History NightmareFuel / Arcane

** As a FreezeFrameBonus, when Silco reaches forward to play with the blocks that Marcus' daughter has set up, his shadow's hands are at her neck.

* Singed and Silco's experiment with [[PsychoSerum Shimmer]] is creepy as hell. Singed puts a menacing [[CreepyHairlessAnimal hairless cat]] inside a cage with a terrified rat, and then taps on the glass to make the rat drink from a feeding tube filled with Shimmer. As it quickly ingests the drug, there are cuts to the rat's nerves mutating it doubles over in pain and begins to transform. As it's HulkingOut, it gains purple TaintedVeins and GlowingEyesOfDoom as it grows in size, as the [[HorrifyingTheHorror cat goes from unnerved to genuinely terrified]]. From the mutated rat's perspective, it then rushes the cat as it lets out a panicked shriek, and the last that's seen of it is its blood splattering on the cage's now-cracked glass walls as Silco and Singed recoil from the impact.

* Deckard being persuaded to use [[PsychoSerum Shimmer]]. He initially refuses to take the drug, well aware that it would kill him. However, [[ManipulativeBastard Silco manipulates him]] with promises of power, and with great hesitance, he decides to pop the lid off and down the vial's contents in one go. And not unlike the rat from the previous episode, he immediately falls to his knees and clutches his head in pain as he begins to groan. He gains purple TaintedVeins, and his eyes [[GlowingEyesOfDoom glow a piercing blue]] as he shakes and screams, and the camera cuts away to the entrance to Silco's hideout as Deckard's screams echo throughout the building.

*** It's sad because there's some truth in that. Look carefully at her body posture when she grabs Powder and calls her a jinx. [[FridgeHorror She's hunched back, like how a monster like the Boogeyman would be hunched back]]. During her MomentOfWeakness, [[MyGreatestFailure Vi became the monster]].

* [[PsychoForHire Jinx's re-introduction]] to the viewers after the TimeSkip. The Firelights mount a successful and efficiently-timed raid on Silco's forces, immobilizing all the visible goons above-deck and thoroughly in control of the situation. But the minute their leader sends two of their number below deck to search for more Shimmer barrels, [[MookHorrorShow everything goes to hell]]. One of them activates a tripwire that seals the hatch shut behind them, with Jinx's signature spray-painted monkey symbol drawn across it in neon-coloured paint which is brightly illuminated in the darkness of the hold, showing how the two of them are in ''her'' domain. The Firelights' visible panic about being sealed in takes them from the competent badasses who just mounted a daring attack and makes them mere people scared for their lives, especially when they realize that "[[TheDreaded She's]] here". The audible panic and despair present in their voice sells how ''screwed'' the Firelights know they are, contrasted against the [[NothingIsScarier darkness and silence]] of the hold Jinx is hiding in. And very much at odds with her usual boisterous and explosive personality seen in game, it's clear that Jinx is ''hunting'' the Firelights, and moreover, is enjoying toying with them, with the whole thing being framed like a horror film with Jinx darting through the darkness, just out of view. When the Firelights reluctantly investigate deeper into the hold to find their assailant, all they see is a still-moving children's swing sitting at odds with their surroundings, showing how Jinx is still trapped in her childhood -- and they barely have time to register the word '[[PreMortemOneLiner Boom]]' spray-painted across the bottom of the swing before Jinx sails past them on a transport crane, sticking each of them with [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill 3 grenades each]] which clamp down tightly to the Firelights with bear trap jaws, leaving no hope of removal. The Firelights can only look at each other before they're blown to pieces, the smoke from the blast venting out through the hatch and creating an obscuring fog bank that the monster responsible for all that emerges from -- [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon looking just like an ordinary teenage girl]], even saying '[[DissonantSerenity Hi]]' to the Firelights before abruptly biting the pins off two grenades and throwing them straight into two more members' heads, sending them falling over the side to messily explode off-screen. It's a chilling representation of how much Powder's character has both [[UsedToBeASweetKid fallen]] and [[TookALevelInBadass risen]] all at once.

* The opening sequence itself is unnerving. The surroundings are smothered in a blood-red haze, and we can barely see anything until a sudden explosion happens and someone gets blown back. Followed by a Piltovan Enforcer emerging from the smoke and giving them a CoupDeGrace with their rifle. Said Enforcer looks absolutely hellish, with headwear not unlike the [[Anime/JinRohTheWolfBrigade Wolf Brigade]] with the helmet, visor, and [[GasMaskMooks mask]] that covers their whole face, with said visor seemingly glowing menacingly as they cock their rifle in slow-motion. We then see corpses, debris, and fires burning all around from the first-person perspective, all contributing to an absolutely nightmarish scene. And all the while there's CreepyChildrenSinging amid the muffled sounds of the conflict, which turns out to be a younger Powder singing a nursery rhyme while being led along by a younger Vi, who is [[HarmfulToMinors absolutely horrified]] by everything she's seeing, and she eventually breaks down in tears when finding the bodies of their parents.

* The opening sequence itself is unnerving. The surroundings are smothered in a blood-red haze, and we can barely see anything until a sudden explosion happens and someone gets blown back. Followed by a Piltovan Enforcer emerging from the smoke and giving them a CoupDeGrace with their rifle. Said Enforcer looks absolutely hellish, with headwear not unlike the [[Anime/JinRohTheWolfBrigade Wolf Brigade]] with the helmet, visor, and [[GasMaskMooks mask]] that covers their whole face, with said visor seemingly glowing menacingly as they cock their rifle in slow-motion. We then see corpses, debris, and fires burning all around from the first-person perspective, all contributing to an absolutely nightmarish scene. And all the while there's CreepyChildrenSinging amid the muffled sounds of the conflict, which turns out to be a younger Powder singing a nursery rhyme while being led along by a younger Vi, who is [[HarmfulToMinors absolutely mortified]] by everything she's seeing, and she eventually breaks down in tears when finding the bodies of their parents.

* The DecapitationPresentation fake out, with Jinx carrying a heavy-looking plate covered with a silver dome and setting it in front of a tied-up and [[BreakTheBadass horrified Vi]], saying she [[AndYourLittleDogToo visited Vi's "girlfriend"]] and [[ImAHumanitarian "made her a snack"]]. It's clear that her choice of words make Vi assume that Jinx really ''is'' going to present Caitlyn's severed head to her, and when the cover is lifted, Vi shouts "No!" as her memories briefly flash to Caitlyn during their heart-to-heart moment in Caitlyn's room. It's even implied that Jinx ''wanted'' Vi to think that, just to rub salt in the wound.

* The DecapitationPresentation fake out. Jinx carrying a heavy-looking plate covered with a silver dome and setting it in front of a tied-up and [[BreakTheBadass horrified Vi]], saying she [[AndYourLittleDogToo visited Vi's "girlfriend"]] and [[ImAHumanitarian "made her a snack"]]. When the cover is lifted, there was even a brief flash of Caitlyn's face, with the implication that Vi thought Jinx was going to present Caitlyn's severed head. And the implication that Jinx ''wanted'' Vi to think that, just to rub salt in the wound.

* [[BeingEvilSucks Perpetually distressed]] [[DirtyCop Marcus]] returns home, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes looking optimistic to see his daughter,]] only to find Silco and two of his thugs waiting for him in the same room as her. His daughter is completely oblivious to who they are, as Silco had befriended her enough to convince her they're simply her father's friends. As Silco questions Marcus about Vi, he makes subtle threats against his daughter's life that fly over her head but Marcus gets right away as he pleads for another chance. Throughout the entire scene, the [[PerpetualFrowner otherwise unhappy but stoic Marcus]] is seen with a look of absolute terror as his eyes rapidly go back and forth between his daughter and Silco.

* When Vi calms down and turns back, [[AdultFear she sees Silco standing over Powder]]. As she panics and starts to run towards her, she is subdued and knocked out by Marcus, leaving her sister alone with the murderous madman.

* When Vi calms down and turns back, she finds Silco standing over Powder. As she panics and starts to run towards her, she is subdued and knocked out by Marcus, leaving her sister alone with the murderous madman.

* Jayce's lifelong pursuit of harnessing the power of magic stemmed from an incident in his childhood, where he and his mother were trapped in a raging snowstorm and only survived due to a mage passing by and teleporting them out. While it did end on a positive note, with both of them being alive and well in the present, there's a great deal of AdultFear involved in the young Jayce's situation. His mother collapses in the snow and is on the verge of death, with her [[{{Fingore}} fingers now blackened from frostbite]], and Jayce is desperately trying to shake her awake and begging for someone to come and save them.

* When Vi calms down and turns back, she finds Silco standing over Powder. [[AdultFear As she panics and starts to run towards her, she is subdued and knocked out by Marcus, leaving her sister alone with the murderous madman.]]

* [[BeingEvilSucks Perpetually distressed]] [[DirtyCop Marcus]] returns home, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes looking optimistic to see his daughter,]] only to find Silco and two of his thugs waiting for him in the same room as her. His daughter is completely oblivious to who they are, as Silco had befriended her enough to convince her they're simply her father's friends. As Silco questions Marcus about Vi, he makes subtle threats against his daughter's life that fly over her head but Marcus gets right away as he pleads for another chance. Throughout the entire scene, the [[PerpetualFrowner otherwise unhappy but stoic Marcus]] is [[AdultFear seen with a look of absolute terror]] as his eyes rapidly go back and forth between his daughter and Silco.

** When Silco wakes up once it's over, he groggily sees the empty operating table and stumbles over to it, and gets a good look at Jinx's bloodstains splattered across it. He then grabs a scalpel and holds Singed at knifepoint in a rage, demanding what he had done to his daughter. The AdultFear of not knowing what a madman has done to your child is nothing short of chilling.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dreckard_3.jpg]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_15_43.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"[[MeatgrinderSurgery I understand this must be painful]]. [[SoftSpokenSadist I'm afraid it will only get worse]]".]]

* Powder's DeathGlare pictured above, looking right at the camera. That, along with the eyes [[{{Foreshadowing}} appearing pink]] from the surrounding flames, signals [[StartOfDarkness the start of Powder's transformation into Jinx]].

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[MeatgrinderSurgery I understand This must be painful]]. [[SoftSpokenSadist I'm afraid it will only get worse]]".]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arcane3.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[StartOfDarkness "We will show them all."]]]]

* Viktor's failing health. While the previous episode already featured him much worse for wear after the TimeSkip, looking more haggard, gaining a brace on his crippled leg, and upgrading his cane to a crutch, he is now at the point where he is coughing blood. And while experimenting on his new project, he coughs up blood and outright collapses, all from a first-person perspective, complete with his vision going red and blurry. And that's to say nothing of his experiment [[BloodMagic absorbing his blood]], an ominous sign that whatever comes out of it can't be good.

* A blink and you miss it moment, but when Jinx is firing off the flare Vi gave her, and the camera pans around to show her lifelike delusions of Mylo and Claggor, they both bear the wounds that killed them - Mylo with a bloodstain over his heart, and Claggor with blood trickling down his forehead, which means Powder had to have seen them once they were recovered.

* In a flashback to Mel's past in a nightmare, the brutal nature of Noxian society is made apparent when her mother, having just conquered more lands for the country, confronts a young Mel with a choice to execute or spare a surviving member of the local nobility, a frightened girl her age. A concerned Mel understandably wants the girl to live, but her mother thinks otherwise and [[OffWithHerHead lops her head off]], with the life visibly leaving her eyes before her head rolls off her shoulders. Mel can only watch in horror at the blood on the ground, and she wakes up terrified from the nightmare, with the scene featured in a painting right behind her bed.

* Singed's operation on the gravely wounded Jinx.
** Before it even begins, Singed tries to warn Silco that she might be better off dead, and when he refuses to let her die, Singed agrees to help - starting by sedating Silco so he wouldn't watch the procedure, knowing from personal experience as a father himself that he wouldn't be able to mentally withstand seeing his daughter in such pain. It's an ominous sign that whatever happens won't be pretty.

* Jinx post-Shimmer procedure just becomes far creepier and more menacing that she's basically ''walking Nightmare Fuel''. Every shot she's in emphasizes her [[RedEyesTakeWarning newly-glowing eyes]], which, alongside her more erratic movements, her skinnier frame, her paler complexion, and her [[DullEyesOfUnhappiness vacant stare]] serve to make her look more like a bony wraith than an actual person.

* Powder's DeathGlare pictured above, looking right at the camera. That, along with the eyes [[{{Foreshadowing}} appearing pink]] from the surrounding flames, signifies Powder's [[StartOfDarkness transformation into Jinx]].

** Sevika shoves Silco out of the way of the blast. While it's thankfully just a silhouette, her left arm seemingly ''[[AnArmAndALeg completely disintegrates]]''. When Silco and his gang find Powder in the aftermath, an unconscious Sevika is being held by one of them, and while her arm didn't really get vaporized, it's reduced a charred and blackened lump of useless flesh, which she had to replace with a prosthetic by the present.

*** It's sad because there's some truth in that. Look carefully at her body posture when she grabs Powder and calls her a jinx. [[FridgeHorror She's hunched back, like how a monster like the Boogeyman would be hunched back]]. During her MomentOfWeakness, [[MyGreatestFaliure Vi became the monster]].