Hey guys I'm back with my second Pure Good proposal! Today, I wanted to propose Ekko from League of Legends, but more specifically his Arcane counterpart after watching the finale of the show.
CAUTION: THIS PROPOSAL HAS SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRETY OF THE SHOW! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Now that that's out of the way, on to the proposal!
What's the Work?
Arcane is a Netflix animated series that's based off the League of Legends game. The show focuses on Vi and Powder, two sisters from Zaun who reunite with one another after being seperated for years due to a tragedy unintentionally caused by the latter. Despite reuniting however, the pair would find to be at odds with each other after discovering how much they've both changed during the time they've been seperated.
The show also follows Piltover scientists Jayce and Viktor, two inventors and best friends who create Hextech in order to better the lives of others. Despite their incredible innovations, the duo would each face their own issues as Jayce struggles with his new responsibilities as a councilor and Viktor deals with finding a cure for his lifelong illness that is threatening to kill him with every passing day before he can make a name for himself. These 4 individuals' stories would all come to merge as the story progresses.
Who Is He and What Has He Done?
Ekko is a Zaunite youth who's the the childhood friend of Vi and Powder, with the boy having a crush on the latter. He was also the apprentice of Benzo, a pawn shop owner. After the night Benzo, Vander, Mylo, and Claggor are killed, Vi's taken to Stillwater for years and Powder is taken in by Silco and begins her transformation into Jinx. Meanwhile, Ekko would eventually become the leader of the Firelights, a street gang that serves to oppose Silco's criminal empire, doing hit and runs on his Shimmer operations. One day, Ekko would lead a group of Firelights on an ambush on Jinx at the same time she was reuniting with Vi (who was accompanied by Caitlyn). Vi, not knowing that Ekko was the one leading the Firelights, fought them alongside Jinx. Ekko and his group would retreat after capturing Vi and Caitlyn in order to find out whether or not they were allies.
After determining they were all on the same side, Ekko would join Caitlyn and Vi in their journey to return the gemstone stolen by Jinx back topside, only to be ambused by Marcus, a corrupt official working with Silco. Ekko is nearly shot and Caitlyn is almost killed until Jinx intervenes, setting off some bombs she made which winds up killing Marcus and a bunch of enforcers accompanying him. Seeing Caitlyn with Vi, Jinx ends up shooting at the duo in a jealous fury. The two would be saved when Ekko comes in and stops Jinx, letting Vi and Caitlyn go topside while he fought Jinx. He successfully manages to get close and pin her to the ground, repeatedly punching her. He almost kills her, but stops as he sees her scared face, being reminded of their time together when she was still Powder. Jinx then sets off a grenade, causing Ekko to retreat with a sprained ankle while leaving Jinx serverly injured. After this fight, Ekko would meet an exiled Heimerdinger and end up bonding with the Yordle. Ekko would then take him back to the Firelights hideout and begin a friendship and partnership with him.
After Jinx fires her rocket at the Piltover council, the Firelights' base begin to struggle with all the refugees as a result of the fallout, and Ekko notices signs of their tree being corrupted. Heimerdinger, thinking they can find an answer in the Piltover Academy, sneaks inside with Ekko, only to be found by Jayce. The trio discuss the matter and using Viktor's theories on "wild runes", head to the Hex Vault and discover a large arcane anomaly, caused by Hextech. Jayce touches the anomaly and ends up being sent to a future timeline while Ekko and Heimerdinger wind up in a different one.
Ekko would end up in a timeline where Vi died during their raid on Jayce's house and everyone else is alive, including Benzo, Vander, Silco, Mylo, and Claggor. Powder also never became Jinx in this universe and seems to have begun a relationship with her version of Ekko. Confused and still wary of Powder, Ekko meets Heimerdinger who reveals he's been stuck there for over 3 years. Ekko tells him he plans to create a device that can send him and Heimerdinger back and recruits the Yordle in his endeavor. During the time spent creating the device, he makes a machine called the Z-Drive that can time travel, but discovers he can only go back 4 seconds, otherwise it will have horrific effects. He also bonds with Powder and winds up kissing her. Despite enjoying this reality, he still decides to head back to his own timeline after the machine is complete in order to help save everyone. Heimerdinger however stays behind to ensure Ekko makes it back and ends up disappearing, leaving his fate unknown.
Ekko would come back and find Jinx as she plans on blowing herself up after Isha's death. Despite killing herself multiple times, Ekko keeps rewinding time to talk her out of it, eventually succeeding. The duo would then meet up with the Firelights and fellow Zaunites before joining Vi, Caitlyn, and Jayce (who's come back from the future timeline) in the war with Noxus. Ekko would help Vi reach Jinx on her airship after she's attacked by Warwick who's being brainwashed by Viktor. The four would then crash into the Hex Gates which Jayce is trying to shut down before Viktor can come and use it, to no avail as Viktor activates it regardless. Viktor would then brainwash everyone, including Vi, Jinx, and Jayce and begins the process of corrupting Piltover. However, Ekko is the only one still unaffected as he was knocked out while everyone else was subdued.
Being Piltover and Zaun's last hope, he would make his way to the top of the Hex Gates and face Viktor's army, repeatedly reversing time to avoid getting hit. However, he soons finds the 4 second limit is not enough and is almost brainwashed himself until he pushes past the 4 second limit and goes back way further than that, rewinding to a point where he's in front of Viktor and throws the unstable Z-Drive at him, causing it to explode right in front of him. This explosion would damage Viktor's face in both the real world and astral plane, allowing Jayce to reach his human side and talk him out of his "Glorious Evolution" plan. The duo would then destroy the wild rune, reversing Viktor's effects and causing the two to disappear into nothingness.
Aferwards, the war has ended and Ekko is last seen sitting by himself in the same spot he and the alternate universe Powder were sitting, thinking about Jinx as she's presumed to be deceased after the war.
Corrupting Factors
Ekko can be violent, namely when he's seen punching Jinx while he has her pinned down. He also has a couple moments where he's rude and aggressive, namely when talking about people from Piltover, which is seen with Caitlyn as he gets in her face after she tells him the Piltover enforcers wouldn't hunt them down like he claims they would. He's also initially rude to the alternate universe's Powder. However, his violent confrontation with Jinx is understandable as she was trying to kill him at the time, and he does show reluctance and restraint when he sees how hurt and scared she is, showing he still cares about her deep down. He would even end up saving her from commiting suicide later on, mending their relationship in the process before convincing her to work together in the war with Noxus.
As for his rudeness, he's only seemed to experience violence and corruption from Piltover enforcers ever since he was a child, so it's understandable why he doesn't have the highest opinion of them. In addition this grudge only seems to extend to corrupt Piltover enforcers as he quickly becomes friends and partners with Heimerdinger and also allies with both Caitlyn and Jayce once he realizes they aren't bad people and that they're all on the same page, showing he's not really Xenophobic but rather just hates corrupt officials who abuse their position to hurt others. Now to address his initial aggressiveness to the alternate universe Powder, he was still getting used to being in a different reality and wasn't fully trusting of her due to his bad relationship with his own version of Jinx, so it's easy to comprehend why he'd think she'd be the same way. As soon as he understands she's not a bad person however, he immediately treats her better and apologizes to her by making a mural of Vi for her.
Admirable Standard
Despite not being the main focus of the show, Ekko is one of (if not) the most admirable characters in the show. For starters, he organizes and leads the Firelights to fight back against Silco's corrupting influence in Zaun. He's also quite selfless as he helps out and houses any refugees who need his assistance, even when times get difficult or there's not enough to go around, telling a fellow Firelight member he can't just turn away people in need. He faces Jinx alone in order to give Vi and Caitlyn time to escape. When he's sent to an alternate timeline where he's in a relationship with Powder and things are significantly better compared to his reality, he decides to find a way back home despite the temptation to stay as he's determined to help save his people. Once back home, he goes and saves Jinx from commiting suicide, time traveling multiple times in a row to stop her despite their bad history as he still cares about her and eventually convinces her to help them in the war with Noxus.
His biggest admirable standard however comes from when he singlehandedly saves Piltover and perhaps the entire world. When everyone else gets brainwashed by Viktor who's on the verge of completing his "Glorious Evolution", Ekko comes through and stops him. When he's almost brainwashed, he resists through sheer willpower and immediately pushes the 4 second limit on his Z-Drive, going back father than that despite knowing the potential danger as he knew it was their last chance at winning. This proved Ekko was the key factor in winning the battle against Viktor as it in turn frees Jayce from the brainwashing and gives him the chance to successfully convince his old friend he should stop his plans.
Final Verdict
I'm going with a firm YES. Ekko's braveness, determination and selflessness puts him above the rest, but let me know what you guys think. As always, thanks for reading!