Mel is so interesting. And the way she is portrayed too. We are introduced to her and kinda think that she is evil because she is this privileged council member (and we litarally know nothing about her). But in the end we learn that she is this empathic person, who was shunned for her empathy and who tries to avoid violence and ultimately wants the best for Piltover and Zaun. I really hope she survives the attack, because there's so much untapped potential for her and her character.
Yeah, at first i was really scared they were just gonna make her a seductive manipulator but im so glad they didnt do that, shes one of my favorite characters now
@@slothful2039 Me too. I didn't like how they slept with each other and kissed because I really thought she didn't really care for them, but I actually think they're a sweet couple now.
First of all her character design is GORGEOUS. She's stunning and the hair and the gold freckles are perfection. Then there's her voice actress and her poise and grace. It's the way she seems so cold and untrustworthy and manipulative and impossible to read UNTIL she starts actually falling for Jayce. She's hidden a softer part of her. Like ahjdfsjhghl I love these types of characters who are feminine but determined, steely cool and guarded, poised, elegant, mysterious, with-a-heart-of-gold. I also appreciated that we never had to see her throw a punch or wield a weapon to see how powerful she is.
Honestly I really agree. Like as a watcher you never have to be convinced of vi or Sevika. You can just tell from the little things those women are tough as nails. But Mel’s power is shown in her fox like tendencies just the same. You don’t have to be convinced that in all moments she has complete control and it’s honestly so interesting to see without being babied as a watcher. She’s beautiful but you can’t let that distract you that she is dangerous and always gets what she wants and that’s amazing character writing.
I had to rewatch some of her scenes because I was listening but not actually listening. She’s just sooooo stunning and her voice actress is perfection and I’d be so distracted just by looking at all the little visual details that I wasn’t even paying real attention. She does start off feeling very gaslight gatekeep girlboss but I love that they developed her more.
I agree 100% that the gold plating on Mel's back and shoulders is significant. No one seems to take note of the fact that in that final moment at the end of episode 9 when Jinx's rocket is about to smash through the glass, Mel's "armor" (for lack of a better term) not only glows for a second, but Fortiche does something very bizarre at the same time: they momentarily erase the back of Mel's dress just so we can see that stuff, in its entirety, glowing. Fortiche is very deliberately saying, "Hey, this is important, so we are going to make sure you see this!" even to the point of inducing a non-diagetic erasure of a model texture to make sure we don't miss it.
I am SO betting on this being some sort of Solari protection. She's always had gold motifs in her clothing and hair, and her outfit when she was a young girl strongly resembles the ingame item "locket of the iron Solari". Conveniently, this item grants an AOE shield to teammates for a short duration.
It would be great to see all of the intricate gold designs. That would make an interesting skin. And it would be interesting to see what her hero in the game would be like with skills other than diplomacy.
It's significant that she is using a magic protection device, since that would add to the fact that she decided to support Jayce against Heimer's advice.
I think it's really interesting that Mel gets swayed from her path by her mother who's just further along that path. It's like her realizing and questioning herself: "Is this what I'm turning into? is this who I wanna be allied with? Is this who I wanna be??"
Just like Mel's mother is a mirror to her, so is the young princess who was killed in the flashback. Same green eyes, same status (presumably a young princess), same age. Dualities everywhere :)
Not just the Medardas are red, ALL OF NOXUS is red. Riot Games loves doing colour coding and if you went to look at any character from the game, you could identify their origin just from their colour scheme. Noxus - Red Zaun - green Demacia - blue/grey The Void - purple Shurima - yellow/orange Shadow isles - transparent turquoise Lunari - white Solari - gold With that being said Mel smearing over the painting with gold I believe symbolises her abandoning any Noxian ties and pursuing what I think is a religion she's followed since even before her banishment: the Solari. Which has the capabilities of, say, shielding her and her allies from a giant rocket.
Medardas aren't even noxian but a piltover merchant clan. Yes Ambessa is Noxian but she married into the medarda clan but isn't an actual medarda herself. Which also explains why Mel out of all places is in piltover, because Ambessa sent Mel to her fahter. Ironically Mel apparently not only fell short for the noxian standards her mother held, but also as she says herself short for medarda standards. Medardas actually being one of the richest piltover clans and medardas are actually gold and the gold most likely hints to shuriman ties. Shurima to me also has more of golden color scheme not yellow/ orange. Which also makes more sense when you consider the geography of piltover and shurima. Solari are golden yes, but they are a religous order not a geographic location, that would mount targon. And mount targon is as diverse as the aspects that exist and so are the corresponding worshippers, which is why you won't find a clear color scheme that pins down an origin.
Thanks for the video. There isn’t a lot of Mel content because most people flatten her character and refuse to see the nuances. Fans of the show have unfortunately boxed her into a seductive mustache twirling manipulator and that’s all they want her to be in order to serve their own biases (and ships let’s be real). It’s as though they haven’t watched past the first act or something. It’s a great to see when someone gets Mel and appreciates the work the writers and creator put into her character.
I'll admit, I was totally in that mustache twirler projector category until last week, so glad I decided to take another look at her and see how wrong i was!
@@schnee1 I’m glad you did! Mel needed someone like Jayce to help bring out the good caring side side of her she had buried under her mother’s/Noxus ideals. That was never really her to begin with as we saw in the flashback. Excellent video. I really enjoy all your analysis!
@@therealtaydev That's why I keep saying that her and Jayce are actually perfectly matched! They're exactly what the other needs. He's quite emotionally expressive and open and that helps her channel those parts of herself Ambessa has taught her to suppress (just look at how physically affectionate she is towards him at the forge, even though he's all sweaty and grimy), while she helps him be less impulsive and more cunning, decisive/less of a people pleaser. But while she mentors him in politics she never once takes away his agency. She always lets him decide, for good or bad. And he's perfectly aware of the situation throughout. Furthermore they effectively communicate with each other (him leaving her in bed in the middle of the night could've easily be played for cheap drama but he immediately explains himself and she quickly understands the situation and becomes empathetic even if caught off guard by just how vulnerable he is with her), and well... don't even need to comment on the physical aspect of the relationship, they obviously have a good thing going there as well.
I pointed this out in Arcane Discord, so I'm going to plop it here as well... the colour palettes of Mel, Ambessa and Jayce are very deliberate. Mel usually wears white and gold - the opposite of Medarda black, red and steel, which is an act of distancing herself from that heritage. Now look at Jayce's colour palette. He wears a white tailcoat (mirroring Mel's slitted dress) with golden details and epaulets (mirroring Mel's tattoos/jewellery/armour) and a white vest, but under it, he's wearing a black shirt and a red tie. He's wearing Ambessa's colour palette under Mel's colour palette. Now because this is clearly symbolic, I interpret this as Jayce having the potential to be both a charming diplomat like Mel and a violent despot like her mother. While Mel is actively moulding him to be a fox, Ambessa arrives and starts pushing him to be a wolf. I think Mel realises this potential and that is what pushes her over the edge and to the (emotionally) violent confrontation with her mother. She doesn't want him to devolve into a person like her mother is and Ambessa is trying to undo Mel's efforts. She pushes him to "know death" like she was taught, which he comes to know when his and Vi's raid goes awry. Then he chooses Mel's way... and also finally sets boundaries for himself and stops being a people pleaser.
Jayce's champion theme is also based on being transformative between hammer form and ranged form. Between keeping your distance and taking carefully aimed shots, or aggressively jumping in and smashing your enemies
Also notice, when Mel first meets Ambessa (her mom) when she arrives in Piltover, she wears fully black dress. Its the only time she's not wearing one that's predominantly white. It's the show reminding us of her Noxian heritage.
@@mimiestkitty She actually wears the same dress at the party in ep. 4 (albeit a version with an open back) and in the scene where she receives the letter from her family in in ep. 7. Anytime she's reminded/has to confront her upbringing, the dress is there.
To fully appreciate the Necklace in blood symbolism you have to understand the show's theme is duality. Not only is transition from the necklace in blood on the floor to Mel's painting a brilliant match cut but it's also a parallel to the coin Silco hands to Marcus that drops to Grayson's and the Enforcers' blood on the ground earlier. Later Marcus pulls out that blood stained coin in a moment of reflection just as Mel's painting is a reflection on that moment. The blood pools are almost perfect overlays. Together showing the duality of their responsibility in the unintended death of 'innocents'. There are so many uses of parallels to what had they been cut together would be match cuts across Arcane. Another example is scene where the Mage opens his hand to reveal the light of the crystal to Jayce later closing his hand around the light of the Hextech Gate. You could cut those two scenes that happen episodes apart together as a perfect match cut. From a pure 'cinema language' aspect Arcane is as close to flawless as anything I've ever seen. Film language is something we speak without even know we're understanding it because it's been speaking to each of us our whole lives. Consciously or subconsciously 90% of what a movie makes us think and feel with visual storytelling, how it manipulates us, isn't about what's shot but about how it's shot. Add the use of music and sound into the mix and it is a powerful thing.
Love this take. BUUUUT I wouldn't say unintended deaths of innocents at all, they both acknowledge wt their actions r capable of and engage in it anyways. Like Marcus did for money then his daughter was threatened, karma, and he did wtever else after being selfishly motivated. Tho that was his arc, the duality never ceased there.
@@haketyu7891 There's no way Marcus thought Grayson and the other Enforcers would be killed. I also don't think Marcus thought Silco capable of it. Remember he had nothing but contempt for 'Trenchers', and Silco was from the Undercity. "That wasn't the Deal!" - "Deal's changed". I think Marcus' deal was more about Vander than the gold. I think he's angry Grayson treats Vander as a sort of equal. Marcus wants to show the Lanes whose boss, and he wants to put Vander in his place. I think the deal for Marcus was originally about pride and prejudice. After all what the Councilman said: "What could they offer Marcus that he couldn't get up here?"
Mel is probably my favorite character in Arcane. Her character development and backstory where just so fascinating. They could have kept her at a one note character, the “femme fatale”. But they didn’t. They gave her an inner turmoil and made her so complex!
Most people dislike her, but I liked her from the beginning. I have tried to understand her motivations, but I have to admit that until watching your video I really didn’t have a clear picture of Mel even if some of my own conclusions were aligned with what you said in the video. Great video!
"Most people dislike her..." That's literally *any* black female character on a non-black show. And it's getting tired. I hear it over and over and over every single show. Even when the black female character merely does things a white character would do, it's "annoying" or in some way worse because she's doing it. It's giving me mad flashbacks to so much media. It's just a given at this point. The excuses made never add up. But that's what happens when certain people think all media should only be about them. It's old.
Also, did no one notice that in ep 9, at 4:11 mins left, She smiles at Jayce, but then she jumps a little. Next shot is the rocket. But then during the shot of her gold plating, You can see she starts to turn around towards the window where the rockets coming. Not only is it possible that it'll protect her, but it also could've given her a warning
WHY has no one has talked about how in the very last few frames when the rocket hits the glass we can see an evil reflection of MEL'S FACE (in the graffiti style of jinx).
This is such an obvious statement but Mel’s character design is absolutely amazing. I have NEVER seen a black character designed with so much love. It’s completely changed my standards for acceptable black character designs. Same with her mother. Such a striking powerful design that emphasizes her strength without taking away from her beauty. Just amazing designs. I could kiss the artists
Mel is such a good character. Also, whoever came up with her visual design deserved an A+ because she looks like a freaking swan-- like she enters a room and every other person just fails to reach her level of elegance.
I was so surprised that Mel wound up my favorite character. If everyone were described to me beforehand, I would never guess in 100 years that the manipulative councilwoman would be my favorite. But she turned out to be so much more than that. Wonderfully lawful neutral. Manipulative but not in a malicious way or with any ill intent towards others. Genuinely peaceful and compassionate in how she tries to govern. Extremely intelligent and forward thinking. And basically correct about everything throughout the whole season, which Jayce so conveniently points out in the final council scene. Not to mention being the single most gorgeous animated character of all time 😍😍😍. Go Mel Medarda.
Can you talk about jayce? The way that he's always actively trying to fix everything around him literally a day after he joined the council and the path that he went through and also his friendship with victor was really interesting to me
i had a video that explored jayce by comparing his arc to iron man 1, but there's a lot more i want to say about the character! very unique mix of intelligence and brute force in him
Jayce is a chronic people pleaser and I think a lot of people miss that detail. He wants to make everyone happy and solve everyone's issues all the while he's constantly faced with having to make polarising choices that offer no compromise.
I've always wondered why Mel was the one to notice the rocket. She's the one person whos back is to the window. Out of all the people in that room she was the one person who shouldn't have seen that rocket coming. But she did, and she did it in slow motion too, meaning her real time reaction would've been super fast. Maybe the gold on her back gave her a sort of spidey-sense ability, making her alert to unseen or incoming danger.
man I didn't expect to see such a deep analysis on Mel and made me realize just how much I overlooked her as a character! the point you made on her being mysterious/guarded and her arc being presented the same way made much so sense
That's because of the Viktor ships that the audience uses to deflect their own biases. I pegged Mel as one of the most interesting characters in Arcane from the beginning. I was surprised she got a backstory, tho. People seem to have natural mistrust of characters like her - even though there are ones who do worse. Viktor actually KILLED a woman and they brushed it off, Jayce killed a kid too, Jinx killed all of her crew. Mel hasn't killed anybody yet people find her manipulative. Funny, isn't it? A TH-camr call her a gold digger. She's the richest person in Piltover.
@@williampearson6299 Oh wow, someone really called the richest person in Piltover a gold digger? Wow, fandom biases are the strangest things on the planet.
I'm so pleased with this video. I was concerned with so many putting her off and claiming they dislike her, or writing her off as JUST manipulative. I saw someone say they were hurt that Mel, as a black woman, was manipulative and cunning and that ruined her representation for them. But none of that ever sat right with me. I knew I liked her, I knew there was something more to her, and I knew she was way more than 'just manipulative.' Because she IS. I just couldn't put it into words in my own mind. She's actually a fantastic character. Perhaps she is manipulative, because, obviously, she indeed is, but there isn't a single character in Arcane without a flaw, or without complexity. No black and white, none. Mel is no different. She's wonderful and I adore her. Maybe an analysis video of Marcus' character from you can put his complexity and likability into words for me as well. I know Marcus made bad choices but I still like him a lot as a character and I want to know why! Or perhaps I'm just crazy for liking him, which is fine, too.
Marcus is really perplexing to me but I also want to know more about him, and I'm very interested every time I encounter someone who's a fan of him. Any favorite scenes of his?
@@schnee1 I love any time he is on screen, honestly. I think the way he is designed is extremely interesting and unique and I find his love for his daughter to be absolutely precious, equally heartbreaking. I also love his voice and his personality- despite the fact that he IS a hotheaded jerk. I love the scene of him shouting “This wasn’t the deal!” At Silco after Grayson’s death, and I also love the scenes of him with the literal blood money after what had happened. He was truly affected by the loss of Grayson despite acting indifferent and even hateful toward her, defying her. I also love the scene of him at the bar with Vander and the scene of him imagining he’d killed himself and Silco with the bomb. For me, he steals the show anytime he is in a scene, unless Viktor’s onscreen. I love his subtle facial expressions when processing information, like his interactions with Jayce when you can see the gears turning in his head. He just seems very real and very interesting to me, but he is definitely complex. I believe he thought what he was doing was a necessary evil. I also believe he knew he was in the wrong a lot. His body language after shooting Ekko, pointing the gun at Caitlyn was interesting. You could see his internal struggle, the desperation, but the way he knew he was playing a losing game. He was processing what would be the lesser of two evils and he KNEW no outcome would be good for him. He was so desperate to keep his little girl safe but I think he knew he messed up in that moment, and there wasn’t anything he could do. I actually felt sad to see him die.
I'm glad a character like Mel came around after the Amber backlash from Invincible. Arcane is the right kind of "Woke" that they ushered in while Invincible's Amber was a misguided attempt.
@@williampearson6299 I have not seen Invincible. I’ve found it hard to contribute my time to anything unrelated to Arcane/LoL and it’s bittersweet that I feel like nothing else will compare and I won’t enjoy anything like I have Arcane. Perhaps after some time that feeling will fade and I can watch other things
Sometimes the problem isn't the representation but the reception. I've lost count of the shows in which the fandom instantly found the black female character unlikable even though she's, for all intents and purposes, written as they would a white character. It just hits differently when it's a black woman, I guess. I want to say I'm over it, but I can never get to be over it because, should I want to discuss media I like with other people who like it, I'll always have to contend with that factor. It happens in literally every non-black show, and even happens with black shows (except against darker-skinned female characters vs. lighter-skinned black female characters). But then everyone gets mad when we bring it up. But we're instantly disliked and are just supposed to deal. Nah.
I think you can pinpoint the precise moment when Mel started to accept Jayce and his influence. When he tells her, "Nothing feels impossible when I’m with you." It's a sincere and powerful compliment. It tells her their connection is real. I think it's the point where she stops seeing him as an "investment" and comes around to seeing him as a partner and an equal.
I loved this analysis. I'd never considered the symbolism of red and gold in her arc before, and had completely forgotten the reference to painting the walls gold when she was younger. It brings so much more meaning to when she covers her painting with it at the end!
I think for a character like Mel, instead of 'manipulative' you could sincerely say 'persuasive' or 'charming'. The difference between the two is just tone- we see manipulative people as persuading people for personal and often selfish goals. Mel would personally benefit much more from a brutal, violent crackdown of the Undercity that would let her trade go on without much pause, but she doesn't advocate for it: she advocates for violence as a means of defense at most. She isn't selfish, she is simply charismatic and persuasive, someone who understands other people.
If you look carefully the golden plates on Mel's back are UNDER her dress. In this scene, they show the gold plates shining briefly without her dress on before showing her dress on top of them again. There is no way that the light of the rocket would momentarily take off her dress and then put it back on. The artists defiantly wanted to draw attention to them for some reason.
I had largely accepted the fact that she’d died, but after this video I’m also really excited to see her again. I really hope she was protected somehow.
@@SWSW560 they are not starting from scratch now. A lot of the characters are already done, the style is defined. It doesn’t mean it will be fast. But I doubt it will be that long.
i love how developed the female characters are in arcane. they have stories, personalities, problems, goals, feelings, like ugh i love it so much and they are all so complex and rootable.
Really great to see a video about Mel. She's a subtler character than most because she doesn't get involved in any combat or anything like that, but her influence on the story is huge and she's a really interesting character. I think the writers and animators loved her too; I mean just look at that design - the gold faux freckles? Inspired!
Mel is my favourite just as Blackfire is my favourite in Titans. Seems like mysterious, seductive, subtle, royal warriors with terrible parents are the trick. No displays of power, excessive aggression, or insolence. CW's Batwoman, Netflix's Masters of the Universe, Amazon's Invincible should take notes. Young Justice still hasn't established Rocket. I like Star Trek's Lower Decks and Discovery but they get unfairly criticized. And can't wait to see where the show takes Naomi in CW.
too many people hating on Mel without trying to understand her arc or her perspective in this story. Kinda upsetting tbh. so this video is such a fresh air.
Also can we talk about Marcus? He had so much weight in the first half of the series, the deal(s) with Silco, the bloody coin that he kept, saving Vi, his guilt/loyalty to Greyson... I fully expected him to have a redemption arc to save his kid but he never did.. it was impactful in itself that his death was so sudden and he didn't get the chance to redeem himself, like some many people don't have time, but did he die a coward? Really interested if there will be any other impact of the character going forwards
The line “nothing feels impossible when I’m with you” hit so much upon rewatching, because that’s the exact opposite of why she was cast out. Her mother says “you weakened me”. I think it truly shows where she has grown when her love for Jayce and his love for her has shown her where true power and goodness lies. It’s in how she inspires people to be better, and while the culture she’s grown up in has their ways, it was limiting to her, I teared up when she took her ring off because she finally reached the catharsis she needed. Stellar writing, and honestly the best character design I’ve ever seen. Gorgeous.
I imagine dream sequences will continue to be a big thing when Mel's involved, could totally see her dreaming of taking Shimmer and become a monster like (in her eyes) her mother. I also predict based on this analysis that she may end up having something to do with a transition to seeing shimmer used to heal people much more often then we got this season (with the help of Victor of course~)
My opinion on Mel changes ever so slightly every time I rewatch this show. There is just so much about her that is easy to miss, or is just made clear untill after the later episodes. It's complex characters like her that makes this show worth watching over and over.
How about Ekko and Jynx’s relationship? His crush on her appears to have been canon long before they made Arcane, and their wordless battle shifts in context a bit when it’s not just a dear friend he’s locked in battle with.
Probably had a crush on her as a young boy Ekko did. Jynx might not be capable of actual love other than the desire of being desired and self affirmation.
Although they have a deep connection, it’s hard to tell whether or not their relationship will be romantic in the show like it was in the game. I think the battle shows that Powder was still apart of Jinx. Ekko never let go of her, even to the point of remembering her specific shooting pattern in a game they’d play. And Jinx never let go of her past, she knew what the watch meant almost as soon as she saw it, and when she lost she looked at him with a warm smile. To me at least it wasn’t love in the romantic sense at least, but it was Jinx facing the fact that she wanted to be Powder again. That deep down, that’s what she wanted, and she was capable of achieving it. Sorry for rambling, I just thought I’d share my perspective. It’s definitely an interesting conversation to be had!
Ekko had a quote in League referencing that. "I had a crush. Until you started talking to the gun". Plus Ekko in the canon League Lore is 15. Jinx in canon League Lore is in her 20s. Although in Arcane, Jinx is only a year older than Ekko.
@@shyguywearingtie5491 yeah when I said relationship I didn’t mean that they were dating or even together, I meant friendship or whatever they had going on in the games.
@@shyguywearingtie5491 Romance was involved in their relationship. Ekko had a crush on Jinx, even if she didn’t like him back there were still romantic feelings involved. And they still barely showed off their relationship in the show, we saw them interact more as kids in the music video than in the show, and they don’t even talk in the music video. And as adults they barely talked, even during the fight scene.
also before her plate glowed when the rocket was approaching, you see Mel's facial expression change as Jayce was smiling at her. The rocket was approaching from behind her, and I assume their tower is sturdy enough to be sound proof, so why did she change her expression suddenly? It's as if she sensed the rocket coming, maybe this is another clue that there is some magic about her
Mel is one of my favorite characters she's so interesting and I hope we see more of her in season two. One thing I noticed about her (In more of a psychological observation) is that whenever she is faced with trauma or pain or violence she has a consistent reaction. She freezes in shock and seems distressed, then regains her composure really quickly. She does this every time, when she saw the girl beheaded as a child, when she learned that Viktor was dying, when she saw the letter from her mom, when she saw the carnage on the bridge, when she learned her brother died, etc. She most likely acts this way because she grew up in a family- in a country- where vulnerability is seen as weakness. Fear or sadness or distress is seen as weakness. So as she grew up she learned to hide her pain, only appearing shocked or in distress at first. Arcane is frickin' amazing.
Mel was arguably my favorite character, even though we had to wait until the third act to get any of her back story. This was a great analysis! Definitely bright up a few points I'd missed.
Mel’s arc is highly underrated, overlooked, misunderstood…etc. Thanks for this video. I thought about the gold, but never thought about the gold vs red in this way.
I feel dumb for not noticing that Mel painted over the painting in gold. I remember her character finally clicked for me when she put her ring onto the table at the end of Episode 9 and it's a powerful moment for me, but I think her mother seeing the painting is even more powerful now with that gold detail
Until now, I thought Mel wanted peace with Zaun so that her mother couldn't use the weapons Jayce would produce. I thought she wanted to prevent her from doing this because she didn't want to start another war in Noxsus and be a part of it because she abhors violence and that's why she took off her ring. I never thought about Mel seeing herself in Ambessa. That's a very brilliant observation. After all Mel wanted a weapon to defend Piltover herself and seeing that her mother wanted exactly the same but just on a different scale must have been a painful realization for her. Mel manipulated people just like Ambessa, only in a more sophisticated way. Pulling the Noxus ring is the perfect arc for her character. I love your videos because they make me love Arcane even more.
The thing is, there is no way her golden back piece is reflecting light from the missle because all the chairs they sit in have backs that are taller than them when they are seated. If you watched the scene of her back piece glowing then transitioning to the missle, you can see they made the chair back disappear so we can even see her entire back. If you look closely, it's still there, but very slightly. So with this being said, there's no way it can be a reflection but instead a magical reaction to possibly danger coming her way.
I need Mel to survive!!! Her character arch was just getting good! We need a proper resolution. I assumed that the light was a reflection on her back as well, but there was so much attention drawn to it that It must use magic to protect her somehow. It would also explain her immediate faith in Jayce’s exploration of magic since she would have been a magic user or at least someone who benefits from magic the entire time.
I love Mel so much and I felt so vindicated when we see that flashback and confirms Mels character. That she has always been someone who values life and doesn't want to get her way through violence. I've always been a fan of 'good aligned' liars. I've also been made aware of how rare it is to see a character who is a black woman allowed to be feminine, graceful and loved, Mel achieves all this in Arcane and I desperately hope we'll see more of her in whatever comes next because she is a delight.
Interesting thing about her dream is what we don’t see her mother’s face, but we see a face of girl, who got killed Aaand because this dream is like Mel’s memory it show us what was for her more memorable
Plus, the girl who got killed had the exact same green eyes as Mel (and presumably is also the young princess of the nation Mel's mother just conquered). She is a mirror of Mel, which is what makes it so much more heartbreaking for Mel so see her die
I think it can be interpreted in different way. Mel's mother's face is hidden in the shadows because Mel is so ashamed or she hates Ambessa so much for what she did that in this memory (because I think it is more a memory than a dream) she wants to subconsciously erase her face from her mind and forget about her. Mel regrets this killed girl very much, and therefore she remembers every single detail of her just to respect her unnecessarily death
Most fans flock to Jinx or Vi, coz they're the most theatrical and dramatic, but I the last three episodes had me invested on Mel so hard. She is a very complex character and excited to see more about her.
Mel is so fascinating because in any other story, she'd be the corrupting femme fatale. But she isn't. Mel is simply a person, with good and bad traits, who does care about power but who is also very aware of how unfair the world is and has therefore learned to play the game. It's why all characters in Arcane are so compelling. They're not traditional heroes or villains. They are people thrust into a brutal and unforgiving system and they all have different ways of trying to exert control over that system and, by extension, their own lives.
I honestly love Mel. She is one of the most fascinating characters to me. At first I side eyed her because of how manipulative she was. At first I didn't even know if she really liked Jayce or was just trying to use him. But after Jayce came back to her and told her about Viktor's condition and how much he meant to him. We see a softer side of her. Her gentleness. That's when I realized she was genuine with how she felt about him. But she's still a manipulative person. Why? Then we see part of her childhood. She was always a genuine empathetic person but was shamed and disowned for that. Which made her the person she is today. That's why I'm glad when she see's her mom and her behavior and see's the parallels between her and mother she changes. She doesn't want to be like her mom she wants to take her own path. Also I love how we can see her head space threw her art. And I also love that when she was with Jayce she was the big spoon. Cute.
Another contrast I found between Mel and Ambessa is their attitude towards vulnerability; Ambessa is fully and consistently unwilling to be vulnerable, whilst her daughter is willing. Ambessa keeps guards around her at all times, even when lounging in Mel's apartment; the only time she dismisses them is when she is about to admit fault to he daughter. When she takes a man, she accepts Howl, a young, physically weak, politically unimportant escort who is incapable of harming her in any way. Even then, we see her usually keep guards around in his presence. Also, when she is threatened at home, she leaves the country, despite ostensibly being an important part of the Noxian political apparatus. Contrast to Mel. She is prepared to stand surrounded by her mother's soldiers without a single enforcer defending her, and is prepared to admit her insecurities and internal thoughts to both Jayce and her assistant. Speaking of Jayce, when Mel takes a man she chooses the most politically important man in the city, who is also musclebound and close to her in age. Jayce presents a genuine potential threat to Mel, politically, economically, emotionally, and physically (though he never thinks or moves to harm her). Mel is prepared to accept that vulnerability. Ultimately, Mel is prepared to give up Piltover's right to police the undercity, thereby creating another vulnerability, for the sake of peace and prosperity. What brought me to this conclusion is one particular moment in the bathhouse scene where Jayce meets Ambessa. There's a shot where Jayce is standing on the left, Ambessa relaxing in the water on the right, and on the wall behind them a massive tile mosaic portraying a line of spears pointing out towards jayce, defending Ambessa's position. Even while literally naked, there is a line of defence between Ambessa and the nearest threat. tl;dr: Mel is willing to make herself vulnerable by voting for peace, taking Jayce as a lover, and admitting fault sometimes. Ambessa doesnt admit fault, takes a scrawny escort as a lover, and moves always to protect herself; she is unwilling to be vulnerable. This makes them foils. Edit: Also, of course, the telling line for Ambessa, "Becasue you weakened me!"
Mel is one of my very favorite characters, and that's a very competitive bar. So glad you covered this! Georgia Dow recently made a similar analysis of Mel that I highly recommend too! Keep doing what you're doing guys, I can't get enough 💛
I'm glad a character like Mel came around after the Amber backlash from Invincible. Arcane is the right kind of "Woke" that they ushered in while Amber was a misguided attempt.
Yeah that golden tattoo/bodypaint/armor whatever its is MUST be big deal. I think 2nd season will start with another Mel"s flashback... we will need some explanation for whatever will happen seconds after explosion.
In an age where most "video essays" on popular movies/TV boil down to lore digests for superfans and half-assed plot recaps, it's nice to see someone can still produce insightful analyses of narrative fiction on TH-cam (and without wasting the viewer's time to boot). Subscribed.
Yes, please explore Mel more. This makes me interested actually in different ways characters have romantic attraction for each other. In general when writing.
Your take on Mel is exactly how I feel about her (funny that your dad's is how I originally felt, lol) and I love her for that - especially the way she 180'd when she realized what the fuck she was doing. Also, yeah, that is definitely Solari armor. Like 100% that's something Solari - her heavy gold theme, the ring she takes off and puts down in the final episode's vote is also very Solari looking, and the way it shone *through her clothing* making her clothing look as if it's not there... it gives off very magical vibes. Don't think she'll be dying any time soon. Though I think some will notice and mention how she's "using magic" or whatever. Hrmm.
I love the little notes you add... they're just perfect, brief clarifications of just a few words, which help better get your point across - brief and succinct so as to not warrant pausing of the video, but adding information so as to not just mirror what is being stated at the moment. I think I often see the latter, superfluous text accompanying an analysis in video essays, which arises when people don't know which visuals to use to accompany what is being said. I think I just found one of the reasons why I found your videos so engaging :D (also sometimes the notes are just funny)
thanks! i try to just use text to emphasize or to denote a structure of a particular point, im also bothered by too much text in videos and presentations etc
I loved Mel from the beginning, she intrigued me. I wanted to see what her plans were and how she developed through the show, I just love the mysterious depth they put into her. I also love the end with the gold back plate shining, as if signalling to her that something is coming. You can even see it in the scene that she acknowledges the threat by turning. Like her "spider senses" are tingling.
I was intrigued by Mel ever since she was introduced, and I wasn't expecting her to get as good development as she did. It's enough that if she ends up dying in the finale, I'll be sorely disappointed. Fingers crossed that whatever the gold on her back was aluding to protected her somehow.
I think the szene where Jayce opens up to her about Viktor might be the moment she actually falls in love with him. She asks him "Why did you come to me with this?" Which hints at two things in my opinion: Firstly she didn't really consider that Jayce might see more in her than a fling. Him returning after he left in the night forces her to reflect on her anger. Why was she mad at him? Because he left her? Because she thought he was making a power play - which is her thing after all. And secondly seeing him being genuine baffles her and takes her back to a soft spot inside of her. It makes her wonder why he came to HER with this. Who is she to him and should she embrace that person? I think she likes what she sees at that moment: She's faced with a person suffering because of the ill-fate of another person. She sees Jayce's compassion and maybe quite literally wonders if he came to her because he considered her a compassionate person too, which is, what she was cast out for by her mother. He reaffirms a part of her she thought was worthless and gives it value. When she was brooding, she spent time with the picture of her family's glory but she abandons it, when she realizes he needs her attention.
The greyness of every single person in this show is AMAZINGGGG I love them all and I think it’s rlly cool that no one is pure good or pure bad !!!! Mel is cool af
THANK YOU for catching all the details in this show that the average viewer doesn't. You can tell so much thought and detail and heart was put into the making of this show and it deserves every shot to be analyzed and picked apart and figured out.
I think Mel's character moment with Jayce actually is meant to depict that she had expected their relationship to be one of user and usee (her being the latter). She was not annoyed by his lack of follow through because of romantic reasons, but because she thought it meant she'd failed. Him showing up and being open and truly tender her with her surprises her and she isn't sure how to react.
Great analysis. A massive character arc unfolded and hardly anybody noticed (including myself). Such a subtle character. Damn! I could see her clever manipulation to elevate Jayce and mould him to nullify Heimerdinger by voting him off the council. I presumed that was to greenlight Hextech weaponry but couldn’t work out if that was purely for Piltover’s self protection or there was a deeper motive at play involving Noxus gaining the Hextech for their conflicts. Then her mother shows up and the latter theory completely shatters. Fox and Wolf indeed. One things for sure I think, her story isn’t over by a long stretch.
I appreciate this appreciation for an actual character people look over. I also think her and Jace had an unorthodox story relationship from fwb to an emotional relationship
This is really interesting. Ambessa's claim that to last long in the world you must be both a fox and wolf came true when Mel's brother died, which according to ambessa, would be because he couldn't be a wolf. But Ambessa herself is old and grey haired, so we know for a fact that she is both a fox and a wolf simply from the fact that she's old enough to have grey hair.
9:34 I think it is made pretty clear the Merdarda clan helped in developing Piltover. She was send their to oversee their families interests, which they already had...
Another great video! Yeah,--I never caught the second painting! (Wow!) And I really appreciate your comments about the color. Chekhov's Gun points at the light flare of Mel's back at the end of S1E9. It's clear that the attention Mel's family dynamics get in the third act of Season 1 is laying the groundwork for Season 2. I suspect those include some of the greater threats than Silco we heard about. Mel is manipulative and nuanced, and she makes such a point of pushing for Hextech that I have to question her motivations. Can't wait to learn more about her.
I'm really curious to see what they do with her in season 2 now that she's turned the corner like this. She's no hero at this point, she's in a new segment of her struggle. Glad I can trust the writers to treat it with the nuance she deserves.
@@schnee1 Successful politics is manipulation. The reality is that power is corruptive and it was long before Mel was born. She plays the Game of Thrones well like Maergery Tyrell whom I thought was a cunning manipulator but I came to see why she needed that edge vs Sansa Stark who was just stupid in the beginning.
Sadly, having come from deeply dysfunctional family dynamics myself, I didn't have much trouble understanding the nuance of Mel as a character. One thing I like about Arcane that it does with multiple characters is that it expands on the theme from a certain superhero's classic story: "With great power comes great responsibility." Arcane takes this a step further by exploring different forms of power, and also exploring what happens depending on what the wielder chooses to do with said power. If we were to modify the above theme to reflect Arcane, it might become something close to, "With great power comes great responsibility, but how (and whether or not) one shoulders that responsibility makes all the difference." Mel detested the brutish, callous nature of her mother's way of operating, instead opting for a more subtly tactical method. She attempted to acquire power and influence through persuasive words and actions. But at the end of the day, neither option is successful at avoiding the 'violence' Mel so loathes. The latter's more peaceful method still has negative ramifications and breeds bad blood when missteps are made-and sometimes even when they're not. Faced with this reality, Mel falls into an ideological crisis, per Arcane's golden story structure. Character develops (or already has) a code or way of looking at the world, character doubles down due to X incident or life circumstances, character is shown an outlier that they can't rationalize away and has to re-evaluate or prioritize their values, which in the end still leads to re-evaluation regardless. Vi is faced with a crisis when she finds a sympathetic and helpful Enforcer, and when she is forced to choose between that Enforcer and her beloved sister who intends to harm Caitlyn. Jayce is faced with a similar dilemma when he befriends someone from the Undercity, and again when he sees how the consequences of his actions to achieve peace hurt *both* topside and the Undercity. Everyone's favorite pinata, Marcus, holds biased views of people from the Undercity, but finds himself forced to work with them, even following in the footsteps of a predecessor who he likely believed wasn't hard enough on them in her time. Marcus violates his own moral code, endangering his daughter and proving himself no better than he believes those outside Piltover to be. Then he has to sit with the weight of that fallout and decide which is more important to him: his daughter or his values and pride. These are just a few (abbreviated) examples. Mel is no different. Mel saw her mother's way of ruling as flawed. She tried it her own way, found flaws in that too, and then was stuck. Oppressive violence only ended one way. Less overt violence and manipulation only ended one way too, except it took the scenic route to get to the same destination. This forced Mel to make new decisions factoring in all she had learned, and I think we can all agree that at the end of her arc (or what we see of it), she comes out stronger for it. Adding to this, Mel is also intelligent enough to recognize by the end of the season that not everything about her mother's philosophy is incorrect. It's flawed, but there is some legitimacy to her arguments. Regardless, her actions cannot be condoned by her daughter's moral compass. If I had to sum Mel up, I'd say she's neither too soft nor too harsh. She's practical, and a forward thinker. Her mother focuses more on acting NOW to prevent an unfavorable future versus playing the long game in hopes of a favorable one. I hope we learn even more about Mel and other characters in Season 2!
This analysis is on point. I'm so glad you made this video, Mel is an incredibly interesting character and it makes me happy that more people are taking more interest on her story
also the fact that the "armor" is only on her back is important. It watch her back - literally. She doesn't fear anyone in front of her, cause she can talks and manipulates her way around with them. But her back is opened and unsafe. Cause also be a way to express that she is scared that her past, mostly meaning Medarda clan / her mom, will catch her at some point. In a way it does already (nightmares, paintings) but she tries her best to keep it away. And yest, it's also on her shoulders too but that could be taken as dead spot ; if you look forward, focused, you can miss what's going on around you. Could also express she fears there are noxian / merdarda's spies around her, among the people she knows, or simply that she doesn't trust her surrounding (cause politics ?). That would put even more importance on Jayce laying on her lap and her sleeping with him. Also, did you notice that SHE holds JAYCE. Usually, you'd see the man holding the woman in this situation. I don't think fortiche did that unintentionally.. It's like she keeps her back away, open, the only "protected" part of her (again, armor) here to protect her if needed
Thank you so much for touching base on this. Mel was one of my favorite characters and is easily overshadowed by the more major character la in the show. It's refreshing to see someone explore her motivations. such a great watch!
How the hell can ONE show in less than 6 hours fit so much depth and symbolism across a cast of over a dozen characters. I've never seen anything like it.
Mel has to be my second favourite character and I don't usually like politicians. There's something different about her as a politician and I want to learn so much about her.
I was shocked to learn that people hated Mel, and saw most of the reasoning as either flattening her character traits or completely ignoring her nuances and arc. Thank you for giving her a proper analysis.
Fantastic analysis here. I love the reading that Mel seeing the worst possible version of what she could become in her Mother, and that's what tips her back into trying to embody the ideals she's always believed in. I do think she was wavering and struggling internally before her mother came back, largely because Jayce was chipping away at her barriers in the moment of vulnerability you mentioned, and actually earlier on the balcony, when she expresses not wanting to take, take, take the way Medardas usually do. She was wrestling with these sides of herself, the fox and the wolf but Ambessa really awakens the terror of who she may become if she continues to skew towards the wolf.
2:45 her mom was not pushing for the same. She wanted Jayce to create the weapons as a last resort, probably for their soldiers. Her mom makes Jace thinks he's weak, causing him to create the weapons and immediately deploy it. This is a big change in Jayce that she did not want. She wanted him to oppose creating weapons, but do it for her and the greater good, not become a warrior himself. She blames her mother for this.
As a league lore dweller it give me goosebumps when you started talking about league’s lore outside of Arcane, cause trust me riot lore department is fricking geniuses. Also if you want to learn about the game’s and the worlds lore I’d recommend the cards game “Legend of Runeterra” instead, cause unlike “League” it’s confirmed by riot that everything’s and everyone’s lore related business in that game is 100% cannon
I wanna know where the real source of hate for Mel is coming from because real fans of the show who watched and analyzed all of the main characters would clearly see that Mel is just as complex as the other main characters, and that she’s not an inherently bad character nor is she a villain. She’s painted as the villain at first but underneath all of that she has a heart and strong morality when it comes to herself and other people. This was shown through the scenes of her childhood and her interactions with her mother. Yet some people, with all the evidence of her making a character change like Silco did, REFUSE to see her as anything but manipulative, gold digging, and bad. Why do people far reach to find unredeemable character flaws in Mel, and why do they refuse to consider that she will survive the blast, blatantly ignoring her Solari links, her glowing body armor, and her expression changes as the rocket approached? Why do they wanna hate her so badly?
imma be pessimistic and say that i think racism and misogyny might play a part. people probably would root for her all day everyday if she was a man. she'd be the smart, unempathetic male manipulator people cheer for all the time. and i think people are less inclined to feel empathy or understanding for black characters.
Oh, I never noticed this before, but y'know when Arcane is full of symbols of duality? Vi to Jinx, Piltover to Zaun, Vi to Caitlyn, Warwick (I can't believe I forgot his human name) to Silco, Viktor to Jayce... I believe another duality to be derived here is Silco and Mel. Both manipulative rulers of their cities' councils, both relying on loyalty in their own ways, both questionably "loving" their targets for their own uses. Nobody talks about this duality enough..
This is my favourite video you've done and finally pushed me to subscribe to your Patreon. The red and the gold, the subtle aesthetics, it makes so much sense, but I hadn't seen any of it until you pointed it out. I totally agree it's probably the locket of the iron solari, which would be cool if it was, because then it probably saved the lives of everyone in the room, not just Mel herself.
I think it started as just manipulative but that moment of vulnerability from Jayce changes her and her feelings become real. Look at how shocked she is when jayce comes to her for emotional support. She realizes that he trusts and cares for her. A real relationship. Which she probably has never experienced or seen with her family of political dealing. Everybody is manipulative around her. Everybody doesn't say what they mean. But Jayce is open with her and and that changes things for Mel. She starts to really care for him. And when she sees him advocate for agression she becomes scared that he will change to be like her family.
You are a genius,your analytical perception is pure gold and quite insightful,it allows people to understand better and you did shed a light on why she likes to paint in red
So I need to thank you for the video "A couple seconds later would ruin it" for Mel's back-gold revelation. I've seen Arcane about 5000 times too, and I always just thought it was symbolic of her character, like Vi having gauntlets, or Ekko having a watch. But in your video when you slowed down the dolly-zoom back from her I saw a blink-and-you'll-miss-it that the gold thinga-ma-jig is actually UNDER her dress. Never realized that before, so yeah, now I understand why so many people are saying Mel will be the reason the council survives. Thought it would be Jayce's hammer shield.
I'm surprised this wasn't mentioned in the video, but Mel's outfit in the flashback has a very Solari-like design so it makes a ton of sense to equate the two.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 88 | คู่เอก "ป้อมเพชร vs อัสลามจอน"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1ZqTVVbMgbo/mqdefault.jpg)
Mel is so interesting. And the way she is portrayed too. We are introduced to her and kinda think that she is evil because she is this privileged council member (and we litarally know nothing about her). But in the end we learn that she is this empathic person, who was shunned for her empathy and who tries to avoid violence and ultimately wants the best for Piltover and Zaun. I really hope she survives the attack, because there's so much untapped potential for her and her character.
Yes. I really thought she was just using Jayce and was going to be using her position to be selfish, but she's really not that. She's so much more.
@@BratzRockAngels I enjoyed the “twist” that she actually genuinely care about Jayce.
Yeah, at first i was really scared they were just gonna make her a seductive manipulator but im so glad they didnt do that, shes one of my favorite characters now
@@slothful2039 Me too. I didn't like how they slept with each other and kissed because I really thought she didn't really care for them, but I actually think they're a sweet couple now.
i have a feeling shes a red shirt because jayce might need an extra... shove.
First of all her character design is GORGEOUS. She's stunning and the hair and the gold freckles are perfection. Then there's her voice actress and her poise and grace. It's the way she seems so cold and untrustworthy and manipulative and impossible to read UNTIL she starts actually falling for Jayce. She's hidden a softer part of her. Like ahjdfsjhghl I love these types of characters who are feminine but determined, steely cool and guarded, poised, elegant, mysterious, with-a-heart-of-gold. I also appreciated that we never had to see her throw a punch or wield a weapon to see how powerful she is.
Honestly I really agree. Like as a watcher you never have to be convinced of vi or Sevika. You can just tell from the little things those women are tough as nails. But Mel’s power is shown in her fox like tendencies just the same. You don’t have to be convinced that in all moments she has complete control and it’s honestly so interesting to see without being babied as a watcher. She’s beautiful but you can’t let that distract you that she is dangerous and always gets what she wants and that’s amazing character writing.
I'm like obsessed with her design like she is so gorgeous 😭
One of the best character designs ever
Mel is an incredible character
I had to rewatch some of her scenes because I was listening but not actually listening. She’s just sooooo stunning and her voice actress is perfection and I’d be so distracted just by looking at all the little visual details that I wasn’t even paying real attention.
She does start off feeling very gaslight gatekeep girlboss but I love that they developed her more.
I agree 100% that the gold plating on Mel's back and shoulders is significant. No one seems to take note of the fact that in that final moment at the end of episode 9 when Jinx's rocket is about to smash through the glass, Mel's "armor" (for lack of a better term) not only glows for a second, but Fortiche does something very bizarre at the same time: they momentarily erase the back of Mel's dress just so we can see that stuff, in its entirety, glowing. Fortiche is very deliberately saying, "Hey, this is important, so we are going to make sure you see this!" even to the point of inducing a non-diagetic erasure of a model texture to make sure we don't miss it.
Exactly! I don't know what it is that people don't get. It's so blatant!
I am SO betting on this being some sort of Solari protection. She's always had gold motifs in her clothing and hair, and her outfit when she was a young girl strongly resembles the ingame item "locket of the iron Solari". Conveniently, this item grants an AOE shield to teammates for a short duration.
It would be great to see all of the intricate gold designs. That would make an interesting skin. And it would be interesting to see what her hero in the game would be like with skills other than diplomacy.
It's significant that she is using a magic protection device, since that would add to the fact that she decided to support Jayce against Heimer's advice.
I realized that too!
I think it's really interesting that Mel gets swayed from her path by her mother who's just further along that path. It's like her realizing and questioning herself: "Is this what I'm turning into? is this who I wanna be allied with? Is this who I wanna be??"
But also that, in the end, her mother might have been right with a lot of what she said.
Just like Mel's mother is a mirror to her, so is the young princess who was killed in the flashback. Same green eyes, same status (presumably a young princess), same age. Dualities everywhere :)
difficult parents will do that to ya'.
Not just the Medardas are red, ALL OF NOXUS is red. Riot Games loves doing colour coding and if you went to look at any character from the game, you could identify their origin just from their colour scheme.
Noxus - Red
Zaun - green
Demacia - blue/grey
The Void - purple
Shurima - yellow/orange
Shadow isles - transparent turquoise
Lunari - white
Solari - gold
With that being said Mel smearing over the painting with gold I believe symbolises her abandoning any Noxian ties and pursuing what I think is a religion she's followed since even before her banishment: the Solari. Which has the capabilities of, say, shielding her and her allies from a giant rocket.
Lunari is Silver
Demacia is Blue/Snow white, the color of petricite stone. Noxus is more like a combination of black and red.
Medardas aren't even noxian but a piltover merchant clan. Yes Ambessa is Noxian but she married into the medarda clan but isn't an actual medarda herself. Which also explains why Mel out of all places is in piltover, because Ambessa sent Mel to her fahter. Ironically Mel apparently not only fell short for the noxian standards her mother held, but also as she says herself short for medarda standards.
Medardas actually being one of the richest piltover clans and medardas are actually gold and the gold most likely hints to shuriman ties. Shurima to me also has more of golden color scheme not yellow/ orange. Which also makes more sense when you consider the geography of piltover and shurima.
Solari are golden yes, but they are a religous order not a geographic location, that would mount targon. And mount targon is as diverse as the aspects that exist and so are the corresponding worshippers, which is why you won't find a clear color scheme that pins down an origin.
I was actually just thinking about how viktors hexcore looked all purple and spiky and how it reminded me of the void
Also Ionia is Pink!
Thanks for the video. There isn’t a lot of Mel content because most people flatten her character and refuse to see the nuances. Fans of the show have unfortunately boxed her into a seductive mustache twirling manipulator and that’s all they want her to be in order to serve their own biases (and ships let’s be real). It’s as though they haven’t watched past the first act or something. It’s a great to see when someone gets Mel and appreciates the work the writers and creator put into her character.
I'll admit, I was totally in that mustache twirler projector category until last week, so glad I decided to take another look at her and see how wrong i was!
@@schnee1 shame on you!
@@schnee1 I’m glad you did! Mel needed someone like Jayce to help bring out the good caring side side of her she had buried under her mother’s/Noxus ideals. That was never really her to begin with as we saw in the flashback.
Excellent video. I really enjoy all your analysis!
She is quite a manipulative character, but she's using dirty tricks for the sake of what she believes is the greater good.
@@therealtaydev That's why I keep saying that her and Jayce are actually perfectly matched! They're exactly what the other needs. He's quite emotionally expressive and open and that helps her channel those parts of herself Ambessa has taught her to suppress (just look at how physically affectionate she is towards him at the forge, even though he's all sweaty and grimy), while she helps him be less impulsive and more cunning, decisive/less of a people pleaser. But while she mentors him in politics she never once takes away his agency. She always lets him decide, for good or bad. And he's perfectly aware of the situation throughout. Furthermore they effectively communicate with each other (him leaving her in bed in the middle of the night could've easily be played for cheap drama but he immediately explains himself and she quickly understands the situation and becomes empathetic even if caught off guard by just how vulnerable he is with her), and well... don't even need to comment on the physical aspect of the relationship, they obviously have a good thing going there as well.
I pointed this out in Arcane Discord, so I'm going to plop it here as well... the colour palettes of Mel, Ambessa and Jayce are very deliberate. Mel usually wears white and gold - the opposite of Medarda black, red and steel, which is an act of distancing herself from that heritage. Now look at Jayce's colour palette. He wears a white tailcoat (mirroring Mel's slitted dress) with golden details and epaulets (mirroring Mel's tattoos/jewellery/armour) and a white vest, but under it, he's wearing a black shirt and a red tie. He's wearing Ambessa's colour palette under Mel's colour palette. Now because this is clearly symbolic, I interpret this as Jayce having the potential to be both a charming diplomat like Mel and a violent despot like her mother. While Mel is actively moulding him to be a fox, Ambessa arrives and starts pushing him to be a wolf. I think Mel realises this potential and that is what pushes her over the edge and to the (emotionally) violent confrontation with her mother. She doesn't want him to devolve into a person like her mother is and Ambessa is trying to undo Mel's efforts. She pushes him to "know death" like she was taught, which he comes to know when his and Vi's raid goes awry. Then he chooses Mel's way... and also finally sets boundaries for himself and stops being a people pleaser.
That is a crazy observation wow
Jayce's champion theme is also based on being transformative between hammer form and ranged form. Between keeping your distance and taking carefully aimed shots, or aggressively jumping in and smashing your enemies
@@JC-0108 That's so cool. I just realized that
Also notice, when Mel first meets Ambessa (her mom) when she arrives in Piltover, she wears fully black dress. Its the only time she's not wearing one that's predominantly white. It's the show reminding us of her Noxian heritage.
@@mimiestkitty She actually wears the same dress at the party in ep. 4 (albeit a version with an open back) and in the scene where she receives the letter from her family in in ep. 7. Anytime she's reminded/has to confront her upbringing, the dress is there.
To fully appreciate the Necklace in blood symbolism you have to understand the show's theme is duality. Not only is transition from the necklace in blood on the floor to Mel's painting a brilliant match cut but it's also a parallel to the coin Silco hands to Marcus that drops to Grayson's and the Enforcers' blood on the ground earlier. Later Marcus pulls out that blood stained coin in a moment of reflection just as Mel's painting is a reflection on that moment. The blood pools are almost perfect overlays. Together showing the duality of their responsibility in the unintended death of 'innocents'. There are so many uses of parallels to what had they been cut together would be match cuts across Arcane. Another example is scene where the Mage opens his hand to reveal the light of the crystal to Jayce later closing his hand around the light of the Hextech Gate. You could cut those two scenes that happen episodes apart together as a perfect match cut.
From a pure 'cinema language' aspect Arcane is as close to flawless as anything I've ever seen. Film language is something we speak without even know we're understanding it because it's been speaking to each of us our whole lives. Consciously or subconsciously 90% of what a movie makes us think and feel with visual storytelling, how it manipulates us, isn't about what's shot but about how it's shot. Add the use of music and sound into the mix and it is a powerful thing.
true, the transitions alone and what they represent really do deserve their own vid
Love this take. BUUUUT I wouldn't say unintended deaths of innocents at all, they both acknowledge wt their actions r capable of and engage in it anyways. Like Marcus did for money then his daughter was threatened, karma, and he did wtever else after being selfishly motivated.
Tho that was his arc, the duality never ceased there.
@@haketyu7891 There's no way Marcus thought Grayson and the other Enforcers would be killed. I also don't think Marcus thought Silco capable of it. Remember he had nothing but contempt for 'Trenchers', and Silco was from the Undercity. "That wasn't the Deal!" - "Deal's changed".
I think Marcus' deal was more about Vander than the gold. I think he's angry Grayson treats Vander as a sort of equal. Marcus wants to show the Lanes whose boss, and he wants to put Vander in his place. I think the deal for Marcus was originally about pride and prejudice. After all what the Councilman said: "What could they offer Marcus that he couldn't get up here?"
I would even consider the music video a part of this. We were introduced to how the overlapping imagery works even before the show itself was released
Mel is probably my favorite character in Arcane. Her character development and backstory where just so fascinating. They could have kept her at a one note character, the “femme fatale”. But they didn’t. They gave her an inner turmoil and made her so complex!
Same, even her character design contrasts everyone else's making every scene she is in, you'll give her your full attention.
Most people dislike her, but I liked her from the beginning. I have tried to understand her motivations, but I have to admit that until watching your video I really didn’t have a clear picture of Mel even if some of my own conclusions were aligned with what you said in the video. Great video!
thanks!! :D
She doesn't like me in the beginning, I liked her in the last act, she was concisious and tried changing the bad things in her own and the others.
I don't think most people dislike her. I have seen plenty of forum posts, video comments and reactors really like her.
"Most people dislike her..."
That's literally *any* black female character on a non-black show. And it's getting tired. I hear it over and over and over every single show. Even when the black female character merely does things a white character would do, it's "annoying" or in some way worse because she's doing it. It's giving me mad flashbacks to so much media. It's just a given at this point. The excuses made never add up. But that's what happens when certain people think all media should only be about them. It's old.
@@Nr4747 That's because you're not looking in the right place kind person, believe me, I wish I didn't see all that Mel hate....
Also, did no one notice that in ep 9, at 4:11 mins left, She smiles at Jayce, but then she jumps a little. Next shot is the rocket. But then during the shot of her gold plating, You can see she starts to turn around towards the window where the rockets coming. Not only is it possible that it'll protect her, but it also could've given her a warning
yes!! I want more ppl to talk about this, it seems like an important detail
Very likely
WHY has no one has talked about how in the very last few frames when the rocket hits the glass we can see an evil reflection of MEL'S FACE (in the graffiti style of jinx).
@@MajestiicCasual tbh idrk if thats suppose to be Mel or if its just the face Jinx drew on it reflecting on the window
@@Nimblescape It's the face on the rocket!
This is such an obvious statement but Mel’s character design is absolutely amazing. I have NEVER seen a black character designed with so much love. It’s completely changed my standards for acceptable black character designs. Same with her mother. Such a striking powerful design that emphasizes her strength without taking away from her beauty. Just amazing designs. I could kiss the artists
🎯
Mel is such a good character. Also, whoever came up with her visual design deserved an A+ because she looks like a freaking swan-- like she enters a room and every other person just fails to reach her level of elegance.
I was so surprised that Mel wound up my favorite character. If everyone were described to me beforehand, I would never guess in 100 years that the manipulative councilwoman would be my favorite. But she turned out to be so much more than that. Wonderfully lawful neutral. Manipulative but not in a malicious way or with any ill intent towards others. Genuinely peaceful and compassionate in how she tries to govern. Extremely intelligent and forward thinking. And basically correct about everything throughout the whole season, which Jayce so conveniently points out in the final council scene. Not to mention being the single most gorgeous animated character of all time 😍😍😍. Go Mel Medarda.
Preach
Can you talk about jayce? The way that he's always actively trying to fix everything around him literally a day after he joined the council and the path that he went through and also his friendship with victor was really interesting to me
i had a video that explored jayce by comparing his arc to iron man 1, but there's a lot more i want to say about the character! very unique mix of intelligence and brute force in him
Jayce is a chronic people pleaser and I think a lot of people miss that detail. He wants to make everyone happy and solve everyone's issues all the while he's constantly faced with having to make polarising choices that offer no compromise.
It's viktor btw
Finally someone shows some praise for mel i really liked her character
I've always wondered why Mel was the one to notice the rocket. She's the one person whos back is to the window. Out of all the people in that room she was the one person who shouldn't have seen that rocket coming. But she did, and she did it in slow motion too, meaning her real time reaction would've been super fast. Maybe the gold on her back gave her a sort of spidey-sense ability, making her alert to unseen or incoming danger.
man I didn't expect to see such a deep analysis on Mel and made me realize just how much I overlooked her as a character! the point you made on her being mysterious/guarded and her arc being presented the same way made much so sense
That's because of the Viktor ships that the audience uses to deflect their own biases. I pegged Mel as one of the most interesting characters in Arcane from the beginning. I was surprised she got a backstory, tho. People seem to have natural mistrust of characters like her - even though there are ones who do worse. Viktor actually KILLED a woman and they brushed it off, Jayce killed a kid too, Jinx killed all of her crew. Mel hasn't killed anybody yet people find her manipulative. Funny, isn't it? A TH-camr call her a gold digger. She's the richest person in Piltover.
@@williampearson6299 Oh wow, someone really called the richest person in Piltover a gold digger? Wow, fandom biases are the strangest things on the planet.
racist over looks all non whites, nothing new
I'm so pleased with this video. I was concerned with so many putting her off and claiming they dislike her, or writing her off as JUST manipulative. I saw someone say they were hurt that Mel, as a black woman, was manipulative and cunning and that ruined her representation for them. But none of that ever sat right with me. I knew I liked her, I knew there was something more to her, and I knew she was way more than 'just manipulative.' Because she IS. I just couldn't put it into words in my own mind. She's actually a fantastic character. Perhaps she is manipulative, because, obviously, she indeed is, but there isn't a single character in Arcane without a flaw, or without complexity. No black and white, none. Mel is no different. She's wonderful and I adore her. Maybe an analysis video of Marcus' character from you can put his complexity and likability into words for me as well. I know Marcus made bad choices but I still like him a lot as a character and I want to know why! Or perhaps I'm just crazy for liking him, which is fine, too.
Marcus is really perplexing to me but I also want to know more about him, and I'm very interested every time I encounter someone who's a fan of him. Any favorite scenes of his?
@@schnee1 I love any time he is on screen, honestly. I think the way he is designed is extremely interesting and unique and I find his love for his daughter to be absolutely precious, equally heartbreaking. I also love his voice and his personality- despite the fact that he IS a hotheaded jerk. I love the scene of him shouting “This wasn’t the deal!” At Silco after Grayson’s death, and I also love the scenes of him with the literal blood money after what had happened. He was truly affected by the loss of Grayson despite acting indifferent and even hateful toward her, defying her. I also love the scene of him at the bar with Vander and the scene of him imagining he’d killed himself and Silco with the bomb. For me, he steals the show anytime he is in a scene, unless Viktor’s onscreen. I love his subtle facial expressions when processing information, like his interactions with Jayce when you can see the gears turning in his head. He just seems very real and very interesting to me, but he is definitely complex. I believe he thought what he was doing was a necessary evil. I also believe he knew he was in the wrong a lot. His body language after shooting Ekko, pointing the gun at Caitlyn was interesting. You could see his internal struggle, the desperation, but the way he knew he was playing a losing game. He was processing what would be the lesser of two evils and he KNEW no outcome would be good for him. He was so desperate to keep his little girl safe but I think he knew he messed up in that moment, and there wasn’t anything he could do. I actually felt sad to see him die.
I'm glad a character like Mel came around after the Amber backlash from Invincible. Arcane is the right kind of "Woke" that they ushered in while Invincible's Amber was a misguided attempt.
@@williampearson6299 I have not seen Invincible. I’ve found it hard to contribute my time to anything unrelated to Arcane/LoL and it’s bittersweet that I feel like nothing else will compare and I won’t enjoy anything like I have Arcane. Perhaps after some time that feeling will fade and I can watch other things
Sometimes the problem isn't the representation but the reception. I've lost count of the shows in which the fandom instantly found the black female character unlikable even though she's, for all intents and purposes, written as they would a white character. It just hits differently when it's a black woman, I guess. I want to say I'm over it, but I can never get to be over it because, should I want to discuss media I like with other people who like it, I'll always have to contend with that factor. It happens in literally every non-black show, and even happens with black shows (except against darker-skinned female characters vs. lighter-skinned black female characters).
But then everyone gets mad when we bring it up. But we're instantly disliked and are just supposed to deal. Nah.
I think you can pinpoint the precise moment when Mel started to accept Jayce and his influence. When he tells her, "Nothing feels impossible when I’m with you." It's a sincere and powerful compliment. It tells her their connection is real. I think it's the point where she stops seeing him as an "investment" and comes around to seeing him as a partner and an equal.
I loved this analysis. I'd never considered the symbolism of red and gold in her arc before, and had completely forgotten the reference to painting the walls gold when she was younger. It brings so much more meaning to when she covers her painting with it at the end!
I think for a character like Mel, instead of 'manipulative' you could sincerely say 'persuasive' or 'charming'. The difference between the two is just tone- we see manipulative people as persuading people for personal and often selfish goals. Mel would personally benefit much more from a brutal, violent crackdown of the Undercity that would let her trade go on without much pause, but she doesn't advocate for it: she advocates for violence as a means of defense at most. She isn't selfish, she is simply charismatic and persuasive, someone who understands other people.
She is incredibly selfish, her opposition to violence isn’t a proper refutation of that.
If you look carefully the golden plates on Mel's back are UNDER her dress. In this scene, they show the gold plates shining briefly without her dress on before showing her dress on top of them again. There is no way that the light of the rocket would momentarily take off her dress and then put it back on. The artists defiantly wanted to draw attention to them for some reason.
Her earrings are gone too.
I can't (actually I can) believe you were right...
I'm so excited to see more of Mel in Season 2.
If she survives, but who knows. Arcane director suprised us many times in just 1 season.
I had largely accepted the fact that she’d died, but after this video I’m also really excited to see her again. I really hope she was protected somehow.
That is if we are still alive to see a season 2. Season 1 took what?....6 to 7 years?!!!!! "Dude!!!I can't wait that long!!!"
@@SWSW560 they are not starting from scratch now. A lot of the characters are already done, the style is defined. It doesn’t mean it will be fast. But I doubt it will be that long.
@@LegendoftheGalacticHero Well true. Here's to hoping it will be very short
i love how developed the female characters are in arcane. they have stories, personalities, problems, goals, feelings, like ugh i love it so much and they are all so complex and rootable.
Really great to see a video about Mel. She's a subtler character than most because she doesn't get involved in any combat or anything like that, but her influence on the story is huge and she's a really interesting character. I think the writers and animators loved her too; I mean just look at that design - the gold faux freckles? Inspired!
I love Mel she's honestly one of my favorite character.
Mel is my favourite just as Blackfire is my favourite in Titans. Seems like mysterious, seductive, subtle, royal warriors with terrible parents are the trick. No displays of power, excessive aggression, or insolence. CW's Batwoman, Netflix's Masters of the Universe, Amazon's Invincible should take notes. Young Justice still hasn't established Rocket. I like Star Trek's Lower Decks and Discovery but they get unfairly criticized. And can't wait to see where the show takes Naomi in CW.
too many people hating on Mel without trying to understand her arc or her perspective in this story. Kinda upsetting tbh. so this video is such a fresh air.
Everybody wants to be her enemy 😆
Also can we talk about Marcus? He had so much weight in the first half of the series, the deal(s) with Silco, the bloody coin that he kept, saving Vi, his guilt/loyalty to Greyson... I fully expected him to have a redemption arc to save his kid but he never did.. it was impactful in itself that his death was so sudden and he didn't get the chance to redeem himself, like some many people don't have time, but did he die a coward? Really interested if there will be any other impact of the character going forwards
I feel that there are a lot of characters like Marcus. Corrupt high district cop who betrayed his partner/ boss. But still well executed.
The line “nothing feels impossible when I’m with you” hit so much upon rewatching, because that’s the exact opposite of why she was cast out. Her mother says “you weakened me”. I think it truly shows where she has grown when her love for Jayce and his love for her has shown her where true power and goodness lies. It’s in how she inspires people to be better, and while the culture she’s grown up in has their ways, it was limiting to her, I teared up when she took her ring off because she finally reached the catharsis she needed. Stellar writing, and honestly the best character design I’ve ever seen. Gorgeous.
I imagine dream sequences will continue to be a big thing when Mel's involved, could totally see her dreaming of taking Shimmer and become a monster like (in her eyes) her mother. I also predict based on this analysis that she may end up having something to do with a transition to seeing shimmer used to heal people much more often then we got this season (with the help of Victor of course~)
Thats really interesting
@@FrffyVsBoredom yoooooo look who it is~
interesting, now that you mention it, piltover adopting the use of shimmer totally seems like a daring risky power move mel would advocate for
@@schnee1 riiiiiight??? It just makes to much sense, especially thematically
I've always liked Mel's character but this made me see her in a whole different perspective. Really great analysis! :)
My opinion on Mel changes ever so slightly every time I rewatch this show. There is just so much about her that is easy to miss, or is just made clear untill after the later episodes. It's complex characters like her that makes this show worth watching over and over.
I like the idea of Mel's power being the power of mercy
How about Ekko and Jynx’s relationship? His crush on her appears to have been canon long before they made Arcane, and their wordless battle shifts in context a bit when it’s not just a dear friend he’s locked in battle with.
Probably had a crush on her as a young boy Ekko did. Jynx might not be capable of actual love other than the desire of being desired and self affirmation.
Although they have a deep connection, it’s hard to tell whether or not their relationship will be romantic in the show like it was in the game.
I think the battle shows that Powder was still apart of Jinx. Ekko never let go of her, even to the point of remembering her specific shooting pattern in a game they’d play. And Jinx never let go of her past, she knew what the watch meant almost as soon as she saw it, and when she lost she looked at him with a warm smile. To me at least it wasn’t love in the romantic sense at least, but it was Jinx facing the fact that she wanted to be Powder again. That deep down, that’s what she wanted, and she was capable of achieving it.
Sorry for rambling, I just thought I’d share my perspective. It’s definitely an interesting conversation to be had!
Ekko had a quote in League referencing that. "I had a crush. Until you started talking to the gun". Plus Ekko in the canon League Lore is 15. Jinx in canon League Lore is in her 20s. Although in Arcane, Jinx is only a year older than Ekko.
@@shyguywearingtie5491 yeah when I said relationship I didn’t mean that they were dating or even together, I meant friendship or whatever they had going on in the games.
@@shyguywearingtie5491 Romance was involved in their relationship. Ekko had a crush on Jinx, even if she didn’t like him back there were still romantic feelings involved. And they still barely showed off their relationship in the show, we saw them interact more as kids in the music video than in the show, and they don’t even talk in the music video. And as adults they barely talked, even during the fight scene.
also before her plate glowed when the rocket was approaching, you see Mel's facial expression change as Jayce was smiling at her. The rocket was approaching from behind her, and I assume their tower is sturdy enough to be sound proof, so why did she change her expression suddenly? It's as if she sensed the rocket coming, maybe this is another clue that there is some magic about her
Hey thanks a lot for this. Mel is one of the few characters that I had a hard time really understanding. Your video helps a lot
i was in the same boat until last week, so happy I decided to make an effort to learn more about her
Mel and Jayce are such underrated characters
As is their relationship.
Fr
Mel is one of my favorite characters she's so interesting and I hope we see more of her in season two. One thing I noticed about her (In more of a psychological observation) is that whenever she is faced with trauma or pain or violence she has a consistent reaction. She freezes in shock and seems distressed, then regains her composure really quickly. She does this every time, when she saw the girl beheaded as a child, when she learned that Viktor was dying, when she saw the letter from her mom, when she saw the carnage on the bridge, when she learned her brother died, etc. She most likely acts this way because she grew up in a family- in a country- where vulnerability is seen as weakness. Fear or sadness or distress is seen as weakness. So as she grew up she learned to hide her pain, only appearing shocked or in distress at first.
Arcane is frickin' amazing.
Mel was arguably my favorite character, even though we had to wait until the third act to get any of her back story. This was a great analysis! Definitely bright up a few points I'd missed.
Seriously Mel is just ✨gold✨
Mel’s arc is highly underrated, overlooked, misunderstood…etc.
Thanks for this video. I thought about the gold, but never thought about the gold vs red in this way.
I feel dumb for not noticing that Mel painted over the painting in gold. I remember her character finally clicked for me when she put her ring onto the table at the end of Episode 9 and it's a powerful moment for me, but I think her mother seeing the painting is even more powerful now with that gold detail
Until now, I thought Mel wanted peace with Zaun so that her mother couldn't use the weapons Jayce would produce. I thought she wanted to prevent her from doing this because she didn't want to start another war in Noxsus and be a part of it because she abhors violence and that's why she took off her ring. I never thought about Mel seeing herself in Ambessa. That's a very brilliant observation. After all Mel wanted a weapon to defend Piltover herself and seeing that her mother wanted exactly the same but just on a different scale must have been a painful realization for her. Mel manipulated people just like Ambessa, only in a more sophisticated way. Pulling the Noxus ring is the perfect arc for her character. I love your videos because they make me love Arcane even more.
The thing is, there is no way her golden back piece is reflecting light from the missle because all the chairs they sit in have backs that are taller than them when they are seated. If you watched the scene of her back piece glowing then transitioning to the missle, you can see they made the chair back disappear so we can even see her entire back. If you look closely, it's still there, but very slightly. So with this being said, there's no way it can be a reflection but instead a magical reaction to possibly danger coming her way.
I need Mel to survive!!! Her character arch was just getting good! We need a proper resolution. I assumed that the light was a reflection on her back as well, but there was so much attention drawn to it that It must use magic to protect her somehow. It would also explain her immediate faith in Jayce’s exploration of magic since she would have been a magic user or at least someone who benefits from magic the entire time.
I love Mel so much and I felt so vindicated when we see that flashback and confirms Mels character. That she has always been someone who values life and doesn't want to get her way through violence. I've always been a fan of 'good aligned' liars. I've also been made aware of how rare it is to see a character who is a black woman allowed to be feminine, graceful and loved, Mel achieves all this in Arcane and I desperately hope we'll see more of her in whatever comes next because she is a delight.
Interesting thing about her dream is what we don’t see her mother’s face, but we see a face of girl, who got killed
Aaand because this dream is like Mel’s memory it show us what was for her more memorable
good point!
Plus, the girl who got killed had the exact same green eyes as Mel (and presumably is also the young princess of the nation Mel's mother just conquered). She is a mirror of Mel, which is what makes it so much more heartbreaking for Mel so see her die
I think it can be interpreted in different way. Mel's mother's face is hidden in the shadows because Mel is so ashamed or she hates Ambessa so much for what she did that in this memory (because I think it is more a memory than a dream) she wants to subconsciously erase her face from her mind and forget about her. Mel regrets this killed girl very much, and therefore she remembers every single detail of her just to respect her unnecessarily death
@@Ferytowa Yes!!!
Most fans flock to Jinx or Vi, coz they're the most theatrical and dramatic, but I the last three episodes had me invested on Mel so hard. She is a very complex character and excited to see more about her.
Mel is so fascinating because in any other story, she'd be the corrupting femme fatale. But she isn't. Mel is simply a person, with good and bad traits, who does care about power but who is also very aware of how unfair the world is and has therefore learned to play the game.
It's why all characters in Arcane are so compelling. They're not traditional heroes or villains. They are people thrust into a brutal and unforgiving system and they all have different ways of trying to exert control over that system and, by extension, their own lives.
I honestly love Mel. She is one of the most fascinating characters to me. At first I side eyed her because of how manipulative she was. At first I didn't even know if she really liked Jayce or was just trying to use him. But after Jayce came back to her and told her about Viktor's condition and how much he meant to him. We see a softer side of her. Her gentleness. That's when I realized she was genuine with how she felt about him. But she's still a manipulative person. Why? Then we see part of her childhood. She was always a genuine empathetic person but was shamed and disowned for that. Which made her the person she is today. That's why I'm glad when she see's her mom and her behavior and see's the parallels between her and mother she changes. She doesn't want to be like her mom she wants to take her own path. Also I love how we can see her head space threw her art. And I also love that when she was with Jayce she was the big spoon. Cute.
I don't care what the fandom says. I love Mel and have from the beginning.
Another contrast I found between Mel and Ambessa is their attitude towards vulnerability; Ambessa is fully and consistently unwilling to be vulnerable, whilst her daughter is willing.
Ambessa keeps guards around her at all times, even when lounging in Mel's apartment; the only time she dismisses them is when she is about to admit fault to he daughter. When she takes a man, she accepts Howl, a young, physically weak, politically unimportant escort who is incapable of harming her in any way. Even then, we see her usually keep guards around in his presence. Also, when she is threatened at home, she leaves the country, despite ostensibly being an important part of the Noxian political apparatus.
Contrast to Mel. She is prepared to stand surrounded by her mother's soldiers without a single enforcer defending her, and is prepared to admit her insecurities and internal thoughts to both Jayce and her assistant. Speaking of Jayce, when Mel takes a man she chooses the most politically important man in the city, who is also musclebound and close to her in age. Jayce presents a genuine potential threat to Mel, politically, economically, emotionally, and physically (though he never thinks or moves to harm her). Mel is prepared to accept that vulnerability. Ultimately, Mel is prepared to give up Piltover's right to police the undercity, thereby creating another vulnerability, for the sake of peace and prosperity.
What brought me to this conclusion is one particular moment in the bathhouse scene where Jayce meets Ambessa. There's a shot where Jayce is standing on the left, Ambessa relaxing in the water on the right, and on the wall behind them a massive tile mosaic portraying a line of spears pointing out towards jayce, defending Ambessa's position.
Even while literally naked, there is a line of defence between Ambessa and the nearest threat.
tl;dr:
Mel is willing to make herself vulnerable by voting for peace, taking Jayce as a lover, and admitting fault sometimes. Ambessa doesnt admit fault, takes a scrawny escort as a lover, and moves always to protect herself; she is unwilling to be vulnerable. This makes them foils.
Edit: Also, of course, the telling line for Ambessa, "Becasue you weakened me!"
Your analysis of characters never gets old. Absolutely love watching your videos. Spot on!
thanks!! :D
Mel is one of my very favorite characters, and that's a very competitive bar. So glad you covered this! Georgia Dow recently made a similar analysis of Mel that I highly recommend too! Keep doing what you're doing guys, I can't get enough 💛
I'm glad a character like Mel came around after the Amber backlash from Invincible. Arcane is the right kind of "Woke" that they ushered in while Amber was a misguided attempt.
Jace and Mel are my favorite characters from the show so it's really nice to see more content about them!
Yeah that golden tattoo/bodypaint/armor whatever its is MUST be big deal.
I think 2nd season will start with another Mel"s flashback... we will need some explanation for whatever will happen seconds after explosion.
Mel is so underrated. I love this character too…
In an age where most "video essays" on popular movies/TV boil down to lore digests for superfans and half-assed plot recaps, it's nice to see someone can still produce insightful analyses of narrative fiction on TH-cam (and without wasting the viewer's time to boot).
Subscribed.
Yes, please explore Mel more. This makes me interested actually in different ways characters have romantic attraction for each other. In general when writing.
Your take on Mel is exactly how I feel about her (funny that your dad's is how I originally felt, lol) and I love her for that - especially the way she 180'd when she realized what the fuck she was doing.
Also, yeah, that is definitely Solari armor. Like 100% that's something Solari - her heavy gold theme, the ring she takes off and puts down in the final episode's vote is also very Solari looking, and the way it shone *through her clothing* making her clothing look as if it's not there... it gives off very magical vibes.
Don't think she'll be dying any time soon. Though I think some will notice and mention how she's "using magic" or whatever. Hrmm.
I love the little notes you add... they're just perfect, brief clarifications of just a few words, which help better get your point across - brief and succinct so as to not warrant pausing of the video, but adding information so as to not just mirror what is being stated at the moment.
I think I often see the latter, superfluous text accompanying an analysis in video essays, which arises when people don't know which visuals to use to accompany what is being said. I think I just found one of the reasons why I found your videos so engaging :D (also sometimes the notes are just funny)
thanks! i try to just use text to emphasize or to denote a structure of a particular point, im also bothered by too much text in videos and presentations etc
if only all video essays were as high quality as yours, amazing work as always
too kind!! thanks for the support!
I loved Mel from the beginning, she intrigued me. I wanted to see what her plans were and how she developed through the show, I just love the mysterious depth they put into her.
I also love the end with the gold back plate shining, as if signalling to her that something is coming. You can even see it in the scene that she acknowledges the threat by turning. Like her "spider senses" are tingling.
I was intrigued by Mel ever since she was introduced, and I wasn't expecting her to get as good development as she did. It's enough that if she ends up dying in the finale, I'll be sorely disappointed.
Fingers crossed that whatever the gold on her back was aluding to protected her somehow.
I think the szene where Jayce opens up to her about Viktor might be the moment she actually falls in love with him. She asks him "Why did you come to me with this?" Which hints at two things in my opinion: Firstly she didn't really consider that Jayce might see more in her than a fling. Him returning after he left in the night forces her to reflect on her anger. Why was she mad at him? Because he left her? Because she thought he was making a power play - which is her thing after all. And secondly seeing him being genuine baffles her and takes her back to a soft spot inside of her. It makes her wonder why he came to HER with this. Who is she to him and should she embrace that person? I think she likes what she sees at that moment: She's faced with a person suffering because of the ill-fate of another person. She sees Jayce's compassion and maybe quite literally wonders if he came to her because he considered her a compassionate person too, which is, what she was cast out for by her mother. He reaffirms a part of her she thought was worthless and gives it value.
When she was brooding, she spent time with the picture of her family's glory but she abandons it, when she realizes he needs her attention.
The greyness of every single person in this show is AMAZINGGGG I love them all and I think it’s rlly cool that no one is pure good or pure bad !!!! Mel is cool af
Mels ninja way. That made me chuckle
THANK YOU for catching all the details in this show that the average viewer doesn't. You can tell so much thought and detail and heart was put into the making of this show and it deserves every shot to be analyzed and picked apart and figured out.
I think Mel's character moment with Jayce actually is meant to depict that she had expected their relationship to be one of user and usee (her being the latter). She was not annoyed by his lack of follow through because of romantic reasons, but because she thought it meant she'd failed. Him showing up and being open and truly tender her with her surprises her and she isn't sure how to react.
Great analysis. A massive character arc unfolded and hardly anybody noticed (including myself). Such a subtle character. Damn! I could see her clever manipulation to elevate Jayce and mould him to nullify Heimerdinger by voting him off the council. I presumed that was to greenlight Hextech weaponry but couldn’t work out if that was purely for Piltover’s self protection or there was a deeper motive at play involving Noxus gaining the Hextech for their conflicts. Then her mother shows up and the latter theory completely shatters. Fox and Wolf indeed. One things for sure I think, her story isn’t over by a long stretch.
mel is honestly amazing
I appreciate this appreciation for an actual character people look over. I also think her and Jace had an unorthodox story relationship from fwb to an emotional relationship
This is really interesting. Ambessa's claim that to last long in the world you must be both a fox and wolf came true when Mel's brother died, which according to ambessa, would be because he couldn't be a wolf. But Ambessa herself is old and grey haired, so we know for a fact that she is both a fox and a wolf simply from the fact that she's old enough to have grey hair.
8:13 that, with the painting secs later, blew my mind, goosebumps
9:34 I think it is made pretty clear the Merdarda clan helped in developing Piltover. She was send their to oversee their families interests, which they already had...
Another great video!
Yeah,--I never caught the second painting! (Wow!) And I really appreciate your comments about the color.
Chekhov's Gun points at the light flare of Mel's back at the end of S1E9. It's clear that the attention Mel's family dynamics get in the third act of Season 1 is laying the groundwork for Season 2. I suspect those include some of the greater threats than Silco we heard about.
Mel is manipulative and nuanced, and she makes such a point of pushing for Hextech that I have to question her motivations. Can't wait to learn more about her.
I'm really curious to see what they do with her in season 2 now that she's turned the corner like this. She's no hero at this point, she's in a new segment of her struggle. Glad I can trust the writers to treat it with the nuance she deserves.
@@schnee1 Successful politics is manipulation. The reality is that power is corruptive and it was long before Mel was born. She plays the Game of Thrones well like Maergery Tyrell whom I thought was a cunning manipulator but I came to see why she needed that edge vs Sansa Stark who was just stupid in the beginning.
Sadly, having come from deeply dysfunctional family dynamics myself, I didn't have much trouble understanding the nuance of Mel as a character.
One thing I like about Arcane that it does with multiple characters is that it expands on the theme from a certain superhero's classic story: "With great power comes great responsibility." Arcane takes this a step further by exploring different forms of power, and also exploring what happens depending on what the wielder chooses to do with said power. If we were to modify the above theme to reflect Arcane, it might become something close to, "With great power comes great responsibility, but how (and whether or not) one shoulders that responsibility makes all the difference."
Mel detested the brutish, callous nature of her mother's way of operating, instead opting for a more subtly tactical method. She attempted to acquire power and influence through persuasive words and actions. But at the end of the day, neither option is successful at avoiding the 'violence' Mel so loathes. The latter's more peaceful method still has negative ramifications and breeds bad blood when missteps are made-and sometimes even when they're not. Faced with this reality, Mel falls into an ideological crisis, per Arcane's golden story structure. Character develops (or already has) a code or way of looking at the world, character doubles down due to X incident or life circumstances, character is shown an outlier that they can't rationalize away and has to re-evaluate or prioritize their values, which in the end still leads to re-evaluation regardless.
Vi is faced with a crisis when she finds a sympathetic and helpful Enforcer, and when she is forced to choose between that Enforcer and her beloved sister who intends to harm Caitlyn. Jayce is faced with a similar dilemma when he befriends someone from the Undercity, and again when he sees how the consequences of his actions to achieve peace hurt *both* topside and the Undercity. Everyone's favorite pinata, Marcus, holds biased views of people from the Undercity, but finds himself forced to work with them, even following in the footsteps of a predecessor who he likely believed wasn't hard enough on them in her time. Marcus violates his own moral code, endangering his daughter and proving himself no better than he believes those outside Piltover to be. Then he has to sit with the weight of that fallout and decide which is more important to him: his daughter or his values and pride. These are just a few (abbreviated) examples. Mel is no different.
Mel saw her mother's way of ruling as flawed. She tried it her own way, found flaws in that too, and then was stuck. Oppressive violence only ended one way. Less overt violence and manipulation only ended one way too, except it took the scenic route to get to the same destination. This forced Mel to make new decisions factoring in all she had learned, and I think we can all agree that at the end of her arc (or what we see of it), she comes out stronger for it. Adding to this, Mel is also intelligent enough to recognize by the end of the season that not everything about her mother's philosophy is incorrect. It's flawed, but there is some legitimacy to her arguments. Regardless, her actions cannot be condoned by her daughter's moral compass.
If I had to sum Mel up, I'd say she's neither too soft nor too harsh. She's practical, and a forward thinker. Her mother focuses more on acting NOW to prevent an unfavorable future versus playing the long game in hopes of a favorable one. I hope we learn even more about Mel and other characters in Season 2!
This analysis is on point. I'm so glad you made this video, Mel is an incredibly interesting character and it makes me happy that more people are taking more interest on her story
also the fact that the "armor" is only on her back is important. It watch her back - literally. She doesn't fear anyone in front of her, cause she can talks and manipulates her way around with them. But her back is opened and unsafe. Cause also be a way to express that she is scared that her past, mostly meaning Medarda clan / her mom, will catch her at some point. In a way it does already (nightmares, paintings) but she tries her best to keep it away.
And yest, it's also on her shoulders too but that could be taken as dead spot ; if you look forward, focused, you can miss what's going on around you. Could also express she fears there are noxian / merdarda's spies around her, among the people she knows, or simply that she doesn't trust her surrounding (cause politics ?). That would put even more importance on Jayce laying on her lap and her sleeping with him. Also, did you notice that SHE holds JAYCE. Usually, you'd see the man holding the woman in this situation. I don't think fortiche did that unintentionally.. It's like she keeps her back away, open, the only "protected" part of her (again, armor) here to protect her if needed
Thank you so much for touching base on this. Mel was one of my favorite characters and is easily overshadowed by the more major character la in the show. It's refreshing to see someone explore her motivations. such a great watch!
@Tom Ford I more so meant in the fandom and reviews
How the hell can ONE show in less than 6 hours fit so much depth and symbolism across a cast of over a dozen characters. I've never seen anything like it.
Mel has to be my second favourite character and I don't usually like politicians. There's something different about her as a politician and I want to learn so much about her.
I was shocked to learn that people hated Mel, and saw most of the reasoning as either flattening her character traits or completely ignoring her nuances and arc. Thank you for giving her a proper analysis.
I desperately hope Mel survives and we get to see much more for her in season 2 she’s my favourite character in the show.
Fantastic analysis here. I love the reading that Mel seeing the worst possible version of what she could become in her Mother, and that's what tips her back into trying to embody the ideals she's always believed in. I do think she was wavering and struggling internally before her mother came back, largely because Jayce was chipping away at her barriers in the moment of vulnerability you mentioned, and actually earlier on the balcony, when she expresses not wanting to take, take, take the way Medardas usually do. She was wrestling with these sides of herself, the fox and the wolf but Ambessa really awakens the terror of who she may become if she continues to skew towards the wolf.
2:45 her mom was not pushing for the same. She wanted Jayce to create the weapons as a last resort, probably for their soldiers. Her mom makes Jace thinks he's weak, causing him to create the weapons and immediately deploy it. This is a big change in Jayce that she did not want. She wanted him to oppose creating weapons, but do it for her and the greater good, not become a warrior himself. She blames her mother for this.
As a league lore dweller it give me goosebumps when you started talking about league’s lore outside of Arcane, cause trust me riot lore department is fricking geniuses.
Also if you want to learn about the game’s and the worlds lore I’d recommend the cards game “Legend of Runeterra” instead, cause unlike “League” it’s confirmed by riot that everything’s and everyone’s lore related business in that game is 100% cannon
Thanks for talking about her
she's such an underrated gem!
I wanna know where the real source of hate for Mel is coming from because real fans of the show who watched and analyzed all of the main characters would clearly see that Mel is just as complex as the other main characters, and that she’s not an inherently bad character nor is she a villain. She’s painted as the villain at first but underneath all of that she has a heart and strong morality when it comes to herself and other people. This was shown through the scenes of her childhood and her interactions with her mother. Yet some people, with all the evidence of her making a character change like Silco did, REFUSE to see her as anything but manipulative, gold digging, and bad. Why do people far reach to find unredeemable character flaws in Mel, and why do they refuse to consider that she will survive the blast, blatantly ignoring her Solari links, her glowing body armor, and her expression changes as the rocket approached?
Why do they wanna hate her so badly?
Viktor fans don’t like Mel bc she’s blocking their ship lmao
imma be pessimistic and say that i think racism and misogyny might play a part. people probably would root for her all day everyday if she was a man. she'd be the smart, unempathetic male manipulator people cheer for all the time. and i think people are less inclined to feel empathy or understanding for black characters.
Oh, I never noticed this before, but y'know when Arcane is full of symbols of duality? Vi to Jinx, Piltover to Zaun, Vi to Caitlyn, Warwick (I can't believe I forgot his human name) to Silco, Viktor to Jayce...
I believe another duality to be derived here is Silco and Mel. Both manipulative rulers of their cities' councils, both relying on loyalty in their own ways, both questionably "loving" their targets for their own uses. Nobody talks about this duality enough..
This is my favourite video you've done and finally pushed me to subscribe to your Patreon.
The red and the gold, the subtle aesthetics, it makes so much sense, but I hadn't seen any of it until you pointed it out.
I totally agree it's probably the locket of the iron solari, which would be cool if it was, because then it probably saved the lives of everyone in the room, not just Mel herself.
wow thanks so much!! my jaw dropped when i found that "paint the walls in gold" quote lol, i'm really glad she earned a hero moment and saved everyone
@@schnee1 you're very welcome, just do yourself a favour and don't look at the profile of your most recent patreon subscriber
I think it started as just manipulative but that moment of vulnerability from Jayce changes her and her feelings become real.
Look at how shocked she is when jayce comes to her for emotional support. She realizes that he trusts and cares for her. A real relationship. Which she probably has never experienced or seen with her family of political dealing.
Everybody is manipulative around her. Everybody doesn't say what they mean. But Jayce is open with her and and that changes things for Mel. She starts to really care for him. And when she sees him advocate for agression she becomes scared that he will change to be like her family.
You are a genius,your analytical perception is pure gold and quite insightful,it allows people to understand better and you did shed a light on why she likes to paint in red
Mel and chase are my favourite characters in the show and I’m glad I’m starting to see more on them!
So I need to thank you for the video "A couple seconds later would ruin it" for Mel's back-gold revelation. I've seen Arcane about 5000 times too, and I always just thought it was symbolic of her character, like Vi having gauntlets, or Ekko having a watch. But in your video when you slowed down the dolly-zoom back from her I saw a blink-and-you'll-miss-it that the gold thinga-ma-jig is actually UNDER her dress. Never realized that before, so yeah, now I understand why so many people are saying Mel will be the reason the council survives. Thought it would be Jayce's hammer shield.
I really hope Mel is still alive in the next season! She is such a good character!
I'm surprised this wasn't mentioned in the video, but Mel's outfit in the flashback has a very Solari-like design so it makes a ton of sense to equate the two.