With Arcane, Netflix has delivered a true animation masterpiece, which ended after two seasons and 18 episodes on November 23, 2024. Although there are other series from the League of Legends universe in development, the story of the sisters Vi and Powder/Jinx is complete. There will be no third season.
The fantasy series from Netflix brings out all the guns at the end and delivers a real rush of images in the series finale with an all-decisive battle that will certainly leave many a fan confused. If you’ve lost track of all the visual spectacle, this article has come to the right place.
Below you will find a simple summary and explanation of the most important events and character fates of the Arcane finale. Warning, massive spoilers for the end of Arcane follow:
The finale of Netflix’s Arcane Season 2 simply explained
While the conflict between Piltover and Zaun determines most of the Netflix series, episode 9 of season 2 now focuses on two other threats and events. First we have the finale Battle with Ambessa and their army, freshly pimped up by Viktor, on the one hand and the combined forces of Zaun and Piltover on the other.
The real final boss, however, is this Viktor merged with the Hexcore, who wants to absorb all of humanity into his machine collective, in which death, wars, prejudices and emotions no longer exist. Jayce recently experienced the resulting apocalyptic future firsthand, and now wants to prevent exactly that. The all-important battle for control of the Hexgate ensues.
Viktor’s plan is stopped…thanks to Viktor
Unfortunately, Jayce is unable to dissuade his former friend from his ultimate plan. Everything seems lost and Viktor begins to merge all people into his collective. But At the last second, Ekko returns to this reality with his time machine and fires the device at the villain – and then things get confusing.
Viktor loses control when the time machine explodes, which Jayce takes advantage of to reveal the truth to him – and solve a big mystery from Season 1. The mysterious figure who gave Jayce a rune as a child and later appeared in the alternate (post-apocalyptic) reality is a time-traveled older Viktor. He realized his mistake too late and traveled through all kinds of timelines to find himself with the help of Jayce.
Jayce and Viktor now use the rune together to destroy the collective. The duo is sucked into the rune and the people of Piltover and Zaun find themselves again. A happy ending? Not quite.
Jinx sacrifices himself to save Vi
After the fight against Viktor, the hexgate is in danger of collapsing. The wild Warwick (formerly Vander) attacks the sisters again. To save Vi, rushes Jinx goes into the depths together with the beast and causes a grenade to explode.
After the battle, the residents of Zaun and Piltover mourn their dead and look forward to a new beginning. There is still mistrust between Upper City and Lower City, but Caitlyn is paving the way for a better future and unity: Sevika, the first fence resident, becomes a member of the council. And who is one throughout the series Happy ending for Vi and her cupcake Caitlyn wished, can shed a friend’s tear in the very last scene.
Who lives and who dies at the end of Arcane?
In the third and final act of Arcane Season 2, i.e. episodes 7 to 9, numerous beloved characters have to lose their lives and not every character gets a happy ending. Here you can find an overview of who died and who survived:
The most important deaths in the Arcane finale:
These characters survive Arcane:
Wait, aren’t there three important names missing? Quite right! Because Arcane does not finally seal the fate of Jayce, Viktor or even Jinx.
Are Jayce and Viktor really dead?
In the end, Jayce and Viktor sacrifice themselves and are drawn into the rune. However, Arcane does not answer whether they actually die. Instead, it is (for now) left to the audience’s imagination whether the duo traveled to another timeline or dimension is. What could speak for this theory: The older time-traveling Viktor could actually have been “our” Viktor and his survival would ultimately complete a time loop.
The final Arcane scene reveals: Jinx survived
Did Jinx heroically plunge to his death? If you pay close attention at the end of Arcane, you’ll find two clear clues that she survived her fall. On the one hand there is the map of the hexgate on which Caitlyn is located a ventilation shaft discovered and then smiled with relief.
And then there is the image of an airship that leaves Piltover behind at the end and flies towards the horizon. We don’t see who is on board, but a moment from the first season suggests that Jinx survived. In the very first episode, an airship flies over the younger sisters as Powder announces, “I’m telling you, one day I’ll be caught with something like that!“