A Lesson In Duality - Ekko and Jinx (Arcane)

in storytelling duality is a powerful way to portray different perspectives following different characters with opposing viewpoints allows us to better understand the characters themselves the world they live in and how certain events affect them seeing the viewpoint of one character may also help us understand another even better in my opinion duality at its best is not when it deals with complete opposites like good or evil it is at its best when there are similarities between the opposing characters and i think arcane does this brilliantly in arcane there seems to be a theme of destroying versus building like using magic as a dangerous weapon of war or using magic to create amazing devices that help those in need for leaders to use their position to attack and destroy or use their position to build and forge relationships we see many parallels of this idea of whether to build or destroy but i think the best parallel of this idea is the one between echo and powder mainly the similarities they shared in life as children and the divergence between who they grew up to be when we meet them as children both characters desire to help their friends but only one is considered helpful both characters have the mind to build but one creates weapons while the other repairs tools both look up to vi and admire her but only one is dependent on her and on the night when everything changed for these two characters both echo and jinx lost those they considered a father those they could consider brothers both lost vi and both also lost powder and were left with the jinx who took it all away but as we see in the present day unlike powder now jinx echo is not haunted by the memories of the past as by the mural we see him show vi he has taken the time to mourn his losses and accept the facts that those he loved are gone jinx is cursed by such memories shown by the ghosts of milo and klagel ekko gave himself the chance to grieve to let go and while it still saddens him it doesn't him instead it gives him the strength to push forward while jinx tries desperately to push these memories of the past away yet they cling to her they haunt her they her they stop her from moving forward jinx's environment the one she has retreated to is loud and chaotic it drowns out the sound of pain and worry similar to how jinx's outbursts do like her bombs do while ekko's environment the one he built is peaceful where solutions are found through productivity and working towards a better life bit by bit piece by piece echo decided to build in order to live to regain happiness while jinx turn to chaos which helps her survive and acquire fleeting moments of relief jinx destroys to relieve her pain while echo builds to once again experience life surrounded by those he trusts jinx on the other hand is surrounded by those she refuses to trust and we see jinx's lack of trust in her allies by the way she fights both jinx and echo are skilled combatants but we always see jinx fighting alone echo however bar one instance is always seen fighting with a team even the devices they've built for combat work as parallels such as the bomb's jinx built which cause death and destruction while the bombs echo built simply subdue the enemy all the devices jinx creates the guns the bombs she keeps for herself while echo created such things as the hoverboard not only for himself but for his allies also echo builds relationships while jinx destroys them when both characters finally reunite with vi similar steps play out both aren't willing to let their guard down upon seeing her but eventually they do they embrace her they cry and they get to feel something they haven't felt for a long time the loving embrace of their big sister but as usual while we see similarities between jinx and echo a divergence eventually occurs and this happens when caitlin steps in her presence sparks mistrust instantly within the two as she is an enforcer someone who has been ingrained in them to be an enemy which is another similarity they share stemming from how they both come from the same place the difference comes from their willingness to hear caitlyn out jinx's first impression of everyone she meets is they are the villain that they're against her and she doesn't hear them out because she has already made her decision she isn't willing to trust or build a bond not again not like powder did so when meeting caitlin an enforcer she isn't prepared to hear her out she even begins to lose trust in vi at the simple fact she is with an enforcer she quickly deemed caitlyn an issue and her solution to this issue was to kill her to destroy the issue so she may have some peace so she may believe vi has actually come back for her that they're sisters again but she isn't willing to see the genuineness in vi's return with the enforcer still in the picture jinx's thought is if phi is with an enforcer then vi is with the enemy that vi is the enemy but ekko's thoughts are if vi is with an enforcer then maybe this enforcer is an ally ekko listens to others perspective and is willing to understand them but he is always thinking of his family and what risk this alliance may put them in however in similar interactions jinx is thinking of herself and what risk this puts herself in as fear and distrust has become instilled in her echo forged a bond with caitlyn and vi while jinx pushed them both away one forged a new relationship while the other attempted to tear one down one tried to build or the other tried to destroy this is the strength of jinx and ekko's duality they are very similar both fight for their cause both are a part of a team and both didn't trust caitlyn but also they're very different one fights alone the other with comrades one is considered a weapon the other a leader one heard caitlyn out while the other silenced her but i don't think their duality was shown any better than in their fight in episode 7 of arcane seconds before their fight even begins parallels are already present with the light behind echo and the darkness behind jinx a simple but clear way to show what their diverting paths have led them to once two kids on the same side who would play fight together now are on opposing sides in a fight to the death as the fight starts we flick to the past reinforcing how echo and jinx come from the same place how they had similar lives how they were similar people who found different paths which is shown beautifully by the use of the firefly and raven which hover beside each character during their duel the firefly is a symbol in japanese culture that represents souls who have departed from battle or effects of battle but it is also a metaphor for passionate love the raven in several cultures is associated with loss and is seen as a ill omen both of these symbols help represent who each character has become because of ekko's love for those around him he's driven to build and do better for those he's lost to be a boy savior jinx has faced many of the same losses echo has but she can't move forward from such losses she feels trapped by them and has resorted to destruction as a distraction from the pain and grief she became an ill omen a jinx we also know that since childhood while jinx remains with her gun echo has changed from a sword to a blunt weapon one that doesn't kill but subdues similar to his bombs showing how echo has grown and learnt that killing does not have to be the answer while jinx believes killing is the only answer we see further how ekka was learnt from the past by adapting his approach when fighting jinx rather than leaping straight like he did as a child he takes a step to the right a tactical change which wins him the fight but we also see how jinx fights mostly the same showing how she is a prisoner to the past again we are shown how echo has grown from the past while jinx remained trapped by it at the end of their fight ekko sees a glimpse of powder i wonder if in this moment ekka was willing to rebuild his relationship with powder to help powder rebuild her friendships to rebuild a home for her to rebuild her life to rebuild the connection they once had but while we didn't get to see ekko's response we did see jinxes to destroy jinx can't help but set off the bomb as she has chosen the path of the destroyer ekko can't help but see hope in jinx no matter how much he says otherwise he has chosen the path of the builder the one who is willing to see hope in all the mess to see what could be so in this moment of hesitation echo can't help but see a chance to rebuild with powder but jinx can't help but see an opportunity to finally set off her final bomb to finally destroy and not only relieve the pain but have the pain cease forever we see the final parallel between echo and jinx in the last episode of arcane when jinx committed a final act of destruction destroying the council and truly cementing herself as a jinx while ekko committed a final act of building sharing a genuine laugh with an upsider heimerdinger even willing to share with him his home he built a bond with heimerdinger and truly cemented himself as the boy savior someone who was willing to see the good and worth in anyone even an upsider jinx destroyed an opportunity for peace with her action and echo possibly built a new path towards peace with his action one destroys and one builds the relationship shared between jinx and echo is one of my favorites in arcane as while you never see much of it by the end of the show you can't help but feel the weight of it two close friends who grew up without their family and suffering severe trauma now finding themselves on opposite sides all these years later their life growing up was very similar but how they ended up was very different the two form a perfect duality

Channel: Bejit'sWord

Views: 36,563

Keywords: arcane review, ekko vs jinx, arcane video essay, arcane breakdown, jinx ekko, league of legends cinematic, league of legends arcane reaction, arcane act 1, arcane act 2, arcane act 3 review, netflix arcane, powder arcane, powder, powder becomes jinx, arcane opening, arcane reaction, ekko league of legends, ekko, vi, silco, mylo and clagger death, mylo arcane, claggor arcane, writing duality, jinx analysis, ekko analysis, fire lights arcane, writing, arcane ending scene

Id: MgOKVCAJj2U

Length: 15min 38sec (938 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 23 2022