Silco actions and motivations | Terrorism is the poor man's war | Arcane (Video Essay)

[@Belbecat]

Anyone who thinks Silco was out for power as his ultimate goal wasn't paying attention. People watch the show on their second monitor while playing a game or while scrolling on their phones and don't catch all the dialogue just miss so much which is a real shame. Glad you made a video highlighting this 😀

[@bgm8663]

People forget Piltover is not a democracy but a totalitarian government controlled by powerful families who only look after their economic interests. Any peaceful attempt to improve the situation would have fallen on deaf ears, and as you pointed out, the only reason they paid attention to Zaun was the result of Jinx's violence. And their solution was to abandon their responsibility to the undercity and give it in their perspective to a violent drug lord. The Zaun independence wasn't a humanitarian choice, they were cutting problems by letting it go.

[@jasonco2]

This is a brave video to make in the Arcane fandom and I applaud you making it. You’re totally correct in your take, and the number of people who can’t understand the systematic violence being enacted upon the people of the Undercity blows my mind. Some of these same people will compare Silco to Hitler, yet somehow miss the fact that Piltover literally closed the bridges and locked the people of the Undercity in an environment with toxic gas in the air and poison in the water. Somehow Silco introducing drugs (that can be used to heal) into the city for the goal of independence is worse than Piltover poisoning the place for their own industry and profit.

[@HxH2011DRA]

Really tho, suprised this is a controversial take

[@F1rstWorldNomaD]

Never seen anyone compare Silco to Hitler... Not saying those poeple doesnt exist but there cant be THAT many? Either way, those people are god damn morons. But saying Silco did nothing wrong is also pretty fakking stupid. The fact that he was right in theory but wrong in execution is what literally makes this character one of the best villains ever. The extreme neuance, depth and very morally ambigious nature of it all. Saying he did nothing wrong literally takes away from the character rather than elevates him. Silco did a shitload of wrong. The fact that you can still emnpathize with him cuz his cause is actually justified is absolutely essential to the entire plot of Arcane.

[@aspieanarchist5439]

Also, Piltover banned magic for understandable reasons considering the lore but nonetheless Zaun`s economy was dependent on magic, science and high industry mixed together so when Piltover banned magic, sucked up most of the industry and left them with a science that was a far more low-grade, more dangerous and less regulated version of their own , stripped them of their very name and forced them to commit crimes just to survive and find an alternative currency in the form of the very chemicals and Piltie coins used to reduce them to second-class citizens of land they built in the first place, then act so surprised when the Zaunites whom they call "Trenchers"," dirty little animals" and "Undercity rabble" hate them, resent their laws and spit on them.

[@jakubsramek2127]

@@jasonco2 I think show is (a little bit) to blame for this. They showed the effects of industry and talked about Piltover causing it, but it would hammer the point down much better if we saw the worker's mining the fissures. It would also fit nicely with later Atlas gauntlet exhibition, as Jayce says they are for the fissure miners, showing us exactly what they are meant for originally. It also gives weight to Heimerdinger's detached answer, seeing beforehand exactly what he allows for by being scared of taking risks.

[@TrampMachine]

I've actually been looking for this take since I finished Arcane. I went to school for Sociology, and almost a PS degree, and the frameworks we use to imagine who is right and who is wrong. In my view Silco understood that inorder to beat those oppressing his people he had to be willing to be just as brutal as they were. At the end of the day the winner will be the one willing to use the most brutality, to get their hands the dirtiest. Silco understands that, the status quo is violence, that choosing to do nothing as Vander did is just prolonging the violence and suffering. Silco didn't develop shimmer to be a drug kingpin, he helped develop it to use as a weapon against topsiders. The enterprise that came after that was all an effort to make enough money to fight a war. You can tell by the way Silco talks to the shimmer barons that Shimmer is mearly a stepping stone, whereas it's their total ambition. It's my opinion that the Council, Jayce, Mel, etc, are in fact the villians. Now you can say, Silco does some bad shit, in order to keep the power he needs to fight topside. But Jinx really doesn't do anything wrong. All the people she kills are trying to harm her in some way or another.

[@spadesandshades-pc9tx]

It's best to say on jinx that she is a product of her time or the era she's in

[@Xoracious]

I agree with you as well.

[@julianjaynes67]

I mean… Jinx did blow up a building in Piltover to get the Hextech gem.

[@supermonstars]

@@julianjaynes67Blowing up enemy facilities and only harming enemy combatants is standard war shit, no worse than anything else. In fact, quite a bit better than standard war shit.

[@julianjaynes67]

@@supermonstars you’re definitely not wrong. I’m not really trying to make the point that Jinx is evil. I think I’m more just trying to point out that this show is excellent at painting shades of gray all the way through. Yes, I agree that the council functions as the villains of the story. And I agree that Jinx is a product of her time and circumstances, unfortunately. We all are. But she’s also by no means a saint.

[@e.moonbound2420]

It's pretty hard to have a succesful revolution without anyone getting hurt, if the other side has the power to stop you THEY WILL. Any change of the status quo always needs confllct because there are folks that benefit from it.

[@jasonco2]

It’s almost like if you want to change the world, you shouldn’t ask for permission. 🤔🤔🤔

[@HxH2011DRA]

@@jasonco2 HMMMMMMMMMMM

[@F1rstWorldNomaD]

Yes... But there is a big fakking difference between collateral damage and puroposly hurting and killing thousands of innocent civilians. The whole "cant make an omelette without cracking eggs" argument is astronomically insufficient in this case.

[@elmist_]

I’ve continually felt as though arcane is a perfect series for class consciousness

[@ArcaneMelodies82]

Silco ending up with Powder slowly changed him, by the end of Season1 Silco's "do anything to achieve it" philosophy had cracked. He was not willing to give up Jinx to attain The Nation of Zuan. If Silco did not grow to love Jinx as a daughter he would have easily let Jinx go to Stillwater in order to get what he wanted all his life. Silco becoming Vander was his undoing. Hell, Silco offered himself up to go to Stillwater to keep Jinx safe.

[@trivialqed]

Vander stopped fighting to protect Vi and Powder. Its easy to fight when u dont have close loved ones who might bare the consequences of ur actions. Best example is Silco himself, he fought till Jayce offered Zaun's independence only if he handed over Jinx. At the end he put his only loved one ahead Zaun just like Vander

[@e.moonbound2420]

Totally agree, Vander had a lot of reasons to disagree with Silco's methods, mostly because they required hurting Zaunites.

[@trivialqed]

@Momo Viixiv sounds nice for a fiction story, in real life someone responsible for a family prefers stability than risk. no one wants to leave their children behind, specially a single parent. Silco thought like u till he had Jinx, maybe when u get ur own you'll change ur mind like Silco

[@lolicongang.4974]

@@trivialqed Um people charged the bridge so... idk vi and jinx mother and father died in it. So rethink that. They wanted something better than what they had so they were willing to fight.

[@tj3603]

@@lolicongang.4974 Vi's and Powder's parents also in much more desperate situation. Their family lived in absolute worst conditions even by Zaun standards before uprising. Desperate people make questionable decisions.

[@lolicongang.4974]

@@tj3603 I suppose so. Life in zaun is a dog eat dog world. Tough place and to most it is shitty to others glorious. And worth fighting for.

[@v.s8212]

Finally someone said it. As someone from a third world country that goes through a lot of political and social turbulence, it hurts so much when people paint Zaun as the evil bad guys and Piltover as the shiny peacekeepers, specially with Vander, as much as I love him, he was in charge of all these people and he just let live in this terrible conditions, no chance of a better life. Miners in a lot of cultures a very symbolic of a workers uprising, which is why I think Silco's name comes from silicosis, (desease you get from inhaling too much dust usually found in miners, later on usually develps into cancer/ pneumonia) and him and Vander have been heavely implied to have worked there, as well as all his talk of how incredibly toxic the air in Zaun is.

[@v.s8212]

@@colossaldonut5190 more proof of how shitty the conditions were, if its bad now with chemtech and Voss, imagine what it was with less technology and enforcers having more control of the undercity

[@eadbert1935]

i personally think that in the series, zaun isn't painted as evil. piltover isn't paited as the "shiny peacekeepers" as you say it, they're shown as ignorant assholes. vander is shown as the good guy and towards the end of the show, silco talks about how he could finally achieve the dream they both had. From episode 3 onward, silco was always shown as a man with ideals, maybe not the correct means, but the correct aim. i think the show is about a lot of grey areas, no black and white. except maybe vander, but he's a tragic hero. so idealistic that his ends could never be achieved by his means, and some council members, which are stuck-up assholes who couldn't care less about anyone. Zaun has no only-evil characters, while piltover has no only-good characters. And while this doesn't mean that zaun>piltover, it does show us the complexity of the world. What can also be seen is that in general, people in power (except vander) aren't good people. in piltover they're egotistical, in zaun they don't care that their daughter is a murderous maniac.

[@eadbert1935]

@@colossaldonut5190 vi only wants to solve her issues with punching (mostly sevika) caitlyn wants to talk everything out ekko doesn't finish his kills to solve 90% of everyones problems (ok, this isn't too much of a real flaw, i admit, not wanting to kill your childhood friend is ok) But my point of "maybe zaun>piltover" is further reinforced with that. More good people are in zaun than in piltover (further reinforced by heimer going to ekko).

[@v.s8212]

@@eadbert1935 Oh I wasn't talking about the series I was just saying what I've heard from other people that irks me a bit

[@exu7325]

​@@colossaldonut5190 Not really, Vi is portrayed as an irresponsible and emotionally stunted meathead, punching first and asking questions later. Caitlyn is portrayed as a prejudiced and prideful Piltovan born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Ekko is portrayed as a juvenile idealist on a quixotic crusade, a "boy savior". They are wearing the protagonists' shoes, but they aren't meant to be seen as flawless. It's just that some people (Vi and Caitlyn stans, mainly lol) insist that these characters are flawless.

[@Hashinshin]

This video is monetized and I believe my artistic take on this will allow it to continue. Please subscribe to my patreon if this gets demonetized. MonkaS

[@aslemartinsen5284]

See, this is what I'm talking about! You can do tons of videos like these. Imagine you can make video essays about every champion in League, where you talk about both lore, history of use in the game, and changes that's happened to them over the years. And throw in your opinions on when they were good, when they were bad, and so on. Your viewers wanna know your opinion on basically everything. So make it your own. And yes, I might be saying things you already know, but I'm saying it in case there can be some help for you. Keep doing this buddy! Really enjoyed this video :)

[@andreabduch]

Thank you hash for another great video

[@cybertruck-kun4996]

commenting for algorithm

[@yilmazh3127]

Hash, your consistent passion for this game is more than we can ask for. Monetize away big man.

[@waggadoodle2916]

I enjoyed Silco as a character, alot. What I enjoyed in Arcane is the fact that the story is not black and white. The thing about defending Silco is by promoting the fact that "the end justifies the means". He uses unstable superdrugs to make monsters, that last a while and then makes them addicted. He uses child labour to make said drugs(shimmer). He is not above threatening people with using thier children as hostages. I really believe that he want whats best for Zaun. But still, he was still going to forfiet the deal when Jayce wanted to take in Jinx. So he could not follow the rule of "the end justifies the means", because he was not willing to sacrifice Jinx. (sorry for the spelling mistakes) Thank you for the essay Hashinshin

[@PlanADidntWorkOut]

Might be a bit of a stretch to say 'Silco did nothing wrong' (*some* may say a weapon + drug factory using child labour is wrong, idk). But yeah - Silco often *was* right - definitely more so than Heimerdinger/Piltover's Council who 'did nothing'. Good job on revealing even more nuance to a super-nuanced character.

[@Romalj420]

One might argue that what you see as potentionally bad: weapon and drug factory with kids was very honourable thing to do. To make it clear: bulding weapons while your people are being slaughtered by Piltover is very honourable thing to do from that angle. Giving kids a job in times where your people are dying cause of hunger is very honourable thing to do from that angle.

[@bluegamer4210]

@@Romalj420 its not honourable even in the sightlest its bad who tf actualy belives that child laibor could be honorable angels dont matter because its a fact from every angle if anything it was needed because silco was going agaisnt the oods and probably couldnt have come as far as he did if he didnt use every single thing to his advanage he said "Power, real power, doesn’t come to those who were born strongest, or fastest, or smartest. No. It comes to those who will do anything to achieve it." and he was infact willing to do anything to achive power (expect giving up jinx at the very end) But the point being its not honoroable or good or right considering his goal right or wrong doesnt really matter since HAD TO DO IT to succede, but its not good or honorable....

[@tahmkench118]

Arthas did nothing wrong

[@NoName-vb4pc]

@@bluegamer4210 You are looking at it from a modern first world perspectiv, but child labour is better than orphans dying in the streets from hunger.

[@dudechillout]

@@bluegamer4210 From what I read in Ekko's lore, children were not forced to work, but they felt inclined to due to the fact that their parents could barely scrounge up enough money to survive.

[@BiIIyD]

Silco very clearly stated that he had no qualms with killing children to intimidate his rivals. He has probably done it before.

[@exu7325]

I feel like people who say that Zaunites suffer under Silco's rule or that he made the undercity worse didn't really pay attention. From Act I to Act II, the undercity underwent (lol) massive changes. I'd argue that for the average Zaunite, life is much better under Silco's leadership. Here's just a few changes that I noticed: -The air condition is cleaner now (Caitlyn can breathe the air just fine without any assistance). -The undercity is getting modernized and industrialized (motor vehicles roaring about, rise of chemtech, Silco being known as "the Industrialist"). -The economic condition is much improved (primarily for the chembarons, but from Zaunites' attires, we can infer that they also experienced some economic improvement). The undercity was ALWAYS a den of violence and crime. Children were beating each other up for mere scraps. Stealing, strong-arming, and swindling were common practices. Why do people make Vander out as some sort ideal law-abiding leader? Shimmer was always only a mean to an end to Silco anyway (this is the source of his conflict with the chembarons). He didn't even hesitate to stop all its production in exchange for Zaun's independence and a more productive economic opportunity. The undercity was dealt a shitty hand by topside, Silco just refused to fold and played with the hand they had.

[@thomasmann4536]

Actually, I think youre wrong on all 3 points. 1. The enforcers can breathe the Undercity air in Act 1 just fine as shown in and in front of Benzo's shop, in the last Drop (Marcus has his mask off). IT makes no sense to assume that the air inside the buildings is somehow cleaner than the air in the rest of the Undercity. If anything it would be worse due to a lack of air circulation and lots of people breathing. The enforcers simply dont want to breathe because of any long term effects the air can have (like, say radiation IRL). It also cant be that toxic because Zaunities are also humans and they can breathe it too. 2. Industrialization and modernization does not always mean better living conditions. We dont see how the Shimmer positively affects the Zaunites' lives, however the show clearly shows the negative effects (episode 6, Vi clearly says "it was never that big, though" at the place where all the addicts live) 3. We do not see any Zaunites starving or going hungry or beating each other to death in Act 1, but we do see the latter in episode 8 I believe, when Heimerdinger comes down. And then we have the problem of the addicts who live in absolute poverty. We also got child labor (which didnt seem to be as prevalent before Silco came along, although thats unclear). All in all, Silco seems to have turned a poor society into a poor society that can use drugs to at least forget about their shitty situation for a while by getting high and feling super strong, nothing more.

[@exu7325]

@@thomasmann4536 1. It makes TOTAL sense to assume that the air inside is cleaner, why else would the enforcers only take off their gas mask indoor? The pollution is what caused Viktor's disabilities and we saw how concentrated polluted air instantly killed plant life during Silco's meeting with the chembarons. 2. Industrialization and modernization ABSOLUTELY mean better living conditions. I'd just assume this is a first-worlder's ignorance and move on. And I've never posited that Shimmer positively affects Zaunites' lives specifically. What I'm saying is that the capital provided by the Shimmer trade (exported through the hexgate) is what jumpstarted the undercity's transformation. 3. There's multiple reference to Zaunites being malnourished in the very first episode and we also saw children beating each other for mere scraps. Child labor is pretty typical in impoverished places. Seriously, what's the alternative, you think they have schools down there or something? In Act 1, instead of child laborers, we have child criminals instead, I'd say it's an improvement. We didn't see cars and we didn't see proper clothes in Act 1. All in all, Silco turned a poor society into one which Piltover must take seriously. Just within a few years, he managed to force the council to recognize Zaun's independence and concede a better trade deal.

[@thomasmann4536]

@@exu7325 Okay, lemme explain why I believe you're wrong on all accounts here: In regards to the masks, youre simply ignoring the simplest and most obvious answer: They put them off to talk and put things in their mouth. Its easier to talk without a mask, and Im not sure if you remember, but in episode 2 Marcus orders a drink. How the fuck is he supposed to drink it with a mask on? Besides, they dont always take them off. The two enforcer goons Marcus brings with him keep their masks on, in Episode 3 when they come for Vander they keep their masks on. It seems to be much more about convenience than actual danger. It only makes sense to assume the air inside is better than outside if you have no idea how physics works. Gases fill all the space they can and they mix with each other, it's called diffusion. Every time a door or a window is opened, you can experience this for yourself. And we can see that the houses of the Underground dont have airlocks or air tight doors, nor do they have any sophisticated air filters (or else they would also come up with masks). We can also see that nobody ever takes their clothes off when entering a building, which means the temperature inside is the same as outside, which only further solidifies evidence for regular air exchange between inside and outside. The air Silco brings to the meeting is not the regular Undercity air, he actually says this. It's from the mines that "they" (he probably means himself) worked in. Mines have way worse air and there's no reason to believe the general Undercity has air even remotely as bad as what Silco presented, especially considering the fact that the Chembarons LIVE in the Undercity and they never wear masks. Thats honestly only a point you can make if you havent watched the episodes (or forgot everything) And as for Viktor, he is the ONLY one out of 14 named and countless unnamed characters that lived their whole life in the Undercity who got sick from the air, and he is also the only one who has a different kind of ailment (which he also had as a child). If the air is so toxic, why dont Vander or Silco exhibit any symptoms, even though they are much older and lived all their lives in the Undercity while Viktor actually made it to Piltover at some point in his life? 2. This has nothing to do with first world ignorance, but with knowledge of history. The industrial revolution absolutely did cause a deterioration of living conditions for people: Way worse working conditions in the mines than workers and farmers previously had on the fields, masses of pollutions generated (because CO2 filters didnt exist), massive Urbanization when people moved to the cities that were not prepared for such a change, had inadequate sanitary systems and canals, which caused diseases and fires to run rampant in cities like London. And no, there's no reason to believe that Shimmer provided any capital, or that this capital improved the lives of the ordinary man. Silco says in episode 4 "the topsiders are leaving us further and further behind" which clearly implies that the benefits of the hexgates do NOT affect the Undercity. In fact, they'd make it worse. there was trade between Piltover and the Undercity before (as evidenced by Jayce buying stuff at Benzo's), but now Piltover can buy cheap labor and everything else basically anywhere in the world, which actually makes it worse for the Undercity. We do hear Finn say that he thinks Silco understands what it takes to lead an enterprise, which implies some kind of profit (whether its Shimmer or not), but we see that none of Piltover's advances create a trickle down effect to the Undercity, so it isnt very reasonable to assume that this enterprise would. On the other side, we can clearly see the negative effects Silco's rule has on the Undercity: We can see how people get corrupted by Shimmer, we can see bouncers in front of the Last Drop, something that wasnt there when Vander was in charge. 3. There are multiple references that they are struggling, yet none of the characters we see are malnourished or starving. Vander and Benzo certainly arent. This might be more a fault of the show than your point though as it is quite common in movies to say one thing and show another. We didnt see cars, thats true, but we only see one in Act2 (and probably only for Silco or the chembarons, not for the ordinary folk), and we absolutely do see proper clothes in act1. No, he didnt. Piltover only has to take them seriously insofar as they cant ignore them anymore. Which is also exactly what happens at the start of act 1 TWICE. Vanders rebellion caused Piltover to take the Undercity seriously (thats why Vander and Grayson made a deal. you only make a deal if you consider the other to be worthy of making one), and thats why Grayson threatened to come down with an army just because Jayce's workshop was robbed. The ONLY thing that changed in the end when Silco was in charge was the strategies that Piltover considered, namely diplomacy, instead of just killing them. But that is not Silco's work, that is entirely attributable to Jayce.

[@exu7325]

@@thomasmann4536 1. Okay, I'm willing to concede that the air probably isn't cleaner indoor. But still, Caitlyn (who unlike Marcus and Grayson, has only visited the undercity for the first time) had zero reaction to the air, which implies that she didn't notice any difference in the air quality. In that meeting, it was revealed that Chembarons in fact do NOT live in the bottom of the undercity any longer and are breathing topside's air (Silco and Sevika taking a lift, sunlight in the room, and uhh.. Silco's speech itself). Viktor's disabilities is heavily implied to be a congenital condition (you know, just like real life cases of defects caused by pollution). It is also established that his condition is caused by gases from the "fissures" (presumably the same stuff in the canister Sevika carried). 2. No, you don't know your history. The industrial revolution raised the living standards for the masses. Yes, the working conditions were atrocious, but if they are worse than the fields, why would all these farmers move to the cities? They led backbreaking subsistence lives before the industrial revolution. Diseases and fires are hardly the inventions of the industrial revolution. Of course it's not ideal and there were a lot of adverse effects, but with industrial revolution, goods became affordable and there's a rapid advance in technology, which both means a rising living standard for the masses. Aren't you making my point for me? If the undercity isn't benefitting from the "hextech revolution", the sudden advancement in technology and living standard must come from the Shimmer trade, no? Which as you pointed out yourself, has international market through the hexgate. 3. Vander and Benzo are clearly business owners and doesn't represent the general living condition in the undercity (just like Silco doesn't represent the general living condition after Act 1). They are NOT wearing proper clothes in Act 1 man, their clothes are worn, stitched with patches, and looks makeshifted together. And I've already made this point in the original comment, the rapid economic and technological advancement is concentrated in the Lanes and mostly enjoyed by Silco & Co. (the economic and technological advancement provided by Hextech is also mostly enjoyed by Piltovan elites). Nevertheless, economic growth and technological advancement are good. You might have seriously misunderstood some plot points here. That wasn't a "rebellion", it was a protest/riot that was dispersed violently. Piltover didn't take Vander seriously at all, they made him into an informant and a puppet for the topside. Grayson threatened to come down with an army, because Piltover demands retribution and wants someone to throw in a jail (she said this explicitly). The thing that changed when Silco took power was the entire power balance between the topside and the undercity, where Vander worked for Grayson, Marcus worked for Silco, where Marcus intimidated and threatened Vander in his home, Silco intimidated and threatened Marcus in his home. Silco managed to wrest Zaun's independence and a fairer economic deal from Piltover, everything Vander had ever wanted but failed to achieve. You're actually ignoring plot points, narrative beats, character's dialogues, and visual cues from the show. I don't think I'm interested in continuing this exchange.

[@thomasmann4536]

@@exu7325 since youre not interested in further exchange Im not gonna go into detail. Just know that youre wrong about the historical industrial revolution. The people who benefitted from it where not the people who worked in the factories, that much should be clear to anyone who knows something about history. Youre also wrong about ignoring plot points, or rather should I say half wrong. Because youre also ignoring points that dont fit your narrative. Pretending that you know the whole truth while people who disagree with you are cherry picking stuff doesnt really help your argument

[@joeymayson8279]

Silco could have hired Teemo to plan shrooms all around Zaun, the ultimate defense weapon.

[@SheepyPanda95]

*Demacia, Noxus and Bilgewater proceeds to attack Zaun with Piltover just to kill Teemo*

[@zeppelincraft1443]

@@SheepyPanda95 Targon also unleashes Aurelion Sol just to throw a sun on top of him.

[@sageker8208]

@@zeppelincraft1443 and he hops into bandle city and laughs

[@Hawkido]

When you are in the middle of a dark forest, all paths that lead to light, start out dark. Piltover had no inerest in making "Zaun" a better place, they just wanted a place to dump the runoff and mine the minerals, and of course a place to house those "untouchables" who would do such labor that was both literally and figuratively beneath the citizen of Piltover. These sister cities are mirror reflections, one seeks regulated slavery and the other seeks dangerous freedom. To Authoritarians all forms of freedom are dangerous. To Libertarians all forms of regulations are slavery. I haven't seem anyone mention the child labor in Zaun... have you noticed than almost all of the population in Zaun is either very young adults and younger, or older adults. Very few in between, that is why child labor is used, that working class age group is missing. That is how devastating the Piltover counter assault was. The early form of shimmer had terrible side effects, mutations, physiological addiction. The newer form is much more refined with fewer and lighter side effects, Sevika hasn't mutated, or become a shimmer fiend. Only those poor sods that got addicted to the early cheap stuff have problems, and when it is being used properly, it seems to be an incredibly effective medicine, superior to what they have in Piltover (Caitlyn's leg was still bleeding during the shower scene, Vi's Abdominal stabbing closed up and was gone after a drop of shimmerjuice in some potion). Messy ugly progress or safe stale stagnation. A preserved flower has no smell and performs no function, but it looks pretty. A productive farm reeks of chicken fertilizer during the planing but yields much sweet smelling fruit once harvest rolls around.

[@MauiBread]

The first thing that comes to mind, is SIlcos only downfall was his emotional attachment to Jinx, It's his daughter and he genuinely loves and cares for her, no father who loves their kid is going to give them up to be killed or use them as a tool, now sure he let Jinx go crazy and it benefits his plan, so in that sense she is a "tool" but I think when you ask the question "Is there anything he could have done differently?" Not really, unless he was heartless and gave up Jinx.

[@stephenray5559]

I think the relation to people thinking that Silco was doing this for a power grab is actually more in relation with current events, where we often see rebellions lead to dictatorship or infighting between warlords. Which happens often because the nature of such rebellions is founded on power and strength, which attracts people who value power and strength over other moralistic values. Looking it this way we can compare Silco to them and see why people have the misconception, because there are clear similarities.

[@exu7325]

Or it's the other way around, and people are just seeing "current events" through the lens of the status quo. How often do people really see and follow what's actually happening like we follow Silco. Let me put it this way, to an average Piltovan, Silco IS just a druglord going for a power grab, that's all they know about him.

[@Xoracious]

Silco sees himself in Powder/Jinx. He was betrayed by Vander, a person who was a friend that felt more like a brother than just a friend. And as he hears from Powder that her sister left her just like how Vander left him. To Silco, Jinx isn't just his daughter. To Silco, Jinx is also himself.

[@brookshyde5663]

I would love to see more video essays! This was enjoyable and I appreciate your take on things. Your streams will sometimes have neat talks like your history lectures. It would be neat to hear your thoughts in a more organized structure like this. I will say that I think Vander is a bit more nuanced than you gave him credit for. Vander's situation with the bridge fight changed everything. It orphaned Vi and Powder. Silco didn't understand the extent of Vander's situation. It's not that he was willing to die but not fight for the cause. He was willing to die for his family in the hopes that tla fight wouldn't reach them. He wasn't the man to fight anymore because fighting for him meant putting his family at risk. In his mind, he could no longer afford it. If he took that path again, it would be the bridge all over again but this time it would sink its claws into the children he was trying to protect. I love Silco and I feel like neither is right or wrong. They were just operating under different circumstances. I was thinking about your question at the end and I started thinking about how Vander and part 2 & 3 Silco juxtapose each other. Silco clearly loved Jinx like a daughter and would do anything to protect her. Jinx's terrorism definitely benefited Zauns vie for independence and Silco used it accordingly. However, he was clearly distraught when it happened and it would often throw a wrench in his plans. In this way, he starts to juxtapose Vander. Vander didn't want to fight to protect his family but Silco was forced to fight in order to protect his. Multiple people wanted Jinx gone for what she had done and Silco had to adamantly fight to shield her from the consequences. Both died protecting the ones they loved.

[@felipeperez6867]

Great essay my man, never the less, I believe that you missed an importan factor in Silco´s character who´s (I know this doesn´t have to do with the title of the video) demise was actually Jinx. Villans often "end" with the main character over powering them by strength or sheer will, OR the writers build up their DEMISE by conflicting them between their own gouls and emotions. Which is why Arcane is so good at what they do. Silco really believed that letting Jinx "loose" was going to benefit his own interest as well as hers, but he didn´t know that she had interest of her own, and that is why at the tippin toe (climax) of the story, while every subordinate of his warned him about Jinx, he didn´t listen and let her do what ever she wanted and ended up in HER KILLING HIM. He decided to let Jinx be free instead of having everything he ever dreamed of, becuase he loved her. "Love is the Death of Duty" Words spoken by Amon Targaryen GOT.

[@prufan]

too be fair, it was an accident, Jinx killing Silco

[@yoinkling]

Thought he was gonna mention how Silco said he'd never give Jinx in. If he's telling the truth, he betrays Zaun for Jinx, which is very selfish.

[@prufan]

because he loves her too much and can't give her up to Piltover.

[@brittvaughn9447]

"power comes to those who will do anything to achieve it." He wasn't willing to do anything.

[@marqs2065]

Serious talk: terror is offen used in assimetric Wars, where the wining side has more to lose that the losing side. Piltover has more to lose then zaun with jinx unleashing her madness across the city then jinx herself being killed. Piltover has more to lose then the purple meth monsters. With this assimetric response, the only resonable thing to do is bargain, like Silco did. He was a sociopath? Maybe, but you can't argue that he is evil for the sake of evil.

[@masterhedgemon5381]

I don't think vander is lazy, he just wanted his children to have a normal life, not a life of war at the end where silco has the choice but has to give up jinx. So in the end both of them sacrificed their dreams for their children.

[@lolicongang.4974]

So he was lazy. Lol just stay down and don't make them mad.

[@masterhedgemon5381]

@@lolicongang.4974 I don't expect a dude called lolicon gang to ever have kids or understand. But nah ain't lazy. He's a good parent not a psycho all he did was for his people. That includes the person he cared most for jinx.

[@lolicongang.4974]

@@masterhedgemon5381 Meh I didn't see much doing but allowing the top to walk all over them... That's not doing much . Oh your keeping the peace without doing anything... So basically keeping us at level 1.

[@lolicongang.4974]

@@masterhedgemon5381 And I am sure to have kids some day when I find the right woman. Until then no I plan to get a better job and continuing my life to the highest degree. Just cause I am a lolicon means nothing.

[@masterhedgemon5381]

@@lolicongang.4974 Pretty sure lore wise they had a huge war before which is why they walk all over them it's arcanes first scene where vis parents die. They lost. Look at history the winner walks over the looser always

[@taylorschmidt6657]

19:33 - I think Jinx is just Silco's blindspot as a father. Whenever Jinx does something reckless like those terrorist attacks or even ruins a job in ep4, he never disciplines her or does anything about her instability, not because he is actually planning on using these qualities for his own goals, but because Jinx is Silco's blindspot because she's his daughter. And he thinks his daughter is "perfect". So he tells her not to do these things, but in the end but he keeps on enabling his daughter's actions by not putting his foot down because he accepts his daughter fully as she is, for better or worse, even if it gets in the way of his own goals. Sevika and the chembarons clearly see that Jinx is Silco's soft spot, they call him out on it constantly, and that's a huge reason why Fin and the other chembarons try to overthrow him. I don't think he was necessarily planning on using Jinx's terrorist tendencies for leverage against Piltover, but it does end up creating an opportunity for negotiating for independence, so obviously he takes advantage of that and goes to make the deal with Jayce. Though he is unable to go through with it because of his soft spot for his daughter.

[@-falcon8252]

Finally i found a video that focused on how selco was defending his people.. and how you was focused enough to figure that out, not like the most people whose seeing selco as a bad person ignoring his background And now after season 2 we know that he was inspired by vi and her mother and how vander betrayed him and when he find jinx he sow him self in her.. brother/sister betrayel while they were trying to do the right thing no matter what the cost.. In the end i don't think he was willing to gave jinx up and he was strangling because of that, because he loved jinx as his daughter and agin he saw him self in her But either way Selco is not a villain he is a fighter and he is my favorite and in my opinion the best charcter in the show

[@ImotekhtheStormlord-tx2it]

you know whats funny. silco didnt want jinx to make all the terrorist shit. i think after he saw vander dying he just wanted finally live in peace for himself and ppl in zaun.

[@g4md0r32]

Honestly I haven't thought about it in that way cause I dont get into analyzing movie plots that much. It makes a lot of sense now though and it actually makes the show even better in my oppinion

[@koiyujo1543]

I absolutely agree with most of it and silco isn't really a villain, he's just someone trying to free his people from the suffering. He tried to do what was right even if he killed people, he did it for a very powerful reason! I think this is the closest and most likely way to get a good look into more of the story of why everything happened is that there is nor bad nor good and it sucks that people are blind to think that they don't know this and that need to understand the reason for why they don't really have anyone to really fully blame for the chaos in the series.

[@Brisingrize]

I think when it comes to Silco, there is so much complication, and everything he does with Jinx (regardless of whether the animators said they wanted it to be uncomfortable) is literally how someone with trauma, who has not had the chance to heal, does his best to raise a kid. I’m just saying this, if Piltover could be bothered with setting up therapy for The Underdark, they’d probably solve a lot of their issues. To quote Enemy. “Once we turn they hate us”. - Makes you wonder, was that written about Piltover’s view of Zaun and of Silco in general. Because he’s right, just as Magneto is.

[@armaslohemadu]

This is a really nice video, i generally love this style of videos analyzing and offering an interesting pov on a story, and ive always enjoyed your style of takes on league balance etc. So this, talking about lore, its a really nice listen. I hope there will be more

[@LinksGirl05920]

Great video! You were able to voice a lot of the feelings I had about Silco and couldn't quite find words to!

[@HxH2011DRA]

"Good and evil are pointless, as is faith. The majesty of being leaves no use for the simple moralism of man."- Christopher Mott

[@zargg5328]

Terrorism is the poor man's war, this could apply to Sylas story as well. I guess thats why I like this characters, yes they have done bad and they are not good people, but they seem more real and human than the hero "good" stereotype chracters.

[@sabanerdogdu5297]

I couldn't agree more

[@ouchiegiverjr]

Yeah but Sylas isn't fighting for a cause as much as he says he is, he is just bitter he had to stay in prison for 20 years, if he hadn't been arrested his revolution would never have gone through, Sylas is using a movement to spread the philosophy of "fuck you got mine". Silco while not a good man really was ready to give everything for his cause of the nation of Zaun...almost everything.

[@ouchiegiverjr]

@@colossaldonut5190 exactly, everyone seems to overlook that

[@zeppelincraft1443]

@@ouchiegiverjr I find it really to take him seriously with the jeans and muscles that were sustained from a diet of rats.

[@ouchiegiverjr]

@@zeppelincraft1443 I just find it weird anyone thinks he has any noble goals.

[@TheSnyritorsfan]

I think you showcase really well how well thought-out the character's motives in this show are. No one is just pure evil for no reason and I think that's one of the strong points of Arcane. Loved listening to your view about this, keep up the good work!

[@neongreenkirby]

13:15 You'd die for a cause, but you won't fight for one. - Vander won't fight for the cause anymore because he has higher priorities - his daughters. Things changed for Vander when he became a parent. While the Lanes are still important to him to defend, he wants to maintain the status quo because he has seen what going against PIltover can look like. He feels like giving himself up to the enforcers is going to solve the IMMEDIATE problem of top-side requiring accountability for the gemstone theft.

[@AMB-c4c]

Vander has a new goal, his children’s protections. Silco learned in the end why Vander was how he was and who he fought for

[@anarchclown]

I realize this comment section is pretty much dead at this point. But all I can say about Jinx killing enforcers is that the fact that they represented an indifferent genocidal government instead of an actively evil genocidal government does not make them that much better than for example stormtroopers in Star Wars. Killing Stormtroopers in Star Wars has never been seen as villainous by the majority of people watching that franchise and I definitely belong to those that think killing the soldiers of the government oppressing you is not morally unjust if there is actual proof of their opression (like blowing up Alderaan or forcing your people to kow tow while breathing toxic fumes in the basement).

[@alexllenas4607]

Silco could have a good objective, to be an independent city/country but he is a "the end justify the means" person, to gain his power and control over Zaun he make an addictive and harmfull drug that turn people into human rats. So condeming a part of Zaun to fulfill his ambition isn't the right approach for me.

[@rawen160]

It wasn't just his ambition. We see at the start of the story that Sevika was in Vander's side, and she departed strictly because Vander DIDN'T want to fight. Silco taking the rule into his hand potentialy prevented anarchy. And to keep that pseudo status quo, some fights had to be picked. Otherwise she (and her people) would leave him too. She even choose Silco over Fin, when she held both of their lives in her hand, and we know for a fact that Fin couldn't care less about the independent of Zaun. Even the ending fortifies that, at the end who do we see sitting alone in Silco's office? Sevika. There is little to nobody to contest her now, she was his second in command and the most vocal opponent of Silco, Fin, died of her own hand. Well, the other second in command was Jinx, but she isn't interrested in politics at all. And she pretty much declared war to Piltover, so it should be perfect opportunity for Sevika to take over now. A new leader is needed and the war is coming, as she wanted.

[@e.moonbound2420]

I feel like Silco is very aware of that, that he felt he had to become like his enemies to get what he wanted. I mean, he did not repress Zaunites using cops but he sold shimmer to them, those are two different ways to control Zaun. What I'd like to know is: If he did not die and Zaun became independent, would he make himself "president"? Would he let other people that are not on his side participate on democracy? Would he step down and let somebody else run the place? The answer to all is maybe, but idk I feel like he is the kind of politician that only lets his own allies participate because he is afraid that someone with different ideals would burn the place down. In some way he was similar to the Piltovian aristocracy.

[@akanetsukino9939]

The end justified the means is true for silco but he didn't really had any other choice

[@exu7325]

The undercity as a whole is already condemned by Piltover.

[@leonardopires9344]

you can not do a clean revolution. all revolutions involve dirty work, be it assassinations, terrorism or unsavory financing. it’s an asymmetric war and the weaker side doesn’t really have the luxury of choosing most of the means. zaun was already fucked by piltoever, being a bit more fucked temporarily so things have at least a chance of getting better is a reasonable choice

[@TheAledoPro]

Hashinshin is a revolutionary Change my mind

[@YoutubSosetXui]

Hash loves terrorists cuz he is elo terrorist himself

[@DenDenSushi]

You make me proud, boy. Finally someone understands why I loved Silco and why I stood by him from the beginning. 100% agreed with all what you said.

[@SuperMichaelGames]

You're really good at ranting in your streams and league videos, so applying it to these essay videos works wonders.

[@eadbert1935]

important thing here: letting jinx do stuff might have benefitted him at the negotiating table, but only if he can use her in negotiations. If he can't prove he'll have her under control once the deal is done, there won't be a deal. So i'll fully agree with you on everything non-jinx you said about silco. But i just think that he had 2 goals in mind: 1. letting jinx be jinx 2. seperating zaun from piltover no ulterior motives about jinx helping him achieve his second goal. just 2 conflicting goals. i think the interesting part about this is that both silco and vander had established an uneasy peace vander accepted the oppression and knew that fighting topside will lead to heavier oppression. when his "daughter" "fucked up" he was willing to sacrifice himself to keep the peace. silco was able to make his point that further oppression will lead to more losses than gain for piltover. when his "daughter" became part of the negotiations, he was willing to sacrifice himself to secure the piece. there are more paralells, like both of them securing the piece with their friend enforcer, both of them having rebels who wanted to see more blood (the only difference being that vander accepted the rebels, while silco killed the rebels) because they were too peaceful leaders. The biggest change silco had introduced was shimmer, which isn't good, but it isn't insanely evil

[@FishboyAbzu]

Completely did not expect a video like this from you, I like this style so keep it up.

[@Betroid]

Fighting America is like fighting Darius if you fight him toe to toe you will undoubtably lose you have to keep Poking him and poking him until He’s low enough to finish

[@ravador]

Or just corrupt him from the inside.

[@lolicongang.4974]

@@ravador and then they charge you... and your still fucked.

[@ravador]

@@lolicongang.4974 Except they won't if you manipulate them to not to.

[@lolicongang.4974]

@@ravador Too bad they are already corrupt and only care for themselves so.

[@ravador]

@@lolicongang.4974 Wrong, they only care for their Chinese overlords.

[@Hawkido]

Powder killed her two step brothers accidentally. Jinx killed 5 gang members who were attacking her group and were destroying their property (justified). Jinx killed 6 enforcers (the enemy military units oppressing the Undercity). Jinx stole their precious new technology and the information to make use of it. Jinx killed an entire bridge full of corrupt enforcers actively blockading the Undercity (enemy soldiers committing an act of war). I am not saying the Firelights were not justified in attacking Silco's operations, I believe the had good justification, and they tried to do it non-lethally at least not immediately lethally but rather the slow lethality of confinement to the chattel slavery pens of the Undercity, which is the exact same slow death the Enforcers of Piltover offer. From my perspective, Jinx didn't kill any innocents. Powder it is debatable whether the two boys were innocent, but not debatable that she had no intention of killing them, quite the opposite, she wanted to save them, but lacked the experience and training to do so. Powder did not kill Vander, he killed himself saving Vi from burning to death in a collapsing building. Silco wanted to bring Vander back into the fight, by showing him he now had the means to scare Piltover into meeting at the conference table. Jayce was wrong when he said The Undercity would be annihilated. Jay was viewing that through the eyes of an attacker (because he knew that Piltover was on the verge of attacking the Undercity's PEOPLE). If he had viewed this coming conflict through the eyes of the defender he would have been horrified (the chemtanks boiling up through the sewer, attacking the people of Piltover in small squads of chemtanks scattered all over Piltover). You see Jayce had exactly 3 hextech weapons. Silco had hundreds of Chemtanks. The chemtanks ran through pretty much every enforcer they encountered on their way to Jayce and VI. If those Chemtanks were unleashed in small squads across Piltover they could eliminate all of the enforcers before Jayce with the Hammer, Vi with the Gauntlets, and Victor with the Hexclaw could thin them out. How long till Jayce's mother is held hostage and whisked away to be used as a bargaining chip. What about the other councilors. The only 2 that would have a chance would be Jayce and Mel (she has Noxxus armor and weaponry) Just how many children could Jayce kill before breaking down mentally, How willing would Vi be to watch Cait's parents be taken, how long could those three fight before passing out. Victor can barely stand on a good day, and I don't believe he would do more than defend against imminent attack against himself as he was an Undercity orphan himself. Silco could then just hand out Vials of Shimmer to any Undercity denizen who waned to go take a piece of Piltover. Then he could have people force shimmer down the throats of the Pilties and leave them in Piltover, and when their own people turned on them they would defend themselves. Distract, demoralize, destroy. The Pilties never had to stare death in the face every day. They haven't become accustomed to hardship. To the Undercity denizens, Death and hardship come on every day that ends in a "Y". Piltover has something to protect as well as something to attack, the Undercity only has something to attack. All out war isn't an option for Piltover. It is the ONLY option for the Undercity. And if Piltover actually won, then half of the survivors would be made the new underclass and be shipped off to the undercity to become the next generation of "Untouchables" working the mines and living in the runoff filth. Silco know all of this, Jayce hasn't come to this realization yet.

[@00modey9500]

well silco is the monster that piltover created

[@rod4309]

But a monster nonetheless.

[@huykieu7775]

I like most of the argument in the video except for Vander. Vander not lazy, he choose to make peace because he had seen too many lost. Shilco at first did not understand why Vander become like that but later on he finally got it, but instead of giving himself up like Vander, he'd likely to go to war.

[@RedEveTillDawn]

Vander is not willing to fight because he is not willing to lose what he has. His family. His community. His violence is what led to these girls becoming orphaned. He took them in and never looked back. Silco understood this too when the deal was to give Jinx to Piltover for Zaun's independence. Everything he'd been fighting for all of those years, before Jinx and after. He finally has it, but the final piece to fully earn it is a sacrifice he is not willing to make. He is not willing to lose his daughter.

[@TrampMachine]

I mean, who did Jinx kill? Cops? Who are basically the soldiers of the oppressive regime of Piltover? Firelights who were attacking her and her comrades? Jinx was attacking the enemy, people who were literally the ones carrying out violent repression against her and her people.

[@aradshekarian2096]

Really glad you’re talking about Arcane Hash, i don’t really care about league anymore but i’ve always been super interested in the Lore, and Arcane was such an incredible show. I pretty much agree with most of the things here but i do wanna note that Vander refused to fight because he was afraid of losing people in the following War. He’d grown attached to his kids, and he was afraid he’d ruin their lives or just lose them entirely. Silco also ruined the lives of many Zaunites with Shimmer in order to gain the funds and resources necessary to continue his campaign, but it’s very obvious that he wasn’t doing it to grab power if for no other reason than his discussion with Jayce: He was willing to throw away his own life if it meant the independence of Zaun. Ultimately what he did was the only thing that could’ve been done in order to achieve independence and sparing generations of future Zaunites from the same fate he suffered. There were better alternatives and fixes, but they were only feasible if Piltover was willing to accept change, if the council was willing to sacrifice their personal profit to allow it to happen. And they weren’t. Silco was doing the only thing he could do to affect things and help Zaun in the long run, even if it meant making it worse for some of his own people at the time. He said it himself, it was the base violence necessary for change.

[@butterlove1605]

This was a very lovely surprise upload to see. I adore long essay type videos when they're well done and this was certainly great. I hope you'll make more videos styled like this as you did really good with this one.

[@optimisticnihilist3417]

Tbh if Silco hadn't killed Vander and had a hand in the deaths of her friends, Vi would have been right alongside Silo in support of his goals. Pretty much her whole persona in act one is wrapped up in her desperation to bring the fight to Piltover.

[@mumhustler]

I actually wonder if Arcane is low key promoting conformism / placidity Subjugation to authority even if it's unjust and oppressive An optimist take is Arcane is actually wanting to say that Silco is the good guy and and they are worried the execs would lose their minds if they did So the writers have to hide the good guy behind bad guy tropes and portrayal (ie wears black,scars, secret base, talks in british accent lol, isn't handsome unlike vander....) Edit; your point at 3:00 is fundamentally correct and a perfect summary - I see people not getting this basic realpolitik situation and can only assume they are stupid, childishly naive or both. To answer your question at the end. No there was no other play. Best outcome is to have used the crystal to create a Zaun hex gate. Silco needed Jinx for that and they demanded he deliver her to piltover. This means Silco would have to fall back on using the crystal as a weapon against piltover even if he survived the dinner scene (eg vi had died instead).

[@I.Simmonds]

I wouldn't say Vander is lazy, Vander was broken on that bridge. Whatever was suppose to happen on that bridge the enforcers response was so brutal it scarred him enough that it took the fight out of him. As for Silco, it was Jinx trying to impress Silco that brought Piltover to the table, Silco looked to be to be trapped in a holding pattern. Marcus kept the enforces out of Zaun for the most part due to Silco's hold over him, on the other hand turned out to be not revolutionary, profit oriented, and pushed a Shimmer (Which is in many way a miracle drug) A performance enhancer with regenerative properties, into a addictive recreational product. But other than that what did he do to gain Zaun's independence? Silco isn't a terrorist or revolutionary, he is a Drug lord with mere ambitions of rebellion .

[@randomname5344]

You cannot dismantle a system of violence without using violence yourself. I agree that Silco was not the best person,but he was willing to become a monster for the sake of liberation. I love arcane but idk how to feel about its political themes,at first they showed a failed revolution and portrayed Vander,a retired revolutionary who chose to cooperate with the enemy and accept the status quo,as the hero,abd Silco,the one who actually was willing to stand up to the status quo,they portrayed him as a villain. What is the message here? If you're not into politics these agendas will go right over your head,the avarage viewer doesnt think abt these thinfs and will absorb these subliminal messages (revolution bad,complyence good)

[@terrablaze3387]

I guess you could say there’s a “base violence necessary for change”

[@sherabtod3728]

I disagree with you on Vander. him willing to to die but not fight is simply related to the fact, that actually has something to loose. He does not want to risk his daughters. He cant act with the reckless abandon, Silco has. Its what makes the scene where Silco sits under his statue to poetic, because at this point he has finally understood his brother.

[@Horsthunder]

And once again we can see SilcoDidNothingWrong

[@venomouswyverns8819]

amazing, i agree completely i do love his relationship with jinxs and i think georgia dow has an amazing breakdown on that personally

[@stormquake4930]

The only thing about Silco that doesn't make sense is him setting a trap to kill Vi and the gang. Like is he really so vindictive toward Zander that he would kill Zander's adoptive children? Not to mention the fact that Arc 1 Vi literally feels the same way toward Piltover as Silco does, although I suppose Silco doesn't know that. Honestly I think there was a missed opportunity with Arc 1 to make Silco influence Vi due to Vander's pacifism, but then Vi turns back against Silco and sides with Vander, decides to try and give herself as the "pound of flesh" to the enforcers, which enrages Silco and makes him want to kill Vander and Vi both. Arc 1 in general could have done well with more episodes. Arc 2 and Arc 3 Silco are great, but outside of the end of Episode 3, Arc 1 Silco is just "hunga bunga me evil purple juice man."

[@nameless_moon]

Maybe they cant decide what Silco should be: a full villain or a more complicated one.

[@nameless_moon]

Then they finally went with the latter.

[@AbanemMaster123]

WOW man I didn't think you would be talking about Arcane, that's a reallly nice surprise! AND you're talking about Silco too? Must be a dream. Literally the most underrated character, my friends hate him just because he is portrayed as the villain of the series...

[@noneofyourbusiness3288]

Arcane: Vi is the main character also Arcane: but really: Silco is the main character. ^^

[@toxiclegend3286]

Yessss

[@kappa731]

I would definitely listen to more stuff like this, especially knowing that you are a bit of a history nerd and would make essays on historical stuff. Keep it up!

[@zurcarak]

i mean silco let jinx do whatever because he treats her as her son since he felt he needed to do it for vander and himself

[@Morf95]

Love this deep dive into the conversations. Love your work.

[@TheRumblewagon]

The Council voting for peace is as meaningless as the Israeli parliament voting for peace with Palestine. Voting for peace doesn't magically create peace. There will always be factions on both sides that will never agree or be in favor of peace. That "peace vote" at the end of Arcane was just for dramatic purposes to provide the audience with a sense of tragedy as if something potential was being lost by Jinx's actions. War was going to occur regardless of what Jinx did or did not do.

[@gaz0428]

exactly! Yes, Silco has not always done the "right" things. But I think most people see Silco as the villain just because that is what is expected of him.

[@757reaper]

I think he did have… really one. Just wait. LITERALLY WAIT. Let Vander be taken (which idk if he knew Vander was going to be taken so this is a messy analysis). Benzo is not Vander and will not command the respect Vander commands, it was already waining. Stir the people into riot since them arresting Vander will make things worse. Give Deckard and others the shimmer when the enforcers come to shut down the uprising. But most of this is hindsight since I don’t think the og plan involved Vander being arrested. I think the goal was to get both Vander’s support and the lanes by defending his children from the enforcers and proving they could fight back.

[@kernelparadigm]

in LOL lore it is said that all Jinx did atleast in her mind were mostly harmless pranks like the colour bomb she use one the bar tender , additionally there is also a mention of these jokes going out of hand.Silco has given Jinx too much freedom and I believe that the ones which are called pranks might have gone wrong in some occasions but being largely ignored by Silco .

[@LunarEdge7]

Boy do I love me some more Silco content.. and from Hash? This is a good day

[@bimbamberto3058]

Commenting because it's a damn good video!!! Keep up the work Hash!

[@clarencesiason8349]

Commenting as well for algorithm

[@Umbrella_Lonve]

Thanks hashinshin for this video. It's been amazing and i enjoyed every second of it!! Please do more lore themed little podcasts like this one!!!

[@gabrieltorres7381]

I think overall Vander was just traumatized after the massacrer of his people so he didn't want to fight back anymore

[@CertainlyCynical]

Then he shouldn’t have picked up a leadership role. People still looked up to vander because of who he was, he commanded respect from others because he has a past of being a warrior a “hound”. Vander’s fault was not having any plans for the future. And to be honest he didn’t want freedom or betterment of his people because he became a dad. So why string all these people along and tell them just to put their heads down and let them be walked all over? It’s why sevika called him out for being weak.

[@wei270]

the pitover bridge is like the American border at Mexico.

[@aoeontaliyahq1894]

Man a great video. I quite enjoyed it. Never thought I would fully agree with one of your political videos but it sure has happened. Well made sir!

[@laszlopohl3374]

I need more mealtime essays like this Hash. Keep on keeping on!

[@Igorex2930]

Great format. Please make more of those!

[@gregorlainer5440]

I was ultra in a sad mood and this video made me take so many notes, thank you hash. You should be a politician I swear. take care.

[@sirdromos2769]

My god FINALLY someone talking the true

[@carolynmcmaster7280]

The Chem Barons, who are Silco's agents, are trying to import shimmer into Piltover, although the Firelights abort their attempt to. However, I agree with you that Silco doesn't have much ability to take the war to Piltover.

[@williamlindroos2250]

OMG I thought I was alone in this thought, seems like the mighty Hashinshin agrees with me.

[@etherealexperience5617]

Yeah, let’s look at the problems Silco added to the undercity- He added shimmer…………. … Yeah, that’s basically it. He added shimmer

[@TechnicalTyler]

Love the video bro, I’d watch more

[@bluenexus1212]

Hell yes hash! Love videos like these hot you keep the motivation to make more

[@jeffkang5794]

this is a good video! i would gladly watch more videos like this!

[@koiyujo1543]

My thing is that I want riot to tell the people about this in season two and why this had to happen was that there really wasn't anyone to blame which is why they need to say something about that in season two to get the larger picture do the fans of the series can realize how blind they were about all of it or if they don't is kinda stupid

[@thatgermanview5721]

n1. But I think you willingly neglect the aspect of shimmer, Silco was also a druglord and a lot of his control of the undercity arguably comes from shimmer it is not just a weapon to him.

[@lorgranz7051]

you should definitely make more of this types of videos they're so refreshing

[@carolynmcmaster7280]

Re: Silco's enabling of Jinx. I don't think it's purely strategic. As he explains to Vander's statue, he finally understood why Vander was willing to die for his family. He preferred dying himself to surrendering her to Piltover. (Yes, he manipulates everyone--including Jinx at times; but he also values her life--over his own when push comes to shove. BTW, I enjoyed your video despite disagreeing on a few points.)

[@saintetlau]

If we're going about last 2 acts, Silco couldn't control or keep track of Jinx, he asked her to Weaponise it, to figure it out and make a weapon - a leverage he hopefully would use to get an independence of Zaun. I don't think he knew what the final weapon would be. Not sure if the super death rocket was jinx's final choice (coz its jinx who tf knows), and she might have both made the weapon and used it only through her psychotic emotional breakdown. But yeah, i think if we got 3 or so extra episodes we might have hopefully seen more of Silco's plans and inner workings, i still don't know why he released shimmer on all Zaun, to get money/power to further his goal?

[@supermonstars]

If you poke a porcupine and it's unpleasant, you should stop. If you continue poking it and it continues to prickle you, maybe you should reconsider your approach. I've always seen terrorism as something to be 95% blamed on the oppressor. It's a natural consequence of conquest because literally nothing else works if the power imbalance is too high. It's bad, but it's a byproduct. A byproduct of a process you can 100% decide not to engage in. It sucks that innocent people die, but that's a risk the oppressor accepts and goes through with it anyway. Of course, there's always a few ideologues and extremists that don't fall under the conflict, but for the most part it's exactly what you said, a poor man's war. I'm not excusing terrorism. I'm just much less sympathetic towards warmongers who make it happen. Blame the cause, not the effect.

[@dimi7godlike]

Amazing video Hash

[@capibaradeluxe9193]

Ok league players are taking their in game conversations to serously now.

[@capibaradeluxe9193]

Up next week come see how Hashinshin defends ch1ld p0rnograph1

[@VitorOliveira-sk8dz]

the thing is that zaun only exist as long as piltover allows it. Silco is thoroughly reckless and will end up bringing a lot of suffering to the people of the undercity

[@CertainlyCynical]

Better to fight for your rights and freedom than to be treated like animals, sub human.

[@kraftyevan]

Hey hash im not sure if you read all comments, i might bring this up in the discord later, but i think you have a really interesting take on a lot of stuff and could truly evolve from being just "the league streamer that yells 'RIGHT THROUGH THE COUNTER STRIKE'" and into a more fully fledged league creator with your own takes on design and content, maybe something similar to Vars but in your own way. No matter what you decide im still here for the shinshin content

[@thomasmann4536]

I gotta say, I vehemently disagree with point 1. I mean, sure you can say that the Rebellion has been put down in the start, and you can say that everything that has been tried before Silco has failed, but that still doesn't mean that there aren't other options. Like, non-violent options, for example. In fact, the rebellion at the start would actually make Silco's moves appear less reasonable, because he is trying almost exactly the same stuff that hasn't worked. And if we think about it, yeah, he has Shimmer now, but Piltover has Hextech. Piltover has more resources AND Mel could ask her mom for help which would also lend them the resources of Noxus as well, so if Piltover WANTED war, they would win it easily, and the only independence Zaun would get would be in the afterlife, bc everyone would just get massacred. It was only because suddenly there was someone in charge who DIDNT want bloodshed that made this dream possible. Id argue its much more because of Jayce than Silco that Zaun gets a shot at independence, because if it was any other councilor in his position (maybe except Mel), Piltover would not grant independence to Zaun.

[@WraithReaper09]

What non-violent options? What non-violent option did Zaun have to start with in order to get Piltover to even SEE them as a legitimate power to negotiate with?

[@thomasmann4536]

@@WraithReaper09 Im gonna assume you've never heard about Gandhi or Martin Luther King?

[@CertainlyCynical]

@@thomasmann4536 bad examples

[@thomasmann4536]

@@CertainlyCynical thank god you can just dismiss all with 2 words and not giving a single argument. Totally invalidates my point. But wait, i have more bad examples for you! The Solidarnosc and the fall of communism in many countries. The introduction of womens right to vote. The independence of several new countries after WWI which was not the result of the war itself. The autonomy grant for several european territories like catalonia.

[@anpancake]

Small personal critique: When you're quoting a character, applying a small voice filter like a telephone can help differentiate it and maybe make the listening experience better especially since you quote a lot of people in this vid. Great vid, Silco was a great politician and a terrible person but he really was just fighting for the independence of the undercity.

[@TheAledoPro]

Naaah, it's fine like that

[@anpancake]

@@TheAledoPro that's cool too, man

[@clarencesiason8349]

@@aro4322 i like caitlyn's posture

[@StarshineLegacyFan]

11:40-16:50 This was explained very well! Good video 🙂

[@olishonick]

Vanders not lazy he just doesn't wanna see his daughters die in the process of the fight. Silco understands this at the very end when he's at Vanders statue and decides to not give up jinx/his daughter. He'd rather give up everything for her. Silco finally understands what Vander meant with "I'm just not that man anymore." Silcos version "Is anything more undoing then a daughter?"

[@lolicongang.4974]

So what did he do?.nothing stay in his bar and make drinks.

[@olishonick]

@@lolicongang.4974 Maybe if you were a parent you would understand.

[@SoldierGeneral64]

Siclo never planned to turn himself in instead of Jinx though only point I wanted to bring up everything else I thought the same thing.