History WesternAnimation / Arcane

Not to be confused with the similarly titled video game ''VideoGame/ArcaneTheArmorCollector''.

* LiteralMetaphor: Marcus makes a deal with Silco to alert him to when they move in on an arrest, giving Silco a chance at Vander. When Silco's arrival causes the death of Enforces, [[spoiler:including Grayson]], Marcus is shorrified as he never intended that to happen. Silco just says that the plan changed and tosses Marcus a purse full of coin, some of which falls into one of the pools of blood on the ground. Literal blood money.

* LiteralMetaphore: Marcus makes a deal with Silco to alert him to when they move in on an arrest, giving Silco a chance at Vander. When Silco's arrival causes the death of Enforces, [[spoiler:including Grayson]], Marcus is shorrified as he never intended that to happen. Silco just says that the plan changed and tosses Marcus a purse full of coin, some of which falls into one of the pools of blood on the ground. Literal blood money.

->''"We can't change what fate has in store for us, but we don't have to face it alone."''
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--> ''[-♪ Welcome to [[WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}} the unabriged page]] follow me ♪-]''

->''"We can't change what fate has in store for us, but we don't have to face it alone."''

Set in the technologically-advanced, aristocratic city of Piltover, ''Arcane'' follows orphaned sisters Vi and Powder as they grow up in [[LayeredMetropolis the Undercity, Piltover's impoverished and polluted lower levels]]. While the people of the Undercity struggle to survive and resist against Piltover's violent law enforcement, Silco, a ruthless crime lord with ambitions to raise the Undercity up into its own self-sufficient nation, begins to make himself known. Meanwhile, Jayce and Viktor, two gifted inventors, seek to revolutionize the city and the world itself by harnessing magic as a powerful new energy source. As tensions in Piltover and the Undercity escalate and war seems like an inevitability, Vi and Powder each find themselves at the center of the conflict as the city hurtles towards a breaking point.

* AdaptationalHeroism: In the old lore, Stanwick Pididly was a thieving cheat who stole the credit for creating Blitzcrank from Viktor. In Arcane's lore, he's a PosthumousCharacter remembered as an honorable and persevering (if explosion prone) scientist and good friend of Heimerdinger's.
* AdaptationDeviation: While ''Arcane'' implicitly frames itself as canon prequel to the ''League of Legends'' universe, it significantly deviates from -- if not outright contradicts -- previously established backstories in favor of telling its own insular story that [[BroadStrokes roughly sets itself up to the "present"]] shown in ''League''. Christian Linke and Alex Yee have stated [[https://www.ungeek.ph/2021/11/full-interview-arcane-creators-christian-linke-and-alex-yee-on-the-new-league-of-legends-animated-series/ in an interview]] that while Arcane is "internally consistent and canon", it should not "be considered a source truth over the game".

* TheAestheticsOfTechnology: Shimmer and Hextech, the two technologies explicitly held as each cities new technological edge, also follow the aesthetics and act as metaphors for the respective cities.
** Shimmer is a neon purple FantasticDrug that can be slurped down, breathed or injected. The effects on the user can be hideous, with bulging purple veins and grotesque muscle growth. It's addictive, with some addicts suffering permanent deformities. Its effects are entirely physical and individual, granting enormous strength and speed temporarily. It's creation was built on unethical testing by Singed. The technology is ugly, powerful in a crude way, and purposefully built on human suffering, making it a lot like Zaun. However, several characters use it to heal themselves from severe injuries and conditions and this benefit is never brought up by other characters, showing that Piltover only sees the negative sides of Shimmer, just like how it only sees the negative sides of Zaun.

** In their first episode, Jayce almost kills himself by throwing himself off the ledge from his destroyed apartment after being kicked out of the Piltover academy (essentially ending any hope of being a scientist for him) but is stopped by Viktor. In the final episode, [[spoiler:Viktor is about to kill himself by throwing himself off a high ledge out of guilt for having caused the death of his assistant Sky during his attempt to further augment his body using the hextech core despite not having any shimmer to power it the effect. This time Jayce stops him (though perhaps unwittingly, as Jayce doesn't know what Viktor had done). They both even start with the same line, "Am I interrupting something?"]]

** "Parenthood". The difficulties, personal sacrifices and imperfect decisions that come along with being a parent casts a long shadow over the show. The very first scene shows Vander choosing the path of peace and fatherhood over his own dreams of revolution. Caitlyn, Jayce and Mel's mothers choose to prioritize their own children's safety even if it costs their childrens' affections. It's used metaphorically with Jayce condemning Heimerdinger as a negligent "Father of the City". Hell, [[MadScientist Singed]] of all people reveals he was once a father and mourns his daughter. [[spoiler: Even Silco, the man set up as the BigBad of the show, spends most of Act 3 running around trying to find his daughter Jinx or dealing with the consequences of her actions. When forced to choose between sacrificing his daughter and dream of an independent Zaun he'd spent his life sacrificing everything for, he'd rather let the world burn than give her up.]] Everyone wants to do right by their kids no matter who they are but the consequences of their actions, intentional or not, haunt the next generation.

** Piltover and Zaun's relationship has always been at the center of the lore for characters in both cities, but ''Arcane'' is allowed to show the horrible way Piltover treats the soon-to-be Zaun in far more graphic detail, showing exactly the kind of GreyAndGrayMorality that lies at the center of their conflict. This also means that noble characters from Piltover (such as Jayce or Caitlyn) are left reeling when they see the atrocious conditions that the Undercity has to live with and dealing with such inequality become one of the main focuses of their stories.

** Throughout the first season, most of the Piltover plotline is centered around the decision whether or not to weaponize hextech, with Viktor being strongly against it and Jayce considering it, but ultimately backing off once he realizes how devastating it can be. Since many of the Piltovan heroes in the game have hextech weapons, we know this will inevitably fail. [[spoiler:By season's end, Jayce has created the Mercury Cannon/Hammer, and Jinx has created Fishbones, a hextech-powered rocket launcher. While Jayce vows to destroy the hammer after he accidentally kills a child with it, we know he ultimately keeps it, and Jinx's attack on the Council with a hextech weapon has destroyed their last chance for peace.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The single good thing that happens in the end of season 1 is that some characters live. Other than that, it's all downhill. Powder embraces her identity as Jinx and cuts ties with her sister for good. Caitlyn neither retrieves the lost hextech core nor brings Silco to justice. And despite Jayce, Mel, and Viktor managing to agree to a peaceful solution, Jinx fires a missile powered by the stolen hextech core on the Council's chambers, shattering any potential for peace there may have been. Singed is also shown briefly experimenting in his lab with a hanged muscular man who somehow resembles Vander. The only characters with a positive ending are Heimerdinger and Ekko, the former taking Jayce's words to heart about how ineffectual he'd been, visiting the lower streets to see the conditions for himself, and finding a kindred spirit in the jaded but still idealistic Ekko, with their meeting being framed in a master-student relationship as Ekko shows Heimerdinger the firelights' hideout and Heimerdinger finds hope after his previous relationship with his students soured. Of course the ending above overshadows that, but it's still the best outcome shown]].

* TheExtremistWasRight: [[spoiler: Silco's ruthless ways, especially the unethical creation and mass manufacture of Shimmer, successfully convince the Piltover Council that a violent crackdown would be too costly and negotiation is the best solution. Silco's absolute willingness to resort to violence ultimately convinces the Council to accept a deal that would see the people of the underground get their own nation of Zaun. If anything, he ultimately can't take the deal that would free the people of Zaun of Piltover's boot on their backs because he's not extreme enough to throw away his most normal, sympathetic trait: love for his daughter. [[PlayingWithATrope Of course it's also not so clear cut]], since as Vander warned he sacrificed Zaun's soul by flooding the streets with Shimmer as a recreational drug meaning Zaun would be independent but ruled by a ruthless drug king pin whose raising of the Chembarons to power also undermined the ethos of loyalty Silco himself harped on.]]

* {{Foil}}: A majority of the show's characters contrast to one another.

** Whether in Piltover or Zaun, men and women seem to serve in equal capacity, if not necessarily in equal numbers. The city council, the Enforcers, Vi and Silco's groups... all contain a mix of male and female members, often with women in high positions. Some details of the setting further imply this, such as that Stillwater Hold seems to be gender-integrated or that Vi's boxing skill goes unremarked-on as unusual, suggesting organized boxing is common among women as well as men.

* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Vander smokes from a rustic-looking pipe, lighting it with matches. It only adds to his fatherly look and him growing to love the "vile" taste neatly summarizes him becoming comfortable with his new role as peacekeeping bartender. Silco on the other hand hand smokes cigars, complementing his well put together outfits to show his expensive tastes and fundamental desire to live like the wealthy in Piltover.

* HappilyAdopted: Vi and Powder are adopted by Vander at the very beginning of the show, as he sees them crying at the sight of their dead parents, with him opting to take them to safety over continuing the uprising he led that had gotten their parents killed in the first place. Mylo and Claggor are also adopted by Vander off-screen. All of Vander's adopted children would risk their lives to save him, and he returns the favor. [[spoiler: Vi is astonished that [[BigBad Silco]] adopted Powder and helped mold her into Jinx. Silco's treatment of Jinx is of an understanding father-figure and Jinx acts like his wild-child daughter.]]

* IncestSubtext: Jinx's fixation on Caitlyn, and her relationship to Vi, occasionally comes off as closer to a scorned lover than an upset sibling. Notably, her rationalising their hug as a "goodbye hug" that she doesn't need to worry about, and the entire fact of Jinx involving Caitlyn in their family dinner scene in the finale at all; [[spoiler:where she refers to Caitlyn as Vi's "girlfriend" before attempting to force Vi to choose between both girls.]]

** The show as a backstory delights in juxtaposing characters origins with their eventual state as Champions in VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends.

** The trailers present Vander's "don't threaten the guy who pours the drinks" line as being said to the Enforcers, along with the followup DeathGlare from the bar patrons. He actually says it to a pair of shady traders who are trying to stiff another patron out of what they owe him; the same DeathGlare is directed at those two, as well. The way the trailer presents the line makes Vander seem more at odds with the Enforcers than he actually is.

* NonHeteronormativeSociety: Runeterra has been [[https://www.reddit.com/r/arcane/comments/qumn0d/arcane_does_femalelgbt_representation_perfectly/hkykdeg/?context=3 confirmed to]] have no stigmitization towards sexuality and gender expression, as evidenced by Vi nonchalantly asking Caitlyn if she prefers men or women in Episode 5. This is also why no one comments on Vi's body type.

** Those affected by [[PsychoSerum Shimmer]] usually have their grunts and yells underscored by a set of these, emphasizing the dehumanizing and unsettling effects the serum.

** As kids, red-pink haired Vi was mostly the Red to her blue haired younger sister Powder's Blue: her color scheme is reddish, her personality is more aggressive, and she fights with her fists rather than invented gadgets. But, as the older of the two, she's also more mature and not quite as reckless. [[spoiler: When they reunite after Powder has metamorphosed into Jinx, Vi is comparatively much more stable than Jinx who undergoes mood swings and violent tempers.]]
** As an adult, Vi is also the Red yet another blue haired character, Caitlyn who [[RecruitingTheCriminal recruits her for a criminal investigation.]] Caitlyn's reasons to working together are professional (even if she's a bit of a CowboyCop), analyzes evidence methodically, shows appropriate caution entering the {{Undercity}}, and fights from a distance with a rifle. Vi's reasons for working together are strongly fueled by emotions [[spoiler:reuniting with Powder]], uses personal connections to get information, [[LeeroyJenkins recklessly attacks her enemies the moment she sees them]], and [[BoxingBattler brawls up close]].

** After Caitlyn saves Vi from Sevika we get more intimate scenes such as Vi saying she calls Caitlyn "Cupcake" because she's so sweet. Later when it becomes obvious that Vi's injuries are life threatening Caitlyn goes to find a doctor, when the "doctor" demands a trade for her cure Caitlyn doesn't hesitate to trade her rifle (her only weapon) for the cure. Once back with Vi Caitlyn helps her calm down after the cure hits her system, with the the two staring into each others eyes their lips not even an inch apart.

** One of the Firelights's masks is very similar to that of Corvo Attano from ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}''.

** Vander in the opening scene looks identical to [[VideoGame/StarCraftII Jim Raynor]]. Further cemented after the first TimeSkip as he's revealed to be a disillusioned RebelLeader seen mostly in a retro styled bar (though as TheBartender rather than TheAlcoholic). For extra hilarity, his nemesis and one-time friend and partner in rebellion has clothing tastes very similar to those of Arcturus Mengsk ([[spoiler:and is responsible for turning an innocent young woman into a psychotic monster who later kills him]]). This may have something to do with Charles Lee, the artist who designed Vander, previously working at Blizzard on ''VideoGame/StarCraftIILegacyOfTheVoid'' cinematics.

* TattooedCrook: Something that Vi and Jinx share after the time skip are their prominent tattoos; Vi's signature VI tattoo on her right cheek as well as her arms, back, and neck, while Jinx's are in her right arm and the right side of her abdomen. Then there's Silco's unnamed GiantMook and chemlord Finn, who are also covered in tattoos.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Childhood friends, even. [[spoiler: Flashbacks to Ekko and Powder happily playing as children with wooden sword and paintball gun play right before Ekko attacks Jinx with a metal pipe while she's trying to nail him with bullets. He ultimately can't finish the beating because of his memories.]]

* TwentyOneGunSalute: Evidently Enforcer funerals are like real-world police funerals, complete with volleys.

* CutLexLuthorACheck: PlayedForDrama when Viktor is examining one of Jinx's grenades as a part of Jayce's ongoing investigations; Viktor notes that while the materials are rather crude the design itself is incredibly meticulous and ingenious, to the point that he has a tough time trying to dissect it and even has a minor WireDilemma when he accidentally triggers it with an errant movement of a piece of metal. If Jinx weren't... well, [[AxCrazy Jinx]], she could've easily made a killing as an engineer in Piltover, even if she is a Zaunite as Viktor himself proved.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Vi convinces Jayce to fight back against Silco by hitting hard and fast before he can react. Sounds awfully a lot like a [[VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends gank]], especially since Vi is a jungler who would participate in such tactics.

* ForeignQueasine: A fantasy spin on it. Jericho the giant [[FishPeople fish man]] serves up various seafood dishes at his street food stall and doesn't speak English. The denizens of the Undercity enjoy it but for people from Piltover like Caitlyn, tentacles in orange slop is rather unappealing.

* MookChivalry: A [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] and [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] example. The terrain of a narrow catwalk over a factory forces the Mooks to come one by one. [[spoiler: They're also not taking the threat of a teenage girl too seriously at first. When Vi is attacked by two mooks at the same time, whether from behind or squeezing together in front, she noticeably struggles more.]]
* MoralLuck: Powder sets off a huge Hexgem-fueled explosion to help her sister and friends free their adoptive father. Unfortunately, her timing is unwittingly so bad that she causes their deaths, instead. And just when they managed to make a safe opening. Vi, overwhelmed by anger, mourning, and trauma, blames Powder for it, calling her a jinx and even going as far as hitting her. {{Subverted}} because, immediately after the fact, Vi comes to regret this her actions. Unfortunately, since Powder admires her big sister so much and they don't get a chance to talk it out, she keeps blaming herself for years. It's further PlayedForDrama when this is what causes her to go insane.

* WardensAreEvil: The Warden of the Stillwater Prison is a loathsome man who is indifferent to the fact that some of his prisoners haven't even been sentenced for any crime and has them beaten regularly as a matter of course.

* CombatPragmatist: Everyone in Zaun does what it takes to win, regardless of fairness.

* DramaticIrony: The show as a backstory delights in juxtaposing characters origins with their eventual state as Champions in VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends.
** Vi who is introduced despising Piltover Enforcers for killing her parents literally has the title of the '''Piltover Enforcer''' as a Champion.
** Powder is a comparatively timid child, who has an emotional need to [[TagAlongKid tag along]] and can't get her grenades to work when Jinx is infamous as the '''Loose Canon''', utterly wild and free with a habit of [[BlowingStuffUp blowing up entire buildings]].
** Caitlyn is shown to be a young rookie whose an outsider amongst the Enforcers when as a Champion she's '''the Sheriff of Piltover'''.
** Ekko is introduced asking for a few more seconds to fix a clock when as a Champion he's '''the Boy who Shattered Time'''.
** Jayce is introduced as a humble researcher who happily works with Viktor when as a Champion he's known as an arrogant hero with a rivalry against Viktor.

* BattleBolas: Enforcers operating in topside Piltover throw orbs that break open to reveal three ropes that entangle around the target. Enforcers going down to the Undercity don't bother with such non-lethal tools.

* BigBadWannabe: During the final arc, Silco has to deal with a hotshot chem-baron named Finn who is trying to muscle him out of his position. Finn presents himself as a badass gangster; covered in tattoos, has a clearly prosthetic jaw that may or may not be replacing his real one, dresses very stylishly, and is clearly trying to give himself some sort of mystique with how he uses his cigarette lighter (holding it bizarrely by the lid while it's open). However despite the image he puts up (and despite the promos for the third arc displaying him as though he could be a threat), he is clearly out of his league. The first time he makes a push, Silco humiliates him. [[spoiler:And even though his second attempt seems to be more on track to success by recruiting Sevika, it turns out Sevika is firmly loyal to Silco and slashes Finn's throat, leaving him to die pathetically.]]

* ButtMonkey: One of Silco's goons is a huge, heavily tattooed, muscular man. In the space of three episodes, he gets [[spoiler:[[OneHitKO one-hit-KO'd]] by a teenaged Vi, gets gut-shot by Jinx during a botched smuggling operation years later, and then gets his jaw broken by a now-adult Vi in prison]].

* CorruptPolitician: The entire council, besides Heimerdinger who seems blissfully ignorant, is guilty of skirting the laws and backroom deals. [[spoiler: Even Jayce is convinced to go along with it as the price of power by Mel.]]

* HookedUpAfterwards: Implied with [[spoiler:Caitlyn and Vi.]] They're close partners in the game, and while they're a bit too busy during the course of the story to become an OfficialCouple, their relationship during it is clearly framed as a burgeoning romance (making it pretty obvious just what kind of 'close partners' they'll actually end up as).

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: All the time. If main characters are having a disagreement, they'll have good reasons to back it up.
** Mylo firmly believes that Powder should not be accompanying the group on their excursions, being too young, clumsy, and prone to accidents--a belief not at all helped when Powder loses the group's greatest haul yet when fleeing a thug. Vi agrees that Powder causes them problems, but also fires back that Mylo does too, from picking fights to complaining about everything. She also points out that the encounter with the thugs only happened because Mylo loudly announced that the group was carrying valuables.
** Jayce's storyline in act 2 is dominated by his conflict with Heimerdinger over when ForScience has gone too far. On Heimerdinger's side, he's right that Jayce and Viktor ''are'' toying with forces beyond their comprehension (Viktor openly admits that their research into runes is mostly random experimentation), and there are still plenty of quirks that they have to iron out, especially for potential applications as weapons. On Jayce and Viktor's side, the faster they can develop the tech the faster it can be used to save people's lives, and with Viktor's condition getting worse and tensions between Zaun and Piltover escalating, there's really no time for decades of testing.
** Silco and Vander fell out over Vander choosing peace over revolution. Silco's not wrong that Vander has accepted the deeply unequal status quo in the name of peace. Vander is correct that the price of violent resistance would be very high in human cost for an uncertain success. [[spoiler: Silco is proven correct that Shimmer is able to intimidate Piltover's council into granting freedom. But Vander's prophecy that he'd sacrifice Zaun's soul doing so comes true, with the flooding of the streets of Zaun with Shimmer and the rise of wealthy Chembarons critically undermining the sense of solidarity the impoverished undercity once had.]]
** Mel and her mother Ambessa support weaponizing Hextech while Viktor strongly opposes it. Viktor insists their Hextech dream was for peace and helping people, not making weapons which will permanently change the nature of their discovery. But Shimmer is such a powerful weapon that without Hextech weapons, Piltover really doesn't stand a chance in a fight.
** Jayce and Vi want direct action against Silco while the council wants to negotiate first. Vi is astonished they'd try diplomacy with a man who so deeply despises them. Allowing him to continue to pump the streets of both Piltover and Zaun with Shimmer is obviously a bad idea. And it's deeply unjust to allow his evil acts go unpunished. [[spoiler: But as Jayce finds out painfully in person, going after Silco would mean war with Zaun. Innocent people, including children will die if they want to root him out. Jayce ultimately flips on the issue, deciding that the price in bodies is just too high. And ironically it turns out that Vi was technically ''wrong'' as, despite his hatred for Piltover, Silco ''was'' willing to negotiate a peace with Jayce -- [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes if only Jayce hadn't demanded he turn over Jinx...]]]]

* AerithAndBob: Quite a wide spectrum of names. Alongside common English names (Violet, Caitlyn, Marcus) are non-English cognates, (Viktor, Mylo), international names (Sevika, Ambessa), and complete inventions (Silco, Claggor).

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[TagLine Every]] [[VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends legend]] [[OriginStory has a beginning.]]'']]

* TwentyOneGunSalute: Evidently Enforcer funerals are like real world police funerals, complete with volleys.

* DramaticIrony: The show as an OriginStory delights in juxtaposing characters origins with their eventual state as Champions in VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends.

* IconicAttributeAdoptionMoment: Quite a few, fitting for the series being an OriginStory.

* OriginStory: For several characters.
** For Vi and Jinx, revealing how the two went from sisters to mortal enemies on opposite sides of the law.
** For Vi and Caitlyn, revealing how the two came to work together (and how Caitlyn rose up through the Enforcers).
** For Jayce and Viktor, showing how they went from partners unlocking the mysteries of Hextech, to rivals on different sides of science.
** A notable one for the enigmatic Singed, showing his life during his early years of being outcast by Piltover [[spoiler: and deeply tying him to Viktor's eventual downward spiral.]]

** Jinx and Ekko. They're a pair of ChildhoodFriends and [[GadgeteerGenius GadgeteerGeniuses]] traumatized by the losses of their respective father figures, but while [[spoiler:Ekko leads a rebellion against Silco, Jinx is his top enforcer. Ekko insists to Vi that Jinx is irredeemable, but appears to change his mind at the last minute.]]

The series was released on November 6, 2021 on {{Creator/Netflix}}, divided into three weekly acts of three episodes for nine in total. [[https://twitter.com/arcaneshow/status/1462214285300432897?s=21 On November 20th, the same day as the third act release, a second season was confirmed to be in production.]] It's planned for a post-2022 release.

* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: Inverted. The show is primarily animated in 3D, with 2D animation used for specific effects such as smoke, explosions, and Jinx's hallucinations.

* PaintedCGI: shaded to look like the characters are painted, and almost every background and special effect you see is likely to be hand-painted. Many stills from the show could be mistaken for a digital painting.

** Vi and Jinx/Powder. In Act 1, they are a pair of sisters: Vi is the street-smart, competent older one, Powder is the more sensitive and sheltered younger one. Fast forward a few years and a couple of traumatic experiences, Vi is a hardened fighter who wants to stop Silco at all costs, while Jinx is the mentally unstable DaddysLittleVillain who opposes her.

** Jinx and Ekko. They're a pair of ChildhoodFriends traumatized by the losses of their respective father figures, but while [[spoiler:Ekko leads a rebellion against Silco, Jinx is his top enforcer. Ekko insists to Vi that Jinx is irredeemable, but appears to change his mind at the last minute.]]

* FormerlyFriendlyFamily: Vi and Powder were incredibly close as kids growing up in the slums of the {{Under City}}, with Powder idolizing her older sister who treated her more leniently as TheBabyOfTheBunch of their adopted family. [[spoiler: Powder's reckless bomb killing the rest of their family causes Vi to lash out physically and verbally at her. When Vi storms off to cool down, it seems like she's abandoning Powder when Vi's arrested before she can return.]] Post-time-skip, their relationship is fraught and messy. Both are torn between a desire to return to their old relationship and how much they've changed as people.

* VillainHasAPoint: Silco may resort to some horrifically extreme methods wanting to start war with Piltover, but he does have a point on how Piltover needlessly antagonizes and oppresses the people living underside. There is also the genuine question of whether [[LibertyOverProsperity violent resistance is justified over accepting being the underclass.]]

** At the end of the third episode, Silco is embracing and comforting Powder, who has just been slapped and abandoned by her older sister. The [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/powder_in_silcos_arms.png final shot]] frames Powder's right eye between Silco's arms -- she's wearing the same expression as Creator/AlexandreCabanel's [[Art/TheFallenAngel Lucifer]] and the lightning makes her eye color appear purplish pink (the same she will later get as Jinx). The context of this situation is that Powder has just accidentally killed all of her adoptive family and that the overwhelming guilt is going to drive her into insanity. Furthermore, this frame parallels one of the [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/powder_in_vis_arms.png promotional posters]], where Powder is being protectively hugged by her older sister and has a more innocent expression. In a sense, this represents how Powder went from a difficult childhood with a loving family to being adopted by a well-intentioned but toxic man who uses her as an assassin.

** DiabolicalMastermind Silco can hold his own with a dagger but lets the fighting to his minions more often than not because, other than his hideous facial scarring, he's not physically imposing at all. In fact, he has to inject a dangerous drug into his left eye to keep his chemical pollution-induced illness to spread out. Silco's power comes from the criminal empire he's slowly built -- as such, his minions include the two most dangerous women in the Undercity -- MadBomber Jinx and TheBrute Sevika -- as well as other muscly grunts. Later, he starts enhancing his enforcers with Shimmer, an addicting substance that leads to mutation and gives the user a great boost in strength, reflexes, and speed.

* WeakBossStrongUnderlings: DiabolicalMastermind Silco can hold his own with a dagger but lets the fighting to his minions more often than not because, other than his hideous facial scarring, he's not physically imposing at all. In fact, he has to inject a dangerous drug into his left eye to keep his chemical pollution-induced illness to spread out. Silco's power comes from the criminal empire he's slowly built -- as such, his minions include the two most dangerous women in the Undercity -- MadBomber Jinx and TheBrute Sevika -- as well as other muscly grunts. Later, he starts enhancing his enforcers with Shimmer, an addicting substance that leads to mutation and gives the user a great boost in strength, reflexes, and speed.

* WeakBossStrongUnderlings: DiabolicalMastermind Silco can hold his own with a dagger but lets the fighting to his minions more often than not because, other than his hideous facial scarring, he's not physically imposing at all. In fact, he has to inject a dangerous drug into his left eye to keep his chemical pollution-induced illness to spread out. Silco's power comes from the criminal empire he's slowly built -- as such, his minions include the two most dangerous women in the Undercity --MadBomber Jinx and TheBrute Sevika--, as well as other muscly grunts. Later, he starts enhancing his enforcers with Shimmer, an addicting substance that leads to mutation and gives the user a great boost in strength, reflexes, and speed.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: One of the first hints that Vi sees things in Powder that aren't there is in the first episode where Vi says she can make the jump over the rooftops. Powder actually messes up and Vi has to save her from falling, an apt metaphor for their story.

** Look closely at what Jinx is working on when [[spoiler: Silco confronts her about her Hextech heist in episode four. It is one of the mechanical lightning bugs she uses to bomb the Enforcers on the bridge to Piltover in episode seven.]]

* GenderIsNoObject: Whether in Piltover or Zaun, men and women seem to serve in equal capacity, if not necessarily in equal numbers. The city council, the Enforcers, Vi and Silco's groups... all contain a mix of male and female members, often with women in high positions. Some details of the setting further imply this, such as that Stillwater Hold seems to be gender-integrated or that Vi's boxing skill goes unremarked-on as unusual, suggesting organized boxing is common among women as well as men.
** Additionally, the creators have said they went out of their way to imagine a society where gender and sexuality are just non-issues. A relationship between Caitlin and Vi, for example - an implication they also confirmed was deliberate - would have many issues, but their both being women wouldn't be one of them.

* KubrickStare: Arguably the SignatureScene of the series is Jinx giving one of these to the camera. To the point that pretty much all marketing and [=YouTube=] reviews of the show use it.

Set in the technologically-advanced, aristocratic city of Piltover, ''Arcane'' follows orphaned sisters Vi and Powder as they grow up in the Undercity, Piltover's impoverished and polluted lower levels. While the people of the Undercity struggle to survive and resist against Piltover's violent law enforcement, Silco, a ruthless crime lord with ambitions to raise the Undercity up into its own self-sufficient nation, begins to make himself known. Meanwhile, Jayce and Viktor, two gifted inventors, seek to revolutionize the city and the world itself by harnessing magic as a powerful new energy source. As tensions in Piltover and the Undercity escalate and war seems like an inevitability, Vi and Powder each find themselves at the center of the conflict as the city hurtles towards a breaking point.