Loki Episode 2 Reveals Just How Devastating The Ragnarok Event Was
Contains spoilers for "Loki"
In Episode 2 of "Loki," the God of Mischief travels to one of the many documents floors in the Time Variance Authority's headquarters. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is allowed access only to files that pertain to his own life, despite his best attempts to look at documents surrounding the creation of the TVA and the beginning and end of time. He looks through his folder of files, hoping to gain knowledge that might help himself and Agent Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson) track down the Loki variant who's running amok in other timelines.
While browsing through his documents, Loki comes across an event inquiry that pertains to the destruction of Asgard. Fans saw this event play out in 2017's "Thor: Ragnarok," but this particular Loki hadn't lived through the devastation yet, as he's the one from 2012 who escaped with the Tesseract during the time heist in "Avengers: Endgame." Loki appears to be upset while reading about the destruction of his home planet, and we get to view the documents for a few seconds as he peers them over. These files offer new insight into just how bad Ragnarok was for Asgard.
Thousands of Asgardians lost their lives during Ragnarok
On the official event inquiry page for the destruction of Asgard, it's revealed that 9,719 citizens were killed. Next to the casualty count, it's noted on the paperwork that the entire civilization was annihilated in what's also described as a "class seven apocalypse." That's an absolutely devastating amount of lives lost, no matter if it seems like a small population for a planet. Asgard — which is flat — is much smaller in scale than Earth; it's just a tiny landmass suspended in space.
After Loki absorbs what he's read in the paperwork, he goes to Mobius to suggest that the variant is hiding in apocalyptic events, where no variance energy is emitted. When Loki asks Mobius if he's heard of Ragnarok, he confirms that he knows it well and recites that it was the destruction of Asgard and "most" of its people. While Surtur wiped out a majority of the population, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and the Revengers saved several hundred Asgardians, and they now live in New Asgard on Earth.
Though Ragnarok wasn't a total annihilation of its citizens, it's still classified as bringing about a "total planetary destruction" given that the planet of Asgard no longer remains. But, as we learned from Odin (Anthony Hopkins), Asgard isn't a place — it's a people.