#arcane season two theories

[yolatirra]

Some Thoughts about Arcane Season 2, Especially Relating to Potential Time Travel

Pt 1: Isha

I think Isha has something to do with Ekko and time travel.

Something that keeps nagging at me about Isha is that we don't actually know anything about her. She showed up in S2E2 running from some guys and then literally dropped into Jinx's lap. We still don't know why she was running from them. We don't know where she came from. We have no idea who she is.

One analysis videos I watched, which I've now sadly lost track of, pointed out that there are a TON of Firelights symbols in that scene.

With this in mind, I combed through the entire six episodes of Acts 1 & 2, looking for any other green hourglasses. I didn't find them anywhere else. To be fair, I combed through the season pretty quickly, so I may have missed them. If I did, please point them out to me! But if I'm right that this is the only place we see them, that's VERY WEIRD and VERY INTENTIONAL.

Someone in a different analysis video also pointed out that Isha has some oddly fancy aspects to her outfit.

This could definitely be nothing, but something about that pattern on her vest seems out of place. Almost more like something you'd seen in Piltover than in Zaun.

My theory is that Isha was sent to this point in time by Ekko and we're going to see what led up to this moment in Act 3. Isha might be dead (I'm still sobbing about it), but we're going to learn more about her.

Will she stay dead? Honestly yeah, I think so.

I think that the version of events we're seeing is the version where time has already been changed, and I'm going to get into that more later.

Pt 2: The Letter

Actually I lied above about not finding any other green hourglasses in season 2. I found one more, in the scene where Jinx is reading Vander's letter to Silco in S2E5.

Note that this ISN'T the Firelights symbol. But it is definitely a green hourglass. Also note the gear in the center, which has been a recurring symbol this season that seems to have something to do with time.

This has to mean something, right? But I don't know what.

Pt 3: Gears-As-Clocks

There is one really notable instance of this. I really wish I had a GIF of this scene, but I don't know how to make GIFs and I don't feel like learning just for this, but here's a sequence of screenshots that hopefully show you what I mean.

Jinx turns clockwise, which transitions into the gear on Jayce's hammer also turning clockwise. Like a clock. The gear is a clock. Going forward in time.

And what shot do we get immediately after this?

Jayce is going forward in time.

I suspect there might be other instances of gears turning clockwise to symbolize a clock, but I've already spent too long on this post so if anyone finds another example, please share. Still, even if this is the only instance, it recontextualizes all gears in this season to be time-related.

Pt 4: Fortune Cookie

I kept wondering why Jinx calls Viktor a fortune cookie. I do think there are multiple parts to this and I'm missing some of it. Something about a cookie being sweet and Viktor being sweet? I dunno, I'm missing part of what this comparison means.

HOWEVER. Why a FORTUNE cookie, and not just any cookie?

Fortune cookies predict the future, but in silly, little ways that don't really mean anything. Maybe Viktor can see the future, but only glimpses. Tiny things that don't actually allow him to do anything about it.

Fortune cookies also hide their fortune inside a bland, mildly sweet cookie, and you have to break the cookie to get the fortune out...

OKAY WAIT I was gonna say I don't know what that means, but uh... you have to break the cookie to get the fortune.

You have to break Viktor to find the future.

Pt 5: Fate

I've rewatched Viktor's scenes several times, and I kept wondering why Viktor asks Singed whether he believes in fate. It seems to come out of nowhere.

My theory at this point in that Viktor knows something is manipulating events, but he can't see specifics. He just knows there is some invisible force guiding events, and maybe, he's wondering if Singed knows about it.

Pt 6: Singed's Plan

What is Singed's plan in Act 2?

He goes to the undercity rally and clearly wants to be arrested. He comes prepared with a knife and slits his hand, so he will leave a blood trail. He wants to be taken to prison, and he wants Warwick to follow him there.

When we see Singed in the prison, in the scene where Jinx finds Isha, he has the door to his cell partially open.

He could have left before that, but he wants to be there. Then the lights start flickering and he closes the door again, to protect him from Warwick.

When Caitlyn walks through the prison in S2E5, he's STILL THERE. The door is unlocked. He could have left after Warwick did. But he stayed.

He stays so he can talk to Ambessa. When Ambessa comes to see him alone in prison, the first thing he says is "I've been expecting you."

He wanted to show Ambessa what he was capable of (Warwick) so that Ambessa would hire him. And that's exactly what she does.

And what does he do? He convinces Ambessa they can use Warwick, and then tracks Warwick to Viktor's commune.

Now, there are some things worth mentioning. First, Singed likely didn't expect Jinx to be at the prison, and didn't expect Jinx to awaken Vander within Warwick. However, Jinx's presence didn't disrupt his plan to get Ambessa's attention. His plan remained intact.

Second, he wouldn't have had any way of predicting that Warwick would up in Victor's commune, but I suspect this is a happy coincidence for him. I'm guessing he wanted to use Ambessa to recapture Warwick, and then was planning to convince her that Viktor would also be useful.

We know from the scene early on in S2E4 where Ambessa is conducting hextec experiements that she wished she had captured the "scientists" aka Jayce and Viktor. Singed likely knew about Viktor's commune, just because word about it had been spreading around Zaun, and even to Piltover (Lest mentions Viktor to Salo), and we know Singed suspected that the Herald was Viktor.

Ambessa would have wanted to invade the commune to capture Viktor, even if Warwick hadn't been there.

But, it turns out, he is, so that allows Singed and Ambessa to capture two experimental subjects with one invasion. Singed wants to get in there, capture both Warwick and Viktor, and combine them into a perfect being. This is his ultimate goal on the path to "curing death".

Which leads us to my final topic.

Pt 7: Jayce

What is the thing no one expects in Act 2?

Jayce killing Viktor. This was not a part of Singed's plan. Jayce kills Viktor before Singed can get to him, and THAT is why killing Viktor was necessary.

So, I have a couple of theories of where things go from here regarding Viktor.

Option 1: While this didn't prevent Singed from getting ahold of Viktor, it did damage Viktor in some way that prevents him from being used the way Singed intended. Whatever Singed would have done with Viktor is now impossible, and the future isn't as bad as the one Jayce saw.

Option 2: Viktor is actually, fully dead, and the hints of him we see in the Act 3 preview are actually scenes from the future that Jayce saw and has now prevented. Viktor could still come back in some way in the main timeline, but... I honestly do think there's a chance that he's actually just dead, and we'll only see alternate timeline versions of him in Act 3.

Okay, I think that's everything. Sorry to end on a depressing note but uh... Arcane, right? It's good. It's really good.

I do hope Viktor isn't dead though, even if he comes back even more wrong than before.

[ratvic]

Havent seen anybody talk about this frame (yes this literal less than one second frame) I love it so much, it's so cute.

[akascow]

me thinks jayce tried to give viktor cpr bc theres like no other reason that i can think of for viktor to suddenly not have his shirt on when jayce is carrying him HAHA

that or he ripped it off to check for fatal injuries but either way hes def the one who took it off lmao

[cl-0v3r]

Mel is alive, but at what cost

Mel was nearly killed TWICE, her mother began being a struggle, she'd been thrown aside and trying her best to stop her, her boyfriend is not doing well, neither is anyone else (can't blame them) and the fact that she hadn't cried or spoke much about this situation to anyone a single time?? She IS upset about every single thing, yet she stays strong and enduring every bit of torture. The most she did was tell Jayce that Ambessa put her palm on the table, and let him know that she is going to push for hextech. That's it, nothing remotely related to her feelings.

The fact that she was constantly looking at Caitlyn, being able to understand her grief and knew she was in pain?? Mel knows this feeling. She'd went through it.

And in the end SHE has to pay the price of her mothers incompetence.

The intro is very much foreshadowing, we know the hands represent black rose/LeBlanc.

This is what happens in act one, she gets kidnapped by them. The lyrics do correspond to the characters as well (not just Mel, everyone.)

"Tell you you're the greatest" plays as a petal of the black rose floats down the screen, I think it adds significance to the power this organization holds, possibly the Medardas greatest foe.

"But once you turn, they hate us" both Ambessa and Mel were present in this line, I think its foreshadowing for when Ambessa switches up for whatever reason and goes against both Piltover AND Zaun. And Mel WILL go through change as well, a change that could hurt her relationship with others, and receive interest from others too.

"They hate us" could be read individually too, I feel like its a sort of "realization" ?? Perhaps Ambessa WASN'T the one that switched up, maybe Piltover switched up on them, and maybe Mel JUST got out of wherever she's taken to, and saw the mess Ambessa had done to her city??

I think this represents ACT TWO.

The hands pull away and it sort of looks like Mel is fighting back, a "get away from me" type of scream. you know what this reminds me of??

Don't mind me just pushing my Jinx/powder-Mel parallel agenda

Here is when i think Mel truly learns about LeBlanc/BR, she curiously and slowly goes to grab the rose, she learns about the history between her Mother and them, Kinos death, and most of all, learns about HERSELF. The lyrics speak otherwise.

"Pray away, I swear

I'll never be a saint, no way"

This feels like a parallel to caitlyn of sorts if that makes sense. Caitlyn had done everything to try and stop the council from attacking the Undercity, she kept her mouth shut when Jayce asked about Jinxs grenade, she was willing to protect Vi and the undercity, but how many times has she been tossed around? She'd been burned, exploded, kidnapped (god knows what happened during that time) and hit in the face by the same person, her MOTHER died because of the same person. She has every right to go insane. And she is hunting ONE person, which is Jinx. Although she is harming the people around her along the way.

What if Mel goes through a similar situation? Her mother pushed for war in her city, she dragged the enemy along with her even if she didn't mean to, she manipulated everyone around her INCLUDING Jayce, she LITERALLY got Mel hurt from the chembarons attack and killed so many people during a MEMORIAL to get her hextech weapons, Elora is most likely DEAD, not to mention whatever happened in the past between them. And the thing is, this will NEVER end throughout the entire season.

And what if she learns what she is? That she's 'blessed' by Kindred? The fact that the wolf is quite literally in her blood?

I feel like the "ill never be a saint, no way" also sort of indicates Mel will realize she'll never be able to push for peace and mercy like she always hoped for no matter what, and she comes to accept that as much as it hurts. But not like how ambessa accepted the wolf, but she sort of realizes she needs to push a little violence, towards nobody but the one and only, Ambessa "fine, if you want me to be like you, I guess I'll be like you towards YOU." Type of acceptance.

I think its also related to Mels new outfit too, she's dressed like her mother, in red and all of that. I will still stand by the idea that she has plans to decieve, but she will do something she doesn't want to do.

Mel was left with no choice, that lyric sounds like realization, acceptance, but also like a plea at the same time, an "I'll never be who I wanted to be" because in the end, she's still a Medarda, she's still her mothers daughter, she still has violence in her veins, she will never not suffer from the weight her name holds, and she will never escape it either, its like a shadow.

The Characters won't be themselves at their core this season. And those vital parts of their characters that represent them are no longer there in the intro, they all have given up what makes them, THEM design wise. (e.g.) Vi without her tattoo, Viktor hiding his identity with the mask. And the thing is, they did that to themselves because they do self-harm, they're changing themselves because THEY want to, they're forcing themselves to do that, they think they're undeserving and they're erasing their past selves.

But Mel? Mel doesn't have her gold accessories, Jewelry, or her Armor, she'd been stripped bare and hidden away because of the brutality of her name. She pays the price her mother brought to HER city. She's forced to change herself against her will, because nobody is giving her a chance to push for her ideals.

This entire theory never ends, and with all of this? I kinda do see Mel actually committing Matricide, it lifts the "Ambessa will die" theory further.

[wyyrmwood]

oops my hand slipped. Cover half his face for a little smeagol moment :)

I made this in a single like 4 hour session after I got off work this afternoon and Im so proud of him, had to do SOMETHING before the finale tomorrow!

[jkriordanverse]

the fact that Singed is more or less responsible for 90% of the problems in Arcane yet never really gets the blame for it absolutely baffles me.

Like you have Caitlyn going full dictator, Ambessa going full warlord, Viktor and Jayce getting divorced and Viktor transcending into Yaoi Jesus and then getting obliterated, Mel getting kidnapped, Jinx becoming a mom and supposedly loosing her child, Heimerdinger Ekko and Jayce playing Escape Room but with the Arcane and meanwhilst Singed, THE MAN WHO CREATED SHIMMER AND TURNED VANDER INTO WARWICK IN THE FIRST PLACE AND ALSO MENTORED VIKTOR JUST OUT THERE CHILLING WITH HIS PETS AND DOING SIDE QUESTS-

[arcane-strangeness]

Oh, Vi...

This is so funny, because it's the polar opposite of the Jinx we know today. This is Powder, soft, with her rainbow of colors, Vander guiding her, and doves (symbols of peace) surrounding her.

Jinx is harsh angles and sharp colors, a warning, an omen of death and misfortune. silco at her back and crows trailing her wherever she goes

What a slap in the face this must be to Vi, reminding her of everything she's lost

[sapphicarcanenjoyer]

they have pitfighter vi using a kiramman flag as a blanket in the concept ideas for the second act. I’m gonna be sick

[bestwitchsam]

Caitlyn from finale episode of Arcane

Hiii! I'm starting to shares of the last episode #Arcane

[sapphictumbleruser]

this scene was very peter parker / spider-man of her

[peachtvs]

Hidden Details in Arcane Season 2 Act 3

When Ekko is first introduced into the other world, he's disoriented, and we see him looking at himself confused as hell into the reflection.

Right after, thats where Powder pulls up in that universe. Powder here will be who I refer to as the non-traumatized version of Jinx, who she could've been and who she is in this alternative universe.

But, before we even get to see Powder, Ekko sees her reflection:

This isn't Powder's reflection, this isn't even her character model. This can be seen when we do actually see Powder:

Powder is smiling, her eyebags aren't as defined, her skin has these warm undertones, the front of her eyebrows aren't furrowed, and her sclera show under her iris isn't visible. But, in the reflection, we see what Ekko sees her as—the "deadpanned"master criminal", dangerous Jinx in his universe, the Jinx with cool, almost sickly skin, a frown, sharper eyes that show the sclera beneath her iris, and her eyebrows knit together like she's always disturbed.

And the craziest thing is, this scene only plays for 3 whole seconds in arcane.

THREE SECONDS

The attention to detail in arcane to show the audience the difference between the Jinx Ekko knows and the Powder he's meeting here is astounding, and the animators include these tiny details that they don't even know if people will ever appreciate, but they're still added.

that's the beauty of arcane.

[mothtarts]

[ratvic]

"Everybody who get's close to me dies."

[snakes-of-the-undercity]

DIVORCES

SO MANY DIVORCES

OR DEATH

ALL THE HOMOSEXUALS ARE EITHER DIVORCED OR DEAD

[purpleshimmer]

wait I was just rewatching s2e1 and at the part where shoola, salo, and mel are like "how could they have gotten into the memorial service; there must have been someone from the inside helping them" the camera pans to ambessa.

[jkriordanverse]

The fact that if you look closely, you can see both Jinx and Ekko's faces in the rose necklace Jinx/Powder had in the alternate timeline-