The charming blue-haired menace Jinx makes an emotional splash as the lead in Netflix’s heart-tugging Arcane. Growing up in Zaun, the poverty-stricken undercity of Piltover, was rough for her. Now, she’s constantly grappling with her grief and shame while keeping a twisted smile on her face as she willingly incites chaos. All at once, she is nutty, soft-hearted, violent, and funny — her personality traits are constantly at each other’s throats, fighting for dominance.
Exhibiting a remarkable level of sentimental depth that raises the storytelling standard in character-based battlers, Jinx stands out from the crowd of over 150 League of Legends champions. From the knockout debut of the animated Arcane series to adding its champions into Fortnite, League of Legends is swiftly breaking free from standard MOBA boundaries. Nuanced transmedia narrative work is its escape method, and at the core of that universe-crafting is Jinx, the “Loose Cannon” of Zaun.
To better understand the twisted trickster Jinx, we caught up with two of the minds who created her: Paul Bellezza, Lead Champion Producer, and August Browning, Gameplay Designer. Join us as we dive into the development process, discuss inspirations for her character, and get a peek at some exclusive Jinx concept art.
“To me, Jinx is a different type of character — we wanted to ensure she stood apart from all the existing Attack Damage Carries [ADC] we had in the game at the time,” Bellezza says. “She has her own playstyle that marries her aesthetic, narrative, and gameplay together in a way that is more than the sum of all her parts. A lot of our characters in that era were either super serious, super attractive or super cute, so Jinx really stood out to me as a punk character who was thumbing her nose at what we had done for years before that. She was a great combination of dangerous, funny, silly, fun, and wild.”
Jinx Concept Art
Even though there are death lasers and colossal, all-consuming 안전놀이터 void monsters in the world of League of Legends, Browning and Bellezza explain it was difficult to find a clear place for guns in its fantasy-focused universe. In particular, it proved challenging to suggest adding a minigun and cartoonishly large rocket launcher into Runeterra’s setting.
“I think we had to work hard to ensure her weapons didn’t feel too anachronistic to the types of weapons you’d see in League of Legends overall,” Bellezza says. “That’s why her weapons have a ‘DIY’ built-them-myself type of vibe to them.
The two bypassed that issue by doubling down on their shared love for interconnecting worlds of conflicting characters. They made the best case they could for implementing Jinx’s arsenal and tying her backstory to Vi, her partner Caitlyn Kiramman, and the undercity. “I think whenever it makes sense to give characters relationship ties to other characters in the universe, it creates the chance for building out our world,” he continues. “Not only does it further flesh out existing characters, but it gives us a chance to introduce new elements to the world and mix it up.”
