Heimerdinger's role in the world of Arcane might not be done if League of Legends lore is anything to go by.
Arcane is an animated Netflix adaptation of Riot Games' popular MOBA game, featuring many of the champions and lore from the world of Runeterra.
Heimerdinger is a fan-favorite champion who played a part in both seasons of Arcane. First introduced as a mentor to scientists Jayce and Viktor, Heimerdinger was once the head of the Piltover council, before he was ousted and became a part of Ekko's community in the undercity of Zaun.
The scientist was then transported into the anomaly in Season 2 of Arcane, along with Jayce and Ekko, but sadly Heimerdinger did journey back to the main timeline with Ekko.
What League of Legends Lore Says About Heimerdinger
Heimerdinger is a known yordle in League of Legends, a species of spirits who tend to take the appearance of mammalian bipeds. Heimerdinger and the dastardly crime boss Smeech are two of the yordles who have appeared on-screen in Arcane.
Yordles are not native to Runeterra and instead reside in a magical realm known as Bandle City.
While Arcane established that yordles can live for a long time, with Heimerdinger mentioning he was over three hundred years old, in League of Legends the creatures are also known to be immortal.
It is explained in League of Legends lore that yordles physicality as spirits mean they have different concepts of aging and death. In The Meaning in Misery, a short story from League of Legends writer John O'Bryan that follows the yordle character of Vex, it's explained that the species does not die:
Vex: "I know it’s a downer, but the whole point of life… is death."
Uncle Milty: "Death?"
Vex: "Yeah. And the worst part of it all? Yordles don’t even get to do that. We just go on forever. Doomed to a stupid, magical, pointless existence."
It is unclear whether Heimerdinger knew about his species' immortality when he decided to sacrifice himself for Ekko in Episode 7 of Arcane Season 2, but this piece of lore suggests Heimerdinger DID survive, whether he was expecting to or not.
Heimerdinger's last act was to connect the final wires in the machine that would send Ekko back to his reality, which involved a blast radius that seemed to disintegrate the scientist in the process. However, no remnants of Heimerdinger were shown. He was simply there in one scene and gone in the next.
Going by the lore of yordles in League of Legends, this could mean that Heimerdinger perished physically in this moment, but that his immortal spirit survived and was transported elsewhere, perhaps back to Bandle City.
Arcane's co-creator Christian Linke also hinted that there might be a future for Heimerdinger, during an interview with Necrit on YouTube, saying "I'm not done with Heimerdinger."
While some champions' fates were sealed in Arcane's season finale, this detail is a spark of hope for those wishing for Heimerdinger's happy ending.
Arcane is streaming on Netflix.
