The Last of Us and Arcane are two critically acclaimed adaptations of radically different video games, yet both tackle the same story and emotional hook. Arcane is based on League of Legends, a game that is classified as a MOBA, or multiplayer online battle arena. This means that there is minimal story within the game itself, with most of its characters and world-building being done by supplemental material. By the time of Arcane season 2's ending, the Netflix animation was one such piece of supplemental material that took characters from the video game and crafted an engrossing story around them.
The Last of Us, on the other hand, is the polar opposite of a MOBA. The game is entirely story-driven, telling one of the most cinematic stories with the most well-rounded characters in video game history. HBO's The Last of Us adapted this game almost exactly, keeping large elements of the original story and character arcs intact. Regardless of their differences, Arcane and The Last of Us are counted as two of the best video game adaptation TV shows of all time. Moreover, the radical differences in source material did not stop both shows from telling the same story.
Arcane & The Last Of Us Are Two Fantastic Video Game TV Shows That Explore The Cycle Of Violence
Different Source Material Still Results In The Same Themes
The story that both Arcane and The Last of Us explore is the cycle of violence. This is not necessarily uncommon for a lot of big stories, but the connection here is more interesting given the extreme differences in source material. As alluded to, League of Legends has relatively little story to go off, with Arcane's characters being based on archetypes but fleshed out beyond that. The show centers around a class war between the nations of Piltover and Zaun, the former a wealthy city of progress and the latter its destitute undercity.
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Zaun vs Piltover: History, Champions & Leaders
Netflix’s Arcane surrounds the nations of Piltover and Zaun, each with an extensive history, powerful leaders, and League of Legends champions.
While the show takes on much broader themes and messages as it goes on, it boils down to the idea of humanity and whether it can be "perfected." One of Arcane's prominent characters, Viktor, wishes to perfect humanity by removing all of the things that cause war, violence, and hatred via magic and forming a hive mind. Eventually, the message of the show is that imperfection is necessary and is what makes humans beautiful. The cycle of violence happens, and will likely always happen, due to the strong senses of love, friendship, and family that cause the aforementioned tragic realities of life.
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Arcane
Set in the League of Legends universe, Arcane focuses on sisters Violet and Powder (later Jinx) as they end up on opposite sides of a growing conflict between the wealthy utopia of Piltover and its dark undercity whose citizens wish to break away from their oppressors. Hailee Steinfeld, Ella Purnell, and Kevin Alejandro star in this animated adventure.
- Cast
- Hailee Steinfeld , Ella Purnell , Kevin Alejandro , Katie Leung , Jason Spisak , Toks Olagundoye , Harry Lloyd , JB Blanc , Reed Shannon , Mick Wingert
- Release Date
- November 6, 2021
- Writers
- Christian Linke , Alex Yee
- Directors
- Pascal Charrue , Arnaud Delord
- Showrunner
- Christian Linke , Alex Yee
The Last of Us' cast of characters enables an exploration of a very similar story via Joel and Ellie's relationship. Joel is someone who is incredibly jaded due to a specific instance of violence that impacted his family in a huge way, with Ellie being the key to unlocking the true man beneath the trauma. This connection leads Joel to commit terrible acts of violence in the name of protecting Ellie, proving that those core elements of humanity explored in Arcane - relationships and family - directly contribute to the cycle of violence.
The Last Of Us Season 2 & Arcane’s Spin-Offs Will Explore The Cycle Of Violence Even More
These Explorations Will Not Stop Taking Place
To further build on this exploration, the future of both franchises is set to delve even deeper into the cycle of violence. The Last of Us season 2 will be based on The Last of Us Part II, the second installment of the original game, and introduce the character of Abby. Abby is someone who, like Joel was previously, will be shown to have been impacted by a terrible tragedy from The Last of Us season 1. This leads Abby on a quest to enact revenge, impacting Ellie and Joel's journey massively.
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The Last Of Us is a television adaptation of the acclaimed video game, set in a post-apocalyptic world where a smuggler named Joel (Pedro Pascal) is tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie (Bella Ramsey), across the ravaged United States. Along their journey, they must confront various threats from both infected creatures and hostile human factions. The show is produced by HBO and created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann.
- Cast
- Pedro Pascal , Bella Ramsey , Anna Torv , lamar johnson , Jeffrey Pierce , Keivonn Woodard , John Getz , Olivier Ross-Parent , Samuel Hoeksema , Gabriel Luna , Merle Dandridge , Nico Parker , Melanie Lynskey , John Hannah , Josh Brener , Christopher Heyerdahl , Brad Leland , Marcia Bennett , Brendan Fletcher , Jerry Wasserman , Wendy Gorling , Jessica Belbin , Haysam Kadri , Sarah Himadeh , Caitlin Howden , Max Montesi , Natasha Mumba , Gina Louise Phillips , Taylor St. Pierre , Ryan D. Clarke , Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah , Logan Pierce
- Writers
- Neil Druckmann , Craig Mazin
- Directors
- Craig Mazin
- Showrunner
- Craig Mazin
Where the other show is concerned, Arcane's many planned spin-offs will explore how violence will continue to impact the fictional world of Runeterra. Two of the confirmed settings for future shows include the kingdoms of Noxia and Ionia, with the former regularly trying to conquer the latter in the source material. This bitter, violent history between the two will likely be explored, as will how the individuals of both are affected like characters such as Vi and Jinx were in Arcane's Piltover-Zaun conflict. Finally, the character of Mel is left fighting a war against witches that her mother started.
Why Video Game Adaptations Are Good Vehicles For Cycle Of Violence Stories
When video games were rising to become prominent forms of media in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a common criticism was that they were glorifying violence and a lack of consequences for the children playing them. This has since become a major talking point academically and socially, with many exploring the effects that video games can have on those who ingest them. However, overall, the perception of video games has somewhat changed, with many - like The Last of Us - being the source of critically acclaimed stories and characters.
Video games are not solely for allowing people to play out scenarios of violence with no consequences...
Through games like this, and stories based on them like Arcane, the video game industry is pushing back against this stereotype. Video games are not solely for allowing people to play out scenarios of violence with no consequences, with some even going as far as to convey the message that the endless cycle of violence is, obviously, a bad thing. As alluded to, The Last of Us and Arcane are two excellent examples of this, taking two drastically different video games but pulling out the same themes, proving the early perception of video games wrong in the process.
