Honestly l never viewed Ekko as a side character. I always thought he was to important to the story to be one.

I love how this entire video’s TLDR is basically, “Ekko is just built different.”

"Avoidance has a negative connotation." The positive version of this that embodies Ekko would be "Evasion." He's not just avoiding and hiding, he's untouchable while still being present (not hiding away). That's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.

I’m actually really grateful that you included Typhoon’s story. There’s so many people I’ve met who legitimately live in such a bubble that they think severe poverty is a myth. To them the darkest thing is not having wifi or calling someone terrible things. But it’s not just the reminder that people are severely fucked over in other places, it’s the hope that Typhoon’s story brings about becoming and changing into someone with love inside them after becoming so numb from atrocities they’ve been exposed to. Just, thank you for giving us that. I hope he’s got an even better life in the future along with those other kids he used to be with.

I think a big example of the hero villain trifecta is The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Something I find interesting about Ekko is that he's technically not an orphan, his parents are just absent since they are always at Zaun's factories, so Ekko grows up largely alone (except for Benzo and Vander's kids). They're never mentioned in Arcane since they aren't important to the story, but it's an interesting detail that might come into play in season 2 if the writers want to look more into his past, since Ekko does care about them even if they don't interact on a regular basis.

I feel like Ekko might also be an AU version of Caitlyn: both are trustworthy, stubborn, good to their core and have a common goal of helping people, but while Cait was born privileged, making her more trusting in others and trying to change the system from the inside, Ekko was born in Zaun, so he doesn't trust many people and operates outside the system.

The thing I find most tragic is that even though Powder and Ekko lost everything that night, they would still have had each other. They were clearly good friends. We don’t know how, but Ekko managed to rise above the trauma and build something great. In my mind, if it hadn’t been for Silco, Powder would have become a Firelight.

Typhoon is an actual protagonist, even has a sick name. I understand you debated about including his story, but I'm glad to have heard it.

Can I just say as someone who knew nothing about League before watching this show, I was sure Ekko was dead after the bridge scene and I can't describe how relieved I was when he was still alive. What an excellent character, I can't wait to see what they do with him in season 2.

One thing that I LOVED in arcane was when Cait, Vi, and Ekko were talking about the gem stone and Ekko said “On one condition, I’m the one who gives it to them.” Like he wasn’t even scared, he was fully prepared to face the government head on. I just thought it was so admirable how confident he was.

"It's not enough to give people what they need to survive. You have to give them what they need to live." I am super stoked to see Ekko develop a friendship with Heimerdinger. I imagine Heimer's centuries-worth of scientific knowledge focused through the lens of Ekko's hear-and-now perspective being the biggest force for good from season 2 onwards.

Ekko did get a flashback, his fight was the flashback to when they played as kids. It's just that it's a flashback that's more concerned about informing the present, rather than a flashback that informs us about a character's past.

This is such an imersive exploration of Ekko's character, and the story of Typhoon at the end helps to make the character feel real. Also, not gonna lie, Typhoon's story of rehabilitation and journey to find empathy again damn near brought me to tears; and on another completely separate note, it also reminded me why Batman doesn't kill. Anyone he meets night after night could be a Typhoon, someone who has life against them and makes dangerous decisions because of that, yet can still find their humanity and become a problem solver of one's community. Thank you for sharing that story, I'm going to be thinking about this video for a while.

Ekko also wears the owl mask: owls often symbolise wisdom, cyclical time, fertility or “new births” and are lored as harbingers of death or “endings”… and he uses this mask from the first episode, always peering through it and spying through its lens. He’s literally fated though this coding to bring about change. It’s insane, the level of detail in this show is ✨ immaculate ✨ great video, thank you!!

Ekko became my favorite character even though he was a side character and didn't get much screen time. Watching this video made me realize why. Like the guy said, everyone is focused on either the past or future. Amongst this diverse cast, Ekko is the only one who thinks of the present which technically acts as a light in the darkness. Even if you've never put any thought into why you like Ekko you can still subconsciously feel his character. I guess this is what they mean when they say feeling something on a spiritual level. Oh, i also like him cause he's Badass😎

He's the sole embodiment of benzo and vander's dream, peace for the young ones and a chance for those that seek redemption.

5:14 super small detail, when u mention "no one else talks about defense" in Vi and Sevika's final fight Vander's ghost mentions Vi's weak defense too and she gets her energy shield a minute later

Something that I realized after rewatching recently is that Ekko exemplifies Viktor's amazing quote "in the pursuit of greatness, we failed to do good". As you point out there are a lot of characters stuck in either the future or the past but in addition to that almost all the characters with authority are singularly focused on "the big picture", Jayce and Viktor are obsessed with progress and talk about helping people but in a very general abstract way, and Viktor realizes what the problem is, Heimerdinger is completely oblivious to the corruption in pilltover or the suffering of the undercity and from his perspective most of these problems seem like they'll resolve themselves in a few decades which is nothing to him, he's primarily concerned with Pilltover as a city, not actually the individuals that make up the city. The rest of the council is even worse because they mainly concern themselves with the city in the same impersonal way as heimerdinger but their priorities are just how they can benefit. Silco also has this problem of being overly ambitious, he's always talking about these grand schemes, his dream is "THE NATION OF ZAUN" he's also a "big picture" person who is striving for greatness and as a result he's let substance abuse run rampant through his city and ruin the lives of those he claims to be fighting for. Ekko on the other hand is not nearly as ambitious as any of the other leadership, he has no grand aspirations, and look at him, he's the only one ACTUALLY doing anything good, the only one actually helping common people right here right now, not with some grand hextech or shimmer based independence plan, but by addressing their needs directly right now.

Nothing in this show will break my heart more than that moment where Ekko is about to punch Jinx out and she just looks up with those sad, broken eyes and he hesitates, seeing Powder in her again. Ugh, I cry every time I see it

Cool detail about the tree that the fireflights have: it's a ginkgo, it's fairly rare from what I know. And more importantly it's leaves turn yellow and when dried they look a bit goldlike even. In France it earned the nicknames of "arbre au quarante écus" : tree of fourty écus (old coins currency). It may very well be intentional knowing how much detail they put in the worldbuilding. The tree is incredibely unusual, it symbolises wealth. Because in their world living healthily IS expensive, it's a privilege. edit: a lot of answers said they weren't rare, my bad I wrote from memory. Maybe there's just less here too. Also they stink. edit 2 : check the replies, very interesting stuff :)

Finally a whole essay on my fave character! I thought it would never happen

Philosophy behind writing Ekko in Arcane: "If you can't make the most out of any given moment... then you don't deserve a single extra second."

Also, let us not forget that Ekko also has all the exaggerated swagger of a black teen. Just a little joke from a past meme. haha Ekko was a great character. I would watch a series focus solely on Ekko.

I love Ekko. He's my favourite character in Arcane by a long shot, in-fact one of my favourite characters in media ever, and you essentially summed up why. Especially with the comparison between him and Jinx, they essentially endured the same trauma but both delt with it differently and that's something I don't see represented often enough and in as much of a believable and understanding way. Edit: Making a bit of an ammendment here, I realized shortly after posting this comment that it was a stretch to say they endured the SAME trauma. I'd argue they experienced the same loss but definitely not the same trauma.

I think we didn’t get an Ekko flashback, because we’d already seen what we needed of his past. We know his relationship with Vi and powder, we saw most of the events that broke him, we already have all the necessary parts to understand him

Ekko lost basically everything within a day; his father figure, his best friends Mylo and Clagger, and he thought Vi and Powder were dead too. Then he learned that not only is Powder alive, but she works for the man who got Benzo and Vander killed. The Powder he once knew was gone. In his mind, Powder died in the explosion, and all that's left is Jinx. That's why he had Powder painted onto the wall mural. The bridge scene is truly a masterpiece of showing how Ekko and Jinx's trauma affected them. The way the show incorporated Ekko's ability to manipulate time, without actually having him do so was amazing; it showed the deep history that the two shared. In the aftermath of their fight, Jinx looks up at Ekko, scared and injured. In that moment, Ekko saw Powder, not Jinx. His childhood friend, the little blue haired girl he grew up with, was still in there.

In Ekko's intro, you can see scenes of the Firelights beating a painting of an eye (The Eye of Zaun) as well as beating up Enforcers (Piltover). He declares war on both sides.

One backstory I think we need in season 2 is the history of ekko and jinx during the time skip. They both know who each other was and their interactions suggests something happened. The fact that ekko thought powder was gone and has trust issues. While jinx is so quickly to pull the trigger whenever she sees him and also calling him “boy savior” tells us that something happened between the 2.

The only ONLY criticism I have with season 1 of Arcane... Is that Ekko is not in it enough after the time jump. We need more of him.

I just rewatched the scene, and when he starts their game, hes bringing Jinx back to the past, but hes using it to his advantage because he isnt stuck there anymore, he uses his past to strengthen his present

The irl Ekko experience, is the same I went through, the only difference is I left not because of my blood related family, it was to protect one of my pack, I left everything and focused on securing a life for my people outside of what we did. It is really hard to leave that life, it is insane how close the line between madness and sanity is. So to not only hear this story, but Ekko makes me feel somewhat better. Because it makes me remember there are so many of us who have been in that abyss, but yet dragged ourselves out. And I feel it's our job to help others dig there heels in, when you don't know if you have a future, and the scars leave you in the past, it is by digging your heels into the present that life moves forward. For everyone, I hope you have a fantastic day.

Arcane is a show about duality, Arcane characters come in pairs. Some examples are: Vi - Jinx Vander - Silco Heimer - Singed Jayce - Viktor Following this logic, Ekko's pair is Cait. They are both the "rebel trying to do good" type of character, both characters oppose at the same time some part of Piltover and some part of Zaun, and both characters have bigger issues in their own side than in the opposing one (Ekko with Silco, and Cait with Marcus).

I think Ekko has so much more depth than Marcus because he's an existing MC in LoL. And Marcus a new Original Arcane character, hence the huge difference between the two. Marcus is a character created as a side character and Ekko is an MC demoted to a side character.

Another important aspect of Ekko vs Vi and Jinx is that he turns to the strength of community. Whenever we see him as an adult, he is usually working in a group where they all work with each other's strengths. Even when they were young, Vi and Powder rarely worked together and that's usually where powder's jinx habit came in. They were operating as a group of individuals instead of a whole. Vi almost got it when they went to go get Vander, but powder showed up focused on herself(which fair for little kid). The same thing continued on as adults, despite Vi and Jinx bring seemingly in a group they often acted independently.

Thank you for including a real life story to bring light to one of the messages this story is talking about. These problems exist and something has to be done. It's the reason it's so easy to write a relatable story about them.

The effort this man puts in to his videos is just outstanding, let's make him bigger!

Typhoon' story was so sad and yet heartwarming too. I'm glad he's doing well in life

Imo, Ekko is the most morally good character in Arcane- he is the hero. He represents the type of revolutionary/leader that tries to help the most people suffering injustices, effectively. The fact that he actively seeks justice for both Zaun’s treatment at the hand of Piltover & Silco is the proof that he’s the character doing the most for the actual common Zaunites. And especially when you contrast to how Silco & Jinx try to fight for an independent Zaun (aka, excessive violence & corruption) vs Ekko wanting to take the route of justice, peace, AND accountability on Piltover’s part. He’s an amazing, unique character who I hope becomes a main character come next season💚

I appreciate that you shared Typhoon's story. It's important to be reminded that these struggles exist now in real life and I think Ekko as a character also is great for bringing all of this story of Arcane into a cohesive message we can apply to real life.

As a worker in a the second biggest slum in Latam I can tell you I've seen many Ekkos and sandly just like an echo they disappear fast. Even in chaos there's a system and those who do not belong have two options assimilate or disappear. Thank you for including his story it was really interesting .

The characterisation in this show is so good! Even side characters like Ekko are completely fleshed out and not just walking talking cardboard placeholders. Hope to see more of Ekko next season!!!

The amount of layering and detail in the worldbuilding and every aspect of Arcane never ceases to blow my mind. I'm just flabergastered continuously everytime I watch a video essay on Arcane like this or an episode of Arcane again, as I learn or notice something new everytime. What I love most about Ekko is that he gives us a valuable lesson that we should take seriously: we should focus on making life peaceful, just, happy and better for NOW, for the people who are alive NOW. We shouldn't cling to the past (but we shouldn't forget it either), and we shouldn't fixate on futuristic technological advancement so much that we forget about what is important now. By working for the happiness and wellbeing of people in the present, we can ensure that the future is prosperous for our children and their children. If each of us did this as a community and as a society, I think the world would heal and be a better place for everyone.

The cool thing about Ekko is he chose to live his life changing his community in a positive way. I wanted to point out how popular Boba Fett got and his character wasnt intented to be so interesting. Brilliantly spoken my man.

6:27 I cant believe how this man nails it every time. On the topic of the "Seconds" Video, i also love a little moment where Ekko is given the chance of rewinding or picking up his weapon, and he goes for the weapon. Man really lives and thinks about the moment

Thank you for sharing this - not only the nuanced review of ekko's "other" status, but also your appendix about Typhoon. And by way of this - the most fascinating aspects of humanity and human behaviour are explored through science fiction and fantasy. I believe Arcane does the same. While drawing parallels to existing conflicts (current or historical) brings with it controversy, I believe we each owe ourselves some contemplation about where we have seen humans do what Piltover does to Zaun and vice versa (and - develop a curious, empathetic, nuanced and critical view of it). Thanks again for a thought provoking essay.

The "RED / BLUE / GREEN" visualization just blew me away. It all makes sense now!

Typhoon's story made me cry, I don't even know why... But I am SO glad you included it, I think I just needed to hear that there's salvation for everyone. Even ruthless gang leaders traumatised as kids can end up right. Thank you.

Hey so... I told my dad about the whole Silco vs Vander thing, without bringing up Arcane. (he doesn't like it when I talk about anything that isn't... Real) I told him the basic gist of the arc both characters went through, and my dad told me and I quote, "It's the story of the young men. Old men are more reserved, they have something to lose. (Vander) Young men believe they have nothing to lose, until they don't. Until they become a father, or find someone they care about. Then they change. They become more reserved, more cautious. (Silco)" It just popped into my head when you mentioned how the guy in the irl ekko story changed when he became a father.

Ekko quickly became my favorite character in just one episode that’s a record in my book

Ekko is honestly my favorite character in Arcane, and your analysis made me appreciate him even more, great video!

I love Ekko so much and was in hysterical tears when he was fighting Jinx. Not only cuz of the beauty of that scene but at the fear and thought that they would kill him off. I was straight up saying I would hate them and wouldn't watch another episode if they did him wrong. And then I saw that his body was missing after the fight and felt better. Also I know he wasn't necessarily focused on this season but I kinda got the feeling that it was because his purpose was more for later on..that they where just introducing him and building him for something greater later.

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels. The analytical talent and vibes you give off when watching are so entertaining. Also love the IRL story you included at the end, shit was touching

I really appreciated Ekko's "flashback" (during the fight) because we had already seen his past, and it's fairly straightforward to see how he ended up where he is in the present. What was more important to showcase, are his feelings towards Powder/Jinx. It did a great job of showing them being childhood friends, and it paralleled well with the present; with how he remembers her Powder as she was, and the break between them now as adults. He doesn't hate her necessarily; but she's playing a "game" he can't risk losing.

Out of all the characters in the show, all the fleshed out characters that are there the whole time, Ekko is my favorite. There's just something about what he is fighting for, where he comes from, his style, personality, and even his ties to the main characters that make me love the character. Also, time manipulation is gonna be so cool and (hopefully) seeing that in S2 of Arcane is going to be so cool.

At 13:32 you can see the leaves of the tree. It looks like the fan shaped leaves of a Gingko biloba (maidens hair tree). An unusual and ancient deciduous conifer. If memory serves, then they are meant to be very pollution tolerant which makes a lot of sense in this context. I find it outstanding the amount of hidden details in this.

Ekko is the character who best managed to work through his trauma. I wonder if he did it all himself which would be damn impressive or if he had a mentor character during the time skip. I would love for season 2 to focus on Ekko as the hero who takes a third position in the war between Piltover and Zaun which I expect to come.

Great vid! Excited to see the Vi/Anti-Vi video. One thing I never see anyone talk about is that Vi is never included as “one of the kids” when people talk about her. An interesting short if you could compile it! Vander says “those kids look up to you” and at the brothel the lady says “I heard about Vander and THE kids” like Vi wasn’t one of those kids. Why not say Vander and YOU kids instead? Just another way to show the pressure and expectation on her shoulders

10:28 In therapy that tactic is referred to as “disengaging”. Ekko *disengages* from the situation.

Proof that Jinx is the one trapping Ekko in his past. You know how Ekko is all about avoiding and leaving when it’s one of the right choices. There is a scene where he chose to fight when he easily could’ve run. In that ship/boat scene where Sevika and Jinx were protecting the shimmer but the firelights attacked and burnt it all. When Jinx killed most of the Firelight people, Ekko got frustrated and went full force on Jinx (nothing happened though, since Ekko’s side man was there for him). But that was one of the scenes showing how Jinx is Ekko’s; past reminder? Weakness? I’m not sure what to call this, but uh reminder.

I like how the firelight fighting style has a perfect parallel with Ekko's in League. He is an assassin champion, but he's a lot different than the other assassins, as he's the only one that has both a heal AND a shield, and he probably has the most hit and run playstlye of them all, whereas champions like Nocturne or Katarina will go in and they either rapidly wipe the whole teamfight clean or die trying. As a League player, I feel like the show does on excellent job of portraying the things that make these champions unique while they're fighting. Jinx's sudden rapid movement and calculated long range firing, or Vi's tendency to prefer big leaps and swings over rapid attacks or hit and run combat are just a few examples. Even Heimerdinger's reluctant and defensive playstyle fits with the character shown in Arcane. Or how Viktor gains evolutions to his hexcore when he kills enemies xd

Really liked the parallel with typhoon’s story, amazing video once again

Great overview. Thank you for the inputs, great introspection.

Dude this analysis was INSANE your level of insight into the character is absolutely fascinating, been bringing your Arcane videos all weekend!!

Ekko is easily my favorite character Vi coming second, Heck I even made edits of him and seeing a video about him makes me happy I really like him because he isn’t thinking about being the leader or status he is thinking about people thinking about present which is only character that has this

I started liking Ekko from the get-go. I had a feeling about he's character, and oh boy was that feeling right. He change is amazing from a sorta energetic and brawly little kid to his intimidating, almost stoic persona as the leader of the firelights post-timeskip. It's another thing that silently says that after Vander died, the Undercity became far less forgiving.

that anecdote at the end was really touching, thanks for sharing

These are such good breakdowns, and your love of this show and the success your videos have really drive home how legendary Arcane is

Ekko's story resonates a lot with me. So talking about real life parallels, here's my own. My country is the only one in history that, although we fought the Axis powers (and got annihilated as a result), after WW2 ended our "Allies" decided that we should be governed by the same traitors who sided with the Germans during the occupation - because Churchill and the Americans were too scared of the "communist threat". This brought a lot political injustice and eventually a military junta; the WW2 freedom fighters and resistance members were hunted down, imprisoned, tortured or sent into exile. In this Cold War madness, my grandfather (after surviving a German work camp) was put with his family in a camp, where my mother was born, only because they suspected he was a communist. He actually wasn't but this experience made my mother a hard core Marxist-Leninist. So I grew up in great financial hardship with my single mother, reading a lot of history and literature, trying to find my political identity in this cruel, often non-sensical world. I tried to give my life meaning by passing from the Communist Youth and anarchist cells, to Antifa/ antiracist and feminist grassroots orgs, but there was always something bothering me. Not that they were doing something wrong, I consider them all my allies fighting the good fight, but something was not sitting well with my personality. And I realised that as person, I don't deal well with "ideological certainty" that either grounds itself to the past or promises a certain kind of future. I can't position myself as anti-anything, I just want to be pro-something. I want to do things in the NOW. I want to live my life well and with integrity now. So instead of going to political meetings, I just made a little "commune" in the block of flats where I live, which is mainly populated by working class people and immigrants. It starts with having coffee with the neighbours, having our kids play together, then sharing a meal. Learning more about them, I could make myself available to them. Sharing my WiFi or lending my car or driving someone to work or the doctor, translating them stuff or help them deal with the authorities because of the language barrier, cook them a meal when they're ill or buy them stuff at the supermarket if they're quarantined, help them with their PC or smartphone if they're older, a neighbour even calls me when her little grandson turns off the TV-SAT and she can't turn it back on, another one who's died recently whenever he needed help to tie his laces or pour food into a plate when he was alone because he had a stroke. I don't have tons of free time but these little things rarely take up much time anyway. And this is now become a real network of people who help each other whenever there's need. And I get to rely on them too, to look after my son when something unexpected comes up or my wallet runs dry a few days earlier than expected. It's not "perfect" or angelic - all of us have quirks or prejudice or irritating personality traits. But it is a beautiful community to raise our kids. And my next project is to plant more trees in my city that has almost no green spaces. So #teamEkko all the way.

I actually thought that Marcus was very nuanced and a really good character. His character is wrapped up in his personality. You don't need a backstory or anything to understand what he's been through and how his experiences shaped who he is.

Amazing analysis as always! Such a joy to watch. Honestly blows my mind everytime

This makes so much sense, thanks for the amazing video

amazing analysis on Ekko ! You really try to deeply understand the character :) As for the green color I would like to add: it is not only an anime trope for "the other" but green generally represents healing and growth (=the tree!). Ekko grew up to be an amazing leader - from a little brother only collecting information to even comforting Vi when she is caged in her burden of responsibility agonizing about not being there for him/them he reassures her that she shouldn't drive herself crazy with that thought. He has great resonsibilities for "his people" now and tries to better their life while ensuring their safety bit by bit. Something Vander and Silco did only in extreme ways. While Vander had no vision and outlook to better the lifes of his people but only tried to ensure the status quo with avoiding another war which led to his people being dissatisfied (Sevika) and still feeling too oppressed by Piltover, Silco provided a vision to better their lifes with the potential nation of Zaun with extreme measures but in the end he made life worse with shimmer and nobody was safe anymore + he decided to put Jinx over his mission of Zaun. Both failed for their people- so far only Ekko succeded in having a (till now) safe place for this people and them being happy (!)- it is a huge acomplishment that people are laughing and being happy there in the Undercity even though they are not rich or have an amazing flourishing city - he doesn't care about power or pride, he just wants the people to lead a healthy and happy life. imo Ekko is a side character on S1 but is set up to be a main with Heimerdinger in S2 and therefore will be the third neutral force in the Piltover/Zaun war and potential Noxus invasion. [BTW I believe that Jinx will be the fourth side of the war- the wild card jepardizing potential outcomes numerous times as she embraced herself as "the jinx" and follows Silco's last conversation "they can all burn" and crying out a violet(!) stream of shimmer representing her to let go of her past as she fires her super mega death rocket at the council] They represent aside from Vi and Caitlyn the topic of Piltover and Zaun working sucessfully together [sth. that Jayce and Victor failed to do]. In the Arcane developer's diary they said that the "real magic" is happening between the characters comming from the opposite sites of the world. So in S2 we will see Vi and Caitlyn (emotion and trauma plot) team up as well as Heimerdinger and Ekko (true synergy of science plot) and they will be able to make a difference in the war/upcoming challenges. You can easily see that at the last scenes of the final - Caitlyn and Vi walking towards a red moon (abstractly seen shaped as a heart with the rocked flying towards the mid - I am surprised nobody pointed that out so far) and Ekko and Heimerdinger equally(!) inpired each other and with ethusiasm discussing ideas/concepts of science/time while the clock is ticking in the foreground of the picture. Here are complete opposites joining forces and the true magic begins to develope^^. Regarding Jinx's line "oh look who it is..the BOY SAVIOR" : Her line is very spiteful and full of jealousy. He is not only her opposite character -the alternative route, but THE ROUTE SHE originally wanted to go down (ep3 "I...I was saving you... I only wanted to help!) ! Seeing him surrounded by loving people (=the firelights- his big family) that acknowledge him and him even getting to stand next to Vi - standing on the opposite site of the bridge with enforcers (!=Caitlyn ; Ekko is supposed to hate enforcers , too-> see his intro beating up enforcers and now seemingly working together with them - Marcus shooting him doesn't count as he is technically Jinx's ally, being bribed by Silco). He has everything she always wanted to have. She hummed the song from the first episode (where she stood together with Vi!) while emotionlessly killing off the enforcers that didn't die by her butterfly bombs in the first place to make sure to kill everyone on that bridge- the place that traumatized her in the first place and now she is becoming a monster herself in order to kill of these monsters (Caitlyn included) --> ep9 "I thought maybe you could love me as you used to... even though I'm different(=monster that kills people + altered body with shimmer)". So now she is separated from her sister that even walks away with - in her POV, another monster that somehow charmed her sister and she tried to shoot(=Caitlyn - her hallucination even goes that far as to darken out Vi and even possibly injuring her in the process) - as Vi is shocked by the monster her sister has become and Ekko is now even blocking the way (in ep 6 he even took away her sister from her forcefully and now she is siding with him against her in her POV !). She feels completely betrayed (+they tried to take the gemstone; sth. Silco said as a lie but comes in her eyes true now "she is not here for you but for the crystal") and can not be convinced otherwise because the voices in her head are preventing her from trusting anybody's words anymore. The damatic change comes when Ekko and Jinx actually start to fight - it shows that Ekko is actually moving on from the past in contrast to Jinx who relys on her memory from the past to beat him and therefore looses the fight - getting beaten to the floor, bloody from his hits and seemingly (in her POV) with no chance of reversing that situation. So she does what she always does - not facing the consequences and taking the easy way out: blowing up in suicide and giving up on hope. Honestly, I think the way Ekko reacted to her: they could have talked it out but this would mean for Jinx to face the past, to take on responsibility for her actions, change her behaviour (of killing people) and accept/face the consequences and finally mourn the people she killed- sth. she never learned to do and which would also be the key to make up with Vi again. Ekko did that very well- he made peace with the past with their memorial place and therefore being able to move on while never forgetting the past - instead this serves as a reminder for himt o stay ont he right track. Powder/Jinx was always shielded from consequences by Vi and Vander and later on by Silco- he even did not blame her for shooting him -instead he reassured her to be perfect the way she is - further preventing her from finally moving on. And if she did face unreversable consequences as family's death she breaks down and runs away instead of facing this reality. She never mourned the death's of her family or Silco because they go on to live in her head (ep9 "I should have known better... nothing ever stays dead") instead and prevent her from moving on from the past. After shooting Silco, she immediatly goes into action of targeting Piltover - not mouring him as well...

The story at the end is so interesting and beautiful. Thank you for sharing it. It's inspiring that someone with such a horrible past managed to become so loving and compassionate again despite everything that happened. No one should live through this

3:17 is kinda my favorite part so far into the video. I love your editing for the simple fact that you speak clearly and quickly while packing in so much information but you still manage to make plenty of time+space for cheeky jokes. I haven't even watched Arcane yet (and my cancelled Netflix ends tomorrow) but I've watched a handful of your videos and each one makes me want to see it more. Keep up the awesome videos because you're doing extremely well, in my opinion!

I enjoyed hearing not only your analysis on ekko but how you viewed him similar to the person you met on real life, it really brings some hard truths that Arcane's setting and narrative give because there are real places that have conditions as bad as the Under cities. Don't stop making content, please enjoy the process as much as I do while hearing it !

Thank you for doing Ekko. I think he is important to the story because he is one of the only people focus on the present and rolling up his sleeves to help and save people now. I view him as the real hero of the people.

man what a great peice of content , thx for sharing the story at the end .

I love this series so much!!! Thanx you for analysing this incredible character, and for sharing Typhoon's story, too!!!

It’s interesting this talk of “others” considering how Viktor and Jayce end up.

Ahaha this just makes me appreciate Ekko and what he stands for even more, so thank you for the video (and sharing Typhoon's story as well!). I'd loved how Ekko and the Firelights presented this alternate option, I wish there had been more time to explore it. Hopefully in a future season of the show,..? My fingers are crossed. So often in our world it's easy to think of issues as being polarized, black-and-white, this-or-that. People think that without our current justice system, for example, everything would fall to chaos and violence (nevermind the fact that even with this system in place, violence and harm often goes unchecked). But there's so much power in thinking outside of those confines and trying to come up with a totally different solution to such problems. I think that's a strength of everything the Firelights are doing, in-universe as well as from a narrative perspective. We see so much duality, but we're reminded that there are other paths that could be (or could have been) taken.

Thanks for your input at the last minute💯

you just earned a subscriber, best character analysis ever

One thing that’s interesting about Ekko is that he created this utopia for the people of zaun, but it’s not a full utopia. Because Ekko literally created it to hide from his problems and fears, he couldn’t take Powder turning crazy, so he created his own hideaway to forget about it

My man ekko has been the higlight of the show for me, the anti authority, neutral good characters always get me

Actually loved the story at the end, appreciate you sharing

Echo and Jinx/Powder are simular but perfect opposites. From their first scenes in episode 4 echo uses crystal bombs that build and contain opponents while Jinx uses explosives that destroy and free opponents (from life) Echo being focused on the present and Jinx on her past. Echo uses tech as transportation and simple pipes as weapons while jinx uses tech as weapons and has no form of transportation. Echoes animal being a firelight bug vs Jinx's being a crow. One brings light or is a sign of life vs one being a symbol of death or of darkness.

I'd never even heard of that trifecta before. Thanks for giving me one more thing I'm going to be seeing in every movie and TV show from here on out 😊

That IRL Ekko part at the end, man I don't have words, mad respect

king I have to say that your videos are absolutely phenomenal, not only are they deeply informative but they're also really fun to watch ✨

This is top tier analysing! Thanks for this great vid

Thank you for including typhoons story, the whole video you kept blowing my mind with Ekko stuff and then that story really brought arcane down to this human level-it’s too easy to get lost in the magic and different species and fantasy stuff, it’s easy to lose the kids that started off in the beginning of arcane stealing and going through sewer pipes to get home, the anguish and anger surrounding powder losing their bag of loot and how much that actually affected the relationship between the kids when suddenly you have shimmer monsters, death, and vi’s awesome punching at all times no matter what’s going on, it’s easy to forget how they were made until you brought it down to a human level, no magic, and it gave me goosebumps thinking about it all in that perspective for a moment. Aside from arcane though, typhoon sounds like a cool guy, his roots are really unique and I’m so glad I got to hear his story, that’s pretty inspiring!

That was a really touching story and it goes to show how tragically real the characters and conflics of Arcane are. I see so often that people have just decided that Jinx is a "murderous terrorist" as if that's all she can be. When the show goes to great length to show her the series of events that led to her becoming that way.

Absolutely fantastic analysis of Ekko, and the story of your personal friend at the end was really great. Thanks for sharing that.

This was an excellent analysis. Well done

Has Typhoon seen Arcane? The parallels between him and Echo would make anyones heart beat faster.

Thank you so much for highlighting Ekko! He’s probably my favorite character from the show, and I’ve been a huge defender of him since watching an analysis video where they argued that he was the weakest element of the show. It’s wonderful to see someone who appreciates and breaks down what he brings to the show thematically with such great details. I always enjoy your Arcane analysis videos, and I’m excited to see more!

Bruuhhhh, thank you so much for this amazing analysis on ekko, he's one of my favorite character in arcane, if not, my most favorite in the show. His overall character really got me hooked and his theme is just so badass, his cause in the story aligns to me... and damn, your video just added and pretty much completed the reason why I like him. Please keep going on making this amazing kinds of analysis its so gooood.

Dude, this is the fourth analysis video I've watched of yours and this is phenomenal analysis. I thought I saw how amazing Arcane was until I saw these. You've got some great insight that spans the whole metaphysical spectrum, great connections. I feel fortunate I watched these before watching this again, mwah. the echo powder connection will be wonderful to watch unfold this time

Truly outstanding commentary. The details you highlighted about Ekko went deep, further exemplifying the brilliance of Arcane. Bravo. Thank you for the Typhoon story, as well.