Every Clue Lady Loki Isn't Actually The Villain

Warning! Contains spoilers for Loki episode 2.

Loki episode 2 sets up Lady Loki – a variant of the God of Mischief originating in the Marvel comics – as the villain of the show. However, there are already several clues that she might not actually be the series’ main big bad. The MCU is no stranger to twists or hidden villains, and Loki’s time-bending story seems ripe for both. In fact, the show’s true villains may be hiding in plain sight.

At the end of Loki episode 1, Mobius tells Loki that the TVA is hunting another variant of him that’s been wreaking havoc across the timeline. The final shot of episode 1 then shows a cloaked figure ambushing a TVA squad and stealing their equipment. In episode 2, more of the Loki variant’s mayhem is shown, as they continue to lay waste to various deployments from the TVA, who are like Doctor Who's Time Lords. The hunt culminates at the end of episode 2 when Loki finally tracks the rogue variant down, learning that she is in fact Lady Loki and that she has an as-yet unexplained vendetta against the Time-Keepers. She then escapes through a time door after sending TVA reset charges to various points along the Sacred Timeline, sowing chaos by kicking off numerous major nexus events.

All of that does sound pretty villainous, but it doesn’t guarantee that Lady Loki is actually evil. Yes, she’s hurt a lot of people, and yes, her conversation with Loki in episode 2 makes her sound less than virtuous. But there’s a lot more going on in Loki than meets the eye, and those secrets could actually vindicate Lady Loki’s actions. Here’s every clue so far that Lady Loki isn’t actually the villain of the show.

Lady Loki Is Only Attacking The TVA

It’s true that this Loki variant seems to revel in bringing down TVA agents. This is shown most clearly in the opening sequence of episode 2 when she manipulates a hunter into brutally taking out the rest of her squad. But in general, Lady Loki only seems to be targeting agents of the TVA. Her attacks on the timeline have certainly harmed others, but in a story where things are constantly being reset, and where the TVA itself is constantly erasing whole multiverse branches from existence, that kind of harm feels oddly less violent.

The only group that Lady Loki really seems to have it out for is the TVA itself. Does that make her a villain? Not necessarily. Though Mobius has been kind to Loki in general, there’s still a lot about the TVA as a whole that hasn’t been revealed. They claim to be a force of peace and order, but that’s all according to the perspective of the Time-Keepers, who may be working for Kang – characters who have yet to appear, and whose own motivations seem questionable at best. From a certain point of view, the TVA’s strict control of the timeline and the fate of everyone in it could be seen as authoritarian and villainous in its own right. That means that a campaign against the TVA isn’t necessarily an evil one.

Lady Loki Leaves The Captured TVA Agent Alive

Even in her war against the TVA, Lady Loki has already shown a level of mercy. The hunter she captures at the beginning of episode 2 – C-20 – is found alive at the end, despite the fact that she is of no further use to her captor. Lady Loki only kidnapped her to learn the location of the Time-Keepers, which she’d already accomplished by the time Mobius and his squad arrived in 2050 Alabama. So why leave C-20 alive? Why not kill her, so she couldn’t reveal her plan to the rest of the TVA? The answer isn’t entirely clear, but the fact that Lady Loki chooses to leave her captive alive suggests she may not be as evil as Mobius believes.

Lady Loki Lets Loki Follow Her

After setting off her reset charge bombing run on the Sacred Timeline, Lady Loki escapes through a stolen TVA time door. She leaves the portal open, however – not long enough for Mobius and the TVA to follow her, but long enough for Loki to jump through. It seems highly unlikely that she left the door open by mistake, which means that she may actually want Loki’s help after all. Maybe she wants to talk away from the prying ears of the TVA. Or maybe she just wants to see if she can trust him. Either way, the fact that Lady Loki lets Loki follow her suggests that her vendetta may truly be with the TVA alone.

The Time-Keepers Aren't What They Seem

So it’s clear that Lady Loki has it out for the Time-Keepers, but why? Well, for starters, they may not be what the TVA claims they are. From the very beginning of Loki, the Time-Keepers' story has seemed less than legitimate. The members of the TVA view them as heroic gods, but that may just be because they were all created by the Time-Keepers. So far, there’s been no hard proof of the multiverse war described by Tara Strong's character Miss Minutes, and while the story says that the Time-Keepers saved the universe from certain destruction, there’s no proof of that either.

All that’s known for sure about the Time-Keepers is that they control the events of the entire universe and that they believe variance from their grand plan is a crime punishable by erasure. Suddenly, Lady Loki’s vendetta starts to make a lot more sense. It’s entirely possible that her motivations are nefarious in nature, but it’s equally possible that she knows some secret about the Time-Keepers that Loki doesn’t. Is it possible that the Time-Keepers are Loki’s true villains, and that Lady Loki’s campaign of chaos is actually a righteous crusade for freedom?

Theory: Lady Loki Is Fighting The True Villains

If the Time-Keepers’ control of the Sacred Timeline is actually more sinister than the TVA claims, Lady Loki may actually be the hero of Loki, rather than its villain. There’s not enough information at this point to say for sure, but it seems entirely possible that she’s trying to restore the multiverse by overthrowing the TVA, thereby restoring freedom to a timeline that’s been forced into rigid compliance by three invisible gods. She may have even brought Loki with her through the time door to convince him to join her quest.

Lady Loki may just be another villain, and her intentions may be evil in nature. But so far, she has all the makings of a classic red herring villain. Her relatively early reveal, combined with how badly the Time-Keepers want her stopped, points to her at least being more nuanced than she may at first seem. Whether or not she’s actually fighting on the side of good in Loki, however, remains to be seen.

Loki releases new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.

Next: Loki Episode 2 Ending Explained