#Ambessa is dead

[satin-polar]

We got everything

[tbhshaped]

the way literally nobody is talking about how fucking tragic Mel's entire situation is is genuinely heartbreaking

[sunderwight]

Honestly fascinated trying to figure out how both of Ambessa's kids ended up being diametrically opposed to her whole jock spartan might-makes-right mentality.

Tthe obvious answer, of course, is that Ambessa's husband (Kino's dad, and the guy Mel thought was her bio dad until recently) was way more of a diplomat and way less of a fighter, both philosophically as well as in terms of skill. And that he's the one who passed this on to the kids.

This fits well enough as an answer. The guy in the portrait certainly looks more like a talker than a fighter, and we know that Ambessa has a thing for pretty, submissive men thanks to her whole introduction in S1. Also, regardless of Mel's genetics this is presumably the man who raised her and is her father in the "nurture" sense of the equation, so it would be completely reasonable for her to take after him.

However, there are a few issues here.

One is the fact that even when Mel is talking to who she thinks is Kino about the possibility of one of them being a bastard, or of a bastard half-sibling existing, neither of them mention their father at all. While I doubt either of them would hold illusions about Ambessa remaining faithful to a spouse (for all we know the guy's still alive while she's off carousing with twinks), you would think that if both kids were close to their dad or took after him particularly, there'd be at least a passing mention of him in the midst of this discussion.

Maybe Mr. Medarda died a long time ago, though. Perhaps it's a topic so buried that it's an established habit to simply never mention it. Or maybe there is an issue of estrangement between him and his children for other reasons. He doesn't seem to have factored into Ambessa's decision to send Mel away, nor is his potential grief brought up around the subject of Kino. Despite confirmation of his existence, he seems (ironically) to be out of the picture, though it could also just be that the writers wanted to leave their options open for what he might be like in case another Arcane-adjacent series comes into production. I am fairly sure that Mel is the most likely character from Arcane to create continuity into a show about Noxus or Demacia or something, if we get another LoL series, especially since her story feels the most unfinished.

However, there's another possibility, which is that Mr. Medarda up there was such a nonentity in his kids lives that he doesn't come up because there's not much of a relationship to acknowledge. In which case, even if he is more of a diplomat (and he and Ambessa were a political marriage, presumably?) it'd be hard to credit him with influencing the kids so significantly.

One of the interesting things about Mel and Kino is that even though they are at odds with their mother on a lot of topics, topics that even seem to tie into prevailing Noxian cultural ideals (so, things they'd have been overall raised to believe in by the rest of their house and not just their mother too), they are also kind of astonishingly confident in expressing themselves?

So, somebody must have been supporting their alternative viewpoints and validating them as opinions worth expressing, even if they weren't things Ambessa approved of or actually wanted to foster in them as opinions/philosophies.

I think an interesting option is that it was Ambessa herself who did this, actually.

Ambessa's lore mentions that she figured out really early on that Kino did not share her temperament at all. Also, that she started searching about for ways of ensuring not only her house's domination, but the survival of her children specifically. Because the succession in a Noxian noble house doesn't seem to be guaranteed by birthright, which means that Kino and Mel would probably face rivals from their own family if they seemed too weak or vulnerable to lead, and someone else contested it. An easy way to remove a "weak" leader would also be to just kill them off. That's even apart from external rivals (like the ones who actually did kill Kino).

Which means that even if her kids had different values and priorities, Ambessa would probably have wanted them to still present those opinions with ferocity and confidence. If they cower to her, they will cower to others, and that's worse than them just not being aggressive combatants or warlord types. If you're gonna be a peacenik weirdo (by Ambessa's standards) in Noxus then you better damn well still be an assertive one.

I like this idea partly because the image of Ambessa trying to balance her kids having totally alien opinions about things like the value of life and importance of compassion, with trying not to actually beat down their spirits about it. Just spending a lot of their formative years being like, ugh, I have to listen to my nerd ass loser children tell me why they think mercy is a good idea. Such a fucking chore. Anyway great job presenting your arguments kids, lots to think about, let's go get ice cream. Then Mother has to fire one of your military tactics instructors for daring to call you a couple of wieners. Again. Even though she's right.

[belle-rosse]

“She’s a symbol of the old regime.” Ambessa says to a young Mel, before she decapitates an unarmed girl probably the same age as her daughter.

The vision of the girl’s head rolling off her body and her necklace, probably a direct representation of a specific culture foreign to Noxians, on the ground around her blood struck something in Mel.

In episode 01x08, we see she relives this moment in one of her nightmares, which causes her to wake up very frightened. Even years later, we can still see the lasting effect this girl had on Mel. Even outside of Noxus and far from her mother, even in the comfort of her mansion and specifically her own personal space, Mel has carried the image of this symbol. Not only in her mind but also by incorporating it into her art, perhaps the first thing that was ever hers, as we can see a painting reflecting the blood-soaked necklace mentioned earlier on her wall.

I find it fascinating to think that Ambessa killed this young woman, a promising figure, to prevent rebellious colonies from gaining hope. As she says, “Kill her now and only one must die, let her live and you’ll need to kill thousands.” However, she didn’t consider that it would all be for nothing, as her own daughter, born among the iron of swords, would choose the gold that hung from the neck of a defenseless civilian—that Mel would be the one to immortalize the symbol and carry it in her own fight against Noxus.

[infinitelystrangemachinex]

I am almost mentally incapable of processing the places Ambessa and Mel's relationship is about to go. Ambessa would do anything to protect her family. Including starting a Piltover/Zaun war to get weapons to protect her family. Including risking and letting Mel get hit in the face during a horrific battle. The way the carriage overturned with Mel inside. Why wasn't Mel shot on that stage? Luck? A deal with Ambessa? What would've happened if that giant shimmer soldier had stepped on the carriage? Mel definitely has magic armor but it is very obvious that she can't fight and is otherwise defenseless at close range. That's a level of risk-taking and ruthlessness befitting of a general for sure, but the way Ambessa seems to twist it into love is. A LOT. Mel already suspects her mother, sure, but she is going to find out for certain that Ambessa was responsible for all of it. And WHAT THEN

[vitrall]

I don't think Jayce and Viktor literally died. They were kind of pulled into another dimension/astral plane/whatever you call it. We see older Viktor, and while it could be another Viktor, I think it would be more meaningful if it was our Viktor, finally free from the arcane, going through the universe with Jayce, fixing timelines together. Kind of like a cosmic mission.

[imjustavenuxwithaboomerang]

i think i reached a new level of insanity watching this show...anyway here are my standout thoughts on the final act:

um....homosexuality saves the day i guess

i absolutely LOVED seeing everyone in episode 7 (why does mylo have a stupid mustache ?? i have no clue but loved seeing him alive and well)

^my favourite designs were probably powder, silco, and claggor

mel continues to be that bitch™ and i love her for it

maddie, you bitch, i knew i didn't like you

powder's party fit was giving very much marinette dupain-cheng

still hate that fuckass hammer

at one point, i wrote in my notes "so first he was jesus and now he is an embryo, when i say multi you say faceted" and i think that that's my best work yet

i also think that this is very funny:

my sister got a video talking about jinx's death on her fyp and then told me she got a spoiler, alluded that it was about a character dying, and then refused to elaborate so i was on edge for like the entire last half of the finale (so thanks for that, sis)

so is caitvi officially fully canon or??? (i'm gonna go with yes)

i think my heart quickened a bit too much throughout this season (and especially this act) but overall...it was great just not where i was expecting the show to go

speed round (mourning edition): sky you will be missed, maddie you will not be missed, heimer you will be missed, jinx you will be missed (EDIT: she's confirmed to be alive, let's all cheer), ambessa you will not be missed, loris you will be missed, vander you will be missed, isha you will be missed, jayvik you will be missed (????)

EDIT: jinx is like confirmed to be alive so i guess she'll no longer be missed in a death sense

[wxwrites]

what do yall want next ⁉️

I NEED REQUESTS PLS SEND ASKS OR DM ME

(i only write wlw/lesbian content btw)

[everythingbrainrot]

broke: omg viktor and jayce and mel are dead what a cliffhanger

woke: actually viktor and jayce are established league champions with lore, so the writers wouldn't get rid of them, and mel seemed to have been about to use some sort of magic to save herself and maybe the boys too

bespoke: okay that seems to be a shot of viktor's wrist in the second trailer and ambessa is clearly talking to mel in the first trailer, but there's no sign of jayce so far and technically he doesnt have much lore from here compared to viktor so the writers could technically off him for shock value if they wanted...

[meownotgood]

good morning. in the spirit of being positive, here are some things I actually really liked about act 3 of arcane.

the line is a great song. don't even listen to anything else by top but I loved it. the lyrics are so fitting for viktor's character as well

despite the fact that I still think choosing to retcon viktor as the mage who saves jayce is pretty stupid, their final scene together was very good. like visually and the music was phenomenal. the only scene in act 3 that actually made me a little emotional, I almost teared up

episode 7 was great and getting to see that alternate timeline with jinx and ekko was awesome, plus ekko making the z drive actually made me giddy lmao

[srslylini]

the most ridiculous thing they did was make warwick follow blood but have him follow ALL blood.

Like you are telling me no one in all of Zaun bled when Singed wanted him to follow to Stillwater? You are telling ME that in all the time Warwick hung there with Singed no one bled (which is canonically literally impossible lmao)??? this takes all of 1 second to think through and not even that seemed to be possible for them.

also like how ridiculous was it that Warwick, a wild beast apparently, was just using technology and floating in that stupid wagon to Stillwater??????

And funnily enough he was also able to just use the elevator to get to Jinx.

They cut away from that and now I wonder if they knew how fucking dumb and laughable it was.

So listen, if we ignore the blood thing for a second this is what happened: Warwick broke free, followed the blood of Singed and then went full technology and was just able to drive that weird thing because I'm pretty sure no wall was broken through UNTIL he arrived at Stillwater, he then ran out killed everyone but plotarmor!Ambessa (which they also cut away because that was not explainable) went to the elevator pushed the button and drove that thing down just-

standing in there waiting?

"but Warwick was supposed to only follow Singed's blood" so he shouldn't have been able to follow Isha's one episode later.

[sukibenders]

I'll never forget when Arcane was airing and Mel fans were pointing out the symbolism between her and Viktor, only for that side of the fandom to be so hateful towards her and her fans like it was bad. But now that their fave is gone and has nothing to do with the Noxus story like Mel does, that side of the fandom wants to talk about the symbolism all of a sudden but, here's the kicker, with only in regards to Viktor. Oh, they aren't even trying.

[mogomoago]

so ..., I just finished the act 3 of arcane and .....

Bro !!!! The fuck just happened ???????????

[mangosmoothies]

AMBESSA AND JAYCE U WILL GO TO HELL!!!

[infinitelystrangemachinex]

guys ambessa lied to mel about kino's death

either the circumstances surrounding his death were 100x worse than ambessa suggested, or he is alive