Loki Season 2: What is The Hidden Meaning Behind OB’s Name?
It’s no coincidence that Ke Huy Quan’s character is called Ouroboros (or OB for short). Fittingly for a series starring a character from Norse mythology, Ouroboros is also a mythological reference. The name refers to the symbol of a serpent devouring its own tail, which is meant to represent an infinite cycle. In Norse mythology, this creature was known as Jörmungandr or The Midgard Serpent. According to Norse mythology, Jörmungandr is actually one of Loki’s children, which has sparked some interesting fan theories.
The name “Ouroboros” has popped up in Marvel comics a few times. For one, the 2015 comic “Silver Surfer” #11 contains a character called Admiral Ouroboros. In this issue, the Silver Surfer becomes stuck in a time loop, not unlike the way that Loki is timeslipping. Meanwhile, 2005’s “She-Hulk” Vol. 2 #3 contains a TVA judge by that name, though in this case it was spelled “Orobourous.”
Most likely, OB is not a reference to the comics. If you think about his role in the story, then the mythological parallel is obvious. The timeline (shown in Season 1 to be a loop) looks an awful lot like a snake, while the Temporal Loom (which gathers the disparate threads of time and weaves them together into a single strand) could easily be the snake’s head. The timestream is effectively a snake eating its own tail, and if you consider that OB is now tasked with repairing the Temporal Loom, his name makes perfect sense.
