#her being good with kids and protecting jinx this season is just...

[foundfamilyblog]

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ARCANES ENDING BELOW:

Now, this is off topic for my blog but I'd like to shed light on something.

Arcanes ending. Namely the end of Jinx's character arc is what I believe to be one of the finest pieces of writing in the modern world with no exception. When Jinx is born at the end of 103 we see what happens to someone who heals wrong, we see the kind of monster they become when they aren't nurtured and given a proper environment to heal in. Powder becomes a monster known as Jinx who goes on to commit multiple acts of terrorism against Piltover. The way she feeds into this idea of being a monster as a way of lashing out at the pain she's felt from being "abandoned" by Vi is so incredibly realistic and relatable that it begs the question what has happened in the writers lives that allow them to understand such a transformation so thoroughly.

Then, at the end of season 1 we see Powder/Jinx finally embrace her new self with no more qualms about her identity, truly and finally one. Without any need to hold back anymore, she does something truly unforgivable and without redemption in the form of 9/11ing Piltover. Even in this moment though, she screams and cries in pain at how her old life is well and truly gone. The emotional turmoil of what she's done and what she's doing is too much to handle. To violently tear a new life out from the broken and beaten body of your old one is something no soul should have to do, but she does, and she makes it relatable.

Once we see her again in season 2, she has become much more lucid and comfortable in her own body as Jinx, the hallucinations have subsided for the most part and her inner turmoil is appropriately dealt with. Additionally she has a goal in mind now, she's chosen who she is and she knows what she wants to do: Kill Vi. The new life she has built for herself is purposeful, deliberate, no more a mish mash of two clashing ideals.

She wants to solidify her role as a monster once and for all, which ends in an epic battle between her and her sister, and at the very end of the fight right before she's taken out for good? A single soul sees the value in her life and risks everything to protect her. A child. Everyone, even Jinx is shocked by this because how could anyone ever love an ugly, broken thing like her? Let alone risk their life for her? The shock this instills in everyone buys Jinx enough time to escape with the kid, Isha. Imagine performing such horrible, inconceivable actions with no remorse and being full of such hatred, and then one person decides you're worth it. Just one person decides you are worthy of love and that they do love you and want you around. Can you imagine how that would shatter your world view? Being full of such self hatred and hatred for the world around you only to be shown warmth even in those times? This is exactly what happens to Jinx.

When we see her next, some time has passed, and she's even begun to drop the name Jinx. Her new friend, Isha, and her have begun a new life together and they look out for each other. The way Jinx describes her new life is "like I'm looking through glasses, except I can't tell if everything's blurry or clear." And what's clear to us as the audience is that Jinx is FINALLY healing. She is finally beginning to find some peace after all she has been through, and all it took was ONE soul, one singular person to love her even after all she had done. We go on to see her reunite with her sister, and somewhat with her father. We get to watch her slowly rebuild the life that was stolen from her and reconnect with those she lost, and those she hurt. This represents hope and change, rebirth and love, that maybe your sins aren't who you are. That you can change and love and be so wonderfully you with those who love you!

Isha dies. Isha, Jinx's anchor to the world, dies protecting her. Yet again Jinx loses everything. Her father is taken from her yet again in the process and the exact trauma that shaped her into Jinx is entirely recreated. Except, this time? There's no insanity. There's no hallucinations and mania. There's no rage or hate or flames or explosions or chaos or screaming. It's just sad. Nothing but sorrow fills Jinx up as she loses her one and only friend. She intends to kill herself at this point. She looks back at her life and sees how everyone she gets close to dies, gets hurt, or she in some way is preventing from being happy. That she alone is the perpetuator of a cycle of violence that has plagued her families lives for years and years. So she decides to give them closure. She tells Vi she can stop feeling bad for being happy and move on, she tells Cait she didn't know her Mom was in the explosion, and she leaves. Nothing more, just leaves. Doesn't tell anyone what she's going to do, she just does it. The intense guilt she feels is palpable in every breath she takes, it's clear she just wants to quietly leave this world without hurting anyone, just this once. Then the time finally comes, to end her life and finally be free of it all. Only to be stopped. One more remnant of her old life comes back and convinces her to stick around a little longer. Somehow, she agrees, but we all know that this is only temporary. The guilt someone feels after doing something so terrible, so unforgivable, can't be cleansed by a single conversation. She hates herself and just wants to stop hurting people, but she still has a small spark, something in her that has hope she can do good. So she delays her death to try one more time to be kind.

Next we see her, she's got a new look and is fighting alongside Vi, instead of against. She acknowledges their connection and at a pivotal moment, takes the fall. She saves her sisters life and "sacrifices" herself in the process. At the very last moment, she understands that there's another way out of her pain and hurting everyone around her instead of dying. She fakes her own death to everyone and escapes the country quietly. She tells no one and quietly escapes, with everyone having the closure of her death.

No more chasing her, no more thinking of what she might be plotting, no more hoping the old her will return. It's just over.

Her final action in Arcane is one of kindness, and healing to those she hurt. It is not redemption, but it is understanding. She accepts she is a bad person and may very well still hate herself, however she at the very least opens herself up to a new life far from those she hurt. And I think that's beautiful.

Anyway this is just my personal interpretation of the ending, I'm open to new ideas and down to discuss though! Btw I didn't proof read this so if it seems messed up anywhere that's why.

[angel-bitch-boy]

Guys you don't understand this is literally my wife we're very happy with two children and one on the way

STOP COS LOOK AT HER SAD PUPPY EYES

[thenationofzaun]

Thoughts on Act 1 of Arcane Season 2

The positives:

- The animation is fucking incredible.

- Jinx and Sevika teaming up watered my crops and cleansed my skin.

- Underwater goodbye with Jinx and Silco. That scene was made specifically for me.

- Jinx's voice actress continues to be excellent.

- Loved the designs of all the Chembarons. The glimpse we got of the gang wars was also interesting. Unfortunately, too tiny a glimpse. Which brings me to...

The negatives:

- Too many plotlines. They stuffed the season with too much shit which is why each individual plot gets a much shorter screentime than it should. Smeech is introduced and killed in the same episode. Chembarons' gang wars, a huge issue which has repercussions on the entire Undercity, gets only one musical montage before moving on. And this is coming from someone who loved that montage, as well as the song. My favourite on the soundtrack so far. But musical montages shouldn't come at the expense of the story and definitely shouldn't replace the story. There are just way too many music video scenes in general that feel like a way to condense a storyline into the sparknotes version because they don't have the screentime to flesh it out. And they would have the screentime if they cut out all the extra stuffing. Look I'm happy for the League fans who are excited for the Black Rose and all that, but what the hell is it doing in a Piltover/Zaun show. And with zero foreshadowing in Season 1 too. It would definitely be easier to swallow if they had at least hinted at it in the first season. They could have kept Ambessa's beef with this magic cult for a Noxus show. The P/Z narrative has enough to deal with, enough characters to handle already.

- The new side characters are uninteresting and generic. Maddie and the two other enforcers (we don't even know their names after three episodes LMAO) are bland. We know nothing about their characters or personalities. Maddie looks like a rookie, and one of the dudes is an alcoholic, yet they get chosen for an elite strikeforce to capture Jinx? Isha is pretty generic too - the token cute kid that needs protecting. I get the role she will play in Jinx's arc. But that's the problem - she should be a character in her own right, not just a vehicle for someone else's character development. A good example is Mylo. He died for Jinx's arc, but when he was alive he was a distinct character with his own personality. We had a sense of his insecurities, his goals, who he was as a person. Name a single personality trait of Isha and Maddie other than "generically nice person". That's right. You can't.

- Whatever the hell is going on with Viktor. He wakes up from his coma and immediately rejects Jayce so quickly that it was funny. Apparently disapproves of Jayce using the Hexcore to save his life, but then immediately goes to use the Hexcore to save random Undercity people. Bruh. I also don't really like the way the fridged woman from last season seems to be his motivation so far. Nor the way he seems to have no agency in his Machine Herald arc. Instead of Viktor himself believing in transhumanism and mechanizing himself, Jayce does it for him. Instead of Viktor having an ideological drive and wanting a "Glorious Evolution", he is driven by guilt over Sky. Meh. Also he's not even mechanized, instead he's weirdly fleshy?? In a magical way?? More like The Magic Herald :(

- Vi. Her whole character is a mess. Insanely rushed arc which I find unacceptable for one of THE main characters and one of the faces of the show. She and Jinx are supposed to be the leads, their relationship the heart of the story, but so far only Jinx is a well-written fleshed out chaacter with a believable arc. I have too much to say about Vi so I'll expand more on this on another post.

- So much nuance and detail is missing. How does Heimerdinger feel about his ex-colleagues being killed? Does he care? Does he feel guilt? Relieved that he wasn't in the chamber when the bombing happened? No clue! Let's have comedy Mission Impossible instead! How does Ekko feel about the Council attack? Does he approve of it? Think Jinx went too far? How does he feel that she even survived their fight to begin with? No clue! Here, have him joking around with a Councilor for a bit (someone whom Ekko logically should despise), then he can talk Science with Jayce and all three get sent to another dimension together. Yay. What does Vi think happened to Ekko? The last time she saw him, he was fighting Jinx to the death to give Vi and Cait time to escape. He could be dead for all she knows and she doesn't give a fuck. Doesn't even think about him nor mention him once. It's like the writers forgot they're childhood friends. What does the entirety of Zaun make of Silco's death? I assume they heard about it from Piltover (who heard about it from Caitlyn), but how do they think it happened? His body is gone and to Zaun it seems he just mysteriously disappeared. Are there conspiracy theories? Conflicting accounts and rumours? So much nuance that would give the world and characters more depth, sacrificed so we can pack in more rushed subplots and music videos.

- Caitlyn "Wifebeater" Kiramman. And Caitvi in general. So far Caitlyn has guilt-tripped Vi, manipulated her into joining the enforcers, insulted her and then physically abused her. After Vi sacrificed everything for Cait, wore a badge she hates for Cait, even let Cait kill her own fucking sister (and only intervened when the random kid got involved). Why should I give a shit about such a one-sided relationship lmao. "B-but Cait's mom is dead so she's sad about it", every other fucking character in this show has dead parents. Half the cast has faced unfathomable amounts of trauma and pain that make Cait's pale in comparison. Nothing justifies her hitting Vi. "B-b-but it's a parallel to when Vi hit Powder", a shit parallel then. Because the circumstances are not even remotely comparable. "God forbid lesbians do anything🤪", give me a break with this corny bullshit. Be serious for a second. I'm not even a Vi fan and I think she deserves better than this mess of a relationship. The power dynamic between them makes it worse. The way Caitlyn is one of the richest people in the city and Vi is broke. The way Caitlyn is highly educated and Vi never went to school and spent her entire teen years locked in a box. Did the writers think about all this when writing their relationship? Keep in mind, Vi met Caitlyn like a week ago. She barely knows this chick. She's been out of prison FOR A WEEK. Where she was physically abused every fucking day. Putting her in a relationship with a cop who hits her would certainly be a choice! Do I have faith this show will handle it with care? Not really, no. They already ignore Vi's prison trauma. Most likely they will make Vi forgive Cait way too easily because "muh mummy muh grief".

[space-blue]

Having digested the first 3 episodes of Arcane 2, I'm ready to say something bold and brave, and I hope I don't get too much hate for it.

Vi is just not a nice person.

In season 1, I feel like I was maybe unfair to the writers by saying that "rushing the romance with an enforcer/1% like Cait" was "flattening" Vi's character. That it was bending her out of shape.

How could a Zaunite as maltreated as Vi so easily turn to someone like Cait?

I was told by shippers it's because Cait is the first to show her kindness in a long time, and I still think that's hogwash. She is fresh out of mega hell prison where enforcers beat her so often they lost track of it. I don't believe any amount of kindness could make you fall for an enforcer within 48h in this context. Not realistically.

But now?

Vi hears Cait dehumanizing Zaunites and doesn't fight back. It takes a few compliments to make her accept an enforcer badge. She's running around gasing the people of the Lanes, making excuses for it, while looking fresh out of a WWII horror movie in that gas mask.

And when the gas mask is off, she's wearing Claggor's goggles... Like, yeesh.

She's clearly blinded by Cait. And that's fine! I used to think it was the flaw of the writers trying to hurry a Caitvi ship along. Now I gotta admit, it looks like Vi just doesn't have strong morals.

She hates enforcers but she'll join them easily. Her wanna-be gf says we use toxic gas that has horrible side effects [cut to horror medical slides] and she says "yeah, it's for the good of the people, sure".

She sees Jinx and accuses her of killing Powder, and says she's tired of making excuses for her.

To WHO, Vi? We don't have you on screen apologizing to anyone for Jinx's actions. I'm sure things were said to Caitlyn, but like, yeesh.

She accuses Jinx of orphaning kids, WHILE WEARING AN ENFORCER UNIFORM, the same worn by the people who orphaned HER.

I give up. The writers knew what they were doing.

A flawed woman who wasn't made a better or more moral one by all the suffering she endured in Stillwater.

Vi is cool, but she's not super loyal, is a bit of a meathead, doesn't have her priorities in orders, leads with her fists and caves easily to her emotions. She's horny for Cait and not very interested in the fate of her community.

Being locked up and beaten didn't make her smarter or kinder. It just made her a better fighter.

It's kind of my bad for assuming that Vi "should be better", logically. If she's written as a human, then she should be flawed and yeah, I guess she fucking is lol

I'm curious to see if she develops some... class consciousness, or some patriotism of some sort, when everyone realises the Noxian offers of protection are a yoke. I'm a lot more curious seeing where she ends now that I've accepted she's cool while also kinda shitty. It's nice that it goes along Cait's spiral into villainy.

[jinxedjackie]

Going to ramble for a bit but I hope we’ll get a Sevika backstory in season two or, at least, something about her family or values other than her loyalty to the cause. Arcane is all about family and, if I recall correctly, she’s the only character in Arcane who doesn’t have any familial ties (Viktor sorta has Singed, Heimerdinger sorta has the council and Piltover(??)… but Ig, if you think about it, Sevika has Zaun?) (But maybe later when she starts to mentor Jinx?)

Might go on a tangent here and ramble about some things and head canons but…

It kind of makes me wonder if Sevika wants to have a family of her own? Or, maybe, take the orphans roaming around the streets of Zaun under her wing? Maybe she could train and provide for them in ways her parents and society had failed to do. Zaun is all she has left, her family, and it’s one of the reasons that drives her to fight.

Blinded by her loyalty to Zaun’s liberation and independence, she leaves Vander, and chooses Silco, because Silco isn’t pliant to the enforcers’ whims and isn’t afraid to fight back. He doesn’t leave Zaun to bleed. She knows that sometimes it’s better to back down than fight, but Vander had to know when enough is enough.

She doesn’t let the repercussions of Silco’s actions and the effects of shimmer affect her. Even if guilt incessantly gnawed at her heart. You grow through suffering and sacrifices because it drives progress — that’s what she’s learned all throughout her life, when her father broke her nose and arm for being scared to throw a punch, when her mother taught her to nurse a broken bone and ask her to understand why her father did it, when she had to sacrifice her own youth because she had to fend for herself. This is good for them. The children of Zaun will learn. It’s also why, when she lost her arm, she doesn’t blame Jinx and her very idiotic makeshift monkey bomb. (Even if the little shit annoys the fuck out of her.) Her arm was just a small sacrifice to pay. If she hadn’t protected Silco, Zaun would’ve bled to death, and the topside would’ve never notice, continuing to dance over Zaun’s grave. It’s the least she could do, the least she could offer. She’d give her life, too, if she could. Anything and everything for Zaun.

It’s one step forward to freedom but two steps backward in civilization (because shimmer is shit and eats you from the inside out, but it’s what keeping her and Zaun alive, unfortunately) but it’s still progress and also a big fuck you to Piltover, and that’s what matters. She, Silco, and shimmer are necessarily evils. She starts to understand why her father was rough with her.

Anyway, on a sorta related note, do you ever wonder if Sevika sees herself and her father in Jinx and Silco, has thought of asking Silco to stop whatever mind games he’s doing with Jinx or to be gentle with her, at the very least (because she doesn’t know anything. Because she’s just a kid. A brat. She’s lost) but when she faces Silco all she sees is her father towering over her with the same disapproving and angry look that’s etched forever in her mind since she was five?

Also… what if, after everything has resolved and she’s done all she could for Zaun, she settles down and finally allows herself to prioritize herself and her happiness? She gets a small house, maybe somewhere in the forest. Finds herself a wife and two or three kids to adopt. But then, before she could achieve that she d—

—

It’s kind of all over the place but, um, please don’t mind me. I wanted to ramble about Sevika wanting a family but getting scared of having kids bc she doesn’t want them to go through what she experienced, and then it turned to this. Lol

[cherrybomb107]

Okay, so, I’ve been thinking about it for a while now and I think I’m finally able to articulate my feelings about Vi becoming an Enforcer. Stick with me, cause this’ll be a rant, but I promise it’ll all make sense (I hope).

As I’ve said before on here, I feel like the Arcane fandom across different platforms is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Here, vs the subreddit is a whole world of a difference. That difference being so large is part of the reason why I feel how I feel about Vi becoming an Enforcer. It’s not so much that I don’t like it(cause it’s not that I don’t like it; I hate it actually. REAL BAD). But, if I tried to talk about WHY it bothers me so much, some dude bro with a superiority complex and 0 class consciousness is gonna be like “Um ackshully, Vi is trying to protect her community. Why are you mad about that but not mad about Jinx being a TERRORIST?! Huh? Huh?” Then I’ll be accused of being a moron who didn’t watch the show . And then if I tried to defend myself I’d get dog piled and downvoted to oblivion.

So, first of all, irdgaf about Jinx being a terrorist. So what? What goes around comes around. When she burns Piltover tf DOWN, Imma sip on an ice cold beverage and watch, cause fuck em. Secondly, I understand WHY Vi is joining the Enforcers. Just like I understand why women can be raging misogynists. And why immigrants become Trump supporters. And why poor people join the military. And why Black people perpetuate respectability politics. I understand why members of marginalized communities join the opposition responsible for their marginalization. I understand that at its core, these people understand, at least on some level, that the powers that be are punishing them for existing as themselves. So, in an effort to take some of the heat off, they’ll internalize the messages they’ve been force fed since forever. They’ll try to change. Try to be “better”.

But see the problem with that is, trying to become “one of the good ones” and “rise above it all” doesn’t work. For the simple fact of no matter how hard you try to assimilate, you’ll never be one of “them”. You can parrot all the talking points, you can change your hair, the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you dress etc. But no matter what, you’ll never be accepted wholly. You’ll always be on the outside looking in.

I say that to say, the thing I hate most about Vi becoming an Enforcer is that I’ll have to see a character that I love dearly fall victim to this mindset. In a show full of tragedies, is this not yet another one to add to the list? Piltover took Vi, a scrappy kid from the Lanes, slaughtered her family in front of her, locked her up and threw away the key, and convinced her that the only way to save her sister was to put on a uniform, and enforce the will of the crooked politicians who don’t care about her or her people.

That’s what’s got me somewhat scared for season two. I really hope they frame Vi’s reluctant decision to join the Enforcers as another tragedy in and of itself, instead of just “a necessary evil” or worse “the right thing to do”. Cause it wasn’t the right thing to do. It was just the only thing Vi felt she could’ve done.

[ellabssucker]

now that i stopped crying... arcane season 2 act II spoilers.

uhm, first off, what. the. fuck.

not even 30 minutes into rhe first episode, BOOM maddie and cait hooking up?? maddie is actually such a sweet, caring girl and i feel so bad for her. she probably spent an unreasonable amount of breath and time trying to change cait's mind when vi was able to in a second. that whole ordeal aside, we are FINALLY (actually it was pretty quick) cait's 'redemption'. or at least she's less blinded by rage now. i mean, she stood in a room with jinx and let her and vi have a family moment with vander instead of trying to blow her brains out. which i think it's progress. i liked cait so much better in this act and THE TENSION WITH VI?!? i just know we are getting sesbian lex on the third act on that one agreement scene.

then seeing jinx actually healthy and relatively sane actually HEALED my heart. i relate to jinx in a way I can't put into words, and she's really important to me, so seeing the positive impact isha had on her was really main focus this act.

which leads to my least favorite part. isha's death. i have a lot to say about it, but i genuinely can't without crying and my head already hurts. she was so important to jinx and I'm scared for how she's gonna deal with isha being gone (which I'm still holding hope for that to not be true). but aside how important isha was for jinx and how she became a part of the family, isha was just a kid. I'm not sure how old she was, and we don't see much of how her lofe was before jinx, but i can confidently say the probably few times in her life she felt safe were around jinx. it hurts to know that little girl probably went through so much, and in such a short time, she was able to build such a strong bond with jinx which lead to her sacrificing herself for her. the look on her face as she tan towards vander almost looked relieved that she could do this for jinx, after jinx did so much to protect her. we saw from early one isha would do anything to protect jinx as well, because she was all the family isha had. the kid deserved better. I really hope she makes a comeback, like we've seen multiple characters in this show do. i really hope she's okay. i won't get over the fact they found a family in each other and i think this is gonna affect jinx greatly. as for how, i think it's gonna be positive. as in, she's gonna use her destructiveness for good rather than bad, cause i genuinely think isha made jinx a better person. i think she brought powder back, but with all the good qualities jinx has.

moving on (lie) to vander, that man just can't catch a break. he deserves better. the writers are inflicting unnecessary pain fr. he finally got his daughters back (plus one) and was on his way to healing and returning to his human self. if only it wasn't for JAYCE.

this bitch ass motherfucker is clearly going through some kind of psychosis but WHAT THE FUCK JAYCE. jayce when i catch you jayce. honestly i don't know what happened to him during that time he was gone on the hex, but i can't get through my head that he would just kill viktor like that, especially knowing what would happen to all the people he healed. but for isha and vander, I really can't sympathize right now. i always found jayce to be self-absorbed and changed his mind every two seconds. he fucked up. he ruined a family. we waited 3 years for this only for this bitch to come and we lost not only viktor, but isha and vander under 10 minutes.

also, where the fuck is ekko?!

i also can't get over the fact that ambessa won't change. even after everything that's happened, she's still manipulating, hurting and killing, risking other people's lives and bribbing people to get her ways and cause even more damage. and talk about 'sacrife'. all she does is sacrifice other people, including her own daughter and son, for her own thirst of blood and selfish reasons. we've been shown time and time again, she is not a good mother, or a good person, or a good leader, and she does not think about anyone but herself.

also stop fucking with mel's head, like messing with her brother? that's fucked up.

i really liked the visual, colors, and music of this act. i think I've never cried harder but also tried to appreciate the cinematography at the same time (which is really hard by the way). i feel like is jinx all over the place, but also still has that touch of the arcane, i feel nostalgic when something reminds me of how the aesthetic was on the first season. it's different for sure, but the feelings are still there. maybe it's just cause it feels like home but i can still see what it used to be on what it is now.

it's a masterpiece. i loved it. it fucking ruined me.

[daily-sapphic-song]

Arcane S2 A1 live thoughts:

Episode 1:

YESSSSSSSSSSS YEAAAAAAHHHHHH THANK GOD MEL IS ALIVE

oh my god new arcane holy shit

are they the only two what abt viktor. Oh nvm

KIRAMMAN

YES AMBESSA

VIKTOR OMG

WTF

I LOVE HOW FRANTIC THIS IS

frankenstein that bitch

NEW INTRO JOLY SHIT

This goes SO HARD

MEL IN INTRO

WAIT THIS INTRO GOES SO HARD

KIRAMMAN

cait... vi!!!

AAAAAAAA. Had to explain to my brother that the funeral being gray and charcoal was stylistic not a lower budget

Amazing.

MEL!!! I LOVE HER SO MUCH

God its so pretty... the clouds.

I love mel undermining her mom

What does the letter say cait... oh her dad.

VI! oh shit. Oh. OH. THST LINE WAS FROM THE TRAILER. HANDHOLDING. OH SHIT. BADGE. cait that was. The wrong choice.

NOOOOOOOO MY HEART

um. Vander lookalike.

JAYCE. MEL. WTF VIKTOR.

SURVIVORS GUILT!

MEL my fav.

Cait. gulp.

ANOTHER LINE FROM THE TRAILER

CAIT BASED

Vi stop DRINKING. HAHAHHA MADDIE

Maddie <3

God so pretty

Cait trying not to cry. God the animation.

Oh shit. Bomb?

Oh. NONONONONONO

WOAHWOAHWOAHWOAJWOAJ

BRUTAL CHAINSAW WOMAN

OH SHIT

OH.

MADDIE!

CAIT! NO MADDIE!!!

AS ALWAYS the fights are immaculate

NOW KISS

oh a horror movie scene hammer time

MADDIE NOOOOO

oh shit

Jayce? Harold!

These are all just from the trailer holy shit

Vi! Oh god giant shimmer beast

Oh, ambessa...

Kinda hot ngl

Cait still upset. Oh

My god. gay

Oh kiramman secrets?

YOU WHAT MEL? AGREE?

CAIT!!!! WHAT DID SHE SEE?????

oh. THIS GOES HARD. VI!!!

OH. SINGED???

WOLF.

Episode 2:

IS THAT JINX. Jinx and silco,,,

Letting him go,,, i love the themes of grief so far, excellent work

The intro still goes so hard

Silco????

Only 3 left huh,, i see a power vacuum

Love the beat synced with jinxs footsteps

LMAO they fell on jinx

PROTECT THE CHILD

OH SHIT. LETS GO. LOVE JINX THIS SEASON SO FAR HOLY SHIT

OHMYGOD QUEEN???? WTF

Hes vaping.

Another scene from the trailer.

HAHAHHA PERIDOT LIMB ENHANCERS

WARWICK???

SEVIKA MY LOVE

Come on sevika,,,

HAHAHHAA JINX TALKING TO DEAD PEOPLE SHE COULD NEVER

Ah the themes of grief again

Watch it all burn,,,

Viktor! Hes awake! EW. brotha eugh. Is he naked???? JAYCE TURN AROUND

WTF

GAY? this feels not straight.

Uhoh. Viktor??? GAY???? GAY. Jayce,,,

WHAT THE FUCK VIKTOR

Ekko!! Heimerdinger!

HEIMERDINGER LMAO. This is from a trailer too!

HAHAHAH YES OF COURSE?? COULD'VE BEEN ANYONE BRO

Viktor cult leader arc? Wtf.

What did u do jinx

WTF VI??? this is kinda freaky ngl

Claggors goggles,,, oh shit. This is kinda scary.

Relax cait holy shit. LMAO THE GAUNTLET ON HER SHOULDER HAHAHAHA

oh another trailer scene

Oh they cut some of this out. HAHAHHAHAHA

LETS GOOOOO SEVIKA

OH SHIT NEW ARM

I LOVE THEIR DYNAMIC

THE CHILD

THE ARM HAHAHAHHAHA

He has hair (Smeech)

MY LIMB ENHANCERS

EW SMEECH

That was awesome. Love their dynamic so much

Back to cult activities

So many trailer shots

Wtf viktor. HUHHHHHHHHHHHH

WHAT THE FUCK

CULT!!!!

OH SHIT WARWICK

OH SHIT

THATS IT?????

Episode 3:

YESS WHAT DID CAIT SEE?

Oh. That went kinda hard

LMAO THE DOLLS

CAIT????

Ambessa?

Wtf??? Oh no THE ROSE?

Brutal

Oh the gays

KISS PLEASE ! PLEASE?

LETS GOOOO HOLY SHIT OH MY GOD YESSSSSSSSS YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS

MELLLLLLL

THE GAYS

No more gays

LMAO JAYCE

Aka magic corrupts

The gays.

Mel! I love her

I like ekko and jayce together didnt expect it

OH. THE GAYS.

Intense eye contact

Another scene from the trailer lmao

Oh wow oh no.

Uhoh.

ANOTHER SCENE FROM THE TRAILER

Epic battle ,,,

Done it to myself enough,,, ouch

Oh she sounds like she wants to die that's

Something.

THE KID LMAO

STOP

SEVIKA OH SJITTT

WHAT THE FUCK????????

WOAH THIS IS TRIPPY

OH

SHE TOOK THE SHOT

OH. CHILD. OKAY GOOD

DIDNT SHOOT THE CHILD

OH. NO.

THIS IS BAD

OH kinda pretty

THE GAYS

Oh. THAT. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

OH. I SEE.

Alura?? MEL??

MEL MY BELOVED???

CAIT

Cait? ?

IS CAIT GOING TO BE ELECTED

I KNEW IT

SHE LOOKS SO SHOCKED LMAO

WHAT THE FUCK IS HER PLAN

AMBESSA???

CAIT??????

EXCUSE ME

[loonypsychicchild]

Vi vs. Change (A Character Analysis)

I have seen some people finding vi’s inability to change removing from her character amd that is a valid way of seeing her character but as I respect everyone’s opinions I feel like that is one of the things that is most nuanced about her.

Think about it she has been in prison since she was a young teenager, went there in the worst conditions and ever since than world has been stagnant for her. She couldn’t know anything about her family so bet she could do was hope that all was good and everyone was as good as she remembered them to be. She is the ultimate case of being stuck in nostalgia and that is for survival reasons. If all of you family died, while you were already ready to sacrifice yourself to protect them multiple times, but ended up not being able to save them and being protected by one of your family, your father which caused his death. You realize this was the mistake of your sister and react poorly due to trauma, and as far as you know you might have lost her the moment you left her in that alley and couldn’t go back, because of the situation or because she is a young girl in the dangerous Zaun. The only way Vi could have stayed sane was hoping that everyone that is not dead is alright or could be saved. She is dependent on this to not to hate herself to death, not because that would be her fault but because she sees it as such as she takes responsibility and she protects those that are close to her.

Moreover, remember one of the last words Vander said to her, you’ve got a good heart kid, don’t ever loose it, which means don’t change the way you are you are good like this. This is one of the last requests that her father made to her and for Vi her family is everything, you know she is not gonna change. And due to this she also has started seeing change as bad maybe. Because in season 1 act 1 she was the one who wanted rebellion and change, she wanted to fight. Then she has seen what rebelling costed her, just like Vander said it would, and that naturally made her believe and listen to his advice later on. This belief of to protect people you shouldn’t change really affected her and that is how she has been more diplomatic and got along with Piltovians like Cait or enforcers in a similar way to Vander did. Because when you can’t risk losing all that you have in a radical change like rebellion than you use diplomacy, give up a little bit to make peace, and in return the other party gives up a bit and everyone leaves the table not maybe better but not worse. This character of her explains why she has reacted her relationship with Caitlyn as such, the sacrifice of her ideals to get along and protect people as well as hoping others wouldn’t have to. At the end Vi changes when necessary to protect others from changing.

Also her belief against change or accepting/letting others change was what made Vi believe Powder was still there and not give up on her. So it was also necessary for her to save her sister and keep pm fighting even when Jinx became a criminal. This is also why she also does not give up on Ekko even when he captures her and acts antagonistic. This is how she can be caring and loving, Vi remembers the person that was and sees the parts of them inside the person. This was also how she could easily remember Vander in that monster that he became even though she has not seen anything but him being dangerous. In this example also she had learned to accept change, instead of fighting accepting and hugging the monster to protect what is left inside that hasn’t changed (Jinx and Warwick). Ekko has the opposite character arc, believing everyone changed in season 1 only to realize there is still some that have stayed same in many ways like how Vi was still his protective, good hearted older sister and how there was still some Powder left inside Jinx. Bothe Ekko and Vi are therefore going though character arcs that is more about making peace with change and still seeing the parts of the people that has not changed all that much.

These are just same angles why, Vi’s character arc is fighting with change and then accepting to help other people keep their good essence hence allowing them to not change the good hearts that they have, protect and nurture it which is the very essence of her own character, by remembering the person inside and using diplomacy, giving up and gaining something to enable peace.

[lipstickchainsaw]

Alright, I have one more Arcane post in me before Act II (or maybe two, if I can find the time to get my thoughts on Jinx as Janna in order), so let's talk about Vi and Caitlyn, what they did to and for each other, and the fallout of episode 3.

Vi is a notoriously protective person; it's been her driving motivation from the very beginning, and the great tragedy of Vi as a character is that she has to watch herself lose the very people she's trying to protect often for reasons outside of her control.

Because her protectiveness, her self-conception as the older sibling, is the rock she built her identity on. It is the thing that kept her going in prison, even as the who she was protecting her sister from shifted from Piltover and its enforcers to Silco and his goons. It provided her with stable ground, and she needs that stable ground to fight from.

And then Acts II and III of season 1 are all about destroying that stable ground. Her home is no longer what she thought it was, her sister is so very different, what is she doing all this for? Who is the person she's protecting here? She burns every bridge with the Undercity in order to resolve this tension, tears down her childhood home, wrecks her second home in a (rather pointless) fight with Sevika, joins in an extrajudicial raid against her people, is willing to step over a dead kid to answer this question.

And in the end, she no longer recognises her sister at all.

All that's left, then, the only place she has left to go, is with the sole companion throughout this quest, the woman from Piltover, an enforcer, hell, a council woman's daughter, the woman who seemed to get it. That could be her rock. That could be the one she was useful for. That could give her the stability of purpose she needed.

So she clung to Caitlyn, trailed after her like a lost puppy, but that came with ever more compromises. Little ones, that no doubt irked, like being offered a job as an Enforcer, like hearing she was one of the good ones, having her people called animals to her face. She doesn't get upset about any of that (compare her to the way Viktor responds to Jayce when he crosses that line, and how Jayce actually reconsiders his stance as a result), she can't get upset about any of that.

Because if she got too upset about that, she might lose her rock, she might lose what keeps her here. She can't press Caitlyn on this, because Caitlyn might show herself as having changed, and then where does she go?

So she compromises further. She wears the uniform, she gasses the people of Zaun, ignores the moments where the Strike Team is more brutal than necessary, and when the cognitive dissonance here threatens to become too much, she tries to resolve it by begging Caitlyn to stay who she is, who Vi got to know in season 1, who Vi thought she was.

But when she has Jinx at her mercy, when Jinx is ready to die by her hand, Vi sees Powder in her eyes yet again, and hesitates (because Powder wants to die, but the world won't let her), but it doesn't stop her. What stops her is Isha throwing herself on top of Jinx to protect her, and what breaks the cognitive dissonance isn't even the thought that Caitlyn might shoot her, it's the fact that killing Jinx in front of Isha would create another Jinx.

And this time, Vi is the monster, because while she begged Caitlyn not to change, she had not realised how much she'd changed. How she forewent the 'good heart' Vander so praised her for. As this snaps into focus, she realises this is one bridge too far, one compromise she can't countenance.

And it gets her called evil by virtue of her blood.

So she loses the last bit of stable ground, and her step away from her moral event horizon sees her lose everything.

For Caitlyn- well, okay, look, I'm just going to quote what I said about her sociological role before the season started:

She has seen just enough from the Graysons of the world to see that as a more honest way of living life than what her mother does, and so she decides to slum it, insisting she should be treated just as everyone else, unaware of how her class privilege affects any of those interactions as well. Seeing it as a more honest living, as a goal to target with a single-minded focus, does lead her to approach the problem with a bit more understanding, allows her to actually see the Undercity and its many aspects, but even then, she's still coming from above, and her family is still responsible for much of that suffering, and when that check comes home, her appreciation for those nuances doesn't exactly survive.

Nailed it.

It has been noted that the name 'Kiramman' shows up a lot more in season 2 than it did in season 1, and that's because, in season 1, Caitlyn was removed from her sociological role. As she approached and moved beyond Grayson's appreciation for the Undercity, she got to live that more honest life she'd always dreamed of. She got to experience the Undercity alongside Vi, not as Caitlyn Kiramman, heir to one of the most influential families in Piltover, but as just another person.

She spent most of season 1 separated from her class position, but in season 2, she no longer gets to have that little luxury, because her last name starts mattering more than her again (last names the people of the Undercity don't have), and while she resists its trappings at first ('Hextech may keep us alive, Jayce, but it's not what will save us'), by the time she gets the key to the family records, accepts becoming the representative of the Kiramman legacy, she has very much lost that battle.

The thing that makes the Grey so thematically beautiful is that it is very much a representation of Caitlyn's grief choking Zaun, as she undoes her mother's good work to try to avenge her. It's a very rich representation, too, because it also narrows her perspective, and worsens the problems that already come with the single-minded, targeted focus that her sniper represents.

Because throughout it all, Vi's been there, and Vi, to Caitlyn, has been the proof that she is still living that more honest life. That she hasn't fully lost herself to grief and anger, that she's still able to see the good in Zaunites, so she can't be too far gone.

And so, as she takes aim at Jinx, knowing for certain that she'll make the shot (and justifiably so, I think), she doesn't see the stuff surrounding it, the consequences of shooting Jinx, and the way it will perpetuate the cycle of trauma and violence through Isha.

And she hasn't been able to see the journey Vi's been going through, and how Vi responds to her actions.

So when Vi resists her, she can either take a step back and ask herself what the fuck she's doing (like Jayce did), but that'd mean changing the target. The alternative, then, is that Vi is also one of Them, instead of one of Us. Because the position of 'one of the good ones' is inherently fragile.

And without Vi to keep her honest, to keep her Caitlyn instead of Kiramman, she lets Ambessa seduce her with that very name into becoming a dictator.

[francesderwent]

Thoughts on arcane 4-6

1. Isha just frankly didn't bring anything so far that wouldn't have been strengthened without her! Vi could EASILY have been about to kill Jinx at the end of 3 and then been unable to do it because that's her sister, try to talk down Cait, Jinx's desperate need for revenge cooled due to that, Sevika could have been the one imprisoned meaning Jinx had to go to the prison because they do care about each other in a fucked up way, and then Jinx gets Vi to help after meeting Vander. The entire story would work with previously known characters, and I just feel it would have had much more emotional depth than introducing this new, completely unintegrated character and saying yeah haha jinx isn't killing people anyone because she's hanging out with a child. Cut it!

2. It DOES weaken the backstory but vi jinx and vander reconciliation made me emotional.

3. Regarding point 2 - I will allow the weakening of Jinx as a father killer IF Vander survives into act 3 which the preview suggests he will and vi is forced to kill vander to protect innocents, thus making her and Jinx mirrors. That would slay I truly believe.

4. WHERE ARE THE BOYZ (Ekko and Heimerdinger boy band)

5. Of course it's Jayce fucks this all up (said with understanding that he's not actively malicious but also wtf).

6. See I reckon there could be FASCINATING parallels between the cult, which clearly tampers with people's minds and emotions to an extent, and Ekko's paradise which is just people trying to be good, but unfortunately the show writers this season are not as smart as me.

7. The way I'm actually really liking Mel out of absolutely nowhere all she needed was to be trapped in a mind prison and become a mage for me to be like wait...

oh, I agree, she’s an unnecessary plot device lol. the only one of the moments you list that I think Isha does enhance is Vi being unable to kill Jinx—because if three episodes in, we get Vi realizing that IN HERSELF she is unable to kill her sister, no matter what she’s done, where do we go from there? that’s practically the end of the whole arc. whereas in the scene as it exists, Vi gets to realize “I’m not willing to hurt anyone and everything in order to destroy evil” which separates her from Cait in that moment, AND she gets to realize “there might still be something good in my sister and yet she’s still not my same little sister anymore”. it lets Jinx appear as an equal for a moment! which is such a crazy moment as an older sibling, when you look at them and realize hey they’re not a kid anymore!! this, I think, COULD have set us up for really interesting sibling dynamics moving forward, with Vi still kind of on the “we need to defeat Jinx” train, but conflicted about it and more worried about the collateral. Obviously they didn’t do it, and it didn’t work. But I think this would have ESPECIALLY worked if they built up Isha in the first three episodes (by letting her TALK for example), and then had Cait take a second shot after Vi tries to stop her and actually genuinely kill Isha in this scene, or had Isha be a casualty of the explosion Jinx set off, or something.

I’m genuinely happy for you but it just annoyed me haha. I was devastated they would do that to Vander, and then I was insulted that presumably the whole point of them inventing Vander in the first place was to turn him into this league of legends wolfman

that is so fucked up and I am so impressed by you thinking of it

WHERE ARE THE BOYS????????? they really said “here are our incorruptible characters. they’ve teamed up. you will never see them again”

getting possessed (?) is the most in-character thing for Jayce to do, he never had a mind of his own anyway

ooooooh the cult which demands you lay down your weapons! the firelights which take up arms against the people poisoning their streets! Viktor takes away people’s suffering, removing the negatives—Ekko gives people a positive reason to LIVE

no seriously, honestly I think they just had to get her away from her favorite hobby of leading Jayce by the nose and I was like “hmmm slay perhaps?”

[theslaughtersfavlesbian]

I need to go on a rant about caitlyn hope that's okay. after last week I was very quiet about my love for her but I feel safe enough after act 2 to admit that she's my favourite.

one of my favourite things about arcane is that (almost) everyone is morally grey and deeply flawed. it's rare to find a media like that, and it makes everyone so much more interesting. that being said, caitlyn kiramman is a deeply flawed person. I am a deep believer in acab, and as much as I love her, caitlyn is not immune to this. she is also DEEPLY classist so much of the time without even realizing. and all of her actions in act 1 and the first half of act 2 are so incredibly fucked. using the vent system your mother made to protect the undercity to fucking gas them and then proceed to become a dictator? nearly killing a little kid in order to get revenge on your gfs sister, and then hitting and breaking up with said gf because she rightfully thought what she was doing was wrong? replacing vi with maddie, who, from what we've seen and my own perception of her, is an equally terrible person? going along with everything ambessa wanted to do even though it's a bunch of fascist murder? yeah no she's horrible.

on the flip side of this though! not all of this is entirely HER fault. caitlyn was born wealthy, and classism was ingrained into her by the society she was brought up in. despite that, in season one, we also see how much she actually DOES care and wants to cause change. becoming a cop is never the right way to make change in the world, but she was raised to think that WAS the right thing to do. it doesn't make her heartless. she is actually a very kind person underneath all of it. also! in season two, she is dealing with fresh trauma. jinx kidnapped her, tried to get vi to kill her, and then when that didn't work jinx ended up killing her mom. obviously she's gonna want to do anything in her power to stop jinx. obviously she isn't going to realize ambessa is puppetting her and turning her into a fascist dictator. obviously she's going to be hurt when, from her perspective, it probably seemed like vi didn't think she was good enough or able to avenge her mother's death (which is objectively Not what happened and vi was in the right, but caitlyn wasn't really in her right mind). none of this excuses her actions in the slightest, but it DOES make them far more reasonable than her just being a heartless bitch.

we ALSO see her realizing the error of her ways in the latter half of act 2. she ends up tricking and fucking over ambessa, she puts aside her hatred for jinx and fights with her, fuck, she let's vi SAVE jinx from killing herself trying to save isha.

caitlyn has made terrible decisions and isn't always on the right side of history, but she is a kind and understanding person most of the time. she has so much room to grow as a person and I can absolutely see her stopping being an enforcer, growing out of her classist habits, and just overall becoming a better person.

[fyeahnix]

Been thinking about Sevika a bit and I had some thoughts.... Vander included as well.

First off I'm leaving this untagged because I don't want the wrong people to get a hold of this but you can reblog if you want.

Second, to be clear, I have not seen/read/consumed any leaks about anything related to Arcane out of choice. I wanted to see this series unfold on release days and enjoy being unspoiled with most of the rest of the fandom. Nothing I say here regarding theories will have anything to do with leaks. If they do, I promise you it's coincidence or I'm just good at reading the tea leaves. That being said, please for my sake and the people reading this post, don't be an asshole and say anything related to any leaked content, vague mention or not. Actually if you read any leaks related to this, I'd really prefer if you kept any and all comments to yourself. This is primarily for folks like me who are just theorizing for fun until we get more officially released info.

Anyway let me start..

Life and Death

As I've said before, I am still fearing Sevika's death. That remains true even after Act 1 of the season has concluded. We know from the teasers and trailers that Sevika is getting a wardrobe update and a new look for Act 2 and beyond. But I still fear what will happen. I do think her situation can either go one of two ways:

Sevika Lives

I haven't had a chance to actually write this out in a fic yet but one of my headcanons for Sevika is that she'd heavily reconsider the real fight for Zaun if she met someone who she really and truly grew to care for and love. And not because she's flaky or Zaun doesn't matter. But because these life and death situations are incredibly more difficult when you have people in mind to protect. What happens if you die? Who will protect them when you're gone? Is it worth setting them up for heartache by putting yourselves in the line of fire? That's a lot to consider.

Season 1 showed us that Sevika thought Vander was weak for not taking the fight to Zaun a second time. But what she didn't understand was that he had loved ones to look after—kids. Would it be worth making them parentless a second time for Zaun's liberation? Who would look after them? That's a tough question to answer. And I think the rest of this season will build up to Sevika coming to the same realization that Vander and Silco did before her—is putting my home and life in danger worth risking losing my loved ones or my loved ones losing me?

I hate that now I just look like a damn copycat if this ends up coming to fruition but that's just the stress of being a slow ass writer. Oh well lol.

In any case, since it looks like Jinx is gonna be the real deal when it comes to taking the fight to Piltover, I'm willing to bet that Zaun will win their independence. It looks like they have it now in the current (now old) League lore so I don't think that outcome will change. If that wasn't the case, I'd say Sevika would probably give that fight up and live or straight up leave Zaun to go elsewhere.

Sevika Dies

I can see Sevika's death happen one of two ways:

1) Killed by Enforcers. This is obvious. Unfortunately it happens to a lot of Zaunites. I can see this happening to her either by getting caught somewhere unawares or protecting either Jinx and/or Isha.

2) Warwick*. This is...a tricky one. Most of us who know the absolute bare minimum of League lore know that Warwick is a genetically modified werewolf created by Singed but outside of that, I don't think we ever got his full identity (I know Riot has a short story for him but I haven't read it). It's pretty obvious by now that Vander is becoming Warwick. The big question is going to be what does that mean for the rest of the characters and Zaun? And how much of his memories will Warwick retain from being Vander?

If he does retain flashes of those memories, I can see him being pissed about what he may see as a betrayal and decide to kill Sevika for supporting Silco.....

More On Vander/Warwick

....HOWEVER....

I think it's also completely possible that Warwick retains some of his memories BUT encounters Sevika while she's with Jinx and Isha. And his memories of Jinx stop him from killing Sevika which would be VERY INTERESTING for two reasons. One, I think it would mean a lot to him to see his kid being protected and accepted by someone he felt betrayed him. That maybe he thought wrong of her because this kid he once knew as sweet and innocent likes her. And two, Jinx says to Smeech right before their fight that people close to her usually end up dead. Well what if Sevika ends up alive when confronting Warwick because she's around Jinx? That would be an interesting flip from last season and that statement overall.

Second point here. About Zaun's liberation, what if Warwick ends up being a key weapon to helping liberate them? The Chem Tanks attack on Piltover was devastating and if it wasn't for the Noxians, they would have caused quite a lot of destruction. Warwick's abilities are unknown right now and it doesn't even look like he's fully completed his transformation. The Enforcers hear about a giant ass wolf man monster roaming the streets of Zaun or too many die at his hands and are like "actually nvm they can fucking have their independence."

I'm almost sure the creators have said it's possible for more Arcane characters to become Legends in League so maybe Sevika could become one at some point? Idk

So yeah I am still bracing myself for the worst but ultimately just enjoying any screen time we get with her. According to the intro sequence, she ain't important enough to make a main character, so it's possible she's doomed OR she might be one of the characters who has their story expanded in a future League universe work when Arcane ends, which I'm almost sure will happen with Ambessa.

[redjadethewriter]

Is Caitlyn Kiramman a Villain in the Show? | Arcane: League of Legends

My focus and fixation once again revolve around Jinx and Caitlyn. They are my so-called imaginary power couple in the messed up world of Arcane. However, hear me out, Cait is not portrayed as a hero in this show. In my opinion, she is even worse than Jinx. I mean, she’s on a whole other level of villainy. It’s mind-boggling.

One of my friends, who I got addicted to the show, believes that Vi is worse than her sister Jinx when it comes to being afflicted by mental illness. He argues this because Vi punched two kids, Powder and Isha. Initially, I tried to convince him to give Vi the benefit of the doubt. One incident was an emotional response, and the other happened because Isha bit her. However, after reflecting on it and watching how Vi treated her sister throughout season one and the first 3 episodes of season 2, I now see what he means. Vi lacks compassion and empathy, especially towards her sister. Unlike Powder, who unconditionally loves Vi even as Jinx. Powder killed Silco because he was going to shoot Vi.

As for Caitlyn, despite showing moments of compassion here and there, deep down, she didn’t truly possess it. I attribute it to her naivety. That scene with Maddie in her bed in episode 4 was so unexpected and hilarious. It made me laugh so hard. Even in their conversation, Caitlyn seemed cold towards Maddie. I interpreted her words as covertly expressing her boredom with their relationship. It was cringe-worthy to watch Maddie not taking the hint at all. “Girl, she’s not interested. Stop trying. She doesn’t care.” And then Cait got up and left. I had to pause the show because I couldn’t stop laughing. Cait is like a full-fledged dictator.

Okay, listen up. I need you to read this carefully. Caitlyn, with a personal vendetta against Jinx, resorted to using chemical warfare in the Undercity. She poisoned innocent people, completely disregarding the fact that her own mother had tried to improve the conditions there. Remember those vents her mother created to provide fresh air and combat the sickness caused by the “Gray” in the air? Well, Caitlyn went ahead and used the same harmful substances on the citizens of Zaun while hunting down Jinx. It’s just so wrong on so many levels.

Now, Vander once told Vi that she had a good heart. I couldn’t help but wonder how that could be possible. Vi punched her own sister, abandoned her, got captured by the Sheriff, and was thrown into Stillwater with no one knowing her whereabouts. Then Caitlyn shows up, releases Vi, and enlists her help in navigating the treacherous Undercity. But even there, Vi tries to ditch Caitlyn and repeats the same mistakes she made with Jinx, which we all know didn’t end well. On top of that, Vi gets injured by Auntie Sevika, and Caitlyn, who can be compassionate at times, but also lets her high status and naivety cloud her judgment, provides her with medical treatment.

It’s frustrating to see that Caitlyn fails to fully comprehend the privilege she holds. She doesn’t seem to grasp that Piltover, her mother, and the other council members played a significant role in the state of the Undercity and the violence that plagues it right under their noses. Even in season 2, she continues to overlook her privilege and forces Vi to choose between Zaun and Piltover. Vi, who is easily influenced at this point, chooses her girlfriend, but failing to realize Cait only tolerates the Zaunites mainly due to their relationship. Not because she truly cares. But even during the tea party scene in the last episode of season one, Caitlyn lacks genuine compassion or empathy for Jinx, despite the fact that Jinx has suffered the most. Jinx even protected Vi from getting shot by Silco, the woman Cait supposedly is or was in love with.

It’s disheartening to see Vi constantly resorting to violence and repeatedly telling Powder that she’s no longer her sister and that she’s a monster. All the while, she fails to fully acknowledge that Powder has been under the care and manipulation of Silco. And we can’t forget that she has trauma and other mental health issues and isn’t seeing the world clearly at all. Jinx hallucinated when she’s overly stressed and triggered, and she was loaded with Shimmer because she nearly died and it was the only thing that saved her life, for what, to continue to suffer.

As we approach the end of season 2, I find myself contemplating who the true villains of this story are. To be honest, they all exist in shades of gray, constantly fluctuating between darkness and something slightly less sinister. Even Caitlyn is not exempt from this. In fact, she may be worse than Jinx in some ways. While Jinx caused relatively minimal harm in season one, Caitlyn, under her marshal law, has inflicted significant suffering upon Zaun in her relentless pursuit of Jinx.

It’s important to note that most of Jinx’s killings in season one were carried out under the influence of Silco. She wanted to fulfill Silco’s desires, namely, securing Zaun’s independence. She never truly believed in Silco’s cause, but she craved a sense of usefulness and acceptance from her father figure. This internal conflict of wanting to be needed and valued led her to create a destructive weapon for Silco. And in the end, she used it as a way to cope with the guilt and shame of killing him. Despite his claims of love and loyalty, Silco didn’t leave Jinx with many alternatives. She needed an outlet for her grief over her sister seeing her as a monster and the pain of taking the life of the only person who embraced her, flaws and all.

This is precisely why Arcane is such a heart-wrenching series to watch. The characters and their emotions are incredibly complex. Jinx, in particular, never seems to catch a break.

In Season 2, we had the opportunity to witness her actively working towards fixing things. She turned over a new leaf by taking care of Isha, becoming a sister, a motherly figure, and a friend. It was something she was determined not to mess up, and believe me, Jinx did an incredible job as a mother during the time she spent with Isha. In fact, she outshone Silco, Vi, and Vander combined when it came to ensuring Isha’s well-being. This is why I affectionately refer to Sevika as Auntie Sevika, because she truly acted like a concerned family figure, especially when she and Jinx were searching for Isha in the prison block. Those scenes will always hold a special place in my heart.

But let’s go back to Jinx’s role as a good sister and motherly figure. She transformed her lair, making it more vibrant and colorful. She even created a cozy nook for Isha to sleep in, which was a significant improvement from Jinx’s own childhood spent in a dreary room with a bunk bed. Jinx made sure to spend quality time playing with Isha, and they developed a unique way of communicating since Isha was non-verbal. Jinx struck the perfect balance of granting Isha independence to help her grow and adapt in their harsh world, while still ensuring that she didn’t take on tasks beyond her capabilities as a child.

I witnessed this dynamic in action during a dire situation in the prison when Warwick entered and started killing the guards. Jinx immediately ordered Sevika to get Isha out of there. It was heart-wrenching to see Isha crying and not wanting to be separated from Jinx. But Jinx, selflessly sacrificing herself, fought Warwick alone to buy time for Sevika to escape with Isha.

In episode 5, an interesting moment occurs when Vi reactively hits Isha, causing her nose to bleed. Immediately, Jinx gets up to check on her. This is when it becomes apparent that Vi is realizing her sister is changing and that she is not the monster she believed her to be, regardless of what happened in season one. It’s actually quite satisfying to see Vi’s perspective shift and her self-righteousness knocked off its pedestal.

Moving on to episode 6, we witness Jinx’s growing trust in Isha as she assigns her small missions, such as fetching her gun and sneaking it into Viktor’s camp. Throughout the process, Jinx closely observes Isha through a spyglass and even praises her. It’s a fascinating development that showcases the evolving dynamics between these characters.

Now, let’s talk about Cait. Although she puts Singe to sleep with a chokehold, it becomes clear that she only did it for Vi. However, this decision leads to Ambessa’s right-hand man putting Cait in a one-handed chokehold. And guess who comes to Cait’s rescue? That’s right, Jinx. It’s worth noting that Jinx nearly dies herself if it weren’t for Vander waking up and blocking the glaive from hitting his daughter. When Cait wakes up, she’s surprised to see Jinx. I couldn’t help but laugh at Cait’s confusion because she’s been saved by the very person she’s been hunting. It’s a moment that calls for reflection on Cait’s part.

Overall, these events in the episodes highlight the complex relationships and character growth that is taking place.

Although Cait lost her mother because of Jinx’s actions. Let us be real about this. Jinx didn’t consider who was present in the council room. Her primary goal was to destroy the building, as it represented her torment and Silco’s desires. However, the loss that Jinx experienced with Isha sacrificing herself is distinctly different. Jinx witnessed the entire event and desperately wanted to intervene, or at least take part, but Vi prevented her from doing so. Vi held onto Jinx, preventing her from joining the tragic scene. As a result, Jinx had to helplessly observe her sister, daughter, and best friend being consumed by the explosion. While Cait may have lost her mother, Jinx lost everything. She lost the person who gave her purpose and the motivation to heal and become a better individual. Additionally, she lost Vander, her second adopted father, during this process. Frankly speaking, Jinx is not obligated to assist Piltover or Vi in any way. She doesn’t owe anyone anything. However, she might embrace her role as the leader that Sevika sees her as, considering Sevika’s loyalty and willingness to follow Jinx’s orders. Sevika showed her loyalty by informing Jinx about Isha’s capture and aiding Jinx in breaking into the prison to ensure Isha’s safety. If Jinx helps, it will be for her own personal reasons rather than any sense of obligation.

I still believe that a final battle between Caitlyn and Jinx is necessary. It would be fitting, considering they are mirrored characters, with one rising and the other descending. Can you guess who is descending? Moreover, I even envision Sevika confronting Ambessa, despite the fact that the trailer shows Caitlyn fighting Ambessa. With Saturday just around the corner, there is much anticipation.

[maddiethefashionista]

Arcane Spoilers Season 2 ep 1

Episode 1 thoughts

-Trauma everyone has it!

-Jace going towards Mel to check on her 5 minutes after the explosion! 🥰🥰

-jace seeing most of the council dead from Jinx’s missle 😳 instant trauma

-love the new intro! It’s giving Greek tradegy

-love Mrs Kirkmanns coffin. Very padme esque coffin! Ngl that coffin got me questioning how expensive coffins are.

-Vi just lingering in the background, wanting to reach out and talk to Cait but she can’t reach her atm due to her own guilt and shame.

-Mel’s mama finding a new bottom cough boytoy salo.

-it’s reigning tyranny!!! Side eyeing the council talking takeover Zaun with dangerous weapons

-symbolism of the rain finally falling on the council member as they declare war on zaun.

-ambassa unhappy that hextech won’t be used rn. She is so sus! What a warmonger!

-poor cait and her dad!! God grief is such a fucking bitch.

-unrelated note but Mr. Kirramin is really hot! Such a dilf!

-has vi been staying at the house? Poor girl is just lingering like a ghost.

-cait beating herself up considering that she could of end this all if only she was quicker in disarming Jinx.

-cait breaking in vis arms is heartbreaking!

-enter vis internal conflict about being an enforcer, a buggy man for every kid of the lanes.

I’m not really a fan of Vi. Like my fav character is jinx. But I can appreciate her complexity.

Also hello hot bearded tall man who looks like DILF Vander

Hello Victor, he’s basically a hextech jello right now.

Mel looking gorgeous as always!

Evolving hextech sounds fucking terrifying.

Did Mel’s armor protect Jace as well? Or does he magic durability from when he was a kid?

Mel and Jace really are super cute! Like I love their development

The wind chime garden is so gorgeous! Like arcane always slaps with their animation.

Jinx and Cait are my favorite parallels! Love them so much! God my girls are going to go through it this season!

God Cait is about to go on her toxic hot train right now! And good for her but she is going to go through it with this newfound hatred for jinx. And that is so relatable.

Callback to jinx “you created jinx” - VI

Maddie deserves to be protected! Also fish enforcer is really hot! I think I have a type.

Vi getting flustered at Caits tantrum and pride in her is so adorable!

“There still good ones left” fuck that line! Like damn the council neglected zaun to the point of poverty and now they have to face the consequences of that neglect. It was always a breeding ground for resentment and violence. This was always going to happen one way or another.

Memorial

The guys in the veils handed the main guard an invitation! And I’m like that weird, that supish!

Cait and Vi clocking something going down is my fav!

Hey it’s that chem baron! Channeling her inner leatherface

I for real thought Mel was going to do die!

Enter epic battle scene!

Cait looking hot with her gun!

Jace vs chem baron lady

Maddie and fish guy vs the other dudes

Vi vs the other dude

Vi and Cait saving each other

I do appreciate that arcane isn’t super bloody like some other anime’s I’ve seen

Jace going need some aloe Vera for that cut!

Arcane battle scenes are always so fun!

Leather face going after jace is so scary! But vi is saving her BIL!

Then they both save Cait and her squad!

But actually ambassa does it! And I’m like Where the Fuck have you been ma’am?! That convinnent muscle mommy!

This attack is just adding more fuel to the fire! Poor little boy/girl who lost their momma!

God Cait is loosing her mind! It’s almost like someone wants to further the divide between the two cities

Also I’m a sucker for the jaw cradle that vi gave her girl!

I need more lore breakdown on the kiramann family! They seem to be marticharl family

Oh boo hoo you gotta being an underground bunker for the first time in your life! Cry me a river.

Also is house kirammain get a seat on the council? Or do that have to be voted in?

Cait squad is loaded and ready to go!!!

Poor Jace is building weapons again!

Victor is in his jello prison yay!

Evil scientist guy is hunting wolves!?

[nyxlarkyn]

YES!!! This has been the only thing I can think about after watching pt.1. How GOOD these dynamics are between those three along with Vi's relationship with Loris- Shield fighting Enforcer/Drinking Buddy/Vander Clone.

Isha is holding onto the role of an inner child/Powder for Jinx.

I keep seeing mother/daughter comparisons between the two. A nice sentiment but not what's playing out. Think of Brittany Murphy's "Uptown Girls" Where a young girl forced to grow up early falls into the care of a woman clinging to her youth. Isha and Jinx will be about the cycle of trauma children face under the corruption of the upper and under cities. Isha is forced to survive at all costs at a young age and Jinx is a damaged individual lost within herself due to the same conditions Isha currently faces.

She's introduced to Jinx almost exactly the same way Silco took Powder in; terrified for her life a child buries herself in an adult for protection. Silco raises a hand to the child and his cronies watch on afraid of what he may do to this kid. Jinx waves a gun at her child and the audience watches on with the same dread Silcos lackeys held. Both sparing the girl and choosing to protect her. When Isha risks her life to save Jinx, I couldn't help but think of how Jinx must've been at that age with Silco. How she made a name for herself as his psycho daughter. The weight of a child ready to risk their life and kill for you.

Almost all of Isha's movements feel like they're just Powders old animations being recycled or her actions directly mirroring hers.

Isha's wardrobe is also very detailed. She has a similar helmet we've seen Powder wear, her boots have a very prominent X stitched on one and the other has a very deep V silhouette, she has one glove that looks like Jinx's gloves, her other arm is covered and wrapped with a red string- reminiscent of Vis wrappings, she also wears a beaded chocker that's laced around her neck the same way Jinx and Sevika wears theirs.

Speaking of Sevika:

Jinx chose to gift Sevika a new arm made out of parts of the old punching game the girls would train on as kids. We know the significance it holds to Jinx, so her taking it apart for Sevika is huge. This act is her dismantling her old relationship with her sister to form a new one with Sevika.

Sevika's eyes reflect more silver this season than brown making her more reminiscent of Powder and Vi. Her hair being down later in the season and Vi growing hers out and dying it black adds to their mirroring. They also fight with mechanical fist(s).

Silco was a man both Jinx and Sevika answered to. Whether or not Sevika viewed him as a Paternal figure, he was her most respected authority figure. Both women have that grief over Silco and bond over their resentment towards him and aimlessness with him gone.

NOT SEEING ENOUGH PEOPLE TALK ABOUT JINX'S LITTLE FOUND FAMILY AND HOW PERFECT IT IS THEMATICALLY!!!

Specifically what I want to highlight is how Jinx found the two most important parts of herself that she lost in Sevika and Isha.

In Sevika she found a new Vi, a new older sister figure. She cannot fix things with Vi, she understands that, but her relationship with Sevika is something she can fix, and she can mourn Silco with Sevika in a way she and Vi could never mourn Vander together.

In Isha she found Powder, the person she once was who she can't be anymore. In many ways Isha gives Jinx the opportunity to protect and love Powder in the way she always wished others would do for her, quite literally Isha heals Jinx's inner child.