Loki Writer Responds to Sylvie Romance Incest Backlash

Loki head writer Michael Waldron responds to the backlash that arose over the titular character’s romance with Sylvie. As a Disney+ series centered on the God of Mischief (Tom Hiddleston), it was always a guarantee that Loki was going to be a wild and odd show. Prior to the show’s debut in early June, there was a lot of mystery surrounding the story and the implications it would have for the MCU going forward. That made all the twists and turns that transpired over Loki‘s first 6 episodes even more shocking, especially when it led to a jaw-dropping cliffhanger.

Of the many twists from Loki season 1, there perhaps isn’t one that is more divisive than the romance that sprung up between two of the main characters. On his journey to self-acceptance, Loki fell for a female variant of himself, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino). The pairing sparked accusations of “self-cest” online, with many calling Loki and Sylvie’s romantic bond a form of incest. With Loki set to return for season 2, it remains to be seen how the show will continue the relationship.

Waldron, who oversaw the story for Loki‘s entire first season, recently broke down the various developments of the show with Insider. Inevitably, he had to respond to the idea that Loki and Sylvie’s romance is “self-cest,” a concept that made him laugh. “Were we sitting in the writers’ room saying we hope people are talking about selfcest? No. We weren’t,” Waldron said. “We told a story about a character falling for a variant of themselves. It’s an interesting atypical type of story, and we knew that.” He said nothing further about whether the relationship truly is wrong in any way, merely adding, “As creators we have to pick a path and tell a story.”

Director Kate Herron previously responded to the idea that Loki and Sylvie being together is a form of incest, explaining that she doesn’t view the two as siblings or even the same person. The concept of variants has sparked a lot of debate over how connected they truly are; Loki even has a variant who is an alligator, which makes one question how variants truly work. That a relationship would grow between two of them is certainly strange, but it might be hard to argue it’s something as damaging as incest.

As Waldron pointed out, the Loki team merely set out to tell an interesting story. Considering how many passionate debates the surprise relationship has stirred up, no one can claim they failed in their mission. The divisiveness of Loki’s feelings for Sylvie suggest it could be better for Waldron to keep it in the past when working on season 2, but that might not be what he chooses to do. As Waldron said, creators need to pick a story and stick to it, and those working on Loki have done just that.

Loki will return for season 2 on Disney+.

Source: Insider

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Rachel Labonte
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Rachel LaBonte is a news, feature, and movie review writer for Screen Rant with a deep passion for film and television. A graduate of Emerson College, she majored in Media Arts Production while specializing in screenwriting. She’s been a writer ever since high school when she realized she was rather good at it and joined as many entertainment news clubs as she could while in school. Most notably, she wrote for Emerson’s website Emertainment Monthly, and one of her film reviews won an Evvy (Emerson’s student awards) for Best Review. Her deep love of movies led to her working at a movie theater for five years, which she loved despite the angry customers. An avid reader who constantly buys books before reading the ones she already owns, Rachel is a huge fan of superheroes (especially of the Marvel variety) and wizards and will likely never be able to catch up on all the movies/TV shows she longs to watch.

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