Symbol

> How do you know about the symbol?*"
> "What symbol? All I know is Taissa Turner hired me to look into everyone who made it back from the wilderness, to find out if anyone would talk and mess up her campaign.*"
>
> Misty and Jessica Roberts, "No Compass"

Throughout the Showtime original series *Yellowjackets*, a strange **symbol** appears. It resembles an impaled female figure, with a hook coming out of the bottom. As of the end of the program's second season, the symbol's exact significance remains unknown.

## History

### The past

After Flight 2525, carrying the WHS Yellowjackets, crashes in the wilderness of Canada, the symbol is seen in the woods. It appears both carved into a tree, as well as the attic floor of a cabin where sits the skeleton of a dead man. Before the girls perform a "séance," Jackie begins to place candles over said carvings of the symbol, not thinking it will cause any genuine harm, although that is likely what led Lottie Matthews to become possessed during the séance. As winter sets in for the survivors, Lottie, while alone, sketches the symbol on the condensation upon a window.

While sleepwalking, Taissa Turner is guided by the Man with No Eyes to the tree which has the symbol carved into it. When an accompanying Vanessa Palmer asks her about it, she tells her that the "one with no eyes" shows her how to get there, when "she" lets me, the one speaking apparently being an alternate personality that assumes control of Taissa in her sleep.

During a baby shower that the Yellowjackets hold for Shauna Shipman's baby, Lottie presents her with a baby blanket with the symbol stitched into it. Shauna tells her that she loves it, but Natalie is aghast, asking her if she forgot that they found in the attic around a dead guy's corpse. Lottie, however, tells her that she thinks that he was using it for protection. Natalie points out that he died and Lottie tells her that just because she doesn't understand something doesn't mean that it's evil. The group continues to argue until they hear a strange thudding on the roof. When they go outside, they discover a large number of dead birds.

Van makes a map of the various trees that Taissa has found with the symbol. She discovers that when mapped out they form the symbol itself and that based on the ones they have already found, there should theoretically be one more tree with the symbol upon it in a certain location. When she shows this to Taissa, she is skeptical, but nevertheless agrees to help Van search. Rather than finding a tree, however, the two discover a mysterious stump where the snow is melting and moss is growing, despite everywhere else in the area still being blanketed in snow. They then discover Travis Martinez's brother, Javi, who has been missing for over two months. This tree later turns out to be hiding a secret entrance to an underground area where Javi had secretly been living.

Following her baby being stillborn, Shauna tosses the blanket with the symbol upon it into the fire.

### The present

Three of the surviving Yellowjackets, Misty Quigley, Natalie Scatorccio and Taissa Turner, receive postcards with a picturesque landscape and the phrase "Wish you were here." The strange symbol appears on the back of the postcards. Not long after this, Travis Martinez, one of their fellow survivors, turns up dead of an apparent suicide. However, when Misty and Natalie obtain the photographs of his death, they discover candle wax underneath his suspended body that, when connected together, forms the symbol. Natalie calls the whole thing messed up, saying that Travis didn't believe in any of it. Not long after this, Natalie and Taissa receive a text message demanding $50,000 and including an ASCII text depiction of the strange symbol.

Though Natalie at first believes that Travis was murdered, she eventually gives into the idea that he committed suicide. Just as she is preparing to take her own life, a group of four individuals bust into the motel room where she is living and kidnap her. One of them is wearing a pendant bearing the strange symbol. At the time, Natalie receives a voicemail from a woman named Suzie whom she asked to investigate who emptied his bank account following his death: "Natalie, fucking call me, goddammit. What the hell have you gotten into? Look, I did what you asked. I dug into Travis's bank account and found out who emptied it. I think someone's following me. Who the fuck is Lottie Matthews?" Meanwhile, around the same time, Taissa's wife Simone pays a visit to their household to collect some possessions. She discovers a trail of blood in the basement and a crawlspace which leads to a bizarre altar containing the head and heart of their dog Biscuit, the remains of her son Sammy's favorite doll with its eyes gouged out, several candles, and the strange symbol on the wall in blood.

After being kidnapped, Natalie is taken to a cabin in the woods and chained up to a bed. When one of her kidnappers comes to bring her food, she tries to engage with her, but the kidnapper, also wearing a pendant with the symbol, tells her that they're not supposed to talk with her. Natalie tells her that it's alright, that the "thing" around her neck tells her all that she needs to know. She later escapes and discovers Lottie leading a group in a strange ritual.

Upon being confronted by Simone about the strange altar, Taissa returns home and discovers it for herself, apparently having no memory of having crafted it. Terrified of what she is doing in her sleep, she does everything she can to remain awake - pounding espressos, popping pills and exercising, but nevertheless still slips asleep at certain moments and begins having hallucinations. She imagines Sammy paying her a visit and calls Simone, but when Simone arrives, Sammy is not there.

As they go searching for him, Simone receives a call that Sammy is waiting at the school office to be picked up. She tells Taissa that she is very sick and needs to get help. Just then, however, the alternate persona seems to take possession of Taissa, causing her to swerve the vehicle to crashed into by a truck, which badly injures Simone. In the hospital, the nurse compliments Taissa on having drawn an interesting design on Simone's hand. She asks her what it means and Taissa, shocked to see that it the symbol, tells her that it is for luck. After the nurse leaves, she wipes it away.

    Most of the acolytes within Lottie's "intentional community" wear pendants featuring the symbol. The symbol itself appears etched into the sand of the community's beach, writ large when viewed from overhead.

## Behind the scenes

* The symbol is a prominent part of the first teaser trailer for the second season of *Yellowjackets*.
* On March 22, 2023, a promotional video for the second season was released in the form of a fictional news report on the disappearance of Flight 2525. The video includes a reference to a website, wherearetheyellowjackets.com, styled to look like a typical 1990s website and featuring a link to report information. Clicking on this link results in a page stating the visitor is "lost in the digital Wilderness," followed by an ASCII text depiction of the symbol.

## Gallery

The symbol seen carved into the floor of the cabin