How Jinx Went From Victim to Villain | Arcane Season 1 | Character Analysis & Explained 

Everything is going to be turned upside down in Season 2. Creators said Season 2 will be a season of opposites. Those who had hope for Jinx in season one will have none in season two, those who had none for her in season one, will have Hope for her in season two. So I’m expecting a redemption arc, or a Han Solo arc. Jinx go from watch it all burn 🔥 to 😮 can I be a hero?, Do I deserve to be?Do I deserve forgiveness. That was the other thing one of the creators said that sum up season two in one word “ forgiveness”

Jinx sounds like a compelling character.

It's interesting that when Vi and Jinx meet again in episode 6, we see Silco's words to Vander play out in real time. We expect Jinx to be angry after "the betrayal" but she isn't immediately. "I hated you for what you'd done, but as time passed, so did my hate... You kept my respect, until you made peace with them." Them being enforcers, which is the exact thing that pushes Jinx back into anger, an enforcer showing up and Vi calling her a friend Also, based on her comments in the finale, it sounds like to a degree Jinx is the sister Powder believed Vi would love and not abandon. Strong, competent, violently anti-enforcer, just like Vi was at that age. The fact that all her work to change into this person still doesn't get her Vi's approval and pride but actually pushes her further away?? It flips her whole world on its head

One of my favourite series. The themes are compelling and its presentation - visually especially, but the music is also top notch - are probably un-matched in its genre

I like how both Silco and Jinx have a kind of baptism scene, but they’re completely opposite. Silco is drowned by Vander and emerges by choice full of rage, and by contrast Jinx sets her own bomb on herself, clearly intending to die by fire on the bridge, but is revived by Silco.

The worst part about it, Pitover would have gone easy on powder. It shows how little faith both Zaun and Pitover have in each other. They were already separate city's by this point.

Been anticipating this analysis for a while now. Super excited that it’s finally here. Your character breakdowns are fantastic.

If things were different, she would have made a pretty good Firelight.

I agree with most of what you’re saying but with vi I think while yes she is stuck in the past and didn’t change that way, in the past she would have never work with or hang out with any type of enforcer but now she has and will be doing. Great video btw❤.

On the topic of Silco's relationship with Jinx, I think it's pretty much identical to his relationship with Zaun. He loves both and wants them to become their "best" selves, but his understanding of what that means is limited by his experience. He is not only incapable of making ether of them healthier, he is incapable of even conceiving the idea. The only way he can imagine to "help" this girl or this city is to make them STRONGER at any cost, even if it requires scarring them, filling them with poison, killing off the weak parts of them and changing them into monsters Then no one can betray or harm them ever again

Ok, I get it, I’ll put it on my watchlist But if it’s not as good as you’ve made it seem, I’m blaming Antonio

Regarding Powder's lack of reaction to the death of the first scene, research among the psychology of child soldiers shows that exposure to war and violence at an early age normalizes it. A child establishes what is "normal" at a young age. Those privileged enough to have the shelter of what a Western (relatively) affulent upbtinging see relative peace - familial abuse nonwithstanding - as normal a child growing up in say Gaza or Ukraine is going see violence and death as normal and not show shock or remorse in its presence or committing it. At the time of the bridge incident, V likely has enough relatively peaceful memories that the violence around her causes her cognitive dissonance. Powder on the other hand is so young this is her normal now. In the canon "Enemies" music video you can see young Powder miming shooting Enforcers in the back, and Jinx flashes into view for the second Powder mimes pulling the trigger. Jinx is not an aberration from the innocent Powder. Jinx is that natural result of Powder over time. As I stated for another analysis the absolute healthiest thing for Powder would be to enter a career that would channel her innate violence in a more socially acceptable way such as a soldier because it's not going away no matter how much V wishes it otherwise and ignoring those tendacies...well we saw what happened.

I just watched this full video with no breaks. A really good analysis, i found there were things i hadn’t thought about yet and it was very satisfying. Thanks!

I don't think Silco wants Jinx to abandon Powder to become a vilain. He's aware of how much her past hurts her and thinks she can overcome her pain that way. Silco clearly didn't overcome his own trauma, he's lying to himself. His past is still haunting him. Vander's statue is a clear example : he let people build it, revere it and it clearly means he still respects Vander's memory. His visit in episode 9 is him accepting he never turned the page. Because the statue won't offer him anything, it's a purely internal process. He finally accepts what Vander did.

Omg a whole hour on Jinx!!!

You mean HERO!

Absolutely wonderful essay!! So happy to see you make more Arcane videos. Cannot wait for your analysis of Silco and Vi!

Jinx went from a victim to a villain and probably as a hero too in season 2

Something I noticed about jinx/powder is that when powder kindof breaks through, the shape of her face becomes slightly softer, and then whenshe turns back to jinx it gets sharper again. Other than this i that you noticed more than i would ever have xd

Regarding the ending, don't think of Jinx of destroying a peace. Think of Jinx as Nemesis delivering divine judgement on the unworthy. The true authors of this tragedy are the Piltover Council who ordered the Enforcers to put down Vander's rebellion "by any means necessary" before Episode One even started. The only ones that we know will be spared are this innocent of it; Jayce and Victor due to plot reasons, or who are cast out of Piltover and exiled already; Heimerdinger. Everyone else, Caitlyn's mother included was likely complicit in that order, in the willingness to engage Vander's riot with lethal force. From that point onward they set the seeds for their own judgement by the hand on one they unknowingly created as the embodiment of their karmic due. Arcane really is a Greek tragedy.

Regarding who Powder models herself after, it's not V. It's very subtle but you can see it in the show's visual symbolism. In the very first scene of the series on the Piltover-Zahn bridge, we see an explosion and then an Enforcer looms menacingly out of the smoke and then casually executes a downed Zahnite via a headshot. Now skip ahead to Episode Seven and the confrontation between Marcus and the Enforcers, Caitlyn, Echo, and V on that very same bridge. There is an explosion. Jinx looks menacingly out of the smoke and casually executes a downed Enforcer with a headshot. Jinx didn't model herself after V. She modelled herself after the Enforcers. When in crisis the vulnerable will self-identity with the behavior of those they see carrying themselves most confidently in the crisis. V modelled herself after Vander but Powder subconsciously saw the victorious Enforcers as a better choice. Again in the "Enemies" video, Powder sees Enforcers committing exjudical violence and play acts and fantasizes about committing even harsher violence. This is why Jinx can kill Piltover citizens without a thought because she has seen Piltover Enforcers kill Zahnite without a thought. This is what people do as far as Jinx sees it. This is the cycle of revenge and retribution in action.

I like both Jinx and Vi. I'd say I downright love Vi, cause she is one of the champions I like to play in League :'D Then again, there is no character in Arcane I truly hate, not even Marcus

Jinx is my favorite character in all of Arcane. Even if I do not condone what she did, in all honesty Jinx was kind of inevitable for Powder given her environment. Dealing with parental figures that were confusing and of course the topic of finding her own purpose. Sure Vander and Vi cared for her. But Milo was cosntantly judging her, Vi was getting too overprotective for her own good, and Vander does treat Powder as defenseless even though he genuinely cares for her. Perhaps this constant coddling unfortunately made Powder be weak and constantly rely on protecrion she was basically defenseless. Now I do not blame Vi completly but yes the scene where she confronts Powder sadly made Powder think she was a Jinx. A Jinx that only spreads misery. Now she is named Jinx and is taken care of by Vander's former brother and enemy Silco. Now I feel in my eyes Silco and Jinx's relationship is my favorite parts of Arcane. They're nor good people and yet unlike most villains who would treat them poorly Silco respects Jinx. At least Jinx was able to have a home unlike for example Ryan dealing with Homelander's insanity or Raven being treated badly by Trigon. But Silco is not Dr. Doofensmirtz. He is too busy plotting schemes to focus on Jinx, and his philosophy is overall unhealthy to Jinx's care. He also is unable to cope with his trauma so he's essentially making Jinx worse. Though without Silco, Powder would be defenseless without her family so I cannot blame Powder for siding with someone who could be her family. Though Silco is not able to provide comfort for he is still dealing with the loss of Vander's legacy and reuniting Zaun. He may cared for Jinx but he did not do well with parental responsibility and combined with Vi returning made Jinx confused. Conflicted on what she should do by following or listening to herself. At the end of the day though I feel Jinx is ultimately the byproduct of Zaun and Piltover. And its inevitable given the class divide combined with survival making Powder lose it. She wants to be useful and yet everytime she jinxes it. Claggor, Milo, and Vander perish and now Silco. And while she is not completly excusable, the real enemy in my opinion is Piltover and Zaun. Both environments destined to fight as they are unable to accept peace. This causes all characters to spite and fight unable to see the bigger picture. I've seen many fanfics try to give Powder a happy ending. Have Piltover raise her. Or I don't know have Mel, Jayce or Viktor, and Herimerdinger give a happy life. The issue is that Powder is from Zaun and the only reason why Viktor is allowed is thanks to his intelligence. There is no way they could handle Powder's unstable feelings and the Council would've jailed her or worse. No way could Powder deal with being alone without a familiar person and I do not think she would be happy in Piltover. So overall I feel Jinx is sadly inevitable and doomed to suffer. Imagine if Jinx caused the demises of both Vi and Silco. That would be so horrifying because Caitlyn would try to arrest her, Jinx would be so lost she losses it, and as a result things would've been more worse. It's tragic Zaun found a new leader but that leader was a normal scared girl unable to cope and deal with trauma. That is why Jinx is my favorite character.

Thought provoking and insightful character study -- of Powder/Jinx as a symbol, a metaphor, a representation. Also, an empathetic (or at least more empathetic) reflection of who P/J was as a person. Or whom they could have been/become as a person, as seen through the microcosm/fishbowl playground Arcane welcomed us into. We as the audience can't change or alter the past of the story (however just or unjust, however fair or unfair it may be), any more than the characters themselves -- I'm sure that's part of the point. Permanence is broken, taken, destroyed by striving for change; prosperity is a house of cards, built on a lie; peace is an illusion, maintained by a juggling act of 'what's best for everyone'. Insert Jedi/Sith code here. Thank you for sharing your insightful (and persuasive) observations with us! I really enjoyed it; really enjoyed peering into a well thought out, observant stream of consciousness, to turn over all the chipped, shiny, well washed stones and marvel at the treasures offered. Differing perspectives are wonderful! All of that being said, I'm often confused why (except on the most surface symbolic level -- and maybe that's all the series was trying to say?) others interpret that final voting sessions of Piltover's Council as anything other than a half-measure. Too little, too late. Other than framing (all of that light from the darkness, tremulous agreement in shifting the status quo from arrogant ownership to burgeoning accountability -- that hopeful illumination and the expressions on Mel's and Jayce's face, do a LOT of heavy lifting to set the tone), how did that vote represent anything more than begrudgingly holding out a treat to a kicking toddler that would have been snatched back the instant Silco didn't hand over Jinx -- he'd already sacrificed his lifelong ambition of a free and independent Zaun (at least through treaty). That was his choice: his daughter over his easily attainable political goals. The brokered peace would've failed regardless of Jinx's actions, because the core condition/sacrifice wasn't going to be met/honored. I've watched Arcane so many times looking for that one line, or scene, or hint Jayce was going to hand over independence to Zaun, just because. There were a lot of reasons to let Zaun become it's own entity (the right thing to do being foremost), but just as many (selfish, political, stickler) reasons not to. Sure, the Council had adapted, perhaps showing growth, or empathy, or at least some measure of responsibility for what chickens had come home to roost, what wolf (or Warwick) had come knocking at their door. But honestly, unless I've just been too dense to notice it (not discounting this possibility), it just wasn't present in the show. It seems like an awful omission from the story if that was the intent of those last few joyous moments before Jinx's rocket kicked that door closed with explosive finality. So I'm curious -- am I missing something? Sure, the leaders of Piltover should be lauded for changing their mindset, for allowing the possibility of reconciliation to take root (much like the Firelight's tree), but there was no indication it would be honored when Jacye's ultimatum wasn't met. Peace/independence was never possible without the base violence necessary for change (which Jinx provided, fulfilling Silco-- her father's, prophecy), right? So what did Jinx... jinx? I mean I know we, as omniscient observers to the tragedy, were nudged in that direction. "Peace was gonna happen, but Jinx jinxed it! Again! What the hell, Milo was right about her; she ruins everything!" But what did she ruin? She wasn't going to turn herself in. Even if her survival instinct, and her sense of subverted justice, of the unfairness of it all, motivated her to end the conflict without further bloodshed (P/J never struck me as altruistic), even with that hypothetical, Silco's final admonition was, "The topsiders offered me everything. Independance, a seat at the table. All in return for you. They can all burn!", "I never would have given you to them. Not for anything." He wanted the city of Zaun. He wanted Jinx's freedom (also her happiness, but that's a whole 'nother Greek tragedy). Jinx offered her solution. Just my take on the situation. 🤣 Arcane in a nutshell? William Shakespere's Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56964/speech-tomorrow-and-tomorrow-and-tomorrow Favorite characters: Jinx/Powder, Ekko, Rio (I love me some abused underdog). Second favorite? Mel, Vander, Greyson (I love me some doomed idealists). In the immortal words of Logan from X-Men Origins: Wolverine (some people will admit watching it!), "Wow. 'Koo-koo-ka-choo' got screwed." Cheers!

Great Jinx analysis! What are your opinions of the symbolic representation of Crows in reference to Jinx? In a lot of Arcane's messaging I think the crow quite literally represents Jinx. Any moment Jinx tries to bring out the emotional, Powder side of her a crow appears, like the manifestation of Jinx outcasted from her body. In the old hideout, she killed the crow to test how much strength Powder had on her own just to come second to Vi. When she meets Vi and Powder takes over we see another crow watching that caws out in warning as Caityn approaches. And during the tea party Jinx tries to reconnect with Vi as crows surround the factory that only fly away and reform into Jinx right when she shoots at Silco... Keep up the Arcane content the community needs every bit 😭😭

The fact that I still find new original content that doesn’t double down on anything beforehand is truly astonishing. So let me add a bit more of what I personally saw to the themes I saw in the video: 1. Neither Silco nor Jinx are villains. 2. To understand the dynamic between the characters you need to not only know how they came to be but also how they choose to hide themselves. So what do I mean by that. No character in Arcane is truly themselves even in the end of Arcane season 1. And all of it can be tied back to the flashback of Heimerdinger in episode 5 I believe („You must destroy it“ referring to the Hexcore). Because in this flashback we learn that Piltover is one big coping mechanism for Heimerdinger to keep his sanity save as he cannot understand war (in contrast to Ambessa which will come up later). So the entirety of Piltover is build on lies. As in episode 4 we learn that Heimerdinger has shut down similar minds to Jaces (breaking any scientific advance in the field of magic). Back then he had the trust from his citizens as they came to Piltover to be safe from war. But with more and more people coming Heimerdingers control over the situation shrunk. So the Undercity was born. In an attempt to control them (as being on the different side of the river more police present is necessary) the regulations mainly applied to the under city, which created a positiv feedback loop. This ends up creating a resistance and so on and so on (idk the exact lore from Runthera and Piltover but from what I can piece together this resistance was mainly be part of a religious cult and in such partially based in magic). The fact is that in this environment of lies all of the sides are forced to live in a lie. Behind the walls of Piltover is nothing. They are the best, they are the greatest forever. This created a class system even in Piltover (as stated by Jace in the final episode to Ambessa the academy has less than a 3% chance of success). So the council mainly composed of scientists and liars like Mel or Heimerdinger himself just cannot even represent its own people. So in Piltovers undercity as in the furthest away from this ideal obviously thrives for this but they can’t ever achieve it. You know what I am going to say. Viktors bound with Jace is fake and about to shatter just like Vi saw it happen with Cupcake. Then we go over to Powder who cannot be herself anymore (because she killed the only parts of her true world). So she created her own through Jinx. Similarly Vi lives in a mad world where the events of episode 2-3 never happened and she can go back if she punches the reason to death. Even Ekko who might be the closest from the main cast to living in the real world just can’t as he is punished again and again by his past in the form of Jinx in the form of the enforcer that took Vander and „killed“ Benzo for trying. Finally Ambessa is the only one who actually sees the world as it is. „Weapons cannot be undone and are always used“. But even she can’t tell her daughter this and banishes her instead coping to save her. Now we know what all of them hid and we start to see a common theme: Love of any kind destroys reality. Heimerdinger copes with it by creating similarly to all Piltovian characters. Powder and Zaunite characters by proving themselves. However what separates them is what they love the most. And the only one who loves himself the most is Heimerdinger. His destruction created the war between the cities and the conditions to create Jinx. So Jinx is no villain. Just a desperate girl coping with the loss of her sister. Silco is not a villain but just the manifestation of the under cities inferiority. This is the perspective I have to analyze the rest of each character. I know this comment is messy but well Im just excited lol. So lets finish it: 1. You can’t talk about any of these characters separately. 2. There are no villains in Arcane as a villain needs malicious intent. None of these characters show malicious intent. 3. Arcane is also not about miscommunication as this needs to imply a communication in the first place. And the few characters that communicate don’t have any of that. Arcane is about humans thinking they are right and believing it. 4. Arcane is about love and the tearing down of reality to make unconditional love work. 5. Especially Powder is in the center of this theme paralleling with Vi, Ekko, Jinx, Vander, Silco and Ambessa and Mel. 6. The starting point (Heimerdingers Trauma) isn’t solvable, which leaves him with Jinx as the main protagonist. 7. This problem leaves the rest of the characters stuck not fitting in either world (the mad one from Jinx or Heimerdinger). But they have to choose to survive leaving all of them as fakes. 8. Now with Heimerdinger gone and Jinx being more confident than ever everyone can start wearing their true self which sets up season 2. 9. The fact that all of this was there since the beginning but hidden by love for details is for me solid proof that this can be right. 10. I think we will be shocked to see what happened to all of the characters. Sry for the wall of text but thank you for reading anyways. Have a nice day AEther

Amazing! 10/10 (im 5 seconds in) 😂 Seriously tho the topics are always great.

I was wondering why i had't seen your video before, turns out is new xddd i love the análisis you've made!!!

Love jinx/Powder as character development

Imma be honest i am the real life presentation of powder but i didn't kill that past self of mine yes i tried to push it away but then i realised it wasn't the right way just wanted to say hopefully she realises too and i am just hoping to god she doesn't die in the end cause if she dies and her goals are incomplete i will have a breakdown

very well done essay. I literally couldnt stop watching

The thing is during Jinx's Tea Party, if you count Jinx and Powder as 2 separate identities, its not Jinx during the Tea Party its Powder and her asking Vi to kill Caitlyn is her, in the guise of Jinx asking her sister to keep the "Monster" (Caitlyn) away and when Vi, unknowingly mind you, dredges up all of her bad memories and insecurities Silco sees whats going on and tries to shoot Vi not only to end Vi's influence on Jinx but also mainly to protect his daughter and when Powder, Yes Powder not Jinx, shoots him and he lay dying he doesn't repremand her or blame her in any way he instead calls her perfect thereby reaffirming her which is the exact opposite of what Vi did and ultimately causes Powder who once upon a time had her innocent life shattered by Vi's repremand to finally let that innocence die by giving in whole heartedly to being Jinx it is truly great writing tragic yes but great

Love a good villain

A villain? Nah, fuck that, everything Jinx has done so far is either fine or excusable and from the looks of it, she gets even better in season 2.

I'd heard that this was a good show but never watched it. Wow, now I really want to watch it. As an aside, it seemed like your main light was a bit overpowering. Could barely see the structure/features of your face, the brightness was washing it all out.

Silko manipulated Powder from a young age and encouraged her darker impulses