Why Mobius Didn’t Recognize Loki At The End

Warning: SPOILERS for Loki episode 6, "For All Time. Always."

At the end of Loki's season 1 finale, Mobius (Owen Wilson) didn't recognize Loki (Tom Hiddleston), which signifies a massive shift in their relationship and in the reality of the Time Variance Authority going into Loki season 2. Mobius' exasperated buddy-cop relationship with the God of Mischief is one of the genuine highlights of Loki and captured the imaginations of fans. The fact that Mobius no longer recognizes Loki at the end of season 1 makes what happened between Loki and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) at the Citadel at the End of Time even sadder.

After Loki and Sylvie enchanted Alioth, the two variants were able to enter the Citadel at the End of Time, which is the home of the true creator of the TVA and the Sacred Timeline. This turned out to be a man who Loki refers to as He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), but is really a variant of Kang the Conqueror, who will be a major Big Bad in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kang the Conquerer was earlier announced as the villain in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. But in Loki, He Who Remains is a Kang variant from the 31st century who claims to have survived a multiversal war between the Kangs from multiple timelines. He Who Remains then forged the Sacred Timeline and established the TVA to oversee it, and this included kidnapping other variants from across the timeline and turning them into the TVA's bureaucracy. By the end of Loki's finale, Sylvie banished Loki back to the TVA and she killed He Who Remains, despite his warnings that doing so would break the Sacred Timeline and unleash an untold number of Kang variants who would start a new multiversal war.

What He Who Remains didn't tell Loki or Sylvie (perhaps he didn't know because his prescience ended during their conversation) is that killing him would also change the Sacred Timeline's reality. When Loki returned to the TVA, which was in panic mode because over 60 new branches had formed off the Sacred Timeline with more constantly being made, Mobius and Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) didn't recognize the God of Mischief at all. Mobius didn't even identify him as a Loki variant, much less his "favorite" Loki. It's clear the Sacred Timeline has been seriously altered by the death of He Who Remains, and Loki either arrived in a drastically changed timeline or in one of the new branches where nothing Loki did with Mobius throughout season 1 seems to have happened.

Compounding the tragedy of the Sacred Timeline being changed or Loki arriving in an entirely new timeline, all of the progress Mobius and Loki made as friends may have been wiped clean. Mobius originally recruited Loki to help him find another Loki variant who was hiding in apocalypses and slaughtering TVA agents; that Loki variant turned out to be Sylvie. But Loki and Mobius formed a strong bond and a real friendship. Loki was actually honest with him, Mobius shared his deep love of jet skis with Loki, and they learned the truth about the Time-Keepers being puppets and faced the perils of The Void together. Now, Loki and Mobius have to start all over again as strangers.

The Sacred Timeline being changed in Loki's finale may also have other side effects. It could have also reset Loki's relationship with Sylvie, which was broken when the two Loki variants came to blows when Sylvie attempted to kill He Who Remains and Loki tried to stop her. Similarly, Mobius' friendship with Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) was shattered by her betraying him to preserve the myth of the TVA. Ravonna Renslayer left TVA headquarters presumably to investigate the truth about the agency's origins but Renslayer could return with no memory of her falling out with Mobius, or even who he is. Whatever happens with the Sacred Timeline in Loki season 2, hopefully, the relationships between Loki, Mobius, Sylvie, and the others can at least be repaired.

Next: Loki: Every MCU Easter Egg In Episode 6

Loki will return for season 2 on Disney+.