Top Ten Favorite Fictional Characters: #8, Silco and Jinx, Arcane
I count these two together because they are meaningless without their relationship. And I don’t mean that as a bad thing. Their two arcs are hopelessly intertwined and the show never makes the individuals feel less or shallower because of it. Political zealot and crime lord Silco adopts the desolate child who would become the terrorist Jinx, and he loves her, not in spite of her unstable and violent behavior, but because of it. Because she won’t hold back, won’t blink in the moment. Because she is the action sans morality that his passionate political thought requires. His daughter is the nation of Zaun, defiant and imperishable, risen to fame and uncompromising influence. Jinx will take care of it. And she holds on to him when she has lost everything else in the world. And, terribly, awfully, they love each other.
Silco is the consummate villain, backstabbing (literally), controlling, articulate and brutal. His history with Vander, his cultivation of Jinx, his condescending sway over Marcus, his hold over a steady supply of henchmen: his relationships are incredible. He could be standing alone with a cigar and dreams of blood-steeped domination and he’d be utterly compelling.
Jinx is a bundle of trauma and coruscating brilliance. No, really, it explodes. Her need to be useful, battered into her by the problems of growing up on the street, just drive her to greater and greater feats of engineering. And, thanks to her father, she always has a direction to fire in.
Arcane is a storytelling powerhouse and I just happen to like Silco&Jinx best.
Don’t cry. Their plot is perfect.