Arcane is a 2021 animated fantasy action-adventure show on Netflix. It was created by Christian Linke and Alex Lee, and directed by Pascal Charrue and Arnaud Delord, based on the League of Legends video game franchise’s world and characters.

This isn’t a post I thought I’d be making… until a recent conversation I had with someone I was in a bridal party with.

We were talking about Christianity and struggling with forgiving ourselves. Suddenly, the animated TV series Arcane I had finished washing recently came into my mind.

You see, I’m a little behind on the Arcane train. Released in November of 2021, it’s been covered to death; you can spend days watching breakdowns of every second of the show. I’m not here to add to any of that discussion, really. Discussions like those point out the flaws, yes, but also the extreme quality of this show.

And this show is quality.

If you get nothing else from this article, go watch this show. Now. It’s on Netflix, but you have to find a friend or a family member who you can watch it with. It’s worth it. If you don’t like animation, or you don’t like fantasy, or are skeptical because this show is based on a popular video game, give this one a chance.

It’s got some language, there’s a lot of violence, and there’s a single sex scene that’s partially obscured, so if you’re an “I avoid all of those” type of person, I get it.

But this show is incredible.

And I hope to add to the discussion surrounding this show in one key way: its relation to Christianity.

Spoilers ahead. If you’re going to watch this show, watch it now and come back. If not, read on about its interesting relation to the religion that some might see as completely outdated, but here is extremely relevant.

Powder’s Sin

Powder murders all of her friends and her actions lead to the death of her adopted father.

Whoa. Heavy stuff. Let’s get in some background, if you haven’t seen the show.

Powder and her sister Violet live in the “Undercity,” Zaun. Above the mines of Zaun, the opulent city of Piltover serves as a beacon for progress in the world. The world is fantasy steampunk; there are creatures that look like elves, or goblins, or fish people, or little furry cat-dwarf things, but the technology is like the late 1800s, with trains and oil lamps and machines powering this metropolis. The balance is delicately kept between the poor in the undercity, and the rich who live “Topside,” by Vander and Grayson. Vander, who participated in a revolution against the Topsiders ten or so years ago, now is a pacifist who leads the less desirable elements of Zaun from his tavern. Sheriff Grayson, head of the Enforcers police force, works with Vander to make sure neither side steps in the other’s business. Silco, Vander’s old partner in the revolution, still wants Zaun to be independent from Piltover. So, through a series of schemes, Silco captures Vander and kills Grayson, planning to erupt civil war all over again.

Enter Powder and Violent. The two sisters live with Vander, along with two other orphaned strays of the undercity. They steal in order to survive and help enforce Vander’s delicate balance. Powder is only 12 or so; Violet, 15. When Vander is captured by Silco, Violet and the two other orphans–Claggor and Mylo–set out to save him. Violet tells Powder to stay behind because she’s too young and her “machines” have only caused problems for the group in the past. Violet and co. almost break Vander free when the group is cornered by Silco’s thugs. Time’s running out as Silco’s superpowered magical thug tries to bust down the metal door to Vander’s cell within an abandoned factory. Claggor, however, has almost broke out the back wall of the cell using his tools. It looks like the day will be saved.

But unbeknownst to the group or to Silco, Powder’s finally got an invention that works. She’s made a bomb strapped to a mechanical monkey, and outside the factory, she sees the group’s plight. She sends the bomb into the factory to try to defeat Silco’s monster.

The bomb explodes.

It kills Craggor and Mylo. It badly injures Violet. It breaks Vander. Silco’s monster doesn’t even get a dent. Vander, in a last ditch effort, defeats Silco’s monster and destroys the factory. He also saves Violet before dying.

Powder comes up to Violet, happy and jubilant an invention of hers finally worked.

Violet snaps. “You’re nothing but a jinx!” she shouts. “You did this! You killed your family!” Powder is breaking down and falling apart. She needs comfort now, more than ever. But Violet is not in any state to give it. She walks away before being captured by an Enforcer; but Powder is found by Silco, who promises her, “We’ll show them all.” Silco becomes Powder’s adopted father.

Flash forward seven years. Powder is wracked by extreme guilt for causing her adoptive family’s death. Understandable, of course. She gives into insanity and violence, now calling herself “Jinx,” unafraid to use her contraptions to help Silco’s new mafia take over Zaun. She listens to voices inside her head, who seem to be versions of Mylo and Claggor. But what’s the main message Powder hears from Silco? “You’re perfect just the way you are,” he says. “They’re all lying.”

Violet was in prison this whole time. She is released and finds Powder. She tries to convince her they can go back to the way things were before; they can be a family again, leave all the things Powder’s done to survive behind.

Eventually, Powder/Jinx captures both Silco and Violet and chains them to chairs at the factory where Vander and her adopted family died all those years ago. Unsure who to trust, she’s convinced that Violet is working for the Piltover police (how else did she get out of prison?), and that Silco will hand her over to Piltover in exchange for Zaun’s independence (she overhears Silco saying as much). Chained to two chairs, Violet and Silco battle for Powder/Jinx’s soul.

“It’ll be okay,” Violet says while Powder yells at her to stop. “I’m your sister. Picture Claggor, picture Mylo, picture Vander. Remember who you are!”

Only it’s not ok. Those names are phantoms to Jinx, voices that haunt her and tell her she’s a monster.

Getting his hands untied, Silco grabs a gun and prepares to shoot Violet. In split second retaliation, Jinx/Powder shoots Silco. He slumps in his chair. Jin/Powder cries, “No, no, no!” But the last thing Silco says to her is, “I never would have given you to them. Not for anything. Don’t cry. You’re perfect.”

Jinx calms the voices in her head, and decides to continue Silco’s war against Piltover.

So, what went wrong? Why was Violet unable to persuade Jinx? What’s up with what Silco was saying to Jinx? And what does this have to do with Christianity?

Forgiveness: The Only Path Forward

Violet and Silco both take the wrong approach to helping Power/Jinx.

She can’t just forget. That’s Violet’s problem. To her, Powder is her little sister. The big sister is supposed to protect the little sister. They can be a family again. It’s all okay; everything Powder has done has been to survive. It’ll be ok. Just remember who you are, Powder, and you’ll be fine.

But she can’t forget. She killed three people. She murdered her family. She didn’t mean to; but it doesn’t matter. The first time her machines went right, they went spectacularly wrong. What defined her is now what makes her evil. She did wrong. It’s not just ok.

It is wrong. In all Silco says to her, he never actually addresses what went wrong. That she killed people by accident. He just says she’s perfect, that she’s valuable, that she’s loved just the way she is.

But she’s not. She’s not loved, she’s not perfect, she’s not valuable. Those are lies, too. Silco might love her as a daughter, but the residents of Piltover and Zaun do not love her for all of the chaos and violence she’s caused. Telling her these things has created Jinx, Silco’s violent enforcer.

“It’ll be fine; just forget about it, go back to who you were before.”

“It is fine; embrace what you’ve done, and know that you are perfect now.”

What Powder/Jinx needed to be told was that what she did wrong was bad. Very bad. Nothing she could ever do would redeem it. But she’s forgiven and accepted in spite of all of it.

Enter Christianity.

In Christianity, what you have done wrong matters. It is bad. You can’t just sweep it under the rug, or act like it never happened. But Jesus takes the penalty for all you have done wrong. What you’ve done wrong matters so much that God killed his son for it. He did give up his son, to gain everything. To gain people back. To forgive. In Christianity, that’s the only path forward.

In one of those lengthy reviews of the show, one of the hosts says, “This is severe psychological damage. Powder will need to find a way to deal with this. I don’t know how she will.”

No, you can’t just go back. But also, no, you’re not perfect the way you are. Arcane shows how both approaches to what you’ve done wrong–whether in situations as huge as murder, or much smaller–don’t work. One doesn’t adequately deal with the severity of what’s been done wrong; the other takes the severity and embraces it and promotes it. One undermines the sin; the other undermines the love. But both lead in the long run to damage.

What’s the answer, then? How can you do wrong but still be accepted and loved? How can the severity of wrong be counteracted with the strength of love in a way that does not undermine either?

While Arcane is a fantasy show, part of its success is dealing with real human emotions and situations that connected with audiences. Yes, it’s fiction; but the human-ness on display is decidedly nonfiction. The questions. are questions we all face, and all have to deal with.

While Arcane shows us what are not the answers, personally, I believe Christianity has the answer. But whether or not you believe that answer, the question remains. What do you do when you’ve done something unacceptably wrong? Arcane is powerful enough to deal with that question, and many more.

Did you watch Arcane? What did you think of these key moments of Powder’s character? What other media have you watched or read that intersected with your faith or values? Comment below!