The Top 10 Best Arcane Characters in Season 1!

[SPOILERS AHEAD!] The Netflix Arcane series has finally concluded and the show has become a standard-bearer for animated adaptations for years to come. We’ve come to love the show ourselves and can’t wait for the arrival of Season 2. We would do a review but there’s nothing we can say that other sites haven’t already so, instead, we’ll be ranking our top 10 best Arcane characters that we absolutely loved and explain why they have been given such a special place in our hearts.

[SPOILERS AHEAD!] The Best Arcane Characters!

Arcane‘s characters have so much depth that it’s absolutely unreal. The writers for the show have definitely outdone themselves because no character felt like they were out of place nor did they feel like they were purely written as a side piece of the show. Every character in Arcane felt like they were a natural part of the world and their motivations were all humanistic and relatable to an extent. Even the villains in the show didn’t feel like they were unjustifiable since they had a deep sense of moral ambiguity.

It’s only expected that League of Legends’ characters gain more screentime and have more character development than the rest of the people in the show. Because of this, you’ll mostly see LoL characters in the top 10 since the side characters don’t have as much depth. Not to say that non-League of Legends figures didn’t make it into our list of best Arcane characters since there were some that have stolen the show the moment they appeared in their scenes.

10. Mel Medarda

Councilor Mel Medarda is the first non-League of Legends character on our list and has been placed as our 10th best Arcane character on the show. Even though the flow of Arcane made her seem like a support cast, she still has some beautiful moments that made the people love her as herself. At the very beginning of the show, she was somewhat portrayed as a manipulative politician but as the love story between her and Jayce progressed, we got to feel a more human side to this character.

Mel also had a little backstory of her own that allows the current storyline to have a bride between Piltover and Noxus. While the end of episode 9 hints that Mel Medarda might die, we still believe that this character has already done what she was intended to do in the lore. We only hoped that she could have more independent scenes that didn’t involve her and her assistant talking about Jayce as a form of investment. Regardless, she portrayed the role of a deeply influential politician very well.

9. Ekko

Ekko probably had the biggest leap in terms of character development Arcane. His growth from being the scared kid that can only watch from behind the scenes to being the child savior of the undercity and leader of the firelights is definitely something that had as astonished even though we already expected this from the start. Just like Mel, Ekko didn’t really have a lot of his own screentime so the only thing we can really admire is his transformation.

Regardless, Ekko is still one of the best Arcane characters in the show because his lines and acting were really powerful. He portrays the role of a young man forced to lead his people at a young age and take the responsibility of protecting them from the dangers of both the undercity and topside. His presence in Act 3 was really dominant, making it feel like he owns the show. In season 2, we expect his character to be explored more and hopefully make him land a higher spot on this list.

8. Jayce Talis

Jayce Talis has had a really strong start in Arcane but quickly fell off as the show progressed. In episode 1, he was everybody’s favorite character and garnered the support of all the fans but his relationship with Mel Medarda and promotion to being a councilor has made it feel like he was always acting like an indecisive puppet. Despite being one of the main characters of the show, Jayce simply felt offputting more of the time than relatable which really affects his standing with the audience.

The good thing about Jayce is he has a lot of screentime which made it possible for him to justify all of the things happening with him. His character’s best selling point is that all of the important decisions and plot points in Arcane always happen when he is around. He also had a few good moments in the show which mostly involved his relationship with Viktor which allows him to still be on the top of our list despite having such weird character development.

7. Caitlyn Kiramman

Caitlyn Kiramman is an interesting character that continued to make people ask questions until the end of the show. Her relationship with Vi and Jayce made her such a good support character but not enough for us to be impressed by her role as a main character. She mostly felt like everyone was building up her character but she wasn’t doing it herself so it really puts down some points that would otherwise make her such a great figure in the Arcane storyline.

She also had a generic rebellious rich girl character that we’ve seen time and again in a lot of TV shows. Putting all that aside, the development of her sexuality in the show alongside Vi was absolutely mind-blowing that even people who complain about these themes were really impressed by it. Despite being one of the most popular characters in League of Legends, she left a really small impact in Arcane.

6. Professor Cecil B. Heimerdinger

Heimerdinger started out as a character that we were happy to see but didn’t really expect much from. The way he acted in Act I, where he was acting like a generic old man that flaunts his “wisdom” and just wants to prevent everything that Jayce and Viktor wanted to do. However, we understood what he wanted to say to an extent but the fact that he still had to do it may have given us a lot to dislike about his character during the beginning.

In time, Heimerdinger revealed his experience as an immortal yordle gave justification to his words. When Jayce and Viktor managed to convince him that the Hextech tools they were creating were intended to help people, Heimerdinger felt a lot more relatable. So much so that we didn’t realize that we were growing attached to his character. It was only when he got kicked out of the council that we realized how much we had grown attached to him, which gives him a deserving spot at our best Arcane characters list.

5. Vander

Vander is also another non-League of Legends character (at least, not yet) that had garnered so much love from the community. If it were not for the fact that he “died” so early in the season, he would have been built up even more to reach the top 3. Even though he has such a short part in the show, it was enough for him to be a beloved character that everyone can agree is the best boy of the show seeing the mirroring of his character compared to Silco.

The father figure that every person either wanted or aspires to be is encapsulated into this pure character. The way he dedicates himself to his adoptive children and the citizens of the undercity have definitely pierced even those with stone-cold hearts. While we didn’t place him at the top, this doesn’t mean he’s less worthy to be there than all the other characters. In the future, his character as Warwick might become such an interesting plot point to explore in the story.

4. Vi

Vi, as an individual, didn’t really have that much of an engaging storyline. Most of her motivations and intentions were purely just to get her sister back to her side, which we have already watched a lot of in Naruto. She does have a lot of interesting points and her character really shone in Act I. The best part about Vi’s story as an adult is the progression of her relationship with Caitlyn and how she continues to become a hard-headed thug of the undercity that challenges everyone that stands against her.

The best part about Vi is her fight scenes and we gotta say, those were totally out of this world. Out of all the characters in Arcane, no one has better fight scenes than Vi. This is enough to carry her at the top of our best Arcane characters. In fact, the one thing that you can be sure of in Arcane is that whenever a fight scene involving Vi would appear, you know 100% that it’s going to be an action-packed, realistic, and relatable slug fest that most animations just get too carried away with.

3. Silco

AHHHH Silco. Just talking about him makes our heart break. This character was advertised to be the main villain of the show, and just like many other villains in other series, we thought there was no point to even look at his character because his main point is to get defeated at the end of the series. During the first two acts of Arcane, he surprised us as an antagonist that had a deep and justifiable motivation which would have been enough to make him one of the best Arcane characters in the show.

In Act III, Silco really came to life when he began being mirrored with Vander. Despite having completely different motivations, the two characters quickly became two sides of the same coin as Silco realized he was now in the same position as his brother. Nothing really makes a man shine brighter than learning that he had become a father. His complicated relationship with Jinx had made this villain one of the most beloved characters in the show despite being the main antagonist.

2. Viktor

In episode 2, the viewers approached Viktor with suspicion because it felt like he was only interested in Jayce’s work for his own selfish purpose. If you were an avid reader of the lore, you definitely knew this was the case. He gained a lot of suspicion but, just as quickly, he turned all that suspicion we had into admiration since the show portrayed his genuine interest in Jayce’s work and how he was willing to help him achieve the goal that has now become a bond between the two scientists.

We would be lying if we said that Viktor’s relationship with Jayce didn’t add to how much we sympathized with him. We still know that Viktor will eventually betray Jayce but at this point, that doesn’t matter. Viktor’s character is just so well-written that every viewer wants him to succeed in finding a way to prolong his life, no matter the cost. His complex situation gave him so many ways to branch out into the character we know in the game, but this version is definitely the one that gives him a deserving 2nd place spot in our best Arcane characters list.

1. Powder/Jinx

Jinx was obviously advertised as the centerpiece main character in Arcane. Most of the time, the main character in a lot of TV series ends up being the blandest, most boring, and uninteresting characters in the show with most of the people around them being the true stars. However, Powder and Jinx had a firm grip of the show from start to end having such interesting scenes, struggles, and even fight scenes. This is why we consider her the best Arcane character in the show.

Powder’s story as a child and development into her present persona – Jinx – was really well made. The struggle she has with her mental state, considering she was the reason her family died, was so well-depicted and gives her so much depth. The decisions she makes is constantly unpredictable and make us want to lean in forward to see what she does next. Her relationships with ALL the characters in the show is defined and makes us wish that we, the viewers, could have done something to prevent all the bad things that happened to her.