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collectivephilosopher · 10 days ago

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Arcane and Human Rights

(it’s like really really long, way too long for my own good)

Why I think the issue between Piltover and Zaun isn’t political differences–hear me out both of you–

I think I figured out why this entire Piltover vs Zaun thing is driving me insane.

Listen, I think Pugs4Thugs’ video Arcane Was Always Centrist is a very good analysis that addresses a lot of political issues in Arcane. But it made me realize how some see the political issue as Left wing vs Right wing and I think this is the wrong direction to see it.

The issue between Piltover and Zaun has always been and will make sense if it were seen from the lens of HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION.

Before we start I want to make some things clear.

I’m not a westerner therefore I do not hold any political stance nor political ideologies. Left wings, right wings, whatever. We do not have that kind of concept. I never cared for political parties either since they all ended up the same anyways so I usually picked a candidate based on the individual.

We do however have a history of heavy human rights violation cases. Until today a lot of people including me are still affected by the aftermath to various degrees. And wouldn’t you know it lmao it’s about to be repeated it seems.

Human rights is a universal fundamental right that one has as a human. Human rights should be the moral basis of every human.

If you can't agree then scroll away because I'm not convincing you.

I’m using the UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) by the UN as the basis of my statements. Again Human rights is a universal truth which holds above political and international law, the UDHR just formalizes it (if you see me writing 'Articles' I'm referring to articles in UDHR).

“Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.”

(In short do not fucking argue with me with “it’s fiction” and “the UN doesn’t exist in Arcane” argument)

With that out of the way. I never understood the argument of “people complain about Arcane S2 because it doesn’t align with their politics” (as in political ideologies) because to me while the problem between Piltover and Zaun involves politic, the main issue has always been the HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION that Piltover did to Zaun. And human rights are never up for debate.

What differ human rights violations and crimes? The main difference is the perpetrator. A Crime is done by an individual or a group who violates the law made by the government/institution while human rights violation CAN ONLY BE DONE by government/institution.

“Violations occur when a Government fails in its obligations to respect, protect and fulfil these rights. Often a violation of one of these rights is linked to a violation of other rights.”

–International Bill of Human Rights

“It was considered a major human rights violation because the shooting by the armed forces at the time was not born from their personal autonomy, from under, but based on the policy, from upside. So the military soldiers, the police, the intelligence underneath is implementing policies or or political choices from the ruling government at the time. Which was controlled by the commander. So it is not a crime. It can be called a crime as far as that is concerned about the taking of life or the use of sharp firearms that causes the loss of life, sure it can be called crimes as in criminal incidents or crime but it is not normal crime. Not a crime because of–sergeant A, sergeant B or colonel A, colonel B–for example disliked the victim then they have personal motive whether it is grudge or economic affairs, etc. Or other criminal motives like robbery and so on and so forth, there is no connection in that. so it’s only the connection between two big categories; the state power and the public–in this case were represented by the student movement.”

“The state's accountability for violating its obligations (to the international human rights law) is to ensure that those who commit the act are brought to justice directly. Through the proper judicial process, of course. For example, the person who shoots directly, the person who orders the shooting directly, the commander who knows or has reasons to know that the shooting was carried out or he fails to prevent it even though he knows, or when he fails and he knows but cannot prevent it, he does not bring the perpetrator to justice. So the accountability of the command will be pursued until the person most responsible for the brutal shooting.”

Usman Hamid – 71. Dokumenter Tragedi Mei 1998 - Sudah 21 Tahun, Lalu Apa? ( translated to English)

"Human rights violation is when human rights is not the norm."

Remember this because it’s very important.

(everytime I say ‘Piltover’ I mean the council, the enforcer, and everything that builds the state. I will use ‘Piltovian’ for the civilians)

With this knowledge we can safely say what Piltover did to Zaun was human rights violation because SYSTEMIC OPPRESSION IS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION.

(oh they rhymed)

What Piltover did is 100% wrong. Whatever Jinx, Silco, or whoever that did crimes in Zaun did will never be worse than what Piltover did because what they did was crimes not human rights violation. Not saying that it’s morally justified but morality is a grey subject human rights is more black and white.

To help you understand it, let me give you this example.

If Mr. John killed his neighbour and he was then imprisoned for it. This is a crime, not a human rights violation. It’s violating the law. Now if Mr. John killed his neighbour and was NOT imprisoned because of, say, lack of the law upholding it. Then it became human rights violation because the lawlessness of the state has allowed Mr. John to get away with murder. They may not encourage it but they have enabled and failed to hold it justice due to the lack of law.

A. Piltover

Piltover’s Violation of Human Rights doesn’t just stem from neglect but also exploitation. We know from Vander and Silco’s history that shit has been bad before the failed rebellion/massacre at the bridge. We know from Silco’s dialogue with the chembaron how the grey has been there since they were young. We know Viktor’s illness is caused by the grey when he was a kid.

The Grey is a factory smog/waste dump to Zaun without proper filtering. Who owned these factories? It has been there since before the chembaron rises, it has been there before Silco took over the Lanes. The air quality has been bad since Vi and Jinx were kids. The show refused to show it but we can safely assume Zaun is where all the dirty work happened.

It could be that there are two types of this gas. One is from the mines that formed from the explosion during back when the city was still called Osha Va’ Zaun (from league lore) and the other is pure factory smog (From league lore it was also stated the mines were owned by Piltover). I’m only going to encapsulate this within Arcane since I might lose a lot of details if I include Lol in this.

And honestly the Grey part is a bit disjointed. I have found a very good analysis discussing Piltover’s exploitation in Zaun (encapsulated within season 1). Read here.

The point is, Piltover actively exploited Zaun and neglected the Zaunite. Both of these are human rights violations.

Article 23 – Right to Work in Favorable Conditions & Fair Wages

Article 25 – Right to an Adequate Standard of Living

The show also shows the inequality and discrimination happening between Piltover and Zaun.

Stillwater is a prison located in Zaun territory. Every single person we see ever going to Stillwater as a prisoner is a Zaunite. Vi, Sevika, the Jinxers, firelights, the Chembaron goons, Isha, Jinx (was that stillwater also?). We can also see that these cells have no bed, no furniture, it’s not up to standard living conditions. The warden also beat Vi up daily to the point he can’t even count himself. When Jayce was held in a cell, the cell had a bed, table, and window.

Article 5 – Freedom from torture and inhumane treatment

“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

→ The warden beating Vi daily clearly violates this.

Article 25 – Right to an adequate standard of living

You can say it’s just holding cell, he was not convicted yet which leads me to the next issue.

Unfair trial. Despite having so many people go to jail, the only trial we ever saw was with Jayce. Every single Zaunites who were captured went straight up to Jail. They were not given the opportunity to defend themselves. Hell, Vi went to Stillwater for 7 years for no charges at all.

Article 10 – Right to a fair trial

“Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.”

Article 9 – Freedom from arbitrary detention

“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.”

The word “Trencher” is clearly used as a slur to Zaunites. It was used by Marcus once (an agent of the state). You can say he’s a bad apple but the fact that he can use a discriminatory term and was not held accountable for it means the use of the word was not biden by the law therefore making the law maker responsible.

Article 7 – Equality before the law and protection against discriminatio → The fact that Marcus, a state agent, used "Trencher" as a slur without consequence suggests that Zaunites do not receive equal protection under the law. If the law does not prohibit such discrimination, the lawmakers are complicit.

SAY IT WITH ME KIDS.

B. The Enforcers

This section overlaps with the previous one with some specific addition.

The enforcers in Episode 1 were shown doing a massacre on revolutionaries on the bridge (the arcane wiki uses the word revolutionaries) during an uprising. This is clearly a violation of human rights. Since the league wiki uses the word uprising, we don’t know if it started

peacefully or not. Vander and Silco were clearly armed but we were not shown which side attacked first. However that’s probably not the point of that scene. The point is that it was the peak of the violence happening because of tension between the two regions.

But it was clear that even so, the power gap between the enforcers and the protesters was clearly big. First, the enforcers have full body armor while the rebels are wearing normal clothes. Second, in ep1, we see an enforcer shot twice at the silhouette of a man. Once knocked the man down, twice when the man was still on the ground, point blank.

Article 3 – Right to Life, Liberty, and Security of Person → Even if it was an uprising, executing unarmed or incapacitated individuals (as shown with the enforcer shooting a man twice, including when he was already down) is an extrajudicial killing, violating this right (he could just arrest the man).

Article 20(1) – Right to Peaceful Assembly (conditionally) → If the uprising began peacefully and the enforcers escalated it into a massacre, then this right was violated. However, if it was an armed rebellion, this article is less applicable.

In episode 2 the enforcers aggressively interrogate the people of Zaun near the arcade. The man spat on the officer’s shoe and was thrown through the arcade’s window. They then start searching the kids without warrant. In episode 3, again the enforcers searched the kids’ bedroom without warrant.

Article 5 – Freedom from Torture and Inhumane Treatment → Throwing a man through a window for spitting is excessive force and cruel treatment, which violates this article.

Article 9 – Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile → The enforcers detained and assaulted Zaunites without legal justification, making it an arbitrary punishment.

Article 12 – Right to Privacy → Searching the kids without a warrant or reasonable suspicion violates their right to privacy and protection from arbitrary interference.

C. Zaunites, their crimes, and comparison to Piltover

C.1. Silco

I’m gonna start with Silco.

Silco, you can argue whether he’s a criminal or human rights violator. It depends on how you look at his place in the state.

Legally, he’s not the law maker. He has no legal power over Zaun. With this we can argue he’s just a drug lord. His Shimmer empire is a criminal group that has enough money to bend the enforcer. He also exploits Zaunites to maintain power by violence and fear (“exploding his enemies” -Jinx) and money.

But we also can say that he was technically the leader of Zaun. If this is how we look at it then yes, he violates human rights. He flooded the market with Shimmer, encouraging dependency on an addictive substance (right to health), he uses Deckard as a human experiment for shimmer. He had allowed Zaunites to live in poverty and to a not up to standard living condition.

Article 3 – Right to Life, Liberty, and Security of Person

Article 5 – Freedom from Torture and Inhumane Treatment

Article 23 – Right to Work in Favorable Conditions & Fair Wages

Article 25 – Right to an Adequate Standard of Living

If we treat him as Zaun’s de facto leader, then he has a duty to uphold human rights, which he failed.

However, the reality of the show shows that Zaun is ultimately still under Piltover’s rule, so the highest responsibility for these violations shifts to Piltover, not Silco. He and others I will discuss here obviously have moral and personal responsibilities but we’re talking about human rights.

Since Piltover legally governs Zaun, the systemic issues—poverty, lack of regulation on Shimmer, and poor living conditions—are ultimately Piltover’s responsibility. Silco exploits these conditions, but he did not create them. He has no legal responsibility to fix these situations.

Zaun’s suffering stems from Piltover’s neglect and exploitation. Silco filled the power vacuum created by the neglect. His power exists only because of Piltover's actions/inaction. The root of the human rights violations still lies with Piltover, as they created the conditions that made Silco's rule necessary

I’m not saying Silco is going to be a great leader. If the deal for Zaun independence was ever through, I don’t think Zaun will magically have no issue. Silco is more focused on concepts instead of the actual humans. If he became the leader of Zaun legally, he would likely focus on the bigger picture. He certainly understands these concepts and what a nation needs to be independent. His deal with Jayce is proof that he genuinely wants Zaun to be a better place. However he’s someone who sees Zaun as what it could be aka the future, not the present (except for Jinx).

For example when he told Jinx, “the sons and daughters of Zaun deserve better than their (Piltover’s) runoff.”

He’s right. they do. But the sons and daughters of Zaun are also suffering from his shimmer. He doesn’t care what it takes as long as he obtained that better future. To him, it’s fine if the present children are suffering from Shimmer because he sees it as necessary for the future. The question is, until when?

Even if Zaun became independent, they will still have to rise from ashes and blood (ha). At that point, Silco would bear full responsibility for its human rights issues. This is not saying he suddenly became gullible but he will be responsible. He has the responsibility to solve these issues. And unfortunately seeing how focused he is on the outline, the people on the lower side of the Zaun as a society will likely be neglected. To put it simply, Silco will likely focus on opening the door to opportunities while neglecting the people who do not have the ability to take said opportunities.

C.2. Jinx

Jinx Jinx, my baby blue. If you can’t tell by now, she’s my favorite character lmao. I promise not to be biased about her.

Jinx is the monster Piltover created. She’s one of the victims of human rights violations done by Piltover who grew up stronger than Piltover and in return hunted them back.

Unlike Silco, Jinx’s actions are more distinct to one another. Silco works in the bigger picture while Jinx works more on individual crimes.

C.2.1. Firelights

I will not talk much about them except the fact that on both times they clashed against each other, the firelights attacked first. The first time, Jinx was guarding a cargo when they attacked said cargo. The second time they just straight up attacked her with seemingly no reason (we know the reason but Jinx probably doesn’t). Obviously they have very different ideologies. The firelights use non lethal bombs for most of their attacks while Jinx just straight up kills them. Not saying Jinx never attacked first (probably, idk), the point is that they are nemesis. Both swing their weapons. and for the both time the firelights ambushed Jinx, we can argue it’s self defense (and these are the rare times this argument can be made for Jinx lmao).

C.2.2. Ekko

Aside from the firelights stuff, we see Jinx and Ekko fighting again at the bridge. Honestly this is clearly a personal duel so no comment on that.

C.2.3. The Enforcers

Jinx’s massacre of the enforcers stems from pure hatred rather than a calculated act of rebellion—though the two overlap. The hatred is certainly more prominent than the rebellion. But we can tell that what Jinx did, despite coming from personal hatred, certainly has a reason. The reason being that the enforcers have been abusing Zaun, brutalizing Zaun. And Jinx is a part of Zaun. The enforcers have been abusing her. And if they have not ever since Silco took over then we can say past abuse. She’s bringing Zaun’s hell up to Piltover. To “Show them all” like Silco said. So with this we can say she's an Extremist insurgent (violent rebel fueled by hatred).

C.2.4. The Kidnapping of Vi, Caitlyn, and Silco

This is straight up just that lmao, kidnapping. A Crime. No comment on that.

C.2.5. Fishbone-ing the Council

Jinx doesn’t know the council was there having a meeting. She just shot the building, the symbol of Piltover. Her attack on the Council can be interpreted in three ways:

a. Terrorism → If she intended to cause chaos and fear, especially if civilians could be harmed.

b. Insurrection/Rebellion → If she saw the tower as a symbol of oppression and was attacking it as part of a broader resistance.

c. Accidental Assassination → If she didn’t know the council was inside but still destroyed a major government site, it’s still an act of war/terrorism, but without direct intent to kill leadership.

Jinx’s action fell mostly on terrorism. She sees the council as the symbol of her suffering and shoots them out of hatred with the promise to make Piltover’s life a living hell (even though season 2 dropped her motivation).

C.2.6. The Grey -> I’m gonna discuss this later in its own special section.

And despite all this, Jinx wouldn’t have done all of her crimes had Piltover not exploited and neglected Zaun (except for the actual personal ones like the kidnapping I suppose). Jinx wouldn’t hate the enforcers with burning passion had the enforcers not killed her parents and gotten away with it.

Jinx is not a hero. That much is obvious. She is a victim turned monster–she empathizes with other victims of the same oppression, a broken person who responded to oppression with extreme, chaotic violence. But she would never have existed without attrocities.

Piltover failed her, so she burned them to the ground. And if we’re talking about who is most responsible, it’s still Piltover.

C.3. Zaunites

Most of them are criminals. Vi, Powder, Mylo, and Claggor went to rob an apartment. Vander is an accomplice for hiding his kids’ crimes (and a past rebel, he has killed people). The Lanes is the black market area of the undercity created by The Last Drop for smuggling operations. The Jinxers is a rebellion group using violence against enforcers. We all know why they did the things they did. Because of Piltover’s oppression. The kids rob the apartment for survival (aside from Vi wanting to prove herself), Vander and Silco lead a rebellion because of Piltover’s oppression, The people of the Lanes, the chembarons, other Zaunites, resort to smuggling and illicit activities to survive.

Jinxers retaliate with violence is a testament of how your average Zaunites would do what Jinx did if they have the strength and the power to do so.

My point is that no matter what crimes Zaunites did, it’ll never be worse than the Human Rights Violation that Piltover has done.

D. jayce

D.1. His deal with Silco

Honestly it’s arguable whether Silco will give up a Zaunite if it were not Jinx but aside from that, this deal is heavily disproportionate.

These are Silco’s demands:

a. Free trade routes

He wants the trade routes between Piltover and Zaun to be free. No blockage, No nothing. This is necessary for resource trades.

b. Blanket Amnesty

He wants what has happened between Piltover and Zaun to just be forgiven and the two moved on. Meaning what the enforcers have done, what the council has done, what Jinx has done, what Silco has done, etc etc be dropped and they move on focusing on their own nations.

c. Unrestricted access to the Hexgate

This ties back to the free trade routes. In that day and age, international trade mostly uses the Hexgate so if Zaun wanted to heal their economy, they would need hexgate for trades. Yes, it was Piltover’s facility.

d. Sovereignty

Silco wished for Zaun to be able to have complete authority over themselves. In this case with him as the highest owner of the authority. I mean, Silco was already the informal leader of Zaun so might as well.

Now these are Jayce’s demands:

a. Stop the production of Shimmer

Ouch for Zaun’s economy, they will have to find other goods for funding but at the same time Silco immediately agreed to it so I assume this has been his plan from the very start. He’s not planning on keeping Shimmer in an independent Zaun.

b. Return the gemstone

The gemstone was supposedly used as a weapon against Piltover because obviously Zaun currently have no military nor enough resources to defend themselves had Piltover invaded (doesn’t mean they’re completely helpless but still). I think Silco just kinda has to trust Jayce as a person who wants peace.

c. Give up jinx

This is diabolical. Jinx is a person. An individual. Terrible person as she is, her life is still immeasurable. I think that even if Jayce asked for someone else, even if Silco would not bat an eye on said person, it would still be a diabolical demand. Imagine a nation standing on the top of a person’s body.

This shows how Jayce/Piltover has not fully learned that this, all of this, is Piltover’s fault. Sure he said to the council he realized he’s not fit to lead Zaun showing his growth, but he still feels like he’s allowed to demand someone’s life as if he’s entitled to it.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand what Jayce is doing here. He’s trying to strip Zaun out of their power from the one he thinks is the least powerful to the most powerful one.

Shimmer→ He thinks Shimmer is weaker than hextech which is truly used combat wise but shimmer is also entangled in deeper parts of Zaun like medicine, economy, etc etc.

Hextech gemstone →this is self explanatory. He knows the gemstone if it falls into the wrong hands with the right knowledge can cause catastrophe.

Jinx → because he thought Jinx is some kind of Silco’s supersoldier.

But still, Silco here is asking for the bare minimum of requirements for a nation in which with this condition he is confident enough to lead without the risk of them crashing to the ground seconds after they took off. If we want to play the fair unfair game, what should have happened was Piltover fixing THE DAMN PROBLEM. in fact, THEY OWED ZAUN for all the Human violation they did towards Zaunite. All Silco was asking was literally to be LEFT ALONE.

D.2. Jayce and the Shimmer factory

The entire thing with Jayce storming a Shimmer factory and killing Renni’s son is another human rights issue because he never accounted for that after the incident.

Article 6 – Right to Recognition Before the Law → Jayce never reported the incident or took responsibility for the killing. By covering it up, he avoided accountability while continuing to operate as a political leader. You can say he was about to resign but he didn’t anyways at the end. He never told anyone about what Renni said and Zaun has to suffer because of that.

That being said the responsibility also falls upon the enforcers present. And since the enforcers were indeed shown to be present, therefore:

Article 7 – Equality Before the Law → If a Zaunite killed a Piltover child, they’d immediately face consequences. But Jayce, a high-ranking Piltover official, faces nothing because he never reports his crime. The law applies differently based on social status.

Article 10 – Right to a Fair Trial → Jayce avoids any legal consequences. There’s no investigation, no trial, and no justice for the child’s death.

E. The Grey

E.1. The Kiramman and the Grey

The Kiramman, ah the Kiramman. Anywhere I try to find where they get their wealth from, I found mostly nothing specific. The most I can find is that they’re renowned in trade and shipping and they invest in hextech. Of course this is a part of the show’s bias to show us clearly where exactly the council got their money from but I digress.

If we assume the Kiramman got their money from independent business then we can assume they got their wealth from factories, y’know? located in Zaun. The arcane wiki describes her as an “entrepreneur”.

She made the giant ventilation system that I can barely call ventilation since It encapsulate the grey into a chamber instead of directing it out to open air like a normal vent. It’s a waste containment which also does not work as functioning waste containment because they just left it there, unprocessed. From the map of the vent we can literally see the grey goes nowhere.

Cassandra (the Kiramman house) controlled the Kiramman key, which unlocked the Grey’s containment chamber. It also accessed the Kiramman archive. Instead of solving the problem, she controlled the solution then held it hostage. Honestly? it doesn’t even matter where she got her wealth from. Since she’s a councilor, then she’s also part of the government. She’s responsible for everything that happened down in Zaun and gullible for the exploitation done by the councilor. Again, she’s the law maker. She enables this to happen.

Article 25 – Right to a Standard of Living → The Kiramman family holds control over a vital environmental system that directly impacts Zaunites’ health. Instead of properly disposing of the Grey, they store it in a chamber, preventing full relief from pollution.

Article 3 – Right to Life, Liberty, and Security -> If the Kirammans control the vent and the key, they control the air quality in Zaun. This means they can allow or withhold relief at will, effectively holding Zaunites' health hostage.

Article 8 – Right to Legal Remedy → If Zaun has no legal power to challenge this system, it reinforces the systemic lack of justice for them.

Like I said earlier there might be two types of grey. The one formed from explosions in the mines and the one formed by factory waste. Since the first one was unconfirmed in Arcane I’ll mainly use the second definition (since it was confirmed by Smeech and the Kiramman archive).

E.2. Caitlyn and the Grey

No guys, I do not care if you still like caitlyn for all her “flaws.” you can love her, I don’t care, it's subjective. It just drives me viscerally insane to see people defending her actions.

So, I’m gonna make myself clear. I am writing this with the assumption that yes, physics does exist. I do not want to hear the “Arcane is fantasy therefore gas doesn't spread” argument. If you don’t want to acknowledge that then just walk away.

So Caitlyn here comes down as an enforcer in S2. She came down to Zaun as the state apparatus. Therefore once she went into that mission to find Jinx, she came down as part of the legal government.

The same applied to Vi btw.

The difference is that Caitlyn is the leader of this mission while Vi is her subordinate. She comes up with the idea to use the grey. She read the Kiramman archive about the effect of grey to human.We were shown the diagram of what it does to each individual human organ. And yet Caitlyn still weaponized it.

“She used it on criminals only!”

My ass. Almost every Zaunite can be classified as criminals.

"She used it at Chembarons only!"

She used it not just at Chembarons, but also at the Chembarons’ underlings. Have we forgotten that the people working in Silco’s Shimmer factory are children? Who to say these people don't also work for the other Chembarons?

Remember that the fact that children have to work in Silco's factory is also because of the poverty Piltover has caused in Zaun. Also, Chembarons, lord crimes as they were, only cared for money as they were, still a part of a marginalized group. The people Piltover oppressed.

That aside–

What is the purpose of using the grey? Really, what is it for? Gas weaponry is mostly used for crowd control. Like tear gas–like the writer wants us so badly to believe how the grey works. What’s the benefit of using substances like tear gas if you want to ambush a criminal base? It’ll literally just alert them of the enforcers’ presence. And I was right since Jinx was alerted before the enforcers, scratch that, before the visual of the grey even entered the screen.

They have guns, Just use the damn guns. If they’re trying to cover themselves then use a smoke screen like normal people. If they’re not confident enough to go on the mission without the grey then MAYBE HAVE MORE THAN 5 PEOPLE IN THE MISSION.

Again it is the show’s bias to say, “oh it doesn’t affect civilians” and deliberately remove that one scene from the trailer where Jinxers entered the Firelights hideout coughing. Don’t tell me “well it was deleted for a reason!” because the scene was already rendered which means it passed through the meticulous process from storyboard, animating, painting, finalization, etc etc. Also, we were shown the grey on: the street in the hellfire montage, the grey in the Vyx with last drop in the background, meaning the place must have been at or near a crowd populated place, the grey at the arcade, no where near any chembaron place, just a place Jinx knew.

The scene in S2E3 when Jinx confronted Vi about the grey, Vi replied with “we used the grey to clear the street, to keep people safe.”

So like… civilians then? you used the grey to clear the street from civilians so that if casualties happen, civilians will be out of the bullet line?

So I will say it time and time again, civilians will be affected by the grey and I refused to turn off my brain for that one glaring fact. It is beyond my suspension of disbelief especially since they use the same grey to pit Caitlyn and Jinx against each other.

Article 5 – Freedom from Torture or Inhumane Treatment → She weaponized a toxic substance against Zaunites, knowing its harmful effects. Even if targeted at criminals, chemical weapons violate human dignity and could harm unintended victims.

Article 7 – Equality Before the Law → The use of Grey specifically in Zaun suggests a discriminatory approach to law enforcement. Piltover doesn’t use chemical weapons against its own criminals, only against Zaunites.

Article 25 – Right to Health and Well-being → The deliberate use of an environmental hazard in a city already suffering from pollution further endangers the health of Zaun’s population, particularly children and the poor, who have no protection from its effects.

Article 3 – Right to Life, Liberty, and Security → Using a chemical weapon without regard for bystanders disregards the safety of anyone in the area, including those who are already victims of oppression.

E.3. Jinx and the grey incident

So Jinx rerouted the vent to shoot the grey back topside. Now it’s not very clear what this means. The show is framing it as Jinx attacking Piltover street as tit-for-tat. You hurt me, I hurt you back.

Now If the airflow is currently blowing into Zaun (blowing out the grey) then shouldn’t Jinx rerouting the vent sucked back the grey in? But from how it was framed, it seems like Jinx just rerouted the inside of the vent and it doesn’t really affect the grey on Zaun’s street. But still, if you logically think about it, the vent would be cleared from the grey. Jinx’s action even though she did it out of hatred, still benefitted Zaun.

Now Jinx’s terrorism towards Piltovian seems different than her action bombing the council tower in S1. In the battle, she uses “our” and snarls at Vi’s use of “we”. So she’s setting clear boundaries that she’s acting on behalf of “us”. As in, “Vi, you did not just betray me, you betrayed us, Zaun.” Jinx said, “poisoning our air?” from how it stated, clearly she was referring to Zaun as a whole, not just the Chembarons (Because Jinx doesn’t really associate herself as a Chembaron so she must have been talking as Zaun as a collective).

Jinx also said, “weird the kind of thing people believe when you choke them out?” This shows Jinx’s collective empathy towards her community. It honestly made me believe that Jinx wasn’t just doing this on behalf of her name and for her own hatred. She’s killing two birds with one stone. Get the grey out, and send a message to Piltover to not mess with Zaun.

Obviously the show very explicitly shows Jinx’s grey victim while showing none from Zaun. Again this is biased because we know both civilians are definitely affected. The show just chose not to tell Zaun’s part of the story.

Jinx shooting the Grey back at Piltover and Piltovian was the most extreme escalation of her war against them. But does that make her worse than Caitlyn? No. Even if Jinx’s action is (arguably) morally worse since she deliberately shot the grey topside indiscriminately as an act of terrorism, the most gullible one is still Caitlyn because she released the grey in the first place. Because without Caitlyn’s initial use of the Grey, Jinx would never have retaliated.

Jinx’s crime was reactionary—violent, extreme and unjustified, yes, but still a response to systemic oppression.

If Piltovian wanted to protest about the attack, go protest at the enforcer or the council.

BUT DON’T WORRY, I am indiscriminate. The ones most responsible for this is STILL THE COUNCIL. They are definitely responsible. If they know Caitlyn’s plan to use the grey and did nothing to stop it, then they are gullible. If not then Caitlyn is the most gullible BUT the biggest responsibility still falls on the council. If the council sees nothing wrong with it then the council is the most gullible. Cailtyn walked out of that entire grey incident without repercussion so we can assume the council probably approved it. Again, Violation of human rights.

Article 8 – Right to Legal Remedy → If Zaun has no legal power to challenge this system, it reinforces the systemic lack of justice for them.

F. The Martial Law

Maybe not too much on this (although everytime I say not too much it ended up being half pages long so...). But Caitlyn put “the city” under martial law under Ambessa’s suggestion until Jinx was captured. And by city, she means just Zaun because we saw nothing different in Piltover while we see enforcer checkpoints all over Zaun.

Article 1 & 2 – Freedom and Equality, No Discrimination → Martial law was enforced only in Zaun, while Piltover remained unaffected. Targeting one population under the guise of city-wide law enforcement is discrimination.

At this point she’s a COMMANDER. Assuming this means she held the highest position, then she’s responsible for all the things that happened under her watch.

Now about the checkpoints. We see enforcers are clearly there, checking bags, controlling the movement, so it was definitely under the enforcer force.

Article 12 – Freedom from Arbitrary Interference → The enforcers controlled movement with checkpoints, violating the right to privacy and freedom of movement.

Rictus, Ambessa’s right hand, enacted violence on one of the Jinxer based on his hair color. The enforcers DID NOTHING to stop this even though the operation was under the enforcer’s supposed watch.

Caitlyn questions Ambessa about Rictus’ instigating violence at the checkpoint BUT she dropped it afterwards. She told Ambessa that she wasn’t the one encouraging violence and yet she does not object. Again, she’s the commander, the one with power. It is her responsibility to DISCOURAGE it. She said “arrest requires cause” and “why is peace always the justification for violence?” AND YET SHE LETS IT HAPPEN. The next time we saw the Jinxer, HE WAS ARRESTED and by Caitlyn’s own words: WITHOUT CAUSE. The Jinxer was shown to be interrogated, brutally at that. Is all of this happening under her nose without her knowing? HOW?? SHE’S THE COMMANDER. YOU CAN’T MAKE SOMEONE HOLD THE HIGHEST POSITION AND HAVE HER KNOW NOTHING. IS THERE NO ENFORCER GUARDS OUTSIDE THE INTERROGATION ROOM OR SOMETHING???

Which means she KNOWS she UNDERSTOOD that it is wrong and yet she did it anyways. She allowed it to happen.

Article 3 – Right to Life, Liberty, and Security → The Jinxer was arrested without cause and later interrogated brutally. This was under Caitlyn’s authority as the highest-ranking enforcer.

Article 5 – No Torture or Inhuman Treatment → The Jinxer was beaten during interrogation, an act of state-sponsored violence that Caitlyn allowed.

Article 7 – Equality Before the Law → Rictus violently attacked a Jinxer based on hair color, and no enforcers intervened. Meanwhile, Zaunites faced arrests without due process.

Article 10 & 11 – Fair Trial & Presumption of Innocence → The Jinxer was assumed guilty, arrested without a trial, and beaten during interrogation.

“It aligns with her character!”

I know and I truly don’t care if you still like her, we’re speaking about human rights today, later about the writing.

At the rally. Rictus again shown to be the one leading the arrest. But about a dozen enforcers were behind him. SO DON’T TELL ME CAITLYN HAS NO IDEA. HOW IS THE ENFORCERS ALLOWED TO GO ON AN ARREST IF NOT PER CAITLYN’S ORDER??? HOW???

And if Caitlyn knew about the arrest at the rally, then she must have known about the interrogation itself BECAUSE HOW ELSE WOULD AMBESSA KNOWS WHERE TO ATTACK?

If you want to tell me it was all Ambessa’s doing, Ambessa was the one telling enforcers around and the enforcers just ate it behind Caitlyn’s back THEN SHOW ME. Show me Caitlyn having a revelation that she has been fooled behind her back, that Ambessa has been operating the enforcers behind Caitlyn’s back.

BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED, WAS IT?

Vi said, “she oinked poison in your ear and you just ate it.”

Honestly Vi, you don’t really know that. But hey, Caitlyn did confirm with “I know!” Which means Ambessa just influenced her and not snuffing enforcers behind her back.

Article 9 – No Arbitrary Arrest or Detention → Approved mass arrests during the rally without legal justification.Article

19 & 20 – Freedom of Expression & Peaceful Assembly → The rally was violently suppressed, violating the right to protest.

BTW, CAITLYN KEPT THE WARDEN THAT SHE KNEW HAS BEATEN VI UP COUNTLESS TIMES.

She knew this guy is a human rights violator and yet she kept him. I know the argument is probably that was not her focus at the moment, but that doesn’t mean she’s not responsible and arguably gullible for it.

Article 28 – Right to Social Order Protecting These Rights → Caitlyn had the highest power to stop these violations but did nothing. She knew it was wrong, admitted it, yet still allowed it to happen.

She may not have actively ordered every abuse, but by maintaining her position, keeping abusive enforcers, and allowing mass arrests/torture under her command, she is directly responsible.

So now you may ask. Why am I talking about all this? Am I like, A PURIST? Do I just want to see happy stuff happening on screen? Do I want every issue to be black and white?

(Now listen here– I've said this in the beginning and I will remind you again, human rights violation is most definitely wrong. Unlike Jinx’s actions which can paint a shade of gray, you can never reason for it because the one responsible is the state itself. NO ONE can hold it accountable. No matter how much water you add, It will always comes out black)

Well kids, all of this analysis about human rights issues is actually just that, analysis about human rights issues in Arcane. I’m not complaining that much about the writing except maybe the biases I caught along the way.

That being said NOW I’m gonna complain about this one damn scene. Because it suggest that Jinx and Caitlyn were on equal term in case of attrocity.

SHUT UPPPPPPP. WDYM “OUR” CRIMES??? OH, I’M SORRY—

Caitlyn, I think you are mistaken. You yourself have not done any “crime” wanna know why? Because you’re behaving in the name of the state. It’s not a crime, Caity, don’t worry. Isn’t it fun? Being able to do all this violence without being held accountable because you’re only behaving in the name of the state? YES CAITY, THAT’S WHY IT’S CALLED HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION.

YOU ARE, IN FACT, NOT EQUAL WITH JINX. If you were EQUAL you WOULD NOT be outside the damn cell with Jinx inside.

YOU GIVING HER A “CHANCE”??? CAITY YOU ARE WORSE THAN HER. THE WORST JINX HAS DONE WAS INDISCRIMINATE TERRORISM, YOU VIOLATED HUMAN RIGHTS.

And don’t worry because Jinx KNOWS what she has done. Season 1 made it very clear that Jinx understands what kind of person she has become. The question is, Caitlyn: DO YOU??

I’m sorry, I try my best to reinforce calm and leveled discussion regarding Arcane BUT I HAVE MY LIMIT–

The only “crime” Caitlyn has ever acknowledged was for “listening to Ambessa.” Entschuldigung but no one ever told you to use the grey on Zaun.

Yes, Ambessa manipulates the situation in S2 but let’s be real, Renni’s attack on Jayce at the memorial was long awaited.

Going back to Caitlyn, the second time Ambessa manipulated the situation is during S2E3. She lied about Amara being killed by two assassin Zaunites. Piltover ate it up, no question, no investigation (even though Caitlyn is supposedly a detective).

Caitlyn is clearly not competent for the position. Or at least not yet. She was given that position to her, she has not earned it herself. And guess what? The second she held the reign, she abused it and she never faced any repercussions for it. No, losing an eye is not a consequence of her action towards Zaun. Maybe the consequence of listening to Ambessa but she has not done anything for Zaun. She still lives in her cushy mansion and the ending chose to show her having a comfortable life with Vi instead of showing how she’s trying to redeem herself. She gets to walk away with it.

Caitlyn wasn’t just a soldier following orders—she was the commander of the enforcers. She had the highest authority in the force, which means she was responsible for every action taken under her command. Unlike lower-ranking enforcers, who might claim they were "just doing their job," Caitlyn had decision-making power and used it to enforce oppressive and violent policies.

Caitlyn is both a product of the system and a willing participant in it. She is not just complicit—she was responsible. And yet, unlike Jinx, she never faced judgment. She walked free, while the people of Zaun suffered under the system she upheld.

NO MATTER what Jinx does, what Silco does, what ANY of the Zaunite does. It will NEVER be WORSE than what PILTOVER does. A crime is an act of wrongdoing, but a human rights violation is a failure of a system meant to protect people.

“Arcane is a tragedy!”

yes. yes it is.

#arcane critical #anti caitlyn kiramman #arcane analysis #arcane #piltover and zaun #arcane criticism #arcane critique #fandom critical #I'm so sorry guys #i just can't #I was serious about the human rights issue that's about to be repeated #lmao #I can see and smell the signs coming from miles away #it was actually so bad it pulled me out of my arcane coma #just #i can't with all this...#oh you just don't like it cuz it don't align with your politic #left wings #right wings #who cares?#the point is that #if there is human right issue going on #a change has to be made #a massacre on the bridge could not change piltover #so no #verbal protest isn't going to make them bat an eye #they only start caring once jinx brings her hell to them #when it starts affecting them #i just gotta write this. most likely risk scide by sniper these days

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