#arcane family

[sandraharissa]

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

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

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

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

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

Just really nice parallels all around.

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

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

[hel-unleashed]

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

[aerequets]

yor in 6 styles :D

[thewingedchild]

[dankzombiereviews]

seen these floating around and wanted to post one of my own because this trope fucks, especially with these people in particular

[mythawolf]

May do a part 2

[redrum-alice]

Mom Jinx and Papa Ekko [Family AU]

The doodles were the scenes where Jinx tells Ekko she got a bun in the oven :3

[thesparringpanther]

oh the narrative parallels of Caitlyn struggling to move on from her mother's death while Vi, who is moving on from Vander's death, is having it thrust back into her life.

[not-a-font]

Something I find neat about Silco and Jinx is how Jinx was made in fire

While Silco was made in water

And this reflects very clearly into their personalities.

Silco's calm, powerful, and adaptable.

On the surface it's calm blue waters but underneath he's the current that guides the ship that is the under city.

And trying to cross him is like going against a hurricane. You can try to fight a force of nature, but really the only result will be drowning.

Meanwhile, Jinx is loud, explosive, and chaotic.

She has a creative spark that she channels through her weapons and art, and all of it is unabashedly bright with explosions and neon colors.

Emotionally she fluctuates and grabs onto any fuel that comes her way. One moment she's a candle and the next she's a wildfire and you can never predict which one you will get.

But then the show runners swap the roles with visual design.

Silco's got a red and gold color motif, a scar that looks like a burn, and an orange eye.

Jinx has long blue hair and tattoos that look almost like waves.

Silco's water, but looks like fire, and Jinx is fire, but looks like water.

[geegeesmart]

Basically my interest late 2023 early 2024

[sandraharissa]

I have no idea what s2 will bring.

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

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

[candysdoodles]

Dad Vander and his little girl ~

[kiraman]

vi is so fucking fascinating to me, I am studying her like a bug in a jar

she was a CHILD putting on her father's gauntlets in spite of the fear gathered in her little body, in spite of just witnessing someone she's known all her life die in a HORRIFIC way (benzo), still she rises, still she says I HAVE TO DO THIS still she takes on men three times her size and fucks them up so bad that silco has to send his shimmered up fucked up monster to try to stop her and STILL she persists, indifferent to the worst happening because she’s survived the worst already. furious and unstoppable and determined to do whatever she has to survive and ensure those she loves survive, no matter the cost.

vi under all that debris, bruised, bleeding, screaming, watching her family die, staring at the monkey head in shock and crying because this can't be happening, they were so close...

sobbing in pain until her father saves her just to watch helpless as he dies protecting her. they were so SO CLOSE to surviving, so close to escaping and everything gets ripped away in a second

vi trapped in that prison cell for years and years on end with the ghosts of her family and her guilt for company, drowning in guilt, wondering if her sister's still alive, no doubt thinking about how she LET her slip right through her fingers

the last thing vander said to her was "take care of powder"

she's let the man who's her FATHER and loves more than anything down.

"whatever happens is on you" / "protect the family" / "take care of powder" .... but she can't, not anymore, she's fucked it up and let everyone down (re "I should have been there for you, for everyone") all she can do is sit in that shitty prison cell, on that freezing floor, hungry, bloody, counting the hours until she can somehow rescue powder

Vi is piercings and tats that no doubt got infected, she's a child becoming a woman too fast, she is a danger-zone high-risk disaster area and won't back down, won't give up.

Vi is soft!! self-sacrificing, protective, supportive. ("You wanna talk about today?", "We've all had bad days, but we learn, and we stick together") brave, SMART, witty. she's got a tongue sharp as her fists and a barbed, delicious sense of humour. she gives people nicknames (cupcake, pow pow, pretty boy) and fights with everything that she's got to protect what she loves!!!! she is her father's daughter!!!

she is idealistic and expects the world to see her reason, look at things through her eyes and wanna make a change ( "This is how things are, how they've always been. I was so stupid to think it could change. / "oil and water that's all there is" )

and yes! vi is not flawless. she's obsessive (re sevika. to her eyes she is the last thing standing between her and silco/getting to silco and saving jinx) and complicated, morally ambivalent because she makes mistakes, flies off the handle like a comet crashing through everything in her way, makes reckless choices because she has to. she is selfish when it comes to jinx and would do anything to keep her safe.

also

look at the way she hugs the people she cares about!!!

[frenchublog]

✨eyes 👁

[archerofunspeakablelove]

More of whatever Silco and Jinx had going on actually. Familial relationships that are fucked up and and manipulative but in which the people really do love each other deep down are way underused in fiction. Like we have plenty of romantic relationships like that but you don't often see this, they chose each other, and they're terrible for each other, but they really do care, sort of relationship in the context of family.

[brainrot-time]

I'm once again thinking about how alone Victoire must have felt living with Letty, outside the bubble of best friendship that Robin and Ramy shared, conveniently paired with the other girl in their cohort.

Robin and Ramy got each other and Letty was always unwilling and unable to get Victoires experience. It breaks my heart that Letty could rely on Victoire for emotional support but not the other way around. No doubt she delved into all her childhood issues and the loss of her brother and Victoire did nothing but listen and be understanding while knowing she'd never be able to count on Letty for the same.