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| “ | "I’d like to let you in on a very important secret I learned when I was about your age, boy. You see, power, real power doesn’t come to those who were born strongest or fastest or smartest. No. It comes to those who will do anything to achieve it." |
—  Silco to Deckard, Some Mysteries Are Better Left Unsolved
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Silco was a 
Zaunite criminal and revolutionary, and the adoptive father of 
Jinx. He sought to free the undercity from 
Piltover's control and was willing to resort to brutal and unethical methods to achieve that goal.
Background[]
Early Life[]
Silco and 
Vander were like brothers during their youth, and the two of them originally shared the same dream of liberating their people from Piltover’s repressive rule. They were also both close friends with Felicia, 
Vi and 
Powder’s mother, with Silco having been present when Felicia revealed that she was pregnant with her first child.
However, everything changed when Vander and Silco attempted to lead an uprising against Piltover, which ultimately failed and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of their own people, including Felicia and her husband Connol. This would lead Vander to adopt Vi and Powder as his daughters after their parents’ deaths and lose his resolve to keep fighting for Zaun’s freedom, much to Silco’s chagrin.
Felicia’s death would drive a wedge between Vander and Silco, and eventually lead Vander to attack Silco out of grief and attempt to drown him in Zaun's polluted rivers. Although Silco managed to fight Vander off with a knife and escape back into the underground, the chemicals in the water heavily scarred his face and mutated his left eye.[1]
Although he was left traumatized by Vander's betrayal, Silco believed that he had been reborn as a stronger person. Despite this, he couldn't bring himself to forgive Vander for his actions and began to plot his revenge against his former friend. His injury also never fully healed and as a result, he was forced to periodically inject small amounts of shimmer into his left eye in order to keep his illness from going out of control.[1][2]
Getting Payback[]
Silco spent the next several years building up his criminal network, many of whom were former members of Vander's crew who had lost faith in him over his passive approach towards Piltover. At some point, he hired the rogue scientist 
Singed to create a drug that would make the underground strong enough to fight against the Topsiders. Silco also kept an eye on Vander's actions and patiently waited for the right moment to strike back.
Several years later, Silco learned from 
Deckard, one of his teenage lackeys, that Vander's adoptive children had caused an explosion during one of their heists in Piltover and that the 
Enforcers were searching all over the undercity for the perpetrators.[2] Realizing that this was his chance to get his revenge and seize power at the same time, Silco convinced Deckard to be the first human test subject for shimmer, Singed's new drug. He also sought out a young Enforcer named 
Marcus and told him the identities of the culprits.[3]
Just as Silco had planned, Marcus was able to put enough pressure on Vander for the latter to give himself up to Piltover in place of his children. However, before Marcus and his boss, Sheriff Grayson, were able to take Vander with them to Piltover, Silco and Deckard ambushed them, killing Grayson and 
Benzo, Vander's second-in-command. When Marcus began to protest that this wasn't part of their deal, Silco tossed Marcus a bag of coins and then proceeded to take Vander back to his hideout.[1]
As he still respected Vander to an extent, Silco attempted to persuade his former friend to join him in the coming revolution against Piltover. However, Vander rejected the offer and told him that he wasn't the same person he used to be back when they were young. Enraged by this claim, Silco then tied Vander up and waited for his children to show up, knowing that they would come to save him.[1]
Eventually, 
Violet, 
Mylo, and 
Claggor arrived to save Vander, but realized too late that they had fallen right into Silco's trap. Although they nearly succeeded in breaking Vander out, a makeshift bomb made by Vi's sister, 
Powder, exploded before they could escape, destroying most of the building and killing both Mylo and Claggor. Silco himself was nearly caught in the blast and only managed to avoid injury because 
Sevika pushed him out of the way just in time.[1]
In a desperate attempt to defend Vi, Vander then began fighting back against Silco's surviving henchmen himself with makeshift knuckles. Although he put up a good fight, he was ultimately overpowered by Deckard and stabbed in the gut by Silco, who then tossed him into a pile of shimmer vials. To Silco's surprise, Vander decided to inject himself with a vial, mutating himself and making him strong enough to easily strangle Deckard before he could get to Vi. He then attempted to kill Silco as well, but decided against it to save Vi.[1]
Unwilling to allow Vander to get away, Silco pursued him with his remaining henchmen, only to find him seemingly dead, Vi nowhere to be found, and Powder in the middle of an emotional breakdown on the street. Unaware that Vi had momentarily abandoned Powder for unintentionally killing their foster father, Silco approached Powder and asked her where her sister was. Much to his surprise, Powder then jumped into his arms and told him that Vi had left her and was no longer her sister anymore. Realizing that Powder had been betrayed by Vi just like Vander had betrayed him, Silco sympathized with her situation, embraced her, and took her in under his care.[1]
Rise to Power[]
With Vander gone, Silco quickly rose to power in Zaun and replaced his former friend as the undercity's leader. He also built a massive criminal empire by elling shimmer as a drug to the masses, brought the Chem-Barons together to manage his factories, and took over the Last Drop, Vander's former bar, which he transformed into a nightclub and his personal headquarters. Although some of Vander's followers tried to stop him from taking over, none of them succeeded, as Silco's muscle and money was simply too much for them to overcome.[4]
Despite having reneged on his deal with Marcus, the two of them remained in contact, with Marcus eventually replacing Grayson as Sheriff and acting as Silco's secret agent in Piltover. As a result, any investigations into Silco came up clean and never revealed any of his crimes, causing the Topsiders to believe that he was a legitimate industrialist and allowing him to regularly smuggle shimmer to countries all over the world without ever having to worry about getting caught.[4]
Meanwhile, Powder eventually became one of Silco's most feared subordinates. Having renamed her 
Jinx, Silco trained her in various ways until she grew into a skilled fighter and inventor, allowing her to create and design all kinds of gadgets to use in battle. Most of Silco's crew became wary of Powder and her unstable mental state, but even when they openly protested against her, Silco would protect her and keep her by his side. In time, he came to greatly value her for her abilities and love her as his own daughter.[4]
Troubled Reign[]
During Piltover's bicentennial Progress Day, Jinx independently lures the guarding Enforcers into a building she's rigged to explode in order to steal a hextech gemstone. Although initially agitated by Jinx's unsanctioned venture, he later approved of it when she returned with the gemstone. Silco encouraged Jinx to develop a hextech weapon with it, which they will use as an equalizer to Piltover's hextech. However, Piltover had appointed Jayce Talis as a new councilor and he implements new security measures in response to Jinx's attacks. These include tightening security at the Hexgates, which disrupts Silco's shimmer smuggling buisness and eventually implementing a blockade between Piltover and Zaun, which harmed trade for Zaun and greatly diminished his chem-barons' businesses. This led to discontent amongst Silco's chem-barons and 
Finn tried to incite a rebellion against Silco. However, Silco and Sevika put the screws on Finn and the other chem-barons in order to discourage any uprising against him.
Meanwhile, Silco had also recently discovered that 
Vi is alive and so did Jinx. Jinx felt betrayed that Silco had apparently lied to her about Vi's death but Silco encouraged the idea that Vi would reject the current her and that only he loved her in order to keep her loyal. He sets his man Marcus to eliminate 
Caitlyn Kiramman and the 
Firelights, Vi's allies, along with Vi if he could. Meanwhile, he was informed by Huck, now a shimmer-addict, that an injured Vi and Caitlyn had been found at her old home, now a slum for shimmer-addicts. Silco confronts her there and bribes shimmer-addicts with shimmer to attack Vi, but Vi brings down a dilapidated, towering, sign on them to escape them. Later on Silco learns that Jinx bombed a bunch of Enforcers, Caitlyn, Vi, and 
Ekko at the Bridge of Progress. The incident killed many Enforcers, including Marcus, but Vi and her companions escaped—and Jinx was gravely wounded, but retained the hextech gemstone. Silco brought Jinx to Singed, who used shimmer on Jinx in her operation to bring her back to functioning health. Silco was drugged unconscious as the operation would be very painful for Jinx and Singed could not allow Silco to interfere. When Silco woke up, Jinx was gone.
Jayce Talis and Vi later invaded Zaun and raided one of Silco's shimmer factories, killing 
Renni's son. Fed up by Silco's leadership hurting their individual interests and his coddling of Jinx, Finn and Renni recruit Sevika and attempt to assassinate Silco at the Last Drop. However, to their surprise, Sevika remained loyal to Silco; she killed Finn and intimidated Renni to stand down.
Death[]
Amid escalating tensions between Piltover and Zaun, Jayce arranged a meeting with Silco, offering Zaun's independence in exchange for Jinx. Conflicted, Silco spoke aloud to a statue of Vander about the deal, not knowing that Jinx was eavesdropping. Believing that Silco would betray her, Jinx kidnapped him, as well as Vi and Caitlyn, intent on questioning the trio. However, the interrogation was more than Jinx could handle, eventually causing her to have a breakdown. As Silco aimed Jinx's sidearm at Vi, Jinx wildly fired her minigun in Silco's direction. A bullet struck Silco's chest—he died moments later, with Jinx weeping over him.
Appearance[]
Silco was a tall and thin middle-aged man with pale, greyish skin, black hair styled into an undercut, a right blue eye, and heavy scarring on the left side of his face. His most notable trait was his left eye, which lacked an eyelid and appeared to be heavily discolored, with an orange iris and black sclera. He was also generally seen wearing a red and black Piltovan three-piece suit.
In his later years, Silco would often wear heavy makeup and several layers of foundation to hide the fact that his facial scarring was slowly growing worse. He also developed an increasing fondness for smoking cigars and gained a grey streak in his hair.
Personality[]
Silco was a ruthless and brutal, yet highly intelligent and cautious man who was willing to do anything to carry out his ambitions. He believed that violence was the only way to stand against Piltover and unite the underground against the Topsiders, and that power only came to those who were willing to forsake their own morals to achieve it. His ultimate goal was to free the undercity from Piltover's control and allow it to become an independent Zaunite state under his rule, which he referred to as the Nation of Zaun.
Silco held a strong grudge against his former brother-in-arms Vander for betraying him in the past. He also despised the passive leader that Vander ultimately became, believing that the latter had grown soft and weak in his approach against the Topsiders. However, despite his grudge against Vander, Silco still had a degree of respect for him, as he remembered the fearsome fighter that the latter used to be in their youth, and at one point, even offered him the chance to rejoin forces against Piltover. Even after Vander's death, Silco would still hold his old friend in high esteem, as shown when he paid his respects to a statue of Vander that was made in his honor.
Despite all his personal faults, Silco had a sense of honor and valued loyalty, as his generation only survived to the present day because of how loyal they were to one another. As a result of this, he had little respect for the chem-barons and viewed them as parasites who take the luxuries that they have for granted and do nothing but leech off the legacies of their ancestors. He also had some level of compassion, as displayed when he embraced and took Powder under his wing after noticing the similarities between her and his younger self.
Over the years, Silco would patiently encourage Powder, now known as 
Jinx, to pursue her talents and established a close father-daughter relationship with her, ironically echoing the bond that Violet had with Vander. In time, he would come to genuinely care for Jinx as his own child and regularly shield her from the criticisms of his other subordinates, even though he was well-aware of her tendencies as a loose cannon. Although he was typically able to tolerate her wild nature, there were still times when even he would lose his patience with her, as shown when he furiously berated her for murdering six Enforcers and blowing up a building without his permission and seemingly without a valid reason. In the end, the emotional attachment that Silco had for Jinx led him to never give up on her, even when Jayce offered him Zaun's independence on the condition that he was to turn her over to Piltover, and after Jinx fatally shot him by accident, he didn't blame her for his impending death, instead telling her that she was perfect the way she was and comforting her in his final moments.
Abilities[]
- Leader: Silco is a competent leader. As a feared and respected figure among his people, he is willing to do whatever is necessary to ensure that his visions come to pass and would rule over the undercity for almost a decade until he was accidentally killed by
Jinx. - Teacher: As Jinx's adoptive father, Silco would become her primary mentor in life after the loss of her first family and would not only teach her how to survive in the underground, but also encourage her to make good use of her natural talents and give her all the opportunities she needed to improve her inventions and weaponry. This would later cause Jinx to become his greatest asset against the Topsiders, as she was the only person he knew who was smart enough to reverse-engineer their hextech technology and weaponize it against them.
- Other Abilities: Silco is handy with a knife, but since he usually leaves the fighting to his minions, he rarely has to use one and only ever does as a last resort. Due to having been forced to work in his mines as a young man, he also has a considerably greater amount of tolerance to the toxic gasses that he experienced there; in constrast, other Zaunites can't handle inhaling the gasses at all and are likely to suffocate without the use of breathing masks.
Relations[]
Vander[]
| “ | "You'd die for the cause, but you won't fight for one?" |
| — Silco, The Base Violence Necessary for Change
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|
Vander and Silco were once presumably close, as they refer to one another as brothers in the past. Following a traumatic event (due to an argument of sorts) in which Vander nearly drowns Silco, the two's friendship came to an end. While Vander devoted his life to the safety of the Undercity (a.k.a. the precursor of the nation of Zaun), Silco was fueled by the cause his 'brother' had given up, particularly seeking to use violence in order to get results. Although Silco hated Vander initially, his hate faded over time—and he grew to appreciate that Vander's betrayal made him into the dangerous, ruthless man that he is today.
Despite their falling out, Vander never truly hated Silco and eventually felt guilty about what he did to his former friend; Silco in turn still respected Vander until he chose to cooperate with Piltover to preserve peace between their two cities.
Silco plotted a second uprising against Piltover and kidnapped Vander to recruit him for his plans. Silco revealed that he plans to weaponize shimmer against Piltover and thus coerce the Piltovans to recognize Zaun as an independent nation. He offers Vander to join him, despite his betrayal. However, Vander pointed out that Silco had already killed 
Benzo and turned several Undercity kids into shimmer-addicted monsters. To Vander, Silco's war against Piltover isn't worth the cost. He tells Silco to kill him and get his revenge, but begs Silco to not exploit the Undercity to facilitate his war. Silco is angered that Vander would die for a cause but not fight for one. Vander responds that he isn't that man anymore, but Silco is determined to show Vander that deep down, he's still a bellicose, violent man.
Silco holds Vander prisoner in an attempt to goad his kids to attempt to save him. Once Silco trapped Vander's kids in a warehouse, he sends his goons to kill them, forcing Vander to fight off his goons. The fight was chaotic, as 
Powder threw a bomb that took out her family and Silco's forces alike, and also left 
Vi trapped under a pile of rubble. Vander pushed himself to recover, takes out a majority of Silco's men, and manages to strangle Silco. However, he was stabbed by Silco, thrown over the bridge, and lands on crates of shimmer. Vander injects shimmer into himself in order to defend Vi as a rage-filled shimmer monster. At the end though, rather than pursue Silco, he dies saving Vi from the collapsing building.
| “ | "Oh, it all makes sense now, brother. Is there anything so undoing as a daughter?" |
—  Silco, The Monster You Created
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|
Following Vander's death, Silco adopted Vander's former adopted daughter, Jinx, whom Silco came to love as his own daughter. However, Silco is offered Zaun's independence in exchange for handing over Jinx to the Piltover authorities. Silco admits to Vander's statue that he finally understands him and that, in a moment of cruel irony, he has become the person that had once infuriated him to murder.
Singed[]
Silco and Singed share a business relationship, and Singed is referred to as the 'doctor'. Presumably, Singed invented or at least helped with the creation of the addictive substance, Shimmer.
When Jinx is fatally wounded by her own bomb in her fight with Ekko, Silco rushes her to Singed, demanding him to save her life. Singed reminds him the process is both experimental and very dangerous, though Silco disregards this. For Silco's own supposed good, Singed drugs him as he works on Jinx, most likely because Silco would be unable to watch his adoptive daughter writhe in agony and would interfere.
Sevika[]
Sevika joined Silco's cause after her disappointment of Vander's weak and passive approach towards ruling Zaun. She saw potential in Silco's vision and would become one of his most loyal goons, even saving his life from an explosion that cost her a left arm. During his rise to power Silco would make sure to take into account Sevika's advices and treat her well, though in the matters of Jinx she would greatly disapprove of his soft approaches towards his adoptive daughter. She would sometimes open up to Silco, telling him about her past, often as advice when dealing with Jinx as his child. Even when offered a better deal by other Chem-Barons, Sevika would stay loyal and execute the traitors without question. She would assure him that she never intended to betray him for worms such as them (indicating that if another stonger person offered a better deal, she would take it). She would ultimately remain loyal to him until his death.
Finn[]
Of all the Chem-Barons, Silco despises Finn the most, believing he has gotten "fat and complacent" off the power he provides them and seeing him as a far cry from his own hardscrabble upbringing. Even after being nearly suffocated to remind him of his place, Finn in turn has nothing but contempt for Silco and seeks to take his place, even trying to convince Sevika to turn against him as well. After Vi and Jayce destroy one of Silco's Shimmer facilities, Finn sees an opportunity to dethrone his longtime rival and confronts Silco in his office at The Last Drop. Unfortunately, Sevika remains loyal to her boss and slits Finn's throat, killing him.
Violet[]
Silco was willing to kill Vi without mercy, though apparently wanted to watch her fight instead of allowing his number one, Sevika, to take Vi on, he let the teenage girl beat her way through his underlings. He considered her Vander's prodigy, though later remarks that Jinx has, in his opinion, surpassed her skill set.
He grows to despise her by the end, seeing her as a threat to his relationship with Jinx. Vander and Vi share similarities in his mind, and he loathes that Vi turned her back on Jinx, the way Vander betrayed him. He recognizes, unlike Vi, that Jinx has rejected the personality of Powder, and that the memories of her past plague her. When Vi encourages Jinx to 'remember' herself, Silco is horrified by Jinx's blatant distress and attempts to shoot Vi. However, he misses, and is then killed by the person he seeks to protect. Vi seems unaware of the genuine familial bond between the two, and disregards his death, expecting Jinx to be pleased by the demise of who Vi believes is her abuser.
Jinx[]
| “ | "It's okay. We'll show them. We will show them all." |
| — Silco, The Base Violence Necessary for Change
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|
Silco formed a paternal relationship with Jinx/
Powder after she inadvertently killed her adoptive family. Seeing himself in her and showing empathy, he began to care for her as if she was his own and even value their relationship over his own political cause.
| “ | "Betrayal, that pain that feels like it'll eat you from the inside out, can either break you or forge you into something greater." |
—  Silco, Everybody Wants to Be My Enemy
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Ignoring Sevika and the rest of his underlings' qualms about Jinx's irresponsible and unpredictable behaviour, he makes excuses for and defends her at the expense of the respect of his followers. When Jinx displays an inability to let go of her traumatic past, Silco submerges her in the same river he nearly drowned in, referring to the betrayal in which he was nearly drowned by Vander. Silco instilled in Jinx many of his philosophies, hoping to mold her into a stronger and dangerous person who grew tougher from trauma — just like him.
Jinx is supposedly the only person he truly trusts, as he tasks her with delicate or personal things, such as injecting his infected eye with shimmer. They share a physical closeness, and Silco particularly seems to see a resemblance of himself in his newfound adopted daughter. Their relationship becomes strained, particularly in regards to the presence of Jinx's sister, Vi.
Following her near-death experience on the Piltovan bridge, Silco rushes Jinx to Singed, who injects her with Shimmer in an experiment to bring her back to functioning health.
| “ | "Don't cry. You're perfect." |
—  Silco, The Monster You Created
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In an unfortunate later incident, Jinx overhears Silco telling a statue of Vander that she was but a problem for him, unaware that it was in fact a testament to Silco's genuine paternal feelings for her. In retaliation, she kidnaps and binds him with the rest of her family (Vi, a kidnapped Caitlyn and recreations of Mylo, Claggor and Vander). He argues fiercely against the idea of Jinx leaving him to be with Vi, stating that her sister won't accept her, and says he'd rather the Piltovan government 'burn' than give up his daughter to them. However, when he tries to stop Vi from overwhelming Jinx with traumatic memories and attempts to shoot at her, Jinx reacts almost instantaneously and shoots him with Pow-Pow. Startled by her own actions, she rushes to him, crying that she didn't mean to do what she did. Silco's bittersweet last words: "I never would've given you to them... Not for anything"; a remark about their unwavering bond and his unconditional adoration.
Likely as an act of respect on his behalf and misery in regards to her emotional alienation with Vi, Jinx aims Fishbones at Piltover.
Jayce Talis[]
Jayce hated Silco ever since he discovered he was responsible for the escalating tensions between Piltover and the Undercity. However, Silco and Jayce agree on peace terms following Jayce and Vi's enforcer attack on one of his Shimmer manufacturing factories. Silco's excessive demands (Silco's demands included free trade routes, unrestricted access to the Hexgates, blanket amnesty, and sovereignty for Zaun) displeased Jayce, but Silco knew he would capitulate to them when he asked to parley, which showed Silco that Jayce didn't have the determination to follow through with future military attacks.
Jayce ultimately agrees to Silco's demands as he didn't want more innocents to die and he hopes once Silco ceased hostilities, both Piltover and Zaun could find common ground regarding the threats to both their cities. Jayce however, stipulated he must end all Shimmer production, return the stolen hextech gemstone, and also hand over Jinx to the Piltover authorities since he needs Jinx to pay for her crimes. Silco argues that her crimes were ordered by him and that he is responsible for her actions, but since Jayce cannot punish Silco because he needs him to control Zaun, Jinx must be arrested to show that justice is still being served. Jayce tells Silco no one on the Council of Clans would have offered him this deal aside from him, as many in Piltover would prefer the Undercity to be simply slaughtered by Piltover's technologically superior military force.
Arcane Show Appearances[]
| Season One appearances: 9/9 | ||
| Welcome to the Playground: Appears |
Some Mysteries Are Better Left Unsolved: Appears |
The Base Violence Necessary for Change: Appears and flashback |
| Happy Progress Day!: Appears |
Everybody Wants to Be My Enemy: Appears |
When These Walls Come Tumbling Down: Appears |
| The Boy Savior: Appears |
Oil and Water: Appears |
The Monster You Created: Appears |
Read More
Starring Champion
Mentioned Champion
Trivia[]
- In Arcane, Silco was voiced by Jason Spisak, who also voiced Pim, as well as 3 Von-Yipp related cards in Legends of Runeterra.
- Silco's official height is 182 cm (6'0).[5]
Media[]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Arcane: Season 1, Episode 3: The Base Violence Necessary for Change
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Arcane: Season 1, Episode 1: Welcome to the Playground
- ↑ Arcane: Season 1, Episode 2: Some Mysteries Are Better Left Unsolved
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Arcane: Season 1, Episode 4: Happy Progress Day!
- ↑ Arcane characters height chart