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I know nothing about LoL or it's version of Jinx, but I understand being frustrated because an adaptation changed a character I like and that version now becomes mainstream. If she's this cool chaotic evil character in the game and you miss that, that's valid.

But if we're talking about Arcane-Jinx... from season 1 her character, state of mind and even morality (to some extend) was very dependending to her connections (or lack thereof) with other people, at least to the same degree as her past.

Like everyone has talked shit about some aspect or other of season 2, sometimes very deservedly so, but this development for this version of Jinx is not unbelievable. Her most extreme actions are tied to her connections to others. She acts like a loose canon when working for Silco and goes on her own to steal the Hexgem (to impress him), but also breaks down after he seems to turn on her because he's her only human connection left and she depends on that. When she realizes Ekko still cares about her she tries to kill them both in what I interpret to be her fucked up way of giving them both peace.

(Obviously Ekko wants to live since he managed to move foward from that night, found healthy connections with others and a purpose in life. But Jinx doesn't know or really care about that. Dying together, dragging Ekko down the well with her, is the most she could ever get out of that connection now, from her perspective.)

When/if she develops healthy relationships with others, in contrast to her fucked-up codependence with Silco, I could see her wanting to change for the better and maybe even "settle down" (to some extend).

If you say the way she formed those relations in the show was rushed or unsatisfying or unbelievable from the other character's perspective after all the shit she's done, that's fine. Or if you wanted her to be the full nihilistic villain of season 2 that Ekko and Vi have to stop that would have been cool. But it makes sense she would change if she could form connections with others. It's not fundamentaly against what was presented in season 1 about Jinx.

Anyway, I can’t wait for Jinx and Ekko to get married and have kids. 🥰

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"Oh, my childhood friend," I said with joys I was then shot 57 times...

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Alys Rivers 🦇 The Witch Queen of Harrenhal

~ Don't come again unless you mean to bend your knees, she says. Any man who comes near her walls will die. There's power in them stones, and the widow's woken it. Seven save us all, she has a dragon. I seen it. ~

Alys Rivers, The witch queen of Harrenhal for the series of green queens and ladies illustrations.

* I also drew the son of Alys and Aemond, in fact, in the book Fire and Blood the boy’s name is not mentioned and we don’t know his name. So I named him Aerion, after King Aegon the Conqueror's father. I always wondered what happened to the boy's fate.

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Jaehaera Targaryen and her baby Morghul 🐉

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~ Jaehaera was a lonely child, prone to weeping and somewhat simpleminded, yet she had seemed content in her own chambers with her maids and ladies, her kittens and her dolls. ~

Fire and Blood

I’ve started a series of green queens and ladies illustrations

Queen Jaehaera Targaryen, Queen Alicent Hightower and Queen Helaena Targaryen

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~ My Lord is kind to say so, but the victory belongs to Tessarion ~

Daeron the Daring

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The Storm Queen 🦌 Argella Durrandon

“You may take my castle, but you will win only bones and blood and ashes.” - Argella Durrandon to Orys Baratheon

“She declared that Orys would win only bones, blood and ashes here. But her men were weaker than her, and that night Orys found Argilac's daughter delivered gagged, chained and naked to his camp.” ~ Varys

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The End and The Beginning 👑🦌

House Durrandon and House Baratheon

The Storm King Argilac the Arrogant Durrandon

The Storm Queen Argella Durrandon

Lord Orys Baratheon, Lord Paramount of the Stormlands

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Hot take: We shouldn't woobify either cartel member that swears they are doing it for the people they are hurting, guys!

I often think about that scene of Sevika being soft and advising Silco about Jinx. I often think about the fact that she knew Powder before. I wonder if after Silco took her in, Sevika ever tied her shoes, watched her play, or picked her up when she fell. I wonder what it was like for Sevika to watch Silco destroy a little girl's sanity and know she couldn't do anything about it.

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I'm bored so let's go there. Fuck it...

If democrats actually believed Trump was a fascist, then it would absolutely be their moral duty to the world and to their country to overthrow him by any means necessary. The idea that this would necessitate the physical extermination of even the majority of his follower base is ahistorical nonesense.

Of course, they are only interested in using him and the republicans as a strawman so they can pretend that they are the "good ones". That their country has ever brought anything to the world but chaos, death and destruction and that they themselves haven't supported the race-worshipping scum to maintain the us' power over the world. Like the ones currently occupying the Holy Land. Same imperialist ghouls, but with a rainbow badge.

This two situations couldn't be more diferent. Democrats are ok with the us plundering the world, so long as they get the ocasional token progressive gesture (either socially or economically) wich Trump is now denying. Since they don't actually want to stop the machine crushing humanity and they just want their tokens back, it would be pretty wild to launch a civil war over this. I'm not denying that. The people actively trying to stop the machine are small niche groups.

In Arcane, Piltover is the plunderer. Zaun isn't some opposition party concern-trolling about the plundering happening in some far-a-way land while directly benefitting from it. Zaun and it's people are the ones being plundered so that Piltover can benefit. Zaun and it's people are the ones that see their resources stolen, their people reduced to fighting for scraps to survive and the rise of cartel-like organizations in the vacum Piltover themselves created by having no local governance in the undercity.

But the writers fail to make this disctinction between a fake opposition party that is ok with all the evil their country is unleashing and a foreign nation being robed of their lifeblood. Probably because they want to fetishize oppression while also keeping it marketable for american audiences.

And so they give Zaun what they themselves want: a token gesture while the war machine marches on so they can tell themselves they are against it while gleefully listening to human bones snapping beneath them. This gestures can come in many ways. A pro-lgtb tweet on a us army account. A program for foreign aid that just serves their country's soft power. A progaganda story about Russia's awfullness straight out of the ukranian MOD's mouth so they can justify supporting people who wear the same pagan symbols as the nazi scum their grandfathers fought against. Trump is taking away this gestures (not out of goodness or evilness but out of incompetence. He genuily believes this gestures don't help the machine just because the "opposition" likes them, thus creating backlash at home.)

Another token gesture can be a seat at the rulling council that will be outvoten every time they try to change things for the people it's trying to represent. Caesar did it with the Gauls afther he killed half of them. The americans do it with Hawaii. And Piltover did it with Zaun. And surprise, it's one of those cartel members who sucked on Zaun's blood while Piltover hunted the people actually trying to make things better.

To follow the us metaphor: Zaun got upgraded from the native reservations to Hawaii. Great ending guys. Didn't even have to go through the akward Puerto Rico stage. They'll still be plundered, but Sevika will now get part of the loot as a gesture. yay

^^^———

I think one of the reasons so many people struggle with the way the “revolution” was handled in Arcane Season 2 is because they truly believe that with enough violence change for the better can be made. “If Jinx just united the undercity against Piltover, they could’ve fought for their rights and won! That’s why they show Jinx with the revolutionary flag in the opening, isn’t it?”

Except this is exactly the mentality Arcane is CRITICIZING.

As Vander says “this isn’t going to solve your problems, it just makes more of them.”

What people need to understand is that revolution ALWAYS involves horrific loss and sacrifice.

As Vander says: “nobody wins in war.”

There is no ONE act of violence to solve all your problems. Everyone in Arcane thinks they know how to solve the issues between their cities. And every time it results in just more and more extreme violence until it ends up with Viktor’s “Glorious Evolution” which just basically strips every one of free will and power.

But TRUE progress can only be made when we work together despite our differences. Look at America. When we fought against ourselves in the Civil War we still ended up creating a rift in our culture that to this day has not healed. But when we unite together to take down a common foe like in WWII we can achieve remarkable things. United we stand, divided we fall. The revolution of Zaun where they fight Piltover was never going to end with Zaun in a good place. We already saw that with Vader’s revolution, why the FUCK do you think Jinx doing the exact same thing would end up better?

This is WHY Jinx only unites the Zaunites in the end. Teaming up to take down Ambessa and the Machine Herald was an act of violence, but it was also an act of UNITY. Of progress!

This is why Sevika joining the counsel is SO important. Because Zaun and Piltover worked together instead of against each other, TRUE healing can begin.

True REVOLUTION can begin.

It bugs me that so much of the criticism of Season 2 is wishing there was more violence or endorsing the violence of Zaun over Piltover. That’s such a black and white non-nuanced take on the struggles going on. Arcane is challenging you to critique these ideas, and people are refusing to because they truly believe that with the right kind of violence all their problems will be solved.

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Okay, idea for a trilogy of novels set in a version of the EU that could actually acknowledge the prequels sooner: the Liberation of Naboo.

Basically, after Palpatine’s death at Endor, Imperial forces on Naboo headed by Moff Quarsh Panaka barely managed to quell uprisings from the Naboo humans and Gungans, before putting Theed into lockdown and blockading the planet. About a year after the Battle of Endor, a New Republic operation is conducted at the insistence of newly-minted (unofficial) Naboo Senator Pooja Naberrie, an operation including the Heroes of Yavin (Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, C-3PO, R2-D2 and Lando) as well as Rogue Squadron and the Pathfinders headed by Kes Dameron.

The first book focuses on the takedown of the Imperial blockade surrounding Naboo, with Lando and the Rogues being the central focus. Lando serves on the bridge of a Republic cruiser commanding Wedge and the Rogues as they work with other Republic squadrons to take down the blockade, ultimately managing to break through and give Republic forces the chance to land on-planet.

The second book focuses on Han, Chewie and the Pathfinders as they seek to help form an alliance between the Republic, sympathisers from the Naboo human population and the Gungans. This leads to them working with Jar-Jar Binks, who’s seeking a way to redeem himself after inadvertently contributing to the creation of the Empire by calling for Palpatine to be given emergency powers. While Han, Chewie and Kes find Jar-Jar annoying at first, they ultimately manage to ward off Imperial forces attacking the Gungan swamps, and secure both an alliance with the Gungans and Jar-Jar a chance to return home.

The final book focuses on Luke, Leia and Pooja, as they work to try and liberate Theed from Panaka’s hold. As they prepare to lay siege to the city, Pooja learns of the twins’ biological relationship to Anakin Skywalker, and tells them about what little she knows about his and Padmé’s close relationship, causing the twins to realise that Padmé is their biological mother and Pooja their cousin. Learning about their mother causes the twins to come more to terms with their family legacy, with Leia in particular beginning to realise that her father couldn’t have been a complete monster all of his life if someone that her adopted father Bail deeply respected had fallen for him. The book - and trilogy - ends with the liberation of Naboo and it joining the New Republic, as Luke and Leia are introduced to their aunt Sola and their other cousin, Ryoo.

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Timebomb - Arcane

We could plant a house, we could build a tree

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You think Heimer and Ekko asumed their AU counterparts were just... dead?

Anyway, you're right. Heimer just found a universe where his neglect didn't mess everything up and decided to stay there, instead of fixing his own universe. Ekko figured it out in a month. They could have have him workig on a way home for those three years with AU Ekko and Powder, but needed Arcane-Ekko's help to complete it.

Heimerdinger would never have gone to Zaun if he'd remained on the council. Science, as a subject, intends to propel the world forward, and yet Heimerdinger would've remained a scientist stuck in the past. His character is kind and appears to be well meaning but he was one of the most damaging forces to Zaun, and even when he does see the undercity, he finally seems aware of how dire the situation is but kind of gets to just...not acknowledge how he individually played into it.

It's kind of ironic how one of arcane's most conservative—that is, stuck to the past and an old order—characters got along so well with someone who represented the exact opposite of everything he did. Honestly, Ekko and Heimerdinger's friendship makes no sense—if Ekko disliked Jayce, why didn't he despise Heimerdinger and everything he represented? Like, a confrontation between Ekko and Heimerdinger would have so much more substance than them just becoming friends because Heimerdinger's passivity and unwillingness to heal the rift between Piltover and Zaun for centuries is the reason why it was even possible for the conditions in the undercity to be as bad as they were. Plus, Ekko would've never let him into his paradise for victims of Silco/shimmer when Heimerdinger's leadership enabled it.

And he never even changes. His character arc concludes with him entering this alternate dimension where he does the exact same thing he'd done for centuries—nothing. In the au he--for some reason--just got adopted into zaunite society and sang little songs and when Ekko approached him with a desire to return to the world they belonged in, Heimerdinger initially refused.

As if?? He wasn't?? Actively?? In someone else's?? body??

He obviously ultimately helps him, but still. And then he finally proves that he is in fact a scientist and does in fact care about some sort of progress and then he just...dies.

More than the council. Immensely more than Jayce, more than Jinx, more than Mel, more than Viktor—Heimerdinger holds so much responsibility for the divide between Piltover and Zaun. And he just got to die instead of acknowledging it.

He was never cut out to be a leader, sure. Maybe he always belonged in a lab. But he remained in that position for 300 years regardless, so he's very much to blame.

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I respectfully disagree. Ekko isn't incapable of seeing moral greys, otherwise he would have declared the "real Vi" dead (like Powder was "dead" to him) when the Firelights caught her with an Enforcer and the show would have ended very grimmly.

Instead he's willing to temporaly work with them, personally hand the Enforcers the Hexgem, risk his life for theirs and partially reconcile with Vi precisely because he sees them (a reluctant collaborator and an ignorant Enforcer who hasn't personally participated on any attrocities yet, people who he should still see as morally reprehensible) as the "lesser evil" (grey) compared to Silco and his movement/mafia, whom he sees as the "greater evil" (pitch black).

Also he does give people in the “lesser evil” camp a chance not only in the short term, but in the long term. Heimerdinger had no “clear and blatant” excuse to neglect the wellfare and internal stability of the nation-state he created and there was no common greater evil to unite them at the time. But Ekko welcomed him and they worked together for the greater good pretty quickly. (Maybe too quickly honestly).

He doesn't hate Jinx to the point he disconects her from his childhood friend/crush because she goes against his moral compass and he just can't accept that, he hates her guts because her dad/boss murdered all his friends and family when he was 12 and they've been engaged in low intensity gang warfare (which Jinx has been a participant in) for years.

Ekko's grudge against Silco and his minions is a very PERSONAL grudge, born out of the pain they have inflicted on him and his third family (the Firelights), not just an ideological dispute born out of self-righteousness (tho he would obviously disagree with Silco's methods to gain independence, ie shimmer production and distribution and the creation of a criminal sindicate which ruled over Zaun, from a moral standpoint even if this things hadn't personally affected him and the people he cares about).

I think Ekko's main flaw on season 1 is that this personal inter-Zaunite vendettas keep the Firelights from identifying and actively confronting the true greater evil in Zaun, Piltover's neglectful and abusive rule, which gave rise to the likes of Silco and Jinx in the first place. These are hurt, broken people but they ultimately did pretty monstrous things.

And Ekko can't just forgive them and see their own pain and work together for the greater good, not because he's on some moralistic crusade and all who oppose his project for Zaun MUST be evil. He can't just move past these things because they did those monstrous things to him. He IS bitter and it clouds his judgement and we should acknowledge this flaws and how they hold Ekko's own movement back. They make him a more interesting character and less of an archetype of a flawless hero. He did need the clarity to be able to be able to work with Jinx after so many years of hurting each other.

I just went on a rant about how overly critical we are of Mel and I just had a thought that the we give the same treatment to Ekko albeit inverted.

What I mean is that with Mel, she got overly blamed and glossed over while with Ekko, he's held to a perfect standard...but still glossed over.

Now, all in all Ekko is the closest thing (other than like, the little kids) we get to a character who meets the ideal moral standard. But he isn't perfect.

The whole "boy saviour" title seems heroic, but both of those words should never under any circumstances go together. Ekko was 19-20 throughout the main storyline, and taking care of countless people, then fighting in a war, then taking on the burden of trying to save the world. But he was also 12 years old, realising only one of his friends had come back from a job and she was in Silco's grasp. Realising she wanted to stay there. Twelve years old, doubly orphaned, and deciding that from there on out he was going to help people. Bearing the brunt of trying to bring people hope.

Anyway, these are all things that everybody knows, but those specific conditions didn't make a perfect saviour. They made him bitter. They made him see the world in black and white and ignore all the shades in between. He lacks understanding because he has no desire to understand when his mind has been made up. To Ekko, there was either good or bad, and he campaigned against anyone who he declared was bad. When he paused (while fighting Jinx) before he could deliver the final blow, it was because he remembered their history, and her goodness, and he couldn't do that to someone who didn't fit within the boundaries of his moral dichotomy. His interactions with topsiders are all hostile from the beginning, save for Heimerdinger because they met while Heimerdinger was wandering around the street, because he doesn't give people a chance.

Now it feels like he does because the whole idea of the firelights rests on the idea of a second chance. The difference is that all of those people are victims to an obvious abuser (shimmer) and he could justify helping them. When he couldn't justify someone's actions with a clear, blatant answer, he wouldn't try to understand them, and they wouldn't get a chance.

Jayce went to the devasting future universe because he needed to understand that his vision of progress was NOT headed in the direction he intended and he needed to stop being blinding by his idealism. Heimerdinger went to the perfect one to understand that it was his passivity and personal failure as a leader that brought Zaun to that point (as it had taken a catastrophe and the efforts of Zaunites to heal their city).

Ekko went because he needed to see the world beyond the undercity's dimness, and understand that people are not inherently good or evil. That Jinx was a girl who was hurting, same as him, and had leaned on the wrong support system. That Silco was an angry, embittered man who had once been willing to reconcile if only Vander would ask. That maybe even he wasn't this protector of a moral good, and maybe he shouldn't have had to pretend he was. He needed to experience a world balanced between shades of grey, and understand that that's where peace lies, not within the boundaries of what is supposed to be righteous.

Still, he was never entitled to give people chances. It was never his responsibility to do all of the things that he did. That was the responsibility of all of the adults that were supposed to care for him.

Ekko doesn't represent a perfect character, he represents the failure of a system.