Everything you need to remember from Arcane Season 1 to Season 2

Arcane Season 2 is finally here, but after the three-year gap between seasons, we can’t blame you if you don’t quite remember what happened in Piltover and Zaun. To help you prepare for the new season of the series, we’ve compiled memories of exactly what happened in Season 1, particularly where the characters were when we last saw them.

Where did Jinx and Vi (and Caitlyn) leave each other?

After a years-long dance between sisters and their loyalties – to each other, to the underworld, to peace in the kingdom – everything came to a head in the finale. In the final moments of the first season, Jinx fired her makeshift hextech missile into the council chambers of the city of Piltover, promising untold chaos, death and destruction.

Vi and Caitlyn tried to stop them, and Caitlyn even had a shot before Jinx fired her rocket, but the pair failed. As for Jinx and Vi’s relationship, it’s safe to say that the rocket was the final straw for Vis in her hope that she could still find her sister Powder in Jinx.

What happened to Silco and what is the condition of the Lanes?

The leader of Zaun’s criminal underworld, Silco, was killed by adopted daughter Jinx. Near the end of the season, Jinx captured Vi, Caitlyn, and Silco to question them altogether (thinking Silco would betray them). When Silco tries to kill Vi, Jinx shoots him and immediately starts crying as he tells her he still loves her.

Silco had used violence, Shimmer-enhanced henchmen, and his right-hand man Sevika to keep Zaun’s various criminal organizations more or less at bay since Vander’s “disappearance” – along with the help of some bribes for Piltover’s corrupt sheriff. But with Silco dead and out of the way, the city beneath Piltover fell into an even more lawless wasteland, with each faction vying for control.

Wait, what exactly is Shimmer again?

Shimmer is a type of drug developed by Silco’s team – including and especially Singed – that grants users excessive, monstrous strength and uncontrollable rage, making them perfect for inflicting violence on anyone Silco needed. The drug is highly addictive, but after taking it it also permanently changes the user’s body.

Singed is Silco’s chief scientist and an old friend and mentor of Viktor. He is a scientific genius from Zaun who doesn’t really concern himself with small things like ethics or morals. In the first season, we saw him helping Viktor connect the Hexcore to his body, and we know that he was in a cave keeping a strange creature alive in a giant tank.

Where are Viktor and Jayce?

Viktor, Jayce, and Mel are all in the council chamber that Jinx blew up, so we’ll just have to wait and see how they fare after the rocket explosion. As for their own relationships, Jayce and Mel are still together, while Viktor and Jayce are somewhat left behind as Jayce considers developing hextech weapons, which Viktor strongly opposes.

What’s Ambessa’s whole deal?

Ambessa is Mel’s mother and a battle-hardened Noxian commander. It’s not entirely clear why she’s in Piltover, other than to keep an eye on her daughter. But it’s clear she’s trying to advance her own interests within the City of Progress.

Is Heimerdinger also in the council chamber?

Heimerdinger was expelled from the council on Jayce’s advice, which means he’s not in the council chamber, but that doesn’t mean he’s excluded from history. Heimerdinger’s expulsion was largely due to his attempt to stop the development of Hextech in the hope of making it safer. But without the council detaining him in Piltover, Heimerdinger went to Zaun and met with Ekko.