#Elora/Mel is so true

[idkwhatimdoingbutslay]

Random commentary tags they are important

CAITLYN KIRAMMAN I FREAKING LOVE YOU YOURE SO KIND AND WHOLESOME AND YOURE TRYING YOUR BEST

VI I LOVE YOU TOO SO MUCH SO SO SO MUCH YOURE TOUGH AND STRONG BUT ALSO HURTING SO BAD AND YOURE TRYING YOUR BEST

YOU GUYS ARE SO PERFECT*** AND WONDERFUL AND INTENSE AND SOLID AS INDIVIDUALS AND TOGETHER

*** not literally but like kinda

[melmedarda]

Can't stop thinking about the thoughts Mel must have had after waking up to an empty bed. She had just laid her heart bare, given her body to Jayce and to wake up the next morning alone?

When he returns to her, she tells him there's a lot he doesn't know about her. She'd shared such an intimate part of her the night before, but she doesn't want Jayce to feel like he knows her. Because if he thinks he knows her, he must have not considered her worthy of staying for. She likely thought that he had gotten what he wanted from her and cast her off.

And why should Mel think this? A woman who is so wealthy, so beautiful, so accomplished and powerful? Because her mother had seen her and cast her off. Her family had disowned her because she was not good enough in their estimation. So all those twelve years that she's been in exile, and her mother has not visited her or called her back to her side, Mel likely thought she was not good enough. All those twelve years, she was just a girl trying hard enough to be.

And then Jayce comes, bares his heart to her as well. Lets her see him in his weakness, in his uncertainty. Shows her how much he values her, wants her around, how highly he holds her opinion. Even when he knows. Perhaps, because he knows her heart. Values it and the compassion she holds within her. And she finally feels good enough.

Only for her mother to come, and tell her it's time to come back home, to be at her side. Only after her brother is dead. When there is no other choice. So yes, of course Mel chooses Jayce, Piltover, and the legacy of peace they've begun to forge. Her family disowned her. Now, she disowns them too.

[mollysunder]

We're not talking about how Mel's going to Noxus in a far worse position than when she left. Elora revealed to Mel that Ambessa lost many of their family's holdings and assets, which was hinted to be the doing of the Black Rose. So her family as a whole have lost considerable standing since she's been gone. Where once Mel called herself "the poorest Medarda", that may no longer be true, but that's no consolation prize because Mel's own wealth has likely been diminished. Mel's greatest investment, hextech, is over. Mel's still a rich woman, but she's bleeding resources when she's about to enter a pool of sharks. It isn't great.

[zinepunk]

Some random thoughts about arcane s2 act2 before I forget:

I need to know wtf Jayce saw to make him do that

It’s tragic yaoi time fr 😔

Also WHERE are Ekko and Heimerdinger???

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like the end of episode 6 feels like a “this is what could have happened if things went how they were going to” vision from Viktor? Wouldn’t be shocked if episode 7 began with a jump back in time, like a reset button sort of thing. But also that would feel like cheating

Everyone who predicted Warwick was Vander was so fucking right, a million points to you guys

Totally not as pressing as the other stuff but I love that Vi’s cage fighting makeup covers her tattoo. Super symbolic of her loss of self

CaitVi shippers this whole season: we’re so over… WE’RE SO BACK… wait we’re so over… LETS GO WE’RE FUCKING BACK

The black rose thing (especially how Elora was killed) was so unexpectedly brutal?? Like being constricted by thorny ropes until you explode?

And Mel bashing the head of an illusion that looks like her brother against a wall until it dies? Wtf???

This whole act was so much more violent than past ones, I feel like they stepped it up a bunch and I kind of love it

Kind of want to make a post listing all the brutal deaths this act bc every time I was like :0

ALSO I LOVE ISHA! MY BABY! HER NEW HAIR AWWEE

But like damn I hope she’s ok :(

There were honestly so many “too good to be true” undertones to this act. Good things kept happening and I was like I dunno… can’t trust it.

[cl-0v3r]

What if Mel took her mothers side as to know what her true plans are? What if Mel "foxed" her way in to know why, who, how, everything? What if Mel doesn't KNOW what she is, or at least what "blessed" blood she has running in her veins, but something happens that leaves her questioning??

What if she didn't even know her gold was actually "armor" and thats when she decided she needed to jab more information?

What would Ambessas reaction be towards this information? If this is a sudden change, will she have doubts? (Probably), will she accept this flip of character? Is she the one that initiated this change after the problems happening finally got to her daughter?

What if Ambessa kept denying telling her the truth for the sake of protecting her, which could lead them to truly part and become enemies? Which means Mel would be further from finding the truth, so instead, she agrees to go back to Noxus with Ambessa, so she could find not only ways to take her mother down (as in break her course of plans set for everything in the timeline) but also to gain knowledge over everything related about THEM (including kino) ??

We don't know if Mel is aware of her abilities or not yet, so if she didn't, is she willing to go that far to know? Would she go to that extent to strengthen herself against her mothers weaknesses? To be fair, thats what Medardas do, do they not?

Im so desperate to know why Mel would wear similar to her mother, which is noxian war attire, we know Mel wants to part ways from her family, or at least part from their ideals and paths, so why would she suddenly change her course of action and head for that road?

I feel like she wouldn't do such a thing for the sake of going back, but has an intention to use it against Ambessa or against an enemy of hers/theirs.

Makes me curious too, as stretchy as this is, did she meet with Kindred??? Was she at a near-death experience like how Ambessa was?

If she's truly going back to Noxus, would she be a dictator like Ambessa?

I still HEAVILY believe that Black Rose/LeBlanc is the main enemy for the Medardas in s2, and we know that she can transform into ANYONE, right? What if that isn't even Mel, but LeBlanc? What if LeBlanc SPOKE to Mel as leverage to get to Ambessa? And Mel being probably vulnerable at that moment, allows herself to follow along?

Or, what if Mel knew about LeBlanc (in the timeline of season 2) , or has an idea of what her intentions are, and manipulates her way through, and kills two birds with one stone? LeBlanc is a master manipulator, but is Mel really that weak?

Mel, from my understanding, is not the type of character to make quick decisions and changes (like Jayce for example/non-neg). She thinks, about the present and the future, but when it comes to her family, the past always lingers in her mind, which is why it takes her so long to decide what to do. She tried endlessly to find a way around violence & war, past memories of such still haunt her, I don't think Mel would want to be a fighter, or one to accept a fight in such way.

That would be the final resort to something with no other solution. But there is always a CATCH to that.

In s1, Mel recommended the creation of hextech weaponry as an act of self defense, a final resort incase something happens, but is that REALLY just for protection against inner attacks? Elora mentioned to Mel that piltover looked vulnerable before that, do you think its ONLY their friends abroad who noticed? And immediately after she'd handed her the letter. Its safe to say Mel wasn't just preparing for Zauns bite, but the bites from outer threats. "I wanted to protect the city from people like you." Yeah, THAT was the catch, a stronger reason.

so if Mel went back to Noxus, or took Ambessas place, or just stood by her side, is it REALLY for her? Or is there some other thing affecting her descisions? Again, I don't think Mel would take off the ring, cover the painting of home with her color, go through this major character arc/development just to go sit in her mothers lap and let her caress her head because "nothing worked". That's genuinely not Mel, neither how it works ESPECIALLY in artistic fiction such as this.

Those things have SO many meanings, them being "erased" feels like poor writing, thats not what arcane does.

Mel is strong, she'd pushed and pushed and pushed so far for her ideals, her hopes and dreams, all of this is what makes her Mel. Even though she'd faced never-ending problems trying to find solutions, she still pushed herself so far. Is she willing to sacrifice herself after reaching such a point? Is the sacrifice worth it in the end? Will it benefit what she wants for her city and people? I don't think that's something she'd do UNLESS there's a catch to it that counters the effects.

To choose the Medardas path feels as if she weakened/gave up herself, shattered like glass, OR, she'd made herself stronger by being weak at the beginning, and gaining strength by the end to bend the rules, to understand the space to shift it. Which is why I don't think its permanent long-lasting decision, it's more of a "let it bleed until it stops, then bandage everything together well" sort of thing.

Mel is going suffer with her weaknesses in s2 like all of them will, that is important, but what really matters is that will she LEARN from her mistakes? Is she going to act upon said weaknesses?

They could quite literally make Mel end the Medarda problem without raising a hand if they wanted, or they could have her suffering in abseloute agony down in the basement (I hope not) 24/7, and there's still a space in between too.

Mel is probably the last heir of the Medarda clan, will she be able to break the cycle? Its all down in her hands, what is she going to do? What is she planning?

I still have so many questions, they never end, they're all ALLOVER the place, I literally can't even think straight, one minute I think of something, the other i think of something else. Its that crazy 😭

Part of me doesn't want to see Mel change, well, at least not a lot. change is very inevitable in the show and even the writers stated that in s2, the characters will be in the dark depths, but seeing the possible change of currents, drifting away from her core which made me love her so much is a little upsetting, but I will forever love her nonetheless, whatever she partakes in the future is for me to follow !!!!

Truth is, im scared, anxious, worried as all hells, all the characters are going through various changes, we already know how viktor is going to change, going against his previous dreams. Him slowly coming to an acceptance with death, only to become something that isn't even close to a living being at all. His dream to help the undercity lead him to do harsh things to them, which is unfortunately the only way he knows to help. Mel, who parallels Viktor, is she ought to fall into the same fate? Or is the parallel going to be opposite of what he has become? If he is going back to Zaun, his homeland, doing all of these things, will she go back to her own? And do something similar? Or will she stay in piltover and continue to pursue the approach of Mercy and peace?

How will this affect her relationship with others? What would Jayce think? Elora? The remaining council? Most of all, Ambessa?

I don't want all of the answers to these questions, but I just hope some of them get answered, I have high hopes for s2, i can't wait to see if anyone's theories turn out correct or close to cannon!

[loveandlegacy]

would love to hear more about your theory that the black rose will torture magic out of mel 👀

lol it's sort of based on nothing but scraps but let's start with the actual opening sequence. we get this glimpse of mel with hands all around her and we know now from the show that the hands are the black rose (their magic manifests as roses/thorns/grabbing hands). but also in general i think it feels kind of important that hands grabbing at a person's body are like generally regarded as a violation of that person right? like mel obviously isn't consenting to being touched, her expression is pained. to me it feels like in addition to the black rose being scary, these people are probably going to try to hurt her physically.

but why would they do that! ig maybe just to get back at ambessa for whatever their "feud" is, but if that were their only goal why would they kidnap mel and not just. assassinate her? that would certainly be more expeditious. that happens all the time. but holding mel hostage and/or torturing her feels a very specific and different choice.

in the lore, the black rose is described a cabal that has been influencing noxian politics for centuries. in the present moment they: "[exist] now to further the clandestine interests of those who can wield the magic hidden within the Immortal Bastion—with its rank-and-file composed of mundane nobles, drawn to rumors of miracles, kept in thrall and ruthlessly exploited. Even the most powerful military commander could only ever serve the cult's true masters, as they fight one another for influence in games of intrigue and conquest, both in the Noxian capital and beyond its borders." (from the league fandom wiki; emphasis mine)

but elora stated that ambessa is LOSING influence. she has been stripped of many of her holdings and seems to have been backed into a desperate corner, so it doesnt seem super likely that the black rose kidnapped mel in order to manipulate ambessa into furthering their power within noxus. she is outside the power structure for now, that's the whole reason she went to piltover in search of hextech weaponry.

instead i think it's more likely that mel has something to do with the black rose's fixation on magic and magic users.

idk how much you know or care about league lore but i'll give a quick rundown here of one particular champion who has not appeared in the show: rell. in league, she's a 16 year old girl who possesses the powers of ferromancy and whose parents basically handed her over to the black rose as a child where they trapped her in a secret academy and violently augment her power thru forced combat and painful magical-medical procedures.

people have a lot of theories about whether or not rell has some relation to the medardas but i am not trying to get into that here. i bring her up mostly to highlight the fact that the black rose's obsession with magic and magic users has shown that they're basically totally okay with torture and child abuse if it furthers their ends of producing/controlling magic users and mages.

and we know from ambessa's MV that mel is PROBABLY touched or blessed or magic-infused by the kindred in some way

idk if this magic is dormant or hidden or what but if the black rose knows about it i can imagine they would be Very interested in trying to harness it (and mel) to their own ends. and especially if it IS dormant or if mel for some reason just doesn't want to use her magic, i can see the black rose resorting to torture to force the magic out of her.

lastly we also have this shot of her from the opening!

i think this is interesting mostly because we've never really seen mel in a state of really unbridled rage. we've seen her get very angry! at ambessa. but never like full-on screaming rage. but here it is happening in the opener! obviously there are a lot of things that could get someone to this point but i do think getting abducted, tortured, and forced into magic use would definitely be. one way. for that to happen. i know a lot of people think that this shot means she's going to somehow end up agreeing with ambessa about might-makes-right but i just don't see that being an arc for her character that makes any sense. she has so firmly positioned herself as someone who opposes both noxus's ideology and ambessa's ideology that i think the only way she could possibly become this wrathful is not because she agrees with ambessa but because something so dramatic has happened to her that she's basically forced to break from her principles in order to survive.

anyway lol! this is so long 😭 i'm sure whatever happens to mel the story will be both interesting and heartbreaking 💔

[oodlyenough]

arcane s2 act 1

alright might as well collect my thoughts for posterity

first and foremost: obviously the triumphant cackle i was doing the entire hexcore scene. huge W for me, personally. did it always feel like the most logical and narratively satisfying extension from s1? sure. do i trust television to do the most narratively satisfying thing? no. especially not after fandom spent years of the hiatus trying to convince me otherwise

really all the jayvik scenes were, more or less, exactly what i expected/wanted and very satisfying lmaooo. i knew jayce wouldn't give a fuck about the shimmer or unethical experiments. i win!

other stuff i liked:

in the hiatus i've now seen all of yellowjackets and it has made me fonder of ella purnell and by extension jinx, lol. i love sevika and i think their grudging alliance in the wake of silco's death is a fun direction. jinx finding a random dumpster baby and adopting them immediately, silco would be so proud lmfao

i love caitlyn's dictator arc. i have to be honest i found her disney princess schtick in s1 pretty boring, so this is finally something more flawed and dynamic for me to invest in. yes girl get worse

ambessa rules. i was a little rolling my eyes at the "wow she was pulling the strings all along" reveal, bc it was so obvious and i was sort of hoping they'd do something more interesting with her. but this show has never been subtle. either way it still seems ambessa believes she's protecting mel? so i AM curious about how that plays out

i don't know shit about the league lore around the black rose stuff and don't want to <3 knowing league lore has never improved my arcane experience. but those sequences were very cool and took me by surprise. some good body horror with elora. good luck in the nightmare labyrinth mel!

stuff i liked less:

i think the stylized music video sequences are being a little overused. maybe s1 did them as frequently and I forget? anyhow, the police brutality one really worked for me, because it's the kind of info that def needs to be montaged, and the style was cool and engaging. cassandra's funeral ... i understand why they did it but i didn't like the regular arcane models mixed with the charcoal bgs, i found it distracted me from what was meant to be the emotion of the moment. and the jinx montage i found kind of mid.

i do think the pacing feels as breakneck as ever, to its detriment. i said above the jayvik stuff all played out basically as i wanted, which is more-or-less true, but viktor just be like I Have To Go Now was a bit abrupt. i can excuse a lot of that on the basis that i don't think viktor is really himself anymore because of the hexcore -- very flat emotionally, etc. and i assume we'll see them butt heads again later in the season. but still, the hextech weapons, the nonconsensual hexcoring, etc, would've expected something a little more explosive lol

plus, then we shift from that scene to the Furby Comedy Hour and jayce and heimerdinger having like a nonreaction to each other despite how acrimoniously they parted or how emotionally charged jayce must be sleeping next to viktor's empty cocoon etc... felt whiplash-y to me. but i hate heimerdinger and ekko teaming up to begin with lmao (and ofc ekko directs his frustrations with piltover to jayce, and not the 300 year president furby he has no beef with for some reason)

this extends to vi's decision to pick up the badge, etc. stuff just happens really quick and the fact that the passage of time in the show isn't very clear doesn't really help. i can understand why riot didn't want to spend two decades making five seasons of this show, but 2 seasons will probably feel too short imo.

[thegothicchangeling]

You're Not Coming Back (Can't You Come Back?)

A look at Mel's thoughts during Blisters and Bedrock. It follows the same canon as Foxsong, my first Medarda siblings fic. Be warned, it's also angsty like Foxsong.

They'd been apart so long, Mel didn't recognize his voice. But then he said those words: “Peacock princes”.

The syllables shocked Mel's system. She remembered the joke. She remembered how he used to tease her, calling her the peacock princess because of how she adorned herself, how she painted everything beautiful she saw.

Mel's breath hitched in her throat. Her brother was dead. It couldn't be. But, oh, how she missed him.

“Step into the light,” she said cautiously.

He obeyed. The sun shone on his face, and there he was: Kino Medarda. Her big brother, the one who got her through every dark night. He was right there. He was right there in front of her!

“Kino,” she gasped, and she couldn't help sobbing as she ran to him. She threw her arms around him, burying her face in his chest and breathing him in.

He didn't return the embrace. It wasn't like him, but she didn't know what he'd been through. Did he even recognize her, though?

She held his face in her hands, and it was like holding her whole world. Affection was uncommon among Medardas, but Mel and Kino never cared to hide their love for each other. They used to constantly cradle each other's faces like this, although she was usually on the receiving end of the gesture.

“It's me, brother,” she said, her breath catching on emotion. “Mel.”

He promised her once, during one of her darkest hours that no matter what happened, she would always have his love.

“Mel!” Finally, a reaction. She had gotten through to him. His hands came up to cup her face, and they were the same hands that held her all those years ago, more times over than she could count. “You've grown up.”

Then he wrapped her in a tight embrace, like he used to when they were children, when she thought she would fall apart and she needed him to hold her together. In his arms she was safe. In his arms she was loved.

“I'd hoped they'd never come for you,” he said softly, emotionally, in the same voice that told her stories, sang her nursery rhymes when the nightmares wouldn't let her sleep.

“Kino!” She sobbed.

“Mel! Oh, Mel. Oh, sister.”

“I dream about you,” she whispered, as her tears soaked his chest.

“I dream about you, too,” he confessed. “I have every night since I've been here.”

He held her tight in his arms. She thought she'd never see him again! But now, here he was. Here they were together, two halves of a whole.

Mel wept for what felt like forever, and Kino let her crawl into her his lap to get as close to him as possible. It was just like when she had nightmares as a child, or when she fell apart after witnessing one of Ambessa's countless slaughters and she would run to her brother and he would rock her in his arms.

She often wondered if Ambessa loved her at all, but she never doubted Kino's love for her.

When Mel had cried herself out in Kino's embrace and there was nothing more to say about their devotion to each other, they sat against the wall together and she leaned her head on his shoulder. “There was a funeral for you in Noxus.” A funeral she didn't even get to go to.

“Oh,” Kino chuckled. “Did Mother commission a statue?”

“I held rites in Piltover.” She had, with no one but Elora and Jayce by her side. They held her hands and rubbed her back while she cried for a brother she never got to say goodbye to. She used to believe he was the only person in the world who loved her. She knew now that it wasn't true, but even so, if she had to pick one person in her life to keep with her, she would choose Kino. She would choose him every time.

“She believes you're dead.”

Kino chuckled again. “I do like to disappoint her.”

It was true, they had not had a good relationship. Kino told her in his letters that they often had explosive fights when she wasn't around. He never picked a fight with Ambessa in front of her, for fear of scaring her.

Mel realized she was tracing a pattern in the dust on the ground. When she looked down at it, she realized it was the same symbol on the wall. They were drawn in gold, and they spoke to her in a way she didn't understand. Mel stood up, fascinated by them. She pressed a stone, and another popped out above it.

Kino was impressed. “How did you know to do that?”

“I don't know.” She didn't, honestly. “It just felt…It's like some sort of puzzle.”

She looked back at him, really looked at him. How had her beloved brother, the diplomat, the peacemaker, the prince who oozed grace everywhere he went, end up in this awful place?

“Kino, what happened to you? How did you wind up here?”

“She didn't tell you?” Kino asked, surprised. The look on her face was response enough. He continued on and explained:

“After a few rounds with some dubious noble folk in Basilich, I started hearing some strange rumors about our mother. Different from the usual kind. They say, many years ago, she passed through there and fell in love.”

The idea was laughable. “That's not our mother.”

“Indeed.” He was there before she knew it, startling her as he spoke almost directly into her ear, making her jump. That wasn't like him. “But the more I inquired, the more I started believing it.” Mel listened intently. “The old travel logs, the local accounts. I should have left it alone, but…the affair led to a child.”

A child. She slid down the wall and came to rest in the floor. What the fuck was he saying? No, she knew what he was saying: she was an affair baby. “That's impossible.”

Kino crouched on one knee beside her. “It is the reason we are here.” He took her hand in both of his larger ones. “Simply put, whatever that child inherited is of terrible interest to our captors.”

Mel withdrew her hand and brought it back to her stomach, instinctively shielding her unborn child. She wanted to tell Kino she was expecting, but now wasn't the time. And…there was a part of her that was suspicious. She rose to her feet.

“Mel?”

“I'm getting us out of here.”

Golden designs danced in front of her vision. She was confused and scared, but somehow, she felt a strange confidence as she pressed more stones. Somehow, someway, Mel just knew what to do.

“Say this is some kind of sordid labyrinth. Usually there are consequences for those who fail these tests,” Kino warned. “Deadly consequences.”

“I deserve to know the truth,” she countered determinedly.

“Of course. Makes you wonder why she kept it from you, doesn't it? For all these years?”

“I'm missing something,” Mel mused.

Kino came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “A healthy sense of self preservation, I'd say.”

Kino never snuck up on her like that. He hadn't since that awful day when she was fifteen and made her first and only kill. The experience had rattled her greatly, and Kino knew to be gentle with her. That wasn't the only thing that was off.

When he realized it was her, he should have lifted her off the ground and spun her in his embrace. He should have peppered her face with kisses and cried an ocean of happy tears. He may have been a Medarda, but Mel knew he could cry. She'd seen him do plenty of that on the day she was forced to leave her home forever.

Mel wanted so, so badly to believe that it was her brother. She wanted so badly to believe that she wasn't alone, but she knew better.

She took Kino's face in her hands, and cradled it once more. She looked deep into his eyes. She wanted so, so, so badly to believe she'd been reunited with the person she loved more than anyone.

A tear ran down her cheek. “You aren't my brother.”

[bloodiedmedic]

Power and pets

Continued from Here with @exiledheiress

It wasn’t that Basheerah disliked Piltover exactly, but rather that she found it common place. Of course the darkness of Zaun had it’s sister in the sun. Of course the sister had police, and politics, and rich people, and power. When one person knelt another stood, and the same held true for cities and countries. It was all a reflection of nature in truth. Fights over food, and territory. Competition to see who best suited a particular area. A desire to ensure one group prospered no matter what. The difference was that at least nature was honest about it. Even the cruelest animal could not hope to match humanity because nature didn’t lie to itself, or try to justify what it did. Humanity had invented cruelty, and if there was anything they deserved never to be forgiven for it was that. Of course Basheerah had started her life off as human, and so her attitude was simple. Judge no one for anything not done to her, or those she cared for personally and immediately. It was an attitude that had gotten her through any number of situations, and she saw no reason to change it now.

Voice warm, and inviting she had been near constantly talking. Offering her wares to those strolling by, dealing with customers, inviting people that seemed particularly interesting over and letting out a good-natured laugh when she was refused or a delighted smile when someone accepted the invite. As Mel approached her eyes turned to the other woman, and than quite clearly went past Mel to Elora as she offered a respectful nod not to Mel but to a woman she’d never met yet could see a particular kind of kinship in as it was immediately clear to Basheerah the service Elora freely offered to Mel. Others might not notice, but Basheerah couldn’t help but notice. Phobos, and Deimos of course got a bright smile as Bashy’s eyes went to them next. “Well aren’t they just the cutest things ever.” Cutest things ever that should be free, and in nature to roam where they wished. Basheerah hated it when humans took exotic animals as pets no matter how well those animals were treated. She of course gave Mel the benefit of the doubt as was her wont, and hoped that the two panther’s were some kind of rescue adoption and that it’d been to save them from worse cruelty still. However Basheerah didn’t truly believe it was a rescue adoption, and it made her heart ache to see two such beautiful wild creatures turned into pets.

No matter how well a human treated some great animal such as a panther it still deserved to be free.

Not that Basheerah would do anything about it as it wasn’t her place.

Not with someone like Mel. A woman of obvious power.

“This is not my usual spot, but I like spreading my vines and petals when offered the opportunity and a lucky thing it is I do. Such beauty here, and such delightful people I’ve met today yet some I believe shall by far stand out in my memory.” This woman with animals by her side that should be free, and someone devoted to her would certainly stand out. There was something special about her, but than that was something that could be said about many others in the past Basheerah had shared her treasures with. “Ah, I can’t just be giving away all my secrets. After all everything you see here is made by my very own hands. Plants picked, herbs dried, oils and waxes obtained, everything blended together and treated just right to ensure satisfaction.” An air of mystery was a fun thing, but there was also the fact Basheerah had no desire to tell anyone here in Piltover that most of her raw materials in fact came from Zaun. Even if they weren’t, as far as she knew, illegal she had no doubt there would still be a certain distaste at the realization that these wares were from “down there” and Basheerah didn’t want to deal with that.

Motioning towards the one Mel had picked up she offered a warm smile. “That however is a lovely lotion if I might be excused just a touch of vanity in my creations. It helps to keep skin soft, but in my humble opinion the best thing about it is the warming effect. It’s a favorite among customers that end up with stiffened hands from one thing or another. Too much writing, knitting, holding a hammer, holding dishes to wash them, small jewelers tools held for hours, so on and so forth. Perhaps not the first choice for your face, but for hands or wrists or ankles and feet it’s wonderful.” Leaning in a bit Basheerah’s smile was warm, welcoming, inviting, and it even met her green eyes as she studied Mel. “If that doesn’t interest however, I’m sure I can provide whatever you might desire… from a lotion, or soap, or perhaps a nice incense or a tea blend. I should apologize however. I’ve been dreadfully rude. I’m Basheerah Delaunay, and what might I call you other than beautiful?”

[eddawrites]

Jayce Talis Week Day 6: Legacy

Let’s talk that one scene between Jayce and Silco...

This confrontation between two leaders who have both been backed into a corner by the other and forced to negotiate lest more harm comes to their people easily stands as one of the most tense scenes in season 1, overshadowed only by the sheer insanity of Jinx’s tea party that follows later in the same episode. More importantly, this scene is a culmination of Jayce’s character arc - from an idealistic scientist to a somewhat jaded politician who now understands the necessary evil of backdoor dealings and conferring with your enemies. But there are a few frequently overlooked details in this scene that I would hereby like to draw attention to; concretely to this line of dialogue:

[Jayce] I was reminded recently of what brought us together in the first place. The threats beyond our walls. [Silco] This city has a short memory.

During the meeting Jayce freely admits to Silco that he is afraid of the escalating conflict between the two cities, which Silco incorrectly assumes to be a sign of cowardice on Jayce’s part. Jayce, however, is not afraid of Silco, but rather of what a war might mean for the people of Zaun. With this (admittedly flawed) deal, he is trying to stop bloodshed on both sides of the bridge. But the aforementioned dialogue betrays that Jayce has reasons for parley other than the present concerns. He is aware of the possibility that a civil war would leave the twin cities open to a foreign invasion. This is a callback to the understated scene between Mel and her assistant/spy Elora in ep. 7:

[Elora] I’ve had word from our friends overseas. This threat from the undercity is drawing attention. Piltover looks vulnerable.

Delivering a letter arrived from Mel’s family, Elora informs her that unspecified forces - likely Noxus - are turning their eyes to Piltover as a possible target for an invasion. A worried Mel then replies that Jayce isn’t yet ready to deal with such a threat, having only recently been appointed to the council. Notably, after this scene, Mel begins to urge Jayce to build weapons under guise of defending city from a possible Zaunite rebellion, but I believe her she was in fact trying to prepare for this undisclosed threat. The reasons for my belief are as follow:

Mel is not on good terms with her family and is quick to shut down her mother’s request for a hextech weapon upon her arrival, therefore it is highly unlikely that she would have asked Jayce to build weapons on Ambessa’s behalf.

Mel immediately suggests going a diplomatic route in lieu of Jayce’s plan for a use of force during the council meeting in ep. 8, further confirming that her ep. 7 appeal for hextech weaponry is truly intended as a defensive measure rather than offensive purposes.

There is also this line from the confrontation with her mother near the beginning of ep. 9:

[Mel] I wanted to protect the city from people like you.

The existence of outside threats to Piltover is even highlighted as early as ep. 2 by councillor Shoola when she stresses that Piltover was originally intended as a safe haven from magic:

[Shoola] Piltover was founded to escape the warmongering of mages, not cultivate it.

Clearly, something else is afoot. While the threat may or may not be magical in nature, a third party is indisputably in play, whether the player is the same person hellbent on annihilating the Medarda Clan or someone else. While Mel does not confide in Jayce about this threat in ep. 7, choosing to instead veil the true reason for her request behind the convenient excuse of the immediate crisis, it appears that Jayce is aware of it by the time of his meeting with Silco and so this deal is just as much an attempt at appeasing Zaun as it is at deterring the possible foreign invasion. The two have likely discussed it off-screen. Given Jayce’s very recent record of impulsive decision-making under pressure, it was probably a smart choice on Mel’s part to not disclose the information before the harsh lesson Jayce learned towards the end of ep. 8.

Better the Devil You Know

Oftentimes I see people point out that effectively handing over the keys to Zaun to Silco, the same man who has been exploiting its people for nearly a decade and unleashed a harmful drug epidemic upon them for profit - amongst other things - is not an ideal solution to the problem, and Jayce appears to be just as aware of that fact as the audience is, evidenced by this bit of dialogue:

[Jayce] Believe me, if I had it my way, it’d be you rotting in Stillwater, but we can't make a deal with a snake and cut off its head. We both have our shitty parts to play.

Jayce is not comfortable with keeping Silco in power any more than us, the viewers are; however, as the matter stands he has very few options to the contrary and the most viable of those options - that being approaching Sevika with this deal instead - he is not even aware of. By rule, negotiations require some sort of leadership to be in place and Silco is the only figurehead the undercity has. The chembarons as a ruling body appear to lack any sort of hierarchy nor do they have an appointed spokesperson. Ekko simply does not have the political pull. As Jayce himself says, the only reason he is talking to Silco at all is because - to his knowledge - there is nobody else authorised to advocate for Zaun.

But even though the deal is all too generous towards Silco given Jayce’s very few demands, the most daring being asking for Jinx to be apprehended, it is not wholly without its merits - the leverage the Piltover council would gain over Zaun’s politics by inviting Silco into their ranks is of particular value; as the man himself says:

[Silco] The topsiders offered me everything. Independence, a seat at the table. All in return for you.

By putting Silco on the council, Zaun isn’t only gaining an advocate on the previously indifferent ruling body - it would also mean that Piltover would maintain a degree of power over Zaun in spite of its formal independence. Zaun is dependent on Piltover for trade much like Piltover used to be dependent on Zaun for resources before the invention of the Hexgates and becoming a major trade hub. Many of the more polluting industries are likely located in Zaun as well. Simply put: the two cities cannot exist without coexisting. Although Silco’s deal includes free access to trade routes, such privileges could easily be revoked had the council been unhappy with his leadership. And after the shimmer production would be shut down and the hextech gem returned, Silco would lose the means of intimidation he’s previously held, leaving him vulnerable to the council’s influence.

So you see, there is a failsafe in place even if it might not be apparent at first. I suspect that this particular sneaky caveat in the agreement did not come from Jayce’s own mind - he is still a rookie when it comes to the matters of politics despite being a fast learner - but rather someone with a bit more political prowess such as Mel. A piece of advice likely shared during the same talk in which she finally revealed the risk of foreign invasion. That said, it seems that she is not any more privy to the details of the deal than other councillors, shocked as she appears to be at the suggestion of independence during the council meeting proper, thus solidifying this particular decision as a show of agency from Jayce.

[moonsdancer]

Pre-relationship: 2 & 7 General: 8 & 9 Love: 1 Domestic life: 1, 2 & 3

You know who 😉😊

Let's get it!

meljay

PRE-RELATIONSHIP

2.What was their first impression of each other?

Mel was already curious about this particular defendant because of the intel Elora shared earlier, not only was this Talis person from a lower house but a family of some renown for their retractable socket wrenches. Add onto that, he was "Heimerdinger's favourite" and an apprenta for one of the most important families in the city. All in all, it makes for a curious set of events and was worth remarking upon.

When she sets eyes on him for the first time, her immediate thought is, "Oh dear, he's pretty. Far too pretty to be in irons." Then, the more Jayce opens his mouth about his idea, she gets an inkling that he's far more than a mere pretty face. There's something there, might even be the very thing she's been searching for (as per her previous scene). That's why she keeps pushing and needling him, provoking him to spill the beans about the true nature of his research.

Once that's revealed, her interest is fully engaged, this sounds like exactly the kind of thing she's wanted to invest in. Something that will change the face of Piltover, the world even, forever. She knows what it's like to be "banished" for thinking differently and for having a vision, and a part of her is really compassionate about that and drawn to him because of it. She would've already used her influence with Hoskel to save the Talis inventor, but when Ximena speaks up in his defense, well, that's that.

Jayce, on the other hand, didn't have such a favourable impression. He'd spent a good part of his student and now adult life on the periphery of Piltovan high society when he got the sponsorship from House Kiramman. He's observed them at their fetes and high society gatherings, experienced first hand their arrogance and classism, deemed acceptable and almost an insider, but still always aware that he's not and never will be one of them and that his entire value comes from how much wealth he can help them accumulate not any value he himself possesses. Besides Caitlyn, he wouldn't count any of them as friends or even allies.

So, he expects much the same from this Medarda woman. He's seen her from afar a few times at some of the Kiramman events but she'd never have spoken to, let alone noticed the likes of him. He's aware that she's one of the ones who voted for his pardon but it's not enough for him to view her favourably since his whole entire career has been ruined by the council ruling.

When she shows up outside Heimerdinger's office, he's sure he's done for. This beautiful (emph: because he's in trouble but he's not blind, even in the dark corridor), powerful, rich woman is going to get him tossed in the gaol and banished. But something urges him to try. To just try and convince her of the worth of what he's doing, he's got nothing left to lose. The more they talk, the more she asks questions, the more he starts to wonder about her. But it's when she lies, runs interference to protect him and Viktor from discovery by Harold, to give them a chance to prove the science, well that impresses him. Maybe there's something more to this Councilor Medarda than he thought, hence this face:

7. What would their lives be like if they had never met?

Well, Mel never really finds that one revolutionary thing or person that she was searching for. Of course she still invests and makes oodles of money but there's no tech revolution, no hope or possibility or dream of helping to build something so revolutionary that it changes the world. No one that inspires her, makes her wonder what it could mean to not always do things the Medarda way. No one who appeals to the softer, hidden parts of her that yearn for affection and love and all sorts of foolish things that her family ought to have beaten out of her by now. She hardens. Eventually, her mother sends word for her to return when Kino runs afoul of the same people and is killed. All this time, she wasn't useful or important but now that she's the only remaining heir, Ambessa can find purpose for her. So, she goes back and becomes the wolf she never wanted to be.

As for Jayce. Well, Ximena's appeal is just as heartfelt as it is in the canon but this time, there's no Mel to convince Hoskel to vote in favour of a lighter sentencing. He's banished, all of his research and work confiscated and destroyed, blacklisted entirely by anyone who could support his research elsewhere, completely without funds or any means to make an income. He wanders for a while as an exile, he's been to plenty of places in his travels for research so he's a pretty good traveler. But the loss of everything, his life's work and passion, his family, his friends and community, his home, his dream - it breaks something inside of him. Add to that, there's no one to believe in him, whose faith and encouragement can buoy him up when he gets low in the way that Mel and Viktor in different ways did. He makes some living fixing machines and tools for a pittance, tutoring some, and lives a largely unremarkable life.

[Alternative: he somehow makes his way to Noxus, as a weapons master for a middling clan, and his inventions start to make some noise, and eventually bring him to the attention of Clan Medarda, and a warhost named Mel.]

GENERAL

8.Who gets jealous easier?

I'd say they're about equal on this, maybe Mel edging Jayce out a bit. It's not that she has any insecurity about their relationship or feels threatened by the many, many, many aggressive groupies Jayce has being Piltover's resident Golden Boy but she's not particularly fond of watching people flagrantly throwing themselves at him, sending clandestine notes with detailed fanfic about all the things they'd like to do to him etc. Jayce, well, he's not blind or stupid. He knows he's with a woman so beautiful, there are probably bards composing songs about her every other day. He sees how some people look at her, and, he has no qualms about staking his proverbial claim -- not so much in public when their relationship is still a secret -- but later, when they're alone, and very much naked. He often does so emphatically that for days after, she has to wear long sleeved, high-necked gowns to at least try to cover the evidence 👄😏.

9. Who whispers inappropriate things in the other’s ear?

Mel. She likes whispering all sorts of suggestive things in Jayce's ear at some of the boring events they have to attend or during consular session tea breaks, loves seeing the way his ears turn a little red, how he tries not to get too excited at some of the pictures she paints in his ear or the news that she opted not to wear smallclothes under her dress that day. He only sometimes succeeds and usually has to spend the time in public positioned strategically behind the backs of chairs or with a large sheaf of papers in his lap to avoid taking someone's eye out 😳😂🍆. Jayce is less of a talker and more a man of action but sometimes, especially after he's had a glass or two of wine, he can get a little mouthy. And, Mel can't really claim not to enjoy it and despite protests, she has a much shorter fuse than he does and it frequently leads to them disappearing for inappropriate amounts of time in the middle of events to attend to matters of impressive urgency😏💦 .

LOVE

1.Who said “I love you” first?

Jayce. He's already there, let's be real. When someone says, "nothing feels impossible when I'm with you," that's about as close as they can get to saying I FUCKING ADORE YOU without outright saying the three words. But after the council room bombing, and the very real reality that he could've lost her for good, he tells her. And Mel eventually does the same, quietly in the dark, almost so quietly that he wouldn't have heard it if he was standing on the other side of the room. For her, it was something she was intensely afraid to say out loud for fear that this, that Jayce, would be taken away from her like most any other things she's loved. But once she works up to say it, she doesn't hesitate as much afterwards.

DOMESTIC LIFE

1.If they get married, who proposes?

Jayce. Mostly because marriage to someone you're in love with is a decidedly middle class conceit in most places, really. In Noxus (as with Piltovan high society), most marriages are political arrangements made for strategic reasons. So Mel doesn't really see the need for it. But Jayce asks her with his heart in his mouth and a ring that he forged carefully with his own hands, and she says yes. It takes a while for them to get round to sealing the deal though. A piece of paper isn't going to affirm their commitment any more than not, so no need to rush.

2. What’s the wedding like? Who attends?

It's a private, intimate, quiet affair. In fact, a lot of people outside of their inner circle don't actually even know they're married for years to come. A decision they make to protect each other and their offspring from being targeted by potential enemies. Especially as Piltover & Zaun descend further into war, and the increasing turmoil in Noxus, they have to be really careful about these sorts of things.

Ximena, Elora, Caitlyn, Ambessa attend.

3.How many kids do they have, if any? What are they like?

So many different headcanons for this. But for now:

Twins. Jae and a girl named for Kino. Jae is much like his lore counterpart, an adventurer who, inspired by his dad's stories of far-flung places he visited while searching for Brackern crystals, decides to do the same - except he's mostly hunting for treasure. Kino takes after her mother, she's a bit of an artist, and her father in that she loves working in the forge. She eventually becomes a metal weapons master, and makes jewelry in her down time.

[eddawrites]

Put on your tinfoil hats, bois, gals and pals, because we're going on a conspiracy ride, a short one but tumultuous nonetheless.

Now repeat after me: Elora is sus.

In fact, I think that she's a Noxian spy. And let me tell you why.

Let’s start at the very beginning, with Mel’s very first scene, because I want to call your attention to a very specific detail.

In their introduction both Mel and Elora are wearing white attire - in colour theory this is the colour most frequently used to represent purity and innocence, but also peace and moral goodness. The colour is often also associated with new beginnings, and they are both, at this point, starting over in Piltover.

We don’t have the exact time frame for Mel’s exile other than that it lasted over a decade and that the timeskip might be somewhere around 5-7 years (not even the writers themselves have a definite answer), but it’s clear at this point that Mel is still just establishing herself in the city and that she has been appointed to the council only recently - as evidenced by her glaring gap in knowledge regarding Piltover’s anti-magic policies and much lesser political pull than we see her exact later on. It is quite obvious that Mel at this point is still motivated by proving herself to her mother and returning to Noxus at her earliest convenience, with Elora - likely a Noxian herself - following along.

After the timeskip, Mel’s actions remain more or less the same, but her motivations seem to have changed significantly. The plan of winning back her mother’s favour did not work, she is sceptical and a bit jaded, but she continues promoting her vision for Piltover regardless, finding fulfilment in helping the city progress. Notably, Mel’s wardrobe does not change; while she switches dresses on a few occasions, she still keeps to her iconic white dress in the majority of her scenes.

Elora, however, now seems to be showing her true colours so to speak, dressing herself in red - one of the primary colours on the Noxian colour palette. 

While Mel appears to be straying further and further from her initial objectives and instead starts to embrace Piltover as her new home; Elora’s wardrobe seems to be signalling the opposite - that she is a loyal servant of Noxus. Elora is, quite literally, a turncoat, her loyalty seemingly no longer lying with Mel, hence the contrasting colour palettes.

Now you might be wondering whose ass I pulled this idea from and my response is quite simple: the ass is called the script and it’s, in fact, not an ass at all. 

This manifests as a couple of lines that most of the audience would dismiss as throwaway, but if Arcane has taught me anything, it’s that almost everything is significant or will be at some point. Anyway, in their scenes, Elora is consistently bringing up Mel’s family, in one way or another trying to remind Mel of her original goal in Piltover - the approval of her mother. In fact, we find out in ep. 8 that Mel actively despises her mother and nigh immediately rejects Ambessa’s (albeit a very manipulative and transactional) attempt at reconciliation.

Now let’s take a look at those lines. First, we have ep. 4:

284: 00:20:23 --> 00:20:24 [Elora] Fundraiser's going well. 285: 00:20:26 --> 00:20:27 Your mother would be proud. 286: 00:20:28 --> 00:20:29 Hmm… Would she?

Here, Elora seems to be gently reminding Mel why she’s doing all this, but Mel appears to have resigned on ever garnering her mother’s attention, dismissing Elora’s remark. But the conversation becomes even more interesting when the subject turns to Jayce:

289: 00:20:36 --> 00:20:38 The only one actually worth my time is him. 290: 00:20:39 --> 00:20:41 The golden boy. [Elora chuckles] 291: 00:20:41 --> 00:20:44 Ah, he's won Piltover's heart.

Mel, with a chuckle, notes that Jayce has won over Piltover. But as she says so, she continues to gaze at a passing blimp with his painted face for some moments until Elora directs her attention to Jayce himself, entering the scene. Clearly the show is conveying more than is said.

A similar exchange happens in ep. 5:

332: 00:20:51 --> 00:20:52 He's been quite the investment. 333: 00:20:53 --> 00:20:55 Indeed. Better than expected.

Now this to me sounds like almost textbook example of deflection. While Elora does not ask her question directly, she appears to be probing Mel about her relationship with Jayce, which at this point we know is still strictly professional; however, Mel behaviour is already starting to betray her attraction to him. She avoids answering Elora’s inquiries about her feelings even as she stares at Jayce, or his likeness, with quite obvious heart eyes.

It’s interesting that even though the show casts Elora into the role of Mel’s shadowy confidante, informant and a possible spy, it would appear that Mel avoids confiding in her. Typically, a character of this ilk would be privy to such personal details, but not so Elora. Before initiating her relationship with Jayce, Mel seems to lack any familiar relationships in Piltover (going as far as dismissing other socialites as not worth her time) with the exception of Elora. Yet there are barely - if indeed any - hints at friendship between the two. It is all quite tepid. I suspect that this is actually because Mel knows that Elora is reporting all of her goings-on to her mother, as I shall demonstrate in a bit.

Now, why would Mel tolerate such a thing, you ask? Well, because the spy that you know about is far less dangerous than the spy that you do not. If Mel were to send Elora away, the next person sent to spy on her might be more covert. Moreover, her mother’s spy or not, Mel has uses for Elora, and the awareness of the connection between the two allows Mel to control the information flow somewhat. After all, Elora is present during Mel’s every single outing except for the council meetings, or her private moments with Jayce. And whenever Elora is not around, Mel is free to truly be herself. Notably, Mel’s first night with Jayce happens at his abode (you can read all about that in my sextech analysis), away from Elora’s prying eyes and ears, and here we see Mel break her public persona for the first time, confiding in Jayce that despite her conqueror upbringing, she would like to be a giver like him and lead society to enlightment.

And yet, when Ambessa Medarda arrives in Piltover, she appears to be incredibly well-informed in spite of Mel’s best efforts to deny her feelings for Jayce, immediately calling attention to the fact that Mel and Jayce are romantically involved (not just to Mel, but also to Jayce himself), moreover, that he’s considering building hextech weapons even though Mel had only asked him to arm Piltover in the previous episode:

193: 00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 Your Jayce Talis has turned his eye to Hextech weaponry. 194: 00:12:35 --> 00:12:36 [scoffs] I knew it.

332: 00:20:32 --> 00:20:35 [Mrs. Medarda] I see why this province and my daughter have fallen for you.

Given that we know Mel despises her mother and has not talked to her in over a decade, it is very suspect that Ambessa seems to be privy to the details of her daughter’s personal life. In fact, at this point, Ambessa likely has a better grasp on Mel’s feelings for Jayce than even Mel herself. So how does she know? Because, as I’ve said previously, Elora has relayed the information to her. 

Ambessa’s arrival appears to be incredibly convenient - not only has she arrived just in time to ask Mel for a hextech weapon to use against her political rivals, but possibly also to put an end to this new liaison that could potentially tether Mel to Piltover for good. Notice that Elora is very deferential, bowing throughout most of the scene, even though Ambessa addresses her in a cordial way.

Now that we’ve gotten the textual evidence out of the day, indulge me in a bit of theory-crafting. My theory is that Elora is a hostage of sorts to the Medardas (think Theon Greyjoy from A Song of Ice and Fire or Game of Thrones), her return to Noxus - to her home and family - might actually be conditioned by Mel embracing the Medarda philosophy and so ending her exile. It then makes sense why she would keep reminding Mel of her family, the once intense need for Ambessa’s approval, and attempt to gauge the true depth of Mel’s affections for Jayce. Without Mel, she can’t go back to her home.

Or - and I find this possibility especially intriguing - Elora is not only spying for Mel and on Mel for the Medardas, but also spying on the Medardas for a third party. And Noxus is certainly not lacking for interested third parties. Perhaps Elora might even be an important player of the game herself.

All in all, I’m really interested to see what s2 has in store for her, regardless of whether my conspiracy theories ultimately end up disproven or not.

Until then, remember: Elora is sus.

PS: Picture the kinds of reports Elora has sent Ambessa over the years, with these two idiots yearning for each other from afar. Ambessa probably received a fullblown 100k+ pining/unresolved sexual tension fanfic that we all deserve and some of us need 😏😂

[arcgayne]

my reasoning:

(these rankings are based on multiple criteria, such as relatability, hotness, relevance, how interesting they are as a character, and so on and so forth).

1) Jinx: she’s literally me. so silly and mentally unstable. needs therapy so bad and it shows. i fucking love her. please get help queen

2) Ekko: literally has never done anything wrong ever. moral compass strong as fuck. bonus points for looking cool. he’s also literally me but jinx wins over him bc she’s more unhinged.

3) Viktor: my fucking beloved. Do I want to be him? Do I want to be with him? Realistically I want neither of these things but unrealistically I need this man in ways even the hexcore couldn’t comprehend.

4) Mel: God I fucking love a powerful smart beautiful woman. AND she has mommy issues? she’s literally perfect. i’m rotating her in my head as we speak

5) Vi: hot tragic lesbian. almost lost points for becoming a cop but then she quit so it’s all good. for now. I have knowledge about what she ends up doing bc of the video game and I am currently choosing to ignore it in favor of the show timeline. Let me dream.

6) Sevika: hot. muscles. vodka aunt. hot. emotionally unavailable. hot. did i mention hot

7) grayson: i think it’s hilarious that she ranks higher than everyone else below her on this list. she literally only gets points for being attractive. especially her voice like ugghhh. what else can i say.

8) sky: perfect angel. so fucking smart and cool. deserves better. i need to know more about her or i will actually explode. hearing her voice made me so happy y’all have no idea

9) powder: baby. deserves the world. only ranks lower bc she doesn’t exactly “exist” anymore or whatever. justice for powder AND jinx 2025

10) caitlyn: hot. but ew cop moment. the fact that her sympathy for zaunites was crushed so easily really annoys me. like girl do you even have principles. ur revenge era would be cool if it wasn’t police brutality like noooo caitlyn pls don’t let a dictator use you to further destabilize your country for her own gain you’re so sexyyy ahaha… idk man it’s complicated. she should quit her job and get a new one. and then get therapy.

11) Jayce: he’s interesting in that he is a good example of a privileged person attempting to make things better by utilizing the system, only to get sucked into said system, becoming part of it and therefore part of the problem. the road to hell is paved with good intentions. his intentions are so good and yet. he is idiot. I hope Ekko and heimydingy are able to lessen his idiocy.

12) ambessa: hooottttttttttt. so fucking hot. goddamn. have y’all SEEN the music video for blood sweat and tears. i’m fucking FERAL. unfortunately for her, looks aren’t everything and she’s the fucking worst so here we are.

13) elora: beautiful powerful wonderful woman. need more of her. what is her life like. have she and mel ever kissed. much to think about here.

14) heimerdinger: he’s annoying and he doesn’t take the much needed time to explain why he makes the decisions he’s making... but he’s also right. which i hate because he’s annoying. but i also like that he’s annoying because it shows the very true fact that ppl who are annoying can in fact be right about things. also his heist with ekko was funny and endearing so he has that going for him. ekko carried tho ngl

15) vander: he’s cool cuz he’s a swag dad. a kind man and a protective guy. all around a great dude tbh. ranks lower because he doesn’t have any particularly interesting character traits to me.

16) finn: he looks cool as fuck but isn’t relevant and is also kind of an annoying brat. which is funny but like also bro. stop.

17) ximena: literally lost some of her fingers to frostbite to protect her baby child kid son. based. i love her.

18) cassandra: milf. the scene with the her and the gun? cool as fuck. ranks lower bc, again, not very relevant. and also dead lol

19) tobias: imma be honest idrc abt tobias at all i just didn’t want to separate him from his wife. he has enough of that in the show LOL

20) claggor: sweet boy. deserved better. i wonder what he would be like now if he’d been able to grow up.

21) silco: morally i hate this guy but he’s also a fascinating character. he’s cool as fuck and a bitch. plus he does eyeball drugs. there are so many fucked up things about this dude i can’t list them all. overall he’s a very well done character and an absolutely fantastic villain. what a piece of work.

22) benzo: just an all around good dude. ranks low bc he’s extremely irrelevant. sorry dude. if this was a morals contest he’d obv be ranked higher, but it’s not, so here we are.

23) jericho: had to look him up LOLLLL thanks for making food for vi i guess. people who make food for other people are the best. that being said he ranks low because, again, irrelevant.

24) mylo: cringe fail asshole. not ranked last bc he was a kid, so i can give him the benefit of the doubt, cuz maybe he would’ve been a better person as an adult… but also he never got to be one so oops lol get ranked low loser

25) singed: brother euughhh. i like drugs too but not THAT much. maybe give this man some backstory and i’ll care about him. as it stands rn idgaf about this guy. i rebuke thee, get AWAY

26) marcus: fucking piece of shit rat. fuck this guy. selfish coward and i hate him forever. die

Here's a fun little sorter I put together for Arcane characters! Reblog with your list!

Let the sorting commence!