Jinx

Biography

Powder, better known as Jinx, is one of the main characters in Arcane. An orphaned Zaunite, after her parents died when she was a child, she and her older sister Vi were taken in by Vander, the then-de facto leader and protector of the Lanes. After a series of tragic events that forced her and Vi apart, she is fundamentally and irrevocably changed into a nihilistic anarchist, completely rejecting her former identity and past in favor of her new moniker. Powder was born to Felicia and Connol, the younger sister of Violet, better known as Vi. Growing up, Powder had a good relationship with Vi and her parents. However, when her parents died during a battle on the bridge between Piltover and Zaun, she and Vi were the only people left in their family. After the battle, Vander found the two siblings. He then adopted them and raised them as his own, alongside Mylo and Claggor. When she finds out from Sevika that her sister is alive and in the lanes searching for her, she uses the flare Vi had given her in an attempt to find her. Despite her doubts, Vi shows up, and the pair are reunited. When Caitlyn appears, Jinx turns on the pair, questioning Vi's motivation for returning until the Firelights ambush the trio, and a fight ensues, leading to Vi and Caitlyn being taken and Jinx being left alone yet again. Jinx knocks out and captures Vi, bringing her to what remains of the warehouse where the events of episode 3 took place, and reveals she has set up a twisted tea party, with Caitlyn and Silco both tied up and gagged at the table. Jinx begs Vi to kill Caitlyn, which she refuses, and Jinx turns on Caitlyn herself, sparing her only because of Vi's pleas, leading to Cait firing on her, and Jinx retaliates by knocking her out. Silco and Vi each try to convince her to either spare or kill Caitlyn, and in her overwhelm, she shoots and kills Silco. Breaking down at her own actions, she takes fishbones, powered by the hextech gemstone, and fires a missile at the Piltover council.

Personality

As a little girl, Powder was shy and sweet, but clumsy and prone to making mistakes. This, paired with a case of middle child syndrome, sparked irritation from her older "brother" Mylo, who referred to her as a jinx. She greatly admired her older sister Vi (her only biological family) and saw her as a role model and an almost parental figure. While not as physically capable as Vi, she was very creative and spent much of her spare time making different kinds of inventions, mostly bombs and other small explosives. However, they were predictably unreliable and were only effective later in her teens. She showed how skilled she was with a gun, beating her best friend, Ekko, and her brother, Mylo, on various occasions. Despite her general timid, quiet nature, Powder was shown on multiple occasions to have extremely strong emotional reactions, especially when faced with the possibility of abandonment, screaming, and crying with accompanying hallucinations and self-harming behavior, something her character retains later in the series. After witnessing the death of her family and her sister's abandonment, Powder adopted the identity of Jinx. Jinx is incredibly mentally unstable and has become unpredictable and remorseless as a teen, showing no mercy towards her opponents or anything she perceives as a threat. She is incredibly smart, both in her combat and her weapon-making abilities. Like her younger self, Jinx has extremely strong emotions, only strengthened by her guilt, which she copes with using violence and often self-harm. Despite her outward appearance of a "manic pixie nightmare girl", her innocent, bubbly attitude is a conscious front used to manipulate the people around her. Along with her wild, ruthless nature, we also see her being vulnerable and childlike in her actions, a contrast between Jinx and Powder, who are separate identities (as a result of both her childhood trauma and likely Borderline Personality Disorder).

Appearance

Just below average height, Jinx stands at 5,3 (159-161cm), with a slender, wiry figure. She weighs somewhere between 44-50kg (97-110lbs), making her underweight or very close to it. She has an hourglass figure with a slim waist and wider hips and shoulders. Jinx is rather pale, which could be attributed to the lack of sunlight in the lanes, as her skin was rosier when she was Powder. She also has slightly sharp, sickly facial features. There are constant dark circles under her eyes, noticeable tear burns, and dull purple lips. Her eyes are a silvery powder blue with darker flecks. However, they change to a pink/red violet hue due to shimmer that is seen for the first time at the end of episode 8. Her eyes briefly change shades depending on which side of her is out, and while witnessing the presumed death of Isha, her eyes briefly turn their normal color again. Her bright blue hair is styled in two long blue braids with a sharp side bang styled on her left. The braids fall down her back and reach her ankles (approximately 125-150cm); both braids are decorated with bullet casings in both silver and gold and engraved with her drawings. She has a widow's peak and a few short strands of hair hanging loosely around her face. Jinx has tattoos on the right side of her body, depicting clouds similar to the ones caused by both the warehouse explosion in episode 3 and also the flare that is given to her by Vi, which she uses in episode 6. The tattoos are drawn in pale blue, with darker blue outlines, and cover her arm, shoulder, and stomach on the right-hand side. After her transformation from the shimmer, the tattoos are faded and scarred from the injection and her body's reaction to the drug.

Abilities

Accuracy: Jinx is seen to be an excellent shot. She can outshoot Mylo in the training simulator and beat Ekko when the two played together. She tends to prefer handguns such as pistols but is also seen using a type of Gatling gun. Inventions: while she was under the name of Powder, she struggled with building working inventions. As she grew older, she became more adept at inventing weaponry, specifically bombs. It's implied that she made most of the weapons used by Silco's gang. Shimmer Enhanced Physicality: Thanks to the use of Shimmer, Jinx is now far stronger, faster, and more agile than any regular human. It especially affects her speed, allowing her to use flash step to dodge attacks in battle.

Affiliation

Echo (boyfriend)