Why Loki Is The Only One Who Can Be The Villain Of The Series

WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Loki episode 5.

Fan theories point the finger at Kang the Conqueror, but the only true villain in Loki is the God of Mischief himself. Loki episode 4 changed everything with the Time-Keepers twist. In the episode, the Time Variance Authority brings Sophia Di Martino's Lady Loki and Tom Hiddleston's Loki before the all-knowing Time-Keepers for execution. However, the two Loki variants somehow manage to get free, and Lady Loki decapitates one of the time gods. It turns out the Time-Keepers are nothing but mindless robots, and someone else is pulling the strings at the TVA.

In Loki episode 5, Lady Loki sets out to stop the mysterious villain behind the TVA. Learning that Hiddleston's Loki was sent to a void at the end of time after being pruned by Gugu Mbatha-Raw's Ravonna Renslayer, Lady Loki prunes herself and reunites with her friend in the Void. There, the two Loki variants attempt to enchant Alioth, a cloud-like monster patrolling the Void, and they successfully pull it off thanks to Classic Loki (Richard E. Grant) sacrificing himself. While enchanted, the monster reveals a hidden citadel outside of time that likely belongs to the person controlling the TVA.

Though there are other options, it seems the true villain of Loki is Loki. The Disney series has dropped several hints about Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), a villain that's set to appear in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. From the mysterious citadel, which may belong to the castle-loving Kang, to Ravonna Renslayer, who's Kang's love interest in the comics, the series has planted enough evidence to suggest that Kang is behind everything at the TVA. But the God of Mischief is all about deception, and it seems these hints are a bit of trickery too. While there's a case for other villains, there's one person the series constantly comes back to: the God of Mischief himself.

Over and over again, Loki points to the God of Mischief as the series' villain. For one, Loki's philosophy perfectly lines up with the TVA's. The TVA wants to take away choices from people, making them stay on a Sacred Timeline, and Loki seems to want much of the same. In the Loki premiere, Hiddleston's character says freedom is an “oppressive lie” and choice only brings "shame" and "regret." He basically sounds like a TVA spokesperson. In Loki episode 4, Hiddleston's Loki has another interesting line. He tells Owen Wilson's Mobius, "Of course it was me pulling the strings all along." In the scene, he was simply trying to lie to protect Lady Loki, saying he was the one calling the shots in their plan to take on the TVA. However, the episode later reveals that the Time-Keepers are fake and someone is actually pulling the strings at the TVA. In doing so, the show puts the line in new context.

At the end of the day, Loki is always his own worst enemy. The God of Mischief's selfishness and lust for power constantly put him in hot water in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Loki just takes that to the next level. Instead of Hiddleston's character shooting himself in the foot metaphorically, the series takes it literally, showing multiple Loki variants attacking each other in their endless quests for glorious purpose. With only one episode of Loki left in season 1 of the series, it wouldn't make much sense to include a new big bad at this point. But regardless of what happens, Loki is always the villain of his own story.

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Loki releases new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.