The Loki Season 2 finale left fans with many questions, from what exactly happened at the end to if we might possibly get a Season 3 of the show. But one question with a very straightforward answer fans have been asking since the finale is what exactly is Yggdrasil.
To answer that, we just need to look at Norse mythology and, of course, at what the MCU has previously told us in Thor, Thor: The Dark World, and even Captain America: The First Avenger.
Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life
The concept of Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life, comes from Norse mythology. The tree is meant to encompass all nine worlds that are part of the ancient Norse view of the world. It is also meant to connect all of life and death. In this sense, the tree connects the underworld (Nilfheim), Earth (Midgard), and the realm of the Gods (Asgard), as well as the other realms like Jotunheim, home of the frost giants, and Svartalfheim, home of the Dark Elves.
Marvel borrowed all of these concepts and integrated them into the comic book lore of Thor, Loki, and all Asgardian characters. The MCU hasn’t really delved deeply into Norse mythology – even in the Thor movies – but Yggdrasil has been seen and talked about before.
Thor explains Yggdrasil to Jane Foster in the first Thor movie and Thor: The Dark World that there’s a vision of the Tree of Life disappearing as reality is destroyed. Meanwhile, in Captain America: The First Avenger, it is a drawing of Yggdrasil on a cave that points Red Skull to the Tesseract.
Yggdrasil Brings Back Loki of Asgard
In many ways, the return of the concept of Yggdrasil and Loki’s placement at the center of it – and at the center of the new MCU multiverse – brings back the Loki of Asgard we first met in Thor. For the last two seasons of Loki, he has been dressed in mostly normal clothes. He has learned his lessons, he has changed, and he has become the type of hero who could willingly sacrifice himself for the greater good.
But in the end, Loki is once again wearing Asgardian attire and his horned helmet, looking like the Odinson he finally owned up to being during his final moments with Thor. The Loki at the center of the MCU isn’t just any Loki, just as Yggdrasil isn’t just any tree. He is Loki of Asgard, and perhaps that means the glorious purpose he was burdened with was always this one.
