This is a PERFECT Side Character (ft IRL Ekko) | ARCANE (Ekko Analysis)

#LeagueOfLegends #Netflix

Whose side is Ekko on? Why is his intro so weird? What’s up with the hourglass on his face? Great side characters use EVERY LITTLE DETAIL available to them in their characterization. Ekko is Arcane’s best side character because of how packed and powerful his characterization is. Every detail of his design and his actions are about building a strong identity, and it’s all done subtly enough that Arcane viewers who don’t wish to pay any closer attention to Ekko or his community don’t feel any pressure to -- exactly as it should be.

0:00 - BIG Glaring Question
1:51 - Hero Villain Trifecta
2:24 - Arcane's Binary
3:29 - Ekko the 3rd Option
8:55 - Ekko & Powder
13:44 - IRL Ekko Story

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[AxleBoost]

I love how this entire video’s TLDR is basically, “Ekko is just built different.”

[StFido]

I think a big example of the hero villain trifecta is The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

[bendystrawz]

"Avoidance has a negative connotation." The positive version of this that embodies Ekko would be "Evasion." He's not just avoiding and hiding, he's untouchable while still being present (not hiding away). That's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.

[joserubalcava]

I’m actually really grateful that you included Typhoon’s story. There’s so many people I’ve met who legitimately live in such a bubble that they think severe poverty is a myth. To them the darkest thing is not having wifi or calling someone terrible things. But it’s not just the reminder that people are severely fucked over in other places, it’s the hope that Typhoon’s story brings about becoming and changing into someone with love inside them after becoming so numb from atrocities they’ve been exposed to. Just, thank you for giving us that. I hope he’s got an even better life in the future along with those other kids he used to be with.

[hurbig]

The thing I find most tragic is that even though Powder and Ekko lost everything that night, they would still have had each other. They were clearly good friends. We don’t know how, but Ekko managed to rise above the trauma and build something great. In my mind, if it hadn’t been for Silco, Powder would have become a Firelight.

[hiroshiramasendjews]

Honestly l never viewed Ekko as a side character. I always thought he was to important to the story to be one.

[supermonstars]

Typhoon is an actual protagonist, even has a sick name. I understand you debated about including his story, but I'm glad to have heard it.

[Rampala]

Can I just say as someone who knew nothing about League before watching this show, I was sure Ekko was dead after the bridge scene and I can't describe how relieved I was when he was still alive. What an excellent character, I can't wait to see what they do with him in season 2.

[twentysecondcenturywoman]

One thing that I LOVED in arcane was when Cait, Vi, and Ekko were talking about the gem stone and Ekko said “On one condition, I’m the one who gives it to them.” Like he wasn’t even scared, he was fully prepared to face the government head on. I just thought it was so admirable how confident he was.

[LottieGOram]

Ekko also wears the owl mask: owls often symbolise wisdom, cyclical time, fertility or “new births” and are lored as harbingers of death or “endings”… and he uses this mask from the first episode, always peering through it and spying through its lens. He’s literally fated though this coding to bring about change. It’s insane, the level of detail in this show is ✨ immaculate ✨ great video, thank you!!

[mustard]

Something I find interesting about Ekko is that he's technically not an orphan, his parents are just absent since they are always at Zaun's factories, so Ekko grows up largely alone (except for Benzo and Vander's kids). They're never mentioned in Arcane since they aren't important to the story, but it's an interesting detail that might come into play in season 2 if the writers want to look more into his past, since Ekko does care about them even if they don't interact on a regular basis.

[SwordTune]

Ekko did get a flashback, his fight was the flashback to when they played as kids. It's just that it's a flashback that's more concerned about informing the present, rather than a flashback that informs us about a character's past.

[soff_icini]

I feel like Ekko might also be an AU version of Caitlyn: both are trustworthy, stubborn, good to their core and have a common goal of helping people, but while Cait was born privileged, making her more trusting in others and trying to change the system from the inside, Ekko was born in Zaun, so he doesn't trust many people and operates outside the system.

[alecchristiaen]

"It's not enough to give people what they need to survive. You have to give them what they need to live."

I am super stoked to see Ekko develop a friendship with Heimerdinger. I imagine Heimer's centuries-worth of scientific knowledge focused through the lens of Ekko's hear-and-now perspective being the biggest force for good from season 2 onwards.

[justsomeguywithoutadick]

Ekko became my favorite character even though he was a side character and didn't get much screen time.
Watching this video made me realize why.
Like the guy said, everyone is focused on either the past or future.
Amongst this diverse cast, Ekko is the only one who thinks of the present which technically acts as a light in the darkness.
Even if you've never put any thought into why you like Ekko you can still subconsciously feel his character.
I guess this is what they mean when they say feeling something on a spiritual level.
Oh, i also like him cause he's Badass😎

[lordstumpy]

I love Ekko. He's my favourite character in Arcane by a long shot, in-fact one of my favourite characters in media ever, and you essentially summed up why. Especially with the comparison between him and Jinx, they essentially endured the same trauma but both delt with it differently and that's something I don't see represented often enough and in as much of a believable and understanding way.

Edit: Making a bit of an ammendment here, I realized shortly after posting this comment that it was a stretch to say they endured the SAME trauma. I'd argue they experienced the same loss but definitely not the same trauma.

[heywhat]

Finally a whole essay on my fave character! I thought it would never happen

[tangerineslice]

Cool detail about the tree that the fireflights have: it's a ginkgo, it's fairly rare from what I know. And more importantly it's leaves turn yellow and when dried they look a bit goldlike even. In France it earned the nicknames of "arbre au quarante écus" : tree of fourty écus (old coins currency). It may very well be intentional knowing how much detail they put in the worldbuilding. The tree is incredibely unusual, it symbolises wealth. Because in their world living healthily IS expensive, it's a privilege.
edit: a lot of answers said they weren't rare, my bad I wrote from memory. Maybe there's just less here too.
Also they stink.
edit 2 : check the replies, very interesting stuff :)

[Wuffskers]

Something that I realized after rewatching recently is that Ekko exemplifies Viktor's amazing quote "in the pursuit of greatness, we failed to do good". As you point out there are a lot of characters stuck in either the future or the past but in addition to that almost all the characters with authority are singularly focused on "the big picture", Jayce and Viktor are obsessed with progress and talk about helping people but in a very general abstract way, and Viktor realizes what the problem is, Heimerdinger is completely oblivious to the corruption in pilltover or the suffering of the undercity and from his perspective most of these problems seem like they'll resolve themselves in a few decades which is nothing to him, he's primarily concerned with Pilltover as a city, not actually the individuals that make up the city. The rest of the council is even worse because they mainly concern themselves with the city in the same impersonal way as heimerdinger but their priorities are just how they can benefit. Silco also has this problem of being overly ambitious, he's always talking about these grand schemes, his dream is "THE NATION OF ZAUN" he's also a "big picture" person who is striving for greatness and as a result he's let substance abuse run rampant through his city and ruin the lives of those he claims to be fighting for. Ekko on the other hand is not nearly as ambitious as any of the other leadership, he has no grand aspirations, and look at him, he's the only one ACTUALLY doing anything good, the only one actually helping common people right here right now, not with some grand hextech or shimmer based independence plan, but by addressing their needs directly right now.

[ZeusKnocksYouOut]

Philosophy behind writing Ekko in Arcane: "If you can't make the most out of any given moment... then you don't deserve a single extra second."