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= Vander (Character) =

Vander is a fictional character from Riot Games' animated action-adventure series Arcane, created by Christian Linke and Alex Yee for Netflix. The character is voiced by French-British actor and director JB Blanc. Vander is the owner of a bar called The Last Drop and is considered the unofficial leader of the undercity Zaun. He is well respected among its citizens and is always willing to help those in need. On top of being highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat, Vander is a kindhearted and selfless person who ends up becoming a father figure to four orphans whom he cares deeply about.

Early Years
In his youth, Vander was passionate about the freedom of the wasteland undercity of Zaun (which he grew up in and considered to be his home) from the oppressive rule of the utopian city of Piltover. Him and Silco, who at the time he considered to be his brother, shared this passion, and fought alongside each other with the goal of achieving it. This changed, however, once Vander betrayed Silco for unknown reasons by trying to drown him in the waters surrounding Zaun. The fight concluded with Silco managing to escape Vander's grasp by stabbing him with his own dagger, leaving Vander injured as Silco ran off into the depths of Zaun.

Episode 1
Years later, after the residents of Zaun have had enough of the horrendous living conditions that they've been forced to endure, Arcane 's first episode is introduced with Vander deciding to lead an uprising against Piltover. This rebellion ends terribly, because as the residents of Zaun attempt to storm the gates into Piltover, they're met with the brutality of Piltover's enforcers. Many Zaunite lives are lost, and in the aftermath, Vander stumbles upon two young sisters named Vi (short for Violet) and Powder (or later known in the series as Jinx) whose parents were killed during the rebellion.

With the realization of the cost of his actions, Vander takes Vi and Powder in as his own (alongside two orphaned boys named Mylo and Claggor later on), and teaches them how to take care of themselves and survive in Zaun. He also takes ownership of a bar called The Last Drop, which goes on to become the main meeting ground for the people of Zaun, while at the same time negotiating an agreement with the enforcers of Piltover, bringing sufficient peace to the undercity for many years to come.

However, this peaceful period becomes at risk once Vi and the other kids' heist of Piltover for riches goes wrong, causing part of a building to blow up and provoking a retaliation from Piltover. Their council demands that the perpetrators be arrested but Vander refuses to identify them, causing increased enforcers within the streets of Zaun and angering its residents.

Episode 2
In this episode, we first find Vander attempting to reason with the people of Zaun to maintain the peace amid the growing tensions between Zaun and Piltover. However, many are too upset to care and ignore his words, expressing the possibility of another uprising in the near future. When Vi expresses her support for rebelling against Piltover, Vander realizes the situation is getting out of hand and takes Vi to the bridge connecting Zaun and Piltover to try to reason with her. Among the memorials built on this bridge after the uprising, Vander teaches Vi that although he sympathizes with her dream of Zaun being free, nothing good will come from the violence of war and she would be risking losing everything.

Vi takes Vander's words to heart, and with the realization that a war that's happening because of her actions might cause her to lose those closest to her, she plans to turn herself in to Piltover and put an end to all of this.

Episode 3
After learning of her plan, Vander rushes to find Vi and surrenders himself to the enforcers in her place. However, on their way to prison they're ambushed by Silco and his shimmer-mutated henchmen, and Vander is dragged off to Silco's hideout. There, Silco expresses to Vander his dream of how Zaun could become equal to Piltover in terms of power and influence using the power of a substance called Shimmer to create unbeatable soldiers. He then asks if Vander would side with him as they had in the past, but he refuses, stating that he is a different man than he once was, leading to his imprisonment in the hideout.

Soon after, Vi informs Mylo and Claggor of what happened, instructs Powder to stay, and all three of them seek out Vander in an attempt to rescue him. Upon infiltrating Silco's hideout, the group finds Vander locked to a chair, but quickly realize it's a trap as Silco and his men corner them. While Mylo and Claggor work on freeing Vander and finding a way out, Vi holds off Silco's men. Being seconds away from escape, the fight ends with Powder arriving and detonating bombs in an attempt to save her family, but instead ends up accidentally destroying most of the hideout, while also killing Mylo and Claggor and injuring Vi. Vander summons his last bit of strength in an attempt to save Vi, and fights the mutant for as long as he can before being stabbed in the back by Silco. Falling to a lower floor, Vander lands on a pile of the Shimmer substance and forces himself to drink one of the vials as a last resort. As the flames around an injured Vi intensify and Silco's mutant attempts to deliver the final blow to her, a now mutated Vander appears and quickly puts an end to Silco's henchmen. At the last second, Vander chooses to save Vi over chasing down and taking revenge on Silco, escaping the building and saving her life just as the building explodes.

With Vi being safe, Vander tells her to take care of her sister just before succumbing to his injuries.

Legacy
After his death, Vander remained a highly respected leader among the people of Zaun. He was seen in such a positive manner that a statue of him was built in the city to honour him which many (including Silco) would visit to reminisce about his memory.

Appearance
Vander has the appearance of a large, muscular, middle-aged man with dark, nearly black hair and a well kept greying beard. He is often seen wearing dark blue pants, a white shirt, a brown leather jacket, and an arm cover to hide the scar Silco gave him after their fight in his early years.

Personality
Vander is a kindhearted, sympathetic person who is always willing to help those in need. His motives are always selfless, constantly taking action to protect the people of Zaun and his loved ones. He would try to achieve this using more violent methods in his younger years, but after the failed uprising Vander considers himself responsible for the death of Vi and Powder's parents and has developed a hatred for war. He now prefers peace in Zaun and has become the unofficial leader of the city, being well respected by its citizens and helping maintain order. He is a father figure to four orphaned kids: Vi, Powder, Mylo, and Claggor, and although he can be stern at times, he is very protective of them and loves them dearly, eventually giving his life to save Vi's.

Violet
Vi (short for Violet) is one of the adopted children of Vander and the older sister of Powder. After the failed uprising that led to her parents' deaths, Vander took her under his wing, becoming her father figure and teaching her how to survive and live a better life than he had in Zaun. With Vander being an incredibly skilled boxer himself, he passed on many of his skills to Vi who has shown herself to have become highly skilled herself, and Vander expresses pride in this whenever she wins a fight. Even after his death, Vander's teachings have a strong impact on Vi, with her demonstrating qualities of good morals, leadership skills, and strong family values throughout the show.

Powder
Powder (or later known in the series as Jinx) is one of the adopted children of Vander and the younger sister of Vi. After the failed uprising that led to her parents' deaths, Vander took her under his wing, becoming her father figure and teaching her how to survive and live a better life than he had in Zaun. They both had a healthy relationship throughout Vander's life, with Vander making Powder her favourite drink whenever he saw that she looked unhappy. However, after Powder's accidental explosion resulting in the death of Vander, she suffers from extreme guilt and trauma from her actions and can't bear to think of her family without feeling great pain and sorrow.

Silco
Silco is a past friend of Vander's who he once considered to be his brother. In the past, they both shared a dream of freeing Zaun from Piltover's oppressive rule, but their relationship collapsed after Vander betrayed Silco and attempted to drown him in the waters surrounding Zaun for unknown reasons. After meeting Silco years later, he reveals that he never forgave himself for what he did that day and he understands Silco's hatred towards him. Even after Vander's actions, Silco still had respect for him, but in the end they had one final fight resulting in Vander succumbing to his injuries.

Quotes

 * "A bit of advice. Don't threaten the guy who pours the drinks."
 * "When people look up to you, you don't get to be selfish. You say run, they run. You say swim, they dive in. You say light a fire, they show up with oil. But whatever happens, it's on you."
 * "You've got a good heart. Don't ever lose it."
 * "You can't escape the past. Right? Be a shame if I had to put them on again. Cast iron's, well, it's hard to clean."
 * "Nobody wins in war."
 * "No matter how the world tries to break you. Protect the family."