SPOILER ALERT!
The latest show, Loki, has taken us through the various unexplored layers of the MCU. Instead of guesswork, fans are finally getting to learn about the nature of the multiverse and timelines. According to the earlier episodes, the Time Variance Authority was an administrative body watching over the timeline. Founded by an immortal trio of Time Keepers, it ensured that the Sacred Timeline ran smoothly. This Sacred Timeline is the single continuity to exist after a war amongst multiple timelines for power threatened the balance of the multiverse and time.
The TVA and its agents, called Minute Men execute rules and order in the timeline by “Pruning” aka resetting. As explained by Miss Minutes, everyone’s destiny was pre-written, and they were supposed to go by it. Deviation from the determined path can lead to a new timeline, thus creating a NEXUS Event. The TVA Agents fix it by leaving a reset charge that dissolves the alternate timelines. A new timeline is like a new branch on a tree that the TVA “prunes”. However, the guilty variant meets the same fate as the timeline by getting erased from existence.
What Happens After TVA Prunes A Variant
The latest episodes, especially ”The Nexus Event” have unravelled all the lies told by TVA. It seems that they are not as powerful as they projected. To begin with, the Time Keepers didn’t create the TVA. They were variants like Loki whose memories got wiped off before they turned into agents. The biggest revelation was the truth about the all-powerful Time Keepers. After their arrest in the fourth episode, Sylvie and Loki were finally summoned by the trio.
Little did Ravonna know about Hunter B-15 and Sylvie’s collusion. As soon as she took down the TVA hunters, the Loki Variant finally managed to decapitate one of the Time Keepers, only to learn that they were nothing but robotic androids. This raises doubts over everything that the TVA has said so far. Who is the real mastermind behind all this? And do the variants die after getting pruned? 
The end of the episode almost broke our hearts when Ravonna emerged behind Loki and pruned him. However, the post-credits may have revealed the aftermath of pruning. We saw Loki waking up in an apocalyptic New York to be welcomed by other versions of himself. This short sequence has changed the game and given rise to new possibilities.
Some theories suggest that pruning does erase the victim from existence. So, the God of Mischief could have merely managed to escape death yet once again. The way these Loki variants were waiting from Loki indicates that they had a hand in bringing him here.
Or, perhaps, the TVA wasn’t strong enough to wipe out reality and variants, and only dumped them in a pocket universe. The Loki variants we saw in the post-credits could be the ones who passed through the TVA halls, as once mentioned by Mobius. Another possible explanation could be that the mastermind behind TVA, who is not a Time Keeper, is mustering these variants to build an army for invasion.
