA is one who knows that she has been adopted and therefore does not have the same dissatisfaction with being denied the throne. This suggests that she also would also have had a very different relationship with Thor. It’s clear from Thor: Ragnarok that at around this age Loki was turning into snakes to trick Thor and be able to stab him. Her satisfaction with her place in Asgard is the nexus event itself.

With the additional Loki variants revealed in the post-credits scene of episode 4, it’s clear that a lot of different versions of Loki have been intercepted, confirming Mobius’ episode 2 assertion that Lokis have been pruned almost more than any other variants. If the sacred timeline was chosen and enforced by the Time Keepers, what about it requires that Loki’s endeavors must always end in tragedy, with him never allowed to find lasting happiness? Whatever the reasons behind it, Loki has demonstrated that the God of Mischief’s role in the sacred timeline ultimately requires him to play the villain, and yet failure is his only option.

Loki releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.