Of Fathers and Fiends: “Arcane”
In 2021 the world of animated television was rocked. A little-known animation studio by the name of Fortiche, collaborating with Riot Games, gave us Arcane, a TV show based on characters from the online multiplayer game League of Legends. The show was an instant (and massive) hit, winning a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program (the first streaming show to win the award), and is widely regarded as the best video game adaptation of all time. There is so much to talk about with regard to the masterpiece that is Arcane, from the voice acting, to the animation, and everything in between. But today, I wanna talk about two men, their daughter, and how that moves the story.
Our main character is a little blue-haired firebrand named Jinx (or Powder, if you’re Vi). This is her story, her trials, her very entertaining descent into madness. But madness doesn’t exist in isolation, especially not in The Lanes. Enter, the two main supporting actors in this drama. Vander and Silco. At different points in the story, both men act as father figures for our little monkey bomb enthusiast, and their contrasting personal and parenting styles lay the groundwork for the excellent drama that would be played out over the course of the show.
Vander is a man who believes in honor and protecting his (found) family over everything. He is willing to sacrifice any and everything if it means ensuring peace in The Undercity (in whatever form it comes). He tries to negotiate with the head of the Enforcers after his kids steal stuff in Piltover and even offers himself up. This is a man who will do anything to keep his kids safe, even if it means he won’t see them.
Silco, on the other hand, is not that. He is, in the simplest terms, the Kingpin of Crime in The Undercity. He is Zaun’s answer to Wilson Fisk. A man who is so deeply involved in every horrible thing that happens in The Lanes that his very name is synonymous with evil. He is a manipulative, conniving, backstabbing, puppet-master. Able to take anything, and indeed anyone, and twist them for his benefit (like he did with Marcus). Not exactly what you’d call “father of the year” material. And when Jinx (then Powder) falls into his arms after a horrible explosion that killed Vander, Silco sees an opportunity. Here was a girl, broken, lost, and (as far as she knew) abandoned. Silco saw an opportunity to mold her into his perfect weapon.
Jinx struggles under the weight of the conflicting personal ideologies that she has been raised with. Vander’s pragmatic altruism and Silco’s opportunistic ruthlessness, combined with a healthy dose of personal demons (like the ghosts of your dead brothers), don’t make for the most stable seventeen-year-old. Silco, for his part, gets a little more than he bargains for with this bomb-making, graffiti-spraying terrorist. He actually cares for her, something that has been priorly established to be more or less impossible.
When she blows up an exhibit during Piltover’s Founder’s Day, he protects her from Marcus and the Enforcers (relatively easy since Marcus is in his pocket). He constantly makes decisions that are less than optimal for the economic viability of his enterprise, even sparking would-be challengers (that he snuffs out), and a hint of doubt from Sevika, his right-hand woman (literally). When she blows herself up to take out Ekko (a ballsy move, by the way), he moves heaven and earth trying to find a way to save her life, even submitting her to dangerous and experimental treatment at the hands of Singed.
He tries to remain the same elite game master, but it’s clear that he’s (for lack of a better word) lost a step. Jinx is too much of a wildcard for him to successfully predict and control her behavior. It all comes to a head when Jinx overhears Silco talking to Vander’s statue. He speaks of daughters and bargains, of realizing a dream that many have died for. And all he would have to relinquish is Jinx.
Here we have a man who has been known to be ruthless and decisive in getting what he wants. And yet, he hesitates. Everything he ever wanted, and he can’t bring himself to make the choice. As much as he molded her, she also had an effect on him. This all sets up the brilliant ending to the first season. Mistakes have been made, and once again (by her own hand), Jinx has lost her father. She’s all alone in the world. With his dying breath, Silco tells her that he would have never given her over, not even for his precious Nation of Zaun. Father and daughter share one last moment together, in a dark room lit by candlelight.
Arcane is many things. Brilliantly written. Expertly animated. Wondrously acted. And within all this, is a heartbreakingly beautiful tale of fatherhood and the lengths one would go to protect their children.
