Arcane, the Firelights and Violence

It took me a while, but I finally managed to watch Arcane, League of Legends' recent animation show. And while its promotion last fall had been definitely overwhelming, the series deals with lots of crucial and relevant themes: exploitation, inequality, the meaning of revolution, solidarity and progress, democracy and communication. The setting of Piltover and Zaun is hardly original (even if the rich vs poor conflict is not a new concept in fiction, it never stops being relatable), but it allows for all the characters to shine while chasing their own objectives and staying true to themselves.

Plenty of people on the internet have probably already talked at great length about Zaun's mafia-like dynamics, Piltover's governance issues or Jinx' insanity-fueled stunts, so I'm going to focus on the one element that surprised me and that embodies the solarpunk principles that inspires this blog – the Firelights.

The Firelights are unique

Let's start with some background on Riot. Across the lore of their game, the publisher has had a difficult relationship with portraying revolutionary characters. Players can think of Sylas vs Demacia or Xerath vs Shurima, explained in depth here. In short, characters that try to challenge the status quo are always shown as defective and threatening in the eyes of the ruling faction, not to say straight out evil.

This does not happen in Arcane, for two reasons.

First off, the factions around which the conflict revolves are not just two. Piltover is the (seemingly) oblivious exploiter and Zaun the vindictive exploited, so the latter embarks on a quest for legitimacy that, of course, embraces a degree of violence — be it physical, medical (shimmer addiction), structural (having kids working in their factories) or psychological (Silco manipulating Jinx, Marcus and the Barons) — to achieve their goals. Silco will wage war if needed, he will make sacrifices if needed. Their goal is revolution and independence, whatever the cost.

In response to this, the Firelights share a similar goal with Silco (improving Zaun's condition by freeing the Undercity from Piltover's authority), while at the same time turning down their means. They never resort to any of the violence described above, albeit they do use devices that allow them to restrict opponents and sabotage machinery and logistics. They do want a revolution, just like Silco, but not at the cost of their humanity.

On top of that, the Firelights are new. While Piltover and Zaun have been pillars of League's lore since its very dawn, these “pacifist” (as in, refusing war as a necessary mean) revolutionaries have debuted only in the animated show and not in the game (at the time of writing). They add a layer of complexity that would've been hard to achieve with just two factions and the constant risk of falling again into the trope of “good vs bad”, “heroes vs villains”, “rich vs poor”.

By allowing this new faction to bring a new perspective to the conflict of the metropolis, Fortiche paints a more thorough picture of how many political conflicts happen in our world.

The Firelights are solarpunk (or could be)

Both Piltover and Zaun have their realms of authority within the city, physical spaces where research is conducted, shimmer is produced and decisions are made. The Firelights, however, grow between the cracks of these systems. in a world that can't agree on a solution that meets everyone's needs, they carve a space for themselves on their own.

They even have one of the only trees that is shown in the whole city, not in some random corner or sidewalk but as the core and pillar of their refuge, to embody their relationship with the environment that rejects both progress for progress' sake and industrial exploitation.

Furthermore, the last episode shows Heimerdinger (founder of Piltover and renowned scientist) teaming up with Ekko (the Firelights' leader) in their oasis. To me, this is a very powerful message that few might have noticed: to face the contemporary challenges of our times, whether it's climate crisis or right to live or racial and economic inequalities, traditional “western” science (embodied by Heimerdinger) must embrace the methods of local people and take revolutionary action (represented by Ekko).

While both Piltover's excessive use of force in the name of peace and Zaun's use of any violence in the name of independence are portrayed as understandable and justified, they end up fueling each other in a spiral of brutality. The Firelights, on the other hand, provide a great example of a path that we can follow if we reject the dichotomies that are offered to us in our daily lives.

There's always a solution that can benefit both us and the environment.

[Disclaimer: I don't think Fortiche or Riot are aware of solarpunk political ideas or core values of anticapitalism, direct action and mutual support; this is why I believe it's important to give a solarpunk interpretation of this faction's portrayal without having the viewers get the conclusion that “solarpunk is just other rebels with cool tech”.]