WARNING: The following contains SPOILERS for Yellowjackets season 2, episode 4.
Van has been exploring the effects of Taissa's sleepwalking in the 1996 timeline and shockingly finds that it's connected to the mysterious Yellowjackets symbols — here's the connection explained. The issue of Taissa's sleepwalking started predominantly as a problem in the present timeline for the adult survivor. Taissa would find herself in the tree by her son's window in the middle of the night, chewing on her hand. However, it wasn't revealed until the end of season 1 that her sleepwalking had turned deadly. She decapitated the family dog while incapacitated and made a sacrificial altar in her basement.
In the 1996 timeline, Taissa's sleepwalking problems didn't truly turn dangerous until season 2, with Van chasing Taissa down after she almost walked off the side of the mountain. While season 1 focused on her senate race in the present, Yellowjackets season 2 primarily spends Taissa's storylines on the issues of her sleepwalking, which has essentially created an alter ego that can control her actions during her waking life. Van, in particular, wants to uncover the meaning behind Taissa's sleepwalking and the two experiment in the past to figure out what could be driving Taissa to do what she does while asleep — and Van makes a shocking discovery.
Taissa's Sleepwalking Leads To The Symbols In Yellowjackets
Van notices that Taissa sleepwalks directly to the mysterious Yellowjackets symbols carved in the trees, discovering nearly all of them in the process. This was first teased in Yellowjackets season 2, episode 2 when Van follows Taissa after she breaks out of their makeshift wrist restraint. Taissa follows her vision of the man with no eyes, and it almost leads her to walk right off the side of the mountain. Next to where Van tackles her is one of the Yellowjackets' symbols carved into a tree. Throughout their experiments, Van discovers that Taissa subconsciously knows where all the carved symbols are as she follows her around.
While Taissa sleeps, she is always following the man with no eyes. Her alter ego tells Van this in Yellowjackets season 2, episode 3, saying that she follows him when the other Tai "lets her." While the man with no eyes originated outside the wilderness, with a very young Taissa first seeing him on her grandmother's deathbed, the specter clearly has some otherworldly connection to the wilderness, as he is leading Taissa to the symbols. Why the man with no eyes is taking her to the different symbol locations hasn't been answered. However, the reason could lie somewhere in the giant map that Van has created.
What The Bigger Symbol On The Yellowjackets Map Could Mean
When Van maps out all the symbol locations, she realizes that they all form one giant symbol, prompting her to take Tai with her to finish the map. There are a few fan theories surrounding what the Yellowjackets symbol could mean, and some of these fit easily with what the larger symbol on the map could be. For example, the first theory states that Javi has been living underground in a series of mines, and the symbol represents a map of those mining tunnels. This theory is easily supported, as both Van and Taissa found melted snow on the ground, suggesting that heat was coming from the ground.
In addition, as soon as they found the melted snow, they found Javi. Another theory is that the symbol protects the girls from the bad spirits in the wilderness. Lottie wholeheartedly believes this is the Yellowjackets symbol meaning, even embroidering it on Shauna's baby blanket. If this is what the symbol means, the larger symbol on Van's map may be the perimeter of that prescribed protection, which is the same shape to provide extra safety for the area's inhabitants. Either way, Van proclaims that Taissa and her sleepwalking is "somehow connected to all of this" after they find Javi, and she's right.
Why Taissa Needs Adult Van's Help In Yellowjackets Season 2
If the Yellowjackets symbol has something to do with Travis' wilderness line, and indeed that it is coming back to haunt the adult survivors, then it still has a major hold over Taissa, and Van may be the only one that can help her. This suggests that whatever Van guessed about Taissa's connection to the symbols must've been right. The two have remained estranged in the present timeline until Taissa couldn't control her sleepwalking alter ego anymore. Taissa tried her best to ignore her nighttime excursions in the 2021 timeline, but it has gotten to a point where she's murdering animals, hallucinating her son, and having blackouts.
The Yellowjackets symbol must mean something to the sleepwalking Taissa, as it's painted on the wall in blood behind her makeshift altar. Whatever Van discovered about Tai and the symbol in the past must've rang true enough for Taissa to seek her out again after 25 years, and she needs her ex-girlfriend's help again. Van is open to the supernatural, whereas Taissa is not, and it's because of this openness that she can see and accept things that Taissa may not be able to understand on her own. Therefore, with her alter ego taking over, it makes sense that Taissa would seek Van's help in Yellowjackets.