Arcane season 2 act 3 has finally landed on Netflixwith Episode 7, ‘Pretend It’s the First Time’, transporting us to parallel universes showing where Ekko, Jayce and Heimerdinger have been and confirming a major League of Legends fan theory.

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

Jayce returned, 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 one fan theory linked to Riot Games’ League of Legends lore that explains where they’ve been. Warning: spoilers ahead for episode 7!

Ekko invents the Z-Drive

Netflix

After heading into anomie, Ekko wakes up in a parallel universe, one where Zaun is free, Vander is alive, and Jinx is fine. But there are a couple of problems: We are dead in this dimension and there is no Hextech. As theorized this week, a series of events lead to Ekko creates his LoL invention Z-Drive.

It starts with Ekko waking up in this other dimension, and he’s a little out of sorts (which isn’t 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 Heimerdinger from before and remembers everything – he’s actually been there waiting for Ekko to show up.

As Ekko begins to piece things together, he realizes that the devastating Secret Season 1 Robbery Killed Us. 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 of the explosion and finds Hextech remnants embedded in the walls. He brings the shards to Heim and together with Powder they begin work on building Hextech technology.

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

What is Z-Drive?

Riot Games

In 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 to 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 establishing and expanding the story in its own right.

According to his LoL description, “Ekko manipulates time to turn every situation to his advantage. With his own invention, the Zero Drive, he explores the ramified possibilities of reality to create the perfect moment.

“Although he enjoys this freedom, when there is a threat to his friends he will do anything to defend them. To outsiders, Ekko seems to achieve the impossible the first time, every time.”

Echo goes home

Netflix

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

After the Hextech is stable, Powder runs in to find that 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 leaves, he gives Powder a smile.

He has his invention with him, which means we can expect the Z-Drive to make another appearance. At the very end of episode 7, Jinx puts the necklace that Ekko gave her into a tie, and next to it are the Hextech crystals that she kept from the robbery.

There have been many fan reactions to this reveal, with one signing off Reddit“So Powder kept the crystals! What are they implying 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 come? F**k, it’s wonderful.” A third added: “Damn, we’ll see how he becomes the time traveller.”

Arcane Season 2 is streaming on Netflix now. Also read about Dr Corin Reveck, the series’ most traumatizing sceneOther good animated series to watchand spring ranking of the most powerful Arcane characters.