After nearly a three-year wait, Riot Games and Netflix recently announced that Arcane’s second season will be released in November of this year. One of 2021’s most successful adaptations, Arcane’s first season saw its team bag several accolades, including multiple Primetime Emmys and Annie Awards. This included wins for Best Directing, Best Voice Acting, and Best Production Design.
Of course, while Arcane fans are relieved to know the much-anticipated sophomore season is on the way, the animated show still begs the question of whether or not it holds up against its source material. In an age where even the most well-meaning adaptations can end up disappointing, how does Arcane stack up, and what does this mean for League of Legends lore?
League of Legends 101
For those who need a refresher or who have yet to dive into Arcane, this is an animated television show set in the League of Legends (LoL) universe. Initially released in 2009, a guide to LoL betting tips describes it as an immensely popular multiplayer battle arena (MOBA) video game. Developed by Riot Games, who are also responsible for other titles like Valorant and Fortnite, LoL is also a huge name in esports. Every year, esports teams like Fnatic, Cloud9, and Team Liquid battle it out in the LoL World Championships.
Apart from consistently changing up its meta to keep battles fresh, LoL is also well-known for its world-building. Officially, LoL’s fantasy world is called Runeterra, which is further split into 13 distinct regions. Each region is populated with different races and observes various cultural norms. For instance, Shurima is a sandy wasteland where nomadic peoples fight to survive. There’s also the Nordic-inspired Freljord, where tribes clash amid the icy terrain. Across each realm, though, a common thread is the presence of Champions. In-game, Champions are what you call the playable characters. In the lore, they are the chosen few blessed with enhanced abilities, although this distinction is less strict in recent stories. In the old lore, these Champions could be drafted to settle cross-regional disputes instead of a large-scale battle that could trigger another cataclysmic Rune War.
How Arcane fits into LoL lore (Spoiler Alert)
This leads us to Arcane, which follows sisters Vi and Powder (later called Jinx). Brought up on the streets of Piltover, the sisters are soon exposed to technology that is linked back to arcane magic. While this later helps Piltover become a utopian region rightly called the City of Progress, it stands in stark contrast to its sister city, Zaun. Often lumped together due to their proximity, Zaun and Piltover are both homes to innovation. However, where Piltover offers a more polished appeal, Zaun is a dark and polluted undercity where danger goes hand-in-hand with daily life. As the episodes progress, viewers understand that the contrast between the cities also represents the sisters’ divide. This much is true to what is hinted at in the games.
For LoL gamers, the dynamic between the two main protagonists, in particular, will make more sense, being that Vi and Powder are also playable characters in the video game. Aside from the sisters, Arcane also features other familiar faces, like Caitlyn, Jayce, Viktor, and Heimerdinger. Generally, the character design behind each has been very well-received, with skins holding to what gamers have seen in the MOBA. Similarly, the depictions of the cities the characters move around in have been pretty faithful, with many long-time fans happy to see more of each region beyond the battlefields.
That said, not everything in Arcane is a 1-to-1 adaption. For example, certain details about backstories have been changed. To illustrate, Jayce’s backstory has been slightly tweaked in the show, so now he receives patronage from an entirely different family. Aside from this, certain character traits have been adjusted. Again, to reference Jayce, Arcane portrays him as a little less standoffish and arrogant than in-game. While Riot has yet to explain these changes, we can assume that the writers took creative liberties to make each story weave better together and to make character arcs more engaging.
The writers have also used Arcane as an opportunity to solidify certain gaps in the lore. Most notably, the theory that Vi and Jinx are estranged sisters is something many long-time LoL fans have discussed. Before Arcane’s release, LoL lore was shared via short stories, clips, and comic books. The problem with this content is that it was not widely available. Considering that the game has 168 Champions, that’s a lot of scattered lore to go through. Aside from this, LoL’s lore was also inconsistent to the point that many characters would have their backstories retconned. Many speculate that this is because Riot has been struggling to keep up with the in-game expansions that require lore changes. Following Arcane’s positive reception, an official Riot press statement confirmed that the show is now canon and that the in-game lore will begin to take a similarly cohesive approach to storytelling. In other words, while Arcane does hold up well against its source material, it may actually end up further enriching the core lore in the long run.
Is Arcane worth the watch?
If you enjoy a steampunk aesthetic based on arcane magic, battling factions, and inter-regional politics, then Arcane is worth the watch. If you’re a fan of LoL itself, watching the show will be a great way to immerse yourself deeper into the backstories of familiar faces and places. Because the show is written in such a way that it feels more like an independent piece rather than a supplement, Arcane can easily be enjoyed even by those without any prior exposure to the world of LoL. Given that video game adaptations are becoming the Hollywood trend, it’s refreshing to see content like Arcane, which doesn’t dilute its origins for the sake of mainstream consumption. Perhaps the bigger question now is whether or not audiences and gamers will soon tire of this genre. Following a Fallout season update that revealed the live-action show has already been renewed, there’s no doubt that video game fans will have a lot of familiar media coming their way. Hopefully, the creators of these shows will continue to find the balance between Easter eggs, original pivots, and the passion that made the source materials shine in the first place.
