Warning: SPOILERS for Loki Season 2, Episode 3: “1893” are in play. If you haven’t caught up on this season so far, you’ve been warned.
Loki continues to be one of my favorite weekly TV appointments, and that’s coming from someone who’s been experiencing MCU fatigue as of late. As the time traveling/multiversal drama continues to unfold for Disney+ subscription holders, Tom Hiddleston’s trickster god is finding himself in an ever widening web of secrets. But after this week’s episode, it looks like TVA judge Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is falling into a rabbit hole of secrets herself.
What I’m about to discuss is a huge spoiler for “1893,” so if you haven’t seen that episode of Loki, you may want to think twice before reading on. In fact, you could very easily shift over to my rundown of how the TVA works, which also discusses matters pertaining to that sassy orange clock. With that warning in place, I need to talk about a couple theories I have about Ravonna’s huge secret teased by Miss Minutes (Tara Strong). Let’s start with what exactly happened to put us in this jaw-dropping scenario.
The Miss Minutes Tease That Closed Loki Season 2, Episode 3
After scuffling with Loki, Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), Ravonna finds herself kicked through a time door by that last adversary of hers. As our cast of TVA characters found themselves fighting over who would possess the assistance of Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors), a variant of Kang the Conqueror, Ravonna lost big time.
Exiled to the End of Time by Sylvie, the formerly straight-laced woman stumbled upon He Who Remains’ corpse. But she’s not alone, as her frenemy Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) was shipped off along with her. It’s because of that rogue AI that Judge Renslayer, and the audience, saw Episode 3 of Loki Season 2 end with this cliffhanger of a statement:
It was foolish of him to make an enemy who knows all his secrets. I know a really big one about you. I can tell you, but…it’s gonna make you real angry.
Miss Minutes seems to know more about Ravonna Renslayer than any of us thought, and that’s not exactly the most tactical place to be. Acting as a vested party in He Who Remains’ fate, we’ve seen how she loves him and will do anything to serve his will. At least, that’s how she felt until the end of “1893.”
When discussing this episode’s ending with a friend of mine, our conversation yielded two theories about what Ravonna’s secret could be. But before we begin to dig into those thoughts, let’s look at what we now about Ms. Renslayer and her supposed identity.
What We Know About Ravonna Renslayer
One of the facts from Loki Season 1 to remember is that Ravonna is on a mission in search of “free will.” This probably stemmed from the fact that she learned not only that she was a variant, but that the whole of the TVA are variants working for Kang. The woman once known as Rebecca Tourminet seemed determined to help out He Who Remains, as Season 2 Episode 1 “Ouroboros” revealed that the multiversal conqueror looked forward to ruling alongside her.
Ravonna also seemed to become a bit sweet on Victor Timely when she was trying to retrieve him. So there’s now an added element of Judge Renslayer being invested emotionally, on top of her previous motives. The tracks are now laid out to dive into those two theories I have on what Loki’s latest twist could entail, and the first one is a doozy.
Theory 1: Ravonna Is A Kang Variant
Honestly, I’m starting to wonder if Ravonna Renslayer is a Kang variant herself, and the possibility makes more sense the more I puzzle it over. Think about it: would He Who Remains trust anyone else with restoring his former glory? Not to mention, those claims of ruling side by side with Ms. Minutes and Ravonna would make a lot more sense in the long run. Three Timekeepers, with two of them being Kangs, seems to be very tactical.
We’ve already seen this sort of twist play out in Loki when we realized that Sylvie was a Loki variant. The big factor that makes the difference here is that Ravonna hypothetically doesn’t know she’s a Kang, assuming this theory happens to be true.
The same could be said for Victor Timely, who seems to have been hand-picked by He Who Remains to follow an eventual path to his dominance. If he can be removed from his timeline to become part of the once and future TVA ruling body, who's to say Rebecca Tourminet didn't share that same fate?
Putting aside the Kang variant theory for a moment, there’s another theory that could explain Ravonna’s importance in the MCU. And it’s one that just found its foundation freshly poured in “1893.”
Theory 2: Ravonna Is The Future Basis For Miss Minutes
Here me out on this one, folks. What if Miss Minutes’ own identity is somehow tied to Ravonna Renslayer? Both of these loyal TVA servants do seem to be pretty sweet on Victor Timely, with “everyone’s favorite cartoon clock” struggling to profess her love. Perhaps the burning secret that Miss Minutes has in store for Ravonna is that they’re both one in the same person.
We know that Miss Minutes wants a physical body, and is just as enamored with Victor as Ravonna is. So one of two things could be true in this scenario: either her consciousness is built from Judge Renslayer’s mind, which could totally leave room for a potential Tara Strong appearance, or Ravonna is somehow a secret Miss Minutes backup in physical form. This AI construct's jealousy of her flesh and blood partner makes a bit more sense when the sort of envy in that first scenario comes into play.
If He Who Remains had a backup plan for still forming and ruling over the TVA, wouldn’t he also have some sort of strategy to make sure his righthand AI was there along with him? If I had to choose a theory, I’m more convinced that Ravonna is a Kang variant waiting to be outed. At the same time, this other hypothesis doesn’t suck, it just needs a little more time to breathe and gather more potential evidence.
Yes, I know, Marvel Cinematic Universe theories are worth the paper they’re printed on. Remember that time Marvel fans’ fondness of Mephisto was so hyped that they were all convinced he was WandaVision’s big bad? We’re only halfway through Loki Season 2, and anything can happen over the next few chapters. But from where I’m standing right now, these two Ravonna Rennslayer theories seem to be the most valid explanations as to what her secret just might be.
