Arcane Season 2 Act 3 ending explained: What does Jayce see in the wild rune anomaly?

Arcane Season 2 Act 3 aired on November 23, 2024, on Netflix and brought the series to a conclusive end. The show's final chapter featured episodes 7, 8, and 9, titled Pretend Like It's the First Time, Killing Is a Cycle, and The Dirt Under Your Nails, respectively. It focused on the final showdown between Piltover and Zaun and the fates of the show's central characters, such as Vi, Jinx, Caitlyn, Jayce, and Viktor.

The series showcased Piltover and Zaun heading towards a brutal war that will change their fates forever. In Arcane Season 2 Act 3, Jayce witnessed a dystopian future of Piltover created by Viktor's Glorious Revolution plan and made it his mission to stop his former friend at any cost.

The different timelines of Arcane season 2 act 3 explained

The first episode of Arcane season 2 act 3 began by splitting off into two separate timelines. The first timeline showcased Ekko and Heimerdinger's experience within the wild rune anomaly from act 1. They time-traveled to the past in an alternate reality in which Hextech did not exist and Zaun was a peaceful utopian city.

Vander, Mylo, Claggor, and Silco were alive while Vi was dead in this parallel universe. Ekko had a brief romance with (the pre-Jinx) Powder before attempting to return to the present time. Moreover, Heimerdinger sacrificed himself to allow Ekko to leave with his time travel device, the Z-drive, which can reverse time for a few seconds.

The second timeline revealed what Jayce saw within the anomaly before he returned and went on a killing spree in Arcane season 2 act 2. Jayce was transported into an alternate future timeline where he saw a horrifying version of his beloved city. Hextech ravaged Piltover, humanity was wiped out with only a few machine-infused survivors living in the post-apocalyptic world.

When he returned to the present timeline in Act 2, Jayce felt determined to destroy Hextech and Viktor so as to prevent the outcome he witnessed in the anomaly.

Do Viktor and Jayce die in Arcane season 2 Act 3?

Viktor returned in Arcane season 2 Act 3 after being nearly killed by Jayce in the previous episode. However, he is transformed from the messianic figure of the past to a robotic hybrid of the future, his next step in evolution. He set off to put his Glorious Revolution plan into action.

His dream was to merge all human beings with machinery so as to replace the world's suffering with a utopian existence devoid of human flaws and feelings. For this purpose, he teamed up with Ambessa in her fight against Zaun and offered her additional troops of automatons with unprecedented strength and superhuman abilities.

Jayce, realizing the existential threat posed by Viktor, rallied the people of Zaun and Piltover to put aside their differences and fight together to save humanity.

In episode 9 of season 2, the battle lines were drawn. One side represented Mel, Jayce, Vi, Caitlyn, Jinx, Ekko, the Zaunites, and Piltover's army. On the other side were Ambessa, the Noxian army with its Shimmer-injected soldiers, Viktor, his robotic followers, and Warwick, who was brought to life by Singed.

In the ensuing battle, Viktor and Jayce fought for control of the Hexgates. Ekko hurled his time machine at Viktor’s face, linking the past, present, and future. There, Jayce revealed to Viktor that the hooded figure from his childhood was Viktor's older self, who went back in time and enlisted Jayce's help to stop the younger Viktor from destroying the world.

In a different universe, Viktor succeeded in his Glorious Revolution plan but later came to regret the hellscape he had created. Thus, an aged Viktor went back in time to stop his younger self with Jayce's help.

Jayce urged his former friend to abandon his plan. Then, the two men joined in the astral plane that Viktor resided in and were sucked into the rune on Jayce's wrist. In the end, they destroyed the Arcane and died along with it to protect the world from a dire fate. With the Arcane gone, the automatons stopped functioning mid-fight and the enhanced Noxian army stopped in their tracks and submitted to Mel.

Also Read: Arcane season 2 voice cast: Full list of all characters and their voice cast in the sequel

Ambessa and Mel fight it out in Arcane season 2 Act 3

After Mel escaped from the clutches of the Black Rose in Act 2, she discovered that she was a mage. She returned to Piltover to stop her mother, Ambessa from waging a bloody war in her quest for power and revenge, but to no avail.

As Ambessa led her troops in the final battle, she was captured by the Black Rose, but Mel stepped in to protect her mother and used her magical powers to send the Black Rose away. Seeing her daughter's undying love, Ambessa told Mel, "now you are the wolf," (a reference to Noxian strength) before dying in her arms.

Jinx sacrifices herself for Vi in Arcane season 2 Act 3

In season 2's episode 8, Jinx surrendered herself to Caitlyn's enforcers after having lost everything worth living for. Vi visited her in the jail cell and the sisters shared an emotional conversation before Jinx locked Vi inside the cell and headed out to commit suicide. But, she is stopped by Ekko.

While there, Vi was visited by Caitlyn and the two finally consummated their relationship inside the cell.

During the epic final battle in episode 9, Vi and Jinx fought against Warwick atop the Hexgates. Warwick was reanimated by Viktor’s magic and carried no past memories of Vander, thus making him a pure bloodthirsty beast.

Jinx made the ultimate sacrifice to save her sister and said, "Always with you, sis," before plunging to her death alongside Warwick. As the duo freefell, Jinx set off the Hextech gemstone bomb she had previously planned to kill herself with. Vi watched helplessly from above as her younger sister died in front of her eyes.

After the battle ended, Piltover and Zaun came together to pay their respects to the dead. Sevika was included in the Piltover Council to represent the interests of the Undercity. Caitlyn, who had lost an eye during the battle and now wore an eye patch, was seen living happily with Vi in the Kirraman household.

The show's medley at the end strongly hinted that Jinx survived the blast by shielding herself in one of Hexgates' cooling tunnels.

Arcane season 2 Act 3 sets off potential spin-offs

Mel's story has a lot of loose ends that are not addressed in the show's final chapter, priming her character to lead a possible spin-off series in the future. In the final moments of Arcane season 2 Act 3, Mel sets off to Noxus to possibly seek answers about the origins of her magical powers and her family's history.

Another future spin-off series could focus on Singed and his daughter Orianna, who is revealed to be the League of Legends character, Lady of Clockwork. Also, Ekko and his time-manipulating device, the Z-Drive, would make for an interesting storyline in a spin-off series as well.

All episodes of Arcane are available to stream on Netflix.

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