Within the award-winning world ofArcane,there is a plethora of interesting and highly diverse characters. From lonely scientiststo undercity shimmer addicts, positions to street brawlers, the variety of these characters and their motivations to do what they do is one of the many reasonsArcanedeserved its Emmy win.
While the characters audiences see on screen are fleshed out, and feel alive and real, there are still a lot of questions surrounding them. Some of these unknowns are things as simple as how old they are, both before and after the time skip after Act One. While there are a lot of maybes, as most of the characters' ages are not canonically known, here is a list of the most likely ages.
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Jinx
The show’s main antagonist/protagonist is Jinx/Powder. Before the time jump during the pre-trauma Act One, Powder is said to be either9, or 11-12 years of agedepending on who is being asked. Ella Purnell, the voice actress behind the wonderful words ofthe unnerving Jinx, stated that Powder was 9 when the explosion happened, marking the end of the first act. On the other hand, Amanda Overton (one of the shows scriptwriters, who also helped writeSeverance) believes her to be around 11-12.
Both ages make sense visually. Powder acts a lot like a 9-year-old, but that might be the point. By making her feel, sound, and look younger and smaller than she is, the show reinforces the notion that she is ‘behind’ or ‘slow’ compared to her family.
Overton also mentioned that she and the other writers believe the time jump to be around 6 or 7 years, making the grown up Jinx of Acts Two and Three to be approximately 17 according to Overton, or 16 according to Purnell. It’s here that Overton’s estimation feels more accurate, as Jinx looks and acts more like a 17-year-old. The idea of her being right on the brink of adulthood explains a lot about her maturing and fully embracing Jinx at the series conclusion.
Vi and Caitlyn
Arguably the show’s main protagonist, Vi is a complicated character, as yet again there are conflicting ages. Overton claims that Vi is in the 14 to 16 age range, which is exactly how she looks in the first act. She’s old enough to lead, but still too young to truly understand the consequences for her actions. The only hiccup is that on theLeague of Legends(the game on which the series was based on) wiki page, in the “Warden’s Write-Ups” section, Vi is stated as being “Approx. 17 years of age” when she is imprisoned at the end of Act One. This means that after the time jump, she is around 21 to 24, depending on whether the writer or the Wiki is to be believed. Both ages feel about right for how Vi looks and behaves in the following acts.
Both Overton and Silco himself believe Caitlyn and Vi to be around the same age, with maybe a year between them. In episode 6, Silco,the Eye of Zaunhimself, remarks “There’s an enforcer with her [Vi], a girl, roughly the same age […].” The two do look around the same age not only in Acts Two and Three, but in the first act as well, where Caitlyn is shown looking as young as, if not younger, than Vi. This would make Caitlyn around 15 in Act One and around 21 in the proceeding acts.
Jayce, Mel, and Viktor
Jayce starts out looking older than the other young characters, and doesn’t change much during the time skip. In Act One, he mentions he is 24 years old, giving the first real concrete canonical age in the show. This means that after the time skip, he is about 31-32 years old. Mel is another character who doesn’t seem to age too much between Acts One and Two, so it’s estimated that she is around the same age as Jayce, if not a little older. She’s likely in her mid to late 20s in Act One followed, by an estimated early 30s in the proceeding acts.
Lonely Viktoris hard as he looks a lot older than he is due to his disability. Due to the crippling pain that is slowly killing him, he has a gaunt, lifeless look throughout the show, especially during the final two acts. He doesn’t change too much after the time skip either, so it’s likely he is around the same age as Mel and Jayce. Overton mentions that she (and likely the other writers) never really gave him an age, just assuming he was around as old as Jayce.
Heimerdinger
A list of character ages could not be complete without including the oldest: Heimerdinger. In Act One, he is the staggering age of 307, despite not looking a day over 100. In the following acts, he is around 313 years old. At this point, however, his age is fairly meaningless. After having lived so long, with the likelihood of living much longer, it’s no surprise that he looks and acts exactly the same before and after the time jump.
This is an important part of his character. Heimerdinger’s ability to live for long periods of time giving him a flippancy about longevity that annoys the other characters, years passing him by like they are nothing where others age and die around him. It will be interesting to see how his character changesin the second season.
