Does Jinx Die In Arcane?

"Arcane" felt like the start of a new era of TV animation. The show delivered visuals that experimented with 3D and 2D textures in the way big-budget movies like "Into the Spider-Verse" did. It told a bold, mature, and complex story with memorable and well-developed characters, and introduced a vast and layered world with a deep sense of lore and mystery. It helped put the final nail in the coffin of the video game adaptation curse, being one of only three perfect animated video game TV shows — according to Rotten Tomatoes.

The show is based on the hugely popular video game "League of Legends," and serves as a pseudo-prequel to some of the game's biggest characters. It centers around two sisters, Vi (Hailee Seinfeld) and Jinx (Ella Purnell), who find themselves on opposite sides of a huge conflict involving the entire city-state of Piltover after arcane technology is discovered.

After a hugely popular and acclaimed first season, "Arcane" was set to conquer the animated world. But then, everything changed when Netflix atacked and decided to kill the show in its second season — due to the prohibitively expensive cost of making the show look as good as it did. The second season rushed through the story and ended up killing quite a few big characters that are technically very much alive in the game.

One of those characters who appears to be dead is none other than Jinx, one of the main characters and a hugely popular character from the games. Except, is she really dead? There are some hints in the season 2 finale to the contrary, sparking theories among fans that Jinx is still alive. Let's dig in.

In season 2, Jinx becomes a messianic figure to the people of Zaun, the underground of Pilover that is oppressed by those at the top. After almost killing her sister, Vi, the two start to almost reconcile their differences after they are reunited with their surrogate father, Vander — who had been mutated into the monster Warwick.

Unfortunately, their happiness doesn't last long, and after an attack by the Noxians, Warwick is taken captive, and Vi and Jinx are separated. In the finale, the two sisters come together to fight the army of mindless drones until Warwick arrives and attacks them both. After a vicious fight where it becomes clear there is no part of Vander left alive, the mindless beast Warwick leaps to deliver a killing blow to Vi. At that moment, Jinx jumps in to save her sister, but in the process, she ends up hanging from a beam by just her arm while being dragged down by Warwick. Jinx then decides to sacrifice herself and drop down the HexGate reactor shaft and blow herself and Warwick up with a grenade.

Even if we don't see a body, there is a giant shaft below them, nowhere else to go, and a big explosion from which there's little chance of escape.

First, the circumstantial evidence. We know Jinx's exposure to the drug Shimmer has given her superspeed, which he could use to evade the explosion and head toward the walls of the shaft.

Then there's the biggest piece of evidence that fans are convinced proves Jinx is still very much alive. You see, during the extensive epilogue to the film, we get a brief scene of Caitlyn (Katie Leung) looking at the layout of the HexGate right where Jinx fell, and zooming in on what clearly looks like a pipe leading to the outside reading "Air ducts and cooling system." This means Jinx could have relatively easily jumped toward one of the vents and escaped the blast before hiding in the Zaun underground.

Is it a little far-fetched? Absolutely. Then again, we've seen Jinx pull off crazier stunts before. Supporting the argument is the fact that Caitlyn is looking at one of Jinx's grenade caps while she's looking at the blueprints. If the cap was still intact after the explosion, maybe Jinx could have survived, too.

Speaking with TechRadar, "Arcane" co-creator Christian Linke played coy about Jinx's fate. "I can neither confirm or deny [the Jinx is alive]," Linke said. "I will say this: her whole story is about turning from the little, bumbling sister into someone who is able to take responsibility and do what a big sister needs to do.

"[Jinx] is starting to understand what it's like to be responsible and to be able to grow and be stronger," Linke continued. "Even in that scene [with Vi, Jinx, and Warwick], there's something where VI is incapable of kind of sacrificing the ones she loves and leaving them behind. Jinx has a moment where she has grown, and she's capable of stepping in, and it's a big decision that's important for her. So, that's I guess, where I'll leave it."

So what's next? Even if Jinx is alive, and even if there is more "Arcane," it will probably not be this story. A recent trailer for the competitive season of "League of Legends" animated by Studio Fortiched teased out the focus on Noxus and seemed to tease a future for "Arcane" in that empire, or at least provide an epilogue to the story.