Arcane discussion thread

This has spoilers from all 3 arcs:

I saw this great Jinx analysis on Reddit:

It's interesting seeing the discrepency of thoughts between LoL fans and people just coming into this mythology. There are so many posts expressing excitement about the future concerning Warwick and Viktor's glorious revolution as well as hopes of exploring other worlds. And that's all cool and I'm glad this show gives so much for fans of the series and newcomers to latch onto.

But man I wish there was more discussion around the events that just transpired because holy cow, the Jinx-Vi saga is one of the most incredible character arcs I've ever witnessed in television. I can't explain enough how psychologically literate it's treatment of Jinx's prognosis is. From schizophrenia, separation anxiety, infantilization, psychotic episodes, egocentrism, to inverted moral development, Jinx has accrued an amalgamation of conditions and none of them feel superflous, all of it naturally coalesces with her experiences. With inverted moral development, her father figure is a violent revolutionay hellbent on killing thousands and believes that strength is founded on killing attributes that make you "weak" or vulnerable. With schizophrenia, she experienced bereavement and abandonment as a child while already exhibiting symptoms of separation anxiety (possibly conceived when she lost both her parents). This prompted a waves of stressors to be released which is a recorded trigger for schizophrenia. And all the events and people in her life who once gave her joy and purpose are a constant reminder of her failure in the form of these distorted drawings resembling monsters. With egocentrism, she never grew out of her childhood proclivity for self-interest and lack of empathic conveyance. As a child you are incapable of placing yourself in other people's shoes and understand their perspective. Other people's behavior is projected and understood through the child's desires, whims and needs. In the case of Jinx she never grew out of that egocentric proclivity. Her sister having a relationship outside of their own she perceives as a betrayal, and because of her inverted morality, she assumes that Vi would willingly kill Caitlyn so that she can have "Powder" back.

With that being said, there is also a self-awareness Jinx carries where she expresses shame towards her Jinx persona because of how Vi perceives her. What's made readily apparent during the bridge scene where Jinx fights Ekko is by that point, Vi genuinely fears Jinx. Her sister was now so psychologically unhinged that her existence threatened the lives of anyone who is close to Vi. That fear has created a dualistic mindset for Vi where she outright rejects Jinx and wishes for Powder to fully return.

I read an interesting comment about why Vi didn't confront Jinx and allow Ekko to take Caitlyn to safety. It really made me reflect as to why the showrunners made this choice. Then I noticed something interesting, after this moment Vi rarely mentions her sister at all. Furthermore her mission objective changes from saving Jinx to stopping Silco at all costs. I found this really interesting and interpreted it as Vi displacing her direct responsibility to her sister out of fear. She is afraid to confront Jinx and that fear manifests into Vi taking indirect actions to save her (stopping Silco) as opposed to direct action (finding Jinx). This theory I feel was given further precedence during the "tea party" discussion in the finale. With Vi roped up and Caitlyn's life in jeopardy, it became clear from the intonations in her voice as well as her body language that Vi was exhibiting an inordinate amount of fear. That fear overrid her maternal functioning as a concerned sister, and Jinx saw this with full clarity but was also in a constant state of self-denial. Silco exasperates this fear by stating Vi will abandon her the moment she realizes the Powder persona is no longer there. Reflecting on Vi's initial gung ho resolve to finding her sister and how that evolved into a more passive and indirect resolve influenced by fear, Silco might have actually been right.

The fact is that Vi was not emotionally equipped to deal with the minutiae of Jinx's psycholgocial turmoil. Nowhere was this better exemplified than when Vi pleaded with her sister to remember who she was as well as all the people in her life. The thing is, those people have transformed into monstorous hallucinations, manifestations of all of Powder's failures coming back to haunt her. In this moment, Jinx spiraled into a catastrophic state of self-doubt and guilt. Silco, ironically, was in the right here. Regardless of right or wrong, the Jinx persona was here to stay, and Vi simply could not accept that personality branch. On the opposite side of the spectrum you have Silco who sees Jinx as a perfect being, the daughter he would sacrifice his entire dream for. What is remarkable about this entire sequence is just how complex the underlying emotions are, the extrapolations needed to enter Jinx's mindset and understand her rationale. For all her infantile regressions, her underlying motivation to have Vi accept Jinx for who she is and have nothing about their intimacy as sisters change, indicates that while Jinx is emotionally impaired, her emotional intelligence on the other hand is incredibly high. As much as she wishes to rid herself of Jinx and fully embrace the Powder persona, she deeply associates Powder with failure. And ultimately the death of Silco was the final nail in the coffin for Powder, the last vestige of a little girl who merely wished to do right by her sister. Because yet again, when Powder comes into the fold, tragedy befalls her.

Søren Kierkegaard was a Danish Theologian that founded the idea of "The Single Individual", which posits that in order for individuals to self-actualize they have to look at their life through a first person lens and see it as wholly their own. In order to do this, many individuals will have to investigate and discover their individual identity by operating outside of established, normative moral frameworks. Collectives were looked upon as mistruth, and that the singularity of existence comes to light at the moment of conflict between ethics and faith.

In a strange way, the dualistic notion that Vi's sister had to choose between the Jinx persona and the Powder persona ended up being a false binary. The totality of her life had led up to this singular moment of reconciliation, where she was able to shed away the shadow of her sister and trully embrace who she had become. In a way, sadly this was the healthiest course of action for her. She accepted that her relationship with Vi will forever be estranged and changed her behavior from manic to calculating and deliberate. She used the principles of Dialectic Behavior Therapy to balance out her two opposite personas, culminating in her transcendent purpose... to perpetually add fuel into a forever war.

I love this character and show so bloody much, apologies for the long essay haha

It's really cool when you think deeper about each character's motivations. There are many parallels that aren't right away obvious.