Arcane is a critically acclaimed, animated TV series set in the League of Legends universe. Two sisters represent two warring factions of what is, essentially, the same city. Except overground, Piltover houses the rich in shiny houses and a prosperous environment, whereas underground, Zaun is marked by a lack of infrastructure—and thus a public struggling with crime and drugs.
Towards the end of the show, after each side and sister have had the upper hand more than once, Jinx, the younger of the two, finally finds herself in a Piltover prison cell. If only in her mind, her deceased mentor Silco appears with a last bit of advice on how everyone might finally see some peace: “Killing is a cycle. We build our own prisons. Bars forged of oaths, codes, commitments. Walls of self-doubt and accepted limitation. We inhabit these cells, these identities, and call them ‘us.'”
What the ghost from Jinx’s past is hinting at is that each battle only lasts as long as both sides are willing to show up for it—and that willingness usually comes from desperately wanting to prove a point about who we are. “I thought I could break free by eliminating those I deemed my jailors,” he continues. “But…Jinx…I think the cycle only ends when you find the will to walk away.”
Walking away is often a good option when it’s painless. Sometimes even when the cost is great. But how do you do it? Silco offers an interesting blueprint: You just let go of that part of your identity. Yesterday, you were a soldier—but yesterday is dead, and so today is as good a day as any to be a doctor, artist, or father instead. If you can see identity as a mirage, a cathedral made of nothing but water, you’re free to dissolve every individual part of yours—even the one you held on to so desperately until only minutes ago.
In the show, while Jinx hears her mentor’s words, she interprets them in the most dramatic of ways. Eventually, it’ll take someone else sacrificing a part of their identity to save her. But in the end, just like the creators of Arcane decided to call it quits after two monumental seasons, maybe this is one of the noblest reasons of all to walk away.