Analysis: Jinx and Vi – A tale of two sisters, two cities, through Bonds, Mistakes, Growth, Tragedy, and Change

Arcane is many wonderful things. Arcane also follows the stories of an ill Scientist, a young protege turning into a ruler, and a villain, and a mentor trying to balance out doing whatever it takes to succeed and caring for their adopted daughters, and a tale of two sisters caught between a war between two nations.

This blog will focus particularly on Vi, Jinx, and the cities Piltover (land of the wealthy topsiders and their enforcers) and the Undercity (Aka, The to-be established Nation of Zuan) but other characters will be included in this analysis

The Young Jinx and Vi

Jinx was exposed to violence not only as a norm where she grew up but also as a form of control and power in the undercity. As a girl, she and Vi are lost in an urban battlefield before Vander stops fighting and carries them to safety. She is present when her sister and friends are attacked by Silco’s gang and also participants in a “Recreational room” of sorts where Vi punches a training dummy and she fires at dummies using a toy pistol. The closest thing to therapy or good mentors in the undercity would be Vander, who early on they consider a guy that puts fighting-aggression-sabotage over everything else. Even when Vander tries to take a more peaceful approach, his legacy as a violent rebel continues to impact others.

We also see this violence being a norm for Powder on multiple occasions. She makes explosive devices and names them. She also shows these devices off to her sister as if they are toys she got or things she made. In the music video “Everyone Wants to be my Enemy” (a fitting title, since almost everyone is each others’ enemy at some point, especially for Jinx) we also scenes of her hitting herself and screaming. This could be out of hatred, but also possibly out of getting the kind of stimulation that violence and aggression provide. There are even instances where children that grew up in abusive or hard settings will gradually develop habits to replicate that setting, such as hitting themselves or showing aggression to classmates.

There is also the question of whether Powder developed these conditions because it was inherited genetically, was caused by her environment, or both. But this is clear; if Powder had grown up still with her family and her sister maybe things would turn out differently for her. She may have still developed schizophrenic episodes as she gets older regardless of environment, but with a better support system of more familiar faces…who knows?

We also see Powder have big attachment issues – during episode 1, her friends Milo and Clanger keep commenting how “She’s not ready” to join them and that when she does “She is a Jinx” since she somehow messes things up. In episode 1, we see this happen when Powder is trusted with the loot while Vi’s gang fights with another gang trying to ambush them, only to throw the loot into the river to save her life. Despite apologizing and trying to point out how she’s not a fighter and her gadgets didn’t work, Milo and Clanger are quick to chastise her, and Jinx feels upset with herself.

Vi steps in and tries to tell the other members to back off. Even when Vander hears about what happened (and how the heist also resulted in a building being a blow-up), Vi offers to take full responsibility and the blame for what happened.

Vi is inspired by Vander’s brashness in his younger year to the point where Vi believes in his saying of “You have to earn your place in the world.” also means disobeying Vander’s current orders to stay away from the topsiders. Vander points out how Vi is looked up to by others and how whatever happens it’s on her, akin to how Vander states that whatever happens to anyone in the undercity is also on him, as the leader/chief according to his title of “Hound of the Underworld”. Vi eventually complies, but in Episode 2 Vi finds out Vander has also been operating with Piltover’s enforces to keep the peace – which in her eyes is working with the enemy. She first feels betrayed only to realize Vander’s words of “No one wins in war” are true, as Vi’s mother and other people died when they rebelled against Piltover.

It also should be noted that Vi was put into a semi-parent figure role as a teenager (during which the most rational parts of the mind have not developed, and put in a dangerous environment to grow up in). Despite her shortcomings, Vi does try her best to be a positive influence for Powder, allowing Powder to show off her creations to her and assuring her that even though some of them never work one day they will.

Later on, Vi also takes Powder out for a talk and shares with her a few times She, Milo, and Clagger have bad days or messed up. According to Therapist Georgia Dow, this helps Powder realize that they have all had bad days (Powder technically isn’t the only person who Jinxed something) and that they continue to stick together. The episode then ends on a high note with both having a bonding moment and with Powder sharing the unstable magic crystals that she found on their mission (and managed to keep). This shows the level of trust she has with Vi because she hasn’t even shown these crystals to anyone else, not even Vander.

However, later on, we see that when Powder is not allowed to join the party in rescuing Vander from Silco, a former ally of Vander’s and someone trying to spread the use of a powerful enhancement/drug called “Shimmer”.

Powder begins to take it as a sign Vi has made a complete 180 from their talk on the roof and does not trust her. From Vi’s perspective, she trusts Powder yet doesn’t want anything to happen to Powder, especially since she saw Silco take two people before capturing Vander (possibly still in shock and remembering Vander’s words to think about what could happen to Powder). To Powder, it’s abandonment, despite Vi assuring Powder that she will come back, and distrust.

To Powder after losing her mother and messing up the last mission they were on, earning Vi’s trust and affection means everything to her. Left alone, we start to see Powder have a mental breakdown, screaming hysterically, tearing apart her toys, and throwing her items around. When Powder starts to see the unstable magic crystals again, she comes up with a plan to help them, despite not realizing how close Vi and her gang are to freeing Vander.

When Jinx does intervene – using the unstable crystals and Monkey toy she tore apart to create a makeshift bomb – several combatants are caught in the blast; Milo And Clagger are killed, Vi gets trapped under debris, and Vander is almost about to die. Through the use of Silco’s shimmer chemical, Vander is able to survive and save Vi. However, Vander becomes heavily disfigured and dies.

Sadly, Powder doesn’t see this and assumes after she sent the bomb into the building that she saved everyone. We even see her face start to brighten up with pride and joy as she is blown back from the explosion.

Once she finds Vi is eager to show her it worked, as she has done with her other devices. Slowly, Jinx realizes upon when she see Vander’s corpse and that Milo and Claggor are absent that she “Jinxed” again. Jinx begins to have another mental breakdown, half sobbing and half pleading “I only wanted to help, I only wanted to help!” knowing she can’t undo it and didn’t mean for this to happen (and as a kid is probably overwhelmed she killed at least three people close to her).

Powder’s response to what happened is met with a swift punch from Vi. When Powder recovers from the blow, she asks why Vi left her, only to be grabbed by the face and told by Vi that “she is a Jinx” and “Milo was right” – the two very things that Powder never wanted to hear. Curiously she never asked for an apology or even kept trying to explain herself – she asked why did Vi “leave” and though we as the audience know Vi left to keep her safe, akin to a loved one leaving to go get food or money. Powder’s fear is that if Vi leaves, then Vi must hate her for the very thing Jinx doesn’t want to believe she is – a Jinx. Imagine you messed something up, and a friend decided to stop hanging out with you. You may start to wonder if they are planning on leaving you, even if they reassure you it’s not because of you. This is Jinx’s case and now we see her validation and attachment to Vi has been shattered.

Vi then realizes what she has done, seeing Powder’s blood on her hand, and goes around the corner to take a breather. We remember Vander grabbing Vi’s hand in episode 1, and saying “This won’t fix your problems – it just creates more.” This might have been Vander projecting some of the guilt he had for mistakes he made with others, including Silco, and he hoped by saving that he could have Vi avoid making some same mistakes.

Some people assume that Vi was deliberately abandoning Powder and had no reason to punch her. However, we have to remember that at the moment, Vi was facing a lot of stress trying to get Vander out, only to lose her friends in an explosion, and fail to get Vander out alive. Vi was probably also flooded by so many emotions at the time (what one therapist I worked with called “emotional flooding”, causing her to respond to Powder’s mistake akin to how she grew up responding to problems – with brute force.

When we see Vi go take a breather, the anger washes away to sadness, grief, regret, and guilt – if Vi wanted to sever her connection to powder, she would have just kept walking and left her for dead. Her stopping and crying show she does care deeply for Powder. It’s just that Vi probably couldn’t look Powder in the eye or talk to her after the horrible thing that just happened. Vi didn’t mean to abandon her but she was emotionally overwhelmed and didn’t have any good coping strategies. But to Powder, because Vi left without saying another word, Powder thinks she has been abandoned and cries out that she needs her Vi.

Unfotuenetly for both of them, Silco and his surviving henchpeople see Powder sobbing and all alone. Vi sees this and is about to run out and get her, showing she still loves Powder despite all that’s happened and would risk her life for Powder. I think this is a major detail people forget that even though Vi isn’t a perfect older sister figure, she’s trying her best. However a Piltover enforcer – one working for Silco – captures Vi before she can reach Powder and drags her away rot in prison for at least a maximum of five years.

Holding a knife behind his back (either planning to use it, or trying to conceal it to appear less threatening), Silco asks powder where is her sister is. Powder launches herself at Silco, hugging him, and says she was left behind and disowning Vi as her sister – this highlights the level of grief Powder is in:

> Powder feared abandonment from her sister and now that (she thinks) it has happened, Powder has abandoned Vi in turn.

> Powder has no one else to turn to to help with her emotions: Her friends and father figure are dead, her sister is nowhere around. Powder is striving for some sign of comfort or that it will be ok.

> Powder probably doesn’t even know who Silco is. Or that he captured Vander. To her, Silco was someone who showed concern to her in a moment she needed someone to show care to her.

And in response, we see Silco, who we assumed to be a diabolical evil villain, hug Powder back in front of all his henchpeople, likely out of pity. Silco understands what Powder’s pain is as he considered Vander a brother before they went their separate ways violently (Vander being responsible for Silco’s injuries)

Silco then assures Powder that “It’s ok. We will show them. We will show them all.” Cementing himself as a new father figure to Jinx, both gazing at the fire and Vander’s corpse, vengeance in their eyes.

I want to also state that I’m not trying to say that Vi did nothing wrong or shove all the blame on Powder. When people are put into complicated situations, suddenly who to blame or whose fault it isn’t clear cut. Both Powder and Vi made mistakes, and both were dealing with things out of their control.

Jinx, THE LOOSE CANNON

At some point, after the enforcer captured Vi, she was put in prison to keep her hidden from Silco. What kept Vi going through those long five years was the hope she would find Powder. Likewise, even though Powder, now called “Jinx” serves Silco’s operations with enthusiasm and pride, she states the thought of Vi being out there kept her going and “When all the colors were black you were the reason I am still alive.” This is also evident with Jinx carrying a signal flare Vi gave her as Powder, showing that a part of her held onto the hope violet would come back.

As Jinx gets older we see she’s craftier and less timid. We see her confident enough to be rude and intimidating towards others, even Silco at times. She is even able to conduct missions and sabotage on her own, making use of more deadly and violent gadgets that she continues to make herself. This shows us that Jinx and Powder are intelligent, cunning, and dexterous.

After all, Powder is almost able to scale rooftops almost with ease, and You see her set up a shooting gallery and almost perfectly headshot people. And she is always inventing and experimenting with her weapons – and even holds a strong sentimental value to them, show through begging them to work – and once they do work, she is amazed and beaming with pride. As Jinx, her creativity and inventions are further explored through her traps, her minigun, her firelight drones, and even in the weapon of mass destruction Silco trusts her to design AKA “Fishbones.” Had Powder perhaps been born in Piltover, she likely would have become some sort of weapon engineer or at least be recognized as a gifted student alongside Jayce and Viktor, characters in the Piltover arc of Arcane.

However, for Jinx it’s not all fun and rainbows. Some of Silco’s henchpeople find her messing up her jobs when she hallucinates. Jinx is also haunted by voices and mistakes of her past, and experiencing a sort of dissociation with reality. These result in her feeling like she is a burden and speaking with people who are not present, such as with Milo or Claggor.

The evidence of how much Jinx has changed and still retains her identity as Powder can be traced back to their childhood friend Ekko. Before, Ekko was one of Powder’s closest friends. Now leading a group of people against Silco and Piltover and trying to be a beacon of hope in the undercity. Ekko holds onto this belief that Powder is dead up till the point where he confronts Jinx. For a moment Ekko gives into a playful nature, and we see a flashback scene of them as kids, playing a game where Ekko would try to rush towards jinx while jinx fired a paint gun at him.

And then after the sequence, Ekko proceeds to successfully rush jinx and presumably break her jaw. Ekko suddenly pauses as he gazes upon Jinx’s bleeding face. And for a moment you can see him regret what he has done. Thus you can infer Ekko has had very strong emotions for jinx – as kids, maybe it was love or even just a crush. Either way, you cannot deny the strong sense of a bond between them.

All grown up, we see Ekko’s love for Jinx manifest as hate, rage, denial, and uncertainly. This ties back to where hate comes from – it comes from either being betrayed by someone or something you loved or feeling that someone or something you love is being threatened. Perhaps by being able to separate Jinx from Powder, Ekko can easily “hate” jinx, move on, and not hold back until they confront each other face to face. Ekko does have his own people to look after to keep them away from Silco, his shimmer drug, and his gangs.

Jinx however uses this moment they look into each other eyes to detonate a grenade, almost killing both of them. Silco proceeds to revive Jinx while Ekko escapes the authorities, wounded. Even though Ekko could see the relationship they had, Jinx could not continue to keep living. Jinx proceeded to end it all either feeling betrayed by Ekko or maybe trying to end her own life thinking what she has become a monster and former friend to both Vi and Ekko.

Jinx’s appearance and posture also are different throughout the show. Where Powder had short well-kept hair (showing Vander and Vi’s care for her), Jinx sports ridiculously long hair (showing Silco’s willingness to let her do whatever she wants). It’s a signature look for her, conveying her personality and how she doesn’t care how out of control or long it gets. Also Jinx, she wears a tank top with shorts which provides maneuverability and speed at the risk of minimum protection

Her skin starts to take a more pale look when she is revived, creating a deathly “back-from-the-dead” appearance with glowing purple eyes full of shimmer and hate. The emotion in her eyes becomes more intense when she captures Caitlyn and Silco, the former due to her relationship with Vi, and the latter she believes Silco planned to turn her in exchange for a peaceful establishment of the nation of Zaun he was trying so hard to build. Vi is the last to be captured and all three are brought before a table (with two empty chairs, one marked “Jinx” with crow feathers to symbolize transformation, and the other marked “Powder” with some of Powder’s items nearby) in the building where Vander died and “Jinx was Born.”

And then at the very end, Silco and Vi end up in a shouting match once Jinx is about to kill Caitlyn, with Silco requesting that Jinx finish it and Vi pleading for Powder to snap out of it. We start to gradually see Jinx’s hallucinations intensify as Vi reminds her of people from Jinx’s childhood – her original parens, Vander, Milo, Claggor, Vi, and Powder. Sadly these reminders start to cause Powder to end up in a mental breakdown again. It alludes to a game she and Vi used to play as kids, trying to see how can make up the scariest monster under their bunk beds – in this case, Jinx’s reminders of people from her past cause her to hallucinate and have a mental breakdown. She feels she is surrounded by monsters growing in size. Out of seeing her adopted daughter in pain or not wanting Jinx to remember who she was, Silco attempts to shoot Vi, only for Jinx to see it coming and fire a volley of bullets into Silco to protect her sister. After all those years and despite what happened, Powder still existed in Jinx…but not for long.

After Silco is shot by Jinx, Jinx realizes what she has done and runs up to Silco apologizing. However, Silco isn’t even upset or criticizing her; he comments she is “perfect” and he never would have given her up, even to establish his nation. There and then Silco dies, but his actions linger on.

You see dark bangs under Jinx’s eyes symbolizing she is just tired of so much of the pain anger if that built up. In contrast to her snap, quick, second-long reflexes in fights within previous episodes, and when she takes a seat at the chair marked “Jinx” instead of the one marked “Powder,” she half-slumps in her seat exhausted but accepting that she is indeed a “Jinx.”

Silco always found that her “imperfection” as Jinx were actually what made her perfect. Silco, while manipulative, dishonest, and also responsible for trying to kill Jinx’s family and corrupting their home through drugs and politics, shows genuine care for Powder. This is to the point where Silco doesn’t bother trying to teach Jinx manners or personal space/boundaries, hinting that there are some unhealthy qualities in their relationship.

He could have threatened Jinx into service when they met while she was still Powder but instead, Silco hugs her, Silco takes time away from work to help address her fears and concerns, he trusts her with injecting medicine into his injured eye as well as with building a weapon of mass destruction, and when offered a chance to peacefully establish the nation of Zaun in exchange for turning Jinx over he is seen flinching, contemplating, and then pleading with Jinx that he would never turn her over. Perhaps the most genuine moments for him showing his care for Jinx were when Jinx was unconscious and the only person he trusted to carry her body to the doctor (even though he has an organization full of much stronger and faster henchpeople) is him. I won’t say that Silco is the best dad or father figure, and I think we should all remember this was a man who is a proud drug dealer, manipulator, and murderer.

This phrase ends up pushing Jinx towards using the weapon of Mass Destruction Silco had her build, fulfilling Silco’s promise of vengeance on the day he found her all alone.

Vi, THE MISFIT

Though overshadowed by Jinx’s popularity, Vi has an equally powerful journey. Vi’s journey begins aft she is released from prison by Caitlyn a former Piltover enforcer trying to get to the bottom of Silco and Jinx’s operations. In prison, we see Vi who has rarely changed in contrast to Powder/Jinx – Her hair is only slightly longer, she still resorts to fighting and aggression and first resort, and she still has maintained her skills in parkour. This is no surprise – it could be a “physical” way of showing how even though the world around Vi changed, Vi hadn’t changed to the same degree. Something that has changed is that Vi appears to become more bitter, especially towards topsiders.

From studying people who have grown up in prison and adolescents and who had run-ins with the police, some appeared to have cut themselves off from others, or have been shaped or influenced by the prison, especially since it starts to gradually become the only world they inhabit. Vi knowing her sister could be out there is what kept her going and kept her spirit from breaking, akin to what others in prison do to keep themselves going – the idea that someone is out there waiting for them.

This even extends into how Vi fondly calls Jinx “Powder,” upon both of them reuniting in episode 6, despite Jinx fighting back and stating her name is “Jinx now.” and “Powder Fell down a Well.” For Vi, it starts to become a conflict of whether to acknowledge the person before she is the violent criminal Jinx or her long-lost sister Powder. Sometimes this comes to the point where Vi will freeze up as she isn’t sure how to approach this problem.

Most people around her have accepted that Powder is no more and that Jinx should be treated as a criminal, including Ekko. Ekko was the strongest advocate of this, even painting Powder’s face on a mural of “Everyone He, Vi, and others have lost”

Despite this, Vi is forced to balance between getting help from Caitlyn, Ekko, and others, while trying to connect to whatever is left of Powder in Jinx. This is a challenge for her because even though throughout the series we see Vi as a very powerful and street-smart combatant, she struggles to confront her emotions and is unsure how to communicate with jinx. At the same time, even when she fails – we still root for Vi and are so engaged with her storyline as much of Jinx’s. It’s a redemption arc that neither we nor the protagonist is sure Vi can win, but we know for sure the protagonist is trying her best to the point where we see the pain in her eyes and voice.

It doesn’t help that Jinx starts to “see” Caitlyn as someone who is taking Vi away from her. Through her hallucinations, Jinx keeps seeing Caitlyn as demonic and sinister, with some of her hallucinations, amplifying her envy and anger towards Caitlyn. To best get an idea of what Jinx feels, imagine you have an older sibling you were close with and suddenly they find someone else to give their attention to. Perhaps, Jinx’s envy for the attention Vi gives to Caitlyn is from her memories of being abandoned by Vi and her own self-hatred for being “a Jinx” to Vi.

After Silco dies and despite being saved by Jinx, Jinx looks upon Vi within the chair marked “Jinx.” cementing to Vi that Powder is not coming back. with sadness, Jinx comments commenting “I thought you could love me like you used to….even though I am different. But you changed too…” This is heartbreaking to Vi and for the audience as well; it shows that while Jinx does accept Vi as her sister again, she takes it that Vi doesn’t love who she became as much as she loves Powder and Caitlyn. Jinx’s final words to her stunned sister are “here’s to the new us.” Before proceeding to use the weapon on Piltover. Additionally, Vi isn’t sure what to say or process, showing how she has become emotionally overwhelmed – instead of lashing out at others, Vi freezes up.

However, while Jinx hallucinates Caitlyn to be a manipulative person out to steal Vi and one more enfrocer, the reality with Caitlyn is that Caitlyn gives Vi a closeness she has been lacking. We see a Vi who goes from teasing Caitlyn for being a “stuck up topsider” to realizing Caitlyn is different:

>When Vi criticized Caitlyn for just seeing her as a lowly criminal, Caitlyn showed she was willing to look past that by freeing Vi and offering Vi a chance to help her on her investigation, as Vi had a connection with some of Silco’s goons who were transporting Shimmer undercover.

> Caitlyn, akin to Vi, isn’t afraid to be blunt and honest with her thoughts and feelings, unlike others in Piltover. She saves Vi from getting killed on two occasions, breaking Vi’s belief that all people from Piltover are scummy and dishonest. Caitlyn even confesses herself to be a Misfit and Vi considers herself a misfit according to the song “Here comes Vi” so…they compliment each other quite well.

> they Gradually have an attraction for each other and start to respect each other. This isn’t necessarily because opposites attract (in fact we learned in Psych that putting opposites), but it’s because both start to share values and a mission – trying to figure out how to stop Silco and restore peace between Piltover and the undercity. Vi was also blunt in her attraction to Caitlyn and Caitlyn in turn is honest in how much she wants to help Vi. Even when they aren’t able to negotiate peace, and Vi leaves in frustration claiming that “Topside and bottom, oil and water, me and you…it just doesn’t work.” There is pain again in Vi’s voice and Caitlyn’s eyes.

However Vi’s care for Caitlyn resurfaces, when she sees Jinx has captured Caitlyn and cannot go through with Jinx’s pleads to shoot Caitlyn so Vi “can get Powder back.” Both hold each other in their arms during the final scenes of the series as they witness in horror Jinx using Silco’s weapon of mass destruction on Piltover.

Even though their efforts couldn’t save everyone, they saved each other. Let me explain – at the beginning of the series, Vi was trying to find her place in the world as a young Undercity punk full of hate and vengeance. She, like Jinx, blames herself for Vander’s death and herself for the failed heist at the beginning of the series. And then after being left in prison, Vi could have been left still full of vengeance and regret, but Caitlyn freed her from that dark purgatory. And while traveling with Caitlyn, Vi starts to trust again, take responsibility, look after Caitlyn, strive to not give up on Powder or herself, and come to find closeness with another person (something she lost when Vander died and Silco took in Powder).

Post Arcane Possiblilites

Arcane ends as a tragedy, for both the setting and its characters. The cycle of violence continues. Jinx follows through with committing the genocide Silco imagined would come, and Vi has presumably lost her sister forever. Some theories are going around that other main characters may be able to survive or avert’s Jinx’s attack, but we’ll have to wait until Season 2. (Oh, Oh the Misery…).

According to the lore from League of Legends (most of which is established in events AFTER arcane), we can strongly hint that Caitlyn and Vi are partners in law enforcement and have reconciled their relationship, with Caitlyn becoming a Sheriff and Vi becoming an enforcer, both still partners much Jinx’s bitterness.

Some League of Legends Media has suggested that though Jinx and Vi still hate each other, deep down there is a sign there is a bond between them. Jinx’s hallucinations and guilt may intensify (blaming herself after killing Silco akin to killing Vander). Side stories from a League of Legends Mini game have suggested that Jinx and Vi have opportunities to connect, but it’s unsure if these stories will be canon. Ekko will likely make a return having survived an encounter with Jinx. Have more flashbacks could be explored. I would for one love to see this particular scene/flashback to being canon:

However, we don’t know if Arcane will follow the League of Legend’s versions of the characters or divert away from them (after all in League it was left VERY ambiguous if Jinx and Vi ever were sisters, Silco is seldom ever in Jinx’s bio, and the history between Puiltover and Zaun is very different). Some media even hints that the sisters may reconcile as seen below (though this media may have been present before Arcane was created and may follow a different storyline compared to Arcane’s). Either way, this struggle between Piltover and Zuan is far from over, as are Vi and Jinx’s confrontations.

Where do you think Arcane is going next? Was there anything interesting that you picked up when you saw Arcane? Would you like me to do more character analysis from Arcane or another series? Feel free to comment below!

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