How ARCANE Writes FAMILY (5 Rules) | Silco/Vander Analysis
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- Опубліковано 28 тра 2024
- #LeagueOfLegends #Vander #Silco
Do Vander and Silco FAIL because of their fatherhood? Why do they both abandoned their war efforts after they adopt their children? Arcane explores family relationships in fascinating ways, all intricately defined and structured. There are 5 rules that Arcane employs most clearly in the relationships between Vi, Powder, Vander, and Silco, but also through Caitlyn and the other Kirammans, Jayce and his mom, and Singed and his daughter. Also included in these rules is the writing of the sibling relationships: Jayce and Viktor, Silco and Vander, Powder and Vi. Understanding these rules is crucial in helping us to understand the characters themselves.
POWDER short - • My CONTROVERSIAL Powde...
MEL video - • This Character is DEEP...
SEVIKA video - • SEVIKA: 3 Theories | A...
Mr Rogers testifies before US Senate - • May 1, 1969: Fred Roge...
0:00 - Arcane's Parenting Question
1:28 - Rule #1
4:39 - Rule #2
7:37 - Rule #3
9:07 - Rule #4
10:01 - Rule #5 (Vander/Silco)
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"She's not a symbol of Zaun, she needs therapy" was a very good criticism of Silco's "you're perfect" moment with Jinx.
Who if anybody in this world has gotten therapy? Does the concept of such a thing even exist? Good luck with finding anything like that in zaun.
But to be fair, everyone in Zaun needs some therapy. So she kinda is a good symbol of the city lol.
Therapy in the Undercity
I don't even think they have like hospitals/doctors in the Undercity. Even piltover wouldn't care about therapy cause they to focused on "progress" and "moving forward" no ways did anyone in the Undercity has the ability to treat mental illness but Silco tried his best to make Jinx work with it. Of course Silco couldn't remove her paranoia/sczophernia but he didn't want it to control her. Believe me I'm mentally ill and I always think about whether I'm ready to detach myself from my illness or choose to work with it. I still haven't decided
I don't like this argument because therapy is literally not a thing in their world, and it's a cop out of an argument, and it's placing our expectations and knowledge on characters who do not have those expectations or knowledge. People love to just slap "she needs therapy" on everything and move on. Yeah, news flash, they all need therapy, not just her, but its not in the world. It's not like Silco went, "Hmm, I could take her to therapy or I could just do it on my own." No. Therapy wasn't even an option. And even if it was available to Pilties, you think it'd be available to Zaunites? Laughable. Silco saw someone struggling in a similar way as him and tried to help and guide her with his past experience. Like every parent ever has done. Silco actually believes Jinx is perfect because she is chaotic, intelligent, and strong despite her brokenness. That is the embodiment of Zaun--getting up to fight another day when people keep pushing you down.
Oh wow Schnees right. 90% of the cast having actual parents and family is kind of a treasured rarity in animation, isnt it.
Shocked me too.
Within the show's definition of family, Heimerdinger and Grayson are the only characters who aren't shown with any family. It's pretty crazy!
@@schnee1 you missed Victor. I can't remember him being seen with any family member. Not even as he was a kid... But I could be wrong. And if we count the non main characters then also Singed... We don't know much of him but more then about The council so I call him... Except him saying he had a daughter we don't get to know anything about his family.
@@Lusor_Caterpillar By "show's definition" I'm including Viktor Jayce as brothers, since they profess that, and for Singed I do count him and his dead daughter. Ekko/Benzo is the one I might have missed, that's debatable though as far as the family element
@@schnee1 didn't thought about Victor and Jayce being brothers since they seemingly didn't know each other before hextech but okay. If show artists say it... For singed I can understand but it's discussable since I wouldn't him as he only said it but it wasn't shown.
I'd like to make an argument that Jayce and Heimerdinger could also be a failed parent/child relationship, Heimerdinger spends so much of the season trying to guide and teach Jayce kind of like how Vander and Silco does for Vi and Jinx, but unlike those two Jayce ends up directly betraying his parent figure and what that figure stands for.
Nice catch. I'd include Viktor in that academic family. He calls both of them "my boy" several times.
you could say that Jayce has actualy 3 parent figures:
-his actual mom
-Heirmedinger as a mentor figure
-Caitlin parent's as they were his patrons (and considering how her treats Caitlin, they must have been really close)
@@graymalkin7645 I agree, technically Heimerdinger has known Viktor far longer as well.
In a way you're correct, however I would argue that Jayce sort of 'had' to do so. Since Heimerdinger of course is really intelligent and has a lot of experience, he fails to grasp that his sense of time is VERY different from that of everyone else. He is, what? 300 years old? And at the point that we see him in the show he only really seems to be concerned with making rules and, well politics. He does very little to actually progress their society, and it seems like he doesn't care to, almost like a wise but also ignorant mentor figure to Jayce. Also, what does Heimerdinger actually stand for? You use that term for him specifically, but I personally have a really hard time trying to pin down what he actually stands for during the majority of season one.
Anyway, That would be my counter-argument to what you are saying here.
@@jordanfelt5978 I never said anything about whether Jayce had to betray Heimerdinger or not, I just stated that while Heimerdinger could arguably be included in the list of characters that could fit into the role of parental figures that we see in this show and how through that lens Jayce becomes more of a mirror/foil with Vi and Jinx because unlike those characters who basically follow through with what their parental figures wanted Jayce does not.
Heimerdinger also in my view was clearly one character who stood for peace for peace's sake and Piltover as a united community (while being oblivious to the divide between Piltover and Zaun), and was from the moment we met him Against Magic, yes he does overtime accept Hextech but again, the moment he sees the Hex Core he is bringing back his view on magic. That its dangerous and not what Piltover needs for its future. And again Jayce (and Victor as the other commenter pointed out) goes against what Heimerdinger was trying to get them to do. His main problem, in my eyes, was that I believe Heimerdinger still saw both Jayce and Victor as naïve children rather than as adults with genius level intellects, he has this tendency to condescend to others because he is so much older than they are and thats why I think he is such a failed mentor/parental figure, he didnt have the same level respect that Vander and Silco have for their pseudo-children. Its why it was so easy for Jayce to vote him out in the council meeting, even in his speech to the other councilors Heimerdinger was actually kind of condescending to all of them.
Some thoughts:
1. One thing I’m a little surprised you didn’t touch on is how Silco seems to be (consciously or not) trying to recreate his relationship with Vander in Jinx’s relationship with Vi. Like… Silco was about to kill Powder when he found her, was knife in hand approaching her. He asks where her sister is, so he can hunt down and kill her, too, and Powder says that Vi isn’t her sister. And I think that’s where he changes his mind, because he was also betrayed by someone he considered a sibling and cutting those ties was important to him.
And I take the baptism scene as an extension of that. Jinx is having PTSD flashbacks to accidentally killing her family and Vi lashing out at her for that. Symbolically, Silco is using the baptism to tell her “Vander drowning me allowed me to be reborn as a person who didn’t need to care about him, now it’s your turn to pretend to drown and be reborn as a person who doesn’t need to care about Vi.”
2. I couldn’t help but make the connection to Ekko’s enclave when you were talking about Vander’s vision for the undercity, which is notably a place where we see children being raised.
Wow, both great points! Didn't think about the parallel with Vander at all, but you're totally right!
@@schnee1 Thank you! I’m happy that you say that!
It really explains why Silco lies to Jinx about Vi being alive. He wants her to take the path that he did - because if it worked for him, it’s good enough.
Hence the "We'll show them all." He wants one of the girls as a Vander-substitute. He wanted Vi and was surprised to find Jinx. But she convinced him on the spot when he saw parallels to himself in her.
“It all makes sense now, brother” is one of my favorite lines in the show. Silco couldn’t understand why Vander valued the lives of his kids over Zaun, but after Silco had a kid of his own he was finally able to understand Vander’s actions.
Love how you touched on how Vi’s destiny to become an enforcer (based on LoL lore) isn’t that crazy when you realize she’s not loyal to the undercity, she’s loyal to only two things: her family and her desire to do the right thing. She chases after Powder to no end because of the family thing, and teams up with Caitlyn because of the “doing good” thing.
This is probably my favorite video of yours yet, which is crazy because I love them all.
thx! :D
Besides even the family part comes through in becoming an enforcer. There's being right there with Caitlyn, but more importantly, acting as a buffer between Jinx and the enforcers. Her hate from the enforcers comes from the way they treated her and her family. If she can be the enforcer who gets to deal with her sister (with caitlyn) that means she can make sure other enforcers stay the hell away from Jinx. Cuz she doesn't trust them.
@@mathies3598 Yea I imagine that's how they'll portray Vi's decision to eventually join the enforcers, with her justifying it as the best way to ensure she can get to Jinx and not have her killed in some shootout with a bunch of normal enforcers who just see her as a terrorist (which, fair enough I suppose).
Except for vi doesn't chase powder to no end... On the bridge she could've just stayed with powder and let ekko carry the hurted Cait to topside like it was the plan anyways
It just makes me mad that vi went with Cait and still everyone says vi did everything to be with powder again
@@medeasherbs yeah, they should've just carefully juggled Caitlyn over to Ekko's shoulder while Jinx who JUST shot at them, waits patiently for them to finish. What makes me made is people who genuinely think that is an option.
Vander did parent powder. When Powder comes to the bar at the end of eposide 2, and Vander makes her a juice, you can tell that usually cheers powder up, and when it didn't cheer her up that time, that clues Vander in that there's a bigger, deeper problem (Vi basically said goodbye to Powder). And he sees the toy and realises what Vi's about to do
Yeah, I think he did provide for her and give her support through things like that scene, what's shown to us seems to imply there might be a distance between them
@@schnee1 I totally see your point but one might also argue that he understands her without words. Being a big sister of two younger sisters myself I also know that feeling of being the one that our parents chose to talk to if they actually wanted to talk to the whole gang. Older siblings are more experienced and capable of understanding the grown ups and often serve as a mediator between the adults and the younger siblings. Hence we see a lot of Vander talking to Vi and not to Powder. Does he talk to Mylo or Claggor at all? I'm actually not sure right now.
@@graymalkin7645
He does-interestingly, he favors Vi and blames Myko and Clagger for not getting the goods.
And that’s after saying the materials are second to the group’s safety.
He says “you wanted to be treated like adults, right? Then you should know better than to come back from a job empty-handed.”
Interesting to give that adult role to Mylo and Clagger, after telling Vi she was the leader.
@@graymalkin7645 I would argue its more of Vander seeing Vi as his own successor, which neither Claggor nor Mylo, and definitevely not Powder, are. Powder is anxious about violence, afraid, and she values her own safety over other principles. Vi often puts herself at risk for the sake of others, just like Vander had done before. Mylo seems rather selfcentered also, and Claggor is all-around capable but not a leader by nature. You see in the dynamic of the four siblings, that Vander teaches only Vi how to fight like him, it is Vi who then teaches others indirectly despite not being the more physically advantaged of the four. Its likely Vander just doesn't know how to properly raise someone who isn't like himself. He can "lead" others, by respecting their differences and calling the shots, but he never gives personal, individualized advise to others, he just mediates. But with Vi, he corrects, he gives advice, he explains. You can even see it in the scene with Vi in the room, where even though they all participated, Vander clearly puts responsibility of the others' action squarely on Vi. He doesn't lecture everyone about this, just Vi.
Giving a kid juice and know when something is wrong, doeant make you someone's parent. Coming from someone who has adopted a kid.
I had a really great conversation with my friend about the family dynamics, particularly about the way Powder/Jinx was raised. Vander did loved Powder - they don't speak at all, but during the bar scene where he pours her a drink to try and cheer her up, there was a sort of familiarity in that, to me, Vander having an idea of what to do when Powder was sad. It is established that Powder is different from the rest of her family, she's not a fighter in the same way the rest of them are, and because of that I think that Vander really struggled to relate to her in a way that he didn't with his other kids. So that, on top of Powder very clearly being a mentally ill child (her hitting herself, her panic attack when Vi wanted her to stay behind), Vander just did not know what to do with her or how to take care of her. Vander failed as a parent to Powder in that sense - he didn't know how to care for her in the ways that she needed to become a stable, well adjusted adult, and ended up just passing her off to Vi. In that way he also failed Vi, because Vi was a kid herself and while she did her best and loved Powder, she did not have the toolset required to raise her mentally ill little sister and that should not have been her responsibility, and it really badly affected the both of them.
Silco, on the other hand, seemed to understand Jinx in a way that Vander, and even Vi, struggled to. Silco doesn't judge Jinx or get upset with her for being mentally ill - in episode 4 the scene in Silco's office when Jinx is talking to herself, the camera doing jumpcuts like she's losing time, he doesn't get upset with her. He grabs her wrist (which makes me jump every time) but he does it just to get her attention, not because he's necessarily angry at her. That being said, Silco failed as a parent in a lot of other ways, but notably I think is that he never taught Jinx boundaries or that there were consequences for her actions. Jinx does what she wants when she wants to, and doesn't think or care about the consequences - the bomb on the bridge being the most extreme example of that. Boundaries and consequences were things that were important to Vander, and what he was trying to instill in Vi. So in the magical alternate universe where Silco and Vander were co-parents, Powder/Jinx and Vi would probably have grown into more stable, functional people.
(My two cents, mentioning that I'm a psych student because one time an arcane fan assumed me of lying about that cause I didn't bring it up until it was specifically relevant.) I don't think Silco never taught her that her actions have consequences, he does quite literally the opposite, he just very obviously a man of "the end justifies the means" (I mean look at him, he's literally a drug lord kingpin, murderer, user of child labour etc etc all for a noble cause, Independence of the Zaun). To Silco, intention and outcome are the most important things, anything in-between doesn't matter. So naturally he won't give his daughter too much shit if what she did was an accident, cause then it wasn't her intention, or if he believed her actions were justified and had a fair enough outcome.
The first scene they're together, what happens. They're talking about Jinx's screw up. He literally does reinforce the consequences of her actions, he tells her that what she did will set them back for weeks, when she's just playing and seemingly ignoring it he grabs her hand like you said and gives her a mini-lecture but doesn't really yell at her or talk down to her. When she says "it won't happen again" he gently, very softly (in a sense of tenderness) goes "I know." Not to judge her, not as a threat, genuine trust, basically "I know you're capable of better and I believe you when you say you'll try." He did teach her the consequences of her actions there, just didn't go all in on her which is fair enough. He did the right thing. He didn't IGNORE the damage she did but he would kinda be a dick for acting like she did it on purpose if she had an emotional episode and messed up, knowing Jinx, he knows she genuinely does feel guilty because she has a tendency to blame herself for everything, why would he make her feel worse when she clearly understands and she didn't meant to?
The next time we see Silco and Jinx is after she stole the Hex-tech. What does he do? He comes in and yells at her. But he stops after she shows him the Hex-tech crystal. Why is that? Because Silco clearly isn't afraid to yell at at her if she crosses the line, if HE believes she crosses the line, and judging how totally nonchalant she was about it he'd probably done it before. I think with how sensitive Jinx was (I mean she literally took it as a personal insult when he told her to take a mental health break) I think if that was his first blowing up at her she would have at least been mildly annoyed and tried to cover it, it being her annoyance, (like she does at the dinner scene with Vi) seeing as I believe her lack of reaction in that moment truly came from the fact that she knew she had the crystal, knew he wouldn't care ultimately and was excited to show him. But that's what happened, he was perfectly willing to protect her in *public* then in private yell at her for what she did, most likely assuming she did it just because, but he knew how important the Hex-tech was and let it go because to him, the outcome was worth it. He realised she knew exactly what she was doing for the most part and got them their smoking gun, why would he continue to punish her?
I don't think it's that Silco never taught her the consequences of her actions, but Jinx's mental health issues just lend to not being able to fully comprehend the consequences of her actions. Firstly, she's like 18, so she's not even fully developed in that regard even Vi can be a little rash at 22, but she experiences psychotic episodes and sometimes can't tell the difference between reality and fantasy. You know how people get the insanity plea in court? When their emotional state or mental health issues means they weren't fully grounded in reality and hence can't grasp the consequences of their actions. Jinx isn't grounded in reality, that would have to be fixed first, and I genuinely don't believe there's anything Silco could have done about that beyond what he already tries to do, before she can fully realise consequence. Especially with death, I mean the people who she "killed" literally talk to her everyday.
As for boundaries, the only people Jinx really gets all up on are Silco himself and Sevika that one time when she was going to torture her for information. Jinx is very phsyically close to Silco and while it's inappropriate in the same way wearing your pajamas to work is (depending on your career), that's all down to how humans are socialised rather than an objective force. Notice I said depending on your career cause theoretically an accountant going to work in their PJs is inappropriate entirely because we as a society decided it was, but an animator can show up to work like that because we also decided it didn't matter in that context, it's all about context and what we deem as okay. Jinx being as close to Silco as she is, in a sense of development, or psychological damage, isn't harmful. There is nothing objectively dangerous about her closeness with Silco, it's only inappropriate because people aren't used to seeing an older teen be that close with her dad. Jinx very clearly age regresses, something also seen as inappropriate because of socialisation but age regression can be a helpful coping mechanism to many people, there is nothing wrong with doing it as long as you're safe and you as well as anyone humouring you is comfortable. Jinx doesn't do this when she's in danger, Silco grabbing her wrist and her paying attention shows she's capable of snapping out of when need be, and they're both comfortable, there's nothing ACTUALLY wrong with it besides people being weirded out because it's foreign to them.
No, I'd say Silco's faults as a parent aren't boundaries and consequence education (I mean you could argue for the consequence thing but it's not that he doesn't care, just needs to move the goalpost) I'd say his issues come from projecting trauma and the selfishness of love. I've never seen Encanto but I've heard it's about perpetuating generational trauma, the trauma Silco projects onto Jinx starts with him but it's similar. The same way I don't think Vander's faults as a parent is completely unforgivable, in the sense I don't think a child and parent could never work through that and have a good relationship in adulthood, I don't think Silco is unforgivable as a dad, as a person sure, but a dad? He could have been much worse, still bad in a lot of ways, but not as bad as people make him out to be for sure.
In a sense, specifically because if the world they live in, him using his trauma to educate her in the first place isn't bad. In our world your parent telling you that basically everyone expect them can backstab you at any moment is definitely a HUGE red flag, but exclusively on Arcane? Silco over does it for sure, but when they're in a literal class war there is truth to that statement. In an attempt to protect her from very real threats that actually do want to hurt her he made her paranoid, it's not the fact that he did it in context, he just went way overboard. This need to protect her leads to him manipulating her. He doesn't mean to hurt her, but that doesn't erase the damage done.
As for love, he tried to kill Vi and keep her from Jinx because he knew Vi was a threat to their relationship and he loved Jinx so much, that even if that's what she wanted, he couldn't lose her. That is inherently unhealthy. That is bad. He's not abusive about it, it's not am attempt to isolate her or control her life as it is when used as an abuse tactic, he's just scared of losing her and in turn becomes a roadblock to her fulfillment and takes away her choice. All parents at points are required to just tell a child "no" regardless of how bad they want to do something, like a toddler wanting to eat dish soap, but this was not one of those times and while his feelings are understandable what he did wasn't okay. Period. But I do think he was on his way to learning that though. In his final moments he told her she was perfect, not Jinx was perfect, but she was perfect, whether she stayed Jinx, decided to go back to Vi and become Powder or become someone new right then and there he supported that choice, and she stayed Jinx but entirely of her own volition, he gave her the choice and she made it.
Silco ain't a perfect dad, but I think people still have a bias against him because he's a bad person and then see everything he does as negative unless proven otherwise. He's still a person, a bad person, but a person, not a devil. Was he the best dad ever? Absolutely not. A great dad even? Nah. But like I said, I think people make him out to be worse than he is. Most of why people see Silco as a bad dad is because of Jinx's mental health issues but he's only shown to try to help her to the best of his ability, I don't think there's anything anyone could have done for Jinx tbh. But because he's her father, people will blame him.
Genuinely sorry for the essay, I seriously didn't mean to write so much, I've actually considered writing a recreational paper on these themes and the relationships in Arcane, maybe one of those 2 hour Video Essay things even though I've never made a speaking UA-cam video in my life. Feel free to ignore my short thesis in your replies lol
@@LangkeeLongkee damn, I usually skip over long comments and to call this one long is a huge understatement lmaoo
But still, its very well put and I'm glad I stuck around to read the whole thing. I applaud you for taking the time to put this out, your analysis was very thoughtful
@@LangkeeLongkee I love you for writing me a giant essay please don't apologize! I have to get ready for class rn so I will read and respond later, but it was so delightful to wake up to thank you so much!!
@@heywhat6676 yes I'm so sorry I didn't mean to 😂😂😂 I just find their relationship specifically very fascinating. I was also I'm a development and life span class when I first watched the show so funnily enough a lot of what I was learning directly applied to characters like attachment styles and such. Georgia Dow, a psychotherapist and youtuber brings them up in her character analysis as well (I'd give her a watch, she puts a lot of what you learn into words amazingly, obviously I would personally also go even MORE in-depth 😂😂😂).
Thank you for reading my short unpublished novel haha
The baptism scene is so gorgeous to me. It's Silco trying to help Jinx have what he had - a symbolic rebirth, embracing his inner monster. His was forced when his brother tried to drown him, Jinx's is done as a ritual to show the acceptance and love she's found in her new father and encourage her to give in to her new identity.
Your videos are like a guided art museum trip. I will come to the painting and I can only say that it's beautiful and I love it. But you, schnee are the guide who will lecture me on the history of art by analyzing the shape of each apple on a painted apple tree. I love it!
thanks for the kind words!! :D
Beautiful analogy i completely agree
Apt analogy
7:54
I interpreted it as Silco attempting to help Jinx let go of her past by baptizing her in a similar way to what happened to him. He wants her to change for the better like he did, but without the struggle of having no one who cares, like what happened to him.
Obviously, this is from his point of view, which also leads to probably his biggest fault as a parent: only going off of his values without considering that there are other point of views. This is another nuance of his character I think, that he is trying his best to teach her lessons he thinks he needed when he was in her position, but doesn't think of how it really isn't the best thing for her.
You're right but I disagree with your last point, it not being the best thing for her, specifically in the context of the baptism scene that is. The baptism doesn't hurt Jinx, if anything it's only shown to help her, clearly it was indeed the best thing he could have done. She's fine after that until Sevika intentionally triggers her. She went back to working on the Hex-tech, she was calm, happy, not delusions or voices bothering her, she was rocking out AND she figured it out. Clearly it did help.
@@LangkeeLongkee Yes, I completely agree. What I meant was how, in general, he pushes his own philosophies onto her, which I don't think would be the best thing for her. Not that I would say that makes him a bad father, thats what all parents should do. He did the best he could, I think, just mentioning that it is flawed, like all parents in real life are.
@@elchoppa. oh definitely I don't think he's perfect, definitely did a lot of not okay things. Silco's main faults are the thing he does isn't necessarily inherently wrong (except for trying to kill Vi so Jinx wouldn't meet up with her, but even with that in mind he still did it because he loved her too much to lose her even if she wanted to go, which is wrong still, but out of love). What his problem is he fundamentally has the right idea, teaching your child from your own experiences, helping her cope with her trauma by reinvention, etc etc but he just goes overboard with it in a means of trying to protect her. As an example, nothing is wrong with him trying to spare his child pain that he had to endure, the type of pain that a person doesn't need to experience (because there are times where you need to let your child get hurt and learn from their *own* experiences) but he went as far as to project his trauma onto her which fed into her paranoia.
I think that scene, to follow up on how the video talked about Silco's "let the monster out" philosophy, was him trying to get Jynx to let her monster out. Silco believed that when Vander tried to drown him is when he let his own monster out. "There's this- thing- and it's raging". Silco is referring to his own monster, his willingness to stop at nothing. He gives Jynx this "baptism" because he hopes she will be able to let her monster out in that same way.
"Intellectual despair results in niether weakness nor dreams, but in violence. It is only a matter of knowing how to give vent to one's rage; whether one only wants to wander like a madmen around prisons, or whether one wants to overturn them."- Georges Bataille
Viva La Revolution!
I hadn't connected the dots of Vi as a surrogate mother figure for Powder, but you can see it just as Wendy in Peter Pan. This starts the whole chain of events in which Powder's abandonment issues never get healed in time and just snowball into psicosis with every tragic event. Weird as it may sound, Silco is the one who got closest to giving Powder/Jinx a shot at healing, but his obsession with the chaos in Jinx stopped him from helping more until she literally expressed how much it was interfering with her work. The baptism was a good ritual to help Jinx let go of the guilt and pain by distancing herself from her past, but it lacked way too much to get anywhere healthy.
a UA-camr I watched named Georgia Dow did a breakdown between the jinx and silco relationship they had a really good explanation of why the baptism seem is so important to silco I think you would find their breakdown very interesting
Georgia is amazing. I'm not a licensed therapist or anything, but a student and she puts a lot, not all, but a lot of things I've wanted to say through that academic lense into focus. Brilliant woman, I subbed to her immediately. And she's just genuinely sweet and fun.
I actually saw a different Ake by flying walrus based of his own relationship experiences here ua-cam.com/video/Jkyj88_opok/v-deo.html
Tremendous as always, Schnee. Thanks for brightening my day.
as someone who has no nontoxic, nonabusive, non absent family members or relationships-- i cried WAY Too hard at way too many vander and silco scenes. It wasnt even their deaths that hit me the most
for vander it was the scene he pours the drink for powder as she sulks at the bar. How loving that little gesture is, how welcoming the plopping of the straw into the cup. How Vander genuinely cares about her, and wants her to feel happier, and looks deeper for the cause.
For Silco it was the scene of jinx stabbing his face over and over again after she finds out Vi is back. When the camera cuts to his trembling hands as he holds himself back from probably throwing her across the room and stomping her skull in. How despite how pissed he most definitely is, his voice is calm and loving (though it's debatable, his love is more along the lines of manipulation.)
Another good scene is when he is showing her the lake he was attacked by vander, and she makes an insensitive comment about his trauma. He simply laughs at this, when he wouldve had anyone else's head cut off at the offense. Followed by the laugh he gives her what he believes is great life advice with the goal of her finding herself and peace, and then gently guides her into the water.
Good analysis, I would say Silco's ideals blinding him to who Jinx is an her actual anguish makes him a bad parent, despite being a loving parent. Also I don't believe Vander was distant to Jinx, she is a pre-teen who is seemingly gloomy and does not make trouble, unlike her 3 Teen siblings. Vander is a single father of four and Arcane is only 9 episodes. in an Anime called Baccano, there is a badly scarred Jinx like character. Her burns are from her playing with Black powder without safety equipment. Powder lives in a bar but she clearly lacks any accelerants to make explosives. In a home which is filled with flammable alcohol, that is Vander's parenting on display. If Powder told Vander of the hex stones he would have disposed of them, and that was Powders first idea after telling Vi.
ua-cam.com/video/09gKIwwWkMQ/v-deo.html
As for the Tea party, while I have warmed to the idea that Jinx was testing Vi, Vi knew Jinx could not revert to pre-teen Powder. Unfortunately Vi isn't good with words, is 23, and 5 days out of prison, articulating she does not expect Powder to twist herself into a child, she wants a relationship with the person she is now, but her current behavior is dangerous and unacceptable and there needs to be changes, seems beyond her capabilities at the end of episode 9.
As much as I love the unconditional love Silco had for Jinx, I totally agree with your statement. A parent should be able to see if the child is in need of help mentally. Silco doesn't see this because of his whole monster ideology.
Silco did try to help Jinx mentally, that's what the whole baptism scene was about. He believed that if she lets go of Powder, her hurtful past, she can move on and thrive. Which is actually a pretty good thing teach someone, not letting the past consume you. Therapy doesn't exist in their world which is pretty sad but if it did I'm 100% sure Silco would have took her to a therapist. He doesn't want her past to haunt her anymore.
@@kurtri8649 i forgot about that scene!! you make a good point
@@autocorrrect7658 Thank you!
I wonder this theme of family will play out next season. Is Vi going to give up on Vander's plea and kill Jinx, maintainig a status quo or there is going to be another option with his reintroduction as Warvick.
Well first of all, she'll probably soon start considering Caitlyn as family too so that leaves her with two family members at odds with eachother. Warwick is a totally different factor on its own but I wonder to what extend she'll still consider him as Vander even if she recognizes him. Seeing your sister, still alive and human, turn into a figurative monster can be seen as misguided family but family nontheless. Whereas seeing the man who died right in front of your return as a chemtech-induced werewolf, will be painful but not something you can still call your family.
They did not fail in their effort then die... they chose to abandon their goals to defend their children. Admirable and honourable.
Been watching damn good vids and then get so frustrated cause I hear them say Silco completed Jinx by assuring her she was perfect. No, damn. He didn't say "Jinx is perfect" like he said it before. He said YOU are perfect. Meaning that she'd still be perfect no matter WHAT.
The last thing Silco saw was Jinx protecting her sister.
He's not saying "you're perfect" because he views her as the perfect weapon of zaun. He's just telling her that he accepts her no matter what she does or who she chooses to be, and even though she shot him..."it's okay, I'm not angry with you "
He said exactly what Jinx needed to hear. That she was OK as she was. Whether she chose to go back or not.. it just didn't matter to Silco. At the end, all he wanted her to know, was that she was perfect to his eyes.
She needed to feel bonded to someone, and she always had. People complained about Silco's last words being those to her and trying to manipulate her a last time, but they don't know shit. Man's been talking his heart out for the first time in his life.
And to her, to their relationship, to this show, it just gives more humanity & depth to it, cause Silco's words can be interpreted as rightfull to his villain character, but only Jinx would understand them as they truely were, and so would the poeple seeing themselves in her :
That was his way of saying he loved her. No matter who she is. Who she thinks she is. Or who she'll become.
-as she was already starting to be when she was a child, it just wasn't enough. Love, wasn't enough. Even more so when it's genuine love frm family that is there before u even know it should be. It isn't enough, when what u need, is understanding. What she needed, was acceptance. she has not gotten that from Violet yet.
That's what I don't neccesarily like about the theory that Silco loved Jinx for being the personification of Zaun, because in my interpretation that would imply that he was more attached to the "idea'' of what she represents, or that he idolized her, which is far from what we witnessed. From episode 4 to 9 we see a man treat with such gentleness and patience the daughter of his brother (the man who he hates the most, a reason to make him feel repulsed by her, remember, he initially tried to kill her). He keeps her close even though she always messes up his plans, quote "and what do I loose but problems?'', and we see time and time being distracted from his own cause for giving too much attention to Jinx. He's so used to her injecting shimmer in his eye that he can't do it by himself anymore. The same indifferent asshole who dismisses the pain of a mourning mother desperately tries to keep her alive an episode before. He had become too fond of her, and I don't know about anybody else but, I don't think you would do all of those things for a person that you just "admire''. Yes, he didn't care who she was, he loved her existence, even when she killed him.
You may argue that he would be conflicted about handing her over if he was obssesed with her being like Zaun, but he definitely wouldn't have given up his own dream for one single person. That's just pure parenthood right there.
He might had a selfish desire to keep her around to use her when he took her in, but I think that turned into genuine love. A toxic one- but genuine nonetheless.
And he didn't drove her into madness just to mold her into his idea of Zaun, he did it because, in his fucked up mind he thought he was helping her. That's what worked for him in the past, so it would be natural for him as a parent to pass his ways to his kid, just like Vander did for Vi.
@@sofiagovea228 you are on point. It is true and even said by the voice actor who plays Silco that that is one of the things that he loves about her is that she is the embodiment of Zaun, but that not why he called her perfect in the ending scene. People take his words at face value when he's dying.
Never been this early for one of your vids but HOLY MOLY BRILLIANT ANALYSIS AS ALWAYS
thx! :D
Same goes for me.
"MOOOOOOM, SCHNEE MADE ANOTHER ARCANE VIDEOO COME WAAAAATCH !"
The Fred Rogers quote at the beginning, juxtaposed over this, was an absolutely unexpected and beautiful punch in the gut. Thank you for that brilliant moment.
THANK YOU for calling Jayce and Viktor brothers.
So... the Powders of the world need more exposure to Mr. Rogers? Awesome breakdown. The summit of your Arcane vids so far. Will require many more views to absorb it all, just like the source material. You're writing the Barron's Book Notes for us here and I appreciate every second of it.
ok the "I can STOP anytime" quote over shimmer Vander made me tear up.
There is another big advantage to the orphan trope - it bleeds perfectly into the found-family-trope. If you have no family in the beginning it is much easier to accept that the random dude you met three months ago feels all of the sudden more like a brother than a friend - a person you are willing to risk your life for (weird to say but fresh orphans are most of the time not very picky). It is a family the writer can specifically choose to be at odds or compliment the main character and from there toy with lots of other concepts and tropes. that's why the time-skip in Arcane structurally did not really work for me - usually, the death of parents is the starting point (like when Vander found Vi and Jinx in the beginning) skipping the part of how the characters cope after and who replaces the void left and how this influences them is rather problematic, cause then you have to start all over with their characterization.
Also in a real family, you often get mostly the same versions of a character just at different stages of their life - which is totally fine depending on the story you wanna tell. But you have to know what you are doing. worst case you end up with a mother/father/sibling that isn't a character but just a stereotype of the role in his family and nothing else.
I think Vander's biggest failure as a parent was to make Vi a parent to powder and Vi was not ready for that task with her impulsiveness ( I understand that Vander did maybe the only thing that he could based on his personality and being busy) Siblings are not supposed to be responsible for each other's evey action nor should give eachother unconditional love and acceptence, that is why Vi and Jinx's sisterhood is so problematic, because it is a child being forced into being another child's mother. Vander's other failure as father was to never put a stop to Mylo's bullying Jinx, also his daughter was playing with explosives and he didn't do anything against it. It is really funny to me how people think Vander was a good father where basically ALL of the parents and mentors in Arcane failed one way or another. It is basically a story of next generation getting trauma because of the failure and trauma of the previous generation.
That and Powder just lash on her because is her sister, I dont think it was something plan but it just sort of happen in the same way Vi become the leader of the gang.
@@raro344 agree
Vander projects himself into Vi, so I think Vander sees Vi and Pow's relationship projected as well as the one he had with Silco. He doesn't want Vi to make the same mistakes he made with Silco, for which he pushes Vi and makes her responsible for the mistakes of her brothers, because Vander feels responsible that Silco has taken a bad path, or it may be that Vander, being the older brother, has also been a kind of father brother to Silco and unconsciously wanted Vi to do same with pow. Anyway Vander was a good father, not perfect, it's true, although I have doubts that he was such a good brother
Before Silco adopts Powder, he looks at Vander’s corpse, then Powder says “she is NOT my sister!” I think for Silco, Vander and he were brothers, Vander betrayed him and is no longer his brother. He sees that same relationship in Powder, and THATs why he adopts Powder.
On the off-chance you're taking requests with these deep dives:
- a full or min-vid on characters’ avatars/imagery (Jinx and the crow, especially paired with Ekko and the firefly)
- a whole video on color. You once mentioned Ekko as the green/hero-other, but what about drabness or brown marking death (think of all the characters who die before the time jump, plus some cool stuff with Victor as the walking dead), brightness/neon in a world slowly falling apart (brightness doesn't stand out as much anymore), Vi and Jinx literally decorating themselves with each others' colors, Caitlyn being a different kind of blue...
Family means something different depending on the characters.
For Vi it means hope
For Silco it means the future
For Ekko it means companionship.
I'm very curious to discover more about Singed and his daughter next season and if he'll potentially develop a father/son relationship with Viktor.
When he first said he had a daughter I thought he was talking about Rio😭🥺
Your videos are the best videos made on arcane I can watch them for years
3:43 "apparently Vanders knows Silco is still alive".... When Vi mentions Silco the first time towards (not sure) Caitlyn or Jayce (?), the return question is "Silco, the Industrialist?". It seems Silco is very much a public figure to an extent, so far, that his name is even recognized in Piltover, just that his underground network is a lot less public.
That was after 7 years and him being incharge or the Undercity. In Act 1, Markus, a lieutenant, had no idea who Silco was until Silco reached out to him. Silco made a name for himself, he wasn't always as recognizable as he is now. The kids didn't even really know who he was before episode 3.
Edit: also it was Caitlyn
The theme of daughters in Arcane makes me very emotional. Because most of these kids are someone's daughter. The power these daughter has on an entire society makes me feel not empowered but important as a daughter in society.
I love how your videos are both quick and in-depth.
Thanks for keeping me company with your back catalogue of Arcane content. love it all
I'm just listening now to Fred Rogers' speech. What a beautiful one. Thanks for the references you give us here and there in your videos. It's beautiful to see adults understand how important it is to educate and take care of our children, especially when it comes from men because unfortunately, it is not that common.
amazing video essay on this complex topic of Arcane! Love this show and your content!
Fantastic, fantastic analysis. This is the first one where I didn't immediately see these as obvious once you pointed them out. These really took some digging, and clearly a lot of thought and reflection.
Every time I think this show can't have any more depth to it, you prove me wrong.
you talk about themes i dont know much about but love your videos. please dont stop. i love getting to know even little things i never thought about
Beautifull done! Love the perspective on writing.
Schnee! ….your gift of razor sharp and beautifully precise analysis is so wonderful to watch and absorb. You give us new reasons to weep (literally) for these characters again. Kudos & thank you! I am grateful for your content.
This was amazing to listen too. Well done my good man
I wasn't waiting for this video but I needed it
In my story, the story starts with the main characters parents dead, but learning about their father heightens her relationship with her sister and her other elationships.
Great content as always!
Your analysis are simply amazing.😊👍
I love the statement that victor and jayce are brothers, it wasn’t abundantly clear but it also didn’t need explanation, so you didn’t give any
This was a fire video essay!!!
Personally I think that to Vander's perspective, Powder wasn't really a "problem child" in the sense that he saw Vi instigate the others to put themselves in danger by robbing Piltover, and that registered with him as a problem because it was externalised, it was visible. I think it's a typical case of kids with internalising problems being overlooked because it simply isn't that obviously visible. Next to Vi, Powder must have seemed like a perfectly well-adjusted child, considering the circumstances. Vi has a tendency to take on any problem she faces by herself, without asking for help, so if Powder came to her, a trusted older person, with all these problems and negative feelings she's having, it's likely that none of that information would ever have reached Vander. He was trying his best to raise her, but in the face of 3 children who were actively going around aggravating the police and endangering the careful truce he had set up with them, less visible problems simply got overlooked
This is the first video I watched after finishing Arcane and I have since watched all of your analysis about it, some multiple times. I love the way you break down story elements and character dynamics and it even inspired me to dig deeper and retry a story that I left on the back burner years ago! I would love to see more analysis from you about different peices of media! But selfishly I hope you stay semi-focused on animation because I feel like it gets tossed away by story analysts in favor of gritty, acting and stuff, but animation is my preferred medium and I think its underutilized. Anyway, thank you!
HOW COULD U FORGET EKKO AND BENZO
Dear god I love your analysis. I wish I could keep up and apply these to my D&D games.
I love your videos man - but about Vander and Powder;
We don't see a lot of their interactions in the old days, but we can be sure they had them. I'm hoping we get flashbacks in Season 2, but anyway - I interpret the scene with them at the bar as Vander trying to cheer Powder up, noticing it's not working, and then realizing why; because Vi was waiting to turn herself in. To me that screams of and understanding between the two of them, at least with Vander. He knew Powder was so attatched to Vi, and he couldn't bear to let them get seperated like that. Because he DID know about the monster inside Powder, and he knew losing Vi would be the thing that let's it out.
Schnee thank you so much for this video, I always come to your content when I need to analyze why I love Arcane so much. And your interpretation and discussion of the complexity of parent-child relationships in Arcane helped me realize why I related so much to it and how it relates to my own experiences.
It helped me heal so much when I heard you identify the types of relationships, how choices they make affect them, what values it means they hold and the love and division that family can create within you. What that means for the story and the people involved, how they are so human but are still struggling to be the best they can be with what they have. If there was a question that I've been looking for an answer to all my life, whether it is what I was, who I am, or what I'll stand for in the future, you have just given me just a little piece of how to answer it that I could've never gotten on my own and I am immeasurably grateful.
I re-watch all your videos all the time when I feel the questions bubbling up again inside me. And overall I love, love, love all your content so much. There's nothing else like it on youtube, and no one I've searched up can give me as much of a nuanced, well-thought out, new perspective on Arcane that is both eloquent and well-paced.
You are fast when you speak and it just makes me want to listen more closely, and your videos are just perfectly long enough to get you on the algorithm and whet a person's appetite for more of what you have to say. When I search up your other videos, every title makes me think "Huh?! I didn't know that was a theme in Arcane? How is he going to argue this?". And when I click on them the depth and quality and humor you put into your theories make them so entertaining to watch. Every time I think I'm done with Arcane, you always manage to give a new perspective or reveal deeper depths to make me love it even more again. Sometimes I even put you on when I'm washing dishes or something, and then I hear you say something crazy deep with a million implications and I just HAVE to run back and throw down my towel to rewind it and think about it again.
Schnee I think you are a great entertainer and you bring something so valuable to the Arcane community that no one else can match. For my little pea brain, your content is always riveting and well thought out and perfectly paced that I can't pull away. I can't wait to see where you go from here and I'm eagerly awaiting the next theory you finish mulling over to discuss with us!
oh wow, very kind! thx!!
Im incredibly excited for how they handle the father aspect of vander being Warwick in season 2
This was a fantastic analysis
Haha, that Marcus burn. Was that a sneaky response to the Mauer guy or whats he called??
i love these analyses videos
Good breakdown👍👍
You're good at this
The more of these videos you do, the more I wonder if I've bit off more than I can chew with my book. I'd be *really* interested in chatting with you some time if you ever had a moment.
7:38 is really amazing, exactly bc of his good parenting (no, excelent parenting) he is my most beloved character of all show!!!!! I can't explain how much satisfied I feel watching his interactions with jinx!!!
The intro, sir. Tears.
Dude! How can you always make me cry? 😅
Thank you for understanding Silco
You forgot about Scar and his baby bat back at the Firelight compound. Definitely didn’t forget anybody else tho. xD
Great one
Another great vid my dude. This is the type of understanding that I’d like to have some day so that when I possibly wright a story. The levels of stuff that you have been able to pick out has been amazing. Love it.
Also here is something that is not quite related to this vid. But what are your thoughts on the corrupt hex core?? I’m excited to see what you think of that.
The thing I noticed that was supper interesting is that where the top technology’s form the two city’s mix. It’s this supper corrupt thing. And it’s just how the two city’s can’t work together When they mix it just does not work. That was a thought I had when I first when thought the show. So I’m curious if you have any thoughts on it??
Keep 👏 them 👏 coming 👏
Its that time of the week!!
Rule1 3:55 Use family to intergrate the storys themes
Rule2 4:41 Use family dynamics as templates for arcs
Rule3 7:38 Use family roles to make your audiences relationship to characters more complex
Rule4 9:09 Use family to create social barriers
Rule5 10:04 Use family to force difficult decisions that crystallise values
How did the first 20 seconds almost make me cry
your videos are always amazing but at some point I have to switch them to 0.75 speed sometimes cause my dumb brain cannot keep up with your speed for full vids T0T
0:00-0:19. "You do what you can"- Robert Freeman (John Witherspoon)
Arcane Season 1 is pretty much about how Silco comes to the realization that his brother was right and essentially becomes Vander thanks to Powder, The Love of a Father is what undoes Silco's "Do anything to achieve it" antitude. Prior to Powder Silco would have done anything to achieve The Nation of Zuan,however once Powder was introduced into his life, it changed him. Silco saw himself in Powder and almost from the get go embraced her to let her know it;s Ok, We're Show them,We're show them all". He wanted to reassure her things were going to be all right as no one had reassured him after Vander betrayed him. He was not a perfect parent however he did try to help Powder by instilling the same lessons he learned to overcome betrayal., Silco's biggest hurdle however was Jinx's PTSD Complex. Silco did encourage Jinx to focus on her gadgets just as Vi encouraged Powder to focus on her gadgets. It was not until after Jayce's ultimatum that Silco finally understood why Vander did what he did. Vander's love for Vi and Powder were more important than the dream of The Nation of Zuan. Silco had everything he wanted,he just had to give up the one person who he trusted and loved above anyone else, "Is there anything more undoing than a daughter". Such a turning point in Silco's life. Silco never put down Jinx, unlike Mylo and of course Vi. Silco had unconditional acceptance who would let the world burn for Jinx while Vi thanks to Vander's teachings had lines she would not cross, if it came down to deciding to do the right thing or saving her sister. With reluctance Vi would do the Right thing leaving Jinx alone. After Vi stated she can't leave Jinx again, after Marcus shot Ekko, without hesitation Vi ran towards Caitlyn. Understandable from her perspective however to Jinx it was just another reminder than everyone lies to her,that being said Jinx comes to the conclusion at her Tea Party that she has to let her past go and that includes Vi. After Silco states that she is her daughter and he was never going to give her up,plus the don't cry your perfect scene She knew it was Silco who was in her corner and loved her as she was,not as she was.So Jinx abandons Vi this time understanding if she wants to get over any of her pain she will have to let Vi go."So Here's to the new us", Jinx declares war on Piltover does not kill Caitlyn leaves her Pow Pow Mini Gun and all her tokens and reminders of Mylo,Claggor,Vander and Vi and vanishes. For Vander and Silco Family equals Sacrifice, sacrificing they're for they're loved ones.
THANK YOU SCHNEE!
I hope season 2 explores jinx view on vanders neglect for her. Idk I just wanna see her opinion on that and how it affected her
I think this kind of approach to family can be used to great effect in TTRPGs like D&D where most characters neglect family or players assume the DM will only use them for cheap drama to hurt the characters anyway...
Something I want to see in s2 is Vi finding the Vander statue by accident
I want to talk about the baptism scene as I see not many seem to understand it and I want to try shed somelight on it. Baptisms have the theme of rebirth. Washing out the old self in cleansing water to let a new self emerge. In Arcane's scenario Jinx is split in two, she doesn't know whether she is Jinx or Powder. Silco obviously wants her to be Jinx, to embrace her inner chaos and madness, to become the monster Silco could never be but sees in Jinx. The embodiment of Zaun. So when Silco Baptizes Jinx or more fittingly drowns Powder in the waters of Zaun, he sheds the past off of Jinx and makes her what she should be in his eyes. However this scene has a lot of other themes and inuendos that I can't seem to grasp so if you want to take a deep dive into it I'd be more than happy
I always saw silco as trying to teach jinx the lesson he learned do whatever you have to beat ur enemies
i hope you still read this... i think you read me quite often... since i am from the start on here... i wanted to ask if you can make an 1 minute analysis about Silco and Jayces bridge talk. SIlco is normally shorter then Jayce. Silco is 170cm tall and Jayce i think something with 180 or 90. but from the angle on the camera they are same high there. i feel like the founders of arcane did this on purpose to tell indirect that they talk on a very even and equal level and no one down to the other since the perspective of the camera is a bit like frog perspective. i would LOVE to hear what you say about this. i am thinking about this scene a lot...
interesting! i never would have noticed that, i'll think about it!
hello Schnee, thank you for you videos that are always a pleasure to watch.
I would like to ask your perspective on something i couldnt figure out after i watched the series a second time :
when we see the fight scene between Silco and Vander they are both younger, which is specially obvious for Vander (who doesnt have his beard) and from what i understood from their conversation (when Vander is held hostage), their desagreement is about leading the people of Zaun to fight Piltover for more "respect", but the war on the bridge still takes place with Vander as the leader, even though he parted ways with Silco (and presumably his philosophy of going to "war").
So my question is : if Vander still leads his people to war on the bridge even after he fought with Silco, it means that he agrees on the idea of war several years after he separated from Silco, so what was actually the disagreement between him and Silco that ?
I really hope that you, or someone will be able to help me on this !
one of the writers said they fight after the bridge massacre. idk why Vander shaved his beard there
The following might be a bunch of hog-wash filled with subtle plotholes, but it's the best I could come up with in terms of what drove Silco and Vander apart if we are to assume their fight took place years before the battle on the bridge.
Perhaps as Vander and Silco's philosophies on how to address the issues caused by Piltover diverged, they began to butt heads on more and more issues. So as a way to settle in which direction the under-city would be led, they went down to the river to brawl it out, maybe even with the agreement that should the victor's methods fail, the methods of the loser would then be deployed.
Obviously Vander won the fight, which meant he could lead as he saw fit, which was presumably a very "just keep to ourselves and stay out of Piltover's business" sort of approach. However, under this approach things only got worse for those in the under-city, pushing all involved to the breaking point, which in turn pushed Vander to finally lead his people in an all-out rebellion. Unfortunately this rebellion didn't solve anything and only led to more suffering and death.
Upon seeing the carnage brought about by leaving his original principles behind and taking an approach more akin to what Silco had envisioned, Vander decided to go back to his form of leadership since while imperfect meant he wasn't actively sending his people off to die. Unlike before though, he managed to break a deal with the Enforcers through Grayson in an attempt to prevent things from escalating again.
@@danutghidia5820 it explains the time line but not really the reason why they would fight, an explaination would be that the revolt was started by Silco without Vander's approval, and Vander had to pick up the pieces and fight despite his anti violence ideology
but what seems strange with this scenario is that Vander has this fighter reputation and is seen as leading his people into the fight, so where does he get this reputation from ?
its like he wanted war too, but when he saw that the approach failed he blamed it on Silco
to me it seems impossible that he was a pacifist before the fight on the bridge, because he wouldnt have been able to build a fighter reputation that way (and he has his "legendary" gauntlets)
According to this reasoning, what would lead him to almost killing Silco if they agree on the fighting part ? Or does Vander fight, but only his own people and not top side ?
My guess is that Vander found Vi and Powder and that moment opened his eyes. In that moment he noticed the cost of his and Silcos plans. Two children just lost their parents, and like them many others have lost some loved ones that day. Most likely he then confronted Silco about stopping the fights, Silco did not agree with him, and they got into the fight. Maybe he also already had the deal made out with Grayson to restore the peace. So if Silco still wanted to fight, he was putting peace at risk, and Vander wouldn't have that.
@@meltetedetigre242 I agree with the idea that while Vander was by no means a pacifist in the past, he stuck to "dealing" with his own without going after topsiders: I won't get involved in your business if you don't get involved in mine.
What show is he talking about?
Schnee I love your analyses! You see so much further into these episodes, it always makes me love the show even more every time!
Arcane..
2 parents who were also brothers is a funny sentence out of context
Tried finding if any of your analysis had any mentions to this specific piece of lore in LOL about Vi and her amnesia and family and this might be the best place to talk about this. Like how this video is about family I want to bring up Arcane use of family and it cutting ties to family. I keep thinking about the opening scene of Vi and Jinx fighting and Vi's amnesia in LOL. One final and powerful way to completely cut off Jinx and Violets last hanging chance of relationship is not just Powder becoming Jinx but Vi forgetting about Powder, her sister. Completely. Just like Vander and Silco cut their ties of being brothers, just as the enivitable ending of Viktor and Jayce, Mel cutting ties with Ambrosa, the implied ex friendship between Singed and Heimindinger.... Jinx and Vi will lose their relationship completely. S1 ending Powder dies, Jinx is born. S2 ending Vi 'dies' (ie amnesia) forgets Powder, Vi the Piltover enforcer is born. Arcane is not just a show about family and love, but how love is Not enough. The heroes don't win because their love, the power of family/love/friendship doesnt conquer all. I'm surprised I havent seen mention of Vis amnesia. League is already telling us whats going to happen to the characters, we're just in for the wild unstoppable ride of how it happens. It might feel like a cheap shot or a disregard/180 of all of Vi developmemt, I dont see it that way. We're already being told from the very intro Jinx and Vi are going to have a final violent fight so huge that NEITHER will come out unscathe. Vi is going to get fucked up so bad she's going to lose her memories and the final chapter of family ends. Here comes the division between the inevitable war between Piltover and Zaun.
3:05 personally i see another option, listen to the monster, listen to what the monster is telling you. the pain it communicates. nurture the child/whomever has the monster to listen to it but not let the monster control them
I think the importance of vander stoping when he wants is also build up to what he will become
About point #1, I think one of the main ideas of the show is that Vander greatly identifies himself with Vi while Silco greatly identifies himself with Powder. I don't think there's any deeper nuance going on when it comes to that. Vander just though Powder was doing fine even though he spent way more time with Vi. EDIT: Ok, I watched that point till the end and you actually have a pretty good point. The fact that the relationship is related to the theme is a big deal
I feel like we dont see Vander parent Powder because he wants Vi to take that role, he believes its the thing that will save her the way it saved him.
Oh, I was thinking of humdinger, Jayce, and victor as a sort of father son relationships
i think vander was abl to do that self sacrifice well on shimmer because he was a monster ish/violent person and he chose to stop that and so he is used to dealing with the violent urges and so he knows how to keep them at bay and do whats really important to him, protect his family (hence why his ark will probably continue to adress this in his werewolf form, the struggle between violence and peace in different scenarios which i think mirrors how piltover and the undercity are going through (albeit before the citys go through it
Starts a freaking Arcane video with a Mr Rogers quote
Me: "interesting... you have my attention."
Of course they fail because of being parents. Parents (and family) generally put family ahead of everything (except maybe their own personal gains).
Someone does something bad to your family, what do lots of people do? They go against society and try to take things into their own hands or cry out for things that isn't justice and/or good for society.
Also, Vander was terrible for Powder, because he saw himself in Vi. Adopted daughters, but here was a daughter that was just like him. He was going to bond with her better than he was Powder, which was going to leave Powder feeling left out. Then her sister did what she did.
That baptism scene comes off as Silco doing two things for me.
Firstly he seems to be pushing Powder down literally to Permanently raise Jinx. Out with the old and in with the new. when he said, "that day i let a weak man die.." he's literally trying to snuff out Power. he could be handing Jinx a new path set before her as his daughter, as Jinx, the guiding her to be more of that Chaotic self of hers unleashing/ accepting that inner monster. He regards Jinx as powerful and nearly unstoppable chaotic force. idk if the uncoming storm behind them means anything but i took it as a metaphor for Jinx being unleashed on Piltover.
Secondly, Really solidifying his Fatherly connection with Jinx and so passing on this spiritual baton. maybe he had plans for her taking more roles in his Undercity Empire. HE didn't drown her so that's a first. With Jinx solidified he could unleash this force on Piltover.
From what I've gathered from the baptism scene you mentioned, it employs a lot of these rules. Throughout the show, we see both Silco and Jinx fighting for the independence of Zaun, but they go about it in different ways. Jinx uses a lot of chaos, like blowing up buildings and massacring a dozen enforcers to get a hextech gemstone (which was definitely not necessary). Silco, however, uses more political and larger scale operations (bribing enforcers, letting shimmer into streets which he controls) for power and control. These tie to their pasts in how Jinx was pretty emotionally unstable from the start, and Silco had his defining moment in the river. This then leads us to the baptism, where Silco is attempting to bring Jinx to the same conclusion he reached before, which is told in the dialogue. He says how "a weak man died and another was reborn", and the betrayal and power shift in that moment that brought him to that epiphany. This is him applying the same power/control aspect of his character to Jinx, or at least attempting to, seeing as her nature of being uncontrollable makes her resistant (she starts out mocking him and just continues doing chaotic things). In this way, they are foils for each other by nature, seeing as almost every scene with both of them involves a disagreement about something one of them did (jinx blowing up a building, Silco not telling her about Vi being back, etc.).
I think its an interesting theme of, again, how parenting often fails in this way. With Vi and Vander, Vander doesn't want to fight because he's seen the horrors for war and has responsibilities, but Vi doesn't have those experiences, so she hasn't fully grasped what Vander truly values yet. This leads to her using her brute strength to solve her problems, it backfiring and her losing her loved ones, and her betraying Jinx, just like Vander. I've also noticed this irl, how everyone says they would be a better parent than their own parents, but eventually either become them or become the opposite of them, especially with conflict. This is especially prevalent in Mel and Ambessa, as Mel hates the way her mother acts but sees herself becoming her, and makes choices to avoid that. I've always found multi-generational dynamics fascinating and arcane does it staggeringly well. These videos are phenomenal btw keep it up brother!
What is intersting is this way of "fist fight your problem" of Vi bite her ass in the final because simply speaking, she cant express herself in a way it help Jinx, when she said "think of Vander and other" she cause Jinx a near mental breakdown, that is because Vi get strenght while Jinx avoid it.
Singed & Viktor, well they aren't really related and Viktor spends a lot of time away from Singed I do feel like that within the role of the story Singed acts as the father figure to Viktor like how Heimerdinger acts as a father figure in the story to Jayce (commented after you asked which other relationships you were missing)
Baptism. If someone has already posted an answer for you, well, you ARE getting popular. 😀
I was raised religious protestant. In a baptism for people older than the Catholic 'do-eeet-at-brith to save their souls', a baptism represents "rebirth". Of letting go of the old you and becoming something new.
While the religious upbringing didn't stick with me, many of the symbols used by religion do still resonate. These customs are nearly as old as we are as a species, with festivals, beliefs, and other things deeply ingrained into our group memory.
Symbolically being dunked is the 'letting go' part, and rising up is the 'new you'. I was shocked as hell when I saw that for the first time. Not in a bad way, but it is rare to see a mainstream non-religious show go there.
It is also a beautiful visual representation of that person's rebirth into a new person. Silco had gone through the watery 'fire' and that experience would stick in his mind. Absolutely brilliant writing.