Okay, let's try it this way. Every... every moment of peace you've ever experienced was yours because I was here. Alone, at the end of time... keeping watch. But you want to break the Loom. What do you think would happen to your friends? I made the tough choices, that's why I get the big chair. I keep us safe. Can't you see what I'm offering here is mercy?
„
~ He Who Remains attempts to persuade Loki to keep him in power.
“
I'll see you soon.
„
~ He Who Remains' last words to Sylvie as she fatally stabs him.
He was originally a scientist on Earth from the 31st century who discovered various universes stacked on top of his own, coming across alternate versions of himself with whom he mostly got along. However, several of his alternate variants were not as noble as him, so to end the Multiversal War they unleashed, He Who Remains would eradicate them all with Alioth, before founding the Time Variance Authority to prune any other variants on the newly-formed "Sacred Timeline".
He Who Remains appears to seek prevention of any form of chaos from occurring that could cause the timeline to branch off, believing that he is keeping everyone safe from danger. He appears to be somewhat deranged, however, as a result of being isolated within his castle for so long. His methods of doing so have proven to be villainous as he has kidnapped various variants from different timelines and brainwashing them by suppressing their memories. Even so, he acknowledges what he does is terrible and wrong but doesn't seem to care much of how he's affected others entirely, in which Sylvie accuses of him treating people's lives as nothing but a game.
Despite what He Who Remains claims, he was not against the idea of being killed to let another Multiversal War from occurring. In fact, he suggested it as one of the two options for Loki and Sylvie to do. This is because he has grown tired of ruling within the shadows of the TVA for so long that he's ready to retire from his role and pass it down to Loki and Sylvie.
Before his isolation, He Who Remains appeared to be saner, although no less manipulative. During the war, he openly led the TVA and expressed admiration for Ravonna Renslayer, suggesting that perhaps he hadn't always kidnapped people to fight for him but instead gave them a choice. However, after the war, He Who Remains had everyone's memories erased despite promising Renslayer that they would lead together, and he retreated into the shadows. He Who Remains did appear to have some genuine regret for betraying Renslayer in this way at the very least.
It was later revealed that He Who Remains' seeming acceptance of his fate was simply another manipulation, having set things up so that killing him and unleashing the Sacred Timeline would destroy everything. When Loki time traveled back to before He Who Remains' death, he arrogantly scoffed at the idea of simply letting Sylvie kill him and revealed that the Temporal Loom was a failsafe intended to isolate the Sacred Timeline and was impossible to fix. The real choice that Loki faced was to kill Sylvie and save He Who Remains to keep the Sacred Timeline isolated and his variants away or to break it and face a war that He Who Remains insisted would destroy everything, including the Sacred Timeline. In order to show this to Loki, He Who Remains had paved the road to Loki gaining his time slipping ability so that Loki would see what would happen if He Who Remains died and come back to change it once Loki realized that there was no other option. However, while He Who Remains' plan nearly succeeded, Loki was able to figure out a way to save all of the timeline branches without the Temporal Loom, using his magic instead. Ultimately, He Who Remains' plan was foiled and he was left dead at the End of Time while the TVA dedicated themselves to protecting all of the timelines and hunting down He Who Remains' variants.
History
Background
A scientist from the 31st century came across the discovery of many universes stacked upon each other. Other variants of him came across this same discovery. Eventually, these variants came in contact with one another, forming peace amongst each other for awhile, sharing their knowledge and technology amongst each other. However, some variants were more interested in seeking conquest upon other worlds, leading to the major event known as the Multiversal War.
A variant who would later become known as He Who Remains rose to put an end to the Multiversal War by harnessing the power of a cosmic entity known as Alioth and came out victorious in the war. With the end of the Multiversal War, He Who Remains began to work on isolating the timeline to prevent any branches from occurring, leading to the foundation of the Time Variance Authority. He Who Remains would then create three androids known as the Time-Keepers to act as the public's official leaders of the TVA, hiding his true existence.
Loki
He Who Remains settled within the Citadel at the End of Time, a castle that exists beyond the Void. Upon the arrival of Loki Laufeyson's L1130 variant and Sylvie Laufeydottir, he greets them in to his elevator where he tries to converse with them. Sylvie attempts to take his life multiple times, but he managed to avoid her assaults with his TemPad. He eventually greets them the two variants up to his office. He offers them tea and begins to explain everything he knows. He reveals to them that he knows everything that is to come, showing the future laid out on a script, and tells them that they cannot kill him because of this. He states that he understands their moral objections to the TVA and that his methods are deceptive, but there was never a mission to begin with and that everything burns. Loki then asks what's he's so afraid in which he states he's afraid of himself. Sylvie asks who exactly he is, in which he explains to them he has gone by many names such as a ruler, a conqueror and a jerk, but it was never so simple as a name.
He then begins to explain his history and the event known as the Multiversal War where variants of himself sought out to conquer various worlds before he put an end to it by harnessing Alioth's power and isolating the timeline. He then tells them that all he needed to do now was manage the flow of the timeline to prevent further branches, hence this lead to the foundation of the TVA. He then tells them he does all of this to keep them safe and if they think he is evil, then they wait until they get to meet his variants. He begins to warn them that something far worse will come to fill in his position if they choose to dispose of them and so he gives them two options; either kill him and let them deal with more than one "devil" or return to the TVA as its rulers.
Loki claims he's lying, not understanding why he would just want to give up control, but He Who Remains explains to him that he's grown old and tired of this position and that's he ready to give it up. He explains to them that he's been seeking someone that could take his place and believes it came in the form of Loki and Sylvie. He reassures them that there are no more lies and offers the two choices to them again, in which Sylvie accuses him of treating this as some sort of game. He reminds her that it's nothing personal, that it's simply practical, only for Sylvie to tell him it was personal to her. He then lashes out at her, telling her to grow up, calling her a murderer and a hypocrite. He acknowledges that they've all done terrible things, but assures them that they can now do them for the good reasons.
Eventually, He Who Remains hears noises in the background which tells him that they have now crossed the threshold. He tells them that, because of this, he doesn't know how things will play out from here as the timeline is now starting to branch off into different realities. He then offers up his TemPad, telling them he loves all of this honesty, saying it feels like a fresh new start. Sylvie then attempts to take his life, but Loki prevents her from doing so as he wants her to think about this. The two then begin to fight before eventually exchanging a kiss to each other. Sylvie then uses the TemPad to send Loki away. She then takes his blade and plunges it within He Who Remains. He then winks at her, saying he will see her soon.
Meanwhile, Loki finds himself back at the TVA. He then runs off to find Mobius and B-15, telling them he and Sylvie found the creator of the TVA and warns them about how countless versions of this man will come. When Mobius asks who he is, Loki doesn't understand what's going on. Loki then watches in horror as he sees the statue of He Who Remains, and discovers that he is in a past version of the TVA. As the Sacred Timeline begins to branch out uncontrollably, the Citadel at the End of Time crumbles down, and numerous variants of He Who Remains appear throughout the multiverse.
Ravonna Renslayer and Miss Minutes would come across He Who Remains' decomposing corpse after they were sent to the Citadel by Sylvie following a struggle to capture Victor Timely, one of He Who Remains' variants who was being manipulated by the pair as part of He Who Remains' backup plan. Miss Minutes revealed to Renslayer that Renslayer was originally the commander of He Who Remains' army and his partner, possibly even in a romantic sense. While He Who Remains promised to lead the TVA alongside Renslayer after the Multiversal War, he instead had her memories erased and installed the Time Keepers as the leaders of the TVA so that he could continue to operate from the shadows, although He Who Remains appeared to have some genuine regret for betraying Renslayer as he did.
After failing to stop the Temporal Loom from melting down, Loki travels back in time to the moment that Sylvie had killed He Who Remains and tries to stop her without success. Freezing time, He Who Remains reveals that he had paved the road for Loki to gain his time slipping ability and had set everything up since his death, revealing that he already knows about Victor Timely and the problems with the Temporal Loom. He Who Remains explains that the Temporal Loom was a failsafe intended to delete all of the branches except for the Sacred Timeline and his variants are already out there. Loki insists that he'd find and stop them, but He Who Remains states that there are too many. Even though Loki would try, the outcome to this equation would remain the same: Loki would lose which Loki acknowledges. After a moment, Loki declares that he would change the equation and break the Loom, but He Who Remains reminds Loki that the Loom prevents a brutal war where nothing will survive, not even the Sacred Timeline. The Sacred Timeline can only survive with He Who Remains keeping watch at the End of Time and he asks Loki if Loki could see what he was offering was mercy. After a moment, Loki decides once again to find another way, and He Who Remains summons Sylvie back to kill him and repeat the cycle. He Who Remains challenges Loki to make the hard choice of either breaking the Temporal Loom and causing a war that will kill them all, or killing Sylvie so that they can protect what they could.
However, Loki figured out a way to use his magic to weave the branches into a tree which could hold them, foiling He Who Remains' plan. With the Multiverse stabilized, the TVA dedicated itself to finding and hunting down He Who Remains' variants.
Gallery
Images
Promotional
He Who Remain's character poster.
Portrait version.
Screenshots
A statue of He Who Remains at the end of the sixth episode of Loki.
Videos
Trivia
He Who Remains is the very first Variant of Kang to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
He Who Remains appears to be a composite version of his comic book counterpart, who was the remaining member of the TVA and the creator of the Time-Twisters, as well as Immortus, a variant of Kang that aimed to prevent timelines from occurring. Immortus would later make his debut in the mid-credits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, given a much more sinister role this time around.
He Who Remains was written and portrayed to be as least evil as possible, to give contrast to how cruel Kang will be. Jonathan Majors stated that he probably smiled more as He Who Remains than any of his other roles.
For clothing, Majors also stated he had a lot of fun with his costume designer, and that He Who Remains' clothing comes from different places in history; the cape is Victorian, the shoes belonged to Genghis Khan, and the pants are Mongolian.
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