| SPOILER WARNING! This article contains spoilers from Arcane Season 2 |
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- I had a crush, until you started talking to the gun.
- —Ekko to Jinx in League of Legends
- What's the matter Little Man? You really jealous of a gun?
- —Jinx to Ekko "Taunt" in League of Legends[1]
Timebomb is the het ship between Ekko and Jinx from the League of Legends fandom.
Canon[]
Arcane[]
Ekko and Jinx were childhood friends in Zaun and were the two youngest among Vi and the others. As children, the two were close. But after Vander's death, the both of them went in very different directions. Jinx started working with Silco, who took her as a daughter, while Ekko founded the Firelights, being the leader of an inclusive and prosperous group, underground.
The first time Jinx and Ekko meet each other after the time skip is during one of Silco's Shimmer smuggling missions. Jinx was guarding the Shimmer when Ekko and the Firelights started attacking the flying ship, trying to take the Shimmer out. At that moment, Jinx attacked and killed many of Ekko's friends. The next time they meet, Ekko and the Firelights attack Jinx directly, while she's with Vi, and they take Vi and Caitlyn with them. After Ekko finds out that Vi is not working with Silco, he has a heart-to-heart talk with her about her sister. Ekko tells her that Powder is gone, and that all that it's left of her is Jinx. Of course Vi disagrees completely, saying she knows her sister. And in that moment, Ekko takes her to see a mural painted on the shelter, with portraits of "everyone we've lost", with Powder (young Jinx) painted among them, symbolizing that Powder is lost for him now. He turns to Vi and tells her that Jinx is now working with Silco not because she's forced to do so, but because she wants to.
The two used to play a paintball game as children where Powder shoots at Ekko at a distance and the latter dodges while running towards her. Ekko wins if he manageges to reach her without getting hit; and if he does get hit, Powder wins. A parallel to this game of theirs is made in the present when Ekko faces Jinx as an enemy when they meet at the bridge after Jinx's attack. Jinx starts with a scoff, calling Ekko "the boy savior". He starts swaying his stopwatch in his hand, wordlessly inviting Jinx to one last game together, Jinx laughs and plays along. While in their childhood memories, Jinx used to be the winner, this time, the game ends with Ekko winning thanks to him remembering her shooting pattern. When present day Ekko starts the timer on his stopwatch the music stops abruptly, along with their childhood memories, as Ekko nimbly dodges her shots while closing the distance between her and him. He ends up pinning Jinx down with a series of strikes. When he's about to give her the finishing blow, he stops and looks directly into Jinx's eyes, which are now a gray color, just like Powder's were, causing him to hesitate, & see his old friend in Jinx's face. Ekko's expression causes Jinx to stop struggling and she gives him a genuinely sorrowful smile, before detonating a chomper grenade right next to them in a attempt to kill herself.
- “Oh, I feel like these characters could be in love now.”
- — Amanda Overton, referring to the animation from the Ekko and Jinx bridge fight on Arcane: Bridging the Rift Part 3 - Killstreaks Meet Keyframes
In season 2 of arcane, episode 7, Ekko is transported to a paralell universe, where Jinx is Powder. Powder is extremely close to Ekko off the bat as he adjusts to the change. He stands at first offensive with her, still believing her to be Jinx. When Powder agrees to let Heimerdinger and Ekko use her base as a testing grounds for traveling back to their universe (Without her knowing it’s to travel back), she helps them anyway. In the monatge of Ekko and Powder working together, there are several scenes of them staring at eachother while the other works. In the time they spend together, Ekko makes a mural of Vi, where the firelight base is in the original univere, for Powder. Covering her eyes, he leads her to the mural where they talk about Vi, Powder mourning while Ekko tells her you have to leave things behind to leap forward. As the practice Ekko’s time loop machine, Powder cleans his face as he sits down, telling him to get changed for the party. Later on, a dance happens at the last drop, Ekko waiting for Powder. The two of them dance with a glitchy filter, being extremely close and happy, the music in the moment being one of love, heartbreak, and having to leave your love behind. After the dance, they sit on the rooftop, where Ekko tells Powder he wishes to stay in the moment, to which she repeats his words to him, he tells her he’ll never forget this moment. They then share a kiss, but not before Ekko tells Powder he wants them to pretend it’s like their first one. After their kiss, he gifts a spinning necklace with a blue peony, showing both of their side profiles in the pendant. Peonies symbolize eternal love, loyalty, freedom, and unattainable love/unforgettable crush. After this exchange, she meets Ekko again in her lair, holding her version of Ekko in her arms as he teleports back to his original universe. Powder keeps the Pendant in the drawer next to the hexcores, implying she knew this Ekko wasn’t hers, but still loved him the same.
Right before Jinx kills herself, Ekko rewinds time to save her, attempting to talk her out of it multiple times. However, she kept blowing herself up, each time Ekko rewinding. When Ekko sits down to rest, he says he wants to talk an old friend out of blowing the two of them up, to which Jinx jumps off instead of detonating her bomb, not blowing both of them up. The final time he rewinds, he succesfully talks her out of it, using the words alternate universe Powder told him.
In the final episode, the two of them fight together in the war, Ekko jumping out of Jinxes lair, covered in her glowing paint, as well as having a matching pink x on their chests together. When Jinx is getting attacked by Warwick, Ekko jumps in to grab Vi and help protect her. When the war is over and Jinx is dead(?), Ekko is seen sitting alone on the same roof he kissed her in the alternate reality. He stares at the place she sat, lighting a paper on fire with Jinx/Powder's name and watching it float into the sky.
League of Legends[]
Ekko has a voice line when taunting Jinx saying that he had a crush on her, until she started talking to the gun.
In Jinxes Fractured Arcane skin, there are multiple voicelines directed and referencing Ekko.
First Encounter
“Which Ekko and I getting today? Genius? Or madness” - Reference to Au Powders description of them to Benzo.
“Why do you always look at me like that Ekko?”
”Heh, There’s just something about you , Ekko. You always seem to know what’s coming.”
”Professor! Remember me? I’m Ekko’s really good friend…-! Powder…”
Taunt
“What’s the matter little man? You really jealous of a gun?”
“You got a real chip on your shoulder Ekko!”
Kill:
“Just like old times, huh Ekko?”
“It’s always a dance with me, right Ekko? And you’ve still got 2 left feet…”
“Come on Ekko, quit goofing around! …It’s not funny…”
Death from Ekko
“The boy savior…”
“Knew you’d be the death of me Ekko…”
”H-How could you…”
Open Shop
”He sure would’ve loved this.”
Move
”I got a knack for burning bridges, blowing up buildings, and people.” - Bridges being a reference to Ekko and Jinxes bridge fight. - Menace Form
“What we’ve cooked up together, Me and Ekko. We could really change things.” - Tinkerer form.
Legends of Runeterra[]
Ekko has a voice line when Jinx is summoned onto the field as an ally, commenting that he misses her so much. And another one if she's summoned as an enemy where he will comment, "Powder I...never mind" in a somewhat anguished tone.
Quotes[]
- I had a crush, until you started talking to the gun.
- —Ekko to Jinx in League of Legends
- What's the matter Little Man? You really jealous of a gun?
- —Jinx to Ekko "Taunt" in League of Legends[2]
- Powder I...never mind
- —Ekko to Jinx "Interaction with enemy card" in Legends of Runeterra
- Man... I miss you so much
- —Ekko to Jinx "Interaction with ally card" in Legends of Runeterra
- Oh Ekko, I can always count on you to get in my way.
- —Jinx to Ekko "Taunt" in League of Legends[4]
- Always a dance with you
- —Ekko to Jinx in Arcane Season 2
- It's always a dance with me, right Ekko? And you've still got two left feet
- —Jinx to Ekko "Kill" in League of Legends[5]
- Heh, there's just something about you, Ekko. You always seem to know what's coming
- —Jinx to Ekko "First Encounter" in League of Legends[6]
- What we've cooked up together. Me and Ekko, we could really change things.
- —Jinx to Ekko "Move - Tinkerer form" in League of Legends[7]
Songs[]
- Ma Meilleure Ennemie | Stromae, Pomme
Fanon[]
Timebomb is the most written het ship, third most written ship in Arcane: League of Legends fandom on AO3. It's both Jinx and Ekko's most written ship too.
League of Legends[]
The ship is fairly popular in the League of Legends fandom due to the fact that in the game, Ekko used to have a crush on Powder before she went mad, changed her name to Jinx, and started talking to her guns. There is also a voice line in Legends of Runeterra where if Ekko and Jinx are summoned together as allies, Ekko will remark on how he "misses her so much".
Arcane[]
In the Arcane fandom the ship has found a new wave of steadily growing popularity even with the disagreement of some fans with divergent opinions caused by a few factors, such as the two not having many moments together in the show, and when they do, they are fighting each other brutally; the scene of bridge fight, used to foment the ship being too violent and interpreted by some as domestic violence coded due to it's content in case it represents an actual couple; the fact that although their childhood relationship holds big importance to their lives, it deteriorated with time to the situation it is today, and the fact that Ekko is shown to miss and seek Jinx's former self, Powder, not her present self, shown by the painting of everyone he lost on the firelights hideout, including young Powder, which gets complemented well by their interactions in LoL and LoR.
The fandom support for the ship in the show mainly stems from them being formally close childhood friends who spent a lot of time together; which was one of the focal points in the music video for Arcane's theme song, "Enemy" by Imagine Dragon's & JID; and that the co-producers of Arcane confirmed it to be canon to the show. The ship was also strengthened in the fandom thanks to the tension between the two during the bridge fight and the exchange of expressions they gave to each other right before Jinx sets off the grenade in an attempt to kill herself .
Right now any romantic feelings between the two have yet to have been seen, and is currently just speculation on the fandoms side, hoping that the two find a way to reconcile with each other; which might lead the way for such feelings to develop in later seasons of the show.
This ship has a large amount of artworks, fan comics, and fanfiction. And it currently has 1,600+ works on AO3 where they are either the main ship or heavily featured.
The Twitter account of the show posted a video in which the making of the bridge fight scene was depicted, showing the caption saying "I love you" under Ekko and Jinx's faces, which heavily indicates mutual feelings between them.
Also, on the artbooks of Arcane series, the portfolio edition's shows Jinx's doodles pointing making reference to Ekko with hearts and words such as "cute", "dork", “Smart”, "best boy" and "Score", being the last ones possibly referring to the cinema thematics of the artbooks covers, since in one she pointed herself as a director, and he might be the "best boy" (responsible for the electrical part, and worth mentioning that best boys and their supervisors on the electrical parts are called "sparks" or "juicers" too) of the set of her life and the "score" be the "soundtrack of her life" too and she also drew an arrow pointing to her with hearts and the word "tuff tuff".
There is also an illustration of Jinx and Ekko holding their hands while she wears his sweater. As well as several drawings of him with a crown and hearts she doodles. She refers to him as "best boy" on the spread, doodles "That's me!" on herself, while circling a red doodle around their hands holding, and a red heart right next to Ekko. She also writes "Will you dance with me?" next to AU Ekko, with little scribbles calling him smart. The book is mentioned to be from her perspective by the book's print designer.
Fandom[]
FAN FICTION
TUMBLR
Trivia[]
- Their ship name is a reference to Ekko's time manipulation abilities & Jinx's explosives,
- They have some interactions in the game.
- In LOR, when an ally Jinx arrives, Ekko's card says "Man, i miss you so much".
- In LOL, Ekko says "Guns... Original" when he encounters Jinx.
- In 'Tales of Runeterra: Pilltover' Ekko uses the hextech battery core Jinx stole to make a one-wheeled propulsion skateboard capable of flight.
- Since Arcane's premier there have been various LoL marketing promos that feature Ekko & Jinx together both for the show and other avenues of the League of Legends IP.
- Riot music showed the two together in the Music AU where they attended the Grammy's and the Billboard music awards.
- During the 2022 Summer Star Guardian event the Official League of Legends Brazil Twitter account hosted a 1 day event where Star Guardian Jinx and Ekko took over (hacked) for there own AMA. The Brazilian voice actors for the character released a audio intro and outro playing as them complete with back and forth banter which continued during the entire AMA.
- A dev diary video for Riot's upcoming League of Legends fighting game currently codenamed "Project L" showed updated gameplay in a vertical slice demo, that started with and heavily featured both Ekko and Jinx mimicking their duel from the bridge seen in Arcane and also being each others assist's during their matches
- Ekko's hourglass insignia can be seen drawn on Jinx's Chomper grenades (with an observation that the hourglass insignia was drawn on Jinx's chomper in order to hand it to Silco, that handed it to the former sheriff Marcus in order to make the council order Firelights persecution using enforcers and very likely, freeing Silco from having to order it) in the show & this trend has extended into her recent merchandise as some of which also has Ekko's hourglass drawn on them in Jinx's trademark pink and blue colors.
- In a Promotional artwork for the "Riot x Arcane" event, after Ekko's reveal in the show, one of Ekko's cuffs on his dreadlocks has the "X" insignia from one of Jinx's trademark calling card's that usually has the words, "X WUZ HERE" underneath it.
- The Runeterra Reforged Launch Cinematic for Teamfight Tactics featured both, Jinx (her Arcane Version) & Ekko (his LoL MOBA version) riding together on one of her rockets and teaming up at the end to fight Cho'Gath.
- In the new season of the show Arcane, Ekko has the symbols of Jinx in his outfit, as they seem to team up.
- It is revealed that Ekko never saw Jinx as a jinx and he only trusted her to never break his things as kids.
- In Arcane season 2 posters, Ekko's poster shows one of his hair accessories to have Jinx's monkey doodle on them.
- In the alternate universe, Powder and Ekko both drew doodles of each other in their notes.
- After Jinx's death, the hairbands in Ekko's hair match her eye color.
- Ekko's ear weren’t originally pierced, but in the alternate universe, they were. After Jinx is presumably dead, he now has an ear piercing to replicate the other him.
- Their theme song, "Ma Meilleure Ennemie" (Stromae & Pomme) passed 7 million streams and landed #3 on Spotify global, setting a record as the most listened French language song in 24 hours.
- The song has melancholic and wistful lyrics, presumably describing main universe's Ekko (and Jinx) feeling for each other, with extracts such as: "You're the best thing to ever happen to me but also the worst thing to ever happen to me"; "You know what they say, keep your friends close, but your enemies even closer"; "I love you, I'm waiting for you"; "Why does hearing your name hurt me when it hides right there in the vicinity?"
- In the art book, She describes the firelights with, “Trust, Protect, friendship, love, home, remember, safety.”
- There was deleted scene from Season 1, where a young Ekko sneaks into Silcos base to save Jinx. When he tries getting her out, he tells her he’s here to “Rescue/Save you”. She slaps him, and tells him she’s Jinx now. This scene is most likely where Jinx got the term “Boy Savior” from, and where Ekko was convinced Jinx isn’t powder anymore.
- Jinx doesn’t have any Negative hallucinations of Ekko (Or rather heavy ones) as she doesn’t have any bad memories with him.
- Several Timebomb scenes were cut from the final season. One of which was described to be an intimate scene of the two of them painting each other before the war. Ekko telling Jinx about Au Powder. When he tells her, Jinx believes him rather than thinking it’a a trick.
- Au Ekko and Powder have numerous paintings and Drawing of each other in her base.
- When Jinx is attempting to off herself, before Ekko saves her, the song “Wasteland” repeats, “Please let me go, go, go go.” After Ekko successfully prevents her from killing herself, the songs lyrics switch to, “Don’t let me go.”
Gallery[]
- Main article: Timebomb/Gallery
References[]
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| League of Legends Ships • League of Legends Characters | ||
| SHIPS | het | EzLux • RaXayah • Shadowcannon • Timebomb • YasuAhri |
| slash | Ezko • JayVik • Settphelios • Shadowblink • TFGraves | |
| femslash | Akalynn • CaitVi • JinxQuinn • Leodia • Lightcannon • MFIllaoi • Neekolee | |
| poly | TFMFGraves | |
| family | JinxVi | |
| friend | CaitJay | |
| CHARACTERS | female | Jinx |