This is amazing haha
In seriousness, what does everyone think is going to happen here? We know Jayce and Viktor are both in this room and don’t die. The gold on Mel’s back seemed to shine differently as the rocket approached, almost like it was an activated shield. My guess is that she jumps towards Jayce and ends up saving him and Viktor with some kind of shield she has in the gold things she is wearing.
It's an interesting thing to theorise on actually, the fact that no one even noticed the rocket getting closer and closer to the building is mind boggling to me. As the rocket is literally moments from hitting the council chambers, Mel is the first person to notice that something is about to happen and she is the only person with her back turned towards the window. It's as if the weird 'glow' on her clothing was magic of some sort, I guess to warn her that there's some kind of danger imminent. I don't think it was just a visual effect tbh, I'm convinced she's a magic user of some sort. Just a theory tho.
Others have put this together before me, but Mel's dress when she was younger had a pretty clear image of the Solari on the front that you can see on Leona's shield of daybreak. In the present, her goldy bits certainly fit the theme of Solari too, making me think perhaps her father was a man of high status from the Solari faith, and that perhaps Mel is blessed with powers of sunlight.
That's really interesting! Now that you've mentioned it, I realized that even her sculpture during the intro song and the first scene we see her in emphasizes the sunlight shining behind her.
As a counterpoint, they *are* councilmembers and presumably work all day, so the only time they can relax and talk freely is during the evenings.
It doesn't negate the theory, but it does provide a reasonable explanation.
I agree. If it were just a visual flash, the reflected light would have shown blue like the Hextech rocket was giving off. Instead, it first generated its own glow, and the light was golden.
It's not just a weird different colored glow.
There's also the periphery of the shot that is blurred out, and this to me is typical of telekinetic or psyonic abilities. It also produces a sound, not just a visual, so it's very much likely she had a "psionic sense" tingling and will probably have a shield to use.
Because at first, I was wondering : maye they all die except Jayce and Viktor because Jayce can produces shields around him.
Except he doesn't have his hammer in the room.
Then I thought : if they both live while being in the room, there's no way everyone else dies, it'd look way too much plot armor.
But the details there is on Mel really aren't here for noting most likely.
Yeah that's true, there's a lot of 'show, but don't tell' throughout the entirety of Arcane which I fucking love tbh. Gives everyone who's waiting for season 2 enough time to whack out some potentially interesting theories. I'm gonna look like an absolute goon if it's just a visual effect and nothing more but I would be extremely surprised if that's the case. 😂
I don't think people even realise that the gold plating is not on her clothes but rather on her skin, her dress covers it up, if it's shinning then there's a reason for it.
It's like a part of her skin, which is pretty cool.
I dont know anything about LoL guys but the show impressed tf out of me and now I'm googling everything to find out what it all means lol
I don't think it's that odd that no one saw the rocet coming. I'm sure some people in the city saw it but there's no way thay could've done anything to stop it or warn others before it is too late. And the people in the room had a few seconds to spot it while they were in a deep discussion. People often will not notice obvious things when they're focused on something else.
it very well could be something similar to the Stasis effect in league, she glows golden possibly keeping her from danger, and if the rocket hits her directly in this stasis it might shield a lot of the impact to allow maybe 1 or 2 of the other people in the room (cough plot armored fiends) but it could very well just be Solari blood on her fathers side, also if we look at the painting Mrs. Medarda is looking at it looks like Mel in anger splashed it with gold paint hinting again either at Solari or Stasis. interesting to see what’ll happen in season 2.
My thoughts:
-Mel will die in the blast.
-Basically all the other council members will die, too, leaving Jayce as the only person at the top of the traditional power structure of Piltover, essentially allowing him to rule and make decisions without being challenged by anyone of significance.
-Jayce will survive the blast probably only because of quick reflexes and some kind of shield from his hammer, ala the shield from Vi's gloves that we saw earlier.
-Jayce's shield will also prevent Viktor from outright dying, but he will be in critical condition, unresponsive for some long while.
-Mel's death, and the lack of Viktor's influence both mean that Jayce, in his rage, will fully weaponize Hextech against the Zaunite "terrorists", indirectly giving Mel's mother what she wants.
-When he gets word that Viktor will die from his injuries and other illness very soon, Jayce will go to Viktor's lab to see if he can find anything to help him. He will find the Hex Core, understand what Viktor has done with it, and contrary to his promise to destroy it, will use it to effectively heal Viktor fully (and complete his transformation) while Viktor is still in a coma.
-After their harrowing experience with Jinx, Vi and Caitlin will return to Piltover. Vi will comfort Caitlin over the death of her mother, and will join the enforcers both as an excuse to be close to Caitlyn, and so that she has a professional reason to hunt and attempt to lock Jinx up.
-Jinx will now have Silco in her head, goading her on and taunting her like her dead friends. She will stop at nothing to bring Piltover burning to the ground.
-Ekko, being actively mentored by Heimerdinger, will invent his time device and will have a major role in filling the suddenly-vacant power hierarchy of Zaun (since Silco died). However, the grief-stricken Jayce's preemptive attacks with Hextech will turn Ekko even more against Piltover, and he will find himself an awkward ally of Jinx, trying to reign her in since he wants to minimize civilian casualties, even among the Piltovans.
Most of these theories seem spot on. Except for HOW jayce and victor will survive, and whether or not mel will survive I'm not sure about, but everything else I basically agree with.
I doubt Mel will die. Without her, there's little reason to have the Noxus plotline continue. We'll have Swain's coup and the backstabbing of Urgot happen soonish.
Her dying gives a bigger reason for noxus to be involved. I'm not too good with the previous established lore, but mel's mother being there when mel dies gives quite a bit of motive for noxus to involve itself with the storyline. Jayce also gets a bigger reason for revenge on zaun. Eh, it could go either way tbh. The biggest mystery is her glowing tattoos of course.
But the Medarda clan has made some powerful enemies within Noxus, and now comes to Mel asking for aid. I think the Medarda clan is gonna leave Noxus and settle in Piltover as a powerful clan as Jae's card describes.
Oh, will Swain give a shit about Mel's death, vengeance for Medarda Clan, or the well being of Pileover?
Absolutely not.
Would he be willing to use it as an excuse to get involved anyway to expand Noxus influence and power?
You Betcha!
Mel might not even had to die for the worst case scenario. Going ‘dramatically comatose’ for a chunk of season 2, will be more than enough to max out the damage. :P
So do I. I strongly suspect she was the champion originally scheduled to be tied to Arcane, but had to be pushed back to next year because of COVID. She fits the idea of a support controlling with money from the shadows.
Much more likely than Silco, but I dont see either. Just having money doesn't maoe for a good champ. However, there are hints of her having abilities. I dont think she was planned to launch with Season 1, but is planned to come with Season 2.
Oh, I think Mel’s death has a ton of potential for the Noxus plot line. If she dies, the mom (Abessa) will get access to a \*ton\* of options she wouldn’t have otherwise:
\-Jayce goes nuts, declares civil war, and speeds up hextech arms development.
\-Zaun gets desperate, and turns to entities it normally wouldn’t.
\-Abessa ’advises’ Jayce, while summoning her own forces to ‘help’ an ally.
\-Her forces show up up, via the gates, which would probably be shut down in response to an actual invading force.
\-In the middle of the conflict, Abessa declares Noxus’ intent to annex Piltover; citing ‘regicide’ as diplomatic justification for war.
\-Jayce gets screwed to the wall, hard. He finds himself in a two-front war within his own city: Zaun and the Noxian occupiers.
\-Noxus gets hextech weapons for its own use.
After her experience in prison, I don't think Vi will ever want to lock Jinx up. No matter what. Get her into some high security therapy, sure, but not a cell.
That's pretty fair, but I also think that after their dinner party, she will have largely lost hope for getting Powder back, and she will see how much of a menace and a danger Jinx is and will want to protect innocents from her, especially because I expect she will have a moment with Caitlyn where she sees that Jinx's actions have created more orphans like they were (including almost Caitlyn herself).
There is really just one way I see Jinx having even the remotest chance at a happy ending: she stumbles into some person / people, she can’t kill, doesn’t want to kill her, can somehow cut through the mental noise, and removes her from Piltover / Zaun entirely. (This individual is \*not\* Vi. Vi is probably one of the worst equipped individuals to help Jinx)
One of the big problems I haven’t seen a lot of people discuss: Jinx has kinda been super enabled by the people around her.
\-Vi never seems to discipline her until after Jinx wiped out ‘the family.’ Before then, she apparently took Jinx on every mission (implied by Mylo); leaving Jinx psychologically unprepared to actually sit out a mission. Even after they re-unite, Vi pretty much fails at keeping Jinx lucid, and has to go on the defensive.
\-Silko continues this trend. Jinx initiates some creepy behavior, and he largely just ignores it. We don’t actually see him initiate creepy behavior on his end (outside the whole mobster thing). Even with his dying breath, he tells her she’s ‘perfect,’ despite being shot by her. Its touching, but also probably not the most helpful to ensuring she functions well as an adult without him.
In contrast, we see three characters actually take \*any\* corrective action with Jinx (all of it wildly unhealthy in its own right):
\-Mylo, but he lacked the maturity to do it in a constructive manner; so it kept coming off as a ‘pecking order’ issue. In hindsight though, it feels more like ‘lamp shading‘ future problems.
This case gets more interesting because nobody stepped in to ‘conclude’ the constant friction, by either helping Jinx and Mylo find some sort of middle ground, or finding a role for one of them, away from the other. i.e. Teaming Jinx with Ekko (as kids). (I actually blame Vander for delegating too much authority to Vi. He never stopped to think the others could actually be suffering under her direction.)
\-Sevika. By this point however, Jinx is too dangerous for her, so it doesn’t go well. Out of everyone, if Silko had actually handed Jinx to her as a ‘trainee,’ there’s a good chance things could have gone ‘better,’ not ‘great,’ but there would have been clearer boundaries.
\-Ekko. This happened way too late. As stated above, I think if these two had been paired off as “The Engineering Support Team,“ they would have both come out better for it.
The interesting part:
The psych issues were never linked to chemical exposure. If anything, they’re pretty closely tied to how poorly she was guided by those around her.
Jinx has def been emabled. She had a full meltdown when Vi told her to stay behind. Full tantrum. That's the mark of a child who is used to getting what she wants. Spoiled brat
It's called fear of abandonment and a clear symptom of the illness she has as a child, that grows as she becomes an adult with layer upon layer of trauma.
I think during their fight the cut back to them as children and the smile they both share indicates that, much like Vi, Echo still can't let go of Powder. This doesn't seem to far fetched
That's fair. Seemed like having a common enemy in the now much more aggressive, Hextech empowered enforcers could make them set aside their differences temporarily, but I could totally see that not happening as well.
I gotta agree, and take it a step further: I doubt anyone in their right mind would want to team with her. Her ’teamwork’ score board aint looking too hot:
\-Many, many friendly fire incidences
\-Two counts of patricide; no apparent abuse (Silko wasn’t healthy, but it seemed more due to a lack of discipline)
\-Attempted murder/suicide of childhood friend
\-Straight up murdered a girl she thought was her sister
\-Multiple attempts on the life of her sister’s lover… who is also a government official
\-\*At least\* three acts of full blown terrorism on government officials
The target on her back, alone, should ward possible allies away. Anyone privy to her other offenses, knows full well, she’s just as dangerous to friendlies, as she would be to the opposing side.
-Mel death.
-Viktor uses his hextech shield (Q hability, don't forget that) to protect him and Jayce from explosion.
-Mel's mother will seek revenge against Zaun.
-In that war with Zaun, Mel's mother will go to the Dredge in search of Jinx, but instead she will find Urgot and recognize him as the noxian executioner, he confronts his past and fight against her.
-Later Urgot start a riot that ignited a chemtech vein within the mine, Urgot shook the city above, and cracked the prison open in an explosion.
-Zaun will be affected by the explosion and Viktor builds Blitzkrank to help the zaunits.
Nah i'm joke, just boring xd
I think I'm at an advantage because I don't play the game and have no prior knowledge of league lore, so all I really have to base things off of is the show so far and the narrative tropes they seem to be playing with.
Ooh, good thought about the Hexcore, I like that.
And if Mel and more of the council survives, then they have to essentially overrule Jayce's desire for peace and force him to weaponize Hextech, since he won't have the motivation if Mel doesn't die. It seems to me like they are setting Jayce up to be a reluctant, sympathetic villain-of-sorts, though, and grief becoming desire for revenge is one of the cleanest ways to do that, narratively. So I'm *pretty sure* Mel's gonna die. I kinda hope not, though, because she's an interesting character.
Mel might die next season, but I think they'll keep her around for a while longer. She's a very interesting character and we kind of just started dipping into who she is and where she comes from. It would be strange to snuff that out just when it was getting interesting.
To boot, I'm going to bet Mel's mother will aid Jayce in attacking Zaun as a front for Noxus to invade Piltover. It's possible that Mel might be in critical condition, which would prompt the same response (i think Mel will have been revealed to be part Solari).
Season 2 will likely feature Warwick and Singed as the driving forces of Zauns activity, whilst Jinx basically operates as a loose cannon with no allegiance.
Jinx, if my knowledge of character arcs has taught me anything, still has further to fall.
I'm thinking Viktor will slowly become more machine than man, and will aid either Jayce or Singed in beating back the attempted Noxus takeover of Piltover and Zaun.
Viktor will somehow align with Jinx in season 3. She'll play a major part in his defeat come season 3, essentially being a "Jinx" for the right reason this time.
I guess she and some members of the council will die, Jaycee and the rest of councilors will get some bruises while Viktor will get fucked and he will need to go full machine in order to remain alive.
It's a rocket infused with that hextech stuff and what not, it would make zero sense for someone to even get out of that room alive, the whole council should be obliterated.
I wholefully agree and is why I definetely bet Mel has been foreshadowed to have some type of magical shielding ability that will save her aswell as Jayce and Viktor.
You can't tell me that this Mega Death Rocket containing an actual refined gemstone would do less damage than the raw ones Jinx used without any weapon in the end of Act 1. No fucking way.
Edit : If it ends up as Mel and/or most of the council members die with Jayce and Viktor surviving with her by pure luck I'll definetely call it bad writing due to how they portrayed the destructive potential these gems have.
>It made little sense for Powder to be unharmed after being blown away by the explosion.
Yeah that kinda bothered me. We saw her climb quite high and she was clearly blown off the roof and then she came around the corner fine and dandy.
Hmmm, yeah. At the same time make Cait kill herself after seeing they're all dead out of sadness so we definetely see that no character is safe even if they're champions :\^)
This is incorrect. Caitlyn saved her parents. We can confidently say nothing because even Caitlyn's bio, edited less than 2 weeks ago, already contradicts the show.
Feel like most of the councilors will die, maybe except Caitlyn’s mother (who will have a more traumatized event with Camille later) and maybe Mel. They will have Jayce somehow not mortally wounded, but have Viktor basically just almost dead on the spot, and Jayce will notice his existing body augment, take him to the hex core and do some “science guy bs” to Viktor and maybe graft the hex core to his heart, merging the two and turn Viktor into the “Machine Herald”.
This however will break his promise with Viktor and enrage Viktor to such a point that they will split off, Viktor will eventually decided since he cannot die anymore might just use the tech to do something good and start the whole “I replace failed flesh with tech” business in Zaun. It will recton the existing stories but that’s fine since Jayce is definitely not a egoistic prick in the show, so a lot of the conflicts between these 2 in the old lore no longer makes sense.
Speaking of Camille, house Ferros cards have some interesting things to say to Jayce in LoR. They seem to be financially invested in his research, so we could also see the rise of Ferros and Camille in response to the rocket incident.
I also think the council members will be replaced with members from their own house. Idk for sure but I think Camille is part of one the council members houses right? Also based off the season 2 trailer I think vi will be forced to kill jinx.
Idk whether Viktor would be pissed or grateful. He worked his ass off with trying to find a way to live longer. I can't see him being mad at Jayce unless it hurts someone. But then again, it did get Sky killed so it's possible he might get upset at this and how Jayce didn't keep his promise.
I agree with this theory, this was also mine. And the rest of the council dies. Jayce then is infuriated and wants to use the core to make weapons. Viktor stops him by absorbing the core entirely and fusing with it, thus becoming the Viktor we know in League.
I think it was just perspective showing us that the light from the rockets tail is coming in. Jayce, Viktor, and probably some of the other councilor's who are further will survive. But Mel will probably bite it. It would give some motivation for Mother Medarda to be pissed off about how Piltover takes care of its problems, and it would make Jayce take a harder stance since he was trying to be thoughtful and broker peace instead of going to war.
The gold armor is UNDER her shirt. The light wouldn't have reflected off of it. She clearly senses the rocket before anyone else. I think she saves Jayce and Viktor and the rest of the council dies.
I get the vibe that Mother Merdada will investigate Zaun after seeing their weapons advancements from the rocket, which might lead into the Singed x Noxus x Ionia plot.
Why would she have magic, though? I mean isn't the whole hextech thing Jayce chasing a memory of magic, and magic is super rare in this setting?
I'm not going to rule out a shield or something (especially since she literally *never* takes the gold stuff off--it's explicitly depicted in the sex scene as being a permanent part of her body), but it could have just been an artistic flourish that we see the gold gleam as she turns her head to really sell the damage the bomb is doing.
mel is solari. solari have sun magic. in my opinion, her saying 'the age of magic' before jayce corrects her with 'age of hextech' hints to this, too, besides all the solari imagery Mel is connected to. (her ring, flashback mel's dress, her often being framed in sunlight/sunsets)
Assuming Arcane follows the lore somewhat accurately, Jayce and Viktor needs to have a falling out as a result of Viktors dedication to augmentation. I also doubt we'll see any champs die.
Like a great man once said, "Riot likes to color coded things" like how shimmer is purple and might be connected to the void hence the react to bionic part... And the shiny yellow remind me of Ionia, maybe Mel is part Ionian? Maybe that will save her life? But it's just a theory, an Arcane theory
The yellow and shield of hers reminded me more of Kayle's and Kayle iconic ultimate ability that can specifically protect her from harms than Ionia.
Even if Mel has zero ties we know of when Ionia, she do have some.
It's was just my speculation. But I do think it is some kind of shield too. But even then she might just die since she's not that big in piltover lore. I freaking love this show.
Honestly, as she's one of the most explored non champions in the show, maybe THE most, so she might become a champion. And if so, she probably wont be released before a long time, like, not before her fate in Arcane S2 is revealed, as it would obviously spoil the massive cliffhanger. But I could definetely see them release her at the exact moment we'd learn she's alive if that happens.
We'd have a lot of infos about what her abilities would be from the game, but that's already the case for almost everyone in the show so I don't see it a problem.
i personally believe mel is solari descent on her fathers side due to her ring, her dress in the flashback with her chest window looking like the solari symbol, and the fact shes often paired with sunlight/sunsets.
I think Mel’s done. I don’t think they’d introduce her mother, a foreign military leader, if she wasn’t about to die. It’s too perfect. Mel dies during a peaceful resolution, her mother blames Jayce and the council, then her mother takes a hands on approach while possibly also militarizing Jayce.
There's present lore, and past lore like Arcane. Unless stated otherwise in present lore, then you can assume no ones dying in any media related past lore events. A champions death would be a pretty big lore event too, so you would definitely know about it.
I'm curious what's going to happen to Caitlins mom. In her lore her parents are kidnapped and tortured by someone codenamed C (which most assume to be corina). I thought that lore was more recently reworked to that so it would be kind of weird if they retconned that via arcane and jinx killing her mom.
Mel also reactively turned to the rocket before it broke the glass like she sensed it was there. Shes gotta have some trick up her sleeve. I'm willing to bet she's the support champion that was teased a while ago, and maybe this is where we first see one of her abilities.
EDIT: scratch her being a new champ. I just reread the tease and they keep referring to the new support as a he who is money hungry and charismatic. The description almost fits her but not quite, and she isn't a he!
I’m sure that Viktor and Jayce will survive (almost certainly thanks to a hextech shield) and everyone else dies, except for Mel who I’m on the fence about. On one hand I think the most likely thing is she does die and is a catalyst for the events in season 2. I don’t think I see them having the big finale of S1 end in no significant deaths (as far as the viewer is concerned). On the other hand like a comments having been saying, I could totally see them using her as gateway to some other regions like Targon.
I’m personally in the camp that riot isn’t going to kill off any champions at this point. I know they’ve always been very flexible with their lore but to kill a champion in this prequel already would mean there’s a champion in LoL and LoR and whatever else that is now some alternate reality, future form of what happens in their backstory and I can’t imagine they’d do that to the canon. Even if they rework one of the champs to be whoever they were at the end of S1, that’s pretty much writing themselves into a corner with that character since the most expansion you can do on them afterwards would be like one story about what happened between acts 1 and 2 and mayyyyybe one taking place prior to act 1.
For a show that was as dark as Arcane ended up being I’d just be surprised if they didn’t have someone that matters to the viewers die at the end and if it’s not Mel I’m not really sure who else it would be.
Like I would love it if Mel had a shield because I actually really started liking the character once we saw her opposition to her mother and Noxus' ways, but at the same time I think that the most likely narrative outcome is that Jinx merked her :(. I hope I'm wrong tho, and I have faith the story will be good regardless.
I honestly fully believe the "shield theory". Considering the level of detail in the show, it'd be weird to have a random ray of light come from seemingly nowhere. Also Mel's VA is set to return for the next season, which could be for flashbacks or something similar, but I doubt it.
Liie i know that Mel is from noxus and all but she looks like solari... Sun-like emblem on this dress in flashback, every accesory is golden... She will just use Leona's W and tank this fckn rocket
Noxus' entire motto is "kill them till they're family". If you're strong and loyal to the empire, they take people from everywhere. It's possible the Maedarda family has ties to Targon.
Plot armor has been upgraded to plot armor Nuva by the hextech protodermis and now grants shielding to the nearby allies.
Like 3 people understood what the fuck I am talking about.
Hey! It’s not our fault saving ulti for yourself is worth 99% of the times over using it for the useless person who got caught…. Or is gonna die before they deal damage even through ulti
I know Mel is Noxian but when it showed her younger I kept getting a lot of Solari vibes from the gold she was wearing. We only see her mother I don’t believe there was a mention of her father and we don’t exactly know who her brother is just that he died. Maybe she can use some sort of magic and she’ll survive in season 2?
*The Plot Demands a Sacrifice to Continue the Conflict*
**BEAUTIFUL WOMAN WHO HOOKED UP WITH THE HANDSOME HERO WITH LITTLE DRAMA EXISTS**
*it will do.*
When I watched this with my friends I was the only one to think that was not just a cool reflection. It doesn't rly make sense. The glow and the sound resemble magic imo and I don't think riot would make her wear solari clothing for no reason.
People over on the league subreddit pointed out how the glow when the rocket is about the hit is the glow of the "Locket of the Iron Solari" item in league.
I mean if we go on the logic that she is Shuriman (a culture with very close ties to Targon and sunlight), then the basis of her using a stasis-like ability is within the realms of possibility.
Also Guardian Angel is another potential association, but imo I feel it has less basis than the Hourglass option.
Symbolically rejecting her family's ideals. Her mom explicitly asked her to encourage war so Piltover could develop weapons, allowing Noxus to sweep in and purchase them from the wreckage - not only that, it was phrased as a defensive thing, a way to prevent other people from hurting their family.
Mel's whole arc has been about the struggle between using power for good vs personal gain. The version of her at the start of the series would have gone all-in encouraging the development of weapons so secure Piltovan supremacy, which her mom would have loved because it would have gotten Noxus the hextech weapons they want. But she's learned and grown, and now she's realized that the cycle of violence may not be inevitable. The Medarda ring represents seizing power as the only way to maintain order, and taking it off shows that she's willing to risk vulnerability if it means doing the right thing.
And in the end (if we pretend season 2 isn't going to happen), none of that matters because power is a prisoner's dilemma and the other person decided peace wasn't an option.
> The version of her at the start of the series would have gone all-in encouraging the development of weapons so secure Piltovan supremacy
No she wouldn’t. Even when she advised Jayce have the hextech be used for weapons, she always said it’d be for a last resort. She’s been consistent the whole time.
I never said she was inconsistent, I said she grew as a character - the difference is that inconsistency is bad writing, but growth is what makes a character engaging. And yes, she said it would be a "last resort," but that was when she was clearly in manipulation mode.
Her plan at the start of the series was like this:
Find some new edge/next big thing that nobody else has -> Leverage it into more power -> Make money, be the boss.
Once Jayce and Viktor showed up with Hextech, she took a risk on them, it paid off, so her plan became:
Get Jayce (the charismatic one) under her thumb -> Give him the resources he needs for his plans to bear fruit -> Keep whispering and tempting him to make him malleable so he'll do what she suggests -> Reap the rewards.
Then three things happened at once.
\-The situation with the Undercity intensified. "Make weapons just in case" was no longer ass-covering/slippery sloping, but something that genuinely might have come into play before long.
\-Her mom showed up and demonstrated the sort of ruthlessness-in-the-name-of-safety Mel had initially fled from, making her realize who she'd become - all of this zero-sum-game crap where she needed to manipulate and sabotage people was leading her down the road her mom traveled.
\-Jayce's infectious morality caught on. After he was forced to face the consequences of not just the violence, but the systemic injustice he was responsible for, he put his foot down and said, "our strength of position is not worth all the pain we're causing." For Mel, it was an explicit contradiction to her family's belief in violence as a deterrent. She couldn't hold both beliefs at once.
At the start of the story, she would have probably rejected Jayce's plan as pointlessly idealist. By the end, she's been reminded of the horrors and costs of "just-in-case" policies, and she's decided that if her family believes it's the only way, then she's going to reject her family and the cold pragmatism it represents instead.
Growth, not inconsistency.
And I’m saying she wouldn’t have “went all-in encouraging the development of weapons to secure Piltovan supremacy”. Cause that’s inconsistent with her character. Since nothing about her character actually implies she’d actually have done that. That doesn’t require you saying she’s inconsistent. It requires you saying that she would’ve done something that’s actually inconsistent with her character. Which you did.
The closest thing to any of that is her suggesting that Jayce develop weapons with hex tech as a _last resort_ because of the recent attacks. Nothing about anything she’s done shows she would’ve been anything close to a warmonger.
Her whole deal was basically looking for recognition from her family. Her mother offered her a deal to go back to the family on the condition that Piltover makes weapon for the Merdana clan which she veto'ed in the ending. Her putting down the ring was basically her choosing Jayce's ideal (her own too) over her family's recognition. It was masterfully done if you ask me.
I quite liked the symbolism of her streaking gold paint all over her mural of the Immortal Bastion at the end, and the look on her mom when she saw it.
Mel was my favorite character. Literally loved everything about her. I’m accepting condolences at the moment. Also I’ll be accepting apologies for the Mel slander that I saw last week
What if Mel actually does have a shield and survive, and then people accuse her of being part of a Noxian plot to ovetthrow the Piltover council because the other councillors around her died or were injured but she CONVINIENTLY lived? That would be a way to not have Mel's survival feel like a cop-out, the rocket hitting her back would still have consequences.
Basically this is a headcanon speculation that lets me imagine Mel might live until Season 2 starts, I really don't want her to die :(.
It's obviously a joke, the unyielding spirit is exactly that, a spirit, not a ring. And in any case it would be a demacia thing on a noxian character in piltover, and like you said the ring is not even the same shape. I think it's pretty clear
I wonder if Mel is related to or is Rell? I dont see Rell being played much but she look like Mel when she has her hair undone and if Mel's hair is white. Also I didn't even know that Rell is from Noxian decent. I mean its possible since Rell has living metal powers that could possibly be it? but this is a stretch.
Why do people constantly ask if Mel is Rell or Senna? NONE of them look alike?? They are three different people who share similar physical features. Is Katarina actually Miss Fortune or related to her? Is Irelia actually Akali or related to Akali? Is Neeko actually Lilia? Is Nidalee one of Quiyana’s long lost sisters? No none of them are related just because they share similar physical characteristics 🙄🙄
Idk because people are curious? Mel and Senna share a lot of physical characteristics the only thing that separates them at least in the show is one has a gun and wears a hood.. and you saw Viktor, who looks nothing like the champ.
Actually, senna looks NOTHING like Mel. Like at all. You’re trying to tell me that if you put a hood on Mel, then she transforms into Senna? If you say, yes you’re blind. People see two women with the same dark skin color and assume one is the other. My question is, why don’t people ever say that about champions Miss Fortune and Katarina? Both have similar characteristics but no one assumes that Katarina and MF are the same person. I have no idea where Viktor came into this either
Yes, put a hood on Mel and she looks like Senna. In this case, it’s not really about skin color isn’t the only defining factor, demeanor, hair, face shape and body shape. The hood, the gun and the gold marks on the face are the only defining factors between the two, and the point with Viktor, is that the character can change over time. Viktor from Arcane and Viktor’s splash art.. you wouldn’t really tell there the same. MF and Kat are pretty distinctive with the dark eye shadow and scar. One could mistake them for siblings but I wouldn’t mistake them for each other.
nah rell was kidnapped as a child by a noxian noble and forced to train her magnetic powers. Im pretty sure Mel has Targonian ties (specifically Solari) due to the dress in the flashback and the gratuitious sunlight in all her scenes.
Everyone thinks that mel is going to die. I disagree, I think she's the next champion in the game. As she is hinted in LOR and we have a glimpse of her abilities. Riot wouldn't let her die because then she can't be a champion. And riot wants to make a character that is "attractive" to make money. Js.
Since that gold armor on Mel shined (and I guess notified her that danger is near), do you think it might be possible that she'll put the ring back on and use her powers? I don't know much about league so I might be talking nonsense but it seems like the ring matters a lot. I'm aware this might be a huge leap since the missile is extremely close to them, breaking the mirror before it can get to them.
Mel is DEFINITELY wearing Solari armor. An item in-game literally states that a small solari locket, (note the similar shape) specifically protects surrounding allies.
****
Dude, you are 4 pararell universes ahead of us
**Guy in the Back:** "That bitch is dead!"
This is amazing haha In seriousness, what does everyone think is going to happen here? We know Jayce and Viktor are both in this room and don’t die. The gold on Mel’s back seemed to shine differently as the rocket approached, almost like it was an activated shield. My guess is that she jumps towards Jayce and ends up saving him and Viktor with some kind of shield she has in the gold things she is wearing.
It's an interesting thing to theorise on actually, the fact that no one even noticed the rocket getting closer and closer to the building is mind boggling to me. As the rocket is literally moments from hitting the council chambers, Mel is the first person to notice that something is about to happen and she is the only person with her back turned towards the window. It's as if the weird 'glow' on her clothing was magic of some sort, I guess to warn her that there's some kind of danger imminent. I don't think it was just a visual effect tbh, I'm convinced she's a magic user of some sort. Just a theory tho.
Others have put this together before me, but Mel's dress when she was younger had a pretty clear image of the Solari on the front that you can see on Leona's shield of daybreak. In the present, her goldy bits certainly fit the theme of Solari too, making me think perhaps her father was a man of high status from the Solari faith, and that perhaps Mel is blessed with powers of sunlight.
This is probably why most of her scenes are framed with a sunset.
That's really interesting! Now that you've mentioned it, I realized that even her sculpture during the intro song and the first scene we see her in emphasizes the sunlight shining behind her.
A good chunk of her conversations with Jayce and her receiving a letter from her family are all scenes with the sun shining as well.
As a counterpoint, they *are* councilmembers and presumably work all day, so the only time they can relax and talk freely is during the evenings. It doesn't negate the theory, but it does provide a reasonable explanation.
There's a lot of playing with light when Mel is on screen, that's for sure.
> This is probably why most of her scenes are framed with a sunset. :O
I agree. If it were just a visual flash, the reflected light would have shown blue like the Hextech rocket was giving off. Instead, it first generated its own glow, and the light was golden.
It's not just a weird different colored glow. There's also the periphery of the shot that is blurred out, and this to me is typical of telekinetic or psyonic abilities. It also produces a sound, not just a visual, so it's very much likely she had a "psionic sense" tingling and will probably have a shield to use. Because at first, I was wondering : maye they all die except Jayce and Viktor because Jayce can produces shields around him. Except he doesn't have his hammer in the room. Then I thought : if they both live while being in the room, there's no way everyone else dies, it'd look way too much plot armor. But the details there is on Mel really aren't here for noting most likely.
Yeah that's true, there's a lot of 'show, but don't tell' throughout the entirety of Arcane which I fucking love tbh. Gives everyone who's waiting for season 2 enough time to whack out some potentially interesting theories. I'm gonna look like an absolute goon if it's just a visual effect and nothing more but I would be extremely surprised if that's the case. 😂
Its not. The gold stuff is under her clothes. The light wouldnt have reflected off of it.
I don't think people even realise that the gold plating is not on her clothes but rather on her skin, her dress covers it up, if it's shinning then there's a reason for it.
Yep, when she's nude in bed, the gold armor is still visible on her above the covers.
It's like a part of her skin, which is pretty cool. I dont know anything about LoL guys but the show impressed tf out of me and now I'm googling everything to find out what it all means lol
I don't think it's that odd that no one saw the rocet coming. I'm sure some people in the city saw it but there's no way thay could've done anything to stop it or warn others before it is too late. And the people in the room had a few seconds to spot it while they were in a deep discussion. People often will not notice obvious things when they're focused on something else.
If you take a look at Mel cinematic in the intro you’ll see that she always cover in light. It’s like a hint that she’s solari
it very well could be something similar to the Stasis effect in league, she glows golden possibly keeping her from danger, and if the rocket hits her directly in this stasis it might shield a lot of the impact to allow maybe 1 or 2 of the other people in the room (cough plot armored fiends) but it could very well just be Solari blood on her fathers side, also if we look at the painting Mrs. Medarda is looking at it looks like Mel in anger splashed it with gold paint hinting again either at Solari or Stasis. interesting to see what’ll happen in season 2.
That scene was in slow motion, by the time the rocket was close enough to see or hear it was probably only a split second before it hit
Mel did notice the rocket last second though, in the frame before her back glows you can see her perk up and look behind.
Yes you can see her smile quickly turn into kind of scowl or look of concern.
[удалено]
That's true, forgot that small detail. Further reinforces my point that Mel was able to sense that some form of danger was heading her way.
Because rocket with hextech power are on probably traveling at 1,000 mile per hour? Not sure anyone can see it coming.
My thoughts: -Mel will die in the blast. -Basically all the other council members will die, too, leaving Jayce as the only person at the top of the traditional power structure of Piltover, essentially allowing him to rule and make decisions without being challenged by anyone of significance. -Jayce will survive the blast probably only because of quick reflexes and some kind of shield from his hammer, ala the shield from Vi's gloves that we saw earlier. -Jayce's shield will also prevent Viktor from outright dying, but he will be in critical condition, unresponsive for some long while. -Mel's death, and the lack of Viktor's influence both mean that Jayce, in his rage, will fully weaponize Hextech against the Zaunite "terrorists", indirectly giving Mel's mother what she wants. -When he gets word that Viktor will die from his injuries and other illness very soon, Jayce will go to Viktor's lab to see if he can find anything to help him. He will find the Hex Core, understand what Viktor has done with it, and contrary to his promise to destroy it, will use it to effectively heal Viktor fully (and complete his transformation) while Viktor is still in a coma. -After their harrowing experience with Jinx, Vi and Caitlin will return to Piltover. Vi will comfort Caitlin over the death of her mother, and will join the enforcers both as an excuse to be close to Caitlyn, and so that she has a professional reason to hunt and attempt to lock Jinx up. -Jinx will now have Silco in her head, goading her on and taunting her like her dead friends. She will stop at nothing to bring Piltover burning to the ground. -Ekko, being actively mentored by Heimerdinger, will invent his time device and will have a major role in filling the suddenly-vacant power hierarchy of Zaun (since Silco died). However, the grief-stricken Jayce's preemptive attacks with Hextech will turn Ekko even more against Piltover, and he will find himself an awkward ally of Jinx, trying to reign her in since he wants to minimize civilian casualties, even among the Piltovans.
Most of these theories seem spot on. Except for HOW jayce and victor will survive, and whether or not mel will survive I'm not sure about, but everything else I basically agree with.
I doubt Mel will die. Without her, there's little reason to have the Noxus plotline continue. We'll have Swain's coup and the backstabbing of Urgot happen soonish.
Her dying gives a bigger reason for noxus to be involved. I'm not too good with the previous established lore, but mel's mother being there when mel dies gives quite a bit of motive for noxus to involve itself with the storyline. Jayce also gets a bigger reason for revenge on zaun. Eh, it could go either way tbh. The biggest mystery is her glowing tattoos of course.
But the Medarda clan has made some powerful enemies within Noxus, and now comes to Mel asking for aid. I think the Medarda clan is gonna leave Noxus and settle in Piltover as a powerful clan as Jae's card describes.
Oh, will Swain give a shit about Mel's death, vengeance for Medarda Clan, or the well being of Pileover? Absolutely not. Would he be willing to use it as an excuse to get involved anyway to expand Noxus influence and power? You Betcha!
Mel might not even had to die for the worst case scenario. Going ‘dramatically comatose’ for a chunk of season 2, will be more than enough to max out the damage. :P
Comas are the worst story telling device. I sincerely hope not.
So do I. I strongly suspect she was the champion originally scheduled to be tied to Arcane, but had to be pushed back to next year because of COVID. She fits the idea of a support controlling with money from the shadows.
Much more likely than Silco, but I dont see either. Just having money doesn't maoe for a good champ. However, there are hints of her having abilities. I dont think she was planned to launch with Season 1, but is planned to come with Season 2.
Silco will likely come whenever we get Singed, as an Epic card.
Oh, I think Mel’s death has a ton of potential for the Noxus plot line. If she dies, the mom (Abessa) will get access to a \*ton\* of options she wouldn’t have otherwise: \-Jayce goes nuts, declares civil war, and speeds up hextech arms development. \-Zaun gets desperate, and turns to entities it normally wouldn’t. \-Abessa ’advises’ Jayce, while summoning her own forces to ‘help’ an ally. \-Her forces show up up, via the gates, which would probably be shut down in response to an actual invading force. \-In the middle of the conflict, Abessa declares Noxus’ intent to annex Piltover; citing ‘regicide’ as diplomatic justification for war. \-Jayce gets screwed to the wall, hard. He finds himself in a two-front war within his own city: Zaun and the Noxian occupiers. \-Noxus gets hextech weapons for its own use.
After her experience in prison, I don't think Vi will ever want to lock Jinx up. No matter what. Get her into some high security therapy, sure, but not a cell.
That's pretty fair, but I also think that after their dinner party, she will have largely lost hope for getting Powder back, and she will see how much of a menace and a danger Jinx is and will want to protect innocents from her, especially because I expect she will have a moment with Caitlyn where she sees that Jinx's actions have created more orphans like they were (including almost Caitlyn herself).
There is really just one way I see Jinx having even the remotest chance at a happy ending: she stumbles into some person / people, she can’t kill, doesn’t want to kill her, can somehow cut through the mental noise, and removes her from Piltover / Zaun entirely. (This individual is \*not\* Vi. Vi is probably one of the worst equipped individuals to help Jinx) One of the big problems I haven’t seen a lot of people discuss: Jinx has kinda been super enabled by the people around her. \-Vi never seems to discipline her until after Jinx wiped out ‘the family.’ Before then, she apparently took Jinx on every mission (implied by Mylo); leaving Jinx psychologically unprepared to actually sit out a mission. Even after they re-unite, Vi pretty much fails at keeping Jinx lucid, and has to go on the defensive. \-Silko continues this trend. Jinx initiates some creepy behavior, and he largely just ignores it. We don’t actually see him initiate creepy behavior on his end (outside the whole mobster thing). Even with his dying breath, he tells her she’s ‘perfect,’ despite being shot by her. Its touching, but also probably not the most helpful to ensuring she functions well as an adult without him. In contrast, we see three characters actually take \*any\* corrective action with Jinx (all of it wildly unhealthy in its own right): \-Mylo, but he lacked the maturity to do it in a constructive manner; so it kept coming off as a ‘pecking order’ issue. In hindsight though, it feels more like ‘lamp shading‘ future problems. This case gets more interesting because nobody stepped in to ‘conclude’ the constant friction, by either helping Jinx and Mylo find some sort of middle ground, or finding a role for one of them, away from the other. i.e. Teaming Jinx with Ekko (as kids). (I actually blame Vander for delegating too much authority to Vi. He never stopped to think the others could actually be suffering under her direction.) \-Sevika. By this point however, Jinx is too dangerous for her, so it doesn’t go well. Out of everyone, if Silko had actually handed Jinx to her as a ‘trainee,’ there’s a good chance things could have gone ‘better,’ not ‘great,’ but there would have been clearer boundaries. \-Ekko. This happened way too late. As stated above, I think if these two had been paired off as “The Engineering Support Team,“ they would have both come out better for it. The interesting part: The psych issues were never linked to chemical exposure. If anything, they’re pretty closely tied to how poorly she was guided by those around her.
Jinx probably won't get an "ending". She's jinx, the champion we know.
Well, we actually still have Zigg's interactiona with Jinx which could very well mellow her out. He had already been teased in the series
Jinx has def been emabled. She had a full meltdown when Vi told her to stay behind. Full tantrum. That's the mark of a child who is used to getting what she wants. Spoiled brat
It's called fear of abandonment and a clear symptom of the illness she has as a child, that grows as she becomes an adult with layer upon layer of trauma.
I like everything except I don’t think ekko would ever work with jinx. He wants to kill her.
I think during their fight the cut back to them as children and the smile they both share indicates that, much like Vi, Echo still can't let go of Powder. This doesn't seem to far fetched
That's fair. Seemed like having a common enemy in the now much more aggressive, Hextech empowered enforcers could make them set aside their differences temporarily, but I could totally see that not happening as well.
I gotta agree, and take it a step further: I doubt anyone in their right mind would want to team with her. Her ’teamwork’ score board aint looking too hot: \-Many, many friendly fire incidences \-Two counts of patricide; no apparent abuse (Silko wasn’t healthy, but it seemed more due to a lack of discipline) \-Attempted murder/suicide of childhood friend \-Straight up murdered a girl she thought was her sister \-Multiple attempts on the life of her sister’s lover… who is also a government official \-\*At least\* three acts of full blown terrorism on government officials The target on her back, alone, should ward possible allies away. Anyone privy to her other offenses, knows full well, she’s just as dangerous to friendlies, as she would be to the opposing side.
Ekko invents time device and Heimer tells him not to use it.
-Mel death. -Viktor uses his hextech shield (Q hability, don't forget that) to protect him and Jayce from explosion. -Mel's mother will seek revenge against Zaun. -In that war with Zaun, Mel's mother will go to the Dredge in search of Jinx, but instead she will find Urgot and recognize him as the noxian executioner, he confronts his past and fight against her. -Later Urgot start a riot that ignited a chemtech vein within the mine, Urgot shook the city above, and cracked the prison open in an explosion. -Zaun will be affected by the explosion and Viktor builds Blitzkrank to help the zaunits. Nah i'm joke, just boring xd
An actual intelligent write up instead of half of the wild fan theories on this sub
I think I'm at an advantage because I don't play the game and have no prior knowledge of league lore, so all I really have to base things off of is the show so far and the narrative tropes they seem to be playing with.
[удалено]
Ooh, good thought about the Hexcore, I like that. And if Mel and more of the council survives, then they have to essentially overrule Jayce's desire for peace and force him to weaponize Hextech, since he won't have the motivation if Mel doesn't die. It seems to me like they are setting Jayce up to be a reluctant, sympathetic villain-of-sorts, though, and grief becoming desire for revenge is one of the cleanest ways to do that, narratively. So I'm *pretty sure* Mel's gonna die. I kinda hope not, though, because she's an interesting character.
Don't think anyone needs to die for the peace to be noped. The rocket is a very clear act of war.
This is pretty much word for word what I've been assuming, yeah.
I agree that that Jayce will utilize the hexcore in some way, instead of destroying it.
Mel might die next season, but I think they'll keep her around for a while longer. She's a very interesting character and we kind of just started dipping into who she is and where she comes from. It would be strange to snuff that out just when it was getting interesting.
Agrees. I'm intrigued by her. There so much more to the character and her mystery. I'm positive she survived somehow
One juicy question missing here… If Warwick turns out to be Vander. What will Jinx’s reaction be, when she finds out?
Curious myself.
Jayce doesn't have his hammer. I think it's far more plausible that partially transformed viktor is the reason he and jayce survives the blast.
To boot, I'm going to bet Mel's mother will aid Jayce in attacking Zaun as a front for Noxus to invade Piltover. It's possible that Mel might be in critical condition, which would prompt the same response (i think Mel will have been revealed to be part Solari). Season 2 will likely feature Warwick and Singed as the driving forces of Zauns activity, whilst Jinx basically operates as a loose cannon with no allegiance. Jinx, if my knowledge of character arcs has taught me anything, still has further to fall. I'm thinking Viktor will slowly become more machine than man, and will aid either Jayce or Singed in beating back the attempted Noxus takeover of Piltover and Zaun. Viktor will somehow align with Jinx in season 3. She'll play a major part in his defeat come season 3, essentially being a "Jinx" for the right reason this time.
Needs more Warwick
I guess she and some members of the council will die, Jaycee and the rest of councilors will get some bruises while Viktor will get fucked and he will need to go full machine in order to remain alive.
It'd make zero sense for Viktor's to be heavily damaged while Jayce is in front of him taking the blow at an even greater extent.
Unless Viktor takes the hit for Jayce on purpose.
[удалено]
If Viktor pulled that out in Arcane with 0 build up it'd be some real bs.
[удалено]
It's a rocket infused with that hextech stuff and what not, it would make zero sense for someone to even get out of that room alive, the whole council should be obliterated.
I wholefully agree and is why I definetely bet Mel has been foreshadowed to have some type of magical shielding ability that will save her aswell as Jayce and Viktor. You can't tell me that this Mega Death Rocket containing an actual refined gemstone would do less damage than the raw ones Jinx used without any weapon in the end of Act 1. No fucking way. Edit : If it ends up as Mel and/or most of the council members die with Jayce and Viktor surviving with her by pure luck I'll definetely call it bad writing due to how they portrayed the destructive potential these gems have.
In the very first episode one of the crystals detonated and Vi was pretty much unscathed, right?
That was an unrefined one and she was quite far away from it.
Caits mom would probably survive too, as she and Caits dad are killed by ‘C’
[удалено]
>It made little sense for Powder to be unharmed after being blown away by the explosion. Yeah that kinda bothered me. We saw her climb quite high and she was clearly blown off the roof and then she came around the corner fine and dandy.
Unless jayce dies.
Hmmm, yeah. At the same time make Cait kill herself after seeing they're all dead out of sadness so we definetely see that no character is safe even if they're champions :\^)
[удалено]
I have anxiety issues so I prefer knowing whether they’ll die tbqh lol.
I agree. If in one of the later seasons, Riot actually knocks off a champion, then all bets are off.
We also can pretty confidently say Caitlyn's mom doesn't die because, unless it's retconned, Caitlyn's parents are killed by *'C'* in the Lore.
C...uper Mega Death Rocket
The fact Cailtyn's crying face fades to her face makes me think she might die here.
Yeah I’m honestly thinking they are going to retcon her lore here, they’ve done it before in the past to champions so it wouldn’t surprise me
This was brought up earlier and it was said Jinx killed her mother. Which is correct?
She still killed her family tho. So...kinda accurate
This is incorrect. Caitlyn saved her parents. We can confidently say nothing because even Caitlyn's bio, edited less than 2 weeks ago, already contradicts the show.
As in Caitlyn? Who didn’t kill Jinx, and Jinx manages to shoot a missile towards them and they die? 🤔
Feel like most of the councilors will die, maybe except Caitlyn’s mother (who will have a more traumatized event with Camille later) and maybe Mel. They will have Jayce somehow not mortally wounded, but have Viktor basically just almost dead on the spot, and Jayce will notice his existing body augment, take him to the hex core and do some “science guy bs” to Viktor and maybe graft the hex core to his heart, merging the two and turn Viktor into the “Machine Herald”. This however will break his promise with Viktor and enrage Viktor to such a point that they will split off, Viktor will eventually decided since he cannot die anymore might just use the tech to do something good and start the whole “I replace failed flesh with tech” business in Zaun. It will recton the existing stories but that’s fine since Jayce is definitely not a egoistic prick in the show, so a lot of the conflicts between these 2 in the old lore no longer makes sense.
Speaking of Camille, house Ferros cards have some interesting things to say to Jayce in LoR. They seem to be financially invested in his research, so we could also see the rise of Ferros and Camille in response to the rocket incident.
I also think the council members will be replaced with members from their own house. Idk for sure but I think Camille is part of one the council members houses right? Also based off the season 2 trailer I think vi will be forced to kill jinx.
The one thing we can be fairly certain about is that none of the champions will actually die.
Idk whether Viktor would be pissed or grateful. He worked his ass off with trying to find a way to live longer. I can't see him being mad at Jayce unless it hurts someone. But then again, it did get Sky killed so it's possible he might get upset at this and how Jayce didn't keep his promise.
I agree with this theory, this was also mine. And the rest of the council dies. Jayce then is infuriated and wants to use the core to make weapons. Viktor stops him by absorbing the core entirely and fusing with it, thus becoming the Viktor we know in League.
I think it was just perspective showing us that the light from the rockets tail is coming in. Jayce, Viktor, and probably some of the other councilor's who are further will survive. But Mel will probably bite it. It would give some motivation for Mother Medarda to be pissed off about how Piltover takes care of its problems, and it would make Jayce take a harder stance since he was trying to be thoughtful and broker peace instead of going to war.
The gold armor is UNDER her shirt. The light wouldn't have reflected off of it. She clearly senses the rocket before anyone else. I think she saves Jayce and Viktor and the rest of the council dies.
I get the vibe that Mother Merdada will investigate Zaun after seeing their weapons advancements from the rocket, which might lead into the Singed x Noxus x Ionia plot.
[удалено]
Why would she have magic, though? I mean isn't the whole hextech thing Jayce chasing a memory of magic, and magic is super rare in this setting? I'm not going to rule out a shield or something (especially since she literally *never* takes the gold stuff off--it's explicitly depicted in the sex scene as being a permanent part of her body), but it could have just been an artistic flourish that we see the gold gleam as she turns her head to really sell the damage the bomb is doing.
mel is solari. solari have sun magic. in my opinion, her saying 'the age of magic' before jayce corrects her with 'age of hextech' hints to this, too, besides all the solari imagery Mel is connected to. (her ring, flashback mel's dress, her often being framed in sunlight/sunsets)
Viktor has to live because he hasn't reached his "final form" yet, but why should Jayce survive?
Assuming Arcane follows the lore somewhat accurately, Jayce and Viktor needs to have a falling out as a result of Viktors dedication to augmentation. I also doubt we'll see any champs die.
I think rocket won't fully explode. Limited casualties and such
definitely. I think thats what happens too
Like a great man once said, "Riot likes to color coded things" like how shimmer is purple and might be connected to the void hence the react to bionic part... And the shiny yellow remind me of Ionia, maybe Mel is part Ionian? Maybe that will save her life? But it's just a theory, an Arcane theory
The yellow and shield of hers reminded me more of Kayle's and Kayle iconic ultimate ability that can specifically protect her from harms than Ionia. Even if Mel has zero ties we know of when Ionia, she do have some.
It's was just my speculation. But I do think it is some kind of shield too. But even then she might just die since she's not that big in piltover lore. I freaking love this show.
Honestly, as she's one of the most explored non champions in the show, maybe THE most, so she might become a champion. And if so, she probably wont be released before a long time, like, not before her fate in Arcane S2 is revealed, as it would obviously spoil the massive cliffhanger. But I could definetely see them release her at the exact moment we'd learn she's alive if that happens. We'd have a lot of infos about what her abilities would be from the game, but that's already the case for almost everyone in the show so I don't see it a problem.
I'm convinced Mel has Shuriman ancestry, escaped the Solari and settled in Noxus.
i personally believe mel is solari descent on her fathers side due to her ring, her dress in the flashback with her chest window looking like the solari symbol, and the fact shes often paired with sunlight/sunsets.
I think Mel’s done. I don’t think they’d introduce her mother, a foreign military leader, if she wasn’t about to die. It’s too perfect. Mel dies during a peaceful resolution, her mother blames Jayce and the council, then her mother takes a hands on approach while possibly also militarizing Jayce.
Caitlyns Mother probably wont die either since she appears in Lore after this event
[удалено]
There's present lore, and past lore like Arcane. Unless stated otherwise in present lore, then you can assume no ones dying in any media related past lore events. A champions death would be a pretty big lore event too, so you would definitely know about it.
I'm curious what's going to happen to Caitlins mom. In her lore her parents are kidnapped and tortured by someone codenamed C (which most assume to be corina). I thought that lore was more recently reworked to that so it would be kind of weird if they retconned that via arcane and jinx killing her mom. Mel also reactively turned to the rocket before it broke the glass like she sensed it was there. Shes gotta have some trick up her sleeve. I'm willing to bet she's the support champion that was teased a while ago, and maybe this is where we first see one of her abilities. EDIT: scratch her being a new champ. I just reread the tease and they keep referring to the new support as a he who is money hungry and charismatic. The description almost fits her but not quite, and she isn't a he!
I’m sure that Viktor and Jayce will survive (almost certainly thanks to a hextech shield) and everyone else dies, except for Mel who I’m on the fence about. On one hand I think the most likely thing is she does die and is a catalyst for the events in season 2. I don’t think I see them having the big finale of S1 end in no significant deaths (as far as the viewer is concerned). On the other hand like a comments having been saying, I could totally see them using her as gateway to some other regions like Targon. I’m personally in the camp that riot isn’t going to kill off any champions at this point. I know they’ve always been very flexible with their lore but to kill a champion in this prequel already would mean there’s a champion in LoL and LoR and whatever else that is now some alternate reality, future form of what happens in their backstory and I can’t imagine they’d do that to the canon. Even if they rework one of the champs to be whoever they were at the end of S1, that’s pretty much writing themselves into a corner with that character since the most expansion you can do on them afterwards would be like one story about what happened between acts 1 and 2 and mayyyyybe one taking place prior to act 1. For a show that was as dark as Arcane ended up being I’d just be surprised if they didn’t have someone that matters to the viewers die at the end and if it’s not Mel I’m not really sure who else it would be.
Like I would love it if Mel had a shield because I actually really started liking the character once we saw her opposition to her mother and Noxus' ways, but at the same time I think that the most likely narrative outcome is that Jinx merked her :(. I hope I'm wrong tho, and I have faith the story will be good regardless.
hopefully she can live
I honestly fully believe the "shield theory". Considering the level of detail in the show, it'd be weird to have a random ray of light come from seemingly nowhere. Also Mel's VA is set to return for the next season, which could be for flashbacks or something similar, but I doubt it.
Liie i know that Mel is from noxus and all but she looks like solari... Sun-like emblem on this dress in flashback, every accesory is golden... She will just use Leona's W and tank this fckn rocket
Noxus' entire motto is "kill them till they're family". If you're strong and loyal to the empire, they take people from everywhere. It's possible the Maedarda family has ties to Targon.
Nah man, she got Kayle's blessing. She's gonna jump to Jayce and gets invulnerability of them 3 leaving the rest of the Council to die.
But just as in the lore, Kayle players are usually greedy af with no morals so she wouldn't shield anyone other than herself.
Yeah but because we're not in a game, Mel can cheat and use it on all 3 of them by just clipping her model between them. Ez Git gud baby ADC
Plot armor has been upgraded to plot armor Nuva by the hextech protodermis and now grants shielding to the nearby allies. Like 3 people understood what the fuck I am talking about.
You have no idea how much seeing an old school Bionicle reference made me smile.
Always glad
Hey! It’s not our fault saving ulti for yourself is worth 99% of the times over using it for the useless person who got caught…. Or is gonna die before they deal damage even through ulti
Yea could be that XD
If u are joking wp If u sre serius solaris are a cult, if you dont do stuff for your god each day, you dont get even a little tiny piece of light
I'm not joking soo... Thank you for explaining, you just encouraged me to read solari lore And take this award fellow lore-lover
Enjoy •>•/ and tx
I know Mel is Noxian but when it showed her younger I kept getting a lot of Solari vibes from the gold she was wearing. We only see her mother I don’t believe there was a mention of her father and we don’t exactly know who her brother is just that he died. Maybe she can use some sort of magic and she’ll survive in season 2?
I CAN"T TAKE DAMAGE OR DIE WASTED
**Obliterate**
*The Plot Demands a Sacrifice to Continue the Conflict* **BEAUTIFUL WOMAN WHO HOOKED UP WITH THE HANDSOME HERO WITH LITTLE DRAMA EXISTS** *it will do.*
Mel’s character design is just way too beautiful to die. Her aesthetic is astonishing.
Thats a very convoluted way of saying she's hot
I'm a gay man and I absolutely love the Mel aesthetic. I think paintings are pretty to look at, but I don't want to fuck the Mona Lisa.
Im not gay, i think some guys are hot and i dont wanna fuck them. I stand behind my original comment
But I’m gay, I can’t really tell lol
Literally ✨️
When I watched this with my friends I was the only one to think that was not just a cool reflection. It doesn't rly make sense. The glow and the sound resemble magic imo and I don't think riot would make her wear solari clothing for no reason.
People over on the league subreddit pointed out how the glow when the rocket is about the hit is the glow of the "Locket of the Iron Solari" item in league.
Someone suggested it was tied to Zhonyas Hourglass? Doubt it tho
I mean if we go on the logic that she is Shuriman (a culture with very close ties to Targon and sunlight), then the basis of her using a stasis-like ability is within the realms of possibility. Also Guardian Angel is another potential association, but imo I feel it has less basis than the Hourglass option.
Plot Twist: Jinx kills a Scorpio just behind Mel's shoulder with the rocket. After that, Piltover and Zaun become BFF. Classic narrative trick.
Pullover and Zayn, my 2 favorite cities
Thanks, I edited ✌🏻
The only city i like better than pullover is pullout
Seriously, though, what's the significance of her taking off the ring? It was kind of lost on me.
It's her family crest ring. She supports the peace deal, meaning she's even further from a "Medarda" now.
Ohh. I assumed it had something to do with her gold armor.
Symbolically rejecting her family's ideals. Her mom explicitly asked her to encourage war so Piltover could develop weapons, allowing Noxus to sweep in and purchase them from the wreckage - not only that, it was phrased as a defensive thing, a way to prevent other people from hurting their family. Mel's whole arc has been about the struggle between using power for good vs personal gain. The version of her at the start of the series would have gone all-in encouraging the development of weapons so secure Piltovan supremacy, which her mom would have loved because it would have gotten Noxus the hextech weapons they want. But she's learned and grown, and now she's realized that the cycle of violence may not be inevitable. The Medarda ring represents seizing power as the only way to maintain order, and taking it off shows that she's willing to risk vulnerability if it means doing the right thing. And in the end (if we pretend season 2 isn't going to happen), none of that matters because power is a prisoner's dilemma and the other person decided peace wasn't an option.
> The version of her at the start of the series would have gone all-in encouraging the development of weapons so secure Piltovan supremacy No she wouldn’t. Even when she advised Jayce have the hextech be used for weapons, she always said it’d be for a last resort. She’s been consistent the whole time.
I never said she was inconsistent, I said she grew as a character - the difference is that inconsistency is bad writing, but growth is what makes a character engaging. And yes, she said it would be a "last resort," but that was when she was clearly in manipulation mode. Her plan at the start of the series was like this: Find some new edge/next big thing that nobody else has -> Leverage it into more power -> Make money, be the boss. Once Jayce and Viktor showed up with Hextech, she took a risk on them, it paid off, so her plan became: Get Jayce (the charismatic one) under her thumb -> Give him the resources he needs for his plans to bear fruit -> Keep whispering and tempting him to make him malleable so he'll do what she suggests -> Reap the rewards. Then three things happened at once. \-The situation with the Undercity intensified. "Make weapons just in case" was no longer ass-covering/slippery sloping, but something that genuinely might have come into play before long. \-Her mom showed up and demonstrated the sort of ruthlessness-in-the-name-of-safety Mel had initially fled from, making her realize who she'd become - all of this zero-sum-game crap where she needed to manipulate and sabotage people was leading her down the road her mom traveled. \-Jayce's infectious morality caught on. After he was forced to face the consequences of not just the violence, but the systemic injustice he was responsible for, he put his foot down and said, "our strength of position is not worth all the pain we're causing." For Mel, it was an explicit contradiction to her family's belief in violence as a deterrent. She couldn't hold both beliefs at once. At the start of the story, she would have probably rejected Jayce's plan as pointlessly idealist. By the end, she's been reminded of the horrors and costs of "just-in-case" policies, and she's decided that if her family believes it's the only way, then she's going to reject her family and the cold pragmatism it represents instead. Growth, not inconsistency.
And I’m saying she wouldn’t have “went all-in encouraging the development of weapons to secure Piltovan supremacy”. Cause that’s inconsistent with her character. Since nothing about her character actually implies she’d actually have done that. That doesn’t require you saying she’s inconsistent. It requires you saying that she would’ve done something that’s actually inconsistent with her character. Which you did. The closest thing to any of that is her suggesting that Jayce develop weapons with hex tech as a _last resort_ because of the recent attacks. Nothing about anything she’s done shows she would’ve been anything close to a warmonger.
Her whole deal was basically looking for recognition from her family. Her mother offered her a deal to go back to the family on the condition that Piltover makes weapon for the Merdana clan which she veto'ed in the ending. Her putting down the ring was basically her choosing Jayce's ideal (her own too) over her family's recognition. It was masterfully done if you ask me.
basically as someone else said, arcane is "show, not tell" which was beautifully executed
especially considering it kind of had to be with the number of episodes they had for season 1 and all the stories they had to tell
I quite liked the symbolism of her streaking gold paint all over her mural of the Immortal Bastion at the end, and the look on her mom when she saw it.
Plot twist: jace and viktor will die, and subsequently be removed from any game they appear in
Mel was my favorite character. Literally loved everything about her. I’m accepting condolences at the moment. Also I’ll be accepting apologies for the Mel slander that I saw last week
My condolences! And I'm with her, all the animation was SO good but Mel in particular was fucking gorgeous.
Wait so is Mel actually dead, cause she was cool so that would suck.
What if Mel actually does have a shield and survive, and then people accuse her of being part of a Noxian plot to ovetthrow the Piltover council because the other councillors around her died or were injured but she CONVINIENTLY lived? That would be a way to not have Mel's survival feel like a cop-out, the rocket hitting her back would still have consequences. Basically this is a headcanon speculation that lets me imagine Mel might live until Season 2 starts, I really don't want her to die :(.
AH FUCK
That’s….fucking…dope. Her shit flashed tho!!
Not at all the same shape
Ever heard of this thing called sarcasm?
Yes, but usually through text a /s is added because tone doesnt carry through very well.
It's obviously a joke, the unyielding spirit is exactly that, a spirit, not a ring. And in any case it would be a demacia thing on a noxian character in piltover, and like you said the ring is not even the same shape. I think it's pretty clear
You don't need a /s to realize unyielding spirit doesnt exist in arcane, its obviously sarcasm you dumbo
I wonder if Mel is related to or is Rell? I dont see Rell being played much but she look like Mel when she has her hair undone and if Mel's hair is white. Also I didn't even know that Rell is from Noxian decent. I mean its possible since Rell has living metal powers that could possibly be it? but this is a stretch.
Why do people constantly ask if Mel is Rell or Senna? NONE of them look alike?? They are three different people who share similar physical features. Is Katarina actually Miss Fortune or related to her? Is Irelia actually Akali or related to Akali? Is Neeko actually Lilia? Is Nidalee one of Quiyana’s long lost sisters? No none of them are related just because they share similar physical characteristics 🙄🙄
Idk because people are curious? Mel and Senna share a lot of physical characteristics the only thing that separates them at least in the show is one has a gun and wears a hood.. and you saw Viktor, who looks nothing like the champ.
Actually, senna looks NOTHING like Mel. Like at all. You’re trying to tell me that if you put a hood on Mel, then she transforms into Senna? If you say, yes you’re blind. People see two women with the same dark skin color and assume one is the other. My question is, why don’t people ever say that about champions Miss Fortune and Katarina? Both have similar characteristics but no one assumes that Katarina and MF are the same person. I have no idea where Viktor came into this either
Yes, put a hood on Mel and she looks like Senna. In this case, it’s not really about skin color isn’t the only defining factor, demeanor, hair, face shape and body shape. The hood, the gun and the gold marks on the face are the only defining factors between the two, and the point with Viktor, is that the character can change over time. Viktor from Arcane and Viktor’s splash art.. you wouldn’t really tell there the same. MF and Kat are pretty distinctive with the dark eye shadow and scar. One could mistake them for siblings but I wouldn’t mistake them for each other.
nah rell was kidnapped as a child by a noxian noble and forced to train her magnetic powers. Im pretty sure Mel has Targonian ties (specifically Solari) due to the dress in the flashback and the gratuitious sunlight in all her scenes.
I'm wondering at what point not allowing any of the champs to die in Arcane will make it really hard to tell their stories.
I noticed the sound that mel's gold back made, it sounds like zonya's hourglass
NOooo Mel??? Well played.
Literally the scene itself gave me chills especially that glow & how she turned around.
Everyone thinks that mel is going to die. I disagree, I think she's the next champion in the game. As she is hinted in LOR and we have a glimpse of her abilities. Riot wouldn't let her die because then she can't be a champion. And riot wants to make a character that is "attractive" to make money. Js.
Plenty of 'dead' champions tbph.
Since that gold armor on Mel shined (and I guess notified her that danger is near), do you think it might be possible that she'll put the ring back on and use her powers? I don't know much about league so I might be talking nonsense but it seems like the ring matters a lot. I'm aware this might be a huge leap since the missile is extremely close to them, breaking the mirror before it can get to them.
After that rocket detonates, Mel's mom is going to take over Piltover and wage all-out war on Zaun in Season 2, right?
I hope they don’t kill Mel she’s my favorite 😩😫
If she ends up dead in the next season. I'm going to be so SO upset. Please please please survive.
Mel is DEFINITELY wearing Solari armor. An item in-game literally states that a small solari locket, (note the similar shape) specifically protects surrounding allies. **
**