[SPOILERS] Helena, Number 9 and the Future
I don't know if this has ever been brought up before, but let's goooo.
Helena, the number 9, and possible symbolisms around her
1 — Helena's name meaning
The name Helena means “light", “torch” or “shining one", which I find interesting because it creates a contrast with Kier, whose name, according to some etymological interpretations, is associated with darkness.
So we have:
Helena = light
Kier = darkness
I wonder if Helena could symbolically represent an opposition to Kier, or at least to what he represents.
2 — Helena and the number 9
In "In Perpetuity", we learn that Jame is the 8th Lumon CEO. So, if Helena becomes the next one, she'll be the 9th.
Lumon also has 9 Core Principles, with the 9th being Wiles, which is a particularly odd principle compared to the others.
In numerology, 9 is commonly associated with completion, the end of a cycle, and the beginning of another. That makes Helena occupying position 9 potentially significant, as if she is the one who arrives at the end of a sequence.
And Wiles is interesting here too. Wiles could potentially connect to Helly's repeated attempts to outsmart Lumon's system rather than simply obeying it.
3 — Helena is positioned between the “two worlds”
One thing I've been thinking about is that outies and innies aren't necessarily fighting for the same thing.
The outies who oppose Lumon are fighting from the perspective that what Lumon does is unethical. They oppose what Lumon has done to their lives and what they believe Lumon is trying to achieve.
But the innies have a completely different stake in the conflict. They're fighting for the right to have a life at all and not simply disappear if Lumon is “shut down.” Their rebellion is about autonomy, personhood, and the right not to be treated as disposable parts of someone else's life.
But who will hear them if they're innies?
Well, thanks Kier, we have Helena, who embodies both sides simultaneously.
Helena is the Eagan heir who belongs to Lumon's world, while Helly is the innie who has experienced firsthand what it means to be trapped inside that world.
This is why I believe a reintegrated Helena could be the key to destroying (or at least fundamentally changing) Lumon from within.
And yes, I believe Helena's arc may ultimately be one of redemption.
I don't think the outies can truly defeat Lumon on their own. They can expose it, fight it, and potentially dismantle it from the outside but it means they could also end up freeing the outies at the expense of the innies.
Helena is the one person who can potentially understand both sides of that conflict.
A reintegrated Helena would be both the Eagan heir who inherited Lumon and the Helly who fought to escape it.
So I wonder if, whatever Lumon's ultimate fate may be, the final victory will ultimately have to come through Helena herself.
The outies may be able to fight Lumon from the outside, but perhaps victory can only come when someone from inside the Eagan legacy chooses to end it.
So... what do you think?