In the Yellowjackets season finale, the Lottie Yellowjackets character arc takes a dramatic turn when she speaks two lines that help to set up season 2, but one of them is in French. The Yellowjackets season 1 ending answered some questions but raised many more. It's clear Lottie will play an important role in Yellowjackets season 2, both in 1996 and in 2022. The season 1 ending gives some clues about what her role might be, too. In the Yellowjackets season 1 finale, Lottie’s (Courtney Eaton) prophecy that the survivors would not be hungry much longer come true when a bear arrives, and she kills it, providing food for all. In the aftermath of Jackie’s (Ella Purnell) death, Lottie, Van (Liv Hewson), and Misty (Samantha Hanratty) conduct a ceremony and make an offering to the forest. Lottie places the large bear heart into the hollow stump of a tree and steps back speaking a line in French before sayings “and let the darkness set us free.”
The French phrase that Lottie says in the Yellowjackets season finale is “versez le sang, mes beaux amis.” The phrase translates to “shed blood, my beautiful friends” (or, more literally, “spill the blood.” When combined with the English phrase, the Lottie Yellowjackets character's closing lines for season 1 which come after the revelation that she is connected to Travis’ death in 2021, are “shed blood my beautiful friends, and let the darkness set us free.” Through her interactions with Laura Lee (Jane Widdop), Lottie has built up her own belief structure that worships the old gods of the forest. These lines indicate her transition to a spiritual leader for the group and telegraphs her move to leading a cult in 2021. This suggests the season 1 Lottie Yellowjackets subplots will have a critical significance in both time periods as she shepherds at least a part of the group of survivors towards cannibalism as the Antler Queen in 1996, and continues to live a version of this life all the way into the present day.
The Meaning of What Lottie Says In The Yellowjackets Finale
In what is shown of Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) in 1996, she pushes back against any idea of supernatural interference, despite her own experiences with the Man with No Eyes. This is set to drive a wedge between Taissa and Van in 1996, but in the present day Lottie’s season 1 words suggest a closer connection between Taissa and the Lottie Yellowjackets character. In the Yellowjackets season finale, the shrine that is revealed in Taissa’s basement demonstrates her willingness to shed blood and with the implication that her sacrifice has helped swing the election, it is implied that she is embracing the darkness to get what she wants.
The significance of Lottie’s lines in the Yellowjackets season 1 finale is hinted at as being particularly important, for more reasons than their placement as the final lines of the episode. Lottie first spoke French during the séance in Yellowjackets episode 5, “Blood Hive,” when it was noted that she had previously not been able to speak French. At that time her lines are not entirely audible, but she does speak about blood even then. More importantly, the final episode’s name is in Latin, another romantic language: “Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.” This phrase is usually translated as “thus passes the glory of the world,” but has ceremonial usage in the Catholic Church where they are used in the selection of a new pope as a reminder that the very nature of life on Earth is transitory. Combined with the final lines that Lottie says in Yellowjackets episode 1, it is clear that there is some significant death to come in both time periods for Yellowjackets season 2.
How Lottie's French Phrase Might Mean She's The Possessed One
An intriguing aspect of Yellowjackets is that the series blurs the line between the genuinely supernatural and phenomena that can be chalked up to mental illness and trauma. For example, Lottie is shown to be schizophrenic. However, her hallucinations don't null out the significance of her visions in the narrative, and many of Lottie's prophecies come true. For example, it's pretty much clear that Taissa is a part of Lottie's cult in the current timeline, given the altar she made to win the election. However, another popular theory flying around is that Lottie is possessed and not schizophrenic at all. It's very possible that, if Yellowjackets wanted to go the supernatural route, Lottie could be possessed by something that lives in the woods or beyond. After all, she shows one of the classic signs of possession: speaking in languages not previously known. As the series has progressed, Courtney Eaton's character has fallen deeper into darkness, and while this could be attributed to Lottie's lack of psychiatric medication, it could also signal something more sinister. Lottie speaking French in the Yellowjackets season 1 premiere may seem innocuous to some, but it could be a signal of wholesale demonic possession.