Following the release of its third and final act, there's a good chance that you're looking to have the Arcane season 2 ending explained. I don't blame you for that. The season has, after all, barrelled through continued arcs from the first season with its first two acts, beginning with an insurgency from the undercity of Zaun being violently suppressed by the wealthy technocracy of Piltover – a conflict stoked by the likes of Ambessa and her associates for their own gain. For all of these different wheels in motion, the show has kept itself focused around the turbulent sisterhood between Jinx (Ella Purnell) and Vi (Hailee Steinfeld), who at the season's opening found themselves on opposite sides of that ideological divide.
Their relationship is a catalyst for, but also victim too, a number of other plotlines which converge in the Arcane season 2 ending, which I'm going to do my best to straighten out as we go through what happened in the show's explosive and often blisteringly fast-paced final act. We'll cover what happened to Jinx at the end of Arcane, whether Caitlin dies in Arcane season 2, and plenty more.
Of course, Arcane season 2 act 3 spoilers follow from here on what is undoubtedly one of the best Netflix shows of 2024.
Arcane season 2 act 2 recap
The second act, after a significant timeskip, saw the tragically brief return of Vander, albeit as a bloodthirsty mutant monster. This new form was created by a genetic experiment by Singed, who in a rather Mr Freeze-like twist reveals that he’s doing all of this so he can save the life of his daughter, kept in suspended animation while he researches a cure. Vander’s feral rage made him dangerous, so Vi and Jinx, along with Jinx’s new little surrogate sister Isha, retreat to a commune founded by Viktor, who attempts to cure Vander. Unfortunately, other plot lines converge upon the same location: Caitlyn is still hunting for Jinx after the death of her mother, and brings Ambessa with her. Ambessa decides to storm the compound. At the same time, Jayce has returned from his vacation in the Hex Core, taking some pretty radical actions - first killing Salo, and then attempting to kill his best friend Viktor, a move which undoes Vander’s therapy and leads him on another rampage. Isha sacrifices herself in order to protect Jinx and Vi from the carnage. Read our Arcane season 2 review to learn more.
What happened in Arcane season 2 Act 3?
With the beginning of Act 3 the series jumps in time again, but in the episode “Pretend Like It’s The First Time” (seventh of the season, first of Act 3), it goes in different directions. One of those follows Ekko and Heimerdinger to an alternate past where Hextech was never created, Zaun was founded peacefully, and Vander, Silco, and several other Zaunites are still alive. Jayce, on the other hand, goes into the future, spending a long time trapped within a post-apocalyptic Piltover ravaged by Hextech, where the few survivors have been turned into zombie-like creatures. Both parties make it back to the present; Heimerdinger recreates a version of the anomaly that brought him and Ekko to the past in the first place, sending Ekko home but staying in place himself; Jayce convenes with the mysterious figure that saved him and his mother in the past, eventually asking to be sent back to his own time.
Back in the present, Vi wakes up after the attack on Viktor’s commune. Despondent after losing Isha and Vander (again), Jinx turns herself in to Caitlyn for arrest. Vi attempts to reach out to her sister, offering to free her and maybe get her to use her gifts to atone, Jinx doesn’t share Vi’s hope that she might be able to change her ways or public perception of her. Jinx gets out and locks Vi in the jail cell, Caitlyn finds her there – Fortiche gives the people what they want and they hook up.
Meanwhile, Mel is revealed to be a mage, a power concealed from her until her kidnapping by the Black Rose, a secret organisation of witches from her mother Ambessa’s home country of Noxus. They invite her to join them, her answer is ambiguous as she weighs up the dangers of The Black Rose versus the danger her mother represents, threatening to destroy the city of Piltover through her single-minded actions. Returning to her mother, Mel confronts Ambessa over the death of her brother in her feud with the Black Rose, but any attempts at parlay fail.
After the destruction of his commune, Viktor has turned from robot Jesus into something more cult-like, deciding that his evolution is something he should assimilate everybody into. He offers partnership with Ambessa, who asks that he grants her extra troops with which to annex Piltover- automatons powered by his abilities, with unprecedented strength. In response to this threat, Jayce tries to appeal to the people of Zaun and the rest of Piltover’s council to put aside their animosity, rally defences and protect the city. Most decide to flee, while a handful stay to fight. After retreating to her old warehouse, Jinx attempts suicide before Ekko intervenes with his new time travel device - an integral part of his League of Legends kit that he inadvertently creates while experimenting with Heimerdinger in the alternative past.
From here, it’s time for battle: Ambessa and her Noxian army, now augmented with extra forces from Viktor, stage their invasion. Vi, Caitlyn and Jayce try to defend the city, resistance holds out for a little while but they ultimately fail. Maddie betrays Caitlyn (!) and the Piltover Enforcers, attempting to execute her on Ambessa’s behalf before Mel intervenes. Jinx arrives with Ekko, the Firelights and rest of the Zaunites and stage a counterattack, freeing the Enforcers. Viktor, transformed beyond recognition, arrives to fight Jayce for control of the Hexgates, while his army of automatons begins assimilating the Zaunite reinforcements. Caitlyn and Mel square off with Ambessa in a duel. Caitlyn loses an eye, but Mel steps in, defeating Ambessa and the head of the Black Rose in one move.
Viktor and Jayce arrive at the top of the tower, which he realises is the scene he witnessed when he travelled into the future - the ‘zombies’ in the future were just the automatons but more rusty. Ekko intervenes in their fight and throws his brand new time machine into Viktor’s face, seemingly linking the past and the future for a second. Turns out that the hooded figure Jayce saw in the future was an aged Viktor, who gave him a mission to save him from himself by showing him that same post apocalypse and his regret over having caused it. The two then join in this astral plane powered by the HexTech, undoing Viktor’s brainwashing of everybody and both disappearing into nothing (they both get sucked inside the rune on Jayce’s wrist). The automatons all stop functioning while the Noxian army submits to Mel.
Vi and Jinx crash into the tower along with Vander, reanimated by Viktor’s magic. The two battle him together, Vi attempts one last time to save their adoptive father, to no avail. Jinx sacrifices herself to save her sister, tumbling over a precipice. The show cuts away to the aftermath as Piltover and Zaun mourn their dead together. Sevika is welcomed onto the Piltover Council as a representative of the Undercity in a tentative show of unity. Mel embraces her Noxian heritage but also her background as a mage, seemingly assuming her mother’s place at the head of the Noxian army. Caitlyn has a cool eye patch, poring over building blueprints for the HexGates where Jinx and Vander fell. Her and Vi vow to stay together in the Kirraman household. The final shot features an airship flying over the ocean to lands unknown.
Who dies in Arcane season 2?
Quite a few people! The final episode promises all-out war with all the carnage that entails, and delivers on it as members of the main and supporting cast go down in droves. Before that point, Heimerdinger sacrifices himself to send Ekko home to the main universe and the present day. Loris is killed by arrows during Ambessa’s invasion of Piltover, while the traitorous Maddie is killed after her bullet intended to execute Caitlyn ricochets, gracefully clearing the way for Vi to get back with her ex without any messy cuckoldry. Ambessa dies in Mel's arms, beaten by her and Caitlyn in a duel (during which Mel also defeats the mysterious witch leading the Black Rose). Jayce and Viktor sacrifice themselves together to save the city from Viktor’s own machinations, the two absorbed into one of the runes giving them power. Vander, or at least his puppet body, dies again - you could argue whether it’s the second or third time depending on if you count spiritual death.
What happened to Jinx at the end of Arcane?
Most confusing of all, however, is the question of whether Jinx dies in Arcane season 2. While she appears to sacrifice herself to save Vi from Vander - tumbling towards the Hexgate core with one of her homemade grenades in hand - there's a touch of ambiguity as to her actual fate thanks to the last few scenes of the show. Caitlyn's examination of the Hexgate blueprints and the grenade shrapnel held in her hands suggest there could be more to Jinx's 'final' moments that meet the eye.
What is the Black Rose in Arcane?
A secret Noxian witch coven (Noxus is another neighboring empire, left mostly unseen in Arcane, which focuses squarely on the city of Piltover), the Black Rose had a history with Ambessa, blackmailing her by negotiating with the lives of her son and daughter. Her son dies, Mel lives, and discovers she has the powers of a mage. They try to cut a deal with Mel to kill her mother, Mel seemingly accepts before deciding that she's against both, killing Ambessa and the leader of the coven in one fell swoop. So much for them!
Why does Jayce fight Viktor in Arcane season 2?
The overuse of the seeming miracle contraptions of HexTech - a combination of science and… the arcane… was revealed to have some unfortunate blowback, sapping the life from the planet – the full consequences of which are of course being felt by the undercity of Zaun, rather than the wealthy of Piltover. It gets worse - we never quite find out what it means that “the Arcane is waking up”, but Viktor gets control over this unstable power and tries to use it to assimilate humanity into what he sees as a utopian vision of the future, one without conflict (but also without choice). Jayce's vision of the future suggests that ends very badly - echoing the overuse of magic's attachment to one of the most dangerous parts of League of Legends lore.
What happens to Heimerdinger in Arcane season 2?
Ekko is the first person we see in Act 3, trapped in a parallel world - an idealised one where almost everything is great; Silco and Vander forgave each other; Mylo and Claggor are still alive; relationships between Piltover and Zaun are vastly improved. The only catch is that Vi died in what would have been the first episode of Arcane, killed by an explosion from the Hextech crystals that Powder discovers right at the start of the show.
Heimerdinger has already been in this world for about three years - both he and Ekko occupy the bodies of their alternate selves, but Heimerdinger was thrown further back into the past, where's he built a new life for himself as a musician. Ekko, however, is desperate to return to his own reality, and uses the shards of that Hextech explosion to build a new anomaly. In the process, he accidentally invents time travel, but Heimerdinger is able to complete the experiment, enabling he and Ekko to return home. Before they can go, however, he leaves the chamber, telling Ekko he's been able to have a real life in the time he's been stuck in this alternate universe. As Ekko is pushed out of his current reality, Heimerdinger is killed by the energy source powering the machine, sacrificing himself to get his protege home.
Will there be more Arcane?
Probably not? The creative leads have insisted that two seasons was always the intention with Arcane, though also reflecting that they also wanted to move on because the show has been so focused on a relatively small group of characters within a very large roster, so never say never. Though the second season often found itself without a lot of time to do so, most of its storylines and character arcs have come to their conclusion. These endings are somewhat open-ended, but not so much in an "Arcane will return" sense, only in the sense that the character's lives will continue on after the carnage of this final season.
