The Attack on the Citadel at the End of Time was a battle between Loki, Sylvie Laufeydottir and He Who Remains, in dispute for the management of the Sacred Timeline and the fate of He Who Remains.

Background[]

In the 31st Century, a scientist named Nathaniel Richards discovered the existence of the Multiverse. However, some of his alternate universe selves, such as Kang the Conqueror, saw the alternate universes as places to rule over, thus starting the Multiversal War. Having discovered a monster created from the rifts of space-time, whom he dubbed Alioth, he harnessed its power to defeat his Variants and ended the war.^[3]

Isolating a collection of timelines that followed the same baseline, which he titled the Sacred Timeline,^[4] he wrote a strict script to be followed, eliminating branches that did not follow his script for the Sacred Timeline.^[3] He Who Remains also created the Temporal Loom, a device created to manage and eventually delete branched timelines if they had not been pruned in time as a failsafe to ensure the Sacred Timeline's existence.^[5] Now operating under the moniker He Who Remains, he created the Time Variance Authority to govern and protect the Sacred Timeline from being overrun by his surviving Variants. He captured Variants from branched timelines and erased their memories of their lives, brainwashing them to serve as employees of the TVA. He Who Remains located an asteroid at the end of time and established a castle there, called the Citadel at the End of Time, from which he watched over the Sacred Timeline.^[3]

Millennia later,^[6] He Who Remains grew tired of his endless work and responsibility and wanted to find a new successor. He guided a Loki Variant that he allowed to exist as well as a female Loki Variant named Sylvie Laufeydottir through their adventures and paved their road leading to him.^[3] However, knowing what Laufeydottir had planned for him, He Who Remains created a contingency plan.^[5]

Attack[]

He Who Remains informed Loki and Sylvie Laufeydottir that their recent actions leading to him had been designed by him, including their adventures on Lamentis-1 and in the Void, and that he wanted to be sure that it was them who could take his place. Claiming that he was much older than he looked and was tired, he asked them to take his place to be in charge of the TVA and to oversee the protection of the Sacred Timeline. He offered them two choices: kill him and let the Sacred Timeline expand into the Multiverse, thereby letting his Variants wreak havoc before he eventually returned in some form; or become his successors and ultimately the leaders of the TVA.^[3] However, not truly intending to die at Laufeydottir's hand, He Who Remains enacted his secret contingency plan.^[5]

Sylvie, still determined to kill him, tried to attack He Who Remains, but was stopped by Loki, who tried to talk to her about the consequences of killing him. Believing that Loki was defending He Who Remains in order to seize his throne, the two fought each other while He Who Remains watched in excitement. Loki tried to plead with Sylvie to stop, explaining that if He Who Remains was telling the truth, it could lead to dire consequences for the universe. Unable to bring herself to kill Loki, Sylvie decided to kiss him before swiping He Who Remains' TemPad and throwing Loki out of the Citadel and back into the Time Variance Authority Office through a Timedoor.^[3] Unbeknownst to Laufeydottir, He Who Remains had arranged for her to commit this very action, as it sent Loki into the past and granted Loki the ability to time slip, with in conjunction with his order to have Miss Minutes create a Victor Timely Variant, served as his contingency plan to be resurrected.^[5]

He Who Remains then told Laufeydottir that he was impressed, before she threw his table aside and stabbed him in the chest. He winked at her, however, and cryptically told her that he would see her soon, before laughing and dying.^[3]

Aftermath[]

Fracturing of the Multiverse[]

Slowly realizing what she did, Sylvie Laufeydottir slowly fell to the floor, breaking down as she began crying. Outside of the Citadel at the End of Time, the Multiverse began fracturing, as the death of He Who Remains caused branches to expand indefinitely into the past and the future.^[3] With He Who Remains' death, the Sacred Timeline was reconnected to the greater Multiverse and numerous branching realities were rapidly created, which allowed the Council of Kangs to gain access to the Sacred Timeline.

The Council concluded that Ant-Man and the heroes who defeated Kang the Conqueror got too close to destroying the dynasty they had built, so the Council gathered every Variant of theirs in existence to assemble in order to stop them.^[7]

Spider-Man Multiversal Crisis[]

Due to Sylvie's actions, the Multiverse was no longer isolated and instead was more accessible. Hence, when Doctor Strange cast the Runes of Kof-Kol in November 2024, a spell which was intended to only affect their native universe, its effect crossed into infinite universes. As a result, Otto Octavius, Norman Osborn, Curt Connors, Max Dillon, Flint Marko, two Peter Parkers, Eddie Brock and Venom were transported into their universe, triggering the Spider-Man Multiversal Crisis.^[8]

Scarlet Witch's Crusade[]

Additionally, the reactivated connection to the Multiverse allowed supernatural beings such as Gargantos and America Chavez to enter the main universe.^[8]

Attack Revisited[]

The Time Variance Authority stopped pruning branched timelines, causing the Temporal Loom to overload. At the same time, Loki began time slipping, an affliction granted to him by He Who Remains that had the trickster god uncontrollably transported across various points in time. As reality was destabilizing, Loki came to the conclusion that the only way to protect reality was to prevent Sylvie Laufeydottir from killing He Who Remains. Loki then time slipped back to the Citadel at the End of Time before Laufeydottir could kill He Who Remains, thereby resurrecting He Who Remains in the temporal sense and fulfilling He Who Remains' true contingency plan.

Loki attempted to convince Laufeydottir not to kill He Who Remains, although she refused to listen and stabbed He Who Remains. Loki then rewound time and unsuccessfully failed to convince Laufeydottir again, and continued to rewind time after each failed attempt in order to resurrect He Who Remains, doing it so countless times.

Loki eventually asked He Who Remains why he sat by and watched Laufeydottir try to kill him without bothering to defend himself. He Who Remains then used his TemPad to freeze Laufeydottir in time and asked Loki how many times he had rewound time trying to save him. He Who Remains then divulged that he had paved the road for Loki to gain his time slipping ability for the sole purpose of resurrecting him, disclosing that he never intended for Laufeydottir to permanently kill him, and adding that everything that Loki had gone through of late was part of the contingency plan that he had paved to ensure his return.

He Who Remains reminded Loki that the Temporal Loom prevented a brutal war from breaking out, where all realities, including the Sacred Timeline, would be destroyed. He Who Remains informed Loki that he would have to make one of two tough choices: allow Laufeydottir to kill him, thereby leading to the scenario where the Loom becomes overloaded and allows for a Multiversal War where they would all die; or kill Laufeydottir so that he and Loki could work together to protect the Sacred Timeline. However, Loki chose to time slip away from the Citadel, eventually returning to the point in time before the Loom exploded. In doing so, Loki restored history to the version where Laufeydottir had killed He Who Remains, thereby undoing He Who Remains' resurrection.^[5]

Loki's Throne[]

Having returned to the Time Variance Authority Office right before the Temporal Loom exploded, Loki decided to forge a third option for himself, where he would destroy the Loom itself, releasing the infinite branches of the Multiverse from its grip. As the branches began to die, Loki used his magic to revive them before transporting them, along with himself, to the Citadel at the End of Time. Loki then sat upon He Who Remains' throne and chose to hold the branches of the Multiverse himself for all time, allowing both the Sacred Timeline and the branched timelines to co-exist while giving the Time Variance Authority a chance to defend themselves against the Variants of He Who Remains who would one day arrive.^[5]

References[]