洛基：从北欧神话到科幻冒险，讲述一个多元宇宙的历史循环

接着说一说美剧的《洛基》剧情吧。洛基是北欧神话中的诡计之神，时空时间变异管理局的探员们对于洛基的变种非常的头疼。所谓变种就是与主流的，即神圣时间线在某些方面和某几个方面不同的版本，可以理解为平行宇宙中的分身。而我们的主角就是这样一个分身。他借助时空宝石逃脱了变了自己的命运，成为了时空管理局的追捕对象。但他很快被抓住了，他本来应该被裁剪掉，其实就是肉体消灭。但是被一个叫莫比乌斯探员找来去寻找另一个洛基的变种，因为她总是能够逃脱抓捕。

在经过一番历险之后，他们找到了漫威宇宙第二阶段的最大boss——征服者康。而征服者康并不像灭霸那样厉害，他只是一个普通的人类科学家。但是他发现了在平行宇宙之间穿梭的技术。于是他将各个平行宇宙中的自己联系起来，他和其他平行宇宙中的各个版本的自己取得联系、交流、技术和想法。这样在每一个平行宇宙中，康都成为了他的那个宇宙的主宰者和征服者。

这个故事概念和著名的美国动漫《瑞克和莫蒂》非常的相似。但是看网上的介绍说，漫威的漫画可能早在七十年代就已经有这个故事雏形了。所以似乎是漫威才是这种多元宇宙故事架构的原创。

在征服了各自的平行宇宙之后，征服这康们仍然不能满足。于是各个平行宇宙之间也爆发了战争，而主角洛基碰到的这位就是最后的胜利者，剧中叫最后遗留之人。他创立了TVA用来压制其他的时间线，保护神圣时间线。

可以看出，这个故事虽然套上了一个科幻的外壳，引入了平行宇宙这些时髦的概念，但本质上似乎就是和人类历史上的治乱循环没有什么区别。也就是分久必合，合久必分那一套。秦国灭了六国，建立秦朝，然后就建立一个庞大的官僚体制，在全国实行郡县制压制地方诸侯势力的重新崛起，维持大一统。

而这个TVA在剧中的形象就是一个典型的官僚机构，有大量的雇员，僵化的体制。TVA的风格非常类似于人类社会六七十年代的的风格。虽然他管理的是整个多元宇宙，但却是一股浓浓的怀旧风，给人以官僚机构僵化保守的印象。他们使用的电脑还是CRT显示器的各种仪器设备，也都是钟表铺一样的仪表仪仪表盘，他们也有人工智能，也有全息投影，却是一个六十年代卡通风格叫做分钟小姐的形象。而本片的第二主角角TVA探员莫比乌斯做起事来也总是一副慢条斯理，不慌不忙，典型的公务员形象。

而变种洛基所经历的一切，其实都是征服者康所设计好的，似乎他也意识到自己搞的这一套靠压制其他平行宇宙。要避免平行宇宙之间战争的做法已经无以为继了。他希望主角洛基来接手烂摊子。

这就像中国历史的治乱循环一样，前一个朝代灭亡之后，群雄并起，逐鹿中原，最后的胜出者一统天下建成大一统。但是，为了能够压制地方势力的崛起，于是建立郡县制和庞大的官僚机构进行直接管理。随着时间的推移，官僚机构越来越膨胀臃肿，最后到了社会无法供养的程度，于是旧的秩序解体开启新一轮循循环。

主角洛基，就是在这样一个节骨眼上诞诞生的。而他的那个女洛基基则有完全不同的想法，她就是要摧毁TVA，让所有的平行宇宙支线中生活的人都能拥有自己的生活和选择，而不是会被TVA这个武断专横的官僚机构所裁剪掉。不过，主角洛基似乎就和很多中国人所灌输的历史观念一样。比如大导演张艺谋拍过一部叫《英雄》的电影。那部电影的主题思想就是秦始皇发动战争统一六国是为了天下百姓免受战争之苦，是正义的行为。所以他想方设法给最后遗留者擦屁股，想要挽救TVA这个官僚机构，避免平行宇宙之间爆发相互毁灭的战争。但是不管他多么努力，似乎都无法成功。 TVA核心的那个控制时间线收束的装置最后都会因为过载而将整个TVA都炸毁。

不过TVA被毁掉之后，TVA的各个工作人员——其实也都是从他们的平行宇宙时间线上绑架来，然后消除记忆之后的变种——他们又回到了自己的时间线，过着本来就属于自己的生活。而主角洛基也放下心结，准备承认这一结果。其实到这里我觉得这是一个非常好的结局。而且三观也非常正。说明了去掉监管和武断的统治之后，大家都能够过得更好。唯一的不足之处，就是这样的情节过平铺直叙了一点。

作为一部影视作品必然需要反转，那就是一旦所有的时间线都能够存在的话，我也不太懂它的具体设定，似乎是一种类似能量守恒的定律在起作用。当所有时间线都获得自由，不再被裁剪之后，总能量似乎就变得不够用了。所有的平行宇宙都会在很短的时间内分崩离析。

看来这个编剧的脑子里还是灭霸那一套宇宙中的资源是有限的，必须定期对人口减半，才不会让整个宇宙衰亡。而这种设定和反转又把洛基放到了一个电车难题上面。要么挽救TVA保护神圣时间线，裁剪掉其他的平行宇宙，要么什么都不剩。经典的电车难题，要么打方向盘去撞死一个无辜的人，要么什么都不做，让电车自由滑行，却会造成更大的人员伤亡。

说实话，我觉得这样设定是有些过于刻意的，但是剧情反转的需要嘛，如果不这样设定，情节确实也太平淡了一点。

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Let's talk about the plot of "Loki" in the American drama. Loki is the god of trickery in Norse mythology, and the agents of the Temporal Mutation Authority are very troubled by Loki's variants. The so-called variant is a version that is different from the mainstream, that is, the sacred timeline in some ways and in several ways, which can be understood as a doppelganger in a parallel universe. And our protagonist is such a doppelganger. With the help of the Time and Space Gem, he escaped and changed his fate, and became the target of the Time and Space Authority. But he was quickly caught, and he should have been cut out, in fact, it was physical extermination. But being approached by an agent named Morbius in search of another Loki variant, as she always manages to escape capture.

After some adventures, they find the biggest boss of the second phase of the Marvel Universe, Kang the Conqueror. And Kang the Conqueror is not as powerful as Thanos, he is just an ordinary human scientist. But he discovers the technology to travel between parallel universes. So he connects himself in various parallel universes, and he makes contacts, exchanges, technologies, and ideas with various versions of himself in other parallel universes. In this way, in each parallel universe, Kang became the master and conqueror of his own universe.

The concept of this story is very similar to the famous American anime "Rick and Morty". But looking at the introduction on the Internet, Marvel's comics may have had this story as early as the seventies. So it seems that Marvel is the original of this multiverse story structure.

After conquering their respective parallel universes, conquering this Kang is still not satisfied. As a result, wars broke out between various parallel universes, and the protagonist Loki met the last victor, called the last person left behind in the play. He founded the TVA to suppress the other timelines and protect the sacred timelines.

It can be seen that although this story is put on a science fiction shell and introduces the fashionable concepts of parallel universes, it seems to be no different from the cycle of chaos in human history. That is to say, if you divide for a long time, you must be together, and if you are long, you must divide that set. The Qin State destroyed the Six Kingdoms and established the Qin Dynasty, and then established a huge bureaucratic system, implemented the county system throughout the country, suppressed the re-emergence of local princes' power, and maintained great unification.

And the image of this TVA in the play is a typical bureaucracy, with a large number of employees and a rigid system. The style of TVA is very similar to the style of human society in the sixties and seventies. Although he manages the entire multiverse, there is a strong sense of nostalgia that gives the impression of a rigid and conservative bureaucracy. The computers they use are still CRT monitors, and they are all clock-like instrument clusters, they also have artificial intelligence, and they also have holographic projections, but they are an image of Miss Minutes in the cartoon style of the 60s. And the second protagonist of this film, TVA agent Morbius, always looks slow and unhurried, a typical image of a civil servant.

And everything that the mutant Loki experienced was actually designed by Kang the Conqueror, and it seems that he also realized that he had done this by suppressing other parallel universes. The practice of avoiding wars between parallel universes is no longer sustainable. He wants the main character, Loki, to take over the mess.

This is like the cycle of chaos in Chinese history, after the fall of the previous dynasty, the heroes rose together, competing for the Central Plains, and the final winner ruled the world to build a great unification. However, in order to suppress the rise of local power, a county system and a large bureaucracy were established for direct management. As time went on, the bureaucracy grew more and more bloated until it reached the point where society could no longer support it, and the old order disintegrated and began a new cycle.

The protagonist Loki was born at such a juncture. And his female Lokiki has a completely different idea, she wants to destroy the TVA, so that all the people living in the parallel universe can have their own lives and choices, instead of being cut by the arbitrary and arbitrary bureaucracy of the TVA. However, the protagonist Loki seems to be the same historical concept as many Chinese. For example, the great director Zhang Yimou made a movie called "Hero". The main idea of that movie is that Qin Shi Huang launched a war to unify the six countries in order to protect the people of the world from the suffering of war, which is a righteous act. So he tried his best to wipe the ass of the last remnant, hoping to save the TVA bureaucracy and avoid a mutually destructive war between parallel universes. But no matter how hard he tried, he didn't seem to succeed. The device at the heart of the TVA that controls the timeline will eventually blow up the entire TVA due to overload.

However, after the TVA was destroyed, the various members of the TVA - in fact, all of them were kidnapped from their alternate universe timeline and then erased the memories - they returned to their own timeline and lived their own lives. And the protagonist Loki also let go of his knot and is ready to admit this result. Actually, I think it's a very good ending at this point. And the three views are also very positive. It shows that without regulation and arbitrary rule, everyone can live a better life. The only drawback is that such a plot is a little too flat and straightforward.

As a film and television work, it must be reversed, that is, once all the timelines can exist, I don't know much about its specific setting, it seems to be a law similar to the conservation of energy at work. When all timelines are free and no longer cropped, the total energy seems to be running out. All parallel universes fall apart in a very short period of time.

It seems that the resources in the universe of Thanos's mind are limited, and the population must be halved regularly so as not to let the entire universe decline. And this setting and reversal puts Loki on top of a tram puzzle. Either save the TVA to protect the sacred timeline and crop out other parallel universes, or nothing remains. The classic tram puzzle, either hitting the steering wheel and killing an innocent person, or doing nothing and letting the tram slide freely will cause more casualties.

To be honest, I think this setting is a bit too deliberate, but the need for a plot reversal is not set like this, and the plot is indeed a little too bland.