#jinx got directing credits for a few scenes in arcane

[mollysunder]

Jinx, the Trailblazer of League Entertainment

Canon means nothing anymore and League of Legends new boy band has got me thinking. If all League of Legends champions were in a celebrity au, Jinx would be a superstar A-lister.

Nowadays League has virtual bands like Pentakill, KDA, True Damage, and now Heart Steel, but Jinx was very the first champion ever in League of Legends to debut with an exclusive music video.

Two years later she premieres with the first generation of the Star Guardians, a smash hit skinline that's sometimes treated like a TV show by League. Think live action sailor moon, but with an idol cast.

Later on Jinx it seems like Jinx took a break from the limelight, just appearing in commercials and brand deals here and there. But if you look at bands like True Damage, she literally left her mark in the music video. Whoever's her represeantation (and maybe Ekko's too) they used the Giants music video to promote Arcane two years before it came out. On top of that she gets invited to the Grammy's the same as Ekko despite not being singing any songs.Could she have been working as a music producer/executive/director(?) behind the scenes?

After more commercials and appearances Jinx finally gets her big break in prestige television that receives universal acclaim and awards. She didn't get the most screentime, but she and Silco get the lions hare of praise.

Later Jinx probably chooses to rest on her laurels in between Arcane and take on a new, less high pressure project in Cafe Cuties, which is treated like a real piece of media in Star Guardians (and maybe started as a book series). Jinx's like an actor who was in both a Marvel and Star Wars films when it come to Star Guardian and Cafe Cuties, though more girly pop. If League champions were celebrities, Jinx would probably be one of those that always has a project lined up.

[yurimother]

Their Walls Come Crumbling Down: The Perfectly Restrained and Impactful Queer Romance of 'Arcane'

Riot Games' Arcane is easily one of the best surprises of this year. The League of Legends animated series won over fans of the original game and total newcomers like myself with its enthralling characters, phenomenal action, and downright gorgeous animation by Fortiche. A stunning combination of hand-drawn scenes with stylized CGI animation creates one of the most visually stunning pieces that rivals the likes of Your Name and Into the Spiderverse. However, what most attracted me to this epic was one of the series's central relationships.

Spoilers for Arcane season 1

While the show focuses mainly on the tragedy of Vi and Jinx/Powder's sisterhood, Caitlyn plays a crucial role in their story. At the start of Act Two, Caitlyn, an inexperienced enforcer and the daughter of an aristocrat counselor, releases a hardened Vi from the prison that held her for several years.

Their relationship starts extremely strained, as the two are polar opposites, growing up in the starkest of contrasting situations, resulting in little initial trust or love between them. However, by the season's end and after facing more than a few tense life-or-death encounters together, an evident love has blossomed between them, even if a kiss or more passionate encounter did not seal it. However, this choice is not a weakness of Arcane's representation but a sign of strength.

The evolving romance between these two unlikeliest of kindred spirits forces growth. It changes not just for them individually as characters but the entire arc of Arcane's incredible narrative as one of the story's driving forces. Against impossible odds and traumas, this queer romance marches forward, unveiling deftly in a slow yet beautiful manner that demonstrates series restraint and respect for its characters and their journeys.

Imposing threats, incompatible histories, and dangerous goals oppose Vi and Caitlyn's bond. This romance is not just an instance of opposites attracting, rather a story about two people who must overcome and accept their vast difference and priorities before forging a true partnership. Vi is a toughened orphan who grew up hungry and desperate on the stress of the undercity, Zaun. The comfortable elite of Piltover, who constantly abuse and exploit her people, are only her enemy. As she exclaims exasperatedly to her and Powder's adoptive father, "They've got plenty, while we're down here scaping together coins." However, her animosity is not limited exclusively to envy over their privilege.

Come episode two, Vi is facing direct threat from the enforcers. These are not the comedic bumbling guards that chased a band of four scrappy thieves through the upper city's streets. The enforcers of Piltover post a looming, creditable threat to her and her family. The series's second chase scene best exemplifies this increased threat. Vi, Powder, Viko, and Clagor flee from heavily armored soldiers who just moments before threw an innocent man through a wall for mere insolence, best exemplifies this increased threat. It brings Vi back to the events that orphaned her and Powder, the bloody failed revolution against Piltover, and she wants to fight back against this enemy, "We saw what they did. I grew up knowing I'm less than them, that my place is down there."

The tragic events that conclude Arcane's first act put aside Vi's conflict with the upper city. She and her family battle against the kingpin Silco to save Vander from his villainous clutches. But a cataclysmic mistake by Powder deals calamitous death to all but the sisters. Enraged, she strikes at the shattered child before storming off. However, she comes to her senses and attempts to return for Powder, only to be taken into custody, ending her final childhood moments of freedom. She spends the next several years abused and beaten by the guards, as evidenced by her blasé retort to Caitlyn's questions, "can you just send in whoever is gonna kick the shit out of me, so I can get on with my night." Thus, when the young enforcer releases her, Vi is not exactly warm to her presence.

Vi's justified prejudice and adversarial view of Piltover and the enforcer prove her most significant challenge to overcome in her eventual romance with Caitlyn. However, the latter has no such notions or animosity. Sure, Cait has some reluctance to trust a criminal who calls all enforcers "assholes," but her primary obstacle going into the team-up is one of ignorance to the plight of Zaun. This naivety is shared by much of the upper city, as evidenced by Heimerdinger's (Mick Wingert) eventual journey to the underbelly. However, it is an obstacle that she is actively working to overcome, demonstrated by Cait's exasperated lamentation about her mother, "she'd do anything to keep me from seeing the real world." It is this awareness and openness that allows her to change and grow more attached to Vi.

As the pair journies together to Zaun in search of evidence against Silco, Vi has the upper hand. Vi was born and raised in the dilapidated streets, and she revels in the switch dynamic between her and Cait, who is clearly out of her element. Vi enjoys the feeling of superiority over the enforcer from the upper city that looks down on her.

This dynamic leads to their first romantic interaction, as Vi teases the uncomfortable Cait in the brothel. Ordering her to get information by pretending to serve its patrons, saying the now-famous line, "You're hot, cupcake. So what'll it be, man or woman." This scene was also the first hint fans had that the series might contain some LGBTQ+ representation, as Vi floats the possibility of queerness at Cait while pinning her against a wall (be still my gay heart).

Soon after, Caitlyn's inclination towards women, or, if you prefer, obvious gayness, is revealed. She sits enthralled in conversation with another woman, a fact which pleases Vi, who for the first time smiles warming about Caitlyn, rather than in spite and mockery.

The relationship takes a turn at the end of Act Two as their walls come tumbling down. An injured Vi mourns her past choices and mistakes with Powder, as Cait both comforts her, unknowingly invoking the words of Vander, "you have a good heart," and confronts her about her prejudice. As Vi remarks, "you topsiders always find a way to screw us," Cait retorts. However, later in the episode, the enforcer's actions, saving Vi's life, finally turn the two entirely to the same side. Soon, Vi returns the favor and even vouches for Caitlyn to Ekko.

Finally, after experiencing the harshness of life in Zaun, seeing the sanctuary of the Firelights, and hearing the testimony of Ekko, Caitlyn's naivety is shattered. It is not just Vi's deposition that changes here. Cait openly acknowledges the misdeeds of the enforcers, "it's wrong what's been done to you." It is a sentiment and awareness she repeats in front of the council and her parents, saying, "You know what else reflects on the council? It's citizens living on the streets. Being poisoned. Having to choose between a kingpin who wants to exploit them and a government that doesn't give a shit." This scene completes her arc from the sheltered aristocrat we first met as a child to be someone who can stand as Vi's partner.

Unfortunately, even with Vi and Cait sharing new respect and understanding, their troubles are not over. One constant threat remains between them and, a danger amplified by their growing closeness, Jinx. The damaged girl's looming presence in Cait and Vi's lives plays beautifully alongside their growing relationship.

During this most heartfelt and genuine moment in the series, as Caitlyn and Vi lie next to each other on the bed, Vi opens up her last refuge and reveals to Cait her deepest secret and regret, abandoning Powder to be further fractured and twisted into the poor wretched Jinx. It is a rare moment of vulnerability, which is saying something considering the number of times Vi reaches the brink of death in the series.

The relationship also tortures Jinx. As she experiences a bittersweet reunion with the sister she thought dead, Jinx also comes to learn of her alliance with the enforcer. Unfrounetly, unlike Vi, Jinx retains her hatred of the officers and Piltover, a feeling fostered by her new father figure, Silco. This aversion, compounded with the abandonment issues Vi left her with, causes Jinx to see Cait as an evil figure, corrupting Vi and driving her away. This perception is shown through her hallucinations on the bridge and undergoing Singed treatment. Eventually, Jinx believes that Cait is the one obstacle standing between her and the past, another chance to live as Powder, Vi's beloved younger sister.

The varying histories, burdens, and goals of all three women come to a head towards the end of act three. Faced with the harsh reality of the Piltover's indifference to Zaun's plight, Vi abandons Cait. At this moment, Cait's plea to Vi is not to complete their mission or stop Silco or Jinx. Her question is simple, "what about us." Showing the actual depth of their bond and relationship with her values beyond anything else. Nevertheless, Vi walks away into the rain wistfully, saying, "oil and Water, it was never meant to be."

When we return to Cait, what follows is perhaps the series's most extraordinary scene, laced with highly impactful imagery and symbolism in its gorgeous animation and framing. As Caitlyn showers, the framing shows her body without exploitation or service but hunched over in pain and ponderance. The water collides with the ground, mirroring the rain from her divergence with Vi. It mixes with the blood seeping from the wound Jinx inflected on Caitlyn's leg, a constant reminder of the genuine danger her relationship with Vi will pose. The scene shifts to outside the council, only in reverse, as Vi talks backward towards Caitlyn, removing her hood. It is more evident than ever that Cait loves Vi and wants to return to her.

Unfortunately, the chance to go to Vi's side and burst through some doors in a dramatic storm of gayness is interrupted by Jinx, who kidnaps the leading Zaun cast for the final tea party/emotional rollercoaster showdown. As Jinx thoughts Vi, she remarks, "I paid your girlfriend a visit this morning." She, like the audience, knows of the deep connection the two share. Although, unlike all the sapphic viewers, she is not thrilled by it.

Vi pleads with Powder and Cait as the confrontation continues, attempting to save the sister she almost lost and the woman she has grown to love. Although both survive the encounter, Powder is gone, and Jinx is all that remains. "I thought maybe you could love me like you used to. Even though I'm… different. But you changed too." Indeed Vi has changed, from the angry child who once swore revolution against topside and its enforcers, to the woman who has fallen in love with one.

Cait and Vi's history and barriers to romance are staggering, as both content their respective views and baggage with each other. This struggle is why we do not get an explicit kiss or further physical confirmation of their romance (although I can easily argue the scene on Caitlyn's bed in episode eight is just that). Many queer relationships historically were left subtextual while their heterosexual counterparts were allowed more explicit romance, but that is not necessarily the case here. Jayce and Mel have their romance, but they also had the benefit of years of development together between Act One and Act Two, a period that takes place off-screen and thus renders their relationship much less satisfying or believable. And one which has a far more negligible impact on Arcane's story.

Cait and Vi have known each other for all of the few days covering Acts Two and Three. So no, they do not get to kiss, but that fact does not make their relationship any less profound and exceptionally queer. Each undergoes an immense change in the brief time they know each other. And despite their opposing beliefs and background, even though they are in constant danger from Silco and Jinx, they find love in each other. Each girl opens the other's eyes to a world, a people they never knew, and show the possibility of peace and harmony between two diametrically opposed civilizations on the brink of war.

Vi and Cait's romance and growth are some of the most crucial elements of Arcane. This evolution threatens Jinx and eventually makes her realize that her life as Powder can never return now that Vi has fallen in love. The importance and unlikeliness of Vi and Caitlyn's romance place it far above a mere relationship for service's sake. It does not need to be cheapened by a clumsy rush to kisses and hollow affection. Vi and Caitlyn are at the heart of Riot and Fortiche's masterpiece, and their romance will undoubtedly continue to blossom in season 2.