I still can't believe they reached such heights of characterisation with what started as a HARLEY QUINN KNOCKOFF

I find it really interesting of how Arcane uses these mixed emotions, understandings, and 4d characters. When I saw Silco hug Powder, I saw it as empathy, that he was upset with how the world has treated them and wants revenge for both him and Powder. While my friend, she saw it the other way, that Silco was just using Powder to turn her into a “monster”/Jinx. I find this very peculiar to see, you don’t really get these different perspectives/arcs in quite a few shows.

I’m living purely on your Arcane content while I wait for season 2

Can we talk about the Viktor diffusing Chomper grenade scene while Jayce and Viktor are talking about war? That was so symbolic and foreshadowing and aligns with the central theme I think most people missed other than Viktor and Jinx are both engineering geniuses

Watching your analysis on Arcane with morally ambiguous characters is really helping me when writing my own morally gray characters. So thank you so much

also hearing those analysis really helps me to see how and what to write in my own stories for them to be good. thank you!

I JUST REALIZED SOMETHING. Rule #3 applies to Kino (Mel's brother), by being a ruthless diplomat -- yet being peaceful in talking, being a fox among the wolves, he got himself killed, murdered. By being diplomatic in his approach to power unlike his mother Ambessa, he faced the consequences via death.

Okay, can Jinx be a character representation of Zaun? I've been thinking about this for a bit. But it's almost as if Jinx and Zaun have matching arcs. First Zaun is under Vander's control/influence, but after his death it's Silco calling the shots. Vander lets Piltover be in charge of the "younger sister" city, but after Zaun gains distance from her "sister" with the help of Marcus, Zaun becomes a wilder and freer place. Yet as Zaun is relying on Silco for its' wellbeing, Zaun is struggling between the dependence of the crime lord and sister city, not knowing from where to pull its identity. Yet finally, Zaun is able - not to be granted its idependance by an outside force - but actually taking it for itself through violence and embracing its own chaos away from the identity provided by Piltover. Let me know your thoughts.

I've heard it said that we do need a lot more morally-ambiguous stories and characters and whatnot, and I've also heard people say they want more characters who are evil and unredeemable. I think Arcane does give us both. Redemption implies that the character changes their ways for the better. We get redemption with Jayce and with Mel in that regard (neither were villains but they had that whole political corruption storyline), but the characters we consider villains like Silco, Sevika, and Singed do not go through that. They have moments that endear them to us but nothing that clearly changes their ways for the better. In any other show, with any other writers, Silco's arc would have either swung to making him abusive towards Jinx or his love for her as her father would have made him a "good guy". It takes a certain amount of skill, I think, to strike that balance they manage to do in Arcane. Most shows refuse to strike that balance. Villains cannot do good things unless it's in service to a redemption, and very rarely is the redemption actually handled well. Maybe that's why Arcane feels so much more alive than a lot of shows I've watched. The only other show I'm watching that's hitting that balance in any meaningful way is the Owl House, and it still falls into the abusive parental figure trap with its villain.

What amazes me about this show is that the only criticism I've seen from people is that it's hard to follow who's "bad" and "good" and that there aren't any blatantly "good" people. Such a masterpiece

OOH when you pointed out the ill-fitting Ambesta scene, I noticed also that Ambesta takes up waaaay less of the frame than the painting. Not only is she silent, but she's less in your face. You can't even see her face in the shot. The shot isn't about her, but about her recognizing Mel, seeing her as her own POWERFUL individual for the first time. No longer is she the most powerful person in frame, Mel has done something far more grand.

19:55 I think one point you missed is that the inclusion of relative morality makes the characters stand out as individuals from each other, and as individuals with personalities, they expand our understanding of their world. Characters have different lines that they will or will not cross. And the story challenges them. Because of Vander’s honesty, he won’t turn over someone that didn’t commit the actual crime. Because of Vi accurately listening to Vander’s lesson about responsibility, she is prepared to turn herself in, even if she knows Vander wouldn’t let her. Because Viktor grew up in the undercity, he is more willing to risk getting caught sneaking into Hiemerdinger’s lab, compared to Jayce, who grew up more privileged, and is shocked at the idea. Many, many times, the characters make choices that define their morals or challenge them. But what is considered “good” and “bad” is not clear in this show. Much like in our real world. Earlier, you made a point that Caitlyn and Ekko were on the “good” moral grey spectrum. But a big difference between them is that Ekko would definitely kill to achieve his means, (him stopping his firelight friend from killing Vi implies that they probably wouldn’t be opposed to finishing off enemies), but Caitlyn, even as an enforcer, would not. (Despite her internal conflict to take control of the situation at the tea party). So does it make Ekko “good” that he’s fighting oppression? Or does it make Caitlyn “good” that she chooses not to take lives? They are both defiantly aligned as good and trying to achieve the same goal of peace, but the two characters are written well enough to be distinct from each other and have different personalities. We, the audience know they are good people, but their morals and what lines they are willing to cross makes them compelling characters. Side note: Vi follows Vander’s morals of being responsible and protecting ‘the family’. Vander expanded that definition to mean ‘protect the community’. Maybe Vi will expand her definition of ‘family’ from ‘Jinx’ to ‘the citizens of the city’ in season two. Who knows?

It's funny to think that the event that kicked everything off was the same event that ended the series. "Give us the girl that caused so much visible destruction and you will be given what you ask." Truly shows that no matter how much people try to change, humanity falls back into its own loop. It makes the same mistakes for what it believes is the right reason, not because they don't learn but because it's a new person making the mistake someone else has. No one is immortal, but if there were some, maybe we could learn.

Silco is hands down my Favorite character in this series. He's so much more than we were first presented, but he's still also that guy. He's a fallen hero that is still despite everything, trying do what's right, although now through 'villainous' means. And my gosh it's so so nice to see a healthy father daughter relationship...even though neither are mentally healthy... :v

I wouldn't totally condemn Mel for being manipulative and power hungry. She runs an independent city state surrounded by super powers that could invade, or perhaps even revoke its independent status unless it'ss useful being run the way it is. In return, Mel runs a state that doesn't need to brutally invade others, but triumphs through trade. The contradiction though is that libertarian trade city crushes those who don't succeed in it.

It is something I love about this first season of Arcane. It can (and should) be be used in education. As a writing example. As an animation example. As a film making in general example. But also for exploring philosophy and theology. For exploring the relationships between action and consequence. Such a great show.

I cannot even begin to express how much I love these analysis videos. I’m usually a silent watcher of most, but I can’t keep quiet when I’m faced with SUCH well-thought out takes like these. From the first episode, I was obsessed with Arcane. I was also obsessed with Game of Thrones (before it went off the rails) and despite loving them for surface-level reasons, I couldn’t understand why I was so blatantly effected by their stories. I think stories as well written as Arcane, especially in terms of gray morality, are on a different level. It feels so different watching them, never knowing what’s gonna happen next. You’ll be surprised, but it’ll make sense. When you take such well written characters and make them the centerpiece of your story, something strange happens. They feel so incomprehensibly REAL. It reminds me when I sometimes take a look at psychology, or ask questions like nature vs. nurture-in the sense that it makes you realize just how unpredictability predictable life really is. There’s so many small things, experiences or perhaps just plain genetics, that contribute to who we are. When you find stories like Arcane, it embodies that, it feels like humanity’s underlying story, and I think that’s what art should be all about. Art oftentimes means taking something ugly and showing the beauty in it, a concept which Arcane establishes perfectly. Somehow, it took all these characters, made them feel REAL (which is a very understatedly difficult task, mind you), and then made the story they all contributed to feel beautiful. It carried stunning art, animation, character arcs, world building, and most importantly: themes. How the writers even began taking so many characters-making them developed, contribute eloquently to a plot, to a theme, and then made most of them LIKEABLE-that’s completely beyond me. Contributing to a MASTERPIECE like Arcane would be a dream, it’s something I strive to be able to do someday. But anyways, these analysis videos are absolutely insane. Somehow, on a routine schedule, you manage to take a show as brilliant as Arcane and dissect it in a way that is comprehensive, educational, entertaining, and correct in all the right ways. It’s amazing. And, not to sound dramatic or anything, but that ending bit of why morally ambiguous stories are important was just what I needed. It’s easy to doubt yourself as an artist, and give up when you don’t see a grander purpose in your work. But, in reality, creating stories can be for far more than simple entertainment purposes. Stories can really help guide people and help them comprehend the realities they face and the judgements they should make based on that. It’s amazing how you managed to explain that and chase that doubt out of my head, because now, as an artist, I feel like my work has been able to find that deeper purpose I’ve been chasing. So, thank you. These aren’t just bits of entertainment, they do so much more. You should be proud. I love your videos so much :)

I also like how this show makes different people feel different things from one scene. Like when you said you felt happiness for jinx in the final scene, for me it was mostly despair. Like the jinx fell somewhere so deep, she already won’t get up. And this costs so much for so many people

For the final scene, I felt so much guilt and sadness for Cait primarily. Even though I was not responsible for the probable death of Mrs Kiramman, I still felt guilty. The expression on her face of undiluted pain and fear and sadness shattered me. But then I felt a sense of relief that the council voted for peace; Mel, who is a character I love, had finally made a step away from corruption. And then cut to Jinx, I just felt sorrow and I wanted to comfort her. She was visibly suffering and I wanted to ease that. But then at the same time, she was causing Cait, and subsequently Vi, extreme pain; which brings me back to the start when I felt for Caitlyn’s experience.

What caught me the most off about most of the characters is how human they felt. When you understand their motives and flaws every decision makes sense and become a relatable "I would do that in their position" kind of deal rather than just good or bad but very clearly products of the environment in the story's world.

The thing about Ambessa and Mell(you weakend me moment) is even stronger if you take culture of Noxus into a account. It was showned in Arcane but not said, but Noxus is centerd around strengh. In this culture weaknes is treated Illness-like that needs to be purged, they go by ,,strong live, weak die" mentalty and we can se that in how they move, act and even dress. Noxus is black and red, those are the colors they only use and its symbolic of strengs, darknes/cold in heart, Blood and brutalty, and all there cloths are sharp looking, even wepons and tools. Its sharp iron eages that makes you feel intimitaded. With this knowlage the moment is even stronger and more important in my opinion.

This was an absolutely great analysis and really made me realized something on why moral ambiguety works in arcane and doesn't in so many other series and why the audience roots for pretty much every character: Moral not being defined just by actions and intentions, but by impact. And Arcane also assumes that those things don't always allign as there is a certain form of chaos. And that's actually the main thing with Jinx. As Powder we see someome with good intentions really just innocently, childishly wanting to Help, believing in the good if her action but consequently always leading in anegative outcome (her family being killed-many other people being killed). As Jinx we see someone who's really just intentionally Killing actively making the choice to steel and persumably setting them on a path of negative Impact yet the outcome is mostly postive: we finally see the change we always wanted to see. Only through her Zaun gets oppurtunity to even be seen and considered by Piltover and finally getting persumable Independence. Jinx challanges the system of the whole sphere completely not on purpose without ever holding any vision belief or anything connected to the system. Arcane challanges our moral thinking as a whole which is why the show is so good. We as a society predominatly hold the belief that good actions lead to good things, that purposeful good behaviour gets rewarded. The opposite coin to Jinx with that is Jayce. We see someome overall concerned with moral, with doing the right thing, with doing what's best for society but in end we see it leading to negative outcomes and breaking his moral as a whole. Because he beliefs in protecting the people he engages in the same way neglect of the undercity that's ever been present in the Story. Because of this he also engages and even encourages war or weaponry so the death we see isn't just an accident but a wilful ignoring of peaceful solution in the Name of "doing the right thing" going far enough to actually reach the good outcome he sought out. He didn't just made a "mistake" but actively lost a part of his own moral. Jayce had to abondon a part of his moral which is actively helping the undercity and peace as a whole in the pursuit of what he believed was the most morally right thing. And with that Arcane actually challanges the often helf belief that you can be consitently morally good to the core. I think one of the main things that sets Arcane a part from most other series and films is that it is fundemnetally truth based, not ideal based. While many other series or films in the media work from an idealistic point of view: the ideal success Story, the ideal friendships and relationships, the ideal happy ending, the the ideal heros journey, characters growing into a more ideal version of themselves or growing into better people In general learning from their own mistakes, and the ideal Just society. Arcane basicially throws out all the idealism as a core basis. It is well established since episode one that the world just is not just. Good intentions leading to bad outcomes, sympathetic characters doing evil things while still being portrayed as sympathefic, Universal impact on a world with things that are completely outside of your control while you still being made resposnible for and everyone really just being motivated by wanting to survive the best way possible in an unjust world so judging actions by our traditional principles of right and wrong becomes mostly impossible. In this universe our justice completely is abolished by the show. And I think this is why Arcane is a moral masterpiece. It challanges pretty much any societal traditional notion about moral and what it's supposed to be. And questions our desire for Justice, our idealism for moral goodness and ultimately shows a world that it's true to it's core. Because deep down we all kind of know or feel like that the world is unjust, treats us unjustly and generelly doesn't always give us the ideal outcome. Which is the basis on why all characters feel relatable, real and human regardless. In a world that isn't perfect which I use interchangibly for just because I feel like the real ideal for morality and moral society is Justice, the people in the end are just trying to live the best they can while having flaws making mistakes and not everything working out in their favor. Wheras many shows portray our desries and dreams for a greater world or (often a basis for escapisism which series are often used for) or works with pur geatest fears for a worse world like a dsytopia, Arcane portrays a real human expierence in a world that may not be physiologicially real, but very much morally so and the creators done a beautiful job with that. And that's what makes Arcane great so for me personally and I feel like for many others too. Rant end.

Bruh, your video just keep getting better man. Keep putting the connections to the real world in these videos. It makes video essays feel more like a complete story, an oratory almost, rather than just some guy gushing about good writing. Doing this could easily separate you from so many other video essayist. The WHY DOES THIS MATTER is something I've only seen from you. Keep it up, love the stuff.

Also when Jayce was trying to tell silco to give him Jinx his eyes move back-and-forth and panic he hesitates if he was just using her he would’ve not panicked like that he may be a panic but not like that

I LOVE this new format with longer videos!💙 Gives more time to digest each video, plus makes every new one a fantastic little event!)))

That’s really neat how u felt happy for Jinx in the beginning, I had a completely different reaction. It felt to me as though her deciding to leave Powder behind was a devastating defeat and the ultimate failure of the protagonists…because Jinx is fucccckeed up.

Holy crap, this is exactly what I’ve been doing with my character Ora. She is an aunt/ mentor like character to the main character, and she is introduced as a burnt out, rude and tired adult figure in Sophias (main character) life. But, as Sophia starts to really dig into the history of her country and world, and the horrific event of the burning bowl, the narrative of fire starts to split into two. Is this person an apathetic and destructive person who will surround themselves in any delusions that enable them (fire is something that burns), or are they a truth seeking person who has been truly beat down by injustice and prejudice (fire is something that gives light)? As Sophias manifestation (this worlds term for superpowers, basically) is also a pyromancer, she must figure out the source of her need to “save the world” is she hell bent on finding the truth that has been kept from her, at the expense of everything, even the people she loves,, or is she speaking for the injustice of the world, and seeking to right the wrongs of liars? I’d like to think one day people will be making these sorts of videos about my show

Vander was even a grey character in my eyes. in addition to Vander’s betrayal of Silco, Vander also betrayed the whole undercity. it’s funny to me when people say sevika was a traitor. she stuck to her guns the whole time and told vander to his face why she no longer could side with him. sevika was about getting the boot off the neck of the people of the undercity. even if it meant working for silco (but she also let’s silco know, “i wouldn’t turn on you for a worm like finn, but if someone else more capable came along, i might”). vander on the other hand made a deal with the one’s oppressing his people (a secret deal i might add) to prevent the people from rising up and resisting oppression. he did it to keep his family safe, so we sympathize, but so often people fail to recognize this as betrayal. this was played out in the scene where vander convinces vi that violence is not the answer. he did make this appeal to the undercity, but having a secret deal with the enforcers is a betrayal.

This is the best, most affirming video I have ever seen, and I don't like to speak in superlatives. It has not only irrevocably improved the way I write, but it also validated my personal tendency towards radical forgiveness. I've struggled for a long time to put this ethos into words. Truly, deeply, thank you.

Damn, this made me love the show on a whole other level

After reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelly for my English class, I have come to realize how much themes overlap between the two works. Moral ambiguity, loneliness, family, lost innocence, ambition, and probably a couple others I couldn't remember. Whenever we would discuss these themes in class, I always thought back to these character and theme analysis videos schnee does and connect the similarities from Arcane to Frankenstiein. It's quite interesting how much this draws from Mary Shelly's classic novel.

Question for the Q&A: When writing a story what should you start building first? I’m talking about the brainstorming part of building/writing a world but also the completed story aspect could also be an interesting one (When the reader is reading the story what should the autour build first in his world for the adventure to be enjoyable, characters, the settings, the themes, the morals, etc…) Anyway love your videos, they made me want to write my own stories with complexe character that really pops compared to the common trend of flat stereotypical ones.

A few seconds in and this one is already banger! I've been wanting to write my Main Character as being morally ambiguous for a while now and this will help for sure

Never been this early. Or this happy.

I... I'm getting chills. I've rewatched Arcane over five times and every time I still get more impressed by how absolutely genius the people who worked on Arcane are. Brilliant as fck.

_I feel completely impotent and unsettled after watching this and I think that only proves your point. It's kinda exactly how I felt about Arcane when it ended. Keep going please, you give me hope and the tools to write the story I want to write._

Man, these real life stories at the end make the already great videos 10x better. Good job, love your style, love your content.

Your analysis of Arcane changed my perception of what it means to build characters and stories. You have my sincere thanks and I hope these videos spread far and wide and inspire people to write many new and great stories.

I feel very similarly, at the end I couldn't decide whether I feel like crying or if I was proud of Jinx, maybe surprised and shocked too. I think your videos are very informative and indepth.

I was so happy you used that Seinfeld bit. First thing that came to mind when you said "worlds are colliding"

Absolutely wonderful video - managed to keep me actively engaged and interested the whole time. This and your last long analysis really highlight Arcane's amazing writing and breaks it down in ways that are both easy to understand and easy to apply to different pieces of media (my own or otherwise). Keep up the great work!

These 4D characters are so relatable bc those paradoxes are the essence of humanity. Like I have no problem believing that Silco is at the same time a manipulative villain AND a loving father. Bc this is how it often works in reality, love does not necessarily exclude manipulation. Same as in the Vi and Powder/Jinx relationship vid, all of the theories can in reality be true at the same time. And it's not only true for the traumatised ppl or extreme conditions like in Arcane, but definitely more visible.

I'm glad you make these videos cause they help those of use that create characters and worlds find what works. You explaining everything about Arcane's top-notch writing and characters is helping me determining how I'll go about my own stories.

I don't even know why I didn't see this ending coming, it makes a lot of sense for this character trope, but oh man was it a good round-up for Jinx's story. Her rejecting both the people that have somewhat of an emotional grip on her, making her own very fittingly messed up decision. But also her kind of fulfilling both the expectations put on her by the two most important figures of her life; Killing Silco, and using the weapon she was supposed to build to destroy the topside. She simultaneously lives up to both their expectations, which is the main driving point of her character, but also finally rejects her dependency on others and just does what she feels like. Its filled with detail, morally despicable, comlicated, and all over the place, just like Jinx herself.

I have absolutely loved every single vid you have done on Arcane, I bloody loved the show before but you have opened my eyes to so much more. Through you Arcane has become one of my favorite shows of all time. Your vids are gold. I so cant wait for season 2 and what you will have to say about it. Congratulations on the 50k subs. Its so well deserved!!

Truly an outstanding video I especially liked the backwards fate section it really hit me when you said that just how present it is all throughout arcane as a whole

How about something different for your 50k vid like your theories or what you would want or expect to see in season 2? The ending to season 1 was great and it felt like a really really good set up for all the characters to just fly and develop from. Another great analysis, by the way! I'm always looking forward to your next arcane video lol

Somehow you always manage to make me love this show more and more. With each video you put things into words so well that I find new dimensions to everything. I’m really glad I found this channel. Awesome work!

these videos are so calming to watch because everything makes sense and i didnt even realize it

I love this analysis! As a writer, I am always impressed by how many valuable writing tips video essayists can give! Thank you for your hard work!

Congrats of 50K!!! Your work is worth that and more. Your deep dives on the characters are so awesome

I can't believe a League of Legends spinoff of all things gave me actual educational writing content on UKposts. This is just in-depth enough to scratch some big itch I've had for the longest time as an aspiring writer looking for new ways to improve. Thanks for the good videos, Schnee

omg yes! when i watched the series i always told that i am happy at who Powder has become a stong person able to defend herself properly... but what am i happy about? a girl lost everything? a girls being traumatized and growing up with shizophrenia? a girl loosing everything and doing everything wrong over and over again? no... how can i be happy and at the same time so full of guilt? i am happy she became who i is now. but for what cost? ''who are you willing to loose?'' -Vander

really wonderful video, I love how you analyze shows and bring out how writers might be thinking. It's majorly impressive! As for the question... how did you begin to learn about and recognize these super nuanced things (the tropes, etc), and how do you synthesise them into something cohesive? It seems like you're untanglinh a complex web with each video and it's super intriguing.

i just wanna say i love your analysis videos so much man. as an aspiring writer myself, they’re so beneficial and show me how deep i can get with my own stories. i used to mostly turn to critiques of bad stories to learn what i shouldn’t do, but these videos that show me what i should do are way more beneficial. you’re the bomb and so is Arcane.

Amazing analysis, especially the ending, seriously mind-blowing

Oh my god, this is probably the best analysis AND advising video on storytelling. 30 minutes passed by like a minute, thank you for posting this!

This is definitely the best character/story breakdown channel I've ever seen. If more amazing shows come out like arcane I can't wait to see this channel hit 100k subs. You're amazing dude keep it up 💯💯

Your Arcane videos are so fun to watch and motivate me to write more! Great job as always :)

The whole idea that there is moral ambiguity in these characters and people debate their intentions is just thrilling to me!!! Also the entire concept of morality is quite thrilling too. It's like how we humans understand things better by categorizing and defining them (fair), but the kicker is things are never so simple as 1& 2, black & white or good & evil. There's almost always a middle ground or a grey area. A chaotic spectrum of possibilities where nothing is certain.

Yo bro you have no idea how much this helped me with my storytelling and writing! Your list of methods and world building rules on what makes a story memorable and alive and makes you question reality and humanity. Yeah just wanted to say thank you and you’re amazing!!

not even gonna lie, I've seen a lot of writing essays in my time to improve my own craft, yours is the first ive legit wanted to take notes for. Thanks for making this incredible video, and here's hoping we can use what you taught me for my own work :)

These analysis videos of yours are absolutely amazing and help me understand why I love Arcane so much (and why it has me feeling more than any other series I've watched). Thank you! This gives me a TON of inspiration to make my own stories richer, deeper, more complex, and the way you summarised these methods and rules makes it easily accessible.

I rewatched this video and, I am glad you are growing! You really put your soul in your vids and it shows!

This video is brilliant. I absolutely love the connection you made at the end to a real-life moral conflict. It really embedded the importance of this discussion of moral ambiguity and explained why I'm so fascinated by the moral dilemmas presented by Arcane.

These videos help me think things differently and helps me be more analytical

You analysis are SO GOOD. Makes realize things I wouldn't be able to express into words.

Well deserved, you are the best Arcane essayist out there by far. 50k is still criminally underwatched imo.

This is probably my favorite video is yours. Keep of the good work.

So essentially >the rules are about making your story’s world allow for wondering if there’s more to people and situations; having some questions unanswerable to drive how much you question, reward good and punish bad to make people crave a morally correct resolution and allow for both morally bad and good characters to balance things out and use them as a way to act as a sort of moral compass >the first method is establishing a character as one thing and then revealing something else relatively different about them that changes how we see them, that makes us question our perception of them and keeps us questioning >the second method is having an already well established and 3 dimensional character do something out of character in an important moment for them that they not only try to fix but makes us reconsider our previous thoughts of them >the third method is through a character with morally good intentions and goals having issues achieving said goals leading them to do what is morally questionable and the consequences of their actions make us judge them >the fourth method is about applying a grey morality via watching characters so stuck in one way of thinking for the betterment of something that it ultimately hinders other things around them >the first method is to have characters judge other characters on their decisions, natures, morality, etc to create conflict and further make the audience question the morality of the characters being judged >the sixth method is to give morally bad characters redeeming qualities to also make us slightly question how we see them and the world around them and to what effect that makes them less evil >the seventh method is to give us an excuse to not see a character and their morally objectionable actions as completely objectionable (say, complete manipulation, mental illness, stuff out of their control etc) >the eighth method is having characters with zero strong moral ideals or proper understanding of moral frameworks to good or bad things and make us question if we can really say they were good or bad >the ninth method is to pit two or more things/worlds we believe to be morally good or simply just good that we’re invested in separate and then finally against each other and make us wonder if one is morally just or not or if neither or both are? Did I get that right? It’s a lot of info and I don’t normally try to understand sometihng like this since I’m not really good at absorbing something this long but helpfully informative all at once but I kind of felt I had too? It’s odd and I don’t know why but my brain just told me not to rest until I’d watched it all. Like this is the kind of thing English teachers would go over in a whole semester

Every single one of your analyses of Arcane are mind-blowing and brilliant! I'm learning so much about how characters and stories can and should be told. Thanks so much for making these!

Thank you so much! I’ve been wondering a long time on how to write a morally ambiguous character, you came at the right time! I’m glad you’re doing great right now and I hope you get even more success down the road! Love your videos dude!

"Cersei's almost entirely morally reprehensible except when it comes to protecting their children. She's a good mother." I agree that her desire to protect her children is good, but she was a fucking horrible mother, especially in the books. She was extremely cruel to Tommen, and a scene in Season 1, and general behaviour from Cersei in the books indicate that literally every time Joffrey did something horrible or fucked up, even when he was a small child, Cersei told him it was the most morally good decision possible, because all his decisions are morally good by default since he was a prince and then the king. Kevan Lannister said it best. "Aye, and from what I saw of that boy Joffrey, you are as poor a mother as you are a ruler." Cersei made Joffrey. He wasn't just crazy because of incest.

Very well done!!! As GM in rpg, this helps me a lot creating charcters. Thanks. Longer videos way more better.

Its amazing how your videos simultaneously give amazing story telling advice/devices and accurately analyze a peice of media. I can def say these videos have really helped me analyze characters Ive written plz keep it up schnee!

You're one of my favourite UKpostsrs for writing tips - I hope your channel grows even more!

@schnee (QnA) I love the way you can dissect a piece of media down so well. I wanted to ask how you do it, how did you learn to do it. How do you write an analysis for an arc/character, how do you break down the themes and messages being conveyed by the narrative? Also: how many times have you watched arcane? looking at all your videos, I can tell you've watched it several times haha

Please, please, PLEASE make videos about Better Call Saul! It's honestly insane how much value I get out of your analysis. The amount if depth that you've shown me exists in this show is amazing and I'd love to hear what you think about Better Call Saul. I've never seen a show that respects it's audience more, the amount of subtlety and potential for peeling back the layers is honestly nuts. I hope you'll consider it. Congrats on 50k :^)

this is genuinely one of the best video essay on a show i have ever watched... amazing ending. keep up the good work man.

This is sooooo beautiful. Thank you so much for each of your videos :)

I love this videos and your explaination of the characters, arc, themes and conflicts. But on 11:40 i don't think Mel is just thinking about corruption, money and power. My take is that she's trying to use the city and Jayce to acomplish her desire to peace and power through wits, not brawl power. Hextech as a weapon, as a pivotal force to put Piltover on the map

The current world needs moral ambiguity more than anything right now.

Every single one of your videos made me think so much about character building and helped me putting in words what I felt watching Arcane so thank you so much you deserve every single sub and more!! ❤️

This was awesome and had a powerful message at the end as to why dealing with moral ambiguity in fiction will help us deal with it in reality. Thanks for this huge effort!

@schnee you obviously are amazing at analysing stories and characters, and have insane understanding of it all, so do you have plans to / do you make stories of your own in any public format? if not, yous should ! love the vids, ty for the content

ah shit here we go again. Thanks for the analyses really helped me write my fanfic.

Your analysis of all of these subjects is incredible. Everything you say makes sense, is easy to follow, easy to understand, is thought-provoking, and is just all around well-done. Love your stuff, can't wait for the second season to watch you tear into it again.

i live for these arcane analyses!! theyre both helpful for writers and indulgent for arcane fans

12:19 I think that's one of the things I like the most. Not in Arcane in particular, but in general. How does good and bad actions balance each other to make realistic characters.

@schnee I have loved all your Arcane analysis videos and have a few questions for you! - If you could sit down and have a conversation with Christian & Alex (creators of Arcane, for those who are unfamiliar) what would you say and what questions would you want to ask them? - What writing projects do you currently have going on atm? How have the lessons you learned from Arcane been incorporated (if at all) into your own writing? - what do you hope to see from Arcane S2? Any predictions/guesses? Thanks 😊

This was an incredible breakdown, thank you so much!

yooo congrats for 50k! you deserve it man. your breakdowns are always super informative and entertaining, and i absolutely love the fact that you can show people how much more there is to writing and all that. this kind of stuff is exactly in my territory as i love to break things down and analyze them, and i'm glad you have a very open minded way of doing so and encourage discussion on the topics. i think this world really needs more of that tbh, critical thinking is sadly a rarity nowadays and it shouldn't be that way.

Now I understandpeople are defendingnding or blaming Jinx at all costs. She is so complicated yet pure at the same time. She would lure enforcers to go near her bombs by using their justice and compassion (saving the little girl that Jinx pretended to be). But she also acts purely based on her own rules which makes her amoral because there is no right or wrong to Jinx, there's just "what she wants" and "what she doesn't want". She wants to make Silco proud of her. She wants to be together with Vi. She doesn't want Sevika to take advantage of her. She doesn't want anyone else in between her and Vi. Based on how she views the person, her own version of morality changes. Vi is a good example. When Vi hit and "abandoned" her, Jinx became immoral. When Vi showed up to her once again, she became morral. Yet after a few minutes that Vi is actually working with Caitlyn, an enforcer, she once again became immoral. When she like a mostly moral person, she is moral. But when she hates a mostly moral person, she is immoral. She shifted her position so many times while not being interested in being "good or bad" which makes her so hard to defend yet so hard to blame as well.

@Schnee what are some stories that changed your life? And I'm not just talking about fictional ones, but stories that changed the way you look at writing, character development, themes, people, culture, relationships, etc.

Man, honestly, this video was amazingly great and in-depth, detailed, the speed was captivating, like wow, thank you very much for this video!

Your analysis was so insightful and engaging-half an hour seemed like five minutes! Thanks for such quality content

Ok slightly off topic but I figured out why Silco didn’t go to war during the time skip. He actually never intended to from the beginning, plain and simple. When Vander tells Silco “even with your monsters, you won’t win a war against Piltover” Silco replies “I don’t have to, I just need to scare them”. Silco doesn’t want to go to war because if all out war actually breaks out Zaun would likely lose. Instead he wants to leverage the threat of war with his new weapon (Shimmer) to intimidate Piltover to giving him what he wants.

I have a question about Arcane, and specifically how it relates to the source material. I'm curious what you think about the idea of "plot armor." A lot of people have pointed out that they never expected certain characters to die because they exist in the League of Legends game, and this idea that 'champions' have plot armor I think fuels a lot of the speculation about some characters in the council room potentially surviving Jynx's Super Mega Death Rocket. My question is, do you think that champions from LoL have "plot armor" in Arcane, and if so, how do you think it affects the story (if it does at all)?

I honestly cannot like this enough. You are well-deserving of 50k and then some, Schnee. You analyses have been incredible and I can't wait to see where this channel goes.

You're showing details I could never see by myself, thank you.