What is League of Legends?
In 2009, the world was introduced to League of Legends; an MMO battle arena. Unknowingly, League would eventually become one of the world’s most played games, averaging 4.2 million players daily. Ultimately, League of Legends is pretty well known now. My first interactions with the game, came from the non stop pandering of YouTube ads in 2018. I never actually touched the game until late 2020, but, I did know of its existence. As a result, I have been bestowed with libraries full of lore, stories, and quips about the entire LoL narrative. And there are massive amounts of lore in the simple ‘point and click’ game.
At the moment, there is a made up K-pop group, 13 different regions of origin, 11 major unique species, League’s own spinoff of the Sailor Moon universe, eight distinctive games (in development or released) based around League of Legends, and personalized voice lines in-game based on you, and your enemy’s Champion. And each aspect of these all tie into a huge storyline. And since the release of Arcane, the storyline has been more understood, and expanded on greatly.
*Spoilers ahead*
Arcane
Because of the collaboration of Riot Games with Netflix, the masterpiece of ‘Arcane’ was created. Just season one alone took six years to finish! In Arcane, we focus on the sisters Powder and Vi and how they become on opposite sides fighting for the same cause. All of the connections with each of the characters are beautifully written. For example, the connection of Vi and Caitlyn show opposite personalities; however, to both of them, the enemy is destroying what they each love most. Not only the character connections are phenomenal, but the allusion to our world’s current issues are so explicitly seen and understood through the entire season. The political issues of the advanced city ‘Piltover’, and the repressed undercity ‘Zaun’ struggle to make end deals with one another, inciting inside jobs, corrupt power, and popularized substance abuse.
The best thing that the show brings is the concept of morality, and how experiences shape it. The development of Powder to Jinx stems from that singular concept. While watching, I couldn’t help but praise the distinction between Jinx’s world to everyone else. You can empathize with the mistreatment of Jinx because of the suffocation you will feel in the scenes she’s seen in. Because of the flashing colours, camera switches, and eerie silhouettes seen when in the POV of Jinx, it creates an immersion that understands why she does certain things.
More Praise
Certainly I was surprised by how visually stunning the show came to be. 
No wonder it took six years! Each scene was capable to produce such a specific mood. My favourite showcase of this talent was in episode 3. The pure grief in the atmosphere from Powder’s cries and the visuals is heartbreaking.
A fun fact to mention, Arcane broke records for Netflix’s best rated original series, just three days after release. Another thing to note, the lore and story presented in Arcane have been hinted at for years. The character Fiddlesticks says the voice line “all you fault, ALL YOUR FAULT” to Jinx in-game. This line comes from the blame and targeting that Powder got, creating Jinx.
The title song “Enemy” (written by Imagine Dragons) is a perspective on each character. There is an enemy to everyone, but our worst enemy is ourselves.
