#piltover and zaun would be destroyed day 1 if it wasn’t for them

[dumpster-fire-sapphic-failgirl]

A quick note on the Zaun folks fighting alongside Piltover at the end (not the ones who joined and put on the uniform, that was way more fucked, but the rest) :

1) until Ekko/Jinx rallied them, most of them weren’t having it. They were willing to let topside burn bc fuck it

2) The Noxians, for the most part, weren’t overtly oppressing the citizens of Piltover. The Zaunites, on the other hand, had been dealing with months of them being as bad and sometimes worse than the enforcers. Getting a chance to kill them and be seen as the good guys probably had it’s own appeal

3) Viktor wasn’t gonna stop at pacifying topside. Piltover and Zaun were separated by a bridge and a system of deep oppression, but that wasn’t going to save them from the glorious revolution. it truly was in their best interest to collaborate

(pivoting to the end of the series and the after effects of them helping)

4) Between the hextech pollution, the rule of the chem barons, the months long absence of Ekko, Viktor’s honestly fucked up commune, no more shimmer but also the ravaging after effects of shimmer on the community, Zaun is economically, infrastructurally, and socially kinda fucked.

5) you can see in Sevika’s face at the end there, the fight isn’t over, it has just changed style and venue. The implication is that Zaunites know this too. Why not send Ekko? Ekko is a better community leader. He can rally the people. He can help rebuild. Zaun is better served with him able to focus his efforts there instead of spending his days fighting with topside. So they sent Sevika. What was she to the undercity? The scrapper. The one whose loyalty has always been to a united Zaun. The one that wrangled the chem barons. the deal broker. Nothing in her expression says she is there to kneel. She is there to fight. She can call people out on their bullshit. She draws focus. And while the council has its eyes on her, Ekko can shepherd Zaun’s recovery. It is a small victory. And it is no reward. But it is a step forward. (though they did my girl dirty by giving her absolutely no lines in Act 3)

it’s not the perfect resolution of the system of oppression. In no small part bc it isn’t a resolution at all. The fight continues. But if the Zaunites hadn’t helped the Pilties, the fight would have been over. Not with a free Zaun, but with a pacified one, an empty husk with the peace of the graveyard. Destroying yourself to see an enemy lose is not the victory most people think it is.

Zaun wasn’t fighting alongside Piltover to save Piltover. Zaun was fighting alongside Piltover because the fight in Piltover was the best chance to save Zaun. (plus it was probably nice to have Piltover be the war zone instead of their home, tbh)