Loki continues to develop the MCU's model of time travel, introducing viewers to the Time Variance Authority - a group who consider it their responsibility to police the "Sacred Timeline." The Avengers may have cleared up most of the loose ends they created when they traveled back in time to collect the Infinity Stones, but one branch was left - the one in which Loki escaped with the Tesseract. The TVA has stepped forward to prune that particular branch, taking this variant of Loki to their unnamed city in order to stand trial.

Related: Loki’s Complete MCU Timeline Explained

But who are the TVA, and what gives them the right to decide the MCU's past, present, and future">MCU's Multiverse, the Time Keepers, and their agents the TVA.

The Multiversal War & the Time Keepers

According to Miss Minutes, the timeline is naturally chaotic. Any moment has the potential to be a so-called "Nexus Point," where a branch in the timeline is created; Miss Minutes suggests a person could create a branch by doing something as spectacular as starting an uprising, or as mundane as being late for work. Given that's the case, it's reasonable to assume there were originally untold billions of unique timelines, some only slightly different to the one we know, but others no doubt far more bizarre and surreal. Unfortunately, Miss Minutes explained the different branched timelines became aware of one another, resulting in a vast Multiversal war. "Countless unique timelines battled each other for supremacy," Miss Minutes explained. This war apparently came close to destroying all of time and space, and no doubt is the "Secret War" Easter egg teased by head writer Michael Waldron; in the comics, 2015's Secret War event saw all the Marvel timelines collide in an interdimensional conflict.

The Time Keepers "emerged," bringing peace to the Multiverse by reorganizing all of existence into a single timeline. These powerful beings are essentially the TVA's gods, considered all-knowing and all-wise, and the TVA's job is to maintain the timeline according to their will. Loki isn't exactly subtle in this analogy, given the TVA explicitly refer to the "Sacred Timeline" - i.e. the one that is in accordance with the will of their gods - and the Trickster God himself senses the power the TVA wield. The Time Keepers have no direct analogue from the comics themselves, although they're adapted from a minor concept that's appeared in a handful of issues, such as Thor #282. Viewed through a cynical lens, it's likely the MCU's Time Keepers are the beings who triumphed in the Multiversal war and were consequently able to impose their will upon all creation. They justify their dominance by insisting they are preventing another Multiversal conflict, but in reality they are simply enforcing their rule.

The Time Variance Authority Explained

The Time Variance Authority are the Time Keepers' enforcers, responsible for policing the Multiverse and ensuring new branched timelines are not created. They are essentially bureaucratic, obsessed with their own processes, continuing to enforce them without ever once stopping to question them. Arthur C. Clarke famously posited that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and it's testimony to the TVA's scientific marvels that even Loki wondered whether they were using magic when he looked out at the city in which they live. That, more than anything else, indicates how advanced they really are; even someone who grew up on Asgard can't believe the evidence of his eyes.

Related: Where Loki Fits Into The MCU Timeline

The TVA's home appears to be outside of time in some way, but Loki episode 1 goes to great lengths to avoid naming it. This is sure to fuel speculation they're actually based in the city of Chronopolis, which - in the comics - sits outside time in a realm called Limbo and is strongly associated with the villainous Kang the Conqueror. The comic book version of Chronopolis allows access to all of time and space, with portals and doorways that can be used to travel the Multiverse - very similar in design to the doorways the TVA use. It's interesting to note some of the properties associated with Limbo in the comics have been ascribed to the Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantamania, so this connection looks highly likely.

Wherever they may be based, though, the TVA's primary responsibility is to monitor the timeline looking for evidence new branches are being created. When a nexus is identified, they step in to arrest the culprit and use their technology to destroy the branch. There do appear to be limits to their powers; when Mobius visited in 1549, he was told he needed to act quickly because that particular anachronistic branch was "nearing redline." It's reasonable to assume it is much easier to destroy a nascent timeline, and one that es "redline" has become too stable to be safely destroyed in this way. Hopefully this line of dialogue serves as foreshadowing, and we get to see what happens if a timeline es redline.

-

The Miss Minutes is wrong, and the Multiverse is more complex than the TVA claim, or Loki's actions in this series will change the nature of reality itself.

Loki releases new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.

More: Who Is The Evil Loki Variant? Marvel Show Villain Explained