‘Loki’ Episode 5: What Is the Place Loki and Sylvie See When Alioth Disappears?
The end of Loki episode 5 unveiled a mysterious city sitting beyond Alioth and the Void. So what is this place? And what does its introduction mean for the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe?
[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for episode 5 of Loki.]
The God of Mischief and Sylvie team up in ‘Loki’ Episode 5
In Episode 5, “Journey Into the Mystery,” the God of Mischief (Tom Hiddleston) wakes up in the Void and is embraced by four of his variants — Classic Loki (Richard E. Grant), Kid Loki (Jack Veal), Boastful Loki (Deobia Oparei), and Alligator Loki. They warn him about Alioth, the all-consuming cloudy monster in the sky, and urge him to take shelter with them.
Meanwhile, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) interrogates Ravonna Renslayer at the TVA. And upon discovering Loki might be alive in the Void, she prunes herself to save him.
Waking up in the Void, Sylvie encounters Mobius (Owen Wilson), who takes her to face down Alioth. With an enchantment, Sylvie realizes Alioth is guarding the real person behind the TVA.
“I think the person we’re after is beyond the Void at the end of time,” she later tells Loki. “And if they are, that thing is just their guard dog protecting the only way in.”
Together, Loki and Sylvie manage to enchant Alioth. And when the monster’s dark cloud begins to dissipate, they see a massive city emerge.
What is the place Loki and Sylvie find?
While we won’t know for sure until the final episode, there are a few Marvel references that could explain what city emerged behind Alioth in Loki episode 5. In the comic books, Alioth is a trans-temporal entity that sits near the border of Kang the Conqueror’s realm, Chronopolis.
The monster is contained by a time barrier and unable to move beyond that point. So, if Sylvie and Loki managed to disarm it and perhaps lower the border, the city they see may very well be Chronopolis.
What the introduction of Chronopolis could mean for the MCU
If the city seen at the end of the fifth episode of Loki turns out to be Chronopolis, it will likely be a setup for the MCU’s introduction of Kang the Conqueror. The villain — who will be played by Lovecraft Country star Jonathan Majors — is slated to appear in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
The series has been leading up to some kind of revelation about Kang. In the comics, Ravonna Renslayer is Kang’s girlfriend and ally. So her presence alone hints at his potential emergence.
Some fans think Kang is the one controlling the TVA. And a few believe the castle seen in the city is the castle in his kingdom.
“I thoroughly believe that is Kang’s castle — as Kang’s Castle [in] Chronopolis,” one Reddit user wrote. “Because it’s protected by Alioth which was the smoke ghost thing caught in the episode.”
Hopefully, fans will get more answers as Loki wraps up the season. The finale airs July 14 on Disney+.
