Silco Is a Masterclass in Subversive Villainy

Silco: You'll die for the cause, but you won't fight for one? Silco years later: YES

Like someone said: Silco didn’t die as a villain, he died as a father

Silco having a compelling character arc is what really made him stand out for me.

Silco is the best form of "villain". You don't really want him to win, but you don't want him to lose either, because you understand and sympathize (somewhat) with his actions, even if you wouldn't go that far yourself.

A lot of people look at Silco's speech to Deckard in episode one as a sort of canned 'villain' speech. But when you look at it in retrospect he was speaking to his own inadequacies and you realize that he's molded Powder to be the ideal version of what he wished to be. She is stronger, faster, smarter, AND ruthless. The want of any parent, that the child would become a better version of themselves.

“In the end, Silco was willing to die for the cause, but not fight for it” damn that ending was good! Also I’m sure it’s brother in arms, I don’t think it’s familial 😜

One thing that makes Silco stick in peoples minds is his way of delivering his lines in the same seductive way that people find so irresistible in Thrawn from Star Wars. There is a certain, disconnected philosophers way about how he speaks, a seductive assurance behind every word that drips with sincerity and selflessness. A worldview stated as a cold fact of reality

He is undone by Jinx, he's own daughter figure, and yet he doesn't feel any malice towards her, with his final words he expresses how much he cared for her, that's a little bit of humanization and decency that really wraps up his character extremely well

"Oh, it all makes sense now, brother. Is there anything so undoing as a daughter?"

I think Silco's fostering powder is more like an act of sympathy because of what he went through not because hes altruistic at heart or something like that and thats what would lead him to understanding vander

I agree Silco was a villain and the fact that he cared about Jinx doesnt redeem him but council members of Piltover were just as shady inmy opinion , I didnt really see any character in the show as hero, and I kind of understood everybody , where they come from and why they act the way they do

I believe Silco really cared about Zaun and it's citizens, his ways are just radical because he believes that it's the only way to set them free from Piltover's oppression. While not everyone approved his ways, his intention is genuine.

I think Arcane did an interesting thing where they were willing to show that, even though Silco is clearly the villain, in some instances he's the most noble and loving person. Imo the greatest gesture of love came from Silco, after Jinx shot him, and he STILL affirmed her. And since the greatest act of love came from a man with twisted ambitions, the girl who wanted nothing more than a source of unconditional love cemented herself in the twisted ambitions of the one person who would give it to her.

The talk between Silco and Jayce, where Silco said "Jinx was acting on my orders...", he was willing to accept punishment for Jinx's crimes. Right there, it was clear that Silco was not going to give up Jinx

Powder last act: killing Silco. Jinx first act: avenging him. "They can all burn - We will show them all"

Silco was a fantastic character. I expected him to convert innocent Powder, or groom her in some malicious way. But... No. He just does not rein her in and keeps telling her she is perfect. He does love her, but he loves her too much to stop her from sliding down this path of insanity. He was a father to her, but he was not a healthy father

I love how the first thing Silco does when he tries to persuade Decker to take shimmer is to disarm Decker.

Another interesting subversion in Silco's portrayal as a villain-...and he is a villain insofar as there is any singular villain. His methods include violence, coercion, terrorism, the weaponizing of his own people, and the flooding of a dangerous drug onto the streets. The means a character is willing to achieve even a noble goal often determine their status as a hero or a villain. And it could certainly be said that Silco's ultimate goal of a free, independent, and strong Zaun was noble. But the interesting thing about him as a villain is that...his villainous methods were working. His actions were terrible. But under Silco the Enforcers didn't just take a light touch, they stayed entirely out of the Lanes. Marcus was all but under Silco's thumb. While it was fueled by drugs, the economy in the Undercity was booming. And he came within a hair's breadth of securing his ultimate, and noble, goal of taking Zaun out from under the exploitive thumb of Piltover. And that's a pretty amazing approach for a story, to have a villain's villainous methods actually working. The Council didn't suddenly dig in its heels and proclaim they would not be intimidated or declare that they wouldn't negotiate with a terrorist. It wasn't any of the heroes or even the actions of someone intentionally trying to stop him or undermine Silco's methods that "thwarted" him. And further, this stands in contrast to Vander's much more conventionally noble and heroic methods, of sacrificing no one, using diplomacy, and seeking to maintain peace. For all of Vander's efforts, the Lanes were still poorer than poor with even other outsiders trying to take advantage of its people. The Enforcers were a constant presence. And at the end of the day, the people were still regularly walking around breathing air so poisonous that most topsiders wore rebreathers. And this was the status quo, one that he was intentionally trying not to upset for the sake of protecting lives. They're an amazing contrast in the two ideas "The ends justify the means" and "The means justify the ends" and shows just how darkly either ideological end can be. It's easy to say you believe in one or the other. But then to see the what those respective "means" and "ends" are...I think both Vander and Silco were broken by it.

Despite him being an entirely new addition as a character, I found him the most interesting. Silco's voice actor also did a tremendously good job with his portrayal.

Very interesting and well-edited video. Loved the last line. A couple of things I disagree with: The running theme of Silco's selfishness as a reason for caring for Jinx. Yes he's possessive but I don't think he "helps himself when he helps her." Very concretely, it doesn't change anything he has gone through, endured, and thought through. He doesn't want to make her in his image but try to help her the only flawed way he, any parent can, by referring to his experience. But Jinx is very independent from him, be it her goals, her coming and going, or even her style and art, which rather show that he lets her express herself. He takes her in because "Silco sees himself in her." Man, that's the definition of sympathy. Empathy at least. That's indeed the first act of kindness and humanity from him, and selfish if may be, but aren't those kinds of selfishness, sympathy and empathy, at the heart of human interaction and even altruism?