What is the Time Variance Authority?
Created by a mysterious group calling themselves the Time-Keepers, the Time Variance Authority (TVA) exists to protect the Sacred Timeline. When something causes a Nexus Event, the point where the timeline separates into multiple branches, TVA Hunters arrive to “purge” the timeline, sending extraneous Variants to a neither-space called the Void.
Because the Hulk’s disruption causes a Nexus Event in Endgame, the Loki who escapes is a Variant, subject for purgation. But instead, he gets recruited by the organization to hunt a Variant of himself. Loki works alongside Agent Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson) an affable jet ski enthusiast who still holds a candle for his boss, Judge Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw).
Who are the Variant Lokis?
There are as many Lokis as there are universes. And (apologies to the Distinguished Competition), there are practically infinite Earths. We got a good look at all the variants of Loki in the first season’s penultimate episode, in which we met Alligator Loki, Classic Loki, Kid Loki, and more.
But the most important Loki doesn’t go by Loki at all. Loki encounters a female variant called Sylvie Laufeydottir (Sylvie Laufeydottir) while doing missions for the Time Variance Authority (TVA). Sylvie has been running from the TVA since she caused a Nexus Event as a child and became a target for purging. Sylvie recruits Loki into her mission, convincing him that the TVA and its lies must be stopped.
What is the Secret of the TVA?
Loki and Sylvie discover that everyone in the TVA are themselves Variants, pruned from even happy existences and mind-wiped to become servants of the Time-Keepers. Despite attempts to recruit Mobius and Ravonna, the revelation gets the duo sent to the Void, where they not only meet other Variants but also learn of Alioth. A transdimensional creature in the form of a black cloud, Alioth consumes Variants in the Void and works directly for the Time-Keepers.
After escaping the Void, Sylvie and Loki make it to the Citadel at the End of Time to confront the Time Keepers. But they have already learned that the Time-Keepers are literal puppets; a facade being controlled by some other figure.
