https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=NJKgm94fw3E
The last episode of Marvel’s Loki took on a surprising, thoughtful look at the problem of opposites. Of course, the entire series was about the challenges and opportunities of two extremes, unlimited variability on one side and absolute control and linearity on the other. This whole problem culminates into the last episode, but to my own surprise was brought into an almost theological realm as the entire climax of the series became a play on Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden facing the puzzle of the serpent. So we will explore the final episode and just the general tendency in both the MCU and DC to move towards this trope of the multiverse in their storytelling. Just a warning, this video will contain an infinite amount of spoilers, by the way. The Loki series is of course one of the assets setting up Marvel’s Phase 4 story layout, of which one of the major themes seems to be the exploration of the multiverse idea. Here the Adam and Eve motif in the Loki series, which appears for all intents and purposes at the genesis of this multiverse in the MCU, is certainly not something which is accidental. The multiverse idea, or the notion of an infinite variability on identities, is one which has been explored both by Marvel and DC in their comics long ago, and even in some recent movies, for example the Spider-Enter into the Spider-Verse movie. But this now takes an increasingly important role in the social narrative, which is itself obsessed with difference and variation, and so is being taken to the next level in these franchises. So both Marvel and DC seem to be set on diving into this multiverse notion in their next slew of projects. Though creating this vision not only within their stories where we discover the clashing universes which contain infinite versions of every character or event, but also creating something like a meta-version of this concept, in which all of the previous movie iterations of Batman or Spider-Man, for example, were simply a glimpse into this multiverse of variability all along. So Marvel is actually taking this one step even further. What they’re doing is they’re introducing this multiverse idea through a multitude of means and disconnected stories. Sometimes we saw this as faints, actual faints, in the last Spider-Man movie, for example, or in WandaVision, and now we see that as an explosion in Loki, as this cosmic mistake in the next Spider-Man movie, and just as a basic question on variation in the recent What If series. So the Loki series presents its own take on the multiverse, starting first with the vision of a tyrannical and bureaucratic system of control. The TVA, or Time Variance Authority, watches the quote, sacred timeline for breaks. The breaks can happen anywhere and at any time, and so the TVA can travel to any point in time and any part of reality. These breaks are caused by variants, variants which spawn entirely new timelines and theoretically entirely distinct universes, which are rapidly pruned by the TVA in order to preserve the unity of the timeline, prevent chaos, which would ultimately lead to a war between the different timelines as they one day become aware of each other through a character named He Who Remains that we’ll look at a little later. So in this series, a variant of Loki is the main character at the outset, though like so many franchises these days, the spotlight and narrative arc will gradually shift to another variant of Loki, a female version named Sylvie. Ultimately these variants are pruned with their timelines, but these two Lokis, through their usual trickster characteristics, succeed in avoiding this and ultimately they team up to find out what is at the source of the TVA and with a plan to destroy it or maybe take over in the usual Loki style. Sylvie interestingly enough has been able to avoid detection from the TVA by hiding and living at the end of different worlds at the edge of cataclysms where all will die. The two Lokis, even in the series, fall in love at some point, an event which is deemed extremely dangerous for the timeline but also seems to us narcissistic and a little more than unnatural, but we will later understand what this is about in the final episode of the series. So in this final episode, both the Lokis go to the very end of everything, the end of time and space we could say, where all these pruned variants are sent to be devoured by a cosmic void monster named Eliath. Passing this cosmic death, both Lokis find this medieval looking castle in which lives He Who Remains. All of this is set up like a kind of ritual or initiation where they have to go past this monster’s guardian and then upon entering the castle they are offered a test, something both Lokis would desperately want in exchange for them leaving, though they remain untempted. After that they meet He Who Remains and the first hint of a biblical reference is of course that this character introduces himself to them while eating an apple. He takes both the Lokis up an elevator to his office at the very top of the highest tower. The top of the mountain we could say, brings them into paradise. He Who Remains or the remainder we could call him, explains the story. In his own life on earth, he became a kind of bridge between worlds. That is, a variant of himself was a scientist who discovered that there were infinite universes stacked on each other, with infinite variants of everything that existed. The different variations of himself started to communicate with each other, at first helping each other, but because they were infinite versions of themselves, and in infinite universes, of course some of these variations were dangerous and wanted only to conquer the other universes. This led to a multiverse war where entire realities began to attack each other. So this particular variant, the one in the Loki series, discovered a monster. A monster which was made from the very tears in reality, and this monster devoured time and space. And so it was weaponized by He Who Remains to isolate a single continuous timeline and end the multiversal war. So it’s first off very interesting to see a few of the images that are being played in this narrative. To begin with, He Who Remains is already an interesting notion in himself, a kind of remainder of the process of history, an anomaly which does not fit into the story, who is somehow outside the story. And because of that, this remainder was able to bridge different realities, a kind of shapeshifter, and not a shapeshifter in his own person, but in the very possibility of his being stretched out into infinite variation. So bridges are of course always in between spaces. They’re always these remainders that are in between two identities and are very ambiguous, for on them can cross of course traders and scholars, but also armies and weapons. The remainder or the undefined can both guard a treasure or devour you. And this is related to the numerous stories of monsters guarding treasures or mysteries of some sort. Of course, He Who Remains is akin to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, both as he is presented in the story, but also in his role. For the serpent is also something like the remainder, that is this twisty shapeshifter which appears on the edge of a coherent identity. The reminder that any system is never perfect and fully contained. We often wonder why the serpent is in the garden in the first place if this garden is supposed to be paradise. In Loki, this cosmic creature, Eliath, the void monster made from the tares in reality, is in many ways a version of this remainder as well. An extension of He Who Remains, similar to how the cosmic Leviathan in the Bible story is an extension of the serpent in the garden. And so He Who Remains is both a kind of anomaly and a bridge between worlds, but ultimately becomes the tyrant over reality. We already see how he embodies two extremes in his own person, the two extremes of the edge we could call it. So in this guide, He Who Remains, he presents the two Lokis with a choice between two extremes. So it’s not exactly good and evil like in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Genesis account, but it is very similar. He presents them with the option of stifling order or cataclysmic chaos. That is, either the two Lokis become the new tyrants and continue to maintain a single sacred time by killing all the variants, a timeline where all is already known and, of course, just playing itself out, or else they kill He Who Remains and let the timeline split into infinite variation, which will ultimately lead to a multiverse war once again. And so this gambit, these opposites, can be seen through several positive and negative angles, which are actually explored in this final episode, not only through the Lokis, but also through secondary characters like Mobius and Ravonna Renslayer. These opposites appear as free will versus fate and a kind of predestination, accepting a lie to preserve an institution versus exposing the truth and risking total chaos. In the case of the Lokis, it is important to understand how they become an image of Adam and Eve because they are two sides of a single being. Like Eve was taken from the side of Adam, these two are also a male and female variation on Loki. In this case, we can understand the conflict and love between them as a primordial situation, which also echoes the capacity of our own different parts. As a single person, your thoughts and your body or your rational and your emotional side, However you want to frame it, your different parts, to be able to unite these different opposites and unite the fragmentations within you into one. So the serpent, of course, finds pleasure in dividing them and making them believe that there are only two options, the two extremes of reality, either absolute tyranny or anarchy and chaos. He pits them up against themselves as opposites, saying, for example, that Loki is one who cannot be trusted and Sylvie is one who cannot trust. And even in their exchanges, Loki presents himself as the one who wants to wait and reason things out and Sylvie as the one who wants to act before the opportunity is gone. And so they are at an impasse. Then I guess we’re in a pickle. So we wait. Wait. The impasse is, of course, bound up in the dualism presented to them from the outset. The same duality we see in politics and popular discourse, this slavery to extremes and irreducible opposites, which in the Christian terms is called the world of the fall. This is the Manichean world of absolute inside, outside, male, female, control, freedom, and so many other opposites in which balance and a middle road cannot exist. Now, of course, the solution to the problem is actually hidden in the story, not made explicit or detailed, but hinted at in the character of the low keys. The solution to the opposites is something like faith and love. You see, if only they could surmount their own selves, their own idiosyncratic fears and desire and rather trust each other. So the solution is to trust, but also to love and not love in the kind of sentimental idea But love in how these two variants of Loki could be united together into one without eliminating their variability. In this frame, the possible love between Loki and Sylvie no longer seems to be so weird and unnatural, but rather becomes an image of how unity and multiplicity can coexist without either eliminating variance and difference or falling into a mire of chaos and conflict. So the solution to the problem posed by He Who Remains is trust and love. But just like in the Garden of Eden, our protagonists rather fall into blaming, mistrust, and blinding desire. So surprisingly enough, here as well, like in the Garden of Eden, it is the Eve character which consummates the act and murders He Who Remains, sending the world into both an insane chaos of variance and a subjugation to the tyrannical variance of He Who Remains. So the series of course ends on a cliffhanger where Loki has been forgotten by his friends and so is set back adrift in a world where he does not belong, a world that does not recognize him, a world where hope is lost. And so in the end, despite all its faults, the Loki series presents an interesting play on the very ancient story of the fall and its consequences as a pendulum swing between the extremes of tyranny and chaos, both in society and in our own selves. But in general, we need to be attentive to the multiverse story arc in these upcoming projects as they will also engage in this duality and it is difficult to know at this point. They will continue to promote anarchy, revolution, and the supremacy of desire as we have seen dominate in cultural production since at least the 1960s or rather if they will use this multiverse narrative as a call for safety, call for control and uniformity, a call to eject variance and scapegoats, reflecting the clear new direction in which our culture is appearing on our horizon at this very moment. Hopefully they would be able to find that middle ground we all desire, but sadly it might be too late for that at this time. So I hope you enjoyed our heavy metal variation on the Symbolic World opening. It was made by a band called Skies Turn Black. And so make sure you subscribe and share and do all the things that YouTubers ask you to do, but also check out thesymbolicworld.com where you will find all kinds of ways to get involved in this symbolic thinking. You’ll also find there a way to support this work financially if that interests you. You’ll always get an extra video a month and a lot of other possibilities as well. So everybody thank you for your support, thank you for your time and attention, and I’ll talk to you very soon.