The Base Violence Necessary For Change - Tumblr Posts

I’ve talked on and on about how Arcane episode 9 was set up within episode 3 multiple times but this time I want to talk about another brilliant similarity within the episodes. That of Vander and Silco’s deaths. 

Both Vander and Silco are restrained and struggle to get free so that they can protect their daughter in some way which leads to their final actions (Vander fighting off Silco’s men and Silco trying to shoot Vi). Both have their daughter kneeling and holding their father’s face while he dies in their arms. And both end on a wide shot of the daughter mourning the death of their father before their next actions cause things to fall even further apart (Vi lashing out at Powder and Jinx firing the rocket at Piltover. Both have or will have devastating consequences).

Vander and Silco are both faced with a choice in their final moments which is interesting because it says so much about the two as individuals and their impact on their daughters. Vander can kill Silco or save Vi and Silco can kill Vi or let things play out. Their final actions were both meant to protect their daughters. But where Vander chooses to save what he loves rather than destroy what he hates, sacrificing himself, Silco chooses to kill what he hates to protect what he loves, attempting to kill Vi. This plays into what the fathers were while raising their daughters. Vander was a protector who tried to keep the peace and shield those he cared about from harm whereas Silco was an avenger who struck out at those who harmed him and the undercity. This choice is a perfect encapsulation of that and leads to their daughters following in their footsteps. Vi is a protector and Jinx becomes an avenger.

For a short summary the main things that make these scenes so different are what the father’s say to their daughters in their final moments, the lighting, and how the father is framed with respect to their daughter. 

Their different framing in the wide shot is particularly fascinating. Vi is draped over Vander as he lies lifeless on the ground. The flames bathe the scene in light and bring the placement of his body into focus. Vander’s body is between Vi and the flames even as she’s draped over him. It seems symbolic of his final actions and how he tried to shield Vi from falling victim to her hatred and anger. 

Jinx is on her knees in front of Silco with him above her and the shadow of his chair cast over her. His body is shielding her from the much more gentle light of the candles and blocking out all behind it with almost everything cut out of frame other than the two of them. It’s framed more like an isolation of the two with Silco and his chair cutting them off from the rest of the world instead of the moment alone that the world doesn’t encroach on that Vander and Vi’s wide shot is.

This is such a complex show and I want to go further into the similarities and differences in these scenes but that is taking a lot longer than I planned so I decided to put out a much shorter version in the meantime.