#I know the relationship between Vander and Silco is extremely tragic | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

universallywriting · 2 years

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Also I'm curious how you feel about Jinx and Silco's dynamic (whether it's something you enjoyed watching, as well as whether you think ultimately it did more harm than good), I know I've seen some takes about it being abusive but I can't really see that angle. I fully agree/acknowledge that Silco definitely nurtured parts of Jinx's personality that made her more resistant to healing and help, but I also think that his refusal to condemn her and leave her is the most crucial part of how Jinx even survived once Vi left. Like sure Silco 'killed' Vander but Vander wasn't fully in the right either and had had some skeletons in his closet. The final lines he say to her are so tragic and beautiful, like Silco's own words to himself as well and I just can't get over their dynamic.

I really love the dynamic between Jinx and Silco! I was really guarded at first, because I was nervous they were going to make the relationship romantic or sexual, and I would have hated that. But they stuck with the father/daughter thing, and that just made it perfect.

As far as Silco being a good/bad influence, i feel like the show hides just how much of Jinx is because of Vi, and how thorough her personality is established by the time Silco finds her. On rewatch, you can really understand why Jinx is the monster Vi created. Jinx hates the Enforcers, wants a revolution, wants Piltover's respect, wants the people around her to be impressed by her skill in combat, her ability to steal, to invent - these are all things that came from idealizing Vi, not Silco.

When Silco first walks up to Powder, he asks her where her sister is. On rewatch, it's clear that it's because Silco wants Vi. He thinks that Vi is the prize of Vander's family, and he's hoping to sway her to his side. He has absolutely no interest in Powder.

When Powder says that Vi left her, that Vi isn't her sister anymore, everything changes. All of his body language, his face - it goes soft and caring. He immediately connects to her and holds her close, and I think that really establishes everything their relationship is about. They have similar traumas and similar goals, and because of that Silco is able to care for her in a way nobody else ever could have.

Silco doesn't instill those goals or traumas in her. She came with them already.

Vi tells Vander that her whole life she's known that she's worth less than the people of Piltover and she doesn't want Powder to think that way. But she's also not great at supporting Powder. Which isn't her fault, because she doesn't know what support looks like. When she goes to comfort Powder after the failed heist, her goto method isn't to praise Powder for her intelligence or survival or her ability to know what's valuable. Instead, she tells embarrassing stories about everyone else. Vi doesn't know how to say "you're amazing". She only knows how to say "well, we all kind of suck."

But Silco knows how to praise and Jinx desperately needs that. Jinx is an inventor like Jayce and Viktor, but she doesn't have wealthy patrons. She doesn't have an old ass yordle telling her she's valid. There's no institution to support her through her failures - it's just Silco. So he has to be there to encourage her, to push her, to tell her that her skills are rare and valuable and just because she can't punch a guy in the face doesn't mean that she's worthless. Vi tells her someday her bombs will work, someday she'll be worth it. Silco tells her every day that she's worthy, and that everything she does is leading to greatness.

His support allows her to grow up with confidence. She's an extremely active character - which is rare for female characters and for characters with mental health issues. It would have been so easy for Jinx to just be locked away in her lab, the shy broken genius desperate for love and validation. But Silco gives her love and validation, which means she doesn't spend all her time aching for it. She wants more. She's able to be extremely active in the story and her pursuits because of his support, and because he's a really amazing father.

The show is focused on the idea of whether or not there is a "base violence necessary for change", and people on Silco's side believe that's true. So, you know, if he and Jinx were wealthy in Piltover, yeah. He'd be a bad dad. What she would need would be therapy and meds. But they aren't in Piltover. They're in Zaun, where medicine is made out of shimmer.

He's doing what he can to help Jinx survive in an unfair world. I honestly can't imagine how Jinx's life would be better if he had discouraged her from making bombs, defending herself, etc. What kind of life is there to be had in Zaun? What is the best case scenario of living "peacefully"? Is it really better than fighting?

Odds are good that, without Silco, Jinx would have ended up in prison, or just as another child working in a factory. I feel like he made her life way, way better by existing, and the only way you can really come down on all this being negative is if you think that, like... all revolution is just inherently evil and that oppressed people should never be violent.

I saved this for last because it's a bit speculative, but I think it's also worth noting that... yeah, Vander's not exactly perfect. He decided that a revolution wasn't worth fighting because he saw a battle go poorly and decided Zaun would never win. Even when Silco tries to convince him that they have the tools to change that, he refuses to accept they have a chance. Vander tries to stop the people of Zaun from unifying and fighting. When Vi asks him what they'll do when the enforcers come back to take the kids away - probably to prison - he says he doesn't know.

It's never said directly, but I'm pretty sure that the deal Vander made with the Enforcers is something along the lines of him giving up information on the patrons of his bar in exchange for his children not being arrested - provided they don't aim too high with their theft. He's literally given up on anything but working with the oppressive government in the hopes that he'll be able to keep his family alive. He's a broken man. He doesn't believe the world can get better.

Silco's life is rough, but when Jinx is with him she's told she's worthy. She'd told that she deserves better, that one day people will see how amazing she is, and that she should have more than the leftover scraps of Piltover. The way they support and care for each other is the only way that they could get up every day and not be completely broken down - like Vander and, to a certain extent, like Vi. Even Vi can only dream of things getting better by her and Powder leaving Zaun and never returning.

Silco and Jinx have to believe in themselves to believe that change is possible - otherwise it's just hoping that one day the government will just stop being cruel to them. They are co-dependent, but they don't have a choice. Who else is there to rely on when the whole system has failed them?

Their dynamic destroys me. I'm completely in love with it.

#arcane #arcane meta #jinx arcane #silco arcane #not su #arcane spoilers

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yurimother · 2 years

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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.

#Arcane #league of legends #lgbt #jinx #caitlyn #vi #yuri

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