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mollysunder · 10 months

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Ekko, Jinx, & Viktor: How Do They Carry the Legacy of Their Mentors

Zaun’s three most prominent minds, Ekko, Jinx, and Viktor, have been, or soon will be, cross a threshold they can never turn back from paths once Jinx’s rockets hits the council. Zaun and Piltover will never be the same, neither will the characters. It’s already been stated that the cast will likely become the opposite of who they were during the first season. And I don't think it was supposed to mean a personality flip, it's just the emphasis of traits that were more in the background in the first season, but under these new conditions become more prominent. Everyone on the show has a strong enough character that you can see the wires that make them run and the connections that keep them going. I think the best way to understand where they are going forward is to look at the mentor figures that are or had laid their foundations for them.

Jinx & Silco

They’re the easiest to start with. Jinx and Silco had one of the most complex relationships within the first season. They came together out of a desperation for connection and comfort based on the shared trauma of abandonment, and together they became a family. Silco saw so much of himself in Jinx that he thought he could help her the way he helped himself after Vander’s betrayal. He gave her resources for her weapons projects, he taught her to be vicious like he was, trusted her to understand and handle his special operations, and he gave Jinx the love and validation she constantly sought. No one can argue that they didn’t love each other deeply, he just helped her like he helped Zaun, in a way that hurt her.

The root of their toxicity (outside of the violence and murder that permeates their circumstances) is the that fact Silco treated Jinx like he treated himself. Jinx is an entirely separate person from Silco, with her own set sensitivities and struggles with mental illness. On top of that no matter how often he evangelizes the success of his choice to sever the bonds of his past he couldn’t do it either, he still struggled. Despite Silco and Jinx’s volatility, Silco still chose Jinx over Zaun, not the idea of Jinx with all of the weakness of Powder gone, just her. Silco gave up his future for Zaun for Jinx’s life to be as she is. Upon Silco’s death Jinx, by herself, chose to definitively end any intrigue or negotiation that would be in the way of Zaun’s creation.

Jinx chose to carry on with Silco’s dream, not the way he would have done it, just in her own way. Now Jinx is alone, at least emotionally, and she’s left with Silco’s shimmer empire, his associates, pissed off chembarons, soon to be pissed of Piltovans, enforcers, Sevika, firelights, Caitlyn, her sister and probably Noxian interlopers (maybe even Ionians too) on her case. But if every major character will appear the opposite, Jinx will probably be able to handle it.

Throughout the first season Jinx was struggled to gain the approval of the ones she loved most, and it kept her interactions insulated to a small circle of people. But now Silco's dead and Jinx’s decided who she is, and that means it's going brutal for literally everyone else. The brief times Jinx is around people she doesn't care about she easily overwhelms them every time, not even physically in Thieram's case. Silco even took cues from her to whip the chembarons away from Finn's attempt to foment dissent. When that scene happened I took it to mean, Silco learned from Jinx as much she learned from learned from him how to manipulate and terrorize people.

Without her struggle for acceptance after recieving full validation, Jinx's left with just herself and what she and Silco built together. Jinx already took the first shot, she knew her actions would lead to at least open conflict. She's going to make Zaun happen through her own more violent means. Jinx already knows most of the ropes. I honestly think it’ll be a 50/50 split between chembarons who want to kill her vs chembarons who think she’d be too much trouble to kill and easier to manipulate. If she really internalized what Silco taught her she can whip them into the shape she wants, it just won’t be easy.

Viktor & Singed

In their first meeting Singed recognize Viktor’s engineering prowess and social isolation and decided to have him work as an assistant. Their relationship breaks down as a young Viktor becomes horrified at the suffering Singed’s experiment causes on Rio. When Viktor returns to Singed’s lab desperate for help as he runs out of time, we as the audience recognize in their exchange that Viktor is going down a similar path that Singed did.

All we know in the Arcane universe about Singed is that he was once a scholar at Piltover academy, he and Heimerdinger were colleagues, and he had a daughter. We know that his experiments caused him to be ostracized from Piltover’s academic community for likely violating the Ethos. But with the existence of his daughter (hinted at being Orianna), we have to speculate how these factors played into his fall from grace. When did his research take priority over the suffering it caused? Shimmer certainly helps as a restricted medicine, but he doesn't care about the "side effects". Was he in a position where his work saved his daughter, but the decision destroyed his reputation? Does he believe that his work will unlock some new breakthrough of human understanding? Was it arrogance? Pure curiosity? Who really knows. What we do know is that Viktor could put himself in harms way, but in the case of Sky, could not sacrifice others.

And that's the thing about Viktor, he's willing to help himself at his at his own expense, but not at the cost of others. He genuinely wants to use Hextech to help others, but with his limited time left he realized how little he's managed to accomplish in Piltover, and when he does do something it's diminished (Heimerdinger). Viktor has achieved so much and helped so little with the Hextech he and Jayce created. And this must all eat at him because his ability to create things for himself and others is where he derives most of his self-esteem, his one true source of pride. Viktor may be the introverted one of the Hextech pair but his self-imposed restraint from attention is learned. He knows what people see when they look at him, worse so in Piltover. It's only when he's in his element is he willing to expose himself to others, it's how he was willing to partner with Jayce.

In the aftermath of Jinx's rocket, Piltover won't be hospitable to him any longer. Once his research on the Hexcore and dabblings in Shimmer come to light he will be cast out of Piltover (if they don't send him to Stillwater first). He wanted save himself with the Hexcore, in trying he killed Sky, and yet he couldn't destroy it after she died. He chose to attempt suicide, but he couldn't destroy his own work, because it's such a fundamental part of him. Viktor can only find justification in keeping his work alive, and he will in Zaun, where he will meet those suffering from injury and illness from Piltover's exploitation. The border between Viktor's conviction to help other vs how his engineering prowess makes up his sense of self worth will blur as he realizes he can help more people if he just keeps pushing. From what I understand the Machine Herald takes on prophet-like status within Zaunite cults, that Viktor does and does not embrace at times. He will push past a point of no return, he'll just do it with the greater good in his mind.

Ekko & Heimerdinger

These two are the latest arrivals. Honestly, they’re the oddest pair. A former Piltovan councilman and a young Zaunite community leader working together and learning from each other. Two people who helped create something amazing in the face of a crisis, Heimerdinger built Piltover to escape the Rune Wars, while Ekko founded the Firelights as a refuge from the Shimmer epidemic. Heimerdinger and Ekko meet because Heimerdinger’s been ejected from the council and has decided to finally visit the neglected half of the city he co-founded. He meets an injured Ekko by chance and helps him back to the Firelight’s Hideout where he’s amazed at what they were capable of building for themselves. It’s supposed to represent Ekko finding a new ally as connects with people who want to help Piltover and Zaun, while Heimerdinger is righting wrongs working with people in Zaun to hopefully improve things.

Even though we see that Ekko has managed to become a leader to a close knit and dedicated community, he’s had to grow up abruptly to meet the brutality of Silco’s reign. Despite having a community of his peers, based on his reaction to Vi’s hug, he hasn’t been able to find comfort and support in an adult figure in a long time. In theory someone like Heimerdinger, who’s persona screams gradfatherly figure, could be a source of emotional support that he’s been missing for so long (depending if his biological parents alive, the status of which is apparently a spoiler). But the glaring flaw in that idea is that Heimerdinger has consistently failed people throughout the story.

If we can briefly sidestep the way Heimerdinger’s leadership over 200 years has led to rampant inequality and a militarized police force meant to harass half of his city’s inhabitants, there’d still be Viktor. Sure Heimerdinger gave Viktor the position as his assistant at the prestigous Piltover Academy, but Viktor not only earned it, but was frustrated with it. Heimerdinger wasn't offering Viktor him new opportunities, just the frustration of administrative work. They likely knew each other for years, so when Viktor diagnosis gave him less than a year left, how does he comfort him. By telling him he won't be remembered after putting the breaks on his projects meant to help the half the side of the city constantly being poisoned like Viktor was.

We know characters will change next season so I can see Heimerdinger realizing he could do more for the people of Zaun with Ekko's help and understand urgency over caution more. I can see Ekko finding an adult to finally let in and help him. I can see it because Arcane as a series doesn't seem to investigate the power dynamics between Piltover and Zaun too deeply. Maybe Heimerdinger will offer him and all his friends admission into Piltover Academy to keep them safe, and he'll refuse for himself similar to his League origin story. Heimerdinger would still think that Piltover and Zaun could remain united through some flexible compromise, because he never looks at the root of the problem, which is Piltover.

Some theorize that when characters complete their arc, that's when they’re most likely to die. In Arcane, the most dangerous position to be in is when you care about someone and try to do the right thing, this show loves to kill characters for that. Ekko out of everyone is the one with the most to lose, especially people, so for him to vulnerable in this next season would lead to disaster. Ekko was already shot in the chest by Marcus after listening to Caitlyn and nearly blown up to save her and Vi. Then led Heimerdinger, a well known councilman, to his hideout. Frankly, it's in Ekko' best interest to distance himself from Heimerdinger because memories run long and resentment goes higher for Piltover, especially once they retaliate against Zaun. If it gets out Ekko has been surrounding himself with enforcers, a former councilman, a future councilman (Caitlyn), and a snitch (Vi), he's going to put his community at risk. Every time someone from Zaun tries to work with Piltover it's a disaster for the Zaunite, look at Vander and Silco. If he's going to risk himself and his community the consequences shouldn't be so one-sided. If Ekko is to survive next season either he needs to reject Heimerdinger’s ways or Heimerdinger has to change for Ekko to help Zaun for the better.

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saffxmcgills · 3 years

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( sophie skelton, 24, cisfemale, she / her ) Have you seen SAFFRON MCGILLICUDDY around ? I hear they’re an ENTREPRENEUR who can sometimes be SELFISH & INDECISIVE. But I also heard they can be GENTLE & PASSIONATE if you catch them on a good day. They’re usually hanging around HONEY’S BAKERY in their spare time. I sure hope they’re alright !

trigger warnings: child abandonment

- B A S I C S -

Full Name: Saffron Chantal McGillicuddy Nickname(s): Saff, Saffy Age: 24 Birthday: January 24th Zodiac: Aquarius Occupation: Entrepreneur Birth Place: Belfast, Ireland Hometown: Chicago, IL Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual Alignment: Neutral Good Languages Spoken: English (fluent), French (fluent), Spanish (fluent), Italian (the basics)

- F A M I L Y -

Father: Elden McGillicuddy Mother: Dominique Lemieux-McGillicuddy Siblings: Older Sister Children: Ana Kuya

Pets: A pair of budgies, named Ping and Pong, and a brown/white British short-haired cat named Swirly.

- P E R S O N A L I T Y -

(+) Independent, Gentle, Passionate, Hard Working (-) Selfish, Closed Off, Impulsive, Flighty

- L I K E S -

Anything sweet. She’s got a huge sweet tooth

DIYing

Thrift Shopping

Writing - she’s got a few half-finished novels in the works that she isn’t sure she’ll ever actually publish

Art - when she’s stressed, she’ll paint or sketch something

- D I S L I K E S -

Facing her problems

Being confronted

- B I O G R A P H Y -

Was born in Belfast, Ireland, but was raised in Chicago after the age of five, along with her older sister. With her father being a world-renowned plastic surgeon with his own practice and her mother a well-known French fashion designer and actress, who traveled all over the globe for her work, life was definitely interesting.

The two met in Paris, got married and settled in Elden’s hometown of Belfast, had their two daughters and then eventually moved to America a few years later, to advance in both of their careers.

Although her parents made it clear that they loved her and her sister very much, it didn’t change the fact that for the most part, her parents were absentees. Each too caught up in their individual work and travels to really have time to dedicate to their daughters, leaving Saff and her older sister to be taken care of mostly by the staff of the McGillicuddy Manor. They had a single nanny their entire childhood, and her name was Maude - and she was basically everything to the girls.

This didn’t mean that Saff didn’t love her parents any less, despite not really having them around all that much. Although not necessarily happy with them and how poorly they juggled family-time and their careers, she secretly appreciating their hard work and business ethics.

Was a Chicago debutante.

Throughout her high school years, she attended the prestigious all-girls school, Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart. It was a top-notch education, and after graduating, she moved on to the University of Chicago, where she joined The Booth School of Business, interested in becoming an entrepreneur.

She graduated at 22, and immediately began putting her education to good use, by starting up an online selling business. The first of many side businesses that she would take on in the next two years.

She was more than prepared to earn her own way through life rather than live off the wealth of her parents. Saff had always valued her independence and self reliance and she was determined to become a millionaire on her own merits.

Of course, life wasn’t entirely predictable and often threw a wrench in one’s plans. Meeting one Lav Vasile at one of the local bars and having a one-night roll in the hay with him had all but halted much of her plans. Discovering a handful of weeks later that she was pregnant, she’d been completely blindsided.

Saff loved children and had always wanted one or two of them of her own, but she hadn’t expected to become a mother so early on. She wasn’t prepared, wasn’t ready for that responsibility, especially not when she wasn’t where she wanted to be financially just yet. As much as she wanted, deep down, to love and raise the baby on her own...she wanted her career more and Saff just knew that she wouldn’t have been able to both work and be a mother at the same time, currently. So she chose to do what she thought was best for both herself and for the baby girl that she brought into the world.

It broke her heart to do it, but after her daughter was born, Saff was able to locate the baby’s father and instead of meeting the man face-to-face to tell him about the infant, she callously and selfishly...and cowardly...dumped the baby on his doorstep and ran. It certainly wasn’t her proudest moment, and she felt guilty every time she even thought of her daughter - the baby that she’d abandoned. Guilty, yes, but she didn’t regret her decision.

- W A N T E D C O N N E C T I O N S -

Her older sister - (possibly an Evan Rachel Wood fc, but I’m not too picky)

Best Friend(s)

Childhood friends

Ride or Die

Drinking buddies

FWB

Love Interests

Ex-Boyfriends

Anything and everything - I want all the connections!

#crimson.intro

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