Okay, let's talk timelines in Arcane. Trying to pin down exactly when stuff happens between Piltover and Zaun feels like herding cats on Shimmer – chaotic and potentially explosive. The show throws dates around like Jinx throws grenades, vaguely and with maximum impact. And don't even get me started on trying to line it up neatly with the League of Legends game lore! Is it the same? Is it different? Riot plays it coy, leaving us scratching our heads. So, grab a drink (non-Shimmer enhanced, preferably), and let’s wade into this glorious mess together, shall we? My brain already hurts just thinking about Heimerdinger's age, honestly. 🤯
The Really, Really Old Stuff: When Rocks Were Young
So, apparently, Arcane kicks off its real story thousands of years before Vi even thought about punching someone. We're talking ancient history, folks – whispers of the Rune Wars. You know, those cheerful little conflicts where people waved around arcane power like toddlers with loaded guns, managing to obliterate entire civilizations. Fun times! The kicker? Our fuzzy little Yordle, Heimerdinger, claims he saw some of this go down. Let that sink in. How old is that walking furball in Arcane? Older than in the main LoL timeline? Probably! It adds a whole layer of 'ancient wisdom' to his constant fretting over safety protocols. Makes you wonder what other horrors he’s locked away in that big brain of his. Eventually, he settles in Zaun, just as shiny new Piltover pops up next door like an ambitious pimple.
Piltover does what rich, techy cities do: it expands, basically swallowing Zaun whole. Topside thrived on innovation and probably artisan coffee, while the Undercity... well, let's just say poverty and toxic fumes were the main exports. Harmony? Yeah, right. The relationship was basically a powder keg with a very short fuse, waiting for centuries for someone dumb or brave enough to light it. Why bother fixing things when you can just build taller towers and ignore the stench rising from below?
The OG Bromance Gone Bad: Vander & Silco
Fast forward roughly 180 years after Piltover’s founding. Enter Vander and Silco. Best buds? Brothers from another mother? Whatever they were, they shared a dream: change the brutal status quo for Zaun. Sounds noble, right? But oh, how the mighty fall. Turns out, wanting change is easy; agreeing on how to get it? Not so much. Their disagreement wasn't a polite debate over tea. Nope. It escalated into a full-blown, face-scarring brawl that ended their friendship faster than you can say "betrayal."
Here’s where my timeline gets fuzzy, and the show likes it that way. It's heavily implied this violent fallout was part of some bigger uprising topside. And it likely led directly to the deaths of Vi and Jinx’s parents. Both Vander and Silco seemed to have cared deeply for the mother, which adds another layer of messy emotional baggage to the whole thing. Vander, the big softie (relatively speaking), ends up taking in the orphaned sisters. Silco? He just took the scar and the grudge, nurturing it like a poisonous plant. What exactly was their plan before it imploded? The show leaves us hanging, making their later conflict hit that much harder.
Around this messy era, other key players were setting their paths, though pinning down exact dates is like nailing jelly to a wall:
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Jayce & The Blizzard: Kid Jayce and his mom nearly freeze to death, saved by some mysterious mage. This near-death ice experience clearly left a mark, fueling Jayce's obsession with studying magic scientifically. Hextech origins, anyone? ❄️➡️🔬
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Viktor & Singed: Our future Glorious Evolution enthusiast starts his journey under the tutelage of Zaun's own resident mad scientist, Singed. Guess what they were tinkering with? Yep, the foundations of Shimmer. Ominous much?
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Ambessa's Family Drama: Tough-as-nails Noxian warlord Ambessa kicks her daughter Mel off to Piltover ("Go learn some culture, kid!"). Then, her son gets whacked by the shadowy Black Rose. Cue Mama Medarda swearing bloody revenge. Noxian family values on full display!
Season 1: Progress, Powder, and Pandemonium
Jump ahead to roughly 194 years post-Piltover-founding for the prologue. Jayce, needing rare undercity junk for his experiments, gets spotted by the ever-watchful Ekko. Ekko tips off young Vi: "Hey, rich guy down below, easy mark!" What could go wrong? A simple theft spirals into a potential city-wide war. Silco, smelling opportunity in the chaos, makes his move for power. It ends… poorly. Vander seemingly dies saving Vi, and little Powder, shattered and blamed, falls right into Silco's waiting arms. Jinx is born in that moment of trauma and abandonment. Heavy stuff.
Then, the main Season 1 action kicks off 200 years after Piltover’s founding. How do we know? The city is throwing a massive bash – Progress Day! Piltover's 200th birthday. And wow, has it grown. Jayce's Hextech has revolutionized everything, turning the city into the world's teleportation hub. Global trade has never been smoother! But Jinx, now Silco's unstable protege, decides the best birthday gift is chaos. She blows up the council chamber, kills Silco (believing he was about to betray her – tragic irony), and caps it all off by launching a rocket at the Piltover Council chamber. Peace treaty? Yeah, that dream just got vaporized along with half the council tower. 🚀💥
Season 2: War, Mutation, and More Mayhem
Picking up literally seconds after that rocket hits, Season 2 dives headfirst into the fallout. Ambessa Medarda sees the chaos and thinks, "Perfect! Time for war!" She starts pulling strings to ensure Piltover (led by a grieving and determined Caitlyn) and Zaun go full scorched-earth on each other. Down in the Undercity, Silco's death leaves a power vacuum bigger than the fissures. Chaos reigns... until Jinx resurfaces. Why? Because a kid she’d gotten weirdly attached to gets killed. Classic Jinx motivation.
The real bombshell? Vi and Jinx discover Vander isn't dead! He's... changed. Mutated. Probably thanks to Singed's dubious "care". Desperate, the sisters turn to Viktor for help. Smart move? Asking Viktor for help ever seems risky. And surprise, surprise – things go catastrophically wrong. How wrong? Well, let's just say Viktor's path to becoming the Machine Herald likely gets a serious turbo-boost here. Where does this leave the sisters? United? Divided? The show loves making us guess.
League of Legends Timeline: A Whole Other Beast?
Okay, stepping back from Arcane for a sec. League of Legends lore operates on the Noxian Calendar: BN (Before Noxus) and AN (After Noxus). Trying to perfectly align Arcane with this is like trying to fit Warwick into a tutu – theoretically possible, but deeply unsettling and probably inaccurate. Arcane is doing its own thing! But for context, here’s a super condensed version of the LoL timeline, focusing just on the ancient stuff leading up to Piltover's founding. Will Arcane follow this? 🤷♂️
| Era (Noxian Calendar) | Key Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Creation - ~8000BN | Universe & Runeterra form | Gods, Titans, the whole cosmic shebang. |
| ~9000BN - ~8000BN | Titan War | Mortals vs. Titans. Vastayashai'rei save the day. Some stick around. |
| ~9000BN - ~8000BN | Founding of the Freljord | Harsh land unified. Home to demigods like Anivia, Ornn, Volibear. |
| ~8000BN | War of the Three Sisters (Freljord) | Triggered by Void Watchers. Avarosa vs. Serylda vs. Lissandra. |
| ~6000BN - ~5000BN | Human Migration West | Populating new lands. |
| ~5000BN - ~2500BN | Rise & Fall of Shuriman Empire | God-Warriors, Sun Disc, big empire energy. Then... collapse. |
| ~2500BN - ~500BN | Void War (Shurima/Ixtal vs. Icathia) → Great Darkin War | Apocalyptic conflicts. Darkin = corrupted God-Warriors. |
| ~400BN - ~100BN | Reign of Mordekaiser (Sahn Uzal, the Iron Revenant) | Tyranny in Eastern/Central Valoran. |
| ~25BN | Ruination of the Blessed Isles → Shadow Isles → Rune Wars | Magic gone wild, civilizations destroyed (again!). |
| 0AN - ~790AN | Rise of Modern Nations (Noxus, Demacia, Bilgewater, Piltover @790AN) | Piltover founded in 790AN according to Noxian Calendar. |
See the potential clash? Arcane uses "Years After Piltover's Founding" as its anchor, while LoL uses the Noxian Calendar (AN) and pins Piltover's founding at 790AN. Is Heimerdinger really thousands of years old in both timelines? Did the Rune Wars look the same? How much of that ancient Shuriman/Darkin/Void stuff will bleed into Arcane? The showrunners are clearly playing fast and loose, picking and choosing what serves their story of Piltover and Zaun. Maybe Singed's past holds Void secrets? Maybe Ambessa's Noxus connects to Mordekaiser's legacy? Or maybe Arcane just wants to focus on the sisters and their broken city? Only time, and Season 2, will tell. Trying to force a perfect fit now is just asking for a headache. I think I need to go lie down after all that. Pass the non-toxic tea?