The video game adaptations tend to fail, but the series manages to find a voice of its own without gimmicks or heavy-handed references. Arcane focuses mainly on the industrious city of Piltover and its criminal underbelly known as Zaun.

League of Legends has become a global phenomenon since its release in 2009, bringing in millions of viewers worldwide each year for its championship events. The lore in League of Legends is expansive, with a character description and backstory for each of its champions that all intertwine in various ways. Arcane is arguably the best video game adaptation of all time, with a distinctive art style and a compelling narrative. The show borrows characters and elements from League of Legends’ lore and applies them in an original story. Of the more than 150 playable champions in League of Legends, Arcane uses a fraction of those in the story.

Jinx

Voiced By Ella Purnell

Arcane gives context to the torment of Jinx’s mind, detailing her transformation from the naive and innocent Powder to the reckless criminal mastermind that is Jinx. The series gives a nice overview of her traumatic childhood and how it drives her away from her sister. She is one of the show’s most dynamic and interesting characters, and she has long been one of League of Legends’ most popular champions.

Called The Loose Cannon in League of Legends, she's often been compared to Harley Quinn since her introduction to the game as a champion in 2013. Jinx was heavily utilized in promoting the series and was even added as a playable character in Fortnite ahead of the show’s release. For Arcane, she is voiced by Ella Purnell, who fans will know from shows like Yellowjackets and Fallout, another successful video game adaptation.

Vi

Voiced By Hailee Steinfeld

While Jinx is seen by some as the show's main character, Vi is played by streaming star Hailee Steinfeld and is the true protagonist of the series. Many fans of the game have long speculated that Jinx and Vi were sisters, although it is unclear whether that is the case outside of the show. Just how much of Arcane is canon to the game hasn't been confirmed.

Her hand-to-hand combat skills are impressive, even from a young age, allowing her to take on people twice her size in some stunningly crafted choreography for Arcane.

In League of Legends lore, Vi re little to nothing from her childhood, including her own name, and is only called “Vi” due to the Roman numerals tattooed on her cheek. Vi is a melee character in the game and that has translated to her being a true street brawler for the show. Her hand-to-hand combat skills are impressive, even from a young age, allowing her to take on people twice her size in some stunningly crafted choreography for Arcane.

Ambessa

Voiced By Ellen Thomas

Ambessa, Mel’s mother, appears in a recurring capacity in the first season before becoming a series regular in the second. In Arcane, she’s someone who thrives on bloodshed and war, understanding how to pit groups of people against one another. She’s also a woman on the hunt for the person responsible for the death of her son as she believes he’ll cause more conflict for her own people.

Ambessa is also the first Arcane character to get a spinoff novel. Ambessa: Chosen of the Wolf is set to release in 2025.

Ambessa might be a character that has appeared in the show since the first season, but she’s a recent addition to League of Legends. She was only added to the game as a champion the same week of season 2’s release. She is referred to as the “matriarch of war” for the game. She is a melee fighter in League of Legends, wielding blades and chains most prominently. That’s reflected in her use of a blade in the animated series as well.

Teemo

Appears As An Easter Egg In Season 1

Most League of Legends champions that appear in the show are full-fledged characters with their own storylines. That’s not the case for Teemo, who is an Easter egg for game fans.

One of Silco’s henchmen is reading a children’s book that features the character when they’re busy invading the home of a police official. Teemo’s Poison Puffcaps are also seen next to caged Kurgs in the very first episode of the series. Beyond that, the character is yet to make any kind of speaking appearance.

In League of Legends, Teemo is a Yordle assassin known as The Swift Scout. He’s known for ranged attacks and his explosives. It’s possible the character could make a more physical appearance before the series ends, but it’s just as likely he’s simply being used as a fun Easter egg for fans because he’s so recognizable.

Warwick

Rumored To Be Voiced By JB Blanc

Arcane co-creators Christian Link and Alex Yee participated in a Reddit AMA in 2022 about the show while writer Amanda Overton later ed in on the chat. It’s there that fans first learned that Warwick would appear in season 2. Overton confirmed that the League of Legends champion would get some backstory in Arcane, with fans getting to see more about just how he was created.

When the first season of Arcane came to an end, many fans speculated that Warwick would actually be a new form for Vander. Vander was, presumably, killed during the conflict with law enforcement and Silco when Powder tried to use stolen crystals to save him, Vi, and their allies.

While there’s been no official confirmation of that particular storyline playing out, promotional images and trailers for season 2 have heavily suggested that is the case.

Her plan backfired, and several people were killed, but Vander was attacked by one of Singed’s experiments instead. At the end of the season, an animal-like form was seen hanging in Singed’s lab, and many speculated he had been able to mutate Vander into Warwick.

Orianna

Set To Appear In Season 2

In the same Reddit AMA, the character of Orianna was mentioned as a champion who would appear in season 2. Nothing has been mentioned about her character for Arcane since and there’s been no official announcement, as of November 2024, for her casting, so it’s not clear if she will be showing up as a character for part of the storyline or as an Easter egg in the season.

Much like Warwick, fans speculated about her potential appearance before the reveal. That’s because the doctor who becomes known as Singed in the first season discusses a daughter he lost and carries around a locket with a picture of a young girl in it. That backstory lines up with Orianna, who is a young girl who helps her father make prosthetics and automatons in the League of Legends lore.

When Oriana becomes sick, her body parts are gradually replaced with mechanical pieces until there are no human parts of her left. She’s known as the Lady of Clockwork because of the clock-like mechanical pieces that are used to keep her going. Of course, those mechanical pieces are also powered by Hextech, so she’s an amalgam of magic and machine.

Janna

Set To Appear In Season 2

Also mentioned in the Reddit AMA is Janna. Overton only offered that Janna would be mentioned in the new season, not that she would appear in the series, but that could have changed since the discussion two years ago.

In League of Legends lore, Janna is a wind spirit who protects the people of Zaun. She’s called the Goddess of the Wind or the Storm’s Fury. In her corporeal form, she wields a staff, but in much of the lore, she simply appears as wind or even a gentle breeze in order to help someone.

With the premiere of Arcane season 2’s first three episodes on November 9, it is possible that Janna has already had her nod. Jinx talks about a “wind woman” who saves the lives of miners. It’s made more likely that it’s her, since her figure can be seen in the season 2 trailer in what appears to be a graffitied shrine to her.

Kindred

Kindred Appears As A Season 1 Easter Egg

It is easy to miss the single appearance (so far) of Kindred in Arcane. It occurs in the first season when Vi and Caitlyn enter a Zaun brothel in episode 5. Sitting inside is a representation of Kindred in human form wearing their mask. It's rare for Kindred to take on human form and exist in the mortal world, so it's an interesting Easter egg for fans of League of Legends.

Known as The Eternal Hunters, Kindred is split into two forms - the Lamb and the Wolf. They're a representation of death in League of Legends, with the Lamb offering a quick death to those who accept their impending demise and the Wolf hunting down those who resist. In the game lore, they are spirits who take on the appearance of carved masks to humans who spot them, which makes sense for the use of the mask in Arcane, but it's not made clear who they are there for.

Jayce

Voiced By Kevin Alejandro

Jayce Talis is perhaps the most prolific intellectual in the history of Piltover. Arcane takes some liberties with his story, making him out to be somewhat more naive rather than the arrogant and conceited character he is in the League of Legends lore. Jayce is the symbol of Piltover, dubbed the “Man of Progress” and the “Defender of Tomorrow”, and strives to make life easier for the working class with his inventions that combine magic and science.

He made his debut as a champion in the game in 2012, but Jayce's presence and more extensive character development in Arcane has actually made him more popular in League of Legends. He's become the franchise's answer to Tony Stark. Jayce is the inventor of Hextech, and without him, much of the technology following the show's time jump just wouldn't exist.

Caitlyn

Voiced By Katie Leung

Of all of the Arcane, Caitlyn’s character is one of the closest to the source material. Caitlyn Kiramman is an outlier in the high society of Piltover. Her mother is a high-ranking political figure, but she would often preach about the dangers that come with power and status, shaping Caitlyn’s sense of right and wrong from an early age. Caitlyn and Vi are effectively the antitheses of one another while both possessing a prevalent moral com, making them ideal crime-fighting partners.

In League of Legends, she's called the Sheriff of Piltover.

Caitlyn is often referenced as the moral core of the series because so many of the characters operate in gray areas. That could change as she's pushed farther in season 2. In League of Legends, she's called the Sheriff of Piltover because of her law enforcement storyline and her character is best with ranged attacks because of her associated weaponry.