I feel that answer 2 stems from answer 1, in an idea that since Silco kind of forgot the bad parts of his own past and just focuses on the good outcomes that it brough to him, he hopes that such a well defined moment will help Jinx close the "Powder chapter" of her life and will grant her the sme peace and focus he gained.

I have a video idea for you: It would be cool if you made an analysis of the song lyrics in Arcane. All songs in Arcane are in some way connected with what is happening in the narrative and I would like to see your take on it.

This is one of my favourite scenes. My interpretation is that this is when she “begins” her complete transformation into Jinx, which comes to its conclusion in the final episode. Prior to the scene, there isn’t this war between Jinx and Powder like what we see later on. When Silco says “You need to let Powder die” she doesn’t start raging, like when Vi calls her Powder, she just looks a bit surprised. From the baptism onwards, she starts making a conscious effort to repress Powder. When she tells Vi, “Powder fell down a well!” I think she’s referring to the baptism scene. Powder went under the water and Jinx is trying to make sure she stays drowned.

I think Silco wants to turn Jinx into himself without her having to go through the worst parts. That's why he is constantly giving her the pep talks and mottos, as Jinx says "All his rants and hard-won lessons". He's committing the error that most parents do, trying to skip the lesson and go straight to the learning. Just like Vander tried with Vi as children, trying to get her to see his perspective but failing because she doesn't have the same experiences he does. Vander gets through to Vi when they go to the bridge - fighting will get those closest to you killed. Silco gets through to Jinx when he dies - let powder die, and free yourself.

Your second interpretation makes more sense I think. Overall, the scene is all about letting Powder die and only letting Jinx live. The violence of Silco's drowning brought upon him a revelation of what he can become. Jinx already knows her potential, and Silco believes she must embrace it. This lines up with your seccond interpretation, she doesn't need to suffer like Silco to have her revelation because she has already had it.

I’ve heard that every time we remember things we alter the memory slightly. I think this is Silco overlaying the clarity of purpose he’s achieved since then onto his memory of the moment. He sees this moment as the thing that put him on his trajectory toward internal peace, focus, and control. And his memory is now conflating the event with its result. So yeah, romanticizing. I find it interesting who gets their distorted versions of realities represented on the screen. We have Silco here and Marcus when he imagines blowing up Silco, is there a parallel there? Am I forgetting others?

I don't think Silco expects the experience of being submerged to literally do for her everything it did for him, but rather it is an issue of symbolism. His emergence from the water marked the beginning of him as a new man, and symbolically, her emerging does that for her too.

Kind of interesting, then, how he ultimately DOES give her the suffering side of her rebirth when he has Singed pump her full of shimmer. And that's the thing that ultimately triggers her full transformation from Powder to Jinx.

Theory 2 was always my read on it. He saw Jinx struggling, suffering and paralyzed by her past and wanted to give her a moment of catharsis like he had. A breaking point, as it were. But there could be shades of the first theory too. He clearly does romanticize it, given how he talks about it and how *much* he talks about it.

I think it could easily be both, but I have an idea that kinda mingles with the second. This ties into a lot of the themes of Jinx being the monster Zaun needed all along - a weapon greater than Hextech or Shimmer. There were two halves to Silco's baptism. The clarity and introspection, and the monster trying to escape. The acceptance, and the rage. I think that Silco sees this baptism as a sort of process. What happens when Deckard, someone who hasn't had the moment of clarity, lets the monster out? He becomes an animalistic brute - directionless without Silco. What happens to Vander, someone who denies his rage even while under the effects of shimmer, when he experiences a moment of clarity? He chooses to save Vi over killing Silco. At the time, Silco would probably see saving Vi as a failure on Vander's part, as he hypothetically could have "won." But in theory, Vander went through both steps, the timing was just off. It's possible that Silco sees very early on that Jinx is blooming into a monster, and holds that moment of clarity in his back pocket. He saves that moment of introspection and clearness of mind for when he thinks it will matter most. I believe this adds to Jinx's lines at the end claiming that Silco didn't make Jinx, that Vi did. It wasn't, "Excise your doubts, Jinx," or, "Be what they fear, Jinx," that gave her drive to be herself. It was, "What makes you different makes you strong." This echoes in Jinx's insistence that Vi is now different, because to Jinx it must seem like that line isn't something Vi believes anymore. Never once does Vi refer to Jinx by her new name once she's taken it - she clearly wants her to be Powder. Jinx wants this too, in a weird way, with the exaggerated perception she has of Vi as someone who would kill for her. But she eventually Jinx accepts Vi's words of wisdom more than Vi ever did - that she's changed so much and become stronger for it. And I think this makes Jinx's actions at that moment an odd mirror of Vander's. They both fully accept a moment of transformation, and make a great sacrifice to do what they believe is the ultimate good in the situation. Vander gives up revenge to save Vi, Jinx gives up Vi for revenge. Vander is physically mutated into a hulking beast, but retains his humanity. Jinx remains physically the same, but becomes the greatest monster Zaun has ever seen. (Jeez this show throws my brain for a loop.)

Bit of both - BECAUSE Silco has romanticized his own attempted drowning, he downplays the need for the pain and suffering (as many - if not most - rites of passage require), and he rationalizes it with the understanding that Jinx is ALWAYS in pain. Zaunites are always in pain, pain is a part of Zaunite life. More pain wouldn't have the required effect on Jinx.

As weird as this scene is its one of my favorites of the whole show. I like fallen heroes going down the path of no return. It makes for a more interesting story. This scene feels a lot like when Palpatine tells the "Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise". Silcos telling Jinx a story that gives her more of the push she needs to let go of her past and move on.

In my view, Jinx’s actual baptism was in the fire of her grenade on the bridge. No matter the gentle transition Silco tried to give her, her explosion and fiery transformation ends up being the foil of Silco’s baptism. He found the will to fight while drowning in reaction to the shock of betrayal, and on the bridge, Jinx gave up because she realizes SHE is the betrayer of everything she once loved. And then, against her will, is brought back anyway.

this Powder slander needs to stop Powder isn't bad at parkour, she just didn't make a HUGE JUMP all by herself. She LITERALLY has shorter legs than the other members of Vi's group.

When I saw this scene first time, I was sure, that Silco is going to keep Jinx under water untill she'll start to drown and suffocate... It was extremely tence anticipation, I was scared, and then I was reliefed, but still kinda mistrustful?

A baptism is a re-birth, the way I see it Silco is officially laying Powder to rest so that Jinx can finally be re-born anew.

I didn't find this scene confusing or cryptic. I thought the symbolism in this scene was pretty clear and Silco explains things for the audience. To clarify the concept and symbolism of baptism: Baptism is a Christian concept about washing one's old life away and being reborn into a new life in Christ. Essentially a Christian's baptism is a declaration that they are dying to their sinful old life and putting their old ways behind them as they emerge into a new life of following Christ and His commands and rejecting their sinful old ways. Jinx is baptized so that she can die to her old life (Powder) and be reborn into her new life in Jinx. Silco thought this would work for Jinx because it worked for him; his baptism was about him losing his old self (who Silco describes as a weak man) in order to become a a new man, a strong man. Silco is using a symbolic gesture to help Jinx wipe away her Powder persona and wash away her old life once and for all. Christians are made perfect in Christ (which baptism symbolically represents), and Silco says that "Jinx is perfect", meaning that in this baptism, Powder will be made perfect in Jinx.

For me I mostly see this as a parallel to the scene between Vander and Vi on the bridge. Both are parents using experience from the past to try teach the future generation. Also yeah Silco has a problem of bundling up his trauma and putting to the side. His way of coping is to convince himself he came out of the situation better. I don't think he was forgetting the rage part though. The rage part is what he is constantly using. It is the thing he embraced. As he says "The only way to defeat a greater enemy is to stop at nothing, To become what they fear". He is trying to get Jinx to embrace her own pain and let it transform her too. As I said earlier, for him that is how he copes.

i recall that the end of the scene shows jinx's eye and nerves lighting up as the music transitions into enemy, which could be a depiction of the river toxins and what effect they have on her? i remember silco describing the river's toxic properties when referring back to his own memory, so i'm not sure if that was meant to be something else but maybe her "baptism" wasn't a peaceful/painless one after all.

For me it felt like Silco was trying to end her suffering by implying her to kill Powder and make her realize that her past self is what gives her pain, not being Jinx.

I disagree completely, I think its much simpler than that, In the scene prior to this one, Silco asks Jinx to complete the weapon and she replies that she cant do it because she keeps seeing the ghosts of her deceased friends, that he should give the gem to Singed instead. I think the baptism scene scene is only there to show how well Silco can handle Jinx, how much he knows her. He knows she is troubled but all of her troubles are in her head, she only needs to shake them off, he also knows that she is very susceptive to symbols and theatrics, so how can he help her? how can he cure her mind? he approaches this issue by making his own grand showcase, he gives her this baptism only to ease her mind this "ultimate metamorphosis" only serves the purpose of making her believe she has actually changed and that she is no longer that scared little girl she used to be, because that baptism is not some random thing he thought of, it resembles something horrible he had to endure, and he also knows that she loves him and that deep down she'll take this moment seriously. But ultimately is not just Jinx's traumas that are in play here, Silcos's traumas are also present he unknowingly is using his fear and pain to "heal" her, because he believes he became stronger and powerful after that moment but in reality he is just broken and hateful to the entire world. And it works!!! After that she has no problems working on the HexTech and she is happy when she cracks it. Back at this point there still was no Vi in the picture it was just Silco and Jinx.

I loved that scene. I think it's brilliant moment for Silco and Jinx.

Answer 1 is spot on thank you for putting it into words. Romanticizing the past is exactly what the characters in Arcane do, and thats why they feel so relatable and real, why their stories hit so close to home emotionally for many.

I like also the other idea that this was Silco’s attempt at getting Jinx to the same point the same way he did, but that the bridge scene was actually Jinx’s “baptism”.

I think, while the drowning scene is portrayed as a soft and peaceful moment, the fact that it ends with Jinx's eyes in one shot, hazed in shock and terror, and glowing pink (oop! Foreshadowing!) suggests that Silco didn't just dip her lovingly. He held her under until she was delirious with oxygen deprivation - which in itself is both pretty messed up, but also a pretty ugly and agonizing process. I felt like it was meant to symbolize her shedding her mortal coil to embrace her own monstrosity. That said, I do like your 2nd theory more. Love these vids 💗

It's probably both tbh. I was always thrown by the calm visuals of drifting in the water. Like, in reality he Never experienced being whole and peaceful in that wayer, but was thrashing and fighting even as he was drrowning. He just happened to survive because he forced Vander to leave the water

I find that when someone becomes successful as a result of or simply after their suffering, they end up romanticizing it. Like Silco, they often forget the pain and terror simply as pain and terror, and instead, turn it into something heroic or fantastical. It becomes a defining, climactic moment and less so about a moment of pain. "The man who I thought was my best friend and comrade tried to kill me and nearly drowned me" turned into "if it wasn't for my best friend trying to drown me, I would've never become the man I am today". In this case, the 'man' he became is something he sees in a narcissistically positive light. I think what he was trying to do was give Jinx a physical replication of what he felt to guide her towards her own metamorphosis. "It's what helped me become who I am, so obviously, it will probably help her too". It's equal parts empathetic and selfish.

Jinx's experience is a dark reflection of the road to baptism/change. She first experiences a life-changing moment, accidentally killing her father and brothers then getting left behind and blamed by her sister. This betrayal is what led Silk to start sympathizing with Jinx, projecting all his trauma onto her. He believes that strength is about cunning and viciousness- releasing the inner monster. He wants his "daughter" to follow on his path, to embody everything that Zaun stands for, which is obviously very unhealthy. Jinx's baptism was her commitment to Silko's doctrine, as Baptists often view the practice as a public announcement of faith/commitment to your "new life". Which is why I always called it the "evil baptism" scene. Instead of letting go of her past, she uses it, reliving the pain over and over again to become the absolute worst version of herself. That's why the scene took place in a polluted and toxic river, it really highlights how much it opposes real baptisms. Water is a symbol of cleanliness, "purity", it washes away your sin, but the toxins in Zaun instead further tainted Silko and Jinx (literally and figuratively).

A combination of both, perhaps? Silco idealises his past, and what he gives to Jinx, this peaceful death of Powder, is what he thinks he had, and just handles it so gently because he just. Cares about her. In a very twisted and not healthy way, that did not help either of them in the future, but still.

Think it's option 2. Silco is hoping the transcendent quality of ceremony will help Jinx move past Powder's fear of betrayal and somehow it actually works. Jinx does work through her mental barrier to complete the noobie hextech experiment. It only fails when she find out Vi is back. What's odd is that it worked despite Silco exorcising the wrong demon. Betrayal isn't what scared Jinx in the lab; she was having flashbacks of killing her "brothers". Her memories in the arcade also weren't of Vi walking away, but of Vi calling her a jinx. It's her old demon of not being good enough that was stopping her from working on the gemstone. I guess letting Powder die killed 2 insecurities with one dunk.

I think it could be a metaphor, relating Powder and Jinx’s corruption and decline as something similar to “drowning”. I think Silco dipping her in is a way to show how he’s metaphorically drowning her, and cutting between Silcos rebirth to Jinx’s. Idk if this makes sense but is one thing I thought

It’s romanticized like you said, he wants her pain and past to die and be reborn free from it. He’s moved to the taking on the responsibility of being her father She doesn’t need to even follow him for his love. He has moved to unconditional love and will protect her over his dream of the nation of zaun

When Jinx said "You change too" it means that Vi stop hating the topsiders and even hang along with a goddamn enforcer. A far cry from the "rebelion NOW" kid she was, in a way Vi have changed and Jinx saw it but Vi didnt.

ayup! i came across ur channel a couple of days ago and its so incredible, it helps me appreciate the show more and just writers in general. It also helps me to be better at writing stories for dungeons and dragons and stuff. I just wanna say thank u for the awesome content. p.s. I think it would be really cool if u did a video about the songs they use in the show and their lyrics (like guns for hire or snakes)

'Powder dying is this painful slow process that she hasn't allowed to end' is a good quote in my opinion, because so many seem to be convinced that either being a sociopathic psychomaniac is all that she always wanted to be, or that, it is something that just "happened to her" because if the inevitable brokenness of her mind through what traumatised her, making her either a being without grief that just and only lives to be violent, or a creature that is nothing else than the poor victim of the destruction of the world. I like the way YOU put this because it's bonding to crucial parts of her insanity and development, the consuming suffering but also the might and will to chose to let it happen further.

I absolutely loved this scene when i first watched the show, the music and the setting in general really made it fantastic but i never could quite grasp the symbolism. I love this analysis especially answer 2

This is integral to Silco’s character. What makes him such a horrible father figure and a deeply disturbed person is that he has repackaged his own trauma as revelation. He claims what Vander did to him ultimately helped him in the same way that for example someone who was abused by a family member now won’t let anyone get close to them because they think the whole world is out to get them. He has deluded himself into thinking that’s growth when in reality that is the epitome of succumbing to trauma. He saw the seeds of that in Powder and feeling empathy for her he then does to her what he did to himself, trying to mould her into himself so that her trauma destroys her just like it did him. Trauma is something that must be overcome, you can’t just let it define your life. It’s fear essentially, and it has uses. Think about when something you’ve done embarrasses you, like accidentally insulting someone. This can be helpful, because it steers you away from socially undesirable behaviours. But it isn’t perfect. What’s happened with Silco and Powder among other things is that they had their trust severely breached by someone they cared about and now they just don’t trust anyone because that’s what their fear response has directed them to do. It’s a natural behaviour with give and take depending on the situation. An example of healing is with Ekko. When we meet him post-timeskip he doesn’t trust anyone outside of his community, not even Vi. Then after his fight with Jinx and experience with Caitlyn, he gives Heimerdinger his full open trust, eventually becoming friends, even though he knows Heimerdinger is technically responsible for a huge amount of his problems and the Undercity’s impoverishment. He has a string of traumatic experiences that erode his social openness and make him hostile towards others, but then a therapeutic experience helps him to stop that trauma from influencing his behaviour in an unhealthy way, something Silco refuses to and is likely incapable of doing.

I always assumed Jinx's baptism DID include the painful part - we just weren't shown it, and it probably wasn't as bad. Here's the thing - we see a definite change is Jinx afterwards, especially in regards to being utterly incapable of figuring out the hexcore and the jamming on the chair while working on it after the dip. - Surely the dip was a bit more extreme than just getting wet.

Awesome!!! Thank you so much for all these pointers!! Also you may have done this already... but can you do a short on what shimmer is??

a little bit of both in this case, jinx has already went through an almost complete metamorphosis yet this is the way to end the process like his rebirth

i think he did it bc to him, Vander dr0wning him was like a rebirth, a killing of his old/ weak self. he wants to do the same to Jinx as it will "better" her. he also thinks the loving/ softer side of one's personality must be killed in order to become stronger and be able to protect the people they love

when i watched this scene, ithought that silco was gonna KISS jinx 😨 i panicked

I have a theory about how the progression from Powder to Jinx is mirrored by hextech going from being used for good to used for evil. Also how Jinx's eye colour reflects the change. When she used the hextech in the bomb that killed Vander, its the start of hextech being used for evil and the start of Jinx's development and its marked with how you see her eyes looking purple when she hugs Silco. The same thing happens later on when Victor starts experimenting with using the hextech to extend his lifespan. It turns purple because of the blood, and around the same time Jinx is brought back to life with shimmer, turning her eyes purple. During that scene, she hallucinates all of her paranoid delusions about her sister and Caitlyn, etc. that sort of furthers her losing her connection with being Powder and pushing her further to Jinx. The last big one I can think of is the dinner scene and Sky's death. They're both the last development in the season of both hextech and Jinx, and are tipping points for both, where they had the potential for 'evil' before but have now crossed the point of no return, which is why Victor wants hextech destroyed past this point. Both the scenes involve a death as well. Hextech kills Sky and Jinx kills Silco, and those actions seem to be what represents the tipping point from good to evil. Sky because its the first time Victor has lost control of Hextech and it seems to have gained a mind of its own and causes real damage, and Silco because even though he's not the only person Jinx kills, his death and the "you're perfect" line push her to choose the mantle of Jinx for herself and fully abandon Powder. Silco loses control of her and simultaneously creates the most powerful weapon he's ever had in the fight for Zaun. I don't know if that makes any sense but I think I have a point.

I wanted to ask if u could explain why jinx told vi that powder feel down the well like where did the well come in from she couldve said that powder exploded (with the monkey bomb) or that powder left or died or even drowned why did she say feel down a well

I think he only wanted it to matter to her. He knew it wasn’t the same thing as what happened to him but he just needed her to think it was.

Zilco doesn't accept powder as part of her. He wants her to be Jinx. Because Jinx didn't have Zander or Vi or anybody else just him. It's like he is rewriting history. In this scene he wants her to let powder die or' fall into a well'. He only accepts the new jinx. He is literally afraid when Vi comes back. Not because he is afraid one person would destroy his organization, but because Vi could bring Powder back.

AHHH THANK YOU!! This scene has been stumping me for ages!!!

.....he didn't expect it to have an effect other than bonding the two further and helping jinx understand him more

Schnee, Do you think that in Episode 8, when they enter Silcos Shimmer facility, that after Jayce shot the kid, that they are all child workers? or does Jayce only picture them as kids? Or rather all the kids futures he ruined like the ones he shot? Because when they entere the facility through train, the first one being hostage by the enforcers are grown up strong workers, with 0 children in sight.

The way Silco saw it is that before he was submerged he was a weak and foolish man, but came out as a different and stronger person. When he put Jinx under he saw it as effectively killing Powder and allowing her to move on from all of her pain, coming out perfect

Honestly, I think it shows Silco hasn't a clue how to help her, and tries to apply his own experiences in invalid ways. I'm not even convinced I could call it "trying to help her" - he wants her to be a monster. A perfect monster more capable than he ever was, not the weakness he associates with Powder.

Yeah it’s actually really cool how Arcane so confidently lets their characters be wrong about each other. Miscommunication is an underrated thematic tool.

I think Silco didn't want to put his daughter through that intense of a baptism like the one he went through, but also the second thing you said. He knows she doesn't need the exact same event but also wouldn't want to try to drown her anyway.

I hated Silco but I admired how much he genuinely loved and cared for Powder, it's rare to see the main Villians actually care for who they adopt rather than purely using them as a weapon

Silco didn't forget the "bad parts" of that moment. If anything, they are core to his motivation. What he has done is rationalize it as an almost spiritual "rebirth", but he's not stupid, he understand the differences between him, Vander and Jinx and between the context of his experience with Vander and the current one with Jinx. But from a meta-narrative perspective, the scene does rely on that parallel to play with audience expectations. We expect him to follow up with the parallelism because other media has trained us to, and in a way that's even what would make sense thematically for our understanding of the Silco character at that point. Instead, by subverting that expectation the show clues us into Silco's honest love for Jinx. He does not drown her because this isn't two brothers breaking up, or some sort of spiritual baptism. This is a father opening up to his daughter, the only person he's willingly vulnerable with.

That scene is one of my favorites 😍

it is really interesting then that powders true death and jinxs rebirth came with Silco´s. With, yet again, the betrayal of a sibling.

Saying this before I watch your video then commenting after, because I like doing that. I read this scene as a rough equivalent to the scene with Vi and the doll. I saw this as his way of teaching her, that way later, him and Vi have accompanying scenes showing their philosophies for her to choose between. Okay watching now.

It's about connections. Becoming someone new, or embracing a more brutal version of yourself, by shedding connections. Silco almost let himself die when Vander attempted to drown him. He had the chance to just let himself die, and he was apparently even tempted by the opportunity. (Or at least in his recollections, he was tempted to let himself die.) Silco decided to survive instead of letting himself die. It was a baptism by fire (via water). He frames this incident as the moment he decided to completely shed his connection with Vander, and become the version of himself who will do ANYTHING. Jinx is at a turning point with Vi, and with her own identity. Will she keep her connection with Vi? Or will she embrace Vi's betrayal and use it to become a stronger, more vicious, more powerful version of herself? This baptism is Silco's way of encouraging her to be "Jinx", in the most intimate and powerful way he knows how.

As with everything I think it’s a little bit of both. Overall in the moment the baptism is more symbolic and about Silco who’s not great with people helping his daughter keeping her close to him and also making sure she is working towards the same goal so enforcing her rebirth into Jinx. But overall Silco does look at his baptism happily as it’s what lead him to becoming who he is and he loves himself or is at least the most comfortable with himself of practically every character except when it comes to Jinx. But for the pain part I think Silco just deals and likes even the pain aspect of it. When he is getting the chem barons to work with him they are all choking and even Sevika has on a rebreather the entire time. This is where we see that out of everyone Silco deals with pain the best and I think this is something else that Silco wants Jinx to learn in the baptism not to ignore the pain but let it become a part of you and strengthen you.

ok, thaanks for talking about this scene... My take is that Silco loved her too much, and was unable to make her suffer, make her truly fight for her life (the drowning part) And the funny thing is that she causes that pain to herself after the bridge + bomb scene. Singed is forced to operate her in a brutal way, adding shimmer to the equation. That to me is another key step in her awakening as Jinx

Atleast to Vander silco had a personality shift and I thought it was void insanity and that's why he ignored the shimmer addicts i mean its kinda weird that he came up with zaun when in Canon lore it's the name of a shimuran port city built under it

Sorry i just don't know how to ask you this , so i wrote It here. Do you have any takes on Cassandra (Cait's mom) for One of your short analysis? I know she Is not a well developed characher but i think She has potential for something. Thank you

I think you're right about wanting to make jinx stop suffering, BUT, there issue with Silco's reasoning is that this is in no way a healthy way to deal with your trauma this is sweeping it under the rug, pretending it didn't happen to you, because it happened to powder, not jinx. Not actually gonna help you heal mentally.

I think this is a great analysis overall, but I also think that Vi's claim is a little bit more credible than the others. Because she didn't necessarily mean that her sister was a parkour genius at 7 years old. Just that she could do it. It was shown that she was afraid of larger moves like that one at the beginning of the show, but they also displayed her being capable of keeping up with the others to a certain degree. Which is exactly how she managed to follow them to the spot with that big leap.

Honestly that jinx baptism scene really confused me, I was wondering what was the point of that

The way I interpreted it was that he did hold her under for longer than was shown on screen. Perhaps it would've been too graphic to show him drowning her so they left it open to interpretation. It would've been more in character I think.

It was so weird I keep forgetting it cause it doesn't seem to make sense and it indpendent from the rest of the narration. Never set up, never brought up again so I never thought about it much. Series goes on and I never get reminded. Similarly to that music video intro of ep 7 or 8 actually. Keep forgetting that is in their as well.

Sooo maybe this was a subtext thing, but my take is that he did hold her under and tried to drown her to make her fight him. That’s why the next scene he’s covering his face with makeup. Pretty sure the implication is that she fought and thus killed powder and he was proud and covering up the marks. That’s why he has that smile right before Sevika comes in.

I like the second one cause it makes my heart happy

I doubt you'll see this but something in this scene fascinated me. Right after she goes under it appears that Jinx has a shimmer burst. Like someone (likely Silco) has injected her with shimmer to help her along this rebirth path. Do you agree or was it more symbolic than literal?

I wanna point out jinx wont kill caitlyn because this leauge lore (not all cannon) and if she kills her that means caitlyn will die before vi joins the police force in the future, so that is like killing caitlyn before caitlyn is even at point she is now in lore

I think #2 is what Silco thought he was doing, and #1 is what it actually did to her.

i dont think jinx believes vi would kill simply because she asked her to, she knows her too well for that. what shes upset about is that she never thought vi would in her heart give her up. that she would always protect her no matter what. even when powder professes to silco and herself that vi is dead and not her sister, she can never bury her. she even says “i always knew you’d come back” even vander hoped vi would always protect powder and even further silco SHOWS this by refusing to give her up because as he said- he would NEVER forsake her because she is her family. EVERYONE else betrays them- Even Vander. Even Vi.

I think it was more ceremonial than anything tbh

Didn’t Silco also use shimmer on her during this baptism? Cause right after she goes under and we get a fade to black we get sudden flash of a eye under the effects of Shimmer. Leading me to believe he used some variant form of shimmer that effects the brain to have some form of being vulnerability to suggestion or perhaps a experimental form of treating Powder’s/Jinx’s mental illnesses. But given how unstable and uncomfortable shimmer can be on a living organism’s mental and physical faculties. And Powder’s/Jinx’s equally random mental illnesses. This did not have the desired affect that Silco wanted in the long run. It seemed to work at first, but fell apart when she had further trauma’s, both mental and physical, placed on her. Along with the flooding of different variants of shimmer into her system. Of course I could be wrong about any of this.

I think #2 is what Silco intended, but #1 is what it actually was. Another theme I see all over the place in this show is the contrast between what we think Reality is and what Reality actually is

That makes a lot of sense!

I think it's #2 He's baptizing her, which is rebirth. Why would he require her to suffer more for her symbolic rebirth. It's not like he was going to strangle his own daughter. Plus he was stress her letting go of her weak and painful pass, so him making the letting go of pain a peaceful thing fits with what he was trying to do for her. And given that it allowed her to work on the hextech, we are shown that it had worked to some degree, she did get past some of her pain. Also for the Vi changed too part. Teen Vi wouldn't have shot an innocent person for no reason, but teen Vi hated the enforcers, now all of a sudden adult Vi is working with one and giving her puppy eyes. That's a change.

Knowing this show it could very well be both

Well as bad as Powder was with parkour she most definitely would have kept up with vi in a way caitlyn could never

Vi did change in episode 3 she was going to run at silco to save "powder" but later on the bridge we see her see jinx knocked out and she just let her be taken. STOP SAYING VI HASN'T CHANGED

I have a theory about why Jinx was so upset when Vi didn't kill Cathlin. My ideea is that if Vi did kill her, then Jinx would have shot Silco. Think about it, why did Jinx bring him there? Why did she tie him up? Why did she start badmouthing him? To make it easier. And keeping that in mind it makes sense why Jinx was so upset, she was gonna kill the only person who was there for her, the one who had been like a father for so many years, for her sister, but her sister wouldn't kill a stupid topsider that she has known for 3 days for her?

I think option two is more fitting in this case, he gave her this baptism specifically because she said to him that she couldn't work on his weapon anymore due to her feelings of guilt and her hallucinations - "I keep seeing them". It was his way of helping her to overcome her trauma, just like he himself "let a weak man die". He probably did it in a tender way because she trusted him and wasn't struggling since she simply wanted to get rid of that part of herself that caused her so much suffering.

My dumbass thought they were going to kiss and I literally paused for some hours because I did not want to see that 💀

Is anyone considering Caitlyn's screen time in the scene?

Um I thought that off screen she had to fight off him drowning her

I feel like ppl are over thinking this. Vi IS different too cuz I’m the beginning she would’ve NEVER worked with someone in the upside

OK are you really how I love this movie because I am on episode nine and I love it and it’s gonna be more episodes

She has to abandon her humanity

I like thar Powder/Jinx was terrible at parkour, but I almost always off the ground

There is an idea that baptism is closely related to religion but I think that's the wrong way around. Being held under water, taking that moment while suspended in someone's hands is a very powerful... uh... thing? I don't know if it's subconscious or something in the primitive brain but it's old and I suspect it predates religion. It's in the same class as prolonged silent eye contact or sitting in perfect darkness/silence. There is no motif more symbolic of rebirth than baptism.

That is so cool because he likes his face like Jonah me and that is so crazy I Joni me

Here’s what you said that got me thinking, when powder trying to do a parkour Vi confirmed that she was 7 at that time, so I tried to thank seven years later She’s 14 But I searched up google it says she 17 or 18 and I’m trying to process it down, maybe in act 1 she was actually 11 or 12, or I don’t know someone comment if you have the answer

nice video

I might be completely off the mark here, but my interpretation is that Silco believes that we have to let our ‘inner monsters’ out. As if we’re flicking a switch and we’re substituting one part of our selves with another as if one part has to die or hide to let the other live. This is shown when Silco thinks he’s let his old self die in the water in his past; when Jinx is led to believe that she has two parts of herself that must fight each other for dominance; and with Vander who fought against his past instinct to fight others and instead tries to be a pacifist. Obviously this inner conflict could arguably be seen in other characters as well but it’s perhaps not as prominent to their arcs. These characters are all connected to Silco and therefore also to his dream of the ideal inhabitants of Zaun. But what if these characters never needed to fight against themselves? What if Vander could have combined his two selves to become a better leader if he hadn’t had that traumatic experience with Silco in the past? Maybe Jinx wouldn’t have been so obsessed with defeating powder if Silco had never suggested to her that that was what she must do to survive? Would Jinx and Powder eventually have become one complex person? Maybe Silco has always been capable of the actions he later carried out but persuaded himself that that one crucial moment in the water changed him completely. The whole story is about the opposing qualities of Silco’s Zaun, Piltover and the old, loyal under city but none of the characters seem to embrace the fact that they could all embody far more qualities than they assign to themselves and force themselves to follow.

i think maybe he's romanticizing it because of his trauma?

Wait is that my dad what the heck

I think i'd love to hear what you think of totalitarianism, scapegoating and political control within Arcane. Is Silco a dictator, revolutionary or just a criminal boss?

Oh my God