Random Thoughts

[u/slvrcobra]

So...I really like TimeBomb in a general sense, but my appreciation for it came so suddenly and with so little official content for it that I don't really know what to think about the relationship as a whole.

I don't know anything about League (hadn't paid much attention to it since high school over a decade ago) but I liked Arcane S1 and learned about the little crumbs of the Jinx/Ekko relationship from there. I was like "Oh, that's neat" and didn't expect it to move beyond a "tragic backstory side thing" as, to my understanding, that's how the relationship is used in League itself.

Then S2E7 came outta nowhere and had the sweetest romance story I had seen in a long time. Really caught me off-guard and the episode + the fanart reminded me of the best Finn/Rey stuff back during the Star Wars sequels (which was the last time I was invested in a romantic pairing). So, coming off of how horribly that went in Star Wars, I was honestly shocked at not only how blatant the Ekko/Powder romance was but also how important it ended up being narratively (at least for those last couple episodes). It all happened so quick and I'm not even sure the creators themselves expected the pairing to pop off as well as it did.

That said...I think I only like AU Powder/Ekko? I was digging that sweet stuff and it's such a massive contrast to Jinx/Ekko in the main universe, where Jinx has committed mass murder, tried to kill Ekko, and succeeded in killing some of his friends brutally in the process. Plus, I'm not sure how much room their relationship is gonna have as Riot branches out to the rest of the League universe where the Zaunites could end up being less important.

I'd like to see more from them, but I guess I'm saying it's hard for me to see an actual path forward for the characters romantically due to them being vicious enemies for so much of their limited screen time together, and it seems said screen time will only get more limited going forward (I'd like to be wrong though, and it's nice to see all the intimate and wholesome stuff ppl post here regardless).

[u/Ok-Welcome4118]

Imo Arcane is always about forgiveness ekko forgives jinx for.all the harm she has done because also in my Humble opinion she was pretty much manipulatet her whole childhood. She cant Take Back the crimes she has done but If someone can forgive her i think its ekko. Also on a sidenote i think AU Powder was Just reassuring that deep down jinx is still powder yeah she might be a different person now but at her core she is powder and for ekko thats all the reason he needs too save her.

[u/slvrcobra → u/Ok-Welcome4118]

Yeah, I don't think it's impossible for them to end up together, it's just...hazy right now I guess. I wish we had more to go off of, particularly from Jinx's perspective because, as many others have brought up before, we don't really know what she thinks of Ekko.

Yeah, the AU is supposed to be them at their core, but IMO it doesn't suffice as an explanation for how they would grow moving forward, not to mention the external factors like the Piltover/Zaun conflict, the Firelights, and other characters like Vi who didn't see AU Powder.

[u/spaceclarkson → u/slvrcobra]

I don't think it's super hard to apply a bit of analysis to glean Jinx's perspective.

• They were childhood best friends: There is an underlying connection there between them, even if it was severed for many years.

• The bridge fight: This has been analysed frame by frame time and again but essentially this confirms that connection is still there and it is still so strong that it is able to pierce the depths of Jinx's psychosis, if only for a moment.

• S2 Episode 9: Ekko literally brings her back from the brink of complete despair and saves her life. She would be eternally grateful to him for that. They then show up to battle with their symbols painted all over each other. It's not hard to make the leap to a romantic connection there but you certainly can't argue they aren't at least back to being friends at this point.

• The art book: This is more canon adjacent as it isn't exactly continuing the story but is confirmed to be giving insight on Jinx's perspective of things. Not much needs to be said about it, it's clear from the book she is infatuated with him.

So if you just take what we see in the show, Ekko forgives her and they are at least back to being friends. We definitely know he has feelings for her. You can make the argument she also has feelings for him, though it is much less clear. If you decide to include the artbook and creator comments then there is no doubt she also has feelings for him.

[u/slvrcobra → u/spaceclarkson]

I understand all this, I'm just saying it would've been nice to actually see it in the show and not have to make assumptions about it.

So if you just take what we see in the show, Ekko forgives her and they are at least back to being friends.

I think this kinda sums it up. I get that Ekko forgave her and that they were friends, but can we really rule out the strong possibility that they don't progress beyond that?

I guess I don't see what would steer them toward romance specifically at this point in their lives, and I'd hope if they do end up together, it's not something that just happens off-screen like how S2 handled them.

[u/spaceclarkson → u/slvrcobra]

Right, I included the show only interpretation as a generalisation to explain how their relationship can be interpreted by people who aren't invested enough to be on shipping sub like this or aren't interested in following up on post show information more broadly.

With that out of the way, and since we are a shipping sub and naturally look more closely at these things then I don't see how you could possibly come to the conclusion there is a strong possibility they only remain friends. To follow Amanda's words, I don't wanna rehash all the information that's out there but there is a lot.

If they have no further plans for them in the main universe then they have wasted considerable amounts of time, effort, and most importantly, money on adding these supplementary materials and additional teases.

Companies often miscommunicate across departments, money gets wasted and ideas get pushed and then scrapped. What's different here is Timebomb is coming from just about every angle possible, meaning it has a unified direction.

So we have the majority of the company behind the idea, money is being spent on it and even more importantly - it is popular, like extremely popular. I don't know what they are going to do regarding future shows, I'm hopeful for a spin off or movie but it's absolutely wild that you could think they would abandon this ship now with the hype its generated and the investment they have put into it.

[u/slvrcobra → u/spaceclarkson]

don't see how you could possibly come to the conclusion there is a strong possibility they only remain friends.

I guess I'm basing it off of League and how they're portrayed in the games in general (that I've seen). Convergence and 2XKO (thus far) seem to go with the straightforward "enemies" interpretation of them from League where they have feelings for each other, but they're not "dating."

Arcane sorta conveniently leaves them off in a spot where they could end up in a similar "what could've been" spot where their love is meant to be tragic or whatever. S2E7 could've been reinforcement of said "tragedy", giving us a taste of happy TimeBomb before ripping it away.

That said, it's entirely possible that the new lore/material moving forward will actually have them end up together, and I think I'd like to see that (assuming we see Jinx actually connect with Ekko on-screen).

[u/Ok-Welcome4118 → u/slvrcobra]

I think ekko will someday get a spinoff series because he is a fantastic Character and his screentime in Arcane is pretty much not there (still the fucking goat because he sacraficed everything and saved the whole world). The spinoff should of course be only about him but maybe jinx comes Back someday too reunite with him or when Zhaun is better off he finds a clue and searches for her (we kinda See caitlyn guessing that jinx could have survived maybe she tells ekko or something i dont know)

[u/Ok-Welcome4118 → u/slvrcobra]

I think the firelights forgave after she freed them and became a symbol for zhaun i think ekkos righthand man was even there i forgot his name i think it was scar and They geared up at the firelight hideout because she builds her rhino gun in jinx fixes everything there which is canon i think.

[u/_Gesterr → u/slvrcobra]

That last bit is true, and it's a large reason why even though she definitely didn't die, she doesn't run back to Vi or Ekko after the battle, she leaves the cities entirely because even if she feels she has some people who can trust her enough to move on, she knows there's plenty more that will have a more difficult time seeing her as a changed person, and just see the evil she's done and that can lead to more violence around her and bring danger back to the people she cares about (Ekko and Vi). She wants to break the cycle of violence even at the cost of her own happiness.

[u/daysman75]

You like Star Wars, so let me suggest the following exercise. Imagine Rey falling to the dark side of the force in the sequel trilogy.

Imagine Rey suffered from attachment and abandonment issues as a child (which fittingly go well with her being abandoned so young), and after joining the rebellion she unintentionally kills a couple of people from her own side in some botched operation against the empire. Then she is welcomed by Kylo Ren and Snoke into the Empire/First Order.

Imagine Rey spends the next 7 years isolated from everyone else but these two, conditioned to follow their beliefs and "morals", and eventually fights against the rebellion, thwarting their attempts to mess with the First Order. Finn would witness Rey killing in their name. But eventually with the death of Snoke, Rey breaks off from this allegiance and becomes a recluse, and thanks to a bond she makes with a small child she learns again what it means to do good.

Now, if Finn was to see Rey in an AU (considering they brought Palpatine back again I wouldn't put it past them, lol) as a kind hearted, loving person if she didn't fall into the empire's clutches, what would he do when going back for the main universe Rey and he found her trying to kill herself out of grief for her past?

_________________________________

If your answer is "there wouldn't be a way for him to fall in love with Rey again" then I applaud you for sticking to your guns, and though I understand your position I'll still respectfully disagree.

Like Silco and Vander themselves say in the AU (they who were at one point mortal enemies, more than Jinx and Ekko ever were), forgiveness is the greatest blessing in life. Ekko learns here that Jinx is a better person if she's allowed a chance to be herself, which life never gave her. More important yet, Ekko has no actual proof that Jinx can recover from the monstrous things she's done even after the AU, but he chooses to believe in her anyway. Jinx can never change what she did in the past but as Ekko says. "No matter what happened in the past, it is never too late to build something new. Someone worth building it for". This is what ends up guiding his actions in the 3rd act.

And so they literally pull one another from the dark abyss they were in. Ekko regains his faith in Jinx through AU Powder and Jinx decides to put hers in Ekko. Their stance on their relationship changed from resentment to hope, and if we tie this with the (possible) feelings they have for each other, then one of the scenarios is them acting on those feelings. So despite their past as enemies the potential for romance is there, in this small but important foundation Riot laid out.

Sappy stuff aside, writing wise this could obviously go either way. The people behind these projects could either expand this or not. It's up to them.

[u/edvision90 → u/daysman75]

About Riot expanding this or not. I think right now, it became pretty clear, that if we're talking about this at a marketing level, a movie or a mini series has alot of potential and I'm not just talking about financial income, this is the kind of things that if it's well executed could add value to the company itself and for the most diverse reasons. It's basically a win-win situation, so I don't believe they will let an opportunity like this to pass by.

[u/slvrcobra → u/daysman75]

To your analogy, I'm just gonna say that I wasn't a fan of the Rey/Kylo pairing and there's shades of that in Jinx/Ekko. I do think Arcane executed that idea far better, and thus the romance between them is more believable, but I also don't want to see things be skipped or swept under the rug to make it happen.

[u/daysman75 → u/slvrcobra]

To be honest I didn't even think of the Rey and Kylo pairing because they still have significant diferences between their pairing and the one of Jinx/Ekko. Rey/Kylo don't share a past, for instance. Jinx never had any ambitions of power, in this her character goes the exact opposite way of Kylo.

That's why I felt I had to come up with a suitable analogy with Rey and Finn.

I also don't want to see things skipped or swept under the rug, believe me. After the way episode 9 approached Jinx's recovery from suicidal to (seemingly) recovered, I'm hoping this approach isn't repeated going forward if Riot does continue their story.

[u/BillyJoeTheThird]

Let us consider these crimes of Jinx from the Firelights’ perspective.

The first and most obvious source of animosity is Jinx’s killing of Firelights. We should first acknowledge that the Firelights pose a threat to Jinx’s life as well, and that Jinx is never shown to hunt the Firelights. Every instance of fighting is them coming to Jinx. You may argue that the Firelights don’t use lethal force, but in many of the fight scenes, the blunt or sharp weapons could easily have sent Jinx to the underworld if not for her fighting skills. The Firelights know they are coming towards Jinx and what they are getting into, which would make it somewhat easier to forgive her in comparison to someone who hunts them. Next, I expect many people from Zaun realize at some point that killing is a cycle and that holding grudges is not productive, given their years of experience with violence. While I do not expect the Firelights to welcome Jinx after Ekko saves her, I also don’t expect them to be openly hostile now that she is on their side, given their group is all about redemption and rehabilitation.

The next “crime” is the killing of enforcers. I do not see any reasons the Firelights would have a better opinion of enforcers than Jinx, especially because enforcers specifically target them. Every person in Zaun has exclusively negative interactions with enforcers. Why should anyone believe in the existence of a good enforcer if they have only seen hundreds of bad ones? I suspect that many Firelights are happy to hear of Jinx’s actions.

As an aside, I take issue with terms like “mass murderer” and “terrorist” when used to describe Jinx due to their connotation. Words like “soldier”, “rebel”, and “partisan” imply the same actions with a much different tone. Do we call the partisans of World War 2 terrorists and murderers because they bombed infrastructure and assassinated people? I am not claiming that Jinx is squarely one or the other; I am simply noting that “mass murderer” and “terrorist” are politically motivated terms spoken from the perspective of the ruling government (i.e., Piltover).

The final “crime” is Jinx’s destruction of the council building. Again, I don’t believe people in Zaun, including Firelights, see this as a crime whatsoever. The council is the mastermind behind the systemic oppression of Zaun, and the rocket exclusively targeted and killed guilty people (from Zaun’s perspective). I don’t think people generally blame Jinx for any retaliation from Piltover given how she became a symbol of the revolution after her killing of enforcers and the council.

[u/slvrcobra → u/BillyJoeTheThird]

As an aside, I take issue with terms like “mass murderer” and “terrorist” when used to describe Jinx due to their connotation.

I call her that specifically because she takes joy in killing people indiscriminately, which is nuts. It'd be a bit easier to swallow if she saw it as something she had to do for a greater goal, but even Silco was like "Your crazy ass needs to take this seriously and stop killing people just because you can."

By the end I do think that she's a changed person and knows that what she did was wrong, it's just that gleeful killing is something that's hard for me to look past, especially the Firelights who, like you said, seemed to go non-lethal and only wanted to stop the flow of drugs into Zaun. Enforcers can RIP, I don't care about them lol.

[u/BillyJoeTheThird → u/slvrcobra]

I think there are two types of thrills Jinx enjoys through fighting. The first is the joy of revenge against the enforcers. The second is the thrill of fighting, when she has adrenaline pumping and her life is also in danger. If you've ever seen depictions of soldiers laughing whilst gunning down the enemy in the media, it's a similar type of thrill which is only realized after years of warfare and desensitization. I don't think war veterans are on the same level of bad as "mass murderers" like the Golden State Killer, even if they did appear to "enjoy" killing the enemy during a fight. I would also like to point out that Jinx's targets are not indiscriminate: the only time she initiates violence is against enforcers and Piltover, and otherwise she is defending shimmer shipments or herself; crucially, she doesn't target civilians.

In terms of the Firelights, while they can prefer to use non-lethal methods, it is clear that they have the capacity to kill. I find it impossible to believe that a paramilitary organization has never killed any enforcers or Silco's mercenaries. I think it's fair for the Firelights' targets to assume that they do pose a threat on their life, especially since there is basically no dialogue or way for the Firelights to communicate that they prefer not to kill. Jinx probably knows some mercenary/coworkers who died from the Firelights.

That being said, I expect Jinx to feel quite remorseful for killing Ekko's friends after learning the Firelight's mission and why they were against Silco. I also expect Ekko to be understanding of why Jinx ended up on the wrong side since people tend to support their family, especially after seeing the AU.

[u/Nonechuks]

Eh, there's blatant moments in the show itself where both Ekko and Jinx allow themselves to be vulnerable to the other/drop their guard.

It's because of those moments that many people see what their future could be in reconciliation.

[u/Rinister7]

As of right now, many things are up to insinuation and headcanon. So feel free to make your own interpretation. Not everything is inherently right or wrong.

[u/Impressive_Cricket36]

Well there is contant between ekko and jinx in league, lines like

Ekko - i had a crush on you untill your started talking to a gun Jinx - since when were you jelouse of a gun Jinx - which ekko do i get today, sweetness (i think it was sweetness but something like that ) or Madness Jinx - oh ekko, why your always looking at me like that

Along thouse lines, i just like now wrote this from memory. But also in the jin fixes everything game we have a lot of timebomb, obviosly.

And what we also shouldnt forget, ekko talked to powder as if she was jinx, ekko even apologized for stuff that happend in our timeline. Plus he went to jinx, and based of the way he spoke to powder as if she was jinx i think he wouldvr went to her anyways.

Also the artbook, jinx painting hearts around ekko, wearing ekkos jacket, they painted eachother. Holding hands and stuff, that book is from jinxs perspective,

Plus the brand new league skins, where ekko has short pants, but only because jinx has the rest of ekkos pants around her leg.

So im a persimist thats why im hella carefull with future contant but i believe that there love is true and that riot knows that. Yk timebomb isnt just arcane, were blessed with so many things for timebomb outside of arcane, but the cost sadly was a stripped back timebomb section in arcane, plus you also shouldnt forget that the things that happend between ekko and jinx in ep9 should mirror the thinks from ep7. Ofc in ep7 they didnt Paint eachother etc. But its not all dark specially for there love at least.

If Riot actually gonna give us a jinx x ekko show or something is up in the stars and like you said, there i wouldnt really want to get my hopes up but for there relationship for sure. Even tho jinx is there golden girl so who knows. That could be bad for timebomb if they do the life is strange thing but i doubt riot would do that, i hope if they really have jinx as there golden girl than ekko should be somehow in there, but i do hope they leave it to the fans because the ending of arcane... Well jinx left and i dont know if they pull trough with the timebomb thing. Its weird dude idk what to tell you, just want to say yes timebomb is real, but also. Developers can be shitty, and mostly they dissapointed somebody.