The season finale of Loki kicks off by taking us on a trip down the Sacred Timeline, with plenty of historical and Marvel Cinematic Universe dialogue playing in the background. Eventually, we arrive outside the mysterious castle we first caught a glimpse of at the end of last week's episode, with Loki and Sylvie making their way to the entrance. They talk about heading in, but the doors open, and they're welcomed by...Miss Minutes! She explains that they've arrived at the Citadel at the End of Time, and talks about "He Who Remains." Miss Minutes offers Loki and Sylvie the chance to be reinserted into the Sacred Timeline, in a version where the latter defeats The Avengers and kills Thanos (he's even offered the Infinity Gauntlet and the throne of Asgard). Sylvie, meanwhile, could be given a lifetime of happy memories. They refuse.
Back in the TVA, Miss Minutes gives Renslayer some files she didn't ask for (we don't learn what those are) and tells her that "he" thinks they'll be more useful. In the Citadel, Loki and Sylvie enter a room with statues of the three Time-Keepers. Weirdly, a fourth has been destroyed, but before they can spend too much time thinking about that, they're confronted by "He Who Remains," and the big bad is played by none other than Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania's Kang the Conqueror, Jonathan Majors. He's a little nuts, and each time Sylvie tries to kill him, he easily avoids her thanks to his TemPad. Elsewhere, Renslayer is packing her things when she's confronted by Mobius. They argue, and we see that Hunter B-15 has led her men to 2018 where they learn that they're all Variants after she shows them Renslayer's original place in the timeline as a teacher called Rebecca Tourminet.
"He Who Remains" reveals that he already knows everything that's going to happen and that he always wanted them to reach this point. They haven't had free will this entire time, and back in the TVA, Mobius and Renslayer argue about exactly that. After overpowering him, she takes off for parts unknown "in search of free will." As for the Citadel, the mysterious big bad explains that he's been dubbed many names by many people, including a "conqueror." It turns out a Variant of his was once a scientist in the 31st Century who discovered that there was a Multiverse. At the same time, other versions learned the same thing, and for a while, there was peace as they each helped improve their worlds. Unfortunately, some Variants weren't quite so noble and wanted to conquer these other worlds and timelines. A Multiversal War followed that nearly ended everything until that first Variant (who appears to be "He Who Remains") discovered Alioth, weaponised him, and ended the war. With that, he created the TVA to stop any further branches from being created.
He presents Loki and Sylvie with two options. If they kill him, they'll have an infinite number of evil versions of him to deal with. Alternatively, they can take over and keep everything in check. All of a sudden, we reach a new Nexus event and "He Who Remains," for the first time in a millennia, doesn't know what's going to happen next because they've just crossed the threshold. Branches start splitting off from the Sacred Timeline, and Sylvie attempts to kill the villain. Loki intervenes because he believes him, and the two fight before an extremely emotional exchange leads to them finally sharing a kiss (the God of Mischief really has changed and is clearly in love). Unfortunately, she can't see past revenge and uses that TemPad to send Loki back to the TVA. With that, she kills "He Who Remains," and the Sacred Timeline erupts into countless new branches; the Multiverse has been created.
We see (the original) Mobius and Hunter B-15 in the TVA as they acknowledge that there's no turning back now. A heartbroken Loki, meanwhile, races around searching for his friend and finds him. Except, it isn't him. Loki has ended up in a reality where the TVA is ruled over by Kang the Conqueror!
To be continued...