Exclusive: Loki star, Sophia Di Martino, addresses why her character, Lady Loki/Sylvie, swears so much in the third episode, “Laminitis.”
Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Loki episode 3.
Loki star, Sophia Di Martino, has addressed why her character, Sylvie, swears so much in the third episode, “Laminitis.” Disney+’s Loki follows an alternate, or variant version of Loki circa 2012 after being arrested by the Time-Keepers’ Time Variance Authority (TVA) for jeopardizing the proper flow of time. However, instead of deleting him, Agent Mobius M. Mobius convinces his boss, Ravonna Renslayer, to use Loki in their pursuit of a particularly dangerous variant: another Loki.
At the end of episode 2, this variant reveals herself to be Lady Loki before bombing the Sacred Timeline with reset charges and disappearing through a time door. Naturally, the God of Mischief follows, escaping from the TVA in the process. In episode 3, Loki and Lady Loki, who prefers to go by Sylvie—a reference to the Enchantress, Sylvie Lushton—end up falling through another time door and become trapped on the moon, Laminitis-1, during an apocalypse. The pair are then forced to work together to recharge Sylvie’s TemPad before the moon is destroyed by an encroaching planet. Throughout the episode, Sylvie swears quite a lot—which is understandable given her life-long vendetta against the Time-Keepers and TVA.
In Screen Rant‘s interview with Di Martino, the actress discussed affinity for curse words. She commented on how she swears a lot and, like Sylvie, it was a great way to express her character’s anger. Di Martino utilized this particular bit of method acting so often that apparently director Kate Herron had to tell her to stop swearing because, well, it is a Disney show. Read what Di Martino said below:
I think I just swear a lot. You know what, I think as Sylvie I probably swear a lot because she’s so angry, right? And words like that sometimes express anger quite well. I imagine if you ask the editors, there was a lot more swearing and they had to cut a lot of it out. Kate was often telling me to stop swearing.
Episode 3’s biggest reveal was that TVA agents, despite being told they were created by the Time-Keepers, are all variants with no memory of their previous lives. It’s also revealed that Sylvie barely knew her mother and has spent most of her life running from the TVA. A recent Loki trailer shows a young Sylvie in the TVA. It’s not a stretch to assume Sylvie, as a Loki, was born a girl instead of a boy, creating a Nexus event that prompted her timeline to be pruned and her recruitment by the TVA—which would explain how she knew she was adopted. That said, it’s unclear as to how Sylvie initially escaped the TVA.
It’s hard to imagine that someone whose mysterious cult destroyed their world, attempted to wipe their memory, and then forced them to work for the cult wouldn’t swear a lot. Granted, this is speculation and the next few episodes of Loki could completely alter the general perception of who Sylvie is. However, what seems certain is Sylvie’s singular purpose: to eradicate the Time-Keepers and restore free will to the Marvel Cinematic Universe—a plan “years in the making.” It will be exciting to see if Sylvie’s anger is justified and whether she succeeds in bringing down the TVA.