The Lore of Ambessa's Cinematic Explained

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[ziprath]

She is 100% pregnant in this, you can see her bump and she is holding her stomach not the arrow at the start.

[Kampsycho]

Ambessa lore voice lines mentions losing another child, how she only felt love clutching them in her arms for the first time and felt horrible as they slipped through her fingers.

I think this is showing how she lost her first child, thus losing peace and welcoming war, which is probably why she's very overprotective over Mel, because she doesn't want to lose another one..

She can't protect them as the lamb, thus chose the wolf.

[HughMann]

I've been waiting for this video since the cinematic dropped. Necrit will have a career as long as Riot keeps releasing music videos

[ShenobiYT]

Really proud of how far Necrit's career has come. Whenever RIOT lore is highlighted in any content, people always think of Necrit first. Keep up the great work Necrit, excited for Arcane S2 Episode breakdowns!

[VIIStardust]

Necrit makes a 30 minute video explaining the immense depth of lore in a video picking up on minor visual cues and ties it in to scenes in Arcane...
and doesn't pick up on Ambessa being very visibly pregnant and holding her belly at the end of the cinematic

for the record, that's not a dig, I love this video. I just love how Necrit apparently got so deep into using the conjunctive and being transparent about theories being unclear that he treated her being pregnant as a theory

Also as for my theory, I personally think that the Wolf's Chosen aren't embodiments of Wolf, but rather the Noxian interpretations of their tales. Similar to how Kindred are the Noxian interpretation of Kindred. After all, Swain and Katarina are Noxian Champions and Pantheon is the Aspect of war. Also, the background shows the Silhouettes of many more warriors, so I don't hink it makes sense to say that the *are* Wolf. They are his chosen and therefore subject of myth themselves, it makes sense for Noxians to have a specific interpretation of them that affects how Ambessa sees them.

[throwaway]

The lamb is Mel’s brother who’s marked by death from birth, when she’s on the battlefield she’s basically getting a vision of what’s to come in her life. She lets go of the lamb, it gets destroyed (how she gave up her son and he dies). This series is amazing and incredibly deep so glad they made it into a show cuz I was not about to play LOL.

[lanewalker]

Oh necrit my poor necrit you had so much hope that the writers would use Ambessa as more than a plot device in the second season

[nr_zalathiel]

I have a feeling that since the skinline is called "Chosen of the Wolf" that these suits of armor at the end are simply given to those who now inflict death, literally becoming the Kindred they must fight. Very cool concept

[Morfe]

14:11 no, is Pantheon representing WAR as she makes scars for every battle until she starts to command/control the battles
also notice how the shield is the symbol of the MEDARDA the 3 sides SUN, he is the future of her (notice the golden skin and mask of Ambessa in the end)

[CamilleSmith-onuv]

This shows how shes always fighting death.. the part showing all the scars are from her past battles and near death experiences. So it shows that she conquered death and became death itself.. arcane shows u how brutal she is.. so her taking death position says that for me. It also shows that this is who she'll become in the future (death itself)

[eliardobenoit]

Hear me out, what if the reason of why the wolf took the form of pantheon (besides the skinline) is because pantheon died while fighting against Aatrox but Atreus (Pantheon's host body) survived probably by fighting the wolf too, so the wolf actually takes the form of people who had defeated him. This also implies that the wolf has increased difficulty every time someone defeats him.

[Unendarkened]

The song is also now streaming, and is placed 19th out of 22 on the season soundtrack. Season 1 soundtrack played in the order they songs appeared in season 1 so if this song appears 19th I think it is a strong case that Ambessa’s story doesn’t wrap up in the first or second arcs but runs through the entirety.

[SenhorBawa]

I still believe that Ambessa's two 'visions' are actually her soul navigating the two beliefs about death she's developed throughout her life as a Shuriman colonized by Noxus. I love this interpretation because it presents a sensitive way to portray death as a culturally-shaped experience, going beyond a simple 'was here in the past, now it's this.'

I understand this as an interplay between her beliefs. Noxus doesn't exactly colonize cultures; it imposes its values—or rather, its value: strength.

The black-and-white figures in the desert vision, which in African cultures (on which Shurima is based) represent the realm of the dead, symbolize Kindred. Death in Africa and Afrocentric religions is a collective experience, invoked through communal celebration. This is why Candomblé and Umbanda, for instance, rely on feasts to bring the dead closer. Death is communal not only for the living but also for the deceased.

I've always wondered how the universe would handle religions that don't see death as an individual process where only the deceased experiences dying and the living must care for their remains. This is a great way to address that.

Ambessa is led by the dancing Kindred in black; they push her towards the ritual's center, symbolizing the wild aspect. The white Kindred, who sing, guide the ritual. In Shurima, I believe death is the opposite of Noxus, inspired by African cultures. Dying is a good process, but Ambessa's perspective is altered by Noxus, causing her to reluctantly carry the lamb while her spirit fights in the Noxian vision of death.

However, this isn't a simple overlay. Since dying is no longer a choice, the musicians/ritualists might represent a blend of both, with their long black legs and white mantles (mixing the black wolf's mantle with the white lamb's skirt). Their blend is 'death' as a concept, not an experience (which are the wolf and the lamb, along with the other Kindred). They destroy the lamb, symbolizing surrender to death, to build what empowers her to fight in the Noxian death.

The idea of ancestry, where the dead share death with us, is also common in African-based religions. It's Ambessa's ancestors who transform her weakness into power to stay alive and fight in the Noxian form of death. It's a parallel interaction of the spirit. That's why her spirit transforms; the scars didn't magically appear; they're the influence of the other form of death.

While she can't accept death (Noxus > Shurima), the dying experience itself has made her spirit stronger by connecting her with her ancestors, empowering her in the fight against the Wolf (Shurima > Noxus). That's why her scars are golden on the red and black of her body (Shurima + Noxus).

I also think that Mell may be affect by the experience of her mother win against death while she is pregnant of her. Ambessa scars turn golden in death real, but not in reality, what if Mel incorporate them an thats why her skin is golden. Not a eastetic choice, but a magic backfire? (I also think, of course, that Ambessa is already pregnant. Thats why her hands rests on her belly instead of the Arrow)

Finally, I understand that the skin line is also a product of the concept between Noxus's 'respect for strength' and Shurima's ancestry. I imagine that the wolf, in fact, takes its forms from the heroes that were built by the person within these cultures. The characters dedicated to the line are from two regions: Targon/Shurima and Noxus, who are the same as Ambessa. The Solari still live in Shurima, and I imagine that the story of the man who killed a god after dying is a good representation of overcoming death, the same goes for the stories of Swain and Katarina, who are from noble Noxian families/emperor.

It's the ancestors who give us strength, and that's why the figures she sees death transform into are so powerful. But it's strength that keeps us alive. If Ambessa defeats the man who killed gods and conquered death, she's certainly very strong. The wolf taking the form of Ambessa is just a way of saying that she has become one of Noxus's stories of overcoming adversity, which is why she's a general in Arcane.

[hundredsg]

Everyone can see pregnant Ambessa other than Necrit.

[FigipeGames]

30 MINUTES IS TOO LITTLE, WE NEED MORE

[chez-bubulle]

I have to disagree with Necrit about something: The opening scene is from 25-35 years before Arcane, since Ambessa is pregnant, making it extremely unlikely, or even impossible, for the scene to be from the invasion of Ionia, which started in 984.
I also have a very different interpretation of the whole "chosen of the wolf" part, but I'll explain that later

[denizesen]

It is now almost confirmed that Mel got her powers from the kindred, as Ambessa dying, she sacrifices Mel (as seen in the desert scenes) and accepted among the noxus principles, (the new skin trio) as the sacrifice. What happened to mel is really important to black rose and we will see how it goes.

[luthea]

1:22 wow! maybe thats why she is so angry. somebody betrayed

[NicoBlackXIV]

The fetus scene imho is hinting at how Mel inherited the being "chosen by the wolf" when still in the womb without having to fight death. Which, if this is all coherent with Arcane, grants her powers that are usually reserved for those who serve the wolf in death, such as the Pantheon-Kata-Swain figures we saw. Mel is the one actually "raised by wolves".

[Silvaaar]

I think the child with the lamb is Kino, Ambessa's son.