Mirroring in media can be about relatability between characters; characters who are alike but also characters who contrast one another. I’ve already delved into how He Who Remains & Loki are mirrors of one another, but I’ve also been thinking about how Sylvie mirrors many of the characters, especially (in my opinion) Mobius & Renslayer.
(And yes, obviously Sylvie mirrors Loki and visa versa.)
Renslayer is the more obvious of the two, to see why and how she mirrors Sylvie — they both believe in their mission and they are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it (even if it means hurting the people they care about). Even though their missions are polar opposites, there is commonality between them in their belief that ‘it is the only way’.
However, Sylvie and Mobius is more about their perceptions of themselves and their character journeys. Mobius admitted to Sylvie that he thought the TVA were “the good guys”, even though from Sylvie’s perspective, they were clearly acting in violence, doing He Who Remains’ bidding and believing in the cause. Sylvie has also acted in violence, believing in her own cause — she has killed minutemen, she killed He Who Remains, doing it all under her own guise that she is the true “good guy” (in her mind she believes she is doing what is right).
Mobius and Sylvie are very different on the surface, it’s evident to see. Sylvie is more about taking action like Loki, whereas Mobius, as he states himself, isn’t. But beneath the surface, the two characters have been subjected to similar circumstances. The TVA/He Who Remains plucked them both from their timelines, stealing them from their lives. One was indoctrinated into the TVA, the other was an escapee of the TVA. One had their memories wiped, the other worked hard to get as much knowledge as possible. During majority of season one, Mobius is living a lie/fantasy, whilst Sylvie is living the truth/reality — structural parallelism. Mobius and Sylvie’s dynamic is contradictory, they clash yet understand one another due to circumstances out of their control that lead them on their crossed paths.
Both Sylvie and Mobius have had their beliefs challenged and changed. The truth of the TVA was revealed and Mobius had to come to terms with it and his actions at the end of season one. Sylvie’s was challenged by Loki and changed by the end of season two when he shows her that there is another way — to be better. Sylvie was willing to give the TVA a chance to reform, just as Loki had given her (and everyone else).
Sylvie and Mobius are both morally grey, having done bad things for different reasons and under different circumstances/conditions. But they both have a guilty conscience.
“Well, I guess when you think the ends justify the means, there’s not much you won’t do.”
This is what Mobius says to Sylvie in S1 EP5. Mobius recognises Sylvie’s motivation and persistence, her belief in her mission — because he felt that way about the TVA too. The whole scene is them relating to each other. They both “did what they had to do”.
At the start of season two, we see Sylvie being the one who is ‘lost’, without purpose now she has completed her mission (or so she believes it to be over).
Sylvie knows there’s a whole life out there for her now, a whole story for her alone to write.
And what does Mobius have at the end of season two?
Mobius’ mission is over. Now it’s his turn to live and write his story, away from the TVA.
Both of these two people went on similar journeys, and now they’re free to be whoever they want. The TVA made them both, it shaped them as people and dictated their actions — but not anymore. Both had positive impacts on Loki, teaching him different things and helping him reach his full potential — his friends.
And what likely aided Mobius to even look for the timeline he was taken from?
(and yes, loki obviously helped him come to that choice too.)
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