20 Nov 2024 12:56 PM +00:00 UTC

Arcane Characters You Didn't Know were League Champions

The great thing about Netflix’s Arcane—besides the show being absolutely fantastic—is how it manages to incorporate the characters of League of Legends into its story.

While not every League character can be expected to have an arc as significant as Jinx or Ekko, the series still manages to sneak in a few Easter Eggs that only players of the games can catch. Here are some fantastic references to LoL champions that flew over every non-player’s head.

Viktor

(Season 1, Act 1, Episode 2)

Netflix|Fair use for promotional purposes

With most of the main characters adept at fighting and weapons like Vi and Jayce, it’s easy to forget that some characters in the series don’t fight but are champions in the game—like Heimerdinger.

Some fans would be surprised to know that Viktor in LoL is known as the Machine Herald, a heavily altered man who wants to uplift the people of Zaun with the evolution of technology. Admittedly, Viktor doesn’t look a lot like his game counterpart, but it’s possible that the series could end with him donning the mask and having that Death Stranding third arm on his back.

Singed

(Season 1, Act 1, Episode 1)

Disgraced scientist Corin Reveck was introduced in the first season of Arcane as the creator of the drug Shimmer, but it wasn’t until the second season of the series that he got his trademark look, complete with his bald head and covered face.

We know he’s unsuccessfully tried to sabotage the healing of Vander/Warwick. Still, some eagle-eyed fans are convinced he was able to inject the serum that led to Warwick going crazy after Jayce supposedly killed Viktor.

Ryze

(Season 1, Act 1, Episode 2)

Though he only appears briefly, fans are convinced that Ryze is the mage who saves Jayce with magic in his flashback. Though he doesn’t have blue skin, some fans think that being able to teleport people and having marks on his skin means that this arcane user could be the mage from the game.

There’s also a crack theory that the mage was a time-traveling Viktor, but he’s already his own character in the game.

Kindred

(Season 1, Act 2, Episode 5)

Possibly not the characters themselves, but a reference: dual champions Lamb and Wolf, together known as Kindred, are spotted by Caitlyn when she and Vi enter an undercity brothel to gather intel.

Cait spots two people wearing very specific masks that feature the color and markings of Kindred. The masks themselves are known to have mystical powers, and some can even speculate that the two brothel visitors are just Kindred in human form.

But if anything, it’s probably just a reference for LoL players to catch.

Teemo

(Season 1, Act 2, Episode 6)

One of the cuter champions in League of Legends, Teemo is a Yordle, the same species of long-lived creatures as Heimerdinger. He has a signature hat and goggles and uses a blow dart as a weapon.

Fans can spot Teemo when Silco forces his way into Marcus’ house to threaten his daughter. One of his men is seen rifling through a book, and one of the images on it is Teemo, complete with a blow dart.

Janna

(Season 2, Act 1, Episode 3)

Janna was another unexpected Easter Egg since she was mostly a mage character specializing in wind magic—too out there for the grounded story of Arcane.

Janna is an elemental spirit that is said to be worshipped by the people of Zaun, and she appears as a sculpted figure in an underground tunnel where Jinx and Vi get into their seemingly final showdown. Even Jinx mentions that Vander used to tell them stories about Janna:

“Don’t you remember the old Janna bedtime stories Vander used to tell us… Miners trapped underground. Air running thin! But then some wispy wind woman wafts to their rescue.”

Janna’s statue is destroyed by the end of Vi and Jinx’s fight, but her appearance here could mean that a future story could move back in the timeline and explore Janna’s story in this continuity.

Orianna

(Season 2, Act 2, Episode 5)

Tragic scientist characters who are trying to revive loved ones have been done in fiction before, but non-players had no idea that when Reveck revealed that he was trying to revive someone, the girl in the tank was also a League champion.

Orianna, in the game, was a mostly mechanical character with an orb following her around and containing her hextech heart. Her story is that she had become ill after she got into an accident in the undercity of Zaun, and mechanical parts slowly replaced her body.

It’s unclear if Arcane would want Orianna to become a steampunk robot by the end of the season, but at least fans know that Reveck’s efforts aren’t completely in vain.

LeBlanc

(Season 2, Act 2, Episode 5)

Undoubtedly, one of the more curious arcs in the second season belongs to Mel, who has been abducted by the ‘Black Rose’—who seems to have an old beef with her mother, Ambessa.

LeBlanc is the matron of the Black Rose faction, which also has ties to the region of Noxus (which Ambessa rules over). LeBlanc can cast illusion magic, and we can see that she can change her appearance at whim; in the lore, LeBlanc is said to be able to assume multiple identities, which means that a different LeBlanc has existed over the ages running the Black Rose.

It’s not clear what her intentions with Mel are yet, but it will probably have something to do with Ambessa crossing the Black Rose in the past.

Ambessa

(Season 1, Act 3, Episode 8)

One of the newest characters to come to League of Legends, Ambessa, was initially introduced in Arcane and became one of the primary antagonists in the second season.

The ruler of Noxus—considered to be Runeterra’s version of ‘Sparta’—Ambessa is a ruthless leader who is not only smart but also a capable fighter on the battlefield. She leaves Noxus to play a more central role in the government of Piltover, and now she’s leading the war against Zaun while making Caitlyn the face of the police force.

Catch new episodes of Arcane on Netflix.

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