Arcane Season 2 Episode 7 confirms major LoL Ekko theory

Arcane Season 2 Act 3 has finally landed on Netflix, with Episode 7, ‘Pretend Like It’s The First Time’, transporting us to parallel universes that show where Ekko, Jayce, and Heimerdinger have been and confirming a major League of Legends fan theory.

In Season 2 Act 1, the trio got sucked into the anomaly, resulting in the trippiest Arcane sequence yet. Ekko and Heimerdinger were nowhere to be found in Act 2, leading to plenty of fan theories about what happened to them.

Jayce did make his return, only to then kill Viktor with his Hextech hammer, which in turn caused his followers to die. But why?

Well, everything you need to know is in Arcane Season 2 Episode 7, with a fan theory connected to Riot Games’ League of Legends lore explaining where they’ve been. Warning: spoilers ahead for Episode 7!

Ekko invents the Z-Drive

Netflix

After heading into the anomaly, Ekko wakes up in a parallel universe, one where Zaun is free, Vander is alive, and Jinx is good. But there are a couple of issues: Vi is dead in this dimension and there’s no Hextech. As was theorized this week, a series of events leads to Ekko creating his LoL invention Z-Drive.

It begins with Ekko waking up in this other dimension, and he’s a little out of sorts (which isn’t all that surprising). Jinx (who is actually Powder here) and Vander just laugh it off, assuming he’s spent too much time in the lab.

Thankfully, Heimerdinger is still the Heimerdinger from before and remembers everything – in fact, he’s been there waiting for Ekko to show up.

As Ekko begins to piece things together, he realizes that the devastating Arcane Season 1 heist killed Vi. This turn of events led to Vander, Jinx, Mylo, and Claggor all surviving, and living a happy life in Zaun.

He goes to the site where the explosion happened and finds Hextech remnants embedded in the walls. He brings the shards to Heim and, together with Powder, they start working on building Hextech technology.

During this process, however, Ekko plays with inversions on Jayce’s acceleration rune, creating a time loop, aka the Z-Drive. This causes time to jump back by one second. Ekko experiments with it, eventually coming to the conclusion that four seconds is the limit.

What is the Z-Drive?

Riot Games

In the League of Legends games, Ekko’s core abilities rely on his Z-Drive, aka Zero-Drive, which manipulates time. This invention also allows him to rewind into his past, but can only go back by up to four seconds.

As you can tell, this is another area where Arcane masterfully incorporates LoL lore while still establishing and extending the story in its own right.

As per his LoL description, “Ekko manipulates time to twist any situation to his advantage. Using his own invention, the Zero Drive, he explores the branching possibilities of reality to craft the perfect moment.

“Though he revels in this freedom, when there’s a threat to his friends he’ll do anything to defend them. To outsiders, Ekko seems to achieve the impossible the first time, every time.”

Ekko heads home

Netflix

Although Ekko is in paradise in this universe – he and Powder are in love and Zaun is like Piltover – he knows he has to head back to his dimension to save everyone. Heim manages to recreate the anomaly but he winds up sacrificing himself in the process and dies. RIP Heimerdinger.

After the Hextech is stable, Powder runs in to find Ekko has been split in two – there’s the version of him in this dimension and then the one we know and love. Before the latter heads off, he gives Powder a smile.

He’s got his invention with him, meaning we can expect the Z-Drive to pop up again. At the very end of Episode 7, Jinx puts the necklace current Ekko gave her in a draw, and beside it are the Hextech crystals she kept from the heist.

There’s been plenty of fan reaction to this revelation, with one writing on Reddit, “So Powder kept the crystals! What are they hinting at by showing that? Do we think she’s going to invent Hextech in this universe?”

Another said of the Z-Drive introduction, “Time loop established. How far back are they going to let Ekko get? F**k, it’s gorgeous.” A third added, “Holy sh*t we see how he becomes the time traveler.”

Arcane Season 2 is streaming on Netflix now. Also read about Dr Corin Reveck, the show’s most traumatizing scene, other great animated series to watch, and our ranking of the most powerful Arcane characters.