Silco And Jinx

Silco and Jinx

Perhaps a bit poorly ordered, but this is just a brain dump of all of my feelings and opinions on the relationship between Silco and Jinx

Silco is not a man to just put up with things. Everything about him is very deliberate, from his outfit, to his choices, to the company he keeps. There’s no way that jinx/powder wasn’t an absolute hellion to raise, with her disposition towards explosives and her cargo container worth of untreated trauma. If Silco didn’t care about her, he wouldn’t have put up with her antics at all.

He wouldn’t keep an ashtray and a coffee mug decorated with her drawings on his desk, where anyone could see them. He wouldn’t have given her a safe space for her to practice making her gadgets, and there’s no way he didn’t help her by buying supplies. She had to be a nightmare to raise from day one, and I don’t believe he would have put up with her if she was just “an investment”. He had to truly love her like a daughter. I’m sure at first it was very rocky, with lots of stumbling and screw ups, but he figured it out.

Just think. The MINUTE that the other barons started acting up, he was there with a show of power to get them back in line. And yet, Jinx has always been allowed to run free and wild, with Silco covering for her every mistake. He also never penalized her for any of her mistakes, he never faulted her for lashing out, even when it jeopardized his own operations. Sevika argues that Jinx is a liability, and Silco, the cutthroat leader of the underground, brushes her off.

Was he a good parent? Not exactly, he pushed his own issues and trauma onto her, because he saw himself in her. Which isn’t great.

And he never got her therapy, but the general society they live in has “what the fuck is therapy” energy, like it maybe isn’t been truly invented yet, or it’s the “oh she’s crazy? Lock her in an asylum” type. Which is extra not great. Or even if it’s available, it could be a Piltover only type deal.

But all that aside, he LOVED her unconditionally. He walked into loving her with his eyes wide open and CHOSE to love his adopted daughter, trauma and all. He wasn’t a good parent; but he was 100% there for her when Vi couldn’t be. (thanks Marcus.) he wasn’t built to be a parent, hell I don’t think he wanted to be one, he was ready to kill Powder in that alley; but the moment she threw herself into his arms, he was lost and he became her new family. He constantly soothed her abandonment issues, and offered her all the praise that her previous family didn’t.

He never forgave Vander for his actions. But on his deathbed (or death chair lol. Sorry)he forgave his daughter in an instant, didn’t place an OUNCE of blame on her already heavy shoulders, just smiled at her and told her not to cry, that he never would have given her up. That she’s perfect. Like he knew how the ghosts of her adopted family haunted her, he tried to make sure he wouldn’t become one of those ghosts in his final moments, with a plea to be strong, to keep being herself. “Don’t cry. You’re perfect”

And Silco is a very goal-oriented man. His main goal was always to have Zaun be its own separate entity from Piltover. And after YEARS of working towards that goal, it’s handed to him on a silver platter. IF he can give up his daughter, the one he chose to love unconditionally. And Silco tries to throw himself under the bus, to keep Jinx safe. But when that gets rejected, he realizes he’ll have to go to war. Because he CANT give up Jinx. He CANT give up his daughter. He’d rather go to war than give her up. Is that not love? He would forsake all of Zaun for his daughter. And I can’t get that out of my head. “Is there anything so undoing as a daughter?”

It’s only us. You are my daughter.

You’re a scary lady.

SEVIKA Arcane (2021 - )

(Bursts into Arcane fandom 2384893 years late)

How I’m talking about how monumentally important and emotionally poignant and powerful it is that Silco went from “Jinx is perfect” to “you’re perfect” when Jinx was going through her biggest identity crisis, torn between “Powder” and “Jinx” - it’s all about the unconditional love, about being loved and accepted and embraced wholly not despite your flaws and fucked up parts, but including them; she’s perfect, whoever she is right then and there - not who she was or could have been, but who she chooses to be right now!!!! This line deserves every single ounce of hype it generated MY GOD!!!!!!!!

Listen, I will not hear any slander about this line. Based on what she says to Vi right after - “I thought you could love me the way you used to, even though I’m different” - what Silco says to her is exactly what she has been yearning to hear: it doesn’t matter whether she is “Powder” or “Jinx”, she wanted someone to love her without constraints, full and unconditional love and acceptance. Vi obviously loves her very much but her major blunder here is that she couldn’t let go of that image of “Powder” from before, when her sister has made it pretty clear that she is no longer the Powder she remembers (but that she still yearns for her unconditional love, none-the-less). That is where Vi lost her, and where Silco demonstrated a trope that works best with villains, especially this kind: “I love you, all the beautiful and ugly and broken parts.” Idk about y’all but there is something healing about this notion - in a world that often tells us we need to love ourselves before anyone else can love us... to hear that you’re perfect, you, right now, including all of your flaws, is cathartic.

I best save the rest of my thoughts for after my rewatch, though.

👍

Wanna join me? Come and play! But I might shoot you, in your face Bombs and bullets will do the trick What we need here, is a little bit of panic!