You might have noticed “Baby Jinx” making her debut in Arcane Season 2, but who exactly is the new character and is she in the League of Legends games?
It’s a fair enough question to ask, given not all of the Arcane characters are LoL champions. And this is one of the reasons the Netflix series is so well-loved.
Riot Games’ Christian Linke and Alex Yee have drawn from the source material while establishing a story that appeals to both fans and newcomers.
With Arcane Season 2 Part 1 landing on the streaming service on November 9, here’s what we know so far about the new “Baby Jinx” character, Isha. Warning: spoilers ahead!
Who is Isha?
Isha is an orphan child from the Zaun undercity. After Jinx saves her from Chem-barons Chross and newbie Smeech, Isha starts following the blue-haired Zaunite around, looking up to her as an idol and mentor, hence the nickname “Baby Jinx.”
We’re first introduced to Isha in Arcane Season 2 Episode 2, ‘Watch it all Burn’. Little is known about her backstory, not least because she’s non-verbal.
What we do know is she’s brave and courageous, a bit like Jinx when she was a child. While running from Chross and his cronies, she attempts to make a jump between gaps in a broken vault, only to fall right into Jinx’s lap.
After Jinx takes the Chem-barons out, Isha spots the ‘Wanted’ signs with Jinx’s face all over them. “Yep, that’s me,” says Jinx. “You ever need to curse a sibling or a family or a society, my card.”
As well as being one of the most dangerous criminals in the undercity, Jinx waves a gun in the kid’s face – and it’s still not enough to put her off. Quite the opposite.
When Jinx walks away, Isha runs after her, shadowing her in the scenes to come. In Arcane Season 2 Episode 3, she even gets in between Vi and Jinx, putting her life at risk to save her mentor.
Although we haven’t seen this yet, it looks like Jinx and Isha are set to grow closer in the episodes to come.
As part of the Arcane Season 2 soundtrack, Eason Chan’s ‘Isha’s Song’ was released with a video featuring clips of the pair running through the city together.
In another snapshot, Isha, who now has blue hair, hugs Jinx, and this is interspersed with flashbacks to Powder, showcasing the parallels between their characters.
The Season 2 Part 2 teaser also shows their relationship strengthening, with one clip showing Jinx looking into the mirror – and stuck to the side of it is an adorable kid’s drawing of Isha and Jinx.
Is she in the games?
No, there isn’t a character named Isha in League of Legends. It’s likely she was created specially for Arcane Season 2.
There are, of course, a number of theories that Isha could actually be a different character from the games, one of them suggesting she might be Teemo – the yordle leader of the Bandle Scouts.
Over on Reddit, one wrote, “The Hat. The Hair. The freakin’ binocular and scouting on people, the glasses. Maybe I am crazy, but even if this has nothing to do with Teemo it looks like his clothes and stuff, wtf. And yordles can shapeshift too.”
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Another put forward a far out theory: that Isha is Janna, the spirit god who gets a mention in Season 2 Episode 3. In Arcane, Jinx reminisces about how Vander would tell her and Vi stories about Janna saving Zaunites struggling to breathe.
“What if Isha is Janna?” said one viewer. “The name Isha means ‘goddess’ and ‘the one who protects’. Janna is the goddess who protects Zaun, Isha protected Jinx.
“Isha fell from the sky into Jinx’s life at a time when people were praying to Janna for divine intervention. The truth is out there!”
Of course, this is all just speculation at this stage. The likeliest answer is that Isha was made up for Arcane, but we’ll be sure to keep you posted if this changes.
Why Isha is important to Arcane Season 2
At the base level, Isha stopped Vi from killing Jinx. And Arcane Season 2 would’ve looked very different if our leading lady wasn’t around. But she may also be the key to Jinx’s redemption arc.
Isha’s actions also inadvertently spark a divide between Vi and Caitlyn. During their fight, Caitlyn wants to shoot Isha but Vi stops her, saying she’s just a kid.
The pair end up arguing and going their separate ways, only exacerbating the hatred Caitlyn feels towards the undercity. Shortly after this event, she agrees to help Piltover lead the war against Zaun.
But these aren’t the only consequences of Isha’s appearance. There’s no denying the similarities between the kid and Jinx’s former self, Powder, with both of them experiencing extreme trauma at a young age.
By taking on the role of big sister or mentor, Jinx might be able to find a way to reconnect with her more innocent side and perhaps, in time, head towards a more compassionate path amid the violence and turmoil of Zaun.
Jinx isn’t old enough to be a mom
Even though we’re nicknaming her “Baby Jinx,” she’s really seen as a baby sister rather than her adopted kid. And the reason why is simple: Jinx is barely an adult herself. She’s thought to be around 17-to-19 years old in Arcane Season 2.
This number is an estimate based on Arcane writer Amanda Overton’s 2021 response to a tweet asking about the characters’ ages.
Caitlyn and Vi are about the same age in the first act, maybe a year apart? Somewhere in 14-16 age. Powder is 11-12ish. And we think about 6-7 years passed between episodes. This is all approximate since time is a bit different in Runeterra, and a bit open to interpretation.
— Amanda Overton (@leeloo104) November 24, 2021
“Caitlyn and Vi are about the same age in the first act, maybe a year apart? Somewhere in 14-16 age,” she wrote.
“Powder is 11-12ish. And we think about 6-7 years passed between episodes. This is all approximate since time is a bit different in Runeterra, and a bit open to interpretation.”
Given Season 2 picks up where Season 1 left off, we can assume Jinx is in her late teens going into her early 20s.
Arcane Season 2 Part 1 is streaming on Netflix now, with Part 2 landing on November 16. If you’ve already seen the first three episodes, here’s the ending explained. You can also read about why Season 2 had to be the last and plans for an MCU-style LoL cinematic universe.
