“They’re a weird, twisted family. Jinx is the daughter, and Sevika’s the weird aunt? They’re a weird unit, and there’s obviously a lot of jealousy and competition. But I do think that they have more in common than they have differences. That’s actually a really exciting relationship to come out of the second season.” — Ella Purnell (voice actor of Jinx)

What I liked best about Jinx and Sevika's first post-Silco talk was how well it implies why their grief is so pronounced. Every complaint the two lodged at Silco was an admission at how dependent Silco had become on them, how much he LET himself be dependent. Silco didn't NEED to let Jinx give him his eye medicine, he was perfectly capable of doing so in season one's first act. The same could be said about Sevika, because while it wasn't nearly as extreme as with Jinx, he didn't need to give her so much responsibility. Frankly it's dangerous for a kingpin to give their righthand so much power (it's supposed to be spread around), and everyone noticed, even idiots like Finn.

That's why their loss is so pronounced, in all the years they dedicated to Silco, he gave up just as much of himself to them. Silco weakened himself and trusted Sevika and Jinx to make up for it. They filled eachother out, they needed eachother, and without him there's just a hole what they all used to give eachother.

Discussing Caitlyn Kiramman

Caitlyn, especially in the second season, reminds me of Macbeth in all the worst and most concerning ways.

At the start of Macbeth, Macdonwald is a character who had committed treason and was killed by Macbeth, as at that point he still had his morality.

This is similar to how at the start of Arcane, Caitlyn was an enforcer who did her job, and did it well without engaging in any of the corruption that seemed pretty rampant at this point.

Later, Macbeth's wife Lady Macbeth, in a self serving manner, manipulates Macbeth into committing regicide by killing the king. He's obviously hesitant to do this as it goes against his morals, but with the encouragement, he does go through with it on his own accord. Despite having the power of being the Thane of Cawdor and Glamis, he still does this in attempt to get more power. After this, he successfully becomes king.

Now, I don't think Caitlyn is acting how she is in attempt of power, however thats definitely one of the outcomes of her actions. Ambessa, who is who I see in Lady Macbeth's role in this analogy, is also manipulating Caitlyn in order to gain personally, and to encourage war so that hextech weapons are made and she can use them to fight her own battles. Caitlyn has a moral code, yet despite this she does do bad things. She uses the grey as a tool to clear out the streets, when that is a literal war crime. She knows this is wrong, emphasised by her mothers words that go starkly against her actions playing right before the scene. She also takes the position of power Ambessa presents her with despite her in earlier episodes likely being against Ambessa's whole cause, and the war that she's about to start.

Macbeth, before this, has a friend called Banquo, who suspects that he killed Duncan for the throne and power. Macbeth then gets him assassinated.

This is, albeit less so, reminiscent of Vi, and how after being called out on her actions, Caitlyn hits her and leaves.

Considering we only have 3 episodes of season 2, I cant be sure whether this continues progressing, but if it does, there are a few things I am assuming will happen in arc 2 and 3.

I think Caitlyn is going to start hallucinating more. The hallucinations might be of Vi, as Macbeth hallucinates seeing Banquo after causing his death, but they could also be of her mother, Jinx or even Isha, as she could've easily killed either of them had Vi not stopped her.

Now if you have read Macbeth, you'll realize i haven't mentioned one of the main reasons Macbeth turns into a usurper. The witches and their prophecy. And this is honestly because I'm not sure.

I think its entirely possible that the witches could be symbolised through the hextech, as we know the hextech weapons act up sometimes, as shown in episode 3. Its possible they may lead to hallucinations, similar to that of Victor, if they're used repeatedly while acting up, which I can imagine Caitlyn doing.

Otherwise, I think the witches could be symbolised through Jinx, and possibly Sevika and Isha to maintain the symbolism of threes. This is because the 3 of them represent the power Caitlyn wishes she has- the power to avenge her mother.

Either way, I'm hoping that Caitlyn doesn't stay on this path, as Macbeth is a tragedy for a reason.

Another thing I just remembered. Macbeth's enemy, Macduff. Macbeth kills Macduff's wife and child.

I'd say the closest Caitlyn could get to that is by killing Isha and Sevika.

The scene in the opening credits with Caitlyn also furthers this parallel.

She has blood on her hands, which is likely a reference to everything she does against Zaun in the later episodes of season 2, and the pain she causes Vi. Shes clearly distressed and feels guilty here. However this is again similar to Macbeth in the sense that he believes his actions and guilt can never be forgiven, hence the "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" quote.

Furthermore, her hands here are creating a shadow resembling a crown, showing how the blood on her hands is what's leading to her power, which is again similar to how Macbeth gets the blood of Duncan on his hands to become king.

Also, the shadow here could be representing how her position of power entirely overshadows her guilt and pain to those shes hurt, but also overshadows the literal and metaphorical blood on her hands to those who support her.

The parallels are staring me in the face.

Don’t look down wearing a crown

Your mother will have justice, I swear it.

okay, i’ve been wanting to say something about this woman…

for awhile.

i know that a lot of people are liking her and find her cute, happy-go-lucky, and all that. but the scene where we’re introduced to her has made me feel a lot unsettled by her.

the sun shining behind her does not do anything to make me feel like “oh, i can trust her!” and i believe that’s the point.

there’s supposed to be this unease with the image above and the following moment where she holds out her hand to vi because there is a clash happening:

the scene reminds me a lotttt of US military propaganda where they’ll constantly try to paint joining the army in a positive light and that its a cool, heroic act, completely glossing over the harm, death, and inhumane actions that the entity has done.

maddie reminds me of some sort of military recruiter that would’ve came up to me back when i was in high school, thinking that telling to me join was helpful for figuring out my future and would “set me on the right path.” meanwhile, they ignore/refuse to tell me how much of a negative impact it would have on my life and how it continues to devastate others across the globe.

⸻ MEL & AMBESSA MEDARDA, Arcane S2

The Medarda Family and the True Goal of Shimmer

Nature has made us intolerant to change, but fortunately, we have the capacity to change our nature. -Singed

For most of s1 the only versions of magic the audience really gets familiar with are visualized through hextech blue and shimmer pink, but we can't trust it to represent what actual magic is like on Runeterra. People from PnZ are incredibly unfamiliar with magic, it was banned for centuries, and they're mostly retracing steps and doing guess work. The best metric to understand how magic works is to look at characters and regions that are actually inclined to magic, and the Medardas may be the best example yet.

When Ambessa accepts the Wolf totem from Lamb one half of dual aspects of death, her body is enveloped in a bright purple transformation before being reforged into a red that resembles the kind her ancestors and the Lamb wear.

It's the same bright purple that consumes Sky in Viktor's last experiment with the hexcore in s1.

I think this purple represents magic at its most malleable state, where it can be refined or change others into final products with a proper catalysts. By s1's final scene, we know that Mel possesses magic and likely uses it through her golden armor. We also know it's possible for magic to be a hereditary trait that can be passed down (not perfectly) through family lines, which is prized in Noxus (and Ixtal?).

So if Mel has magic that likely means the Medardas family in general has latent magic that flows through them naturally., but qhat does this have to do with shimmer or PnZ in general?

The Medardas are relevant to PnZ because Zaun leading minds, Silco and Singed, have spent their capital trying to replicate what the Medardas can do!Shimmer doesn't exist purely as a bioweapon, that's frankly secondary to it's point. Shimmer exists as a means to artificially make the users capable of performing magic, or at least shift the user's biology into something that can tolerate magic. Hextech as a solution to the mystery of maguc completely sidesteps the relationship between magic and the user by using machinery as middleman, while shimmer takes a more direct route.

Singed can't literally biohack nonmagical people into mages all by himself. Singed instead developed what's essentially a hormone therapy to give users temporary magic abilities by synthesizing shimmer from these mysterious plants that resembles the color of the magic within Ambessa before her deal with the Lamb.

Why didn't Singed and Silco just give people the magic purple plants directly if it's capable turning them into mages? Sky and Rio might be the best examples for why you don't do that. When young Viktor feeds Rio the purple plants we see Rio immediately lose vigor, as an audience most of us assumed that was simply Rio's pre-existing condition acting up, but the relationship is more simple. When Singed said Rio was dying, he said it with surety because Singed KNEW the exposure to magic was killing Rio. And Sky was DISINTEGRATED upon being exposed to the hexcore's magic.

In that vein, Singed used Rio as a work around. From what we see non-mage humans absolutely cannot tolerate exposure to even base magic, but Rio was able to last longer. Instead Singed and Silco exposed Zaun to a version of those magic flowers that was broken down by Rio's metabolism into a more version that non-magical humans can tolerate.

The wild thing is that all this effort is to get non-mage users to Ambessa's UNREALISED state, the purple is just the base magic that exists in mages. Even still, Singed seems to have developed the kind of strain of shimmer that's the closest he's ever come to real magic, and Viktor and Jinx used it.

Viktor's own magical transformation has been facilitated by the hexcore in the same way the Lamb facilitated Ambessa's transformation. Do i think Viktor has essentially created his own Aspect through the hexcore? NO.

But in the same way shimmer is facsimilie of magical ability, so too is the hexcore a subsitute for living magic. And by living magic I don't mean unicorns or mermaids, I mean magic that is given consciousness and shape by being tethered to human concepts. And the hexcore's basic purpose is supposed to be magic that thinks and Viktor has tethered it to the human plane with his blood.

This all begs the question about what could exposure to the hexcore do to long term shimmer users? What WILL it do to Jinx? We all know that's inevitable next season.

You see, power, real power doesn't come to those who were born strongest or fastest or smartest. No. It comes to those who will do anything to achieve it. -Silco

Tldr: Shimmer is a large-scale project to turn the population of Zaun into mages, or magically tolerant, by essentially microdosing the population with magic through shimmer.

Just like when Vander shoved off. Except this time you aren't here to put it all back together, because... someone put all those holes in you.

An analysis of episode 3's opening scene: police brutality and lyrical significance

So, I’ve been seeing a lot of people having conflict over the opening scene in episode 3 of Arcane’s second season, and I figured I would share my two cents on it. I’m gonna preface this by saying that I don’t have a large following, so I have no idea who will see this, but I think it would be fun to analyze the scene and why it’s constructed the way that it is (especially from my English Major™ perspective). Maybe this won't make a lot of sense?? I did try though!!

To start:

FEVER 333 is a band that is most known for progressive political messages in their music, from my understanding, and is very much ACAB (agreed).

I’ve seen a lot of people saying that using their song—with their history and messages in mind—for a scene of police brutality and its “glorification” is a waste of money and animation. Added with the fact that this scene is drawn in a very action-sequence style that is reminiscent of a comic book that gives it a flourish to make it stand out and appear cool, I can understand where people are coming from. However, this isn't meant to be glorified.

If there’s one thing to understand about Arcane and its writing is that everything happens for a reason. 

There is a reason why FEVER 333’s music was used for a scene that is explicitly about police brutality. I believe it’s partially—if not completely—written from Caitlyn’s perspective. What she is doing is inherently WRONG and goes against her mother’s legacy. The lyrics are very pointedly from the wrong side of this conflict, and it isn’t meant to look good. This is completely intentional.

This post is super long, so I've cut & organized it with headings so you can read at your own pace. Contents: -Legacy Turned Sideways -Power & Emotion: How Grief and Legacy Make Caitlyn a Brutal Enforcer -Lyric Analysis (longest section) -Conclusion/Closing Thoughts

If I may, I would like to add : I think Caitlyn doesn't understands it as a war. As she said "this is all the actions of a single deranged individual". She (growingly) dehumanize zaunites and deprive them, barring a few ones, of any agentivity.

This perceived lack of agentivity means they are beneath redemption, which allow her to threaten and brutalize them at will and save her from the need to help and care ; their actions are the result of their very nature, nothing can be done against it and neither generalised violence (ie. invasion) nor political action (fixing things) will resolve the situation at hand.

The only way to put an end to it is to get rid of the "deranged individual" which is prompting zaunites to misbehave and everything will be fine again. Since this is the only solution, there is no point in not going all in and so she does (and since she refuses to accept there is an actual problem, she can't fix shit).

This is such a good addition!!

Cait sees Jinx as the center of everything going wrong, and by taking her out, everything will be fixed. She's completely out of her depth when it comes to the fact that there's an actual war brewing. Pinning everything on one single individual will only amplify the need for Zaun to strike back. Because her view of Jinx has lead to the full generalization of who Zaunites are, there's a lot more that could go wrong. She's forgotten everything she's seen in season 1 (if not forgotten, then she's thrown it all on the back-burner).

mel break up with your gay boyfriend right now

Jinx casually adding the entirety of the las vegas bellagio casino in Sevikas new arm is the funniest fuckinh thing in the world

Mel Medarda — Arcane 2.03 "Finally Got the Name Right"