Jinx (League of Legends)

About

Jinx is a League of Legends character who is an impulsive and manic criminal wielding weapons and bombs of her own design and whose mind and physical abilities have been permanently altered. In 2021, Jinx appeared as one of the main characters of Arcane television series based on League of Legends, achieving major popularity beyond the game's fanbase.

Origin

On October 1st, 2013, patch 3.12 League of Legends v.3.12 was released.^[1] The update included a new champion Jinx, the Loose Cannon, who was enabled for play on October 10th. On October 8th, 2013, promotional music video Get Jinxed for the character was released, gaining over 110 million views in eight years (shown below, left).^[2] On October 9th, champion spotlight video starring Jinx was released on YouTube^[3] (shown below, right).

Jinx, real name Powder, is a slender and sinewy woman from Zaun with hair braided into two long blue braids and dressed in revealing purple-and-black clothing. In fight, Jinx utilizes an arsenal of weapons and bombs of her own design. She also possesses strength, speed and durability surpassing those of normal humans thanks to her exposure to Shimmer, a techmaturgical drug that permanently altered her body and damaged her mental state (gameplay video shown below).^[4]

A manic and impulsive criminal from Zaun, Jinx lives to wreak havoc without care for the consequences. With an arsenal of deadly weapons, she unleashes the loudest blasts and brightest explosions to leave a trail of mayhem and panic in her wake. Jinx despises boredom, and gleefully brings her own chaotic brand of pandemonium wherever she goes.

In League of Legends Jinx is a Marksman character whose power mostly revolves around their basic attacks.^[5]

On September 15th, 2017, official webcomic Ziggs & Jinx: Paint the Town was released by Riot.^[6]

On October 15th, 2019, Riot announced^[7] Arcane an animated series set in the world of League of Legends and telling the origin stories of Jinx and her sister Vi, as well as other characters.

On April 15th, 2020, Riot released narrative cinematic "True Genius" starring Jinx and champions Ekko and Heimerdinger.^[8]

On September 25th, 2021, the official trailer for Arcane was released, gaining over 18.8 million views on YouTube^[6] in three months (shown below).

The series premiered on Netflix on November 6th to overwhelmingly positive response from critics and audiences.^[9]

Spread

Immediately following the release of the character, Jinx achieved significant popularity within the League of Legends fanbase, with multiple artists drawing fan arts of the character and crossover fan art applying Jinx' design to other characters (examples shown below, left and center). Jinx also became a popular choice for cosplay (example shown below, right).

Get Jinxed

The promotional music video "Get Jinxed," performed by Agnete Kjølstrud, released on October 3th, 2013, ahead of the official release of the character, served as inspiration for anime music videos and remakes in the following years. For example, on November 13th, 2013, YouTuber^[10] Kathy Lopez uploaded a video titled "Get Jinxed! [Junko Enoshima AMV]" featuring scenes from Danganronpa which gained over 1.5 million views in eight years (shown below, left). On December 3rd, 2014, YouTuber^[11] Herostrain released a Source Filmmaker My Little Pony / Team Fortress 2 remake of the video that gained over 2.4 million views in seven years (shown below, right).

Arcane Popularity

Following the release of Arcane animated series, in which Jinx is one of the main characters, in November 2021, the champion achieved a significant surge in popularity online. In November and December 2021, a massive amount of fan art of Jinx was submitted by artists on Twitter, Tumblr and other social media, with Jinx' daughter-father relationship with character Silco serving as inspiration for fan art (examples shown below).

On TikTok, a massive number of fancams, cosplay videos and other fan labor of Jinx were posted following the release of the series, with video tagged #Jinx accumulating over 1 billion views as of mid-December 2021^[12](examples shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References