Arcane: Find your Fate

Everything happens for a reason. How often have people reading this article and I heard those words? When you're younger, these words can sound incredibly magical, like your life is the plot of some great story. When you’re older, you stop believing it, though the phrase can feel like an inescapable cage. Like everyone else, there was a time in my life when I felt lost, and the future seemed bleak. Arcane is a show that blends the idea in both positive and negative ways, just as perfectly as it blends the genres of fantasy and steampunk. It provides a large cast of incredible characters beginning their paths and shows incredible development for each of them.

(Anyone who wants spoilers to Arcane, right this way.)

Arcane is a show set in a world where science and magic exist simultaneously. The story takes place in the cities of Piltover and Zaun. Piltover is known as the city of progress; it focuses on scientific advancement. Zaun is known as the undercity, Piltovers' bad side of town, the slums. Piltover has always lorded over Zaun and looked down on and oppressed the people who live there. The show follows characters from both of these cities and their origin stories. You see exactly how they became the characters from the League of Legends game.

As a kid who loved watching fantasy shows, the theme of destiny and fate always seemed so incredible and magical. Why wouldn’t it be you’re watching a show or reading a book about heroes destined to save the day. When you’re shown fate from the perspective of a protagonist, it seems great. Like other kids my age, I wanted there to be a grand plan for my life that led to a happy ending. However, things change as you grow up and start seeing reality as it is. You realize you're not the main character of some grand story, and things won’t always turn out well for you despite your best intentions.

The character Jinx is a prime example of this theme. Jinx used to be called Powder and grew up in Zaun with her older sister, Violet, another main character. When she was a child, Powder accidentally killed Vander, the man who raised her and Violet, when Powder was trying to help Violet rescue him from a crime boss named Silco. This was after Powder ignored Violet’s order to stay home. Violet blamed Powder and called her a Jinx before leaving her crying alone in the rain (a decision she regrets later on). That same night, Powder was taken in by the very man who caused all of this, Silco. After being raised by Silco and mentally unstable with guilt over her actions, Powder became Jinx, the nemesis of her sister Violet.

Anyone who plays League of Legends knows who Jinx is and her relationship with her sister, but seeing it come to fruition on screen was incredibly moving. I’ve heard people say Arcane plays like a Greek tragedy, and they’re right. One of the most common themes in those tragedies is that they could have been avoided. The story of Icarus is a good example. It wasn’t inevitable for Powder to become Jinx; it was the result of choices in a situation that brought a tragic outcome. Powder went to help instead of staying put like Violet told her to. Violet left Powder alone with her guilt, and Silco kidnapped Vander and raised Powder after his death.

For the next part, I want to start off with an experience of my own that has a bit more of a positive aspect. After graduating from high school, I originally wanted to enter the hospitality industry, so I applied for a college that offered practical experience. After waiting, I don’t remember how many weeks it was before I got a response saying a C- in English wasn’t good enough. It was disappointing, but after that, I found the current journalism program, which fit much better. If I had paid more attention in English class, I might have wasted money on a different course that didn’t suit me.

That little personal tidbit helps me segway to the story of another main character, Jayce Talis. Jayce is a fiercely intelligent man who comes to be known as The Defender of Tomorrow. As a boy, Jayce and his mother travelled through a blizzard in an unforgiving tundra. Their physical strength couldn’t keep up, and they were surely going to die. Unexpectedly, a robed man with a staff appeared before them. After chanting words they couldn’t understand, with mystical symbols appearing around him, Jayce and his mother were saved.

Decisions or situations experienced earlier that seemed to lead to poor outcomes can become the ultimate reason for your future success. This fateful encounter inspired Jayce to later combine science with magic, creating Hextech. The decision they made to venture into the tundra nearly cost their lives, but it ended up delivering them right to Piltover.

Now I want to move on to another aspect of fate, the uncontrollable. When I was sixteen or seventeen, I dislocated my kneecap. Embarrassingly enough, I wasn’t even doing anything physically strenuous; I just turned around and down I went like a sack of potatoes. After a hospital visit and a few weeks of physical therapy sessions, I was walking normally again. After that, I was diagnosed with arthritis, which more than likely caused my injury. I was prescribed a lot of medication, but it was a diet change that actually helped me. If it weren’t for my injury, I probably wouldn’t be taking care of myself nearly as well

It was a crazy event that I had no way to predict or control, similar to the beginning of Viktor's character arc. When he was a child, Viktor lived in Zaun and was exposed to toxic runoff in the water and air. This caused him to develop an incurable disease, which was a major factor in many of his decisions throughout the show. Fortunately or unfortunately, Viktor’s prodigious intellect brought him to Piltover’s academy, where he met Jayce. Learning about Jayce’s Hextech theory, Viktor believed it might be able to cure his disease. Viktor helped Jayce with his prototype.

Years later, Viktor chose to directly implant Hextech into his body, accidentally killing his assistant and love interest and becoming the villain Machine Herald. Viktor was so afraid of dying from his disease and not fulfilling his potential that he destroyed the person he was. It was a fate made from his innate human fear of what eventually comes for all of us and hatred for his physical weakness, including his need for a cane. It’s something that I resonate with because if I kept desperately trying to fix my imperfections, I could also have gone down a similar path. The self-deprecation from being unable to do something as easily as before is tough. I was lucky because I saw that I had friends and family who cared about me and wanted to help.

Everything happens for a reason. It’s a simple phrase that holds potential for great despair or incredible happiness. I believe this phrase is accurate, but not because I think everything is predetermined. Everything happens for a reason because it is a combination of situations and choices. Choices are made every moment of every day. The choices you make in situations outside of your control show us who we are. It’s not pretty; in fact, it can be pretty messy, but just make sure the choices are true to you. If you can do that, even if things happen outside your control, at least you made choices true to yourself.