#like what that one league Ekko voiceline says

[purpleshimmer]

Yeah I agree with most of this; I have almost 0 complaints about s1 but it was very weird that she completely forgot about ekko and buddied up with piltover so quickly after years of being abused by enforcers in prison. However, I felt like s1 did a decent job of letting us inside her head and kind of explaining where she was coming from (Caitlyn and Ekko's conversation at the tree comes to mind, when Caitlyn said "You'd be well within your rights to keep it. I couldn't blame you. But... if you do, this cycle of violence will never stop." Vi probably views Jinx's actions as needlessly violent and reckless, + she's with Silco, who Vi hates for obvious reasons. This is just a personal thought, but Caitlyn was the first person in 7 years to show her any kindness, so I feel like it makes sense that Vi would kind of go along with her agenda. Then again, Vi is a very independent + headstrong person, so idk

About Jinx siding with Piltover, I also thought it was really weird at first but after thinking about it for a bit I can almost justify it from a story writing point of view? I don't really know how they could have the sisters reconcile with each other in the end if they didn't both end up on the same side, and we know from League of Legends that Vi works with the enforcers, so I feel like a Piltover collab was inevitable.

From a character perspective, I think that Jinx, like you said, is very selfishly motivated. She may have agreed with Silco more than Vander, but we also have to keep in mind that Silco implanted his ideas in her head from a young age.

Now that Jinx has no one to tell her what to do and what to believe (which we know worries her from her monologue at the beginning of s2e2), she has no one to direct her. She has to form her own viewpoints, which she seems to struggle with so far. She doesn't appear to care too much about the Jinxers who are protesting Noxus and Piltover's rule, as we see her brush off Sevika when she tells Jinx to attend the rally at Vander's statue. She only breaks them out of jail because Isha is there, and Isha is like her little sister now. Like you said in your post, Jinx is working for Silco because loves him, not (at least not in my view, I could be totally wrong though lol) because she necessarily agrees with all his politics.

All this to say, her joining Piltover in the fight against Noxus is probably not going to be because she cares a lot about the politics and moral questions involved in the war, but because Vi wants her to and she still desperately loves her sister (and probably to avenge Isha's death, since Noxious is the reason the fighting in the hexcore village broke out).

Arcane and Ideological Clashes

Tags by @coolseabird

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. One of season 1's themes I loved was the philosophical and ideological debate between Silco and Vander (and then Jinx and Vi). I adore the personal character-driven aspects too, but the thing is, they don't have to be mutually exclusive. Ideologies can be extremely personally informed/motivated, and in the case of these characters, they were. Every part of their worldviews were shaped by their circumstances, their lives, experiences, and relationships with other characters. For example, Silco surviving the murder attempt by Vander and how this very personal betrayal motivated him politically, to be unrelentingly extremist in his methods. Or Vander feeling personally guilty for all the deaths on the Day of Ash, leading to him forming a political deal with Grayson to subdue the undercity from ever stepping out of line "for their own good". Because when you live in these kinds of dire conditions, there really is no way to separate the personal from the political.

Though season 1 didn't explore these themes with the sisters as deeply as I would have liked, the crumbs were there! Especially for Jinx. Yeah, she's selfish and personally-motivated, but her actions are nonetheless political. When it comes to her political opinions, the first season itself only gave us crumbs ("We kicked the enforcers butts, imagine what the whole of the Lanes could do!" as a kid, and then later Silco tells her that the children of Zaun deserve more and she seems to listen pensively, but never comments on it). Every act of political violence by her in the first season was given a personal motivation (she wants Silco to think she's strong, she wants to confront Caitvi on the bridge, she wants to avenge Silco). But writers comments outside the show gave us more - one of them said online that while Jinx understands Vander, she disagrees with his worldview and aligns with Silco's views on fighting topside. So that confirmed that Jinx does have an ideology and it aligns with Silco's, even if she was mostly preoccupied with personal matters in S1.

Vi on the other hand was completely neglected by season 1. All of her thought process and political opinions post Act 1 were left entirely subtextual. Act 3 was the worst offender because it's there that she makes her most controversial decisions (betraying Jinx to the Council and attacking the Shimmer factory with enforcers). However, again there were crumbs that one could string together to form interpretations. In S1E2, Vander basically convinces her that rebellion against topside is futile as it would likely lead to the deaths of her loved ones. She then decides to give up her desire to fight them and turns herself in to the enforcers. What follows is 7-8 years of being beaten and abused and downtrodden by topsiders in prison. Yeah, I can definitely see how this experience would only confirm Vander's words, that Piltover's might is too much to overcome, not without heavy casualties on their side. That rebellion is futile and the best thing to do is to keep your head down and don't invoke their wrath.

However, it was a fellow undercity citizen who murdered Vander and took her sister. And when she returns years later, she finds that he is still in power, has significant influence and a large number of followers in the Lanes, and no one has overthrown him. One line that really stood out to me was one she said to the brothel madam Babette in S1E5 - "From the looks of it no one down here lifted a finger to stop Silco". How juicy is that! She feels resentful towards her fellow Zaunites for not avenging Vander and taking down Silco in her absence. She feels betrayed, abandoned, left behind by her own neighbours. Her sister changed under Silco, her home changed under Silco. And everyone moved on without her. Expanding on this could have been such a natural way to justify her class treason by joining the enforcers. She thinks Piltover is too strong for Zaunites to beat so there's no use rebelling against them anyway. So why not use their might against her Zaunite enemies? Zaunites themselves "won't lift a finger" to stop violent gang leaders so why not use topside's power to do it? "What loyalty should I have to my class, if the people from my class abandoned me like this?" I could even see how being wronged by Zaunites could hurt more than being wronged by Piltovians - she could see it as the latter owing her nothing while the Zaunites are supposed to be her family and neighbours, who owe her more.

Again, season 1 itself did jack shit to delve into these feelings nor her trauma from prison. But the crumbs were there. I happily used them to form my own interpretation to justify her bizarre decisions and was satisfied. But then season 2 rolls around. They had the blueprint and chose not to use any of this rich material. How do they justify her joining the enforcers? Do they explore any of the complex feelings of resentment Vi may have for her home and class? Nope, she joins after hearing how her crush talked her up to colleagues. How do they justify her fully turning on Jinx and disowning her sister? Do they explore Vi's loyalty to her foster father Vander, and her acceptance that Jinx chose to betray him and side with his murderer, then try to murder Ekko for years? Nope. In fact, she forgets about Ekko and never mentions him again lmao. Rather she seems to turn on Jinx because she attacked the Council??? That seems to be the turning point for Vi, the thing that makes Vi view Jinx as a monster. "She killed the tyrants who oppressed me all my life, how dare she😤" ???? It would make sense for Vi to view the attack as stupid and reckless, again just like Vander said - fighting topside only brings more wrath to the undercity. But they don't even do that. They never explore Vi's political opinions and how she agrees with Vander's "compliance for our own good" stance. They never touch on her time in prison and how it may have compounded Vander's views. Instead they make it so Vi seems to sympathize with the Councilors and condemns Jinx's bombing because of some generic "violence bad" moral.

It's so stupid too, because they completely forget about Grayson. That's more PRIME material to justify Vi's enforcer arc. If Vander, her mentor, allied with Grayson, Caitlyn's mentor, then why shouldn't she ally with Caitlyn? She could easily use the Vander-Grayson peace deal to make herself feel better about her class treason. "He allied with enforcers to keep the undercity in check for their own good. So will I. Putting on the uniform is just the next logical step. I will take out the gang leaders and Silcos that Zaunites are too weak to stand up to. My parents were wrong to fight against topside, rebellion is futile. Jinx is wrong to fight against topside and will only get more Zaunites killed in the resulting retaliation. They can call me a traitor but I'm doing this for their own good."

All the pieces are there. Instead they never bring up the Vander-Grayson deal. Caitlyn and Vi have never even spoken about either of them in their entire relationship lmfaooo. They don't even know that their beloved mentors knew each other. They never speak about anything of substance. The only crumbs of an ideological clash we get in season 2 is the argument in S2E5. But it's all from Jinx's side - "I wish I was just seeing things when you decided to throw in with the Piltie goons who murdered mom and dad." But then Vi replies with some lame insult, then they're having a cheap slapstick comedy fight, and Vi never reckons with this. She never expresses what she thinks of her parents dying fighting topside. Then the Piltover vs Zaun war is completely abandoned and the plot focuses on Warwick/Hexcore/Noxus. And we don't get any more explorations of the ideological/philosophical clash that the sisters represent. Is it worth it to rebel against an oppressor if you lose yourself and all your loved ones to violence, but at least those in the future reap the benefits of your fight? Is it worth it to comply for the safety of yourself and your loved ones, if your people will eventually suffer a slow death and never have a future? What are you willing to sacrifice for your revolution? How far will you go? They handled this theme beautifully with season 1 Silco, then said "alright that's enough" and dropped all effort when it came to season 2. And from the trailers of Act 3, it looks like Vi will be convincing Jinx to fucking help Piltover against Noxus. Which is just gross lmao.

[arcane-ish]

Thinking about Warwick

So I think most people have heard the Warwick (character from League of Legends) for Arcane season 2 theory by now, but in case you really want to avoid it, I’m going to talk extensively about that and hence League “spoilers”. 

Anyway, these are some of the quotes from Warwick that struck me as particularly interesting. 

Warwick’s relationship with his former self: 

"The chains are broken... the beast is free." "I became the monster I always was." "The man I was... I killed him first." "I ran these streets - now it's your turn to run." (To Jinx) "Let me forget... " "Killing, I remember." "One thing you should know; I honour my debts."

BTW one interesting contrast is this voice line: 

"You hurt them, I hurt you."

versus this voice line

"Can't save you all... don't want to."

Warwick’s relationship with other Arcane characters

(To Caitlyn) "So deep in Piltover's pockets, I can only see your hat." (To Vi) "Zaun needed you!"

Warwick joins the ranks of Zaunite characters to slag Cait and Vi for being enforcers. 

(To Ekko) "The one person in Zaun who runs to the past."

Probably overthinking it, but the first thing that jumped to my mind was of course his attachment to Powder, but it’s probably true that an obsession with time can be interpreted in general 

Quotes about Zaun

"If I don't kill you, Zaun will." "Zaun will fight back!" "The killing stops when Zaun is free."  "Progress is just what Piltovans call murder."

(it should be noted that Warwick fights predominantly against chem barons, but he does have some anti Piltover quotes, so that makes me hopeful that the Piltover versus Zaun stories will continue in season 2 rather than shifting too heavily towards Warwick or Chem Barons or robot cults as primary villains )

Fun Fanficcy Details "I can smell everything." "Who's a good boy? I am!" "Scratch behind my ears... "

Another interesting thing is that Warwick was reworked in 2017. 

In fiction, werewolves tend to focus on taming or fighting the beast inside, clinging on to what humanity they have left. The new Warwick has very little of his original humanity remaining. He’s a beast embracing his newfound savagery.

“He is someone who in the past vaguely remembers doing good things, helping people, and it didn't work,” says narrative writer David “Interlocutioner” Slagle. “Zaun is so messed up that he couldn't make a difference.” His newfound power allows him to clean up the streets of Zaun through brutal violence.

[...]

So much of Warwick’s story is told through his visuals, particularly of his transformation and its effects: the hoses that are lodged in his body, the arm that was removed and replaced with badass metal claws, and that chemical chamber on his back. Warwick has scratched himself all over trying to remove the devices and all the tubes, but it’s too painful for him to claw them out.

In theory this is after work on Arcane had started since supposedly they started 6 years ago. However, I’m kind of skeptical to attach too much importance to it. I don’t really think that there is like a lore person somewhere at Riot going “okay, so this will happen in Arcane, so we have to make these and these and these changes to the characters and their voice lines/we have consider these ideas when we rework the characters. 

While there were clearly instances where the games have referenced Arcane (most notably Ekko mentioning Benzo and Powder before Arcane came out in the Legends of Runeterra voicelines), I think it’s more likely that Arcane was simply availble for Riot employees to watch early. So game designers had the chance to watch it a while ago and then had the chance to let it inspire their voicelines or not. 

[prodigall]

In defense of the Battle Academy skin choices:

So, in wake of the wake of the new Battle Academy skins dropping I’ve seen a LOT of people getting mad about things like Lux and Ezreal getting more skins, their favorite champs not being in the skin-line, stuff like that. For the most part those complaints are all valid, I understand them, but I do think it’s not fair to get mad at riot for this specifically because a lot of their choices make a lot sense and the ones that don’t are really small, so, I’m just gonna...go over the list and state my two cents.

All the complaints basically stem from “these champions shouldn’t have more skins, it should have been somebody like Taliyah”  this is probably the most widespread complaint, and whilst its true, neither need new skins, it’s totally understandable why they got them.  First: Since Ezreal got reworked, he was always going to be getting a new epic or better skin soon-ish, without question. Every champion thats been reworked in the past 2 years got a skin some time after their rework, this isn’t a new practice, the day the rework got announced I stated that Ezreal would be getting a new skin soon because of it, then when Riot said they were making a skin-line inspired by Shonen anime I said “without question, Ezreal will probably get a legendary skin in this skinline and be the focal point of it.” To a multitude of people, Riot are on record as saying Ezreal was DESIGNED around Shonen anime tropes from the beginning, there are lots of ‘anime’ characters in League, like Yasuo and, yeah, Lux (we’ll get to that) but for what riot were actually trying to DO with this skin line? It was always going to be Ezreal, there was never any doubt in my mind. I know a lot of people think Pajama guardian counts as his skin but...no, it really doesn’t, its basically just a chroma, thats why it’s half price if you already OWN Star Guardian, so it doesn’t count. Second: Keeping in mind Ezreal was going to be the focal point of this skinline inspired by ANIME, all the characters around him needed to fit into anime tropes, because recently for their big ‘alternate universe’ skins Riot have been focusing more on a whole narrative to go with them rather than ‘oh this would be cool’, so they had more of a plan for the champs they picked keeping in mind Ezreal is the ‘protagonist’ (because he totally is). The ones Riot went for were:  Rugged teacher who cares about his students but isn’t super affectionate (Graves) Popular kid who is a best friend/elder sibling figure to the protagonist (Jayce) Principle who is a parental figure to the protagonist after some event in their past (Yuumi) Small scale antagonist who will later go on to be an anti-hero then full hero designed to be a prominent threat in early arcs to help establish characters (Katarina) And of course, the love interest (Lux) Keeping that in mind, Lux wasn’t just on the table for this skinline, she was GUARANTEED to be in it. Say what you want about EzLux, I personally am not that into it, but the fact is that riot like it, so much so that they outright made it canon in this universe, you can have your ships, you can like LuxJinx, you can Like EzSona, or whatever, but as far as riot are concerned , Lux and Ezreal are Riots golden couple (with Xayah and Rakan), they’ve been one of two pairings they EVER acknowledge in canon for basically their entire life span, and they do it BLATANTLY. It’s not surprising at all this happened. Third: The Narrative is actually pretty relevant to the choices they made here, and the big one that I think totally invalidates Taliyah as even a possibility is that this is a school of WEAPON users. All of the champions they picked have weapons of some kind and Ezreal states in his voicelines that they all use ‘god-weapons’ AKA the narrative of this skin-line is entirely centered around those weapons as of the moment, so that means EVERY champion who isn’t a weapon user were never eligible from the start. Would champions like Taliyah suit this skinline conceptually? 200%, I’d love to see it for the next batch if they make more and change up a few things lore wise, but given the fact they clearly have an overarching plot and concept behind this school at foundation level? she just doesn’t really work right now. Sorry.

Fourth: Okay real talk Riot dropping champs that don’t need skins into new skinlines isn’t new and never has been thats just smart business. Lets say they put all these resources towards making SIX new skins, with a whole new universe to accompany them, with no guarantee it’ll be popular, and decide to put champions that need new skins in there EXCLUSIVELY.  Then, the new skinline drops on the main server and nobody likes them and they’ve wasted their time. The fact is for as long as I can remember, when Riot launch a new skinline they ALWAYS make sure at least 50% of the champions in it are the POPULAR ones they know will bring in profit regardless of if people like the skinline as a whole, This time it was Ez Lux and Kat, K/DA had Ahri and Kai’sa, Oddyssey had Jinx Yas Sona and kind of Kayn, Star guardians did it TWICE with Lux and Jinx (releasing at different times admittedly) then they did it a SECOND TIME with Ezreal and Ahri, its not until the second batch where they go for more out there less popular champions and thats been their business practice with stuff like this for as long as I can remember. I get why people are complaining but the fact is if it wasnt these champs? it still would have been 50% champs who don’t need it like Yi Fifth: The fact is that a lot the champions picked , as usual with large skinline drops like this, all fill a different role, thats pretty normal Ez: ADC Lux: Mage Mid/Supp Kat: Assasin Mid Graves: Jungler Jayce: Top Yumi: Support If we push Yumi to the side for a second, each champ fulfills one role in a game each. Riot for a while now have been making it so if a new Champ releases with a new skin line beside them, or an update to said skin line, they make that new champs on release skin part of said skin line for convenience sake, so we can probably assume that the inital skin choices were made not counting Yumi who might not even have been RELEASED by that point if she wasn’t done yet, and if she was done she’d be added. So it was probably a an intentional choice to make sure they didn’t overlap in roles until Yumi came out in which case Lux and Kat could probably overlap. With that said, and keeping in mind the aforementioned NARRATIVE role they were meant to fulfill, the pool becomes a lot smaller. The big one here being Graves, because he’s the one I haven’t fully accepted myself, I normally say Riot don’t like releasing multiple skins within a year for the same champion unless they were already making one when the worlds winners said they wanted another, thats the only acception, but along comes Graves like “second skin in 6 months baybee” which is kinda weird, so keeping that in mind, I did some research to find every jungler (cos this needed to be a jungler) who was also going to be able to fit into the rugged not nice but still cares teacher role they still had open, who ALSO had a weapon. (For reference here I mean actual jungle picks not your random off meta pick, I’m looking at you jungle Lucian, you don’t count). Not even COUNTING the fact they also had to fit into the character _archetype_ they still had open, do you know how many choices there actually were? 7 Max, and thats if you count Pantheon and Diana which not everybody does. The full list of choices with the role they still had open was  Graves, Jarvan, Jax, Pantheon (?) Diana (?) , Vi or Xin, when you take into account that they also had to come off as a bit more rugged, old enough to be a teacher, and serious and not in a nice way, its down to Graves and MAYBE Jax. This is one I’M still on the fence about, but with context I think that it being Graves isn’t...overwhelmingly shocking.  Kat is much more open and close, the roster for midlane assassins is pretty big so they just went with Kat cos out of all the assassin mids who was a WOMAN she’d waited the longest for a new skin (that yeah, she doesn’t need) and they just went with her so there was an even amount of representation between men and women in the skin line...that’s kind of it really. So, anyway that’s my two cents, I get that people will always be mad when champions like Ez and Lux and Kat get new skins, if it weren’t for the fact Ezreal is my favorite champion and shonen anime is like my favorite thing I’d probably be a little bit mad to but, as ALWAYS happens with new skinlines, the people who got skins for their mains will always have bias but I hope this didn’t come off as to apologetic? I really do hope that if these skins continue champions like Kayn Ekko and Taliyah and hell maybe Zoe get a chance to shine in it, but as it is now I find it really hard to really get mad about who they picked.