Some Thoughts On Mel And Ambessa From Arcane :)

I think it's kinda interesting how Mel doesn't really fit into the disposable black girlfriend trope and yet a lot of fandom still treats her like she does.

The poor writing with Mel puts her in the independent black woman stereotype (even though she was very much not independent) more than the disposable black girlfriend trope. It doesn't take Jayce loving Mel to have some sort of epiphany about Viktor. It takes him literally having to eat raw lizards with a shattered leg in the depths of a cave, and the epiphany he has isn't even a positive one. He doesn't have to be "freed" from Mel or dispose of her to be with Viktor—they were torn apart by circumstance and he had a moral obligation to be with Viktor.

Basically what I'm saying is that if you need to discredit and disrespect a character in order to make your ship work you need to do some self reflecting.

But I've participated in ship wars and I'd rather just talk about the whole "independent black woman thing" because it has to do with her as an individual, rather than as a part of a pair or an obstacle.

"Mel is a queen" she's not. She's stunning and an amazing character but she very much is not. Mel is so dependent on other people. She needed the council to work in her favour in order to achieve her personal goals. She needed Jayce and Elora to be vulnerable with. It makes Ambessa's treatment towards her all the more hurtful; she needed her mother, and her mother's approval, and was punished for it. I don't think we actually take the time to comprehend how devastating it would be to be, what, 19-20 years old and be exiled because you were too soft for your mother, only to be told years later that it was actually because your she loved you and she didn't want to (if my mother told me she kicked me out because I weakened her I'd probably instantaneously die of a broken heart). Obviously it was more complex than that, but Mel is the child in this situation; she is not going to see it through Ambessa's eyes nor would she want to.

Mel likely got really good at feigning independence but I doubt that, with the way she grew up and the service she would've been able to afford in Piltover, she even knew how to cook. I'm sure she depended on other people not only for the major aspects of her life but also just to keep her basic needs in order. And she's not strong either; because she was raised in Noxus she can likely fight with knives and swords, but it's not like she was this phenomenal mage when she got her powers.

I hope the Noxus show doesn't pretend that she's some strong and independent person, because that's not what Mel has ever been. She's smart and savvy and shrewd but not independent. I love her so much but I'd rather see a real portrayal of her—probably struggling not only with her magic but with trying to stand up on her own—than the fake solo act it's easy to pretend that she is.

melvika grown on me. give sevika 40 minutes with mel and all of Piltover & Zauns issues are fixed

I love dressing up characters and since Sevika is rumored to be of Indian origin, I dressed her in Indian clothes😋

medieval au because i'm so normal about them

(prints!)

I think fandom will be immensely improved once people manage to internalize that 1) racism and misogyny in fics and in fandom culture are not necessary evils to sustain a thriving fandom ecosystem and 2) if your thriving fandom megalopolis has racism and misogyny as load bearing walls then it deserves to be destroyed.

mom, i'm tired. can i sleep in your arms tonight?

actually have so many thoughts & feelings about ekko arcane

he really lost his entire family, found a tree, and went fuck it if the tree can make it so can we and started a whole community/revolution about it. he is the figurehead of a whole little sect of a society fresh out of his teens. what the hell dude

his best friend/childhood crush became a crazy murderer and he was mostly fully on board with the idea of getting rid of her but then he finds a world where she is happy and goes fuck it im helping my universe's jinx get there too

he is so incredibly present-oriented for someone whose powers are going back in time, he doesn't want powder back even after seeing the universe where powder is happy, he wants jinx in this universe

he's an optimist and a realist he is finding the possibility of life and joy and then doing absolutely everything he can towards that end, but he won't sink the effort into something he doesn't see as possible. he doesn't want to help vi "bring powder back" when they first reunite because he's in the present where powder is gone, but the moment he knows it's possible for him and jinx to work together and be happy and whatnot he finds her and gets repeatedly blown up for his troubles. and like. he watches her try to kill herself over and over again just for a chance to talk. he throws a bomb at god. he flips off a cop as a kid. ekko my beloved no one is doing it like him and i hope his funky little tree lives forever <33

Doechii's fit at the Schiaparelli Show 2025 was made for Mel Medarda 🔥

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.

some lestvika for me and the other 3 shippers