What happened at the end of Arcane Season 1? FAQs for the final act and what’s next (spoiler alert)

arcane ending netflix season1 act 3

Riot Games’ first League of Legends animated series, Arcane, has concluded on Netflix – well, Season 1 has, anyway.

What did the ending of Arcane Season 1 Act 3 mean? How did it end? And what’s next? Here are our thoughts.

Note: SPOILERS AHEAD.

What happened in Arcane’s ending? What does it mean?

Here’s your final spoiler warning – we’ll be diving into the ending of Arcane and talking about major plot points, so if you haven’t seen it yet, beware, you have been warned!

Okay, let’s dive in.

So at the end of episode 9, the final episode in this season, we saw Jinx kill Silco, before turning her Super Mega Deathrocket – powered by hextech – towards Piltover’s main buildings and firing it straight towards the council chamber.

Before it makes impact, we see the camera behind Mel, as her clothing shimmers golden, then the credits roll.

The obvious next step in Season 2 – should this story carry on from where we left off – is that Jinx’s rocket blows up, killing the councillors and paving the way for more destruction and war between Piltover and Zaun. However, surely there’s more to Jayce’s story and Viktor’s, so could there be some way they survive?

Some on the League of Legends subreddit episode 9 megathread suggest Mel’s glinting back could have something to do with preventing an explosion or protecting Jayce and Viktor (one joked it was a Zhonya’s Hourglass!), or one far-out theory is that Ekko and Heimerdinger could somehow turn back time and prevent it from happening (though very unlikely). We don’t know what happens for certain, as the series closes on this cliffhanger.

Will there be a Season 2?

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Before we carry on with the lore, will there be a season 2 or future animated series?

Riot has confirmed a specific season 2 of Arcane is in production:

“We’re beyond happy about the positive response to Arcane’s first season and are working hard with the creative wizards at Riot and Fortiche to deliver our second installment,” said Arcane co-creators Christian Linke and Alex Yee. 

Here are the details for season 2 of Arcane:

  • Studio:  Riot Games
  • Animation: Foritche Productions 
  • Created by: Christian Linke, Alex Yee
  • Executive producers: Christian Linke, Marc Merrill, Brandon Beck, Jane Chung, Thomas Vu
  • Hailee Steinfeld (Vi), Ella Purnell (Jinx) and Katie Leung (Caitlyn Kiramman) will reprise their voice roles

Back in 2019, Riot’s CEO Nicolo Laurent did say Riot was ‘committed to Arcane for multiple seasons’.

Given all this, and the popularity of Season 1, which overtook Squid Game at launch as the most-watched show on Netflix, it makes sense for Riot to move ahead with Season 2.

What’s next for Jinx?

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It’s clear that Jinx has moved away from her old name and persona, Powder, and has chosen a path of anarchy. Vi’s right – she is a Jinx – just as Piltover and Zaun are about to strike peace, she nukes them.

She chose to sit on the chair with the name ‘Jinx’ on it at the table at the end. For us, this final scene was akin to the mad hatter’s tea party from Alice in Wonderland, albeit a more warped and deadly variation, but we digress.

In terms of Jinx and Vi, it seems they do not hate each other, but the love from their initial relationship seems to have dissipated at this point. Jinx has also changed after being brought back to life by Singed, with her purple eyes and fast-moving ability adding to the battle in her mind. It’ll be interesting to see how their relationship evolves in potential future seasons.

In terms of Jinx and Silco, it seems Jinx firing her gun at Silco was an accident – a lot of thoughts were running through her head and her action was not seemingly what she intended. She looked up to Silco as a father figure at the end as he was dying, and he looked to her as a daughter – whether that was him being genuine or not is open to interpretation. Either way, the “we’ll show them” line that he repeats to her throughout this series sparks something in Jinx that causes her to fire the rocket.

Who will lead Zaun now that Silco is dead?

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The obvious answer is Sevika, the woman who fought Vi with her shimmer-powered arm and Silco’s close aide.

Another option could be Jinx, though it’s unlikely given Jinx is an uncontrollable entity, looking more like a lone wolf and a loose cannon than a natural leader.

Some have said Vi, but we know she teams up with Caitlyn as piltover enforcers.

It could be someone else entirely – the series showed us other higher-ups in Zaun who tried to overthrow Silco, so it could be someone like that.

Other champions from the game from Zaun include the likes of chemtech characters like Urgot, Dr Mundo and Zac. Let’s not forget Viktor, who has not yet gone through his full ‘glorious evolution’ into his robotic form, as he is in the game.

What about Mel and her mother?

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Mel’s mother spoke to her about wanting hextech weaponry for Noxus. She also mentioned about how Mel’s brother was killed after the family crossed a man they shouldn’t have done. Some in the League subreddit have said this could be Swain – especially given the crow appearances throughout Season 1.

Some say Mel could be Solarian (like Leona) rather than Noxian:

Regardless, it’s likely we’ll see more of Noxus and Demacia in future seasons. There’s so much from League’s worldbuilding now with Arcane, The Ruined King and more, that we may see places like Bilgewater and the Shadow Isles in future shows, too.

Some have made some interesting comparisons between Mel and Rell, the Iron Maiden, though others have said their storylines are different and that Rell would have been a baby during the events of Arcane. Let’s see what happens in the future.

Rell’s official League of Legends page describes her as “the product of brutal experimentation at the hands of the Black Rose, Rell is a defiant, living weapon determined to topple Noxus”.

Other characters including Viktor, Jayce, Warwick, Singed, Ekko and Heimerdinger

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As mentioned, Viktor hasn’t gone through his ‘glorious evolution’ just yet into full robot mode, and it seems Jayce has a lot left to do in his story arc. What will be next for their relationship as Viktor leaves his human body behind for something more unnatural?

For Viktor, he was left with notes from Sky before that accident that saw her killed, so he may read up on those and pursue her ideas. Some have speculated this could lead to his creation of Blitzcrank.

Then there’s Ekko and Heimerdinger. At this point in Arcane, Ekko has not yet ‘shattered time’, though there was an interesting scene where Ekko swayed his pocket watch in front of Jinx. Will Ekko and Heimerdinger figure out time travel together? They’re seen talking excitedly to one another as new allies.

And don’t forget Singed and Warwick. What’s next for Singed and his creations? Many are saying Vander will return as Warwick the werewolf, and a brief shot near the end of Arcane shows the wolf dormant, above Singed.

The possibilities are almost endless for Riot and League of Legends at this point.

In Riot’s first ten years they built a solid MOBA in League of Legends and grew it through esports – now they’re working on the worldbuilding with Arcane, Ruined King, their upcoming MMO and other games.

Roll on Arcane Season 2 and other shows!

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Elanya
Elanya
2 years ago

Well in the end she shot a rocket at the other side and maybe they died but highly unlikely since I saw that mel shined