Arcane is Really Good
I recently finished watching season two of Arcane. For those who don’t know, Arcane is a beautifully animated show by Fortiche Production SAS based on Riot Games’ League of Legends universe. Arcane has developed a reputation for being both gorgeously animated and beautifully written. So much so that even those of us with no interest in the game it is based on can’t help but be impressed and enthralled.
With that in mind, I want to talk about why the writing in Arcane is as good as it is.
Table of Contents:
Worldbuilding
The worldbuilding in Arcane is interesting to talk about. The world of Runeterra is vast with centuries of history, but the Arcane is primarily focused on the city state of Piltover and its undercity, Zaun.
Piltover is borderline utopic with little-to-no crime. It’s clean and pleasant to look at. It brands itself as the city of progress and is at the forefront of science in the world. This is especially true after Jayce and Viktor develop hextech, special technology that is able to tap into the innate magic of the world as a powersource. This technology is so powerful that it supercharges Piltover’s development, even leading to the invention of the hexgates, technology that allows for near instantaneous travel over vast distances. All of this is presided over by a ruling council that seems to elect (and dismiss) their own members - generally from the noble houses of the city.
Conversely, the undercity of Zaun is technically also part of Piltover. However, it is grimy, polluted and crime-ridden. The council of Piltover and other “topsiders” have little presence within Zaun, which is mostly controlled by crime syndicates.
This dichotomy serves as the impetus for much of the conflict that occurs within Arcane. As is often the case in real life, the prosperity of the wealthy middle and upper social castes of Piltover - including its corrupt ruling council - is largely built on the suffering of Zaun. In some cases, the literal run-off from Piltover’s progress filters down into Zaun and pollutes it. This leads to a lot of tension between Piltover and Zaun. Piltover sees Zaun as violent, crime-ridden and dangerous and Zaun see Piltover as a corrupt oligarchy profiting off of their pain, with many Zaunites seeking independence. What’s so interesting about this is that almost all of the conflict in Arcane can be traced back to this strained relationship. Jinx and Violet steal dangerous materials from Piltover, trigger an explosion and get chased into the undercity as a result. This leads to the conflict between Vander and Silco coming to a head over their differing beliefs on seeking independence and indirectly creates the situation that leads to Vander’s death, Vi’s imprisonment and Jinx developing her psychosis, being adopted by Silco and becoming his lieutenant. These are the events that kick off the entire plot of Arcane and they never stop being relevant right up to the final conflict where Ambessa besieges a weakened and divided Piltover after manipulating Caitlyn through that divide.
The wider world and history of Runeterra is less prevalent, because the story isn’t really focused there. Although I fully expect to see more of the world in other series. That being said though, we do get to learn a bit more of the world and its history. For example, we know that there was a dangerous conflict involving magic in the past. This is why Heimerdinger, who was alive during this time period, is weary of Jayce and Viktor’s hextech developments and a schism ends up developing between himself and his pupils. We also get to learn some of the warlike Noxis and the magic-users of the Black Rose through Mel and Ambessa, the latter of whom is trying to leverage the former’s connections to Piltover to get access to hextech for vengeance against the Black Rose.
What makes this worldbuilding so impressive isn’t just its depth, but that it takes the confusing and messy lore of League of Legends and spins it into something cohesive, believable and engaging. Beyond that though, the way Arcane is written is also very conscious of its worldbuilding. The characters of the series are never unaffected by the rules, prejudices and cultures of the world they live in. Rather, their beliefs, arcs and conflicts are always directly informed by the worldbuilding which is great writing.
Characters
Speaking of Arcane’s characters though, the cast of the show is reasonably large with around ten major characters (depending on who you count as a main character), most of whom are based on their video game counterparts. Despite this though, the majority of the cast are layered and complex and even those who are more simplistic are compelling in their simpleness. The story of Arcane is largely built not only on these characters, but specifically on their shifting relationships and the complexities of how they feel about one another.
Perhaps the most central character to the story in Arcane is Jinx, formerly called Powder. Jinx’s in-game counterpart is quite shallow, her personality and character pretty much stopping at being insane and loving nothing more than blowing things up. Her Arcane portrayal however has a lot more depth. Her hallucinations and psychosis are a trauma response to the events of the first arc of the show. Similarly, her destructive tendencies and violence are more akin to self-harm than anything. She has convinced herself she can only do harm and that everything she cares about she will inevitably destroy. Her journey in the show is about identity. Is she Jinx, Silco’s right-hand woman? Is she Powder deep down? Maybe she’s both?
Conversely, Vi has a pretty stagnant character. She is pretty much the same tough-as-nails, blunt brawler from start to finish. She processes her emotions primarily through anger but is ultimately a compassionate, fair and caring person. That is at the heart of her struggle with Jinx. She desperately wants to believe Powder is still there even when all the evidence points to the contrary. When it starts to look like her sister is truly too far gone, she goes after her herself - almost as if she wants to avenge the death of the old version of Jinx.
Accompanying Vi through much of Arcane is Caitlyn, an enforcer (like a cop) from Piltover. In season one, Caitlyn is somewhat naive and her story is mostly about learning about Zaun and developing a relationship with Vi. In season two, Caitlyn gets to shine a bit more as her naivete is stripped away and replaced with a more vengeful veneer. She goes after Jinx whilst being manipulated by Ambessa. The question around Vi here is whether or not she’ll give in to her anger or make peace with Zaun.
Also from Piltover is a childhood friend of Caitlyn’s, Jayce. Jayce (along with Viktor) invents hextech and seeks to change the world with it. He wants to do something great and thinks little of the long term costs. In fact, he’s so invested in doing great things in season one that he becomes embroiled in politics and the conflict between Piltover and Zaun, while neglecting the original goals he has with Victor. In season two, we see Jayce grappling with the consequences of his actions in season one and doing what he can to right those wrongs.
Jayce’s partner in developing Hextech is Viktor. Viktor is a Zaunite originally and struggles with illness because of the pollution there. His brilliance led him to Piltover as a scientist and it was him who encouraged Jayce, believing hextech could better the world. Like Jayce in some ways, but very much unlike him in others, Viktor has a complicated relationship with magic and hextech. His goal is always to better the world, but his methods shift as his perspective on hextech and humanity does through the series.
In addition to the Piltover and Zaun natives, Mel and Ambessa Medarda are also central figures in the story. Ambessa is a warmongering general from the nation of Noxis who becomes particularly prominent in season two. She isn’t particularly invested in the politics of Piltover, but is invested in hextech. She wants to gain access to it for use in pursuing her own personal vendetta back in Noxis and is willing to manipulate characters like Caitlyn and fan the flames between Piltover and Zaun in an effort to get it. Mel, her daughter, is a Piltover council member with a complicated relationship with her family. She also wishes to achieve greatness for Piltover through hextech, mostly to prove herself worthy of her family name. However, she finds herself in opposition to her mother who wants to claim that technology for violence.
These are only a handful of the important players in Arcane’s story, but they are the ones who are most consequential to the overall plot. Other characters like Silco, Ekko, Heimerdinger, Sevika, Singed and Warwick are also important with major roles to play, but if I was going to go into every character I’d probably have to write another book.
What I will point out though, is that while each of these characters have fascinating and compelling journey’s of their own, it is how they play off each other that really heightens the show. The dynamics between these characters change, shift and influence each other greatly and it is those kinetic dynamics that drive the show forward more than anything else. Often characters will even find themselves switching stances or positions with each other as the events of the story - which are typically driven by themselves or other characters to begin with - cause them to re-evaluate things.
More than just about anything, Arcane is a masterclass on how to write layered characters that are easy for an audience to get invested in.
Themes
Another area where Arcane excels is in its thematics. The most prominent of these themes being love, class divide and sacrifice.
You might not think it at first, given that Arcane is as gritty and violent as it is, but I would argue that love is the most central theme of the show given its focus on the characters and their dynamics with each other. This is particularly prevalent in how the deep care many characters have for each other complicates their conflicts. Jinx does horrible things because of her instability that put her in conflict with Vi and Caitlyn. Vi struggles with this because she can’t reconcile Jinx’s actions with her identity as Powder. This causes tension with her and Caitlyn. Silco finds himself unable to realise his dream of an independent Zaun because he ends up caring for Jinx like a daughter - just like his rival Vander. He isn’t willing to turn her over in exchange for independence. Jayce and Viktor often find themselves with opposing priorities when it comes to hextech which causes them both to suffer primarily because of the bond they share. Rather than take the easy road of having its characters turn to genuine hatred over their differences, the drama of their conflicts is heightened by the fact that they cannot stop caring for each despite their ideological differences.
Class divide as a theme is more straightforward and immediately noticeable. There is a clear class separation between the people of Piltover and Zaun and the tension and prejudices between the two colour the relationships of many characters. This is predominantly seen between Caitlyn and Vi and Jayce and Viktor. For the former two, coming from different worlds adds an additional layer of struggle to their developing relationship. Meanwhile, Jayce and Viktor come to be at odds over their differing priorities; Jayce gets wrapped up in the politics of Piltover whereas Viktor’s immediate concern is for Zaun and how hextech could improve their lives. The divide also comes into play for Ambessa and Mel Medarda, as the former is attempting to manipulate the escalating conflict between Piltover and Zaun to her own ends and the latter stands in opposition.
The final theme is perhaps the least immediately noticeable until you look for it, at which point it clearly colours everything. Simply put, the journey’s of many characters can be summed up with the question “what are you willing to sacrifice to achieve your goal?” For Silco, he must choose between Jinx and an independent Zaun. Ekko has to choose between his own happiness and the fate of Piltover and Zaun. Jayce and Viktor struggle to choose who gets to benefit from their genius and who does not. Ambessa outright states to Caitlyn at one point that one’s success is determined by how much they are willing to give up to get it. These are just a few examples of this theme coming into play.
Arcane weaves these themes into everything it does. They define the relationships between characters or are invoked by the plot at every turn. The consistency of the thematics in the show add to the emotional and ideological weight of the narrative and enhance the storytelling, helping make it just as much art as entertainment.
In conclusion
While this is technically a review, I struggled to label it as such. It goes without saying Arcane is really good at this point. Much more prominent reviewers than I have said as much and very publicly so.
Instead, I wanted to talk about why the show is as well-written as it is. Additionally, I wanted to not have to worry about accidentally giving spoilers since a lot of people use reviews to determine if they watch something or not. I did my best to keep spoilers to a minimum anyway, but some things couldn’t be avoided if I wanted to talk about the writing with any semblance of depth.
Honestly though, I’ve barely scratched the surface. Arcane is an extremely well-made and artistic piece of media and there is just too much to say for a handful of pages. I will probably have to revisit Arcane in some way later on to really get into the gritty details. For now though, suffice to say, Arcane is easily one of the best things I’ve ever watched.
