This is exactly what I've been saying to people when they say that the ending was too soon. The ending was PERFECT and I loved it.

The moment when Jinx sat down in the 'Jinx char' I felt like the series ended right there; that was the climax for me Everything after that up to the credits was just the epilogue for me

For me, Mel's arc was pretty fulfilling too even without taking magic into account. She's faced this question all season of whether she's going to turn a blind eye to the atrocities of the world (political corruption, Zaun being oppressed, innocent people dying). Her mother returning is a representation of those choices looming ever closer. And then at the final council meeting, Mel makes the morally correct decision to free Zaun BUT in doing so, she fails to recognize the danger that they are already in. Essentially, her mother was right about the world being a cruel place. Mel's arc is about her idealism potentially causing her own destruction. It's another tragic arc where a person with good intentions doesn't escape without experiencing hardship (much like Jayce, Vi, Powder, etc.)

I agree that all the arcs had conclusion. When something ends in the way Arcane did, most people think it's a cliffhanger because they want to know what happens next to their beloved characters. But that's an entirely different story. Vi: Failed to get Powder back. There's no more Powder left to save. Jinx: Finished her transformation into Jinx. Jayce: Convinced the counsel to create peace with the Undercity. Mel: Put down her family ring, showing she is leaving Noxus behind and becoming her own person. Doing things her own way. Viktor: Is starting to do something great, while finally doing some good. Piltover vs Zaun: There will be no peace. The rocket hitting the glass neatly ties up the remaining arcs of Season 1. While at the same time being the instigating act that kicks off Season 2.

The ending IS a cliffhanger, but cliffhangers aren’t innately bad, they’re a writing tool that have been famously misused. S1 of Arcane handed it very well

Arcane, for me, is Jinx's origin story. When she sat on that chair with the name Jinx then decided to shoot the bomb, her arc has already completed. The story ends when her arc has fulfilled its journey.

Mel's arc was completed the moment she takes off her ring and votes in favor of peace between Piltover and Zaun. Her arc was her inner struggle to choose between acting in her family's interest or acting in the interest of Piltover/the greater good. In the end, she goes against her mother's wishes for war and basically cuts all ties with her family--symbolized by splashing paint over her painting of her homeland and removing her family ring from her finger.

I think something worth mentioning is that the end of act 3 parallels the end of act 1. things keep escalating and we reach a point where we think things will get resolved. but then Powder uses the crystals, which leads to the deaths of Mylo, Claggor and Vander. and, like you said, things can no longer go back to the way they were after that and then in act 2 and 3 again we have things escalating more and more and we think things will get resolved, but then Jinx kills Silco and fires Fishbones, crushing any hope of peace between Piltover and Zaun

It can still be a cliffhanger and a satisfying ending…. A cliffhanger for - what happens to the Piltover characters but a solid ending for the arc at the heart of the season - Vi and Jinx’s relationship and Jinx’s origin.

- We can avoid war - We can stop Hextech from being weaponised - Powder isn't gone yet she can still be brought back I like that you framed it that way. I think those three positions cover everything the show is about and encapsulate the character motivations of the entire cast. I can only think of Singed whose motives are outside those boundaries.

That "sorry Marcus" aside was vicious!

The ending was something that I couldn't have seen ending any other way, it has enough resolution in jinx trajectory and making it clear that there is so much more waiting. What's interesting is the questions are still there for people that knows the lore of the game We know viktor and jayce are alive, but we can't possibly know how exactly

I felt that the last moment of the show, the glass shattering and smiley flashing, that's the show saying "and that's how Jinx came to be". Never felt like the show ended early or on a cliffhanger, but it definitely left plenty of room for a sequel.

the problem with the show is the more you re-watch the better it gets, my man .... you'll be souless after another re-watch doing these review lol.

For the last point, when you drew parallels to Hiroshima, while it was definitely a turning point in history, it was "Piltover" who dropped the nuke, so the consequences of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been written off in history to be a justified act of defense. My own history professors and the textbooks I've read in highschool and in college defend America's action to drop the atomic bombs. I think a more comparable parallel would be 9/11, mostly because the attack occurred against the Piltover of our universe-America. That event changed the trajectory of the entire world, including America itself, and that change is irreversible. I think piltover is going to respond in the same fashion that America did after the events of 9/11. I don't think they're going to hold back, they're going to pull out the big guns and raise hell on the people of Zaun. And if we've learned anything from the American response to 9/11, it's that it was a huge mistake. It only led us to more bloodshed and more innocent lives to be murdered, brutalized, and tortured. Like America, Piltover will financially ruin any other country that opposes their decision to invade Zaun and their allies (if they have any). They will become more hypervigilant and shut down the hexgates to anyone that isn't completely loyal to them, issue a total blockade/sanctions on Zaun and their allies to keep anyone and anything from coming in and out of there, and over-manufacture hextech weaponry that could potentially end the entirety of human civilization. All this has been done by America and her allies after 9/11 and I really wouldn't be surprised if this is the type of response Piltover would take. Like America, they will still call themselves the "city of progress" but their actions will contradicate that, and they might fully regress into the thing they tried to escape years ago-like Heimerdinger warned.

I wouldn't mind if they left Arcane where it ended as a standalone project. I thought it wrapped up nicely if you saw it as a story of a bureaucracy that failed it's lower class children. The story starts with a song from Power that is a literal cry for help. Jayce and Victor, two people from different backgrounds come together to create something for the good of all humanity. The advancements are capitalized by the ruling classs. Jinx is the result of their actions, the monster they created.

SUCH a good breakdown of why the ending was masterful. I thought it was, too, and I was pretty damn surprised when I saw some people react negatively to it.

I legitimately thought this was the ending of Arcane, and that there would be no season 2 after this. Strikes me as a "tale as old as time" ending, and that the Jinx vs Vi story continues to this day.

This show was a masterpiece. I would even be fine not having another season because how the heck do you top that??

Jayce and Viktor's last talk together was one of my favorite scenes.

i think the moment jinx interrupted the council's decision is the ending. precisely where they ended the series since the place is called "piltover and zaun" in the game since the main point of the place is that they hate each other unconditionally and as such when jinx's rocket hit the council building when they decided to broker peace, it ended the possible peace between the two cities

The three main overarching conflicts the show was constantly building towards since episode 1 was the incitement of war between the two cities. The weaponization of tech/ambition, and the identity of jinx/powder. Jinx firing the rocket solidifies all of that perfectly in one action. it's a masterful ending. There are a ton of threads left open for season 2. But no matter who survives on the council (*cough cough* Jayce, Mel, Victor; alive. Cait's mom and the rest; dead) the war is started. Hextech has been turned into weapons of mass destruction and powder is dead. The rest of the fallout is secondary to the meaning behind the act itself. Makes it a perfect ending to the first season, set up to a second season

It's the point of no return, everything that happened in the show was building up to this exact moment, the development paths of both Powder/Jinx and Hextech from the moment Powder picked up the Hex crystals in ep1 were leading down to this moment where things tip over the edge and the lives of everyone involved irrevocably change forever. It's a perfect climax for the story told in S1, and though we were denied an aftermath it's still satisfying, specially considering the ramifications of this climax will start its own new story as an inciting incident kicking into motion a new chapter of the overarching story).

This is basically what I've been trying to say to people. The climax of the story is not an explosion that we don't see, the climax is a choice. A choice, to reject powder and Vi and accept the ideals of Silco and Jinx. The rocket launch and subsequent explosions are, if anything, showing the consequences of that choice in a brilliant way that DOES set up a lot of questions to be answered by season 2.

I totally think the ending was a cliff hanger, but that doesn’t mean that the ending came too soon. It’s one of those things where I definitely want more seasons of the show and to see what happens, but if they said this is it for Arcane, I’d still consider it a perfect finale.

Your Arcane videos have been an absolute pleasure to watch. Your insights and analyses are so eye-opening. How did you come to be so knowledgeable and astute when it comes to storytelling? Have you just immersed yourself in stories for a long time, or have you done e.g. studies?

It *is* a cliffhanger: it ends on a decision that leaves the audience in suspense. We don't know what the aftermath of that decision is -- if Piltover is decimated, if the entire council + Viktor is wiped, etc. Just because the end makes sense doesn't make it not a cliffhanger. Unsatisfying? Absolutely not, as you said. Ended too soon? Not at all. But don't get the definition of cliffhanger conflated with the idea of abrupt endings or being unfinished.

Thanks for putting this feeling into words--I myself had felt that the ending was super fitting and perfect, a mirror of the end of act 1: everything looks like it's going to be okay, and then Jinx steps in and is like "nope!" even if she wants to help (like in act 1). This video explained it much better, but I'm totally with you, the season ended exactly where it needed to. The whole story isn't over, but this was the perfect end for this particular chapter

The ending was perfect, but it had such an intense emotional charge that I wanted to scream after it was over. I love the sudden cut that completely shredded my heart.

Just commenting for the algorithm. Nothing to say that I already havent said, your videos are the #1 thing I look forward to on youtube, and you absolutely hit the nail on the head. I think if anything, the ending most importantly solidifies the path and the complete transformation of Powder into Jinx. Anyone who was on the fence, or not convinced Jinx couldnt be redeemed, got the final nail in the coffin in that ending. Not by the outcome of that action, but by the mere action itself.

I was fine with the ending of Arcane season one, because to me was really functionally and metaphorically a good ending, as in its entirety the whole season 1 answered and brought conclusion to the main parts of the plot; *who Vi and Jinx are as characters* and *how they ended up becoming who they are as the known champions in League of Legends* - Vi is a tomboy with a heart of gold who was toughened by her harsh starting point in life and upbringings, whom grew to deal with everything by herself and taking matters into her own hands, and together with her hasty nature her hustling gets her into bad situations and decisions most of the time - Jinx was an innocent kid in whose life everything that could've gone bad went even worse, she grew up with little to no help or support to cope with any of it, and just like in the ending of Act 1 she did the exact same thing at the ending of Act 3; *_she jinxed it and ruined everything for everyone, again..._* and finally in the end she embraced and accepted the fact that *_causing havoc and destruction WAS and IS the only thing she's good at_*

When I saw the ending, I remember just feeling an intense sense of dread and sadness. Like the hope for everything to be better and become better was destroyed-and the worst part about that, was that it made perfect sense why everything turned out the way it did. And I can’t wait to see what happens next. I certainly didn’t think it was a cliffhanger, but a spark to the next part of the story/next season. All in all, it was all beautifully done.

Absolutely love it. I felt that the ending was satisfying, but it just seemed so much as a cliffhanger, I wasn't sure what to think. But I certainly wasn't even on the verge of analyzing it in this direction so this blew my mind. Great job, as always

Nah man. I was super satisfied and the cries abaut the cliffhanger made me feal like i watched a different ending than everyone else...

Good video! I felt the same about the ending not feeling like a cliffhanger but couldn't explain why, so I appreciate you talking about it.

I don't think I've ever subscribed off the first video I've seen from someone, but this review and explanation was just so good. Excellent video.

THANK YOU! for mentioning Mel's possible magical capabilities. I've seen a milion reactions to the final episode, heard a ton of tweets about it, and it seems to me the general consensus is that she's dead. To me, her gold shine is clearly a sign of magic, so I'm glad someone else agrees!

Great theory. I've also been thinking about Jayce-Heimer-Jinx when it comes to what the show is actually about. Thank you for breaking it down!

Amazing analysis, you really made me appreciate this show even more, which is nuts because it’s already my favourite piece of media of all time, you earned a new subscriber

I gotta say, I've watched a lot of your Arcane videos by now (drawing and listening to the whole playlist hehe), and the fact that in your longer videos you take the time to relate these stories to actual events in our reality is amazing. I never would have thought to relate Jinx's moral ambiguity to a cannibal gone hero, and I never really thought to compare hextech to nuclear tech. You've opened my eyes to a lot of really interesting ideas!

I love the music in the beginning and end of this episode because the opening song is enemy by imagine dragons as per usual which shows jinx’s mentality that everyone dislikes and doesn’t trust her, everyone is her enemy, but the tempo and type of synth used shows us that she’s ready to deal with that, but what could have been ( the last song) gives the feeling that jinx’s wasn’t prepared for this she was ready for vi to accept her but that’s not what happens and both of these songs show that while jinx is ready to deal with her enemies, she’s not ready to deal with the person who made her a monster

For me when I saw the ending( as someone who knows all the lore) it was a great ending, and I wasn't expecting a season 2. I later saw people saying it was too much of a cliff hanger, and in my head it has already hit the ground max speed. The ending concluded almost all the champions origin stories and why P and Z are in conflict in current lore.

Man this is brilliant I love this whole video Thank you so much for voicing your thoughts on this

I love this take. Thank you for this. I thought it was a cliffhanger at first, but now I understand why it isn't

Finally something to link to whenever i see another person say "ah well, sucks it had a cliffhanger", my god

I agree with so much of this, especially with the thoughts on the implications of hextech being weaponized. Great point - but thinking forward about how the story goes from here, there are things that connect to a real "what's next." I'm not sure who survives or how, but I can imagine Jayce's hammer protecting at least him (if it's there in the chamber... and possibly Mel who's near him... we see hextech protecting its user like the gauntlet shielding Vi in the fight with Suvika), Viktor's magic protecting him (and maybe Jayce if his hammer's not there... we see magic is in control of him). Just some thoughts.

Great video. Never thought about the ending that much but when I did think of it as a cliffhanger I still thought it ended perfectly. I consider it to be a cliffhanger in a way, because you don't get to see anyones reactions to this.

You have great videos dude! Very in depth and interesting. Loved this.

Awesome analysis

But is what happens with mel really corraleted with magic? it might just be an artistic decision like the reflection of the missle seconds later.

this is a fantastic video. Well done

this video is so well worded! i couldn’t agree more!

simply put, the origin story of Jinx is complete, this is how Jinx manifested as the true Jinx everybody knows. it does not matter to Jinx completion what happens after that moment, so the story ends. The other stories are for another time to finish, this was about Jinx and that is concluded.

YES!! ANOTHER ONE! I love these videos, keep it up bro!

Forgot how you recently came to my attention, but I've been enjoying your videos quite a bit. _Subscribed._

Your analysis are so good... Excellent video essay!

Absolutely agree -- the ending was perfect. And not a cliffhanger. This story ended *exactly* where it needed to -- exactly the moment of tragic resolution, the point of no return. There is more story to be told of the aftermath, but those will be new stories.

I think the ending can be summed up as the "tragedy of the inevitable" which tends to define the vast majority of themes, plots, and character arcs. The final act of Jinx shooting the gun can be seen as the inevitable tragedy of her character arc and Vi's desperate attempts to save her. It can be seen as the inevitable act of war between the two sides that has been built up from the beginning. It can be seen as the inevitable tragedy of the weaponization of hex tech. It can be seen as the inevitable attack on the council which was finally trying to make the "right" decision. It is also a statement of the young generation against the old. In each case the hopes of the "heroes" die in this moment thus emphasizing the tragedy. As tragic as it all is the inevitable feeling of all these things also makes it seem necessary given the structural problems within the society. There is also looming consequences that leave the audience to judge this act by Jinx and sit with it before knowing the consequence. This is similar to the earlier decision by Jinx to "help" her friends which leads to her accidentally killing them. The show ends on the brink of the story telling you what to think about Jinx's choice by telling you how it turns out. In ethics intent and outcome are often the theme but here we just have intent with no outcome. In story telling outcome is often how the writers tell you what to think about the act. Watch some Arcane reaction videos of Jinx setting off the monkey bomb and you will see plenty of people cheering her on but then changing their tune really fast once the consequences of her act slowly plays out. The unknown consequence of Jinx's actions is pivotal to the story the writers are telling.

Just a cool thing I noticed on another watch - the shark creatures are first introduced in episode one by Silco who says that topsiders don’t even know they exist. I think it’s a good way the writers found a way to foreshadow the shark weapon Jinx inevitably makes with the stone. No one knew who was responsible for any of the attacks until someone from the undercity (Vi) told them. Just like the council didn’t know peace came too late as Jinx fires the rocket.

Thank you, this is exactly what I've been trying to explain, but I'm too straight forward, your elaboration and use of examples makes this a lot more digestible. I'll be sending this to a few people.

I agree with ending occurs at the appropriate time I took the opposite themes. After all the series opens on a failed revolution with the councils enforcers gunning down people on the floor. With the breaking of Vander's revolution and him realizing he rather 'stop fighting and save the lives of his new children than fight to give them better ones.' (To paraphrase Sarcastic Chorus). The series ends with a teenager, one of thoes girls he saved and raised, and then was raised by his monstrous former partner. A girl repeatedly traumatized by the councils careless behavior, their Enforcers, their Hextech Crystals, the violence in their slums, their justice system that imprisoned her sister for over a half decade. Taking their technology and hitting them back. Hitting the council back after she killed her 2nd father figure, who flooded her home with Shimmer. The same drug he had her flooded with to save her life. Because they offered to hand over the Undercity to the same man to took traumatized 9-10 year old warped her into a weapon, if he would turn her over to them. That rocket as her response to their careless actions, careless governance, and Jayce's careless peace proposal.

The arc ended when Jinx fired the rocket. The rest is just setup for the next season scenario. Everybody failed and they have to move on with the worst outcome they could have achieved.

You know how good this show is by the amount of detailed and thoughtful analysis videos come out around it

i just saw your video and i loved it your a good guy keep up the good work

This season wrapped up almost perfectly, and the strongest of the character arcs conclusion was definetely Jinx. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if going forward, she assume a completely different narrative role. Not a character who's "arc" we follow, but a literal disruptive element that brings chaos into everyone else's life. It's possible that going forward into the next seasons, whole new people will fill the role of "central character". Maybe Jayce, but most possibly of the ones we already know, Viktor and/or Ekko. Or maybe we will get a completely new character to explore as our 'central' one. Maybe the mad doctor's daughter, who was briefly mentioned...?

So glad to see this take. Even if this had been a limited series with no followup coming, it would be a perfectly told story. Like what do people need to see? The council vaporized and the remnants of Piltover declare war? The story's done. Lol

Your analasys videos are just perfect

haven’t even finished watching the video yet; i’m a lifetime star wars fanboy and i have never heard such a beautifully simple explanation for the movies/universe. damn dude, you’re spitting hard facts.

I thought the ending was perfect. That last scene was absolutely spectacular and when it was over it felt finished. I didn't feel unsatisfied at all, not a single part of me thought "wait, that's it?" I lack the analytical prowess to investigate why I felt that way, because there is obviously more story to tell there. So it was nice to watch this video and hear a possible explanation.

I also agree that this is a wonderfully conclusive ending although, I feel that if they were going to do a season two they should do another time skip or have the main focus on Ekko’s perspective since he was missing for a huge portion of the show

Love your analysis. Keep up the good work.

Dang, I'm obsessed with your succinct description of Star Wars!! That's a really cool way to think about it

I honestly think due to the dialogue from the season 2 announcement trailer, Mel, Viktor, and Jayce survive while Caitlyn's mom is critically injured. I honestly hope and think the survivors will declare a bounty on Jinx while granting Zaun independent in name only as a false sign of good faith as the survivors take Mel's mother's warning seriously and start producing weapons. I dont think it is coincidence that Mel's mother is shown to see the rocket fly. This can give her leaverage to convince what's left of the council to take war seriously. So I think a season 2 can either be A) a hot war between Piltover and Zaun that leaves it vulnerable to the threat Mel's mom warned about or B) an uneasy cold war where the government attempts to feign stregth in the face of calamity in order to not look as vulnerable to other countries as possible. Either way the writers choose will be fine by me. The writers have already proven they know how to write geopolitical drama. I love this show so much.

Spoilers ahead: It was perfect. The complete transformation of powder to Jinx. The possibility of what things could be if it wasnt for jinx, i really felt all that while the bomb was flying…. Peace was in sight, and for next season we know there is gonna be a shift in the tension between the cities. So when the next season comes its not gonna be a continuation…. Riot can do whatever they want with it. Leaving their creative energy unshackled. If they want to continue with V and Jinx as main characters that will work. If they want to shift characters, that work as well….. Anything is possible with this ending

Great analysis. I appreciate the ending much more now because I had this sense, but it was fading on reflection as the regular reactions took over in remembering... Very important point, thanks

Rock-solid analysis. You've earned a subscription from me. I'm looking forward to what you decide to do next.

I'm honestly surprised people missed the lesson Jayce story taught us. Or least tried to...peace was never an option. Piltover has to pay for it's crimes against its own people that it's forgotten. Zaun has been suffering for YEARS and it's gonna take more than a pound of flesh to make up for it all. You can't just suddenly try play nice now that it's affecting you. The ending was perfect cause Piltover and the council are finally having to face the consequences not their actions head on. It's brutal. People will die. Love ones lost. But this is the consequences of their actions. For mistreating citizens of Zaun (the under city). And now they not so detached as they were when all they did was send enforcers to fight their battles with brute force an laws without ever actually seeing the damage they causing. Caitlyn was the 1st person from Piltover face this an see just how bad things were an how badly they messed up. The ending is when EVERYONE realizes they have long since past the point of no return. A civil war was inescapable. It was honestly inevitable from when Jinx an Vi we're still small kids. It's a war that's been slowly coming to a boil all these years. Piltover has just had the pleasure of not seeing it an living in luxury while Zaun has been festering in their hatred, death, and poverty compounded with addiction to something that's is their only excape outside drinking and s3x. The people of Zaun and Jinx aren't really the bad guys. They are just the forgotten minority that have grown tired of waiting an trying play by the rules. Now they are angry and taking what they have demanded all these.years. A revolution. Silco and Vander started it, but then Vander gave up on it cause would require sacrifice Vi started to want to but was persuaded not to by Vander who took her place later dying Silco carried this dream of liberation an freedom that comes from a revolution that would require sacrifice, but stopped when it called for him to lose that closet to him (Jinx) Jayce nearly started it when attacked Silco's manufacturers of Shimmer but stopped cause again he saw the sacrifice an deaths needed an didn't want to follow through Jinx was the only one willing to make that sacrifice for a better future of Zaun so others don't suffer like she has cause she's already lost everything she care about I'm her eyes. Her sister Vi has joined Piltover with Caitlyn as an Enforcer. All her parental figures and friends are gone. All she has left is Zaun. Her home. Jinx is making similar sacrifice Himengiger said that guy who founded school did. All of what he invented etc may be gone but it was so they in the future even if he's forgotten could have a better future as we see Piltover has. Thanks to his sacrifice. Jinx is doing same thing in. A way. We just seeing it all in real time.. This is truly a Shakespearean tragedy. No one really wins. Everyone loses. Everyone is a bad guy an a good guy. There was never gonna be a simple an happy ending. But it's also why it so loved.

Wholeheartedly agree that the ending makes for a complete story. We often forget that other forms of narrative media did not have the origin of TV series, i.e the movie serial and the radio serial, which were rolling cliffhangers by design. While some novels began as magazine serials, or today are parts of an ongoing franchise, the novel and the stage play are largely forms implying completeness. Unspoken consequences upon the ending of a book or play are de rigueur, allowing the audience to think over their experience, and incorporate the questions raised into the lattice of their own minds. TV series can do this, and there is no reason to believe they cannot. If we never get another episode of Arcane, we would have to treat the ending as complete anyway. And since it is a tragedy, the story has already delivered its payload.

SOO GOOOD! I hadn't thought about the idea of what an ending actually is. These a gold

This is a fantastic video, I have nothing to add to the discussion, but man this is a great video

I just want to let people know that in the future, few beloved characters might die. Just because they are champions in-game means absolutely nothing. The series is already and will continue shifting away from the lore and as bad it may sound, don't be impressed watching characters like Jayce, Vi, Cait and Jinx dying later down the road.

I feel like this show has so many different threads woven together that it's really hard to predict where things will end up. On the one hand, Jinx's act of blowing up the Council as they were voting for peace, and the lines they chose for the S2 teaser about the Vi/Jinx narrative, make it seem like both the political and personal stories are heading for tragedy. On the other hand, are the showrunners really going to be that obvious about where things are going? Is all of this great writing really going to devolve into dragging us through a predictable, angsty doom spiral where all of the traumatic/oppressive cycles just continue? For now, I'm choosing to believe the answer is no. At least some of these narratives need to end up in the bittersweet territory between happily ever after and a Shakespearean tragedy where everybody dies.

Fantastic video. There's so much commentary on Arcane that's . . . not great. This is really nice to see.

These are some good thoughts, thank you

I feel like your focus on the theme of change misses that it's part of the larger theme of duality in the show. The way change and "progress" are portrayed in Arcane clearly shows their dual nature: change can be for the better or for the worse, and what we think is progress might become something terrible. In fact, all change and progress I can think of from the show is shown to be BOTH for the better AND for the worse. For example, Jinx's two transformations: from kind, dorky kid who just wants to tag along with the big kids to hyper-competent badass with all the skills she's ever wanted (good) but who, you know, KILLS PEOPLE for a living (bad); and the shimmer infusion that saves her life (good) but which drastically worsens her already shaky mental health (bad). And to your point about the characters trying to reverse some of the changes, it seems to me that it's more a matter of those characters being in denial; rather than trying to reverse something that's happened, it's more that they don't even accept or realize that it HAS happened. Vi doesn't accept that her sister could have become what she now is, Jinx still thinks Vi can accept her after all the horrible things she's done, Jayce and Victor don't realize the horrible potential of what they've created (well, Victor probably does by the end). Even better is Heimerdinger, who is in denial of basically all of the last two hundred years, to the point that he has lost even the most tenuous grasp of what Piltover and the people around him are actually like. These different states of denial then feed into the larger theme of duality as well, as they create natural comparisons between the characters. And then, for characters like Victor who realize that they've been in denial, how they handle that realization becomes part of their growth as characters, creating even more possible dualities and comparisons. Speaking of realizations, I've realized that this stupid KZfaq comment is starting to look more like a short essay, so I'm gonna stop. I mean, I even had to double space my paragraph breaks, jeez.

League of Legends // UK, IE & Nordics actually posted a tweet that says: What are your thoughts on Mel's armour? ✨

Another thing that you forgot to me soon is the words said by the music at the point that Jinx fired the rocket was “what could’ve been.”

woah, great video!

I don't think Mel used a magic item, I think it was just the light reflecting off the blue sparkly missile onto the gold of her outfit. There's no indication she uses magic anywhere in the series. I agree with everything else you said in the video but I think you missed the point with mel.

Mel's armor is magical or something tho so I don't think she'll die.

Have you done an analysis on the change of color in Jinx' eyes? What is the main focus in the scenes her eyes are purple? Love your vids, keep up the good work!

Please give us this in depth Star Wars analysis! That little bit you said about the bigger theme being "everyday individual actions effect the larger fate of everyone" changed the whole way I view Star Wars. It never been my favorite sci-fi saga but now I want to go back and rewatch it in detail. I would love more of that!

Good analysis. Also: it increases my hope for swain to be in S2!

Thank you for this, I also felt that season one ended on a really satisfying note. I had hoped it would pivot way from Piltover and explore other regions on Runeterra with other champions in season 2 but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Excellent analysis

great work

Please tell me you have more Arcane videos coming. I just love them. Your take on the show is so amazing

This is a great analysis.

Your vidz are incredible 💖

Great analysis