Loki Season 2 ending explained: The God of Mischief gets a promotion when he least expects it

The final episode of Loki Season 2 aired today, titled Glorious Purpose, and rightfully so. Season 1 had begun with the same title for its pilot episode, and coming full circle is nothing less than a credit for Loki. The Loki who had been arrested by the TVA in Season 1 has matured over time, centuries if one takes into consideration his time slipping escapades in order to understand theoretical and temporal physics, to finally become a God selflessly trying to save the TVA.

Throughout the final episode, Loki is seen facing impossible questions and equations. No matter the choice he makes or the fine print he diligently studies, he is set to lose from the beginning by He Who Remains. The Temporal Loom is a fail-safe, he later learns, designed only to help the Sacred Timeline survive and infinitely detain multiversal war with other He Who Remains variants.

The solution? Either Loki prevents his variant Sylvie from killing He Who Remains, by any means necessary, or he must risk destruction of every timeline. And in a satisfying change, long due since his self-realization, Loki resists, ignores, twists, fights, and does everything in his power to not be selfish, but a savior.

Also read: Loki Season 2: Catch up on everything that happened on the MCU series' first instalment before you watch the latest one 

But it is only after a million failed attempts to fix the Temporal Loom or stop Sylvie, that Loki realizes his folly. He cannot change the outcome without making a morally corrupt decision. But he can change the equation, at the risk of subsuming his freedom and identity for the multiversal population. And he does just that.

Season 2 episode 6 sees Loki finally defeat He Who Remains at his own game, by letting Sylvie kill the tyrannical Time God, and himself choosing to bear the brunt of sorting and managing the Temporal threads. By destroying the Loom, freeing the branched timelines and resurrecting them, Loki ascends from God of Mischief to God of Stories, a crucial character of Marvel from the comic book Loki: Agent of Asgard.

The God of Stories is a highly powerful character who can understand, manipulate, and even rewrite reality, by keeping the “bigger picture” in mind. His knowledge and perception of time, space, and reality elevates him to being worthy of giving up his life and friends. The irony? Loki gets what he has always sought, a throne, when he least expects it.

Also read: Loki Season 2 preview: Here's all you need to know about the Tom Hiddleston-led series' second season 

Instead of hungry glory, it is the fear of losing his friends that Loki has to defeat in order to palate ascension. Instead, he becomes the trunk holding together the Yggdrasil of timelines, he may be alone now, but thanks to the surviving TVA, he is never lonely.