Loki: What’s hidden in plain sight in episode 6

The truth about Judge Renslayer

One of the earliest indications that Kang was the real mastermind behind the TVA was having Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) as one of its judges and most loyal employee. Because anyone with a passing knowledge of the comics knows that the time-traveling despot and the time-traveling hanging judge are star-crossed lovers. It was also clear that this version of Renslayer isn’t the same as her comic book counterpart; she wasn’t a royal princess from 40th Century Earth for starters. But in this final episode of the season, we learn who Renslayer really is, where she comes from, and where she might be going.

Turns out she’s a variant of a high school principal from Fremont, Ohio in the year 2018. The name of said high school is “Franklin D. Roosevelt High School,” the name on the blue ballpoint pen Mobius (Owen Wilson) saw in her office. It seems that was Renslayer’s first trophy from a pruned timeline. As a bonus Easter Egg, the name of the diploma above “Principal Renslayer’s” desk is Rebecca Tourminet. In the comics, that was an alias she used when she travelled to the early 20th century and lived with one Victory Timely. Victory Timely was another alias of – you guessed it – Kang.

Another major difference between the comics and Loki is how she allies herself, or will ally herself, with Kang. In the comics, Ravonna is accidentally killed right as she declares her love for Kang. When Kang journeys to Limbo, he teleports her out of the timeline mere seconds before her death, thus creating a divergent timeline in the process. We don’t know how this variant of Rebecca Tourminet becomes Judge Ravonna Renslayer, but it’s a safe bet that Kang/He Who Remains selected her to be the de facto ruler of the TVA for a reason.

And she’s still being manipulated by him, too. The files she receives from Miss Minutes are “not the one’s [she] asked for]” but ones that the cartoon clock claims that He Who Remains felt that she needed. In addition, she tells Mobius right before she leaves via the temporal doorway that she’s off to find “free will.” But keep in mind that she also told him that the only person allowed to have free will is “the one in charge.” In other words, she’s off to find Kang himself via the files given to her by Miss Minutes from Kang/He Who Remains.