Loki season 2 finale sees the God of Mischief fulfill his glorious purpose, and fans have theories as to what it means

Warning! This article contains major spoilers for Loki season 2. If you've not yet caught up, turn back now!

The Loki season 2 finale was an emotional affair, with the titular Marvel character essentially sacrificing himself to save his friends (and the universe). He didn't give up his life, though, at least not in the traditional sense, so fans are trying to work out what it'll mean going forward.

On Reddit, one viewer tried to soothe others by reminding them that the Loki we've been watching for the last six weeks is just one variant of the God of Mischief. "This Loki is trapped as a Time God, but there are an infinite number of other Lokis who are not trapped," they explained. "One Loki sacrificed himself, and all the other Loki's get to be Loki. Kinda poetic."

"Loki finally did what he hasn't been able to do this whole time: be truly selfless," said another, a theory that ties in with writer Eric Martin describing season 2 as the closing of a book. "Everything has always been about him, for him. Until he finally realized that the only way to get what he wanted (his friends surviving) was making the ultimate sacrifice."

"I think he's there until an opportunity to defeat Kang once and for all arises," a third, more optimistic, fan chimed in. "I'm betting he'll be the force that comes in clutch to save the day during the 'all is lost' moment in one of the upcoming Avengers movies."

"In Norse mythology, and in the MCU, it is always Loki's fate to move the cycle forward. Even his name (according to some entomologists) is from the word for loop or knots," added a fourth. "I look at it not as being sad, because Loki always knew that he had a glorious purpose... He just never understood what it was. And he didn't understand it until those last moments where he chose to be the sacrifice so that others could have free will and the opportunity to be who they chose to be."

Episode 6 ends with Loki choosing not to kill Sylvie before she can kill He Who Remains. Instead, he elects to "fix" the Temporal Loom himself, rather than sending the ill-fated Timely out with his Throughput Multiplier – and risking the latter turning into spaghetti for the umpteenth time.