This November, Netflix’sArcanewill be returning for its final season. While theNetflixseries has enjoyed much critical praise, there might be some out there who are a bit intimidated by what the series is at its core – an animated series based off ofLeague of Legends. For those that haven’t played League of Legends, the idea of watching a show based on it can sound less than appealing.
This article contains light spoilers for the first season of Arcane.
However, the connection between Arcane and League of Legends is a little more complicated than a plain one-to-one. For any prospective viewers that are worried, there’s actually no need to have ever even heard the name League of Legends to enjoy Arcane. But, if you’re thinking of watching the show, or have watched the show, you may just wonder how they are connected.
Amid the stark discord of twin cities Piltover and Zaun, two sisters fight on rival sides of a war between magic technologies and clashing convictions.
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The backstories of League of Legends' champions
Vi, Jinx, Jayce, and more
The most obvious connection between Arcane and League of Legends is the main cast of the show. The show’s main cast features a variety of characters that make up the roster of playable champions in League of Legends. While the series primarily centers around Vi and Jinx, there are plenty of other champions in the show, including:
This list doesn’t include characters who made brief cameos in the show, such as Ryze, Kindred, and Teemo. This also doesn’t include Ambessa Medarda, who first appeared in Arcane but is now set to be added into the game.
While the champions within League of Legends do have established lore and backstories, the actual gameplay of League of Legends isn’t really there to advance a story or explain more about the characters. Arcane has gone a long way towards expanding upon this lore and showing the exact backstory behind the champions' appearance and weapons.
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Arcane has also paid a lot of attention to expanding on fairly minor character details from League of Legends. The show seems to be expanding upon the relationship between Vi and Caitlyn, a long-standing fanship that originated due to some in-game lines and minor updates Caitlyn received right after Vi was added to the game.
In other cases, Arcane has massively reworked pre-existing characters' lore. One of the best examples is Viktor, who, in League of Legends, was initially just a scientist that was corrupted into believing that humans were inefficient and needed to be upgraded. Through this corruption, he modified his own body to the point that he’s arguably no longer human.
All of that is a pretty tired sci-fi trope that’s been seen time and time again. In Arcane, Viktor is still a scientist, but he was born into poverty and is disabled. These factors lead him on a noble path towards wanting to help the people who grew up around him, and even possibly heal himself. But eventually, through his work, he gave up some of his humanity. Where this will progress in the second season remains to be seen, but it’s absolutely one of the most interesting character changes brought to the table by the show’s first season.
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The world of Runeterra and its rival factions
The Piltover and Zaun rivalry explained
Arcane’s story broadly centers around tensions between the cities of Piltover and Zaun. Within League of Legends, these two cities are rival factions. While it’s always been known that Zaun has always been a sort of under city that sits in Piltover’s shadow, Arcane has greatly expanded on what conflicts exist between the two environments. This is in addition to explaining the rivalries that exist between champions of either faction.
However, that’s not to say the versions of Piltover and Zaun seen in Arcane are completely analogous to the ones seen in League of Legends. Much was changed about both cities' backstory for the show, but it’s all part of a larger element that the show is more of a story told with the characters and locations within League of Legends' lore.
Piltover and Zaun are both part of the larger world of Runeterra, the larger world in which League of Legends is set. There are other factions and lands within the world of Runeterra that have either gone unmentioned, or have been vaguely alluded to. However, it has been hinted that Arcane may not be the last we see of Runeterra in animation. Whether or not we do actually end up getting more shows that expand on the lore of the wider world of Runeterra remains to be seen.
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What to expect from Arcane’s final season
More possible in-game connections
With Arcane set to wrap up onNetflixthis November, it’s only natural to expect that there will be a little more done to set up the characters as we know them in League of Legends. It’s also not crazy to imagine that the exact paths and endings will probably deviate slightly from what is known about the characters in their game versions.
But with season one’s explosive ending, there’s no doubt that there will be a lot more conflict taking center stage in the show’s final season. Whether we just get more info on the champions we’ve already seen in Arcane, or get to see more champions from League of Legends that have to appear in Arcane isn’t quite known, but there’s no doubt that Arcane’s final season will have a lot to offer.
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