In Loki episode 4, the Time Variance Authority recaptures Sylvie and Loki, and Sif appears in a scene to torture him. Loki is quickly placed in a time loop memory prison, making him live in a loop of a bad memory from his past. At some point in Loki's past, he apparently cut off Sif's hair as a joke, and she wasn't happy about it. In the memory, Sif repeatedly enters the room, berates Loki for cutting her hair, and beats up the God of Mischief.

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Though Loki, a seasoned con artist, initially downplays the moment, the memory clearly hurts him deeper than he lets on. In the scene, Sif calls Loki a "conniving, craven, pathetic worm," adding, "You deserve to be alone and you always will be." After going through the time loop repeatedly, Loki its how much the moment affects him. He sits on the floor and tells Sif that cutting her hair wasn't funny. He did it because he's a narcissist who craves attention. Loki adds, "It's because I'm scared of being alone." His ission reveals exactly why he's so hurt by Sif's words.

The TVA wouldn't torture Loki with a moment that wasn't significant, and Sif's line gets right to the core of the character's main issues. In Thor, Loki learns that his life is a lie. He's not an Asgardian. Loki is the abandoned son of Laufey, the leader of the Frost Giants of Jotunheim, and Odin took him in hoping to eventually forge peace with Asgard's enemies. Ever since childhood, Loki had to deal with Thor being the favored son, and the truth of his lineage finally showed him why. All Loki wanted was to be equal to Thor in Odin's eyes. The revelation of his past told him that he never would be. He's not an Asgardian. He's a monster that doesn't deserve love. It's a formative event in the character's life, and Sif's line plays into it.

In addition to torturing Loki, the TVA is reinforcing the character's own beliefs. Loneliness and self-doubt are part of what makes a Loki a Loki. The Sif memory loop is a way to keep the character in line with the Sacred Timeline. However, with Sophia Di Martino's Lady Loki, the God of Mischief finds someone who finally understands him. The revelation that he doesn't need to be alone is a drastic change from his path on the timeline. Because of this change, the TVA is immediately alerted to where the Loki variants are hiding. When Owen Wilson's Mobius interrupts the Sif memory loop to try to break Loki free, he repeatedly asks Loki if he thinks he deserves to be alone. If Loki doesn't buy into Sif's words, the character may finally break away from the self-loathing that defines him. In other words, Loki is no longer just a Loki.

Loki releases new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.

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