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Vi’s legacy: A deep dive into her impact on Zaun
We explore everything you need to know about Vi in League of Legends and Arcane, including shocking twists in her lore and what awaits her in Season 2.
Vi, the fiery and cocky badass who loves solving problems with her fists, is one of League of Legends’ most popular champions and stars in the Netflix phenomenon Arcane.
The pink-haired Zaunite has already been through quite the journey in Arcane and yet we haven’t seen her full character arc as there are still a lot of steps before she turns into her character in the game.
This article has everything you need to know about Vi: her LoL lore, a recap of what happened to her so far in Arcane, and what awaits her next in Season 2.
01
Vi’s backstory in Arcane
Vi had a tragic childhood
© Riot Games
Vi and her sister Powder were born in the underground city of Zaun. Their parents were tragically killed by Enforcers during a violent uprising against the much wealthier neighbouring city Piltover, leaving the two young girls orphaned.
Fortunately, the two were found by rebellion leader Vander who was devastated that his actions had cost them their parents. He immediately decided to adopt them and tried to lead a more peaceful life from there on, running a popular bar known as The Last Drop.
Unsurprisingly, the traumatic event led to Vi developing a strong hatred towards enforcers and Piltover overall. So when she learned from Ekko the address of a rich Piltover resident, she didn’t hesitate in gathering Powder as well as Vander’s other adopted kids, Mylo and Claggor, to break in and raid the place.
However, the burglary didn’t go to plan as they had to leave early and accidentally caused a huge explosion during their escape. With the top-side city enraged and demanding the culprit be brought to justice, this would lead to Vi getting into far more trouble than she bargained for…
02
Vi’s relationship with Jinx
Vi and Jinx have a complicated relationship
© Riot Games
Vi and Jinx, formerly known as Powder, are sisters but aren’t as close as they once were as the result of yet another tragic event in their childhood.
Following the Hexgem explosion, the people of Piltover wanted justice and Vi tried to turn herself in to save everyone else, but Vander promptly locked her in her room so he could take the blame instead. However, the Enforcers attempting to arrest him were slaughtered by the henchmen of Zaun’s crime lord, Silco, who then captured Vander himself.
Vi sneaks out and attempts to rescue him while ordering Powder to stay home. Powder didn’t listen and followed with her latest weaponised gadget now powered by an unstable and explosive Hexgem from the aforementioned raid.
She sets off the bomb and the enormous explosion ends up killing her entire adopted family of Claggor, Mylo and Vander – the latter sacrificing himself to save Vi.
This causes Vi to lose it, she strikes her sister and calls her a “Jinx” just as Mylo had done previously and then walks away while her little sister is emotionally wrecked. Vi was then drugged, captured and arrested while Powder was left alone and feeling abandoned, which led her straight into Silco’s arms.
The two sisters wouldn’t see each other again for years until Caitlyn, a rookie Piltovan Enforcer from a prestigious family, released Vi early so that together they could find enough evidence to take Silco down.
In doing so, Vi is reunited with her sister who now goes by the name Jinx and is a lot less sane than before. The reunion goes well until Jinx spots Caitlyn and instantly gets upset. The misunderstanding caused a lot of tension and further strains the sisters’ relationship.
The sisters’ reunion didn’t go to plan
© Riot Games
However, Vi was still eaten up by guilt and desperate to help her sister, despite others telling her Jinx was too far gone. Eventually, Jinx would accidentally kill Silco to protect Vi, but that only stressed their relationship even further.
Jinx abandoned her Powder persona and while she may still care for Vi, feels she can’t reconcile with her sister. Still, that won’t stop Vi from trying to help her.
03
How Vi got her gauntlets in Arcane
Vi always had a proficiency for boxing and would regularly practise fighting with Vander’s signature iron gauntlets, which she would later use when attempting to save him from Silco’s gang.
Later on she stumbles upon a huge upgrade when she receives her signature Atlas Gauntlets from Jayce. Vi confronts him in his workshop with a plan to take down Silco by attacking the Shimmer factories. While Jayce is crafting other Hextech items, Vi immediately spots the prototype gauntlets and has to try them on. While intended to be used for mining and breaking down walls, Vi knows the Hextech-powered tools are perfect for her fighting style as they give a substantial boost to her strength and agility.
Vi and the Atlas Gauntlets are a lethal combination
© Riot Games
04
Vi’s character development in Arcane
As a kid, Vi was hot-headed and cocky, regularly getting into fights, but her confidence was justified as she was tough and could more than hold her own. All of that proved to be true when she was held in Stillwater Prison as she was regularly getting into scraps and trouble, including when she beat up Silco’s henchman, Lock.
Later in the series, Vi still has her hot temper but controls it much better. She works well together cooperatively with Caitlyn and Jayce in hopes of taking down Silco, and ultimately saving Jinx. Vi is still the protective big sister, but now those feelings are paired with overwhelming guilt which drives Vi to work as an Enforcer despite hating them as a child.
Her relationship with Caitlyn has changed Vi’s view on Piltover; there’s still corruption and inequality, but now she knows that there are good people in the topside too. However, that doesn’t mean she’ll fit in, as we’ll likely see in Season 2.
Dig deeper into the world of League of Legends
05
Vi in League of Legends
In LoL, Vi is a badass police detective and a very mobile fighter
© Riot Games
In LoL, Vi is a former criminal turned into an Enforcer who uses her previous experiences to help catch culprits. Unsurprisingly, she does a lot of punching in the game.
Her Atlas Gauntlets are central to everything as she's able to charge up and then dash forward fist-first towards her targets to knock them back. And with her ultimate ability, she can even lock onto one target, fly towards them and then uppercut them into the air.
Her ability to target one person and cause disruption to their movement perfectly fits her theme as a detective who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. Because of mobility and ability to engage in fights out of nowhere, she's typically played as a jungler, a role that roams around the map looking for fight opportunities.
06
Vi League of Legends lore differences to Arcane
Vi’s original lore is staggeringly different to Arcane
© Riot Games
Arcane has an incredible story but it isn’t considered canon to the LoL universe. Every champion in the game has a rich backstory and lore crafted during their development, yet you might be surprised at just how different Vi’s original story is.
For starters, her backstory barely acknowledges Jinx.
In fact, before Arcane it was never officially confirmed that they were sisters, despite fans suspecting this for years. The in-game quote from Jinx, “You think I’m crazy? You should see my sister,” had many people curious, and speculation was only fuelled further when the shopkeeper received a new voice line directed at Vi players, saying: “You look like your sister! Er, wait, I'm not supposed to talk about that…”
In the lore, Vi was an orphan but grew up in an orphanage and later with her mentor after creating a street gang. This is assumed to be Vander, though he's never directly mentioned in the game’s lore. Like Vander in Arcane, this mentor helped temper Vi’s self-destructive tendencies and tried to teach her to maintain a moral code and fight with discipline.
As for how Vi got her gauntlets, it was actually through a heist of a rich mine. Needing extra bodies, she enlisted the help of the Factorywood Fiends gang but this backfired massively when their leader killed the mine owner with a pair of pulverizer gauntlets and trapped the rest of the workers in the tunnels.
While both gangs fled with loot, Vi couldn’t stand letting innocent people die so she put on the gauntlets and, while enduring the pain of them clamping down on her arm, punched through a path to safety to free the miners.
Still wearing the gauntlets, Vi then visited the Factorywood Fiends and single-handedly administered a beating so legendary that it’s still talked about in the Lanes of Zaun today.
07
What’s next for Vi in Arcane Season 2?
Vi’s difficult journey is only going to get tougher
© Riot Games
As we’ve seen from the trailer, Vi is going to resemble her LoL character more as she finally takes on the role of a Piltovan Enforcer, becoming what she used to hate.
Grappling with that and the guilt of her sister spiralling into madness and destruction, it’s going to be a pretty rough time for the pink-haired vigilante who has a lot of emotions to battle with. Especially as the debuting character Warwick is suspected by many fans to be the heavily drugged and re-imagined corpse of another character we met previously… We’re not going to spoil that though.
Battling with an identity crisis and struggling to maintain peace in Zaun, while settling into life in Piltover, is going to be tough enough. Let alone trying to capture and stop Jinx from causing more mayhem in an attempt to save her.
There are a lot of struggles for Vi to carry in Season 2, potentially too much for even her large, mechanical hands.
