Arcane season 2 solidified the show as much better than simply a League of Legends prequel. By the time of Arcane season 2’s ending, the show concluded its story with a fitting amount of death and destruction. This likely came as a shock to those familiar with the source material, as even some of Arcane‘s League of Legends champions proved they were not above being killed off.

Naturally, this raises the question of whether Arcane is a League of Legends prequel after all. Arcane‘s cast of characters is filled with playable champions from the original game, with many assuming that the show was simply filling in their backstory. That said, Arcane‘s ending proved this was not the case. As questions over Arcane season 3’s story or future spin-offs are raised, audiences are left with the fact that the show was never a League of Legends spin-off, but something much better.

We’d All Thought Arcane Was League Of Legends Canon… But It’s Not

League’s Characters Are Expendable In Arcane

Firstly, it is worth exploring why Arcane cannot be classified as a League of Legends prequel that fills out the canon of the characters from the game. The reason for this is the death of several characters in Arcane that are taken directly from the source material. Characters like Jayce, Viktor, Heimerdinger, Jinx, and Warwick all seemingly perished in Arcane‘s ending, likely shocking those who are aware that these characters existed in the original game.

These characters are different versions of those from the game and proved to be expendable…

Rather than flesh out the backstories of these characters to set them up for their video game future, Arcane takes a different route. These characters are different versions of those from the game and proved to be expendable as a result. Although the deaths of characters like Jinx, Jayce, and Viktor, to name a few, were suitably tragic, they proved that Arcane was never concerned with tying its characters to their supposed future as League of Legends champions. Instead, Arcane confirms something else.

Arcane Season 2 Introduced The League Of Legends Multiverse Instead

Arcane season 2’s ending revealed that the show is part of League of Legends’ vast multiverse. The multiverse has long been a concept that is part of League of Legends‘ lore, despite not being an overly important plot point in the game. After all, League of Legends is a MOBA, or multiplayer online battle arena, meaning any story is of little consequence when playing. This explains why the multiverse has never been a big aspect of the source material, despite its existence being confirmed.

In Arcane, though, the multiverse proved important. Not only did Ekko and Heimerdinger end up in an alternate universe where things were different from the one shown in Arcane seasons 1 and 2, but Jayce did also. Then, the developments involving Viktor and his time-traveling antics involving a young Jayce were also linked to the multiverse. These elements, as well as the deaths of several Arcane characters based on League of Legends, solidified the former as one possibility in the latter’s expansive multiverse, as opposed to the direct prequel many thought it initially was.