i don’t really think it’s fair to say or imply that Loki was Mobius’ slave, or even the TVA’s. Mobius is just doin his job for one. And for another, Loki is a criminal, even if he wasn’t in his right mind when he invaded earth, he still invaded it. he does still have to pay for that, and in that light, the TVA went easy on him. Maybe their relationship shouldn’t have been presented as quite so friendly, but I think they were friends by the end of the season and saying all this awful stuff about Mobius being Loki’s jailer captor enslaver torturer and whatever…it’s too far and there’s no real canon basis for it.
ah yes, of course, bad things are fine to do if someone has done bad things. because they deserve it. got it.
Listen. I’m not sure what canon you’ve been watching but forcing someone to work with you under threat of death is bad, lying to and blaming them for future events is bad, putting someone in intentional distress and knowing they will react bad to their mother’s death and leaving the images up is bad, telling them that they were born to cause pain and suffering and death (especially when their father is Odin, their siblings are Hela and Thor) is bad, leaving someone getting beaten up and rubbing salt in their fears (even as part of ‘breaking them’) is bad, casually dehumanizing people (words like “pet” and “my/your Loki” and “the Variant”) and pruning/resetting/killing people en masse or on an individual basis once they’re of no use to you is bad, I’m not even going to continue this list because the TVA itself has such BAD vibes it’s literally an authority that’s enforcing it’s own turn of events and calling it ‘sacred’ with people like Mobius/B-15/Renslayer pushing their agenda forward because they simply believe it’s for the greater good while invalidating Loki’s questions until the point where they personally find out they were also Variants (and still express no remorse/mention of any moral argument or lives taken, they just comment on how they could’ve been happy before).
Like, buddy, pal, I don’t know how to tell you this but Mobius is very clearly psychologically torturing Loki in episode 1 in order to break him down and get him to join their side, I would even argue that he physically does so in exercising control of where Loki can move or how he reacts with the collar after riling him up. He does the same thing in episode 4 even more explicitly for everyone who missed it.
Arguing he advocates for or sees the best in Loki is something that doesn’t have a canon basis. very “that’s not how I see it,” “Is that possible? He can change?” “You could be whoever, whatever you wanna be, even someone good” is surrounded by interrogation tactics and “give my regards to Lady Sif” “What a incredible seismic narcissist” “He’s softening in the Time Cell, but while he marinates…” “Just kind of an asshole and a bad friend. Yeah, chew on that for a little bit” “And, hey, if it doesn’t work, I’ll delete him myself.”
There is explicit canon basis of these things, and whether you’d rather not acknowledge them is up to you, and I don’t blame you for thinking otherwise since the narrative frames Mobius as some kind of moral pillar of righteous goodness (he ain’t) and has he and Loki use the words “friends,” but I want it on record I don’t use words like slave or torturer or abuser lightly, and don’t recall having used slaver/enslaver/captor/jailer for Mobius like you’ve implied either, though some of the words you’ve got listed would be accurate descriptions, I’d think, since Loki’s only option was work for the TVA or die - until the end of Episode 3, after which he was accused of having ‘betrayed’ Mobius and been a ‘bad friend’.
I’m not even going to address “i don’t really think it’s fair to say or imply that Loki was Mobius’ slave, or even the TVA’s [slave]” “mobius us just doin his job” “the TVA went easy on him” or “maybe their relationship shouldn’t have been presented as quite so friendly” because I don’t think I’m capable of doing that without some strong language and a lot of caps lock and this post is already long enough I think.
I also want it noted that Loki’s hardly done anything worse than the hero characters. Just because he’s been framed as an antagonist doesn’t make his own actions worse or theirs better, so do please feel free to apply the same logic you are on what Loki deserves on them too.
Here’s relevant posts in the event you wish to read up: (on Mobius’ inherent goodness and his job) (on Mobius’ take on Frigga) (the holy grail of Loki (2021) meta masterposts) (on Loki supposedly learning to care in the show) (thor 1 loki doesn’t deserve bad treatment)
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