Loki: What’s hidden in plain sight in episode 3

The secret origin of the TVA agents

During another conversation, in which Loki once again claims he’s not working with the TVA but trying to undermine it from within, Sylvie makes a startling revelation: The employees of the TVA are not genetically altered human beings created to perform specific tasks. Nor are they, as is the case in the comics, various clones of the late writer-artist, Mark Gruenwald, or writer-editor, Tom DeFalco. They’re actually variants from pruned timelines, who have also had their memories altered and rewritten.

This brings up a very obvious question: if the TVA are lying about this, what else are they also lying about? Certainly Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Ra) knows a lot more than she’s been letting on. But does Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) know more than she’s telling, too? Is Kang the Conqueror really the one who is running the TVA? Do the Time Keepers even exist? Does the Sacred Timeline? Was there even a Multiversal War? Does Mobius come from a timeline in which he owned a jet ski in the early 1990s?

One thing’s for sure, though: the TVA, not Sylvie, are being cast as the real villains of the series.

Loki’s Enchantment?

There’s also another potential twist from “Lamentis,” one which has to do with how Sylvie’s “enchantments” work. As she explains to Loki, Sylvie can implant ideas, images, even herself into other people’s dreams in order to extract information from them. We even see an example of this at the beginning of the episode when Sylvie makes a Hunter believe they’re best friends sharing cocktails in a bar.

But what if this isn’t the only time during this episode in which this happens? What if there’s another enchantment taking place and Sylvie isn’t the one that’s doing it? What if by telling Loki, he’s learned how to do enchantments himself and is performing one on her? After all, as they’re technically the same person, Loki would be just as capable as Sylvie of using that kind of magic. Also, he is trying to get information out of her. What better way to do that than by making Sylvie believe they’ve escaped the train, have no way off Lamentis-1 after the TVA TempPad broke, and that the only shuttle leaving the moon has been destroyed?

And if you’re wondering when Loki could’ve possibly have done this, that’s easy. It may have occurred the very moment Sylvie fell asleep on the train. It would explain why Loki changed outfits when he’s supposed to be in disguise, or how he was able to stop and reverse the flow of a collapsing building. It would also mean that the entire second half of the episode, if not the majority of the next one, is nothing more than a very vivid and very convincing dream. If so, it certainly would be befitting of the Norse God of Mischief.

But, we’ll have to wait until episode 4 to see if this theory is correct or not, as it looks as though we’ll be learning more about Sylvie’s history and the TVA. And see how both she and Loki get off a doomed moon, of course.

What clues, hints, and Easter Eggs did you find in Loki, episode 3? Do you also think the second half of the episode is a dream? Let us know in the comments section below.