Arcane, season 1, episode 9, ends with a masterpiece of storytelling and symbolism. Gorgeous visuals aside, a swelling score, perfectly used dialogue, and faces bursting with emotion hypercharge the series finale.
Spoilers for that finale ahead, as well as all the crucial moments leading up to it.
The final moment when Jinx, undeniably now severing her ties to her former life as Powder, fires a missile (fishbones) at the council chambers speaks for itself without my praise. In this moment, Jinx insights the chaos that is to come, as Piltover and Zaun now seem inescapably plunged into war. Jinx is the breaker of peace, instigator of attacks on Piltover throughout the series, indirect killer of Vander the man of peace, even causing the explosion in the first episode which sent enforcers first treading foot into the undercity to arrest a culprit. Remove Jinx from the story and Silco’s plan would still have moved forward, but even he would have turned to peace without a need to protect his daughter, and without a bullet ending his life from said daughter.
If Vander was the peacekeeper, then Jinx is the warbringer. She is not only the main driver of conflict in the story, but arguably the only driver. In those final moments of season 1, it is Jinx who brings war.
What makes this moment so raw is the mind behind the decision to fire, the emotional trauma and turmoil felt by Jinx in the final moments of the series. Yet, in a sick twist of fate, that decision was not hers to make, at least, not entirely.
Jinx, daughter of Silco, who’d fought and killed for his love, was always going to fire. With her father dead, his final words of approval and love, the acceptance of her as she was in its entirety, still ringing in her ears, how could she not avenge his death? The man who would have burned the world for his daughter, thrown away everything he had worked for, deserved at least as much in retribution. Jinx sacrificed the world for Silco, designing fishbones, stealing a small sliver of magic to power it, all for his approval. Silco would have sacrificed the world for Jinx. Now with him gone, the world was meant to burn.
But Powder? Powder, daughter of Vander, sister of Vi, who’d gotten into scrapes and exploits with her adoptive family, and had just wanted to help, would never have fired. Vander’s primary goal was to keep the peace. Without peace, travesty would have hit Zaun, the same travesty which killed Powder’s real parents. Powder was no fan of enforcers, but massacring the council seems far beyond her. If anything, Ekko’s friendship with Professor Heimerdinger towards the end of the series shows that the children of the Lanes, at least the ones raised and mentored by Vander and Benzo, had the potential to become keepers of the peace. Powder would have become a hero, fighting for Zaun, without a trail of blood and destruction.
Powder would never have fired. Jinx was always going to fire.
The choice that ended the peace was a choice between two chairs. The choice was Powder or Jinx. Everything else was just a consequence.
But it was not one choice, but ultimately two.
Caitlyn and Silco, together in one room, represented ticking time bombs ready to burst. Devoted believers in their causes and fundamentally opposed on all fronts from all angles, it’s a small wonder they didn’t go at each other when they had the chance. Instead they targeted their apprentices, the young, impressionable, and far more capable successors to their goals.
Many people were quick to pick up on the dilemma facing Jinx, the confusion, torn between two people she loved.
Powder loved Vi, Jinx loved Silco, and who she was, who that woman was, came down to a choice between the two. For someone in ruins and chaos, the turmoil of that decision was overwhelming. Silco would have killed Vi if given a shot, heck, he was given a shot and he tried to take it. Vi would have done the same, killing Silco without a second of hesitation or regret. As for Jinx? In her ideal world both would live, but ideals aren’t always possible. How was she to choose?
To answer this question, Jinx did something more clever than any realized. She created a second crisis, a second decision of turmoil, one afflicting her sister Vi. A choice to have either Caitlyn or Powder.
She isn’t kidding when she says “that’s your choice really” to Vi. In the end it is Vi’s choice, and in the end she does choose.
The mirrored similarities between Caitlyn and Silco are not something one would necessarily think to compare, but in retrospect the similarities are striking.
Silco was made for Jinx. Both were betrayed by their siblings, and turned against the people they loved. Vander had his strength, suited up with gauntlets much like Vi would one day adorn. Silco had his mind, in his case a compulsory influence over those around him, in Jinx’s case the innovative mind which allowed her to equip her arsenal. Silco throughout the series sees himself in Jinx, a fact Jinx herself comments on when describing the pain Vi caused her, the pain which she credits as “making” Jinx.
Yet Silco’s contributions to creating Jinx can not be ignored so easily. Vi may have inflicted the pain which turned Powder towards despair, resentment, and hatred, but it was Silco who directed that hatred. Silco who formed Powder into Jinx, who drove her hatred of Piltover, who directed her hatred outwards toward the firelights and old friends like Ekko. Silco changed Powder into Jinx.
In the same vein, Caitlyn was made for Vi. Vi never knew Grayson, and Caitlyn never knew Vander, so the shared connection they had through them will never be known. Nevertheless, the shooting prodigy picked up some of Grayson’s skills in diplomacy, and filled her role as the enforcer bridging the gap with the undercity. She sees things, sees people where other topsiders see only problems, and sees an opportunity for peace and collaboration.
But Caitlyn does more than just see the undercity and how it needs healing. Caitlyn works to shape Vi, eventually forming her from a stone cold prisoner with a hatred for Piltover, to a friend willing to fight for Piltover’s cause. With limited knowledge of League of Legends lore, Vi turning enforcer was not something expected, but the League wiki makes it clear this is her future destiny, and the story set up seems to indicate that possibility.
In a strange way, Vi at the end of the series is just as far from the beginning as Jinx is from Powder. And in the culmination of the story, the two have diverged in opposite directions.
Vi loved Powder, Vi loved Caitlyn, and who she was, who that woman was, came down to a choice between the two. Caitlyn would have killed Jinx if given a shot, heck, she was given a shot and she tried to take it. Jinx would have done the same, killing Caitlyn without a second of hesitation or regret.
There’s a reason when discussing change the camera cuts to Silco’s corpse when discussing Jinx, and cuts to Caitlyn’s unconscious form when discussing Vi. Silco changed Jinx, made her who she is. Caitlyn changed Vi, made her who she is.
Jinx chooses her wording very carefully, her reference to when Vi would “make the monster’s go away” is clear when discussing Caitlyn, in the same way Vi calls Silco a real monster. But perhaps what’s more startling is that she says that killing Caitlyn would mean that Vi can get Powder back.
Caitlyn represents change, every way that Vi has changed since her childhood, everything separating Vi as she was then to as she is now. If Vi could kill Caitlyn, throw all of that away, disregard everything she’s become and everything that’s changed her, then Powder could throw away Jinx… and Silco.
In that moment, Jinx really isn’t sure if Vi can do it, because she really isn’t sure if she could do it. She isn’t sure she could choose Vi over Silco, isn’t sure she could choose Powder over Jinx.
When Vi can’t do it, Jinx’s choice becomes harder. Throughout the series Vi calls out to Powder, tries again and again to sway her, yet she can’t throw away everything she has to get her back. How could she? Do we really expect her, after all this, to kill Caitlyn to get Powder back? Not a chance! Vi says she wants Powder, but how badly is it true? Is her sister worth more than her new life? No. She decides no. And in her moment she reveals her choice. She wants it both ways. Wants to talk Caitlyn down from killing her sister, to save Powder, but in her sister’s place she’d never be willing to leave Silco, because she’s not ready to leave Caitlyn now.
We as the audience know that Vi couldn’t kill Caitlyn. Imagine the shock the fanbase would feel, the utter outrage from multiple fronts, that would occur if Vi actually pulled the trigger. But from Jinx’s perspective, this is exactly what Vi should do.
“I’m not going to abandon you again.” From episode 6. “You wouldn’t lie to me, not again.” From episode 9. “Are we still sisters?” followed by a resolved “nothing is ever going to change that.” Also from episode 9.
Silco’s piece has been said. Let Powder die. Caitlyn gets her say in just a moment. She’s too far gone. Ekko and Sevika agree as well. Heck, even Jinx herself knows it. Powder’s gone, dead, only Jinx is left. But can things ever really stay dead? Certainly Jinx doesn’t think so, carrying the weight of Mylo and Claggor with her. The weight of Powder is there too, and for a time so was Vi. From the moment of their deaths in episode 3, Jinx hasn’t moved on, stuck the way she was when all of that happened. Her grief has never been released, her acceptance never coming. Denial, and only denial, fuel her onwards.
Vi doesn’t make many mistakes in the series. We can say she was wrong not to have brought Powder to rescue Vander, though how might things have turned out if she had? We can say she was wrong to have lashed out at Powder in the wake of the devastation that occurred, but can we really blame her for her reaction? The real mistake Vi makes is her unwavering, unrealistic, and unhealthy hope.
In so much media, this hope, this Luke Skywalker call to appeal to the good still inside people, this holding to past ideals in the face of all adversity, this belief in a total victory with no one left behind, is seen as honorable and just. A protagonist is expected to promote the wishes and goals of the team, rigid and determined at all costs to save everyone, and the cosmic balance of the universe is expected to reward them. This is a noble, and predominantly beneficial ideal, but it is only an ideal. The notion of the infallible hero who can accommodate any wish, the idea of no one left behind no matter what, that is unhealthy.
There’s a modern saying that states people are forced to juggle many plates throughout their lives. The truly successful ones are the ones who know which plates to drop, and which to hold. People who when given more and more plates continue to try and jungle them all are only doomed to fail.
You could point to Vi’s wording, her statement of “you’re ready” in episode 1 being the false hope set up to her “you’re not ready” in episode 3. But all things considered this is nothing compared to the hope that comes later. The seeds of Vi’s hope are spread throughout the series. She believes she can win, she can stop Silco, she can get Powder back, she can keep Caitlyn as an ally, and she can unite Piltover and Zaun under peace.
But she can’t do it all. And she doesn’t know which to choose. After it all she still doesn’t realize that she’s chosen. But Jinx now knows Vi’s choice.
Vi pleads with Jinx, hopes and fights for her, to reunite with her sister. And for a moment, it works. For a moment, when Jinx and Vi embrace after years apart at the climax of episode 6, both believe it could all really work.
Jinx believes that Vi could become the Vi she used to be. She believes Vi can throw away Caitlyn and all that’s happened. We as the audience know she can’t. But the worst part is, Jinx was ready to become Powder again.
So then what’s Jinx’s choice? Caitlyn isn’t a threat, her escape is stopped cold. Vi chose Caitlyn over Powder, she made her choice, so why can’t Jinx? Silco or Vi, Jinx or Powder, it’s just a choice. Jinx can’t decide, she doesn’t know herself, doesn’t know her nature. But then Silco’s time bomb goes off, and while Caitlyn’s escape did little to change matters, Silco’s partial escape forces her hand.
It’s now or never, Jinx has to decide, her sister or her father, one has to die. She makes her choice, and Silco falls dead.
Silco was Jinx’s father. He knew it, she knew, we all did. A father, who in his final moments reaffirmed his belief in his daughter. Vi and Caitlyn knew each other for just a few short days, and Vi couldn’t bring herself to kill Caitlyn for her sister. Jinx had known Silco for years, likely spending more time being raised by him than the time being raised by Vi or Vander. But she was willing to sacrifice Silco for her sister. Yes there was rage there, rage against the man who had taken her sister from her, taken Vander and corrupted her. But where was Vi’s rage towards Caitlyn and the topsiders, the enforcers that had taken her parents? No matter which way you consider it, but especially from Jinx’s perspective, Jinx’s loyalty to Silco makes more sense than Vi’s towards Caitlyn. Jinx killed Silco, Vi refused to kill Caitlyn.
Powder chose Vi. Vi didn’t choose Powder … again …
Vi and Silco gave Jinx hope, told her, with words and actions, that they would sacrifice the world for Jinx. But Vi didn’t really mean it, while Silco very much did.
This is what makes Jinx.
Powder died long ago, alongside Mylo, Claggor, and Vander. Jinx was born at the moment Silco’s arm rested upon that scared little girl. But death was not enough. Things refuse to stay dead. And there, struggling and fighting for life, was Powder, refusing to accept death. In denial of herself, in denial of her family. But in a single moment, in a single scene, torn between two opposed choices, Jinx finally realizes the truth.
The regret hits in an instant. Jinx now knows who she is. She put loyalty to her sister above all else. She killed Silco. And with that whimper, that pleading no, those tears… she regrets her choice.
If the roles were reversed she’d have killed Caitlyn to save Vi. If the roles were reversed Vi would have let Silco kill Powder.
Caitlyn lives, and Vi continues living in the present. Silco dies, and everything Jinx has in the present shatters.
She killed a man who loved her, to save a woman who couldn’t.
Silco’s line echoes out. “You’re perfect.”
“Jinx is perfect.”
He knew, he always knew this was who she was, under it all, through it all. He knew there was still a trace of Powder in her, still a loyalty to her sister at the fundamentals of her core. Silco believed in loyalty, that’s a risk he always knew could result in his death. He knew it all. Knew Jinx might choose Vi over him. Knew she might be killed at Jinx’s hand. And he knew what she’d do next.
She feels it, that regret. That crushing sense of what could have been. If Vi had chosen her, Caitlyn and Silco would be dead, and the two sisters would start over. If Jinx had chosen Silco she’d have reigned alongside her father, the only person who really truly loved her right through to the bitter end. Who loved her through every mistake, through every jinxed job.
She regrets that, in the one moment it really mattered, she chose Powder. She takes her seat, a broken throne of pain and betrayal, and her hand is forced by the tragedy of circumstance around her. She chose Powder, but Vi chose Jinx.
She sits, and the grief finally sets in. For the first time in the series we see it in her eyes, the pain. She accepts reality. The reality that Mylo, Claggor, Vander, and now Silco are all dead. She sees Vi for who she is, sees herself for who she is. Now she knows, now she feels it, and now she can move on.
Vi said she couldn’t move on from her sister. But in the end she did… twice.
Jinx never could… until now.
Jinx takes her seat, looking to a sister who would have let her die, but whom she can’t kill, as a part of her is still Powder. She takes a moment, and resolves whatever it takes, to be Jinx.
She kills the last part of Powder inside her, and Jinx, daughter of Silco, is immortalized by Vi’s hand.
She is the monster Vi created.
