Loki Episode 3 Asks 7 Big Questions About Sylvie And The TVA

Warning: Contains spoilers for Loki episode 3, "Lamentis."

Loki episode 3 has arrived, and it’s opened up a bunch of new questions and mysteries about Lady Loki, the TVA, the Time-Keepers, and more. At the end of episode 2, Loki and Mobius led a team of TVA hunters to 2050 Alabama to capture the rogue Loki variant, only to discover that they were too late. The variant revealed herself, fired dozens of TVA reset charges to locations along the Sacred Timeline, and disappeared through a time door. Loki pursued her through the portal, escaping from his TVA handlers in the process.

Episode 3, “Lamentis,” picks up right where the last episode left off. After cutting a swath through the TVA’s defenses on her way to the Time-Keepers’ chamber, Lady Loki, who prefers to go by Sylvie, is confronted by the other Loki. The two fight, fall through another time door, and wind up trapped on the doomed moon Lamentis-1 after Sylvie’s TemPad runs out of power. The two begrudgingly join forces to find a way off the moon before it’s destroyed by an encroaching planet, only for their chance at escape exploding before their eyes in the episode’s final shot.

Though “Lamentis” doesn’t spend as much time as past episodes exploring the mythos of the Time-Keepers and the multiverse, a lot of new information is still revealed. Hints are dropped about Sylvie’s past and the shocking true nature of the TVA, opening up some exciting possibilities for the show’s second half. Here are the seven biggest unanswered questions from Loki episode 3.

How Is Sylvie Different From Loki?

Loki Episode 3 Loki and Sylvie on Lamentis

Sylvie is a Loki variant, but so far very little has been revealed about how exactly she differs from the main Loki of the MCU. She’s obviously different in her gender and physical appearance, as well as in her overall persona. She also possesses a different set of powers than Loki, including the ability to enchant other people and bring them under her will. In “Lamentis,” she also reveals that she always knew she was adopted and that she barely knew her mother. What's more, it was also revealed that Lady Loki has spent most of her life running from the TVA.

That, in a nutshell, is everything that’s been revealed about Lady Loki so far. Other details, like what her timeline looked like and what happened to her family, have yet to be unveiled. It seems likely that Sylvie didn’t have much time to live a normal Loki life, as her timeline branch, however it was created, would have been reset by the TVA pretty early on. As Loki continues, more of Sylvie’s backstory is sure to come out.

Why Does Sylvie Hate The TVA?

Sylvie seems to have a singular purpose – to eradicate the Time-Keepers, and the TVA along with them. As a labeled variant who seems to have been on the run for most of her life, that vendetta makes a lot of sense. Still, there’s a lot not yet known about Sylvie’s history with the TVA specifically. Were they the ones who killed her mother? Did they wipe out her world? And if so, how did she manage to escape? She tells Loki in episode 3 that her plan was “years in the making,” but that suggests she was still an adult when she began her crusade. So what changed to make her suddenly go on the warpath, and why exactly does she hate the TVA so much?

What Is Lady Loki’s Plan?

The other big lingering mystery surrounding Lady Loki is what exactly her plan is. It would seem that she wants to kill the Time-Keepers and destroy the TVA, but then what? She’s told Loki that she has no interest in ruling the TVA, which means she wants the agency gone for good. That would mean the Sacred Timeline would evolve back into a proper multiverse in the MCU, as there would be no one left to reset variant branches and keep everything in order. But what does Sylvie actually want? Wanting revenge against the Time-Keepers is a personal motivator, detached from the universe at large. Wanting to free the multiverse from the controlling grip of oppressive rulers, on the other hand, is a much larger, more selfless goal. It remains to be seen which is the real reason for Sylvie’s campaign against the TVA.

Who Are The TVA Agents Really?

Loki Kang Love Interest Nemesis Renslayer

At the end of Loki episode 3, Sylvie drops a major bombshell – the agents of the TVA weren’t created by the Time-Keepers. She reveals that every hunter and analyst is actually a variant from somewhere in time and space, captured and brainwashed by the Time-Keepers to serve their greater purpose. She could be lying of course, but the episode’s opening scene, which shows TVA hunter C-20 experiencing a regular Earth memory, seems to confirm what Sylvie says. The question, then, is who the TVA agents are? They appear to all be human, even though the Sacred Timeline includes other planets. How are they chosen? Are all reset variants turned into workers at the TVA? If not, why are some destroyed, and others brainwashed? Could Loki use this revelation to spark a rebellion within the TVA itself? Hopefully, the answers will come soon.

What Do The Time-Keepers Actually Want?

Knowing that the Time-Keepers are actually abducting variants and brainwashing them into becoming TVA agents, some other details about the mysterious beings start to look fishy. In Loki episode 1, Miss Minutes says that the Time-Keepers prevented cosmic destruction by creating the Sacred Timeline. Now, it seems more likely that they were simply conquerors, and that the Sacred Timeline is just a way of keeping the universe under their control. The Time-Keepers still haven’t actually appeared on screen in Loki, and until they do, their true motivations will remain a mystery.

What Happened To The Sacred Timeline?

The entirety of Loki episode 3 is spent at the TVA and on Lamentis-1, all following the escapades of Loki and Sylvie. Off-screen, though, Sylvie’s reset charges are theoretically wreaking havoc on the Sacred Timeline. She sent dozens of charges to spots all over time and space, creating numerous branches in a single coordinated attack. However, episode 3 doesn’t spend any time dealing with the aftermath of that bombing run. Was the TVA able to get everything back under control? Or is the multiverse slowly rising out of Sylvie’s numerous branches, unable to be quelled by the Time-Keepers’ efforts?

How Will Loki And Sylvie Escape Lamentis?

Loki Episode 3 Loki And Sylvia Talking Vertical

The final question left hanging by Loki episode 3 is the obvious cliffhanger at the end: How will Loki and Sylvie escape Lamentis-1? Their TemPad is destroyed, as is the ship that was meant to get people off the moon. The episode’s final shot shows Loki desperately staring up into the apocalyptic sky, clearly in disbelief that he is going to die, and that there is nothing he can do to prevent it. Obviously, though, the two can’t meet their end on Lamentis-1. The most likely answer is that the TVA will track them to the moon and capture them. Or maybe some other MCU character will appear to whisk them away just in time. Until the release of Loki episode 4, speculation will abound.

Next: Loki Episode 3 Ending: How Loki & Sylvie Escape The Moon Theories

Loki releases new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.