History Series / Loki2021

* LawOfTimeTravelCoincidences: {{Invoked|Trope}} by The Variant, who, as our main Loki deduces, is able to avoid attracting TVA attention by hiding at apocalyptic moments in time -- you can't alter the timestream enough to make a difference if everyone you're affecting is already about to die regardless. Loki and Mobius test this by visiting Pompeii and making a scene in the town just as Mount Vesuvius erupts. [[spoiler:It's later shown the TVA itself invokes this by sending everything from the errant timelines they "prune" to an apocalyptic event at the "end of Time", where they are devoured by [[{{Cumulonemesis}} Alioth.]]]]

* LawOfTimeTravelCoincidences: {{Invoked|Trope}} by The Variant, who, as our main Loki deduces, is able to avoid attracting TVA attention by hiding at apocalyptic moments in time -- you can't alter the timestream enough to make a difference if everyone you're affecting is already about to die regardless. Loki and Mobius test this by visiting Pompeii and making a scene in the town just as Mount Vesuvius erupts. [[spoiler:It's later shown the TVA itself invokes this by sending everything from the errant timelines they "prune" to an apocalyptic event at the "end of Time", where they are devoured by [[{{Cumulonemesis}} Alioth.]]]]

** [[spoiler:Sylvie was born as a female Loki but that in itself did not cause a Nexus Event despite seemingly being a major deviation from the Sacred Timeline. It took many years before she did something that finally changed events enough for her to be noticed by the TVA. The kicker is that, when she's arrested by the TVA and questioned by Renslayer, Sylvie demands to know ''what'', exactly, said nail was- and Renslayer claims it's been so long that [[ButForMeItWasTuesday not even she can remember anymore.]]]]

* LawmanBaton: TVA officers carry batons which they can use to immobilize targets by altering their flow of time or disintegrate them.

* TheCretaceousIsAlwaysDoomed: {{Invoked|Trope}} by The Variant, who, as our main Loki deduces, is able to avoid attracting TVA attention by hiding at apocalyptic moments in time -- you can't alter the timestream enough to make a difference if everyone you're affecting is already about to die regardless. Loki and Mobius test this by visiting Pompeii just as Mount Vesuvius erupts. [[spoiler:It's later shown the TVA itself invokes this by sending everything from the errant timelines they "prune" to an apocalyptic event at the "end of Time", where they are devoured by [[{{Cumulonemesis}} Alioth.]]]]

** At the end of the Sacred Timeline is [[spoiler:the Void, where time simply ends and nothing matters. The TVA uses it as a dumping ground for the Variants and branching timelines they prune, which are then devoured by Alioth. Alioth itself guards another timeline beyond the Sacred Timeline, where the creator of the TVA resides]].

* TakeAThirdOption: [[spoiler:In the finale, Loki time slips back at the Citadel with He Who Remains moments before Sylvie was about to kill him. With the reveal that there is no way to expand the Loom to allow for an infinitely growing Multiverse, He Who Remains offers Loki two choices: destroy the Loom, causing the cessation of existence for all of the timelines (including the Sacred Timeline); or kill Sylvie, spare He Who Remains, and preserve the flow of the Sacred Timeline. Loki takes neither option: instead, he ''replaces'' the Loom by destroying it and gathering all the loose timelines into himself, breathing life into and becoming the lone caretaker of the entire Multiverse.]]

** Averted with [[spoiler:Sylvie]], a Loki Variant who is always serious and thus more effective and dangerous than the other Lokis.

** Loki and the fugitive variant [[spoiler:Sylvie]] are forced together at first, work together later, and eventually come to blows because the fugitive has come to embody Loki's biggest trust issues, and Loki was pulled out of the timeline at a point where he betrayed literally ''everyone'' who ever cared about him. Loki even lampshades this while appealing to the hope they can break from their given character archetypes.

* TheFourLoves: The titular character learns all four in order, climbing a moral ladder of sorts. In the first episode, he expresses love for his family ("storge") [[spoiler:when he watches the film with Frigga, Odin and Thor.]] The second episode shows his growing friendship ("philia") with Mobius. He meets [[spoiler:Sylvie]] in the third episode, and by the fifth episode, they've developed romantic feelings for each other ("eros"). In the Season 1 finale, [[spoiler:he drops his weapon and stands in Sylvie's way defenseless to prevent her from making a wrong choice. He tells her that the only thing he wants is for her to be ok,]] which is an expression of selfless love ("agape").

** In "Lamentis", [[spoiler:Sylvie]] is shot in the chest and sent flying out of a trailer home. The framing of the shots references Bud doing the same to the Bride in ''Film/KillBill Volume 2''.

* OrderVersusChaos: One of the main conflicts of the series. The leaders of the TVA ([[spoiler:He Who Remains]] and Ravonna) are rooting for order, [[spoiler:Sylvie]] is hell-bent on destroying the organization and bringing chaos, and the rest, including the titular character, fall in-between. The final choice [[spoiler:He Who Remains offers to Loki and Sylvie is between order and NecessaryEvil or chaos, free will and an all-out war]].

** In Season 2, episode 2, X-5 flees the TVA and takes on the name [[Series/DoctorWho Brad Wolfe]].

** In the finale, upon [[UnstuckInTime timeslipping]] back to their first interrogation back in the very first episode in order to ask for his advice whilst facing a SadisticChoice, Loki shakes Mobius's hand. The shot is framed to evoke the album cover of Music/PinkFloyd's ''Wish You Were Here'' - a tableaux of two men in suits, one of them on fire, shaking hands; the main difference is that, rather than being on fire, Mobius is [[BodyHorror "spaghetti-fied"]].
* SinisterSilhouettes: The teaser gives us a shot of a mysterious blonde woman [[spoiler:(Sylvie)]] sitting on a rock, staring at a dark purple sky. The first official trailer gives us that same shot, but with Loki sitting next to her.

** [[spoiler:When the Time-Keepers are finally revealed in Episode 4, they're badly CGI'd Muppet-like creatures who look very out of place with the amazing special effects usually seen in the show. This ends up being intentional as when Sylvie decapitates one, they're revealed to be nothing more than animatronics, making their shoddy appearance justified.]]

** Season 2 as a whole gets a BittersweetEnding for most of the universe, with multiple timelines permitted to exist and the TVA still existing while dedicated to maintenance rather than destruction. However, the final view of the title character is of him bound to his new task at the end of time for all eternity.

** In "Ouroboros", Mobius determines that Loki needs to get his time-slipping under control, stating that the TVA needs a "Loki Who Remains". [[spoiler:In "Glorious Purpose (Season 2)", that's exactly what Loki ends up becoming, replacing He Who Remains and the Loom to personally oversee every branch of the Multiverse.]]

** "Creator/TaraStrong as Miss Minutes" / "Special Guest Star Creator/JonathanMajors / "Special Guest Star Creator/RichardEGrant" / "and Creator/OwenWilson".

* UnstuckInTime: In the Season 2 trailer, Loki experiences "timeslipping," a phenomenon that randomly pulls him back and forth between the past and the present, completely out of Loki's control.

** The same episode contains an Easter Egg revealing that Hunter B-15's real name was [[spoiler:Verity Wills.]]