Piltover Champions Who Could Be Introduced In Arcane Season 2
Arcane season 2 has the opportunity to further explore its main setting of Piltover by adding several major League of Legends characters native to the so-called City of Progress. Riot Games and French animators Fortiche made a claim to the best new television series of 2021 with the Netflix-exclusive release of Arcane season 1, receiving universal praise for the show's stunning animation and deep character depth, securing a second season almost immediately.
While season 1 ends on an important cliffhanger that could dramatically change the show's direction going forward, Arcane season 2 is still expected to dive further into the sociopolitical rivalry between the wealthy, technologically advanced city of Piltover and its polluted undercity—now an independent nation of its own called Zaun. While the two cities are inseparable in their lore and shared pool of characters, Piltover is perhaps best known for introducing League of Legends favorites like Jayce—a brilliant scientist and in Arcane one of two individuals who revolutionized hextech technology—as well as the Yordle inventor Heimerdinger, dubbed the Father of Piltover, and the sharpshooter peacekeeper Caitlyn.
League of Legends has some of the deepest lore in modern video gaming, as its story has been told and retold with continuous support since its alpha release in 2009. Today there are more than 150 playable characters—or champions—while Riot Games has continued to evolve its IP with spinoffs like Teamfight Tactics and Legends of Runeterra, with a 2D fighting game, an action RPG, and even an MMORPG currently in development. Each of these titles will undoubtedly continue to expand the League universe, but for fans of deep lore and expertly crafted storytelling, Netflix's new animated series takes the cake. Here are four beloved Piltover champions that Arcane season 2 can introduce to keep things fresh and exciting.
Camille and her familial lineage are important aspects of both Piltover and Zaun within League of Legends lore, largely operating from within the shadows. Camille comes from Clan Ferros, one of the region's wealthiest and most influential families—making it particularly odd that they were never properly mentioned in Arcane season 1. They gained their vast wealth largely through the mining of rare crystals in the Shuriman desert, the original hex-crystals, which according to Camille's official bio "contained power normally only wielded by those born with innate magical ability." If this sounds familiar, it's because it closely mirrors Jayce's experiments on the mysterious crystals in Arcane, as well as his motivation for doing so—to harness magic through the use of science.
In League of Legends, Clan Ferros used the mined crystals to establish and wield considerable power, even using them to physically augment their bodies. Camille had most of her body augmented and even had her heart removed and replaced with hextech by her lover, Hakim Naderi, after her father was murdered by augmented Zaunite thugs, leading to her mother's death as well. As clan intelligencer, it was her job to secure her family's legacy at any cost, and her inhuman transformation allowed her to be a devastating threat, largely operating from the shadows. This was all happening decades before Jayce and Viktor learned how to perfect hextech technology in Arcane, using it to revolutionize Piltover. There are plenty of ways Riot Games could implement Camille and Clan Ferros in Arcane season 2. She's roughly 80-years-old and firmly in control of the family's interests at the end of Arcane season 1's timeline, but because she doesn't age like normal people, this isn't a major issue.
With Jinx trying to assassinate all the powerful leaders in Piltover in the season's final seconds, the attack could create a major political vacuum forcing Clan Ferros to step in. Another factor is that in League lore, the family had to start manufacturing synthetic crystals because of the scarcity of the real thing. It's rumored that doing so is a major factor in Zaun's unchecked pollution. These synthetic crystals were made by "utilizing shadow investments in chemtech and runic alchemy," which sounds very similar to the alchemic hex-core that Viktor accidentally created. It's possible Viktor, assuming he survives Jinx's attack, could turn to Camille and Clan Ferros for an alternate source of power if/when he begins his "Glorious Evolution" in Arcane season 2.
Ezreal has been a major fan-favorite character since his League of Legends debut in 2010, putting him at the top of many people's wishlists for an appearance in Arcane season 2. The son of two wealthy Piltover archaeologists, Ezreal grew up dreaming about one day joining his parents on their frequent globe-trotting expeditions while being largely raised by his uncle, a professor at the University of Piltover. When his parents did not return home and were presumed dead, Ezreal set out on a journey to find them, becoming something of a world-class explorer in his own right. In League of Legends, he wields a magical gauntlet that allows him to shoot energy projectiles and even teleport. He found the gauntlet after uncovering the tomb of an ancient Shuriman tyrant named Ne'Zuk, reportedly the final expedition that his parents set out on before disappearing.
Nicknamed "The Prodigal Explorer", Ezreal is a fun character who could easily be adapted for Arcane season 2. Because he's traveled across virtually every known location in Runeterra, it would be easy to explain his absence during season 1 by simply having him return home to Piltover after a long expedition. Or, much like Arcane used its first 3-episode arc to explore the early years of Vi and Jinx before jumping ahead in time, they could give Ezreal a similar treatment and actually allow his origin story—or a modified version of it—to play out. It's difficult to see Arcane implementing Ezreal as a major character, however. While he's a top-notch explorer, he really has no important connections to the stories being told in Piltover and Zaun so far. That doesn't mean Arcane season 2 can't make necessary changes to the character's backstory in order to better tie him in, such as exploring the still-mysterious nature in which his parents disappeared.
Born the daughter of an extremely overprotective Piltover artificer, Orianna joined the family business of creating beautifully ornate prosthetics. Her father, Corin Reveck, forbid her from venturing outside of their neighborhood in order to keep her safe. There's no indication why exactly he is so overprotective, but Orianna's mother is not mentioned, so it's very possible her absence/death is what caused Corin to keep his daughter within arm's reach at all times. Her story really began when an explosion in Zaun caused a chemical line to rupture and vent an enormous amount of toxic gas into the undercity. Against her father's wishes, she snuck into Zaun and helped the locals by repairing respirators, even at the expense of her own health. Her lungs were destroyed in the process, and Corin was able to create his greatest (and most tragic) work: a functional pair of prosthetic lungs that had to be wound with a large mechanical key—another form of control in order to keep Orianna at his side. The sickness continued to spread until he was eventually forced to replace most of her body and internal organs, costing the family their fortune and resulting in them moving to Zaun.
Orianna is an incredibly unique and interesting League of Legends character that fits well with Arcane's theme of transformation at a high personal cost to the individual, not entirely dissimilar to Viktor inadvertently creating a living hexcore through the bloody augmentation of his own body as well as the shocking death of his lab assistant Sky. How exactly Orianna would fit into the plot of Arcane season 2 is unclear, but there is one potential thread that the animated series could explore. In League lore, her father required a new heart and she turned to a "local chem-baron" who was in possession of a hextech crystal. The baron continued to return for payments, bleeding the family dry. Orianna then gave Corin her own heart, the last piece of her humanity, before creating a "clockwork orb" housing the hextech crystal to use as a weapon for defense. While Viktor is not money-motivated and unlikely to be that kind of villain, his "Glorious Evolution" from League lore and living hex-core from Arcane fit in with Orianna's various modifications thematically. It's possible the show could adapt the story of the chem-baron to fit a character like Viktor, the mad scientist Singed, or even as collateral damage of Silco's control of the undercity in season 1.
Seraphine is a relatively recent champion addition to the League of Legends universe, making her in-game debut in late 2020. While she is perhaps the most unlikely champion from this bunch to become a major character in Arcane season 2, her backstory does mirror some of the conflicts present in the series—particularly the sociopolitical divide between Piltover and Zaun—making a potential cameo or minor role a distinct possibility. Seraphine is the teenage daughter of two Zaunites who relocated to the upper city in search of a better life. Her parents owned a hexcoustics workshop (essentially, the fixed musical instruments and other audio devices) and over time, Seraphine became a great singer in her own right, using the bustling city streets and the constant buzzing of Piltover as her inspiration.
It was later discovered that she was a musical empath, able to feel the thoughts and emotions resonating off those around her. Her official bio reads, "She heard every person's soul, loving or cruel—turning the streets she'd once loved into an overwhelming cacophony of conflicting desires. Some days, she hid shivering in a corner, hands over her ears, unable to hear herself above the chaos." Seraphine's parents were able to obtain a shard of a hextech crystal, which they used to craft a device capable of "dampening her magical hearing." The horrifying secret of these hextech crystals, however—and this may or may not be revealed in Arcane season 2—is that they are literally extracted from the dead body of a species known as the Brackern; the champion Skarner being the most famous example. It is their magic and the remnant of their soul that provides power to the hextech devices that utilize them, and because of Seraphine's unique ability, she was able to hear a sort of song emanating from within the crystal that helped guide her.
She would eventually descend to Zaun in order to better understand her heritage, and once there began hearing the songs of suffering, hardship, and deep-rooted disdain for the people of Piltover. After returning home, Seraphine and her parents deconstructed the dampening device and used it to create "a platform that would amplify her gifts, not repress them." With her new platform, she stood in the divide between Piltover and Zaun, making it her goal to use her gifts and performances to unite the warring nations, becoming a major star in the process. While it's unlikely fans will see Seraphane gearing up for a fight in Arcane season 2, her desire to unite the people of Piltover and Zaun through her music thematically fits with where the series is headed, making an appearance from the pop sensation possible.
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