As part of the flood of information for Riot's 10th anniversary event, there was a special shocker: Arcane, a new animated TV series set in the League of Legends universe that's being produced entirely in-house at Riot Games. The debut trailer was an extended peek at a small but oh so vibrant slice of Runeterra. But Arcane's announcement now opens up dozens of other questions about its cast, characters, setting, and story. Here's everything we know about Arcane so far.
When will Arcane be out?
We don't know for sure which month, but the trailer does specifically state "in 2020."
What is Arcane about?
The firm detail we have is that it's about the "origins of two iconic League champions—and the power that will tear them apart," which sounds like a good adventure to start with.
Looking at the trailer, though, we're pretty sure we can guess who Arcane's main characters will be. Jinx appears early in the trailer and her boots (and laughter) can be heard at the end. In 2017, Riot Games confirmed a long-time suspicion of fans that Jinx and another champion, Vi, were sisters despite also being rivals.
Looking at the trailer, it seems quite obvious that the story will focus on the origins of Jinx and Vi and how the two went from siblings to enemies. The two children featured in the trailer have blue and pink hair that matches Jinx and Vi's own hair color perfectly. Given their connection to the setting and each other, it seems like the most likely scenario.
Here's the Arcane announcement trailer
This announcement trailer was our first look at Arcane.
Where in Runeterra is Arcane set?
So far we've seen what looks like Piltover and Zaun.
Piltover is the center of Valoran, a beautiful city on the cliffs above the ocean and the center of Runeterrra's steampunk-driven aesthetic, hextech technology, and apparently, giant airships. It's usually used as a sort of renaissance stand-in city full of art, commerce, and invention.
Zaun, on the other hand, is the darker side of the industrial revolution. Located below Piltover as a sort of undercity, it's filled with mazes of pipes, smog, industrial chemicals, mad scientists, black markets, and all manner of pollution. People don't really live in Zaun so much as survive it as best they can, and a number of the more villainous characters from Runeterran lore hail from it.
Nowhere else in Runeterra has shown up so far, but there are a dozen other major locations that we know of already that could always show up.
Who is in Arcane?
So far, we've not been formally introduced to most of the characters who make brief appearances in the trailer. Jinx looks to play a role in the show, since it's set in her stomping grounds and her boots appear in the end of the teaser we got. Other than that—in addition to our speculation about the story focusing on Jinx and Vi—we don't know yet.
However, considering the setting of Piltover and Zaun, here's a list of all the champions associated with those regions:
- Camille
- Caitlyn
- Ezreal
- Jayce
- Orianna
- Vi
- Heimerdinger
- Jinx
- Ekko
- Twitch
- Blitzcrank
- Dr. Mundo
- Janna
- Singed
- Urgot
- Viktor
- Warwick
- Zac
- Ziggs
What else do we know about Arcane?
The show is independently financed by Riot, which means they have full internal creative control.
It's made by Fortiche Production, which is a French 3D animation studio that has worked with Riot before on animated cinematics, including Jinx's music video.
It's written for a "14+" audience, and will have some adult subject matter.