Silco ᓚᘏᗢ

Background Early Life Silco and Vander Vander were like brothers during their youth, and the two of them originally shared the same dream of liberating their people from Piltover Crest icon Piltover’s repressive rule. They were also both close friends with Felicia, Vi Vi and Powder 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 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 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 Piltover Police Crest 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 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 Grayson, were able to take Vander with them to Piltover, Silco and Deckard ambushed them, killing Grayson and Benzo 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 Violet, Mylo Mylo, and Claggor 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Caitlyn Kiramman and the Firelight Crest Firelights, Vi's allies, along with Vi if he could. Meanwhile, he was informed by Huck 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 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 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 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 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 Jinx, to pursue her talents and established a close father-daughter relationship with her, ironically echoing the bond that Violet 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 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 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 Vander “ "You'd die for the cause, but you won't fight for one?" — Silco Silco, The Base Violence Necessary for Change Separator 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 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 Powder threw a bomb that took out her family and Silco's forces alike, and also left Vi 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 Silco, The Monster You Created Separator Following Vander's death, Silco adopted Vander's former adopted daughter, Jinx 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 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 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.

Creation and Purpose

Shimmer

Silco holding a vial of Shimmer. Biographical information Species mutagen Birth details in Zaun created by Singed Affiliation Affiliation Silco Singed Jinx Physical description Skin color Purple Series information Appearances Season 1 2

League page Shimmer Shimmer was developed by Singed, Zaun's infamous mad chemist, through a series of cruel and unethical experiments. His goal was to create a substance that could provide strength and power to Zaun's oppressed citizens, especially in the face of Piltover’s dominance. To achieve this, Singed drew upon various biological experiments, including the use of a unique creature named Rio, a rare animal with regenerative properties. Singed attempted to harness Rio's biological essence to unlock the secrets of human enhancement, ultimately extracting its regenerative capabilities to create Shimmer. Through these experiments, Singed sought to find a way to permanently enhance the human body and mind, believing that such power could change the course of Zaun’s future. However, Shimmer’s creation was far from perfect. While the drug grants its users increased physical abilities and resilience, it comes with a steep price. Prolonged use leads to severe physical and mental deterioration, with users becoming addicted to its effects. Their bodies eventually break down, and their minds become unstable, leading to madness, violence, and death.

Effects The immediate effects of Shimmer are highly seductive—enhanced strength, speed, and endurance. Users become superhuman, capable of feats that would otherwise be impossible. However, this comes at the cost of their long-term health. Over time, Shimmer erodes the mind and body, leaving users physically deformed and mentally impaired. As the addiction worsens, users become more erratic and uncontrollable, leading to a vicious cycle of dependency.

Connection to Silco In Arcane, Shimmer plays a central role in Silco's rise to power. He uses the drug to bolster his control over Zaun, distributing it to his followers and turning them into his loyal, enhanced enforcers. The drug is a means of maintaining power and loyalty, but it also becomes a symbol of the dangerous path Silco is willing to take in order to secure his vision for Zaun’s independence. Shimmer, as a tool of oppression, creates a cycle of addiction and violence that fuels the conflict in Zaun.

Ethical Dilemmas and Consequences Shimmer exemplifies the darker side of Zaun’s scientific and industrial exploitation. Singed’s creation of Shimmer, though rooted in his desire to transcend the limitations of human biology, highlights the moral decay that accompanies the pursuit of unchecked scientific progress. It serves as a metaphor for the dangerous consequences of playing with nature and human lives, a theme explored throughout Arcane.

In summary, Shimmer is a substance that symbolizes the corrupting influence of power, greed, and unchecked ambition. It offers temporary strength at a great cost, both to its users and the society that relies on it.