#silco meta
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May we know Silco's approach to sex? Stroke game, technique, and so on? Love your headcanons!
We're talking swimming strokes, yes?
:')
A wise murderer once said, "There's peace in water."
He also said, "The flow is key."
NSFW
More Arcane headcanons: Here.
"Lesson the first: Variety matters."
"You aren't a piston in a well-oiled machine. You're flesh and bone. And that bone, tragically, can only take so much abuse before it deflates. So make the most of it. Start with small staccato movements, focusing on small points inside your playmate. Friction only matters on the surface. Beneath, it's all about the pressure. It's not a basic equation of in and out: it's figure eights, it's ripples, it's whorls. Gradually, as their breathing deepens, lengthen your movements. Let them move with you. Let them show you how they want it. Let them teach you what they need. They'll tell you everything necessary for their undoing. Provided you pay attention."
"Lesson the second: Speed is the enemy."
"Unless there's a fitting at the tailor's you forgot to mention, the only place speed belongs is in your knife-hand. Go slow. It's the best revenge for all the times they've left you wanting. Take their pleasure like a gift. Then peel it back, inch by inch. Tease them, just enough. Give them a taste of everything, then nothing. If you're patient, you'll strip away all their pretenses. You'll learn exactly where they live. You'll be able to touch the very heart of them. And, if they're lucky, you'll decide to leave it beating."
"Lesson the third: Be unpredictable."
"Change the mood. Change the pace. Change the game entirely. Start sweet, then turn nasty. Repeat what serves, then let it ebb into something softer. Keep them guessing; keep them coming back. Then shock them all over again. The moment their brain thinks it's getting what it wants, shake it all up. Don't ever give them what they think they want. Only what they never knew they needed. Always, always, stay two steps ahead."
"Lesson the fourth: Always get what you want."
"And always make it seem like a favor. It's the simplest way to build a sense of debt. If they can't be honest with you, they can't trust you. And without trust, you've got no leverage. So build trust like it's the bedrock of the earth, and use it. Be the good listener they've never had before. Be the person who understands them best. The one who knows their favorite food, their fears, their foibles. The more you see past their boundaries into what they hide - the more porous those boundaries become. The more they think they can depend on you, the deeper they'll let you in. Then once you're inside, once they've dropped their guard, once they can't imagine their life without you - that's when you make them give you whatever you want. All you have to do is ask. Just be sure to phrase it as a question."
"Lesson the fifth: Be present."
"You're a deep diver, remember? Pay attention to the currents. Watch the way their face contorts. Feel the way their skin shivers. Listen to the rhythm of their breaths. The body is a sea, and everything is connected. Every ripple begets a riptide, and so on. It's all a matter of reading the signs. A subtle tightening, a flicker of an eyelid, a thigh trembling - these are your treasure map. X-marks-the-spot. Follow the clues, and you'll learn to anticipate what comes next. You'll find that thing they're trying to hide, even from themselves. And once you have it, you'll know exactly what will send them over the edge. The right word, the right touch, the right thrust - and they'll come apart, utterly."
"Lesson the six: Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty."
"Or any other part of you, for that matter. Prudishness is a roadblock. Your target will never feel at ease if you act as if you're above the mess of their bodies, their fluids, their needs. You are not their Warden - there to police what's allowed or not. You're not their conscience - there to judge what's vice or virtue. You're their release. Their salvation. Their guide into the depths. And that means everything they are, you're going to get all over yourself. Their filth is the evidence of your success. Wear it proudly. Let them see how their darkness becomes your light. How their sin becomes your purity. That's what they crave, what no one else will give. They'll never feel so understood as when they're looking at you, smeared in the proof of how you've made them come apart. And then, and only then, will you take them deeper. Deeper into their desires. Deeper into their depravity. Deeper, and deeper still, until they can no longer resurface."
"Lesson the seventh: Say their name."
It's the smallest sound, and yet the most powerful. No one ever feels known, not completely. Not until they hear their own name in a lover's voice. It's what lets them inhabit the present. It's the key to their being. It's the way they'll know you've claimed their whole self, in every way. And there's an art to the way you say it. There are all kinds of voices you can use: breathy, husky, sharp, soft. Start by using it slowly. Sparingly. Wait for the exact moment their eyes glaze over, their mouth drops open, and their hips begin to shudder. Then whisper their name like it's a secret only they can know. Like you've been dying to tell them, and they're the only one who can hear. As the moment peaks, draw it out as if from the deepest, darkest well. Turn every syllable into a breath for more. Like the air itself is a blessing. The next time, they'll be the ones who beg for it. Who pray for it. They'll forget every name they've ever been called. Every name - except yours."
"Here's the eighth, and final lesson: Don't forget who you are."
"If you forget, the tide will turn against you. You're not their lover. You're not their confidant. You're not their friend. You're the water itself. It's you they're immersed in. It's you they're at the mercy of. They may try to cling to the surface. They may struggle against the waves. They may even call out for help. But it's only once they're all the way down that they'll truly let go. And, once they do, you'll be the only thing left. It's not a matter of love. It's the simple fact of gravity. Down, is where they belong."
A small smile.
"Down, where the monsters are."
#arcane#arcane league of legends#arcane silco#asks#silco#forward but never forget/xoxo#forward (never forget)/xoxo#silco headcanons#silco meta#silco headcanon#arcane headcanon#arcane headcanons#silco x reader#silco smut
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boring answer but: monopoly. he's totally use his Voice™️ and intimidation skills to make people accept his trades
This fuckin industrialist, of COURSE he’s the sicko who likes monopoly unironically.
#silco meta#lmao no it’s not meta#but still#silco#silco arcane#oh no I have to name this project#uhhhh#board game puns board game puns….#okay I can’t think of any yet so I’ll come back to it; feel free to offer suggestions#board game cafe modern au
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Lunari Heritage in Zaun
This is gonna be a reach, but from the little we've seen of Vi and Jinx's mom and younger Silco, I'd guess they were both from the same ethnic group.
In a place like Zaun, where the people are left with scraps, any piece of jewelry sticks out. Vi's mom and Silco are both wearing similar pieces of jewelry. Silco's bracelet could likely be fitted as a necklace since it twice wraps over his wrist. Neither are wearing anything of high quality, but the necklace and bracelet in their respective pictures seem decently maintained if not worn. That's when I thought, these are probably heirlooms.
In fact they looked pretty similar too, but in smaller scale of the princess's own pendants. I wouldn't bring this up if it weren't for the fact that Piltovans prioritize elaborate art-deco aesthetics, the more elaborately geometric the better (Councilor Shoola). So you would assume even the simplest jewelry would be a square pendant or a straight line. But no, big plain circles, and then I remembered we saw that before, on the princess Ambessa killed. Big bronze circles.
And when we look at young Vi , you notice that she's wearing jewelry too. A simple necklace with a green (it looks green) gem. And I realized that the princess's necklace was also adorned green gems.
I'm pulling from scraps, but it's interesting that small things these Zaunites have to adorn themselves (though not for long with the time skips) are similar versions if not simpler version's of the princess's.
At first I thought this meant that many of the cast were actually of Ionian descent. But then in the Princess's scene a thought kept coming back to me, "Why is Mel wearing purple?". Mel, a skilled diplomat from a young age, typically wears the main colors of the nations she hosts and is hosted by. White for Piltover, Black for Noxus (Ambessa), and always with her signature accents of gold. So if Mel followed her mother to Ionia ,where green is a culturally significant color, why purple? It's because Mel and Ambessa weren't in Ionia, they were in Targon fighting the Lunari.
The Lunari are Rakkor tribal people in the Targonian region who worship the moon, and are persecuted for it by the Solari, the religious order that worships the sun. While technically Mt. Targon is influenced by Mt. Olympus and Greek mythology aesthetic, that's more the case for the Solari. Overtime the Lunari aesthetic has been mixed it's originally nomadic culture with East Asian influences. The prominent colors of the Lunari happen to be turquoise, silver, black and purple. It was such a little thing to remember but it made me see connections I hadn't thought about.
Suddenly everything starts to connect. The bronze coins represent the 3 moons that exist in Arcane's Runeterra. How do we know there are 3 moons, because the Valdiani piece Jinx stole was depicting their planet. In the Valdiani there are 3 orbits circling the Earth, meaning 3 moons (or satelites). Now the engraving on the gold of the princess's necklace makes sense, because it's supposed to resemble the gates at the peak of Mt. Targon. The pendant itself is shaped like the mountain with the gates fitted at the top.
Frankly, it works for the Princess to have been Lunari and waves of descendants of the Lunari to arrive in Piltover and end up in Zaun. In Arcane, Piltover was created as a safe haven to escape the Rune Wars 200 years from the start of the show. Even after the Rune Wars ended the shipping port has likely seen waves of migrant labor and refugees from the ongoing crisis that occur in Runeterra (*cough*Noxus*cough*). It's likely that many of the current generation of Zaunites are of mixed heritage of the various fleeing people's.
It creates a whole new dynamic of the ways in which Piltover's laws, their Ethos, strips the people of Zaun from their identity and reducing them to tools for the mines. Magic is inherently a part of religious ceremonies and religion in general in Runeterra, especially for the Lunari. How do you practice your religion in a place that has banned the means by which it's conducted? There must have been more people like the Lunari who didn't have a problem with their magic, their problem was that they were being persecuted.
The remnants of family keepsakes brought over as communities fled were clung to as best as possible especially as they had to let go of part their spiritual identity. But even that doesn't seem to have lasted either. Vi doesn't keep her necklace, her mother is dead, so lost is her necklace, and we never see Silco wear his bracelet. They could have been stolen, or at best, hidden for safe keeping, maybe Enforcers get suspicious at the hint of mysticism and suddenly they want to talk.
Finally, maybe a little less related, it is interesting how prominent Piltovans and Zaunites take on day and night aspects. The sun shines over Piltover at their best, begins to set at times of uncertainty. While in the cover of night with moon above, the strongest Zaunites strike hardest. One more thing, it is interesting how Arcane's Jinx has taken on darker tones of purple rather than stick with neon pink. I always have to go back and look at a reference to remember that her pants are purple-er than I recall.
Update: I wanted to include that the large doodle Jinx made on her cup actually looks similar to the Lunari's sigil. And the sigil remains on the cup into the timeskip, also the center moon is made smaller within the crescent like in the necklace. I also noticed Jinx's cup later has more violent bomb imagery around it.
#arcane#lunari#zaun#silco#vi arcane#jinx arcane#mel medarda#there's a lot to think about#for everyone including mel#piltover#arcane theory#arcane meta#arcane speculation
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Thinking again about the mastery of Silco's "Don't cry—you're perfect," because it is both Don't cry for the likes of me and In my eyes, you are perfection, as you have always been—
But it is also both Now is not the time to cry; reserve this pain, this anger, for when it is needed and You are perfect, for all your flaws; never let them tell you otherwise—
And it's If the Kindreds will grant me any final wish, let it be not to see you in pain and Hear me now, please hear me, if you have never heard me before: that there is nothing wrong with you—
And it's even I will never forsake you, even in this and Your future is still paved for you, child; still worthy of you, if you will only take it.
But above all, it's I am here. I am here with you. And I see you—as I have always seen you. Do not let your light fade in vain, not now. If there is any soul you wish to avenge, child, do it not for my sake—my lovely girl, avenge all they've denied from you; all they've taken from us. And never—never—let them take it from us, again.
And yet, at its simplest, it is the smallest reassurance he can give.
You're alright. Don't cry, and You are not the monster they've made of you. You're perfect.
#y'know?#y'know???#rolls on the floor#ugh#crime dad daughter duo#silco & jinx#arcane#arcane meta#also#arcane headcanon#s2 flashbacks my beloved where you AT#like please#chewing through the bars of my enclosure in the meantime
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I'm so glad there are people discussing the politics of Arcane! It's something that bothered me too while watching. One thing I wish they had portrayed more fairly was Silco's time in power. I mean, we only get one montage of the more advanced industrialized Zaun with clean air stations, and only one mention of "Silco the Industrialist." Meanwhile his Shimmer business got episode upon episode of "look at how evil this is".
It even seems to be common for watchers to think he was ONLY doing Shimmer. So many people didn't pick up on the industrialization of Zaun, the cars and new machinery, nor the clean air stations. To the point that it's common to say he only destroyed Zaun and did nothing to improve it. I'm just like.... why did the show not put in more effort to portray both sides of the coin of Silco's operations, especially when his faction is the ONLY one specifically fighting for independence from their oppressors. Just seems like an odd choice.
I feel like Silco has more implied time in the way he talks to the chembarons. He makes it quite clear that HE brought them up here, and they're now corrupted by their time in the sun. And it's set in a gorgeous cultivair... So I think Silco making the Lanes wealthy is really undeniable. It's just that making crimelords wealthy is dodgy in itself, even if we assume that everyone got richer and better.
But honestly I want to say... People have a tendency of forgetting that Silco is a private individual. It's not his job to make people richer or to modernise the Undercity. It's not his responsibility to keep the streets clean or control crime.
That's the Council's.
The scene where Jayce looks in wonder/disgust at all the children in the shimmer factory always strikes me as a great moment for him. I've seen a lot of bad takes on it, making Silco EVIL for having kids working there and Jayce GOOD for feeling bad. Like, flashnews, Silco is providing them with stable income! Kids in his factories don't need to steal or prostitute themselves.
Wouldn't it be great though if they didn't have to work at all? No shit. Shall we ask the Council why there is ZERO social wellfare programs for such poor kids in Zaun?
Well, probably because when they don't work at Silco's, they work at Piltovan factories and mines for scraps. Because Piltovans don't have a normal relationship with Zaunites.
Silco is basically the head of a mafia, and he operates in a power vacuum left by Piltover. If the council took an active interest in the well being of Zaunites, if they weren't starved and beaten and killed point blank for wanting rights, there would be no need for Silco's dream, and no show.
I think even if the show made a greater effort to portray both sides, people would still vilify Silco, because "drugs" have such a demonic reputation. What bums me out more is that they made no effort to make separate chemicals, and ended up making shimmer into the philosopher's stone. WHY wouldn't you make shimmer??? It powers crazy cool engines, saves people from imminent death with no visible bad side effects, gives people a strength boost, and is a cool party drug?
Those are all things we're shown as well. It's so weird.
It really bums me out how Ekko talks about the horrors of shimmer, what it did to Zaun as it flooded the streets, and yet what we're shown is a camp of a dozen people, and a couple homeless people begging in the street when Heimer visits. As well as a violent fight.
Like... Yes? Zaun apparently has been the pits for generations. Is that truly the worst you have? A few addicts and 1 homeless beggar? As well as being "told" it affected families?
I totally get this is horrible, but we are shown a lot more screen time of shimmer being super OP when well used, and used for years without bad effects at that, via Sevika. It makes the criticism sort of moot, especially after one drop of shimmer saves Vi from a horrendous gut wound.
I highly doubt Silco invented poverty or addiction. The show makes it seem like those are his responsibility in equal measure because he commercializes shimmer (which is true) and because they need him as a villain. If shimmer is too good, then he'll become a straight up hero, instead of an anti-hero in villain clothing.
The show just wouldn't commit to have the third act fully go with 'the council are the villains, Silco is in the right', and I genuinely think it's because Riot is an American Company owned by a Chinese one, and that nobody up the foodchain really wants a story in which an underdog character is morally justified in exacting violence on the powerful.
It's my tinfoil hat theory. The hopeful tinfoil says that the writers did their best to give us that story but couldn't realise it fully. The dark tinfoil says that everyone involved is too far deep the neoliberal hellhole to escape centrist narratives (in which Ekko and his useless, powerless artsy rebels are the true heroes).
I'm happy to take the show as it is though, and fill in the blanks my way. I don't have to bend the canon's arm too much to tell a politically charged story that fits my desires!
#so sorry for taking so long to answer#arcane#arcane meta#silco#arcane silco#anon ask#arcane ask#arcane politics
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Arcane and food
There is a subject that’s been turning and turning around my head for quite some time now and that I really wanted to analyze because it’s just a detail and yet it gives me Feels Of Beautiful *o*, and it is: food in Arcane. But bear with me because we’re going to take detours that might be unexpected? (I want to mention air jails and pomegranates)
So, I’m not gonna teach you anything when I say: food is important. In real life obviously, but in fiction too. What I have in mind here: in real life you can’t survive without food, so it’s something that you do everyday, so it is a very mundane and daily thing… which is precisely why, in fiction, it can be very absent (the heroes have to save the world/prove themselves/find their identity/solve a big mystery/… = better things to do than what we do in our daily lives because it is a story to get us out of our everyday lives) or on the contrary very meaningful (ex: In The Lion King, Simba is a carnivorous lion but he accepts to get used to eating bugs when he meets Timon and Pumbaa and decides to live with them, it’s a symbol of him leaving his lion life behind).
Also, in the classical tragedies, there is the rule of grandeur: the main characters have to be princesses and kings and never your common citizen. And princesses and kings will not be shown doing stuff like peeing or eating in this genre, because it is too down to earth for the beauty that’s being displayed.
So, eating = down to earth, concerns your everyday living people ; not eating = what people that are more akin to queens and deities will do, celestial. And that’s a distinction that I really feel in Arcane…
Vi
Vi eats (like a pig) when she gets out of prison, and she very much says it: « we’re here because I’m hungry ». When she eats, she eats. She puts fuel into her stomach and that’s it, it’s a very earthy and mundane thing, it’s not a metaphor like tobacco can be (tobacco = power in the Undercity). Vi just eats like we all do and that’s it.
…Or is it? Well, at least that’s what she says to Caitlyn. Caitlyn was following Vi in hope of being led to important clues, and she gets pissed when she sees Vi stopping for food, because that is definitely not what Caitlyn got into the Undercity for… Because Caitlyn, as a Topsider, is not hungry. She had breakfast this morning, she will have dinner tonight, it’s whatever, her needs are met and she doesn’t need to think about it, and the viewer doesn’t have to think about it. But Vi is the opposite: As a prisoner, her needs depended on the decisions of the people in charge of her prison. She most probably didn’t get to choose what when or how, and most probably got the minimum and a look of disdain with it.
In my head, I really like to make this cute comparison: you know how pet owners take their animals, like a dog for exemple, and they lift them above the ground when they have been naughty, and it’s « no, you’re in air jail now ‘cause you’ve been a bad dog so as a consequence you’re not allowed to dog anymore for a fitting amount of time » and it’s not a slap and not a hug and not a game, and the dog is just up confused with her legs dangling straight like IIII° <oh no what now? and they can’t do anything because air is not their element, the ground is, proven by the fact that they have all of four legs which is a lot of legs when you think about it and all of them want to touch the earth, so quadrupeds are like very ground dependent I guess. So the idea of air jail is that the pet can’t do anything and all that’s left is thinking about their existence and the choices they made and how it led them into not being able to choose anything anymore, and to be at the total mercy of their air jailer who happen to have only two legs that need to touch the ground, and two damned other that can remove you from your daily fulfilling life. And I might put a little too much thoughts into what’s basically cute a meme, but I think that is what is behind the air jail, and that is why it is so funny and cute when you do that to your pet (I’ve only seen it done with love), but yeah here is the thing: that is exactly what Stillwater is, but without the funny and loving part.
All of that detour to say that when Vi was in prison, she was basically in air jail. She wasn’t ‘just imprisoned’, she was removed from existence, and that aspect is accentuated by the fact that a) the prison is called “still water”, as in ‘you’re not allowed to move anymore’, b) it’s on an island that’s removed from both Piltover and the Undercity, and also: c) the time-skip.
The time-skip is very meaningful, because it makes us feel like everything was stopped and stuck from the moment Marcus took Vi away to the moment Caitlyn found an interested reason to get Vi out. We don’t get to see Vi in prison because it is literally a time out. It’s not her life she’s living during this time skip, it’s just her being removed for years and having no control over it.
When she gets out, she eats because it’s an earthy thing, and she was in the air all this time. She reclaims, not even her life, but just a life. This is why it is very important that we see her eat, because it shows us how she feels like she can finally move around and have an impact on the world. She is back.
At first she says to Caitlyn that she brought them here simply so that she could eat, basically to express to her that she is not going to just be used yet again by a Piltie, no, she’s here to reclaim something too and Caitlyn doesn’t have a choice in letting her have that or not, because Vi, as someone who grew up in the Undercity, is more adequate for this quest.
And then she gets the tip from Jericho.
Food is connection, both to the place and the people. Vi eats because that’s what you do when you get home.
And she does it like a pig because she knows that’s not what a Piltie does, and she’s definitely not here to please Pilties.
Silco
Silco does not eat. He is a “kingpin”, he is very close to a classical tragedy figure (I mean… Agamemnon and Iphigenia… That’s his conflict). But he also has a mug painted by Jinx on his desk, with a lid and all, for coffee and stuff. But we don’t see him use it (sadly). He only drinks alcohol, which is akin to tobacco: not necessary to live, on the contrary, especially for tobacco which feels the lungs with noxious smoke when there is already so much suffocating people in the Undercity; when a character takes to it, it’s a symbol of being rich and/or powerful in the Undercity.
So, with the painted by Jinx mug, the earthy thing is here, but Silco decides to not be seen using it. It’s here and not here. And that’s because it’s precisely Silco’s story: It’s him trying to be all but a deity, the founder of Zaun, and fatherhood creeping up on him whether he wants it or not, to the point of him choosing to be a dad with a child instead of a divinity at the head of a city. He doesn’t want to be earthy, because to bring a city towards its independence you probably need to be more than human, but he is earthy and human in the end.
Jayce (and Powder)
In episode 1, Jayce had left two sandwiches on his desk next to his dangerous forbidden work. It has tomatoes and lettuce, it's fresh. It’s a sign of how easy he has it at this time, because he can just leave food around his work, food is not precious, he doesn’t need to eat it right away. Then Powder comes into the room, and she’s starving, so her eyes light up to what is a random sandwich to Jayce, but an out of ordinary meal for her.
And Powder eats, because at this time of the story she is just a child playing around. She is being earthy. She is not concerned by all the stakes yet, she lives the life of a human (we can't exactly say the same about Jinx, who is more akin to a spirit).
There is also very much a thing to say about how Jayce puts his stuff on his desk, and then Powder/Jinx takes it for herself. She did the same with Hextech. (Though, I note that Powder took a bite from the sandwich and didn’t say anything to the others, she didn’t share. While we can argue that her stealing Hextech is helping Zaun, she’s kind of sharing the power with her community. And I’m just here wondering…: Why didn’t Powder share the food? What does this mean about her? Was this done intentionally to say that she’s always been on the selfish side?)
Caitlyn
Caitlyn is nicknamed “Cupcake”. We don’t see her eat, but we see her being called the food. I see it as a way to make us feel how rich and privileged she is, and how Vi feels that and tries to make Caitlyn feels that too. I mean, of course “Cupcake” is a sweet nickname, and the most important meaning is that Vi likes Caitlyn (and also that it can be a reference to one of Caitlyn’s abilities in LoL), but still, a cupcake is a cupcake: a frivolous pastry. A cupcake is not food you get to survive, it’s something you can go without but you get it because it’s yummy. It’s superfluous, but someone from Piltover can afford them regularly. And Caitlyn is beyond that, she is the cupcake. She is a symbol of being rich. And people in the Undercity would want to eat her, but also Vi wants her for other reasons now…
Powder 2
In the « Enemy » clip, Powder plays with her food but does not eat it. She is distracted, and to me it feels like another sign of her being meant to turn into Jinx, a character straight from a tragedy. Something more akin to a deity or spirit of rebellion rather than a little sister. (The clip is all about the seeds of Jinx in Powder, which is why I feel like it is relevant to analyze that scene as one too.)
*big sigh*... Jinx
In the last episode, Jinx brings a cupcake to the table, with the gemstone she stole on top of it. And omg does it bear meanings.
First of all, there is the fact that there is only one cupcake when she invited 3 guests (Vi, Caitlyn, Silco), along with her two brothers who are always with her, maybe we can even count Vander since she did put a plate for him, and herself. With seven people and only one cupcake, we have to wonder: who is going to have the cake? This brings so much tension to the scene: all the people around the table, and only one prize that they have to fight over… And the twist is that no one wants the same thing (Vi wants Powder, Silco wants Jinx, Caitlyn wants the gemstone), and yet they can’t share anything.
Second, the fact that it is a cupcake. Of course it’s a cupcake. Because Vi calls Caitlyn "Cupcake", and it’s all about Jinx wanting Vi to choose her, her zaunite little sister, over her shining new topsider enforcer of a girlfriend. To Jinx, Caitlyn “Cupcake” is a big problem, and that is why she is going to put it on the table.
Third, she put the gemstone on top of the icing. And, visually, that’s what immediately tells us that the stakes are very high, and that we’re very much talking about both the past (the gemstone that killed Jinx and Vi's family) and the future (the key to 'progress' stolen on Progress Day), what we can keep from before and what’s going to have to happen next from that. Also, it feels very irreverent that Jinx puts the symbol of progress on a cute pastry. She is not scared of dirtying what is both a treasure, leverage, power, a weapon, … The gemstone is so much, and Jinx puts it into cream because she can. Because she wants to question it. Because she wants to be the one who decides what is going to happen with the gem. She makes a display of how this moment is a turning point, and how she is the one who is going to decide where we’re going from here. Basically, what is so scary about that episode is how much power Jinx has into her hands, next to how emotional and affected she is by every single word and eye twitch she gets from her guests.
Also, I might be seeing too much into it, maybe, but I still think that the reference is relevant: the cupcake with a gemstone on it is a pomegranate.
It does look like it: the gemstone is visually akin to a blue pomegranate berry, and it is on a cupcake that serves as the husk of an actual pomegranate that holds its berries. With the differences that in Jinx’s tea party the cupcake is the less important because it’s edible while the stakes are less about who is going to get food and more about who is going to leave with the gem of power, while in the pomegranate mythology it’s straight about whether you eat it or not, so the berries are the most important because they are edible (Persephone).
Also, in ancient Greek mythology, the pomegranate is related to death. It’s “the fruit of the dead”. And for Jinx, those magical stones are definitely all about death, since that is what she killed all her family with, whole family that she invited at her table. There is just this vibe around her gemstone crowned cupcake that I feel is the same around the pomegranates in mythology. It’s all about death, choosing to eat, staying underground (Persephone spending time in the underworld, Jinx shooting to make the Undercity an independent Zaun, Vi choosing Topside if we refer to her LoL affiliation). It's all very much about choosing underground/aboveground, and staying with the dead or not.
And the gemstone is only one berry while there are always several in the pomegranate, but I would say that that’s precisely because what is at stake with the tea party is choosing a person over another (Vi choosing between Jinx and Caitlyn, Jinx choosing between Silco and Vi, Jinx choosing to be Jinx or Powder) in a case where one choice has to exclude the other. So it’s a pomegranate with only one grain, and that is what makes us go even more « oh no… », because it's all about choosing, and we know that the ending cannot not be a tragedy for at least one character (joke’s on us, it ends up being a tragedy for absolutely everyone ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ).
TLDR: Arcane is a tragedy, Vi tries to get out of it by eating greasy food with her fingers while Silco says he’d never do that while doing that, and then Jinx puts one single pomegranate cupcake on a table with seven people around it and waits for them to fight for it, but they all bicker about other stuff than the food she baked herself, so she judges that no one is deserving of it and she destroys the world as a logic consequence.
Arcane is all about how easy yet complicated it is to eat.
#Arcane#meta#analysis#That's my type#I am trying#food#cupcake#Jinx#Silco#Vi#Caitlyn Kiramman#Jayce Talis#Powder#Zaun#Piltover#character analysis
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arcane discourse is so weird because people will share their interpretation of something and eventually I’ll think “hmm…maybe they have a point” and go watch the scene they were talking about. and then I see that their version of events literally did not happen. they are delusional. it was not there. I am constantly being gaslit by arcane fans.
#arcane#arcane meta#jinx arcane#vi arcane#caitlyn arcane#arcane jayce#arcane viktor#silco#silco and jinx
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Jinx, darling. What is that thing you have placed on your dear old man's plate?
#jinx#silco#arcane#literally wtf is it?#all vi has on her own plate is some napkin#this obviously might have some deeper meaning but#most likely would have been the most nutritious meal silco had in his life#arcane meta#kuro-tori
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The first time I watched Arcane, the framing of Vander's and Silco's ideological clash led me to initially assume that, when Vander attempted to kill Silco, it was because Silco had grown so 'extreme' in his views/actions that Vander became disillusioned and ultimately tried to kill him to prevent him from carrying out some course of action that Vander saw as 'going too far'. The season was notably vague on what exactly was the catalyst for the attempted murder, and I think it's reasonable to say that my kneejerk assumption about the situation was indeed the version of events that the show itself seemed to want viewers to believe.
That is to say, the show itself seemed to want viewers to believe, at least for now, that Silco must have crossed some kind of moral event horizon (or imminently intended to) that was so big and so bad that Vander saw fit to kill him for being, essentially, Too Much.
The thing that makes me hesitant to believe that that's the entire truth of what happened, or that Silco unequivocally """earned""" the attempt on his life by becoming too dangerous (too radicalized?) in Vander's eyes, is simply the fact that the very first thing we see Vander do on-screen is beat an Enforcer to death, with gauntlets, in front of freshly orphaned children. And this happened after he attempted to kill Silco. It's communicated visually in that sequence that that kind of violence was the currency Vander had dealt in for a long time; and that his choice at that moment to cast down his gauntlets and walk away from the smouldering battleground (literally and figuratively) with Vi and Powder in tow marked a significant turning point in the way that he engaged with the world.
In light of that, it just seems like the natural follow-up question is, "Okay -- if Vander was still down for leading a violent insurrection, beating people to death with his own two hands, etc. right up until this moment here, then what the fuck did Silco do that was enough to make even him go, 'come here, naughty rat man, it's murder time'?"
This isn't "proof" or "evidence" that Silco and Vander couldn't simply have had a violent ideological split that culminated in attempted murder by any stretch. I just find the overall framing of the situation odd in a way that makes me think there's more to the tale than what the show has thus far implied.
(For instance: perhaps some kind of external pressure which forced Vander into a bitter choice, similar in spirit to the "we both have our shitty parts to play -- get me Jinx, and I'll give you your nation of Zaun" deal Silco was later faced with? The difference being that Vander sacrificed Silco [or attempted to] in favor of whatever was to be gained by doing so; whereas Silco recognized that he had arrived at the same precipice Vander once had, and ultimately couldn't do to Jinx what had been done to him?)
#Arcane#League of Legends#Vander#Silco#Zaundads#Arcane meta#the amount of people I've encountered who assume that Vander basically tried to put Silco down like a rabid dog#because Silco went Too Far in some unstated way and left Vander no choice#leads me to believe that I WASN'T out of line for my initial assumptions about the situation - like that IS what the show implies right???#and yet it's WEIRD about it in a way that seems SO purposefully vague that I just Do Not Believe that what's implied is the complete truth#the CERTAINTY that so many people seem to have about it though just leaves me like [hands on knees; squinting uncertainly at my own brain]#'am I stupid? am I missing something? does everyone know something I don't? am I letting my fondness for Silco cloud my view?'#long post
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Sevika will be the Renata Glasc of Arcane in Season 2 (a theory)
(Full disclosure, I am heavily biased as a Zaun and Sevika stan and want her to have more plot armor and importance in season 2)
SO LET’s JUMP INTO IT.
My theory: Sevika is going to grow into the Renata Glasc of Arcane in season 2, adopting some of her aesthetic (well, technically Silco’s aesthetic) and filling her role in LoL lore as Viktor’s patron and a powerful leader in the Undercity.
The Evidence to Support:
1. Her motivation
Sevika cares about Zaun. She’s been consistent about throwing her support behind the strongest leader who was dedicated to standing up to the Topsiders. She’s tried being a good loyal left-hand lady to TWO DUDES and they BOTH fucked it up. It’s time for Sevika to try her hand at seizing the reins of the Undercity and she's one of the few characters in a position to take advantage of the power vacuum and the experience to do better this time. She hasn’t worked so hard for decades to give up now.
2: The Visuals.
Sevika’s a fucking badass, she’s around the right age, and has that sexy muscled build we all love. She has a high-tech metal prosthetic for a left arm that we’ve seen get upgraded throughout s1 and may continue to be in s2 (especially with help from a certain inventor that we’ll touch on later). All she needs to complete the look is longer hair and a few dignified streaks of grey (a minor time skip and the stress from the finale will suffice.) Well and she’ll need to call Silco’s tailor so they can work their magic 👀.
3. But what about her Mask and Shimmered up eyes?
Amanda on Twitter hinted that Sevika would ‘quit smoking’.
Now some suggest that means she’s dying. I don't think so, cause I’d like to believe the writers are more professional than that. I hypothesize it refers to developing a lung condition as a result of the chain-smoking + Zaun life we see Sevika do in s1. She might stop smoking and start using more shimmer to fight off the disease, even needing a fancy breather mask to keep it from worsening. Just like Glasc.
3. Foreshadowing or lack there off
Silco and Sevika met the Chembarons and Glasc was not there or even alluded to. I think if Glasc existed in the world, we would have gotten some more foreshadowing of her if she’s supposed to be in control of an entire industry.
4. It’s all in the cards
Sevika was playing cards and what cards came up? Death and The Magician. Death signifies change (and the death of Silco possibly). The Magician is CLEARLY Viktor. Together they suggest Sevika undergoing a major life change and working with Viktor in the future.
5. A Common Connection
Glasc is Viktor’s Patron in LoL after he leaves Piltover. So who will be Viktor’s powerful, metal-armed, chem baroness in s2? Well, who does he know in the Undercity right now that could introduce him to a financial backer? Singed who is already working for Silco’s (now possibly Sevika’s) organization.
The Evidence Against:
Finn alludes to there being ‘bigger fish’ than Silco in Zaun. That could have been in reference to a Glasc which harms this theory.
Renata’s League Lore suggests a callousness, and an obsession with power and wealth which Sevika does not share. Sevika is never cruel, only acts in self-defense or lashes out in reasonable anger at Jinx. She barely even changes outfits between Act 1 and Act 2, when all the other henchmen clearly spend some of their pay to look the part of classy gangsters.
Renata’s parents alchemical research and deaths are a big chunk of her backstory and the only allusion we have to Sevika’s parents is that she had issues with her father. They seemed to have simplified Chemtech in Arcane though so I don’t foresee them adding Glasc’s chemtech variant on top of shimmer.
In conclusion: Sevika and Renata are probably different characters but I hope Sevika will fill Renata’s role in Arcane because seriously what are the odds we get two MILF Zaunites with left metal arms??? I mean I’m here for it but it seems like an odd coincidence and I don’t really want them adding more LoL characters than they need to.
Whatever happens, I’m ready for more of this lovely lady:
#arcane sevika#sevika#renata glasc#arcane meta#arcane#lol meta#viktor#silco#singed#yes i did this instead of working on WIPs
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Arcane Detail Dive: Story of Opposites
Spoilers for all of Arcane season 1.
Arcane is a masterpiece and I want to shout about all the things I've noticed on rewatching. So I am. Here is a breakdown of some cool bits from 1x03: The Base Violence Necessary For Change. Yes I am starting with episode 3, come sue me
When Powder is thrown from the blast, the blue colouring and slow motion of the shot makes it looks like she’s floating underwater. It��s such a good parallel for the shot of Silco in the beginning. Silco talks of that moment of peace where the water can almost convince you to let it in, let you drown. But for Powder, that moment is a rare one of triumph: she finally did something that worked! The sheer joy in her eyes is heartbreaking, because the viewer already knows the devastating results of her success. We know that the raging thing inside her that she will need to survive - to become Jinx - is still to come.
After Vi sees Benzo killed and Vander dragged off, she’s framed below a tiny cellar window in a way that foreshadows the Stillwater cell she'll be stuck in for years to come. She’s far from the camera and it’s the first time in the show that Vi truly looks small, diminished.
That window shape recurs at the very end of the episode, where Powder and Silco et al are framed by the gate and the camera pulls away from the scene, slowly turning upside down until it becomes blurred and unrecognisable. What a visual metaphor for the distance growing between the sisters.
The boys barring Heimerdinger’s door with Viktor’s cane. I just love this. The hextech explosion then shatters Viktor’s cane and there’s this wonderful image of it floating broken, electricity crackling between the pieces. Breaking the bounds of what limits him. This is the moment Viktor’s life changes forever.
On a rewatch, you can see how little Viktor relies on his cane compared to later. He stands up straighter and unaided more often than not in ep3 after befriending Jayce and taking on their project - and I don’t think it’s just because he’s in better physical health at this point. He’s been given something that makes him feel sure of himself and the mark he can leave on the world with the time he has.
I see Vander and Silco as two sides of the same coin, and boy oh boy is the coin-flip delicious in this episode. Even Vander’s fucked-up eye ends up on the same side as Silco’s.
(Not at all limited to ep3, but I love how Silco's left eye never fully blinks. He misses nothing.)
Oh, and Silco’s knife? The very same one he took from Vander in the drowning flashback. Silco has literally and figuratively been carrying that betrayal around with him ever since.
Vi truly breaks at the moment when Powder’s nose starts to bleed, when it’s her own sister’s blood staining her hands. A callback to Vander chewing her out in the first episode. And of course Vi can’t take it; she’s supposed to protect her sister. Vander’s body is not even cold and already in her mind she’s failing him. This little detail of the bandages gives so much weight to the crushing pressure Vi is feeling in that moment.
The swimming/drowning metaphors continue with the hextech explosion. The way Viktor and Jayce float makes them look like they’re in water, and the sound even muffles around them. (And the childlike delight in Viktor’s face when he gets to move so freely - UGH.😭)
You can see how quickly Viktor takes to it, how much more he moves around compared to Jayce. Here is another life-defining moment in which a person might either drown or thrive.
Back to the coin-flip of Vander and Silco. When he finds Powder, this time Silco is the one standing above the drowning person, the one holding the knife. But he wasn’t prepared for this girl. Powder launches herself into his arms, and the knife flies out of his hand. This broken little girl literally disarms him.
And when Silco embraces her, he is framed in almost exactly the same way Vander was when Silco questioned him why he couldn’t fight for the cause. He told Silco he was “not that man anymore”. Acting as a surrogate father has changed Vander — and these parallel frames gives us the hint that ultimately, that same thing will be what undoes Silco too.
In summary: GG, Fortiche. I'm sad now.
#arcane#detail dive#long ass post#arcane: league of legends#spoilers#jinx#silco#vi#viktor#jayce talis#vander#the devil's in the details and so am I#arcane: detail dive#arcane meta
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Only just noticed the heartbreaking symbolism in this final shot.
Silco is turned away from the brightness of the tea party candles - his literal “seat at the table” - and facing toward a Shimmer-riven darkness. Jinx kneels before him like both a penitent and supplicant swearing fealty, and also as a child in mourning for their parent. But that’s the side she’s chosen: the shadows and Shimmer - literally Silco’s two biggest legacies to her, and the Undercity in general.
And yet, it’s not all shadow. The candlelight’s secondhand glow still shines past Silco’s head and illuminates him, and in turn Jinx. It’s a reminder that despite the wretchedness of their lives and the unhealthy dynamics of their relationship, Silco was, in that darkness, her guiding light, and his love gave her a source of brightness and a sense of belonging at the table. He sustained her when she would have starved, literally and metaphorically.
Once again, massive kudos to studio Fortiche for doing so much with so little. Let’s all go cry now.
#arcane#arcane netflix#arcane league of legends#arcane jinx#arcane silco#arcane meta#arcane headcanon#arcane headcanons#silco#silco meta#silco headcanon#jinx#jinx meta#jinx headcanons#silco and jinx
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um actually to expand on this metaphor like a boss the same exact thing is happening here but in reverse. the ropes represent the metaphorical walls and restrictions they have for themselves that inhibit their access to a healthy relationship and proper affection.
#silco#jinx#arcane#meta#analysis#messiest analysis post in the world and i'm nervous about making it and putting it in the main tags but also it keeps frustrating me how#i've seen so many people interpreting the scene where silco kisses jinx on the forehead in a way i disagree with so i'm just putting this#out there.... food for thought....#this is NOT shippy btw i am not that kind person i just want them to be a proper healthy family
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I took some screenshots of Arcane's season 1 draft skeleton they showed on Bridging the Rift. Some of the notes were more character related, others had unused ideas, and some were just straight up hilarious.
Here's a section called "Character Attributes: ??? To LoL Honor Players"
A little closer I can actually read some the attributes.
Vi: ????; ????; Short Fuse; ????; Good Heart
Jinx Obsessed w/ Vi: Wild Child; Mayhem; Assorted Weaponry; Smarter than Alex
Jayce: Mercury Hammer; Inventor; Cap'n 'merica; Opposed to Viktor
Viktor: <3 Machines; Glorious Evolution; "Cyborg"
Caitlyn: British ???; Sniper; Cop (Not LAPD); By the Book; Stiff, Formal
Singed: Chemist; Poison Trails; ??? Flip Somebody; Bald, Bandages
Ekko: Punk, Rebellious; Daredevil; Not Afraid of Pain; Genius (? ? ?)
Heimerdinger: ??? Inventor; Yordle; ??? Goggles; Quirky
Here's a plot point that didn't happen, "Marcus Frames Vi + Caitlyn Piltover" but I would have loved to see Marcus try! How do you frame a Councilman's kid, I imagine crime is legal for them.
This took a while to get since it's so blurry, but I managed to guess read, "Vi wants to save her sister. Jinx fights her. Doesn't want to be saved".
"Jayce reveals he's learned about Marcus at the end of the scene. Silco drops a hint about Viktor". (0_0) What an insane dropped plot point!!!!!! Even though this didn't make it to the show could Silco still have known about Viktor's history with Singed? Did Singed tell Silco? Who else in their circle may have actually known about Viktor's very specific connection to Zaun's most notorious? Sevika? Jinx? Other chembarons?
Here's a set of general plot cards that seem to have or haven't happened yet.
Top Left: Viktor's daily struggles. Life is difficult for him, but he handles it well. Tease his worsening condition.
Top Right: Heimerdinger makes a great speech.
Top Center: Jayce (obscured) investigates Shimmer. Discover it has roots in Hextech. (Hmmm)
Bottom Center: Viktor ? ? ? ? ? ? ? in Piltover but ? to Zaun
Bottom Right: Viktor turns into Super Viktor (lol)
!!!!! For a while, I've theorized about the connection between shimmer and hextech, and in general, the connection between the arcane and the void. I wonder if this potential plot thread was completely dropped or some version is still used for next season.
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Throwing down a big ramble of Silco and Vander headcanons, because I've had these two on my mind Too Much recently (and just need somewhere to braindump, while I figure out how to write them).
cw: abandonment issues, violent/complicated relationships, repression, dysfunctional family histories.
While it's likely canon(? side-eyes our TBD S2 flashbacks) that these two knew each other as boys and worked together for a long time, I really like the idea that they were pulled together by chance.
Maybe they worked on complete opposite sides of the Fissures—Silco working the mines, Vander working the fisheries/refineries/metalworks, etc. Carting off raw materials to various industrial crews was part of Silco's weekly work (and how he'd been able to build connections across the working circles of the city; climbed the rungs and twisted the ears of higher leaders, later on)—and Vander's crew was one of them.
Maybe they caught each others' eyes—or hated each other, at first (or Silco had an immediate, heavily-bottled crush). Countless handoffs turned into messy introductions, into Come down to the Drum, Swiftlet—we'll get'ya sorted up!, into them holing up together in the off-hours with other workers in their ratty pubs, realizing how uncannily much they had in common, for all their surface-level opposites.
Vander takes him under his wing; another stray to the litter. (It's a penchant they both have, perhaps, in their own ways.) He's older than him. Stronger, louder, warmer. A middle child in a big family, rife with dysfunction, broiling over with anger. He's someone who knows how to make his voice heard in the mess, and people flock to him, in ways they never did to Silco. They fear and respect him, in turns. He has a reputation—and it weighs heavy as a blade. He's never afraid to flash it, when needed (or just when he needs to send some brazen fools running).
Silco's jealous of it all, naturally—and more than a little admiring. He believes in him. Feels like he can trust him; like Vander would do anything for the two of them, for their cause, their people—just like he would, for them.
Quietly, his admiration bleeds into something else. An obsession, a hunger, a selfish and desperate sort of love. He was always an outcast, a dirty little thing, to his own kin and anyone on the streets. Never had a father, to appraise him. Never had anyone to call his own, who saw him as worthwhile; who picked him up from the sludge and kept him on his feet: made him feel like he could be feared and respected, too. He's been surviving since he was old enough to haul a cart of coal, and his youth was stripped from him. Always an ancient thing in a weak little body, gnawing at the seams for blood.
I think Vander was deep-seated in denial. An angry, bitter, violent man, with a deceptive charisma casing it all. Their relationship was inherently destructive (and with a flavor of Fight Club repression): they fought with fists as much as words. Sometimes, it skirted the lines, got too close—roughhousing bleeding towards something Silco craved, that Vander feared: that they nearly had, tumbled against walls with fists at their necks and their breath tangled.
And maybe, once or twice (or countless), they slipped over those lines; got too drunk to remember. Convenient thing, that, for Vander to sit in his denial; but Silco never forgot, never played it off. He ached, and he resented. Vander called him a brother in private, and a partner in public, and Silco simmered at it—A brother? Is that all I am, to you? All you see us as?—and, eventually, accepted it; that it was more important to have him, in whatever ways he could, than to not have him, at all.
I read him as having a bone-deep fear of abandonment, as equally as Jinx does: terrified of being left behind, discarded, being seen as unworthy, etc.—largely from growing up in a broken household with an absent father, but also just from being the runt, his whole life; ignored and spat on by his peers, by the stronger ones, the faster ones, the smarter ones. There's rage under that, festered for a lifetime. There's also an intrinsic sliver of inadequacy.
We don't know anything about his home life, before—but there's something there, in the nature of Henry's character in Detachment, that I can't not tie to Jinx: perhaps a guilt he's battled with his whole life, from having an ill weakling of a mother he never knew what to do with, who died too young, hating her life and all an undesired childbirth had reduced her to.
Cue both of these into how he latched onto Vander, and why his betrayal shattered him to a shell—and also why he saw something in Powder: an opportunity to nurture the part of himself he gleaned in her, but also a chance to absolve that guilt from his mother, an innate need to try again, and why her sledgehammering into his schemes brought the humanity back into the monster he'd harnessed in himself.
I think Silco was always a deeply guarded, manipulative, quiet, and wrathful man—and that Vander saw him, empowered something in him, that made him feel worthy, not soiled. That they brought out the worst in each other, in the guise of familial connection, and hid their own fears under the surface (Silco, his affections and desire; Vander, the guilt of emboldening something monstrous in Silco that he despised, that he hated himself for taking pride in).
They were unstoppable together—but destined for a bloody end. A perfect foil for all the ways love can spiral into something destructive.
And, in the aftermath of it all, we have Vi—Vander's manifestation of those regrets: another little thing, adoring in his shadow, that he emboldened in his image while equally discouraging it every step of the way, and that he wallowed in his shame over; and we have Jinx—Silco's own manifestation: another image of his fractured, misguided understanding of what makes family real (e.g., I see the monster in you, and you see the monster in me, and that is still worth something, for all others may be repulsed by it).
He refuses to abandon her, even though he is given every opportunity, by himself and by others; refuses to abandon her like he was abandoned, like he himself abandoned his mother, even for all Jinx lashes out at him, looks for lies in everything he does. He is always, in his own ways, clinging to her—not wanting to lose her, to lose someone who sees him, again; and who he sees, in turn.
(And it's what Vi is striving for, as well—trying to absolve her own guilt of abandoning Powder, and clinging to memory of what they had, not wanting to lose her sister again—and it's something she will rage at Silco for, and go head-to-head with him on, constantly.)
TL;DR—Silco and Vander are a destructive unrequited tragedy, and Vi and Jinx will carry the imprints of that, in everything they do: broken mirrors of their fathers, and their fathers broken mirrors of each other.
#rambles#arcane#silco#silco arcane#vander#vander arcane#vanco#zaundads#arcane meta#i have TOO MANY THOUGHTS i haven't even gotten into the meat of this i jsut alsfjk#AUGH#punching the air#banging on riot's window for S2 tidbits#laying on the floor at the scene at the statue - because he *still goes back to him* after everything#yearning for him to just say something back#completely stripped down to a weaker/insecure self - to that man who strived for Vander's approval and understanding#like BUDDY#gah
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Hi! I like your Arcane anaylses :) I wanted to ask for your opinion on why Sevika is celebrated and Marcus gets shamed? I mean, they basically did the same thing. Both betrayed their "friend(s)" - Vander and Grayson - for their personal beliefs.
Heya Anon, thanks, I'm glad you enjoy my meta! Hope you enjoy me disagreeing with your premise x'D
Sevika and Marcus have nothing in common imo. At no point in the show is it established that Sevika and Vander are friends. There are no outward signs of friendship. The person standing next to Vander and joking with Vander, and left in charge in episode 2 is Benzo.
We meet Sevika in a confrontational scene where she's against Vander. Vander doesn't meet her or anyone else's needs in that scene. He puts them all down and enforces, as he's been doing for years, The Status Quo. He doesn't listen, he's doing this meeting to reinforce that nothing should be done and enforcers left alone. Vander is ruling. He's the leader of the Lanes.
Sevika and Vander in that moment have conflicting interests. Sevika wants change. Sevika wants to lash back while Vander wants everyone to stay under the heel of Piltover, hoping that if they don't fight back the boot won't squeeze.
You can't blame Sevika for thinking that's crappy. She's making a life choice informed by her analysis of the situation. We don't know when she made her decision either, or for how long she's been hostile to Vander.
I'd argue too that there's a strong argument that Silco already has Sevika as an ally at that time :
He's famously untrusting.
The chemist I nicknamed Syd is at Vander's place riling people up with Sevika, and next scene he's manufacturing Shimmer for Silco, which can't be an easy process.
Silco has people spying on Vander AND his kids.
I think this telegraphs that Sevika has potentially been on his side for a while and was at the Last Drop to undermine Vander.
That's rough life politics. What can you do? You can't blame Sevika for having dreams of her own and seeing Vander as a massive obstacle on the way. Again, she's never shown to be one of his cronies and we have no clue about the nature of their relationship besides the fact she used to respect him. But we know so did Silco, and Vander has changed a lot.
On the other hand, Marcus has a very bad start…
He's an enforcer with a chip on his shoulder. I made this post theorising as to why… And it's whack and may be totally wrong, but it's clear Marcus is shown as going above and beyond in his hate of "trenchers". He uses slurs, is violent towards even children, and is happy to take bribes and underhanded deals in his goal of dragging said trenchers to jail.
He's also a doofus who doesn't realise what he's getting into. Blinded by his hatred and wading into dangerous waters. He's not smart enough to come on top and ends up being a tool.
Also… he's a COP. He's part of a system. He has a boss who he's NOT friend's with as far as we see, but he's her explicit subordinate and gets thrown around the office after disobeying her.
He put Grayson in a bad spot and led her to her death, failing his entire organisation by then not coming clean. He keeps dirty secrets that weigh him down, while Sevika is shown to be blunt and entirely truthful to Vi, Jinx, and even Silco.
He goes behind people's back, and sure, Sevika goes behind Vander's too. But Marcus is paid in literal blood money and never comes clean. Sevika is fine being open with her allegiences once shit hits the fan, and she's there for ideology, not self interest.
We don't know the details of Sevika's dream, but we know she keeps Silco on his toes. Silco's dream is the Nation of Zaun. Independance. Not the erradication of Piltovans.
Meanwhile Marcus just wants to throw children in jail, and DOES, again behind everyone's back.
Sevika is a bull. Marcus is a snake.
Sevika is making life choices and chosing who will serve her interests. She chose the anti hero who wants freedom for her oppressed people. Marcus is THE OPPRESSOR and a shitty one to boot who disobeys the very order he serves.
Funniest of all, I don't think Marcus was betraying Grayson. Her death was not part of "the deal". That asshole truly just wanted to arrest a kid and glean the recompense of a job well done. But there's no hint that he was trying to unseat Grayson.
In a way he's just as zealous as Sevika. He follows his hate and prejudices and she follows her principles. She doesn't mind bashing her own people to get to her goals, but Vander is literally doing Grayson's job for her. He's a freelancing cop and an enemy of any Zaunites dreaming of independence.
Vander has a stance, and Sevika has the opposite one.
The only person who perceives betrayal is Vi. But Vi is a child and doesn't understand politics at all. She's completely blinded by her love for Vander and her mindset of 'everybody is my enemy'. If she slowed down a bit, she might notice she and Silco want the exact same thing. Literally. A better world for Powder, and everyone like her. Vi is poisoned against Silco by Silco and Vander's fateful clash. It's perfectly understandable! I don't think it'd be easy to have her not be rightfully prejudiced against Silco.
But she IS our eyes for a lot of the story. We perceive Vander a lot through her extremely rose tinted view.
Sevika probably doesn't couch her own siding with Silco as a betrayal…
That being said, we don't know their backstory. Maybe Sevika was friends with Vander when they were younger? We have a picture of young Silco at the bar with Vander… did she know them both? Because then we can do anything you want.
My favourite take being that she took Silco's side after Vander's betrayal, but stayed out and public and was careful not be 'seen' with Silco. She's a true believer. I think if she had hesitations, learning Vander was sucking Grayson's toes most likely fully turned her away. That's just my prefered fanon, but if you have a fanon theory of her being Vander's friend, of course it'd colour your view. I just don't think the canon reactions of both characters really compare.
#anon ask#arcane#arcane meta#vander#silco#vi#jinx#sevika#marcus#arcane marcus#arcane vi#grayson#thanks for the ask
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