Loki Theory: Why TVA did not have Mind Stone

LOKI starts off with the God Of Mischief using the tesseract to escape during the time heist attempted by Tony Stark that saw him travelling through time to the period immediately after the battle of New York. Unfortunately, Loki wasn't able to go very far as Hunter B-15 and her TVA cell arrest him for branching out from the Sacred Timeline. They then take him to the TVA or the Time Variance Authority.

The LOKI series had many interesting subjects that have been the topic of debates among fans. One of the most bizarre things was the powerlessness of the Time stones within the TVA. The Time stones are considered among the most powerful objects in the Marvel Universe, and seeing them used as mere paper weights was certainly surprising. This is seen when Loki manages to get away from Agent Mobius M. Mobius' and blackmails a desk officer, Casey, to return the Tesseract which was confiscated when he was arrested. Loki then opens a drawer full of colorful crystals. In the pile, there are several Reality Stones (red), Power Stones (purple), and Time Stones (green). There's one Space Stone (blue) and Soul Stone (orange). Interestingly, there's no Mind Stone, although one can be seen in the credits, functioning as a paperweight as Casey claimed he and his workmates tend to do. This left many fans puzzled as to why the TVA did not possess the stone. Here are some of the most popular theories discussing it.

• ONLY A LIMITED NUMBER OF STONES WERE SHOWN

In what might be the most logical explanation for the absence of the Mind Stone, it could be possible that the scene only showed that day's collection. It's entirely possible that after one round of variant arrests, these were the only Infinity Stones accumulated. Aside from the Lokis, the Loki series didn't show much of the other variants. 

While the above theory does make sense, it also equally makes sense to assume that other TVA agents are already using Mind Stone from the pile to use as paperweights. That is, if it indeed did get collected by the TVA. This is also confirmed by the shot in the credits where it's seen being used for this exact function. 

• SCARLET WITCH CONNECTION 

The Mind Stone was prominently embedded in the forehead of Vision, created by combining Stark’s AI J.A.R.V.I.S. with a synthetic body and the Mind Stone. Vision goes on to be with Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch. In Infinity War, she destroys the stone along with Vision to prevent it from falling into Thanos’ hands.She is then majorly featured in WandaVision, which saw her dealing with the loss of her lover and the subsequent struggles. In the series, Agatha Harkness claimed that the Mind Stone amplified Wanda's powers. But, this was quite different from the previous assumption that the Maximoff twins obtained their super abilities after using the stolen scepter from the Battle of New York.

At the end of WandaVision, however, Wanda eventually offers a clear explanation regarding her bond with the gem. During her final farewell with Vision, she explained how she's able to recreate him, even saying that was the piece of the Mind Stone that lives in her. This could possibly mean that the Mind Stone actually transferred some of its powers to her and she's able to use that to make everything that happens in the series possible. Since Scarlet Witch is now considered a Nexus being, the TVA would certainly have a great deal of difficulty in acquiring the Mind Stone.

• THE WRONG STONE WAS ASSUMED TO BE MISSING

It could be that the assumption that the Mind Stone was missing from the TVA's drawer is wrong. Instead, it could be the Soul Stone that is the one missing. The scene does include a yellow-orange stone, which at first glance appears to be the Soul Stone. However, it is much bigger compared to what we have previously seen. If we pay attention, Thanos' gauntlet had five similarly-sized sockets on each knuckle; that he filled up with the Power Stone, Space Stone, Reality Stone, Soul Stone, and Time Stone. Meanwhile, the Mind Stone, the last gem that he acquired, is placed at the center of his hand in a noticeably bigger slot. Therefore, it could be that the bigger crystal in the TVA drawer was actually the Mind Stone, and that perhaps the light was falling on it in such a way that caused us to assume otherwise.