Loki episode 5, “Journey Into Mystery,” has set the tone for the finale. Moreover, TVA’s actual meaning of pruning was revealed. No one ever really dies or is erased out of existence. They’re simply transported to the presumable end of time, called the Void, as explained by Judge Renslayer. At the Void, Classic Loki (Richard E. Grant) tells us that the place is guarded is by Alioth, a monster that feeds on any matter. So when Sylvie self-prunes and comes to this place, just like everybody else, she is also chased by this behemoth. But she has a power that no one does, i.e., enchantment. She makes a connection and sees something. Now we want to know what Sylvie saw when she touched Alioth.
What Sylvie Saw When She Touched Alioth
In episode 5, Renslayer was at the end of her wits. She accepted that even she doesn’t know who’s behind the Time-Keepers. As a result, Sylvie decided to prune herself. Now, this was an unexpected moment. It was known that she will reunite with Loki because the plot demanded that, but nobody thought it like this. After she’s in The Void, she makes a connection with Alioth while escaping from him. This is the moment she realizes that something else lies behind this behemoth.
So what did Sylvie see when she made this connection? When she touched Alioth, it briefly offered her a vision of what the monster is connected to – a roughly ring-shaped rock floating in space, with a castle on top of it. In a rampage of shots, it’s revealed that her vision moves closer to a castle, showing a great pair of doors at the bottom and, at the top, a tower with a glowing yellow dome. At that moment, it is not explained what this castle is or what Alioth is actually connected to. But of course, this prompted the viewers to theorize.
Is Alioth Hinting At Kang the Conqueror?
When Sylvie enchanted this monster, she saw the visions of a castle. But when Sylvie and Loki both successfully enchanted Alioth, the gateway to a mysterious place is opened and the cast previously shown in Sylvie’s vision is now seen properly. Now, according to the theories, it’s very much possible that it’s Kang the Conqueror. Ravonna being the main link makes it easier for this theory to prevail because the Time-Keepers are fake. And now, we have Alioth who’s also directly linked to Kang.
Alioth is the first being to ever break from the limits of time. And his kingdom is larger than Kang the Conqueror’s lands. This hungry monster was first introduced in Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective #1. As shown in Loki episode 5, Alioth is a guard dog who’s protecting the entity behind the TVA. But if it’s Kang, then Alioth is everything but a safety net because of their concrete history in the comics.
Nullifying the possibility that he’s protecting Kang (if he’s the real big bad), he’s actually Kang’s enemy in the comics, and he’s the reason why the Conqueror cannot expand his lands. In Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective #1-4, Alioth was accidentally released by Ravonna when Kang dies. Even though Kang is revived later by his team, Alioth, in the meantime, went on to destroy his city of Chronopolis. But at this moment, it’s not clear if it’s Kang or not.
Another Major Reference To Kang In Episode 5
If this reference is not enough for you, then there’s another massive hint at the time-traveling maniac. Plus, it almost seems as if Ravonna has faked her entire persona in episode 5 to keep Kang’s identity a mystery by lying about the one behind all this. Kang’s basically a time traveler in the comics who conquered a war-torn Earth, hence expanding his rule across the galaxy from there. Now that he conquered the future, he reached back in time to try and conquer an earlier version of Earth. So he’s no stranger to the Avengers.
Speaking of the Avengers, at the very start of episode 5, we get to see a closer look at the ruined Avengers towers. This tower, just like every other object, has been sent to the end of time. But the tower has the word “Qeng” written on it. Once again, this is a straight Marvel comics reference. In the pages, Qeng Enterprises was owned by “Mr. Gryphon.” This was the alias used by Kang the Conqueror when he was posed as a CEO and businessman in the 21st century. So, let’s just believe for now it’s him until episode 6 kicks in.
So now we know what Sylvie saw when she touched Alioth. Loki is currently streaming on Disney+.
