Not “Only My Reading Of Canon Is Correct” Or “Interpretations Are Subjective And All Valid” But

Not “Only my reading of canon is correct” or “Interpretations are subjective and all valid” but a secret third thing, “More than one interpretation can be valid but there’s a reason your English teacher had you cite quotes and examples in your papers, you have to have a strong argument that your interpretation is actually supported by the text or it is just wrong and I’m fine with telling you it’s wrong, actually.”

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vikamedarda

2 months ago

People saying melvika is an out of nowhere pairing because they never met in canon like yeah, sure. however

Have you considered the themes??

Both of Mel and Sevika’s season 2 arcs involve them making very nuanced and impassioned appeals to morality. Sevika especially spends act 1 & 2 in this really interesting position of physical weakness; having to rely on verbal argument to bring the undercity together and failing because of it. We see her pleas for unity repeatedly fall on deaf ears despite the obvious experience and thought behind what she’s saying.

Enter: Mel. You know who also spends most of season 2 getting her appeals to morality shut down? That’s right! <3

Mel is interesting in the sense that she remains the only noncombatant character in the main cast right up until the last two episodes (even as a mage she’s not. a fighter at all - girl keeps passing out). Deescalation is always her first instinct and Sevika is repeatedly shown to be a single warning before a fight type-character.

This means, at minimum, any confrontation they have would be an argument & not a battle. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but in arcane?? It’s a fucking miracle.

Mel can be convinced through verbal debate which is something Sevika just does not encounter during the show; both characters kinda fulfil a specific need the other has narratively. I think a lot about the line in Mel’s flashback “Kino says war is a failure of statecraft.” -> it’s a defining line for Mel’s character in general, but it’s interesting for melvika in the sense that I think Sevika agrees. Sevika uses physical violence as a form of resistance against state violence, but she’s not a soldier. She views citizen violence as a method of showing the state’s failures to itself.

There’s SO much to be explored thematically about melvika & the nature of physical violence, it makes me a little insane. Mel has only ever encountered it as a hunt; invading armies and conquest. Sevika views it as a form of communication and beyond that - resistance, as the only avenue left to stand against oppression. Mel needs to learn that war isn’t the only thing that hurts people, her upbringing as a Noxian has skewed her perception of violence in general.

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vikamedarda

2 months ago