This article “Why has Vanya lost her memory in The Umbrella Academy season 2?” contains important spoilers.
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Season 1 presented plenty of problems with Vanya and the family. She was her own enigma — an outsider in a family that presumed she had no powers and no stake in the “superhero” adventures. Of course, as we learn at the end of Season 1, the character is the root cause of everything and is vital to the end of the world. So why has Vanya lost her memory in The Umbrella Academy season 2?
The time-traveling incident
When the family time traveled and all arrived in the 60s, Vanya, unfortunately, landed in a rather unfortunate place and was hit by a car by a woman named Sissy. With the confusion of time travel and presumably a bump to her head, Vanya lost all her memories up until that moment, including her childhood and the fact that she has powers.
What does this mean for Vanya?
Well, it really resets the character allowing her siblings to see a warmer, kinder sister again that got extremely disassociated from the family in Season 1. It allows the story to focus less on what her powers can do but rather, who she is as a character. It works resetting her.
But without her memory, that means she does not remember her family?
Yes, correct, Vanya has no idea who her family is, providing some sobering moments when she does finally meet them. Vanya found refuge at a farm with a family and becomes close friends with Sissy and her son Harlan.
Does Vanya get her memory back?
She doesn’t get it back by normal means but trauma and events help her remember certain fragments of her past. Vanya is still important to the family and the story as Season 2 proves in the latter stages.