#arcane family

[sandraharissa]

To me the core theme of arcane is this specific type of conflict that repeats over and over again in all the main aspects of the story that centers around 'sibling relationships'.

Starting with the two cities. We have Piltover and the bad side of Piltover. Technically they're supposed to be one and the same but one is the 'golden privileged child' while the other is disadvantaged and needs to rely on the rich side of Piltover for support, they can't do it by themselves. And then the rich side of Piltover fails in its duties of taking care of/protecting/supporting/whatever the poorer side and a split happens. Zaun is created and it becomes so dangerous and volatile, it becomes a menace and an active threat to itself/the outside and there's no going back. It's the monster Piltover created and even tho the Undercity suffered unfairly at this point it has become so monstrous there may be no improvement/redemption for it.

And obvs that's the exact same thing that happens with Vander/Silco and Vi/Jinx. However it's also imo completely applicable to Jayce/Viktor and even Heimer/Singed. Jayce and Viktor will only reach their break-up era in future seasons but it's a given this will happen but I know I obvs need to explain the Heimer/Singed example.

Based on what we know about them Heimer is just naturally immortal/long-living, how lucky for him, and completely lacks any ability to relate to beings who from his perspective live short life-spans. Meanwhile Singed is just a human and on top of that he had a 10yo child who died from some kind of disease(maybe?). Currently he is obsessed with discovering immortality: experimenting on ppl, mutating them, resurrecting corpses etc. possibly in an attempt to find a way to heal/resurrect his daughter. And we know him and Heimer were partners and that Heimer didn't help him and threw him out of the university or smth for his research. So the exact same dynamic as the other pairs.

So notice how we've got the cities, and then each city has its storyline, and each storyline has a pair of protags who reflect the conflict between the cities, and then each pair also has the pair that preceded them which also reflects the same conflict. In Zaun all these connections are about family ties: brothers, sisters, fathers/daughters, with inherited political/social roles like the Piltover sympathizer and criminal/revolutionary. Meanwhile Piltover storyline connections are about 'progress': science buddies, mentors and students, with Jayce succeeding Heimer as the barely-scientist-moreso-a-politician and Singed/Viktor being mad scientists. We've even got zaunite 'older siblings' associating with Piltover and piltovan 'younger siblings' being from/associating with Zaun.

Just really nice parallels all around.

But I actually have an honorable mention to add here at the end lol.

Mylo and Claggor. Obvs they don't quite fit cos they never develop into this kinda dynamic and they were never meant to but I can't help but notice the similarities. Claggor being the pure hearted hero archetype, looking like Vander, naturally good fighter, seemingly lacking insecurities, seems like the 'second in command' after Vi (second best with the fighting machine, Vander speaks to him second to get info about what happened), meanwhile Mylo giving off 3rd child vibes, full of insecurities and needing to prove himself, physically looks like a stick bug, a bit of a bully, "weird" lock-picking talents that he struggles with and isn't respected for (like Singed/Viktor's science, Powder's bombs or Silco's dream) that are actually super useful and impressive (like he could have been robbing millions from Piltover banks if he got adopted by Silco instead lol).

[sandraharissa]

That example from silco’s death scene is crazy tho. It’s perfectly recreating the video all the way down to every single slight glance and finger movement, and so we have this animator(?) and his acting skills to thank for how crazy well jinx’s movements are nailed in that scene. You can see that they don’t always animate it exactly like the video referrences but here they followed they guy’s acting choices to a tee.

Arcane animators self referencing!

This animator got to use his son for young Ekko's reference and it's so damn sweet!!

Imagine acting up this incredibly heart-wrenching scene in your lounge to a rolled up sock on a bag... They gave it their all too!

This scene's acting fidelity is incredible! Especially the shakiness of Ekko's movement to punch Jinx...

[jm-chrome]

Protector dads and their powerful pink daughters

[arcanegifs]

ARCANE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: 1x09 - "The Monster You Created" ↳ "Because you weakened me! I couldn't endure the look in your eyes whenever I made the decisions, the necessary decisions to keep us safe!"

[apollognese]

This, but Sevika don't really care about Jericho's (´·ω·`)

[sandraharissa]

Maybe she has a last name cos one of her parents is from Piltover and has a second name and that's why she's one of few zaunites who got the opportunity to study at the academy. Or maybe she needed one on her academy papers so on the fly she said 'Young'.

All the Zaunites we meet have no last name whatsoever. I assume this is because they have to fill their own shoes instead of relying on a famous last name like say Kiramman.

However, Sky is the only exception to this with her last name being Young. Maybe it was foreshadowing how she was gonna die young.

[dykesevika]

[tuziehr]

me whenever i see a doomed/tragic/angsty sibling dynamic

[sandraharissa]

I have no idea what s2 will bring.

The only thing I know is to brace myself for immediately starting the season off with the immediate fall-out of the explosion.

Scenes of the councilors trying to save their lives, us probs following Mel+Jayce+Viktor as they’re likely the only survivors, them seeing the horror of the situation, maybe seeing Cassandra dying and living through it all the while they have no idea what’s happening. Ppl walking out of their houses in the middle of the night to just see what the hell was that and seeing the tower burning. The absolute chaos on the streets, everybody’s out and watching, enforcers are losing it, maybe even immediate mobilization on the streets of Zaun, calling to action. Maybe Sevika/Chembarons thinking that it’s Silco’s doing and that it’s a planned and organized attack that they were kept in the dark about but really should have seen coming based on Silco’s goals and movement and the recent events. Cait’s horror at the scene and seeing her in the aftermath of her mother’s death, likely going through some mild corruption arc, and I don’t even know how Vi processing all that could look like. She’s freaking out cos Cait’s freaking out cos Cait’s mom is dead cos her sister went off the deep end. Likely a mourning/funeral/panic attack scene with Jinx and the introduction of the Silco hallucination. Just everybody screaming and freaking out. Not a single calm or content or triumphant person in sight. Just absolute chaos.

[sandraharissa]

yeah, it also doesn't make sense considering the plot. like Vi and Cait wait 15-ish years to assemble a team to go after Jinx? and nothing important happens during that time pertaining Jinx and the war? and her and Cait still aren't an item? or will they have a home/marriage/kid off screen? Or will acts I and II happen soon after s1 and then we get a 10+ year time skip? But then why is Vi still, after 15 years, struggling with being/ becoming an enforcer and is upset about it and still doesn't have her style figured out?

I know the gal looks very similar to Ren but ppl are also overreacting a bit imo. Their hair color is actually quite different, she could easily be Marcus' sister or his wife's sister. or Ren's cousin who's in her early 20s, now has custody of Ren and wants to avenge her uncle.

Gonna go on record and say I do really hope that is NOT Ren in the teaser. If that is the daughter of Marcus that would mean, at best, like a 10 year time skip (girlie was still playing with blocks last we saw her). Which...please no. No time skip. At least not one that long.

Also, while I can maybe see SOME argument to support Vi and Caitlyn look perhaps older (and yea, idk if I'd be convinced). But again. Not aged the number of years it would take Ren to become an enforcer, let alone one considered skilled enough to work with Vi and Caitlyn. Even in a 'Cait sees she has potenal and picks her out of a bunch of really young newbies' situation.

[nariko-senpai]

Friendly reminder that Vi was only a kid who watched her whole family die in a matter of seconds just as they were about to escape.

Friendly reminder that Vi wanted to go back for Powder after she left but got arrested.

Friendly reminder that Powder only wanted to help her family and still feels guilty about the incident.

Friendly reminder that Jinx still loved Vi after all those years.

They were both children who went through horrible ordeals and made mistakes that shaped them to be who they are.

[iminmywritersdungeon]

Never getting over how even after everything, even strapped to a chair and scared out of her mind, vi still says “we can go, we can leave this all behind and never come back” and jinx’s response isn’t that she hates her, or that she doesn’t want to leave, it’s just “where would we go?” Because in that moment nothing else matters to them. All they ever wanted was to be sisters again.

[sandraharissa]

It's also so ironic for him to say this and set up this expectation of 'they'll write their own stories' and then the whole story is about 'you are your father'.

Benzo’s line “They’re growing up, Vander. Looking to write their own story. You can’t protect them forever.”  Is such a deliberate piece of misdirection about what sort of story we’re in. It’s complacent, Benzo implicitly reassuring Vander that the kids will be okay just like they were. Vander appears to have a slightly different, and more traumatised, view on how okay they actually are but he accepts the friendly intention. 

But it’s the sort of line usually spoken in a story where we do see the kids grow up and make choices, maybe a story about a plucky young street gang dodging Enforcers and having beef with undercity rivals. And then episode 3 happens.

[arcanegifs]

ARCANE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: 1x06 - "When These Walls Come Tumbling Down" ↳ "You're a class act, Sister. Sister. Thought I missed her. Bet you wouldn't miss her."

[hel-unleashed]

I'm having a high dosage of copium pumped directly into my veins right now

[redrum-alice]

[Family AU] this is how Ekko admires Jinx's as..sets