Yellowjackets‘ Lottie experiences a number of dreams and visions, which come to be the basis of the strange belief system the girls develop while isolated in the Ontario wilderness. Lottie’s visions are thus both a key to her character and Yellowjackets themes, and a window into what’s to come as the series continues in both the past and present-day story lines. Here’s a breakdown of all the visions Lottie has in Yellowjackets season 1, and what they mean.
Played by Courtney Eaton, Lottie is at first introduced as just another player on the Yellowjackets soccer team. However, after she is stranded she begins having strange visions and assumes a prophetic role. This is first presented as the result of Lottie not being able to take her regular psychiatric medication, Loxipene, which is established as being used to treat schizophrenia. However, as time goes on, the other girls begin to believe in Lottie’s dreams and that something supernatural is happening around them.
The final moments of Yellowjackets season 1 suggest that Lottie’s dreams will be very important going forward. The adult Natalie is kidnapped by men who claim to represent Lottie. While Lottie was presumed dead by the time the crash’s survivors were eventually found, it’s possible that she secretly survived and is leading a cult similar to the one the girls created in the wilderness. Lottie’s strange visions suggest what she believes and how she is able to compel people to follow her.
The Seance
There are some early suggestions that Lottie has premonitions, such as when she comments that “bad things happened here” when coming upon the cabin. However, her first full-fledged vision comes when the girls decide to hold a seance, ending in Lottie gaining a scar after going through a window. During the séance, Lottie begins speaking rapidly in both French and English, ultimately telling Shauna “It’s already in you” and “You must spill blood. Or else.“
Lottie is mentioned as studying French in school. It’s described as her worst subject, but there is a possibility that she absorbed more subliminally than consciously, providing a non-supernatural explanation for the vision. But given that the girls are stranded in the Canadian wilderness, it’s also plausible that the cabin could have been home to a Francophone resident, whose spirit is now possessing Lottie.
Lottie’s words to Shauna also seem highly significant. “It’s already in you” could be a reference to Shauna’s pregnancy, but also the same supernatural entity suggested by Yellowjackets‘ mysterious symbol. The reference to spilling blood foreshadows the role that human sacrifice will play in Lottie’s new faith, as seen through the flash-forwards and the attempt to kill Travis during the girls’ “doomcoming” celebration.
The Baptism
Believing her first vision to be demonic possession, Laura Lee attempts to baptize Lottie. While she is submerged underwater, Lottie sees a vision where she is walking through an underground corridor. She then follows a stag to an altar covered in candles, which burn brighter and brighter.
The stag is a figure that has long had symbolic connotations of power and fertility in both Christian and pagan traditions, one that Lottie will refer to later. It could refer to Travis, the most desirable man among the group, or simply to the power over the woods that Lottie is looking for. The candles could be a premonition of the fire that kills Laura Lee, or a symbol of enlightenment and knowledge. As Lottie Lee emerges from the water, she sees the sun behind Laura Lee in a halo-like position, which also has a double meaning: Laura is Lottie’s guardian angel, but she will also literally be consumed in light. The underground hallway could also foreshadow a hidden passage or other location that the Yellowjackets will discover.
Doomcoming
Lottie has her most elaborate vision so far during the “doomcoming” party, with her already-existing premonitions enhanced or perhaps distorted by the magic mushrooms added to the stew. While Yellowjackets doesn’t show the viewer what Lottie sees in this instance, we do see the results. She wears a headdress similar to the garb of the mysterious “Antler Queen” in the flash-forward sequences. She also leads the group in a ritual involving a bear heart, again suggesting the role that sacrifice and bloodletting play in Lottie’s new faith.
During this process, Lottie sees Travis as the stag, and wants to first seduce and then butcher him. Lottie continually refers to some sort of supernatural entity, referring to an “It” that wants the girls to kill Travis. She also comments to Natalie that “It’s in all of us […] Even you“, suggesting that all of the girls have been in some way affected by the entity. While the addition of psychoactive mushrooms could have affected Lottie’s visions, Lottie’s words are consistent with her other vision, suggesting a supernatural being demanding bloodshed.
The Prayer
Yellowjackets season 1 ends with Lottie making a prayer to her new god, including a Lottie saying a line in French, that translates to “shed blood, my beautiful friends.” Her use of French again suggests some kind of ghostly possession or supernatural influence. She is accompanied by her first two converts, Misty and Van. This again highlights Lottie’s belief in the importance of sacrifice to the supernatural entity that haunts the woods. This sacrifice is accomplished by the bear heart in this instance, but human sacrifice could follow. Lottie may have also been aware of the death of Jackie before it happened, based on her comment to Jackie that “You don’t matter anymore.” It’s not clear whether Lottie has had another dream conveying instructions for sacrifices such as this, or has simply put her visions together into a roughly coherent belief system.
There are rational explanations for Lottie’s visions stemming from the loss of her medication, but it’s also clear why people would follow her, from the Yellowjackets themselves to the people who kidnap Natalie. Lottie’s visions give her certainty in a terrifying situation, and seem to act as premonition for trouble to come. She has also shown the ability to protect the Yellowjackets from danger, as with the amulet she provides to Van or her subduing the bear. Whether or not the supernatural entity Lottie believes in is real, it seems her visions will only give her more control over the group as Yellowjackets continues.
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