Arcane Season 2, Act 1: Our biggest burning questions for the rest of the season

by Junna Base November 11, 2024

What is Ambassa’s plan?

Since her first appearance in the first season of Arcane, Ambassa has looked more like a force of nature than a council member’s mother. At the end of Act 1, we see that her arrival in Piltover in the hopes of getting Hextech actually hid a deeper purpose. After the attack on the Council, Ambessa plans to exploit the power gap to lead her Noxian army to “take down Zaun”, although it appears that her goal is to completely seize control of Piltover take over when war gets out of hand and she can flex her warlord muscles in the chaos.

Of course, she’ll have a fight on her hands, as both Mel and Jayce will likely resist her warmongering, especially now that Jayce is down in the Undercity and Heimerdinger (Mick Wingert) and Ekko (Reed Lorenzo Shannon) are gaining even more sympathy for his Residents and connections to the Firelights and his old mentor. Mel was never a fan of her mother or her performance in Piltover. But with the rest of the city and the Enforcers seemingly eager to join the war after the Chem Baron’s latest attack, it feels like Noxia is welcome in Piltover for now. This could give Ambessa even more power than Mel expects.

What happened to Viktor?

After Jayce almost dies in the lab explosion in Season 1, he realizes that his best enemy Viktor also survived and decides to use Hextech to save him. Immersing him fully in hextech glib extends Viktor’s lifespan, but it also changes him forever. After the events of the first act, we see that the scientist has essentially become a piece of living hextech, with only a few pieces of his human body remaining. This is much closer to the “Machine Herald” version of Viktor that players will know from League of Legends, who has his body fused with science and steel and presents himself more like a classic robot/cyborg. Where we leave him after Act 1 also corresponds to the popular video game version.

We see the origins of Viktor’s “glorious evolution” in the third episode, as he transforms Huck (Bill Lobley) from a broken man destroyed by Shimmer into a half-hextech/half-human creature, inspiring the rest of his Shimmer crew to join him to follow Viktor into the dark future he has planned for the lower city. It is likely that in the future he will attempt to raise an army of Hex-Men to strengthen the Undercity and its inhabitants in the face of Piltover’s rule.

Who is Vi’s new drinking buddy?

After arguing with Caitlyn again, Vi goes on a fight and ends up with her head in a well while lamenting her war-causing family drama. But she is not alone. We meet a bearded, burly giant who is interested in Vi being called to join the Enforcers. Soon the two are both part of Caitlyn’s special team’s enforcers to make their way into the tunnels. We know very little about him, don’t hear his name, and he’s not an obvious counterpart to any champion from the games, but it’s clear that he’ll become an important part of the cast in the next few episodes.

Interestingly, as quickly as he joined the Enforcers, he doesn’t seem to be a fan of Ambessa and her war plan. This means he could be a veteran or even someone familiar with the leadership version of Noxia and Ambessa. His tempestuous reaction to her authoritarian behavior likely suggests that he will be an ally to Vi, as the more morally complex of our heroines, rather than Caitlyn, who now leads the council. It will be interesting to see how he gets involved in the larger war and possibly sets up future spin-offs.

Arcane Season 2 September 2024 Trailer Stills