History WesternAnimation / Arcane

* AlternateContinuity: Given the massive amounts of changes to backstories and even personalities, it should be no surprise that the show does not sync up well with the canon lore of the games, often outright contradicting it. When asked, the creators themselves have stated that Arcane does not affect game lore. It's basically like how the MCU affects Marvel Comics; there might be changes due to popularity but ultimately the movies are not canon to the comics. The only time the show may be considered canon is when it depicts events not covered in the lore, such as the dramatic event in her past that shaped Jinx, which is only alluded to in the lore but fully shown in the show.

** 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 Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void cinematics.

** Caitlyn and Vi's dynamic is very SlapSlapKiss, especially during the scene where they head to the brothel in Episode 5. At one point Vi even tells Caitlyn "You're hot, Cupcake" before doing a WallPinOfLove on her and asking if she's interested in men or women; Caitlyn is clearly flustered, but she doesn't look for an exit and her eyes are fixed right on Vi's face. Later, as Vi is leaving the brothel, she notices Caitlyn flirting with a female patron and smiles to herself as though she's happy to know that Caitylyn ''is'' interested in women.

** Caitlyn and Vi's dynamic is very SlapSlapKiss, especially during the scene where they head to the brothel in Episode 5. At one point Vi even tells Caitlyn "You're hot, Cupcake" before getting ''very'' close and asking if she's interested in men or women. Later in the same episode, as Vi is leaving the brothel, she becomes very pleased to see Caitlyn flirting with a female patron. Caitlyn's response to Vi's WallPinOfLove isn't to look for an exit. Her eyes are fixed right on Vi's face.

* VagueAge: While Heimerdinger and Jayce outright state their ages, every other character has to be guessed. [[https://i.redd.it/wo19pu0vsw181.jpg Word of God]] states that Caitlyn and Vi are around 14-16 and Powder is 11-12ish in Act 1. The Timeskip to Act 2 is stated to have aged them 6-7 years.

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: The flare that Vi gives to Powder in Act 1 makes a stunningly emotional comeback in the climax of Act 2.]]

* TheChainsOfCommanding: One of the reoccurring themes of the show is the messiness and difficulty of being a leader, oftentimes being forced to make moral compromises. Jayce is convinced that corruption and schmoozing with the elites is a necessary part of keeping his seat on the council, which he accepts as the price to pay so he can ensure the safety and future technological advancement of Piltover. Vander lectures Vi early on about how being a leader means that you can't afford to be selfish, and he also has a secret working relationship with the Enforcers who brutally put down the revolution he personally led because it keeps the peace. [[spoiler:Even Silco, while more exploitative in his relationship with Marcus and planning to revolt, still has to maintain a level of peace, so his anger at Jinx killing Enforcers sounds eerily similar to Vander's anger at Vi after she and her gang inadvertently blew up Jayce's apartment in Piltover.]]

** Vandar and Silco. Both were previously very close friends who wanted more for the undercity, but their differing attitudes led Vander to try and kill Silco. Vander's failed rebellion in the backstory led him to maintain a fragile peace with Piltover instead, which Silco -- who wants to use Shimmer to fight Piltover -- derides as weak. It's telling that [[spoiler:after Silco is offered everything he wanted for Zaun at the price of Jinx, who was formerly Vander's foster daughter, who does he have a symbolic conversation with but Vander's statue?]]

* TheCameo: Animated avatars of Music/ImagineDragons show up in episode 5 to perform the show's ThemeSong, "Enemy".

* TheCameo: Animated avatars of Music/ImagineDragons show up in episode 5 to preform the show's ThemeSong, "Enemy".

* DownerBeginning: The very first scene of the series shows a young Vi and Powder walking across a bridge where a violent conflict has taken place, only to discover the dead bodies of their parents. It [[EstablishingSeriesMoment firmly establishes]] that this story will be a good deal DarkerAndEdgier than [[VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends the game on which it's based]].

** Jayce also shows off a prototype mining glove capable of crushing a boulder with ease. [[{{Prequel}} No points on guessing who will end up wielding them.]]

** Right off the bat in episode 1, we get a brutal, realistic street fight involving ''kids''. You have blood, swearing, children being traumatized, the explicit depiction of prostitution. And then it progressively gets turned UpToEleven as the first act progresses.

* TheChainsOfCommanding: One of the reoccurring themes of the show is the messiness and difficulty of being a leader, oftentimes being forced to make moral compromises. Jayce is convinced that corruption and schmoozing with the elites is a necessary part of keeping his seat on the council, which he accepts as the price to pay so he can ensure the safety and future technological advancement of Piltover. Vander has a secret working relationship with the Enforcers who brutally put down the revolution he personally led because it keeps the peace. [[spoiler: Even Silco, while more exploitative in his relationship with Marcus and planning to revolt, still has to maintain a level of peace, so his anger at Jinx killing Enforcers sounds eerily similar to Vander's anger at Vi after she and her gang inadvertently blew up Jayce's apartment in Piltover.]]

* TheChainsOfCommanding: One of the reoccurring themes is the messiness and difficulty of being a leader, being forced to make moral compromises. Jayce is convinced that corruption and shmoozing with the elites is a necessary part of keeping his seat on the council, which he accepts as the price to pay so he can ensure the safety and future technological advancement of Piltover. Vander has a secret working relationship with the Enforcers which brutally put down the revolution he personally led because it keeps the peace. [[spoiler: Even Silco, while more exploitative in his relationship with Marcus and planning to revolt, still has to maintain a level of peace, so his anger at Jinx killing Enforcers sounds eerily similar to Vander.]]

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 release in 2023.

* HookedUpAfterwards: Implied with [[spoiler:Caitlyn and Vi.]] They're close partners in the game this show is a prequel to, 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).

* 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 verbally and physically 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.

* 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. 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.
* ForWantOfANail: The creation of [[{{Magitek}} Hextech]] started from Vi and the others stealing from Jayce's workshop. Which led to its destruction and Jayce being expelled for his research into magic, afterwhich he partnered with Viktor to utilize the runes and succeeds, creating Hextech.

** 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.
** Hextech is built around tapping into the power of blue crystals. It's treated as an energy source and without any known side effects on users. There is no waste product or runoff to deal with, making it neat and tidy. It's flexible, capable of providing power to either transportation or weapons. Jayce and Viktor created it with earnest intentions. Though only implied in the show (by [[spoiler: Sky's disintegration]]), [[PoweredByAForsakenChild the Hextech crystals canonically contain the souls of the Brackern and were stolen from their people]]. The technology is clean, inherently innovative, but only possible from the suffering of innocents that the creators don't know or care about, much like Piltover as a whole.

* SourceMusic: supplied by a jukebox in episodes 2 and 9, and by [[TheCameo animated versions]] of Music/ImagineDragons in episode 5.

* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: supplied by a jukebox in episodes 2 and 9, and by [[TheCameo animated versions]] of Music/ImagineDragons in episode 5.

* DoomedByCanon:
** 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.]]
** Powder is doomed to become the mentally unstable Jinx no matter how happy she seems in the moment.
* 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]].