Arcann for the character breakdown!
I can rant for HOURS when it comes to Arcann
How I feel about this character
Protecc??? Comfort??? Give him hugs and support and tell him that he deserves to be treated well? Encourage him? Tell him that it doesn’t matter what kind of person Valkorion made him into but it matters what kind of person he is now??? *collapses to the ground with ugly sobbing*
Anyway, emotions aside, he’s a great and complex character, both as a tyrant and as just Arcann. And let me tell you, he’s fucking terrifying. Vaylin is surely more dangerous and crazy, but nothing she ever did made me feel the chills. Arcann, however, did. Not even personally, which is crazy. I remember the moment on the ship you’re trying to use to take control of the GEMINI, and as you fleeing it, the GEMINI captain casually says “Do you think Emperor Arcann will torture you? I think he will. I bet he’ll enjoy it. I know I would.” And that’s it. A tiny ambient piece, but it sent chills down my spine, because Arcann is just that type of a character you can believe in. You hear the gemini say that, and you know that yeah, he will torture you, and he will make it very long and painful, and creative, and he already is on his way here. Not to mention the voice acting which is just….. f u c k. *sends a thousand kisses to our god Eric Todd Dellums*
And I love that if you look carefully, you can always see how deeply broken he is, even if you choose to kill him (that’s why I’ll never do it again no matter how out-of-character it would be). And THANK YOU bioware for letting us tell Jorgan that he is just another Valkorion’s victim.
If I sound like I’m making exuses for him and forgetting that jelaousy and flaming character were always his traits, I am not. I remember that perfectly, and I acknowledge his responsibility for many terrible things, but still, even though those were his choices, somehow I don’t think he would have made any of them if Senya raised her kids herself and there was no Valkorion’s influence. Anyway, he’s already paid for what he’s done, and the guilt will most probably haunt him till the end of his life, but that remains to be seen.
All the people I ship romantically with this character
My sunshine consular Findar. And let me tell you, I have never seen anything sweeter and healthier than their relationship. It’s not ideal at first, of course, mostly due to Arcann’s guilt and self-loathing, and due to Findar’s low self-esteem, but they’re working on it endlessly until one morning they wake up and nothing disturbs them anymore.
My non-romantic OTP for this character
Helgaaaa! A second mom? Yes please? Not to mention that she’s been flirting with Senya shamelessly since the day they met and they are very close friends, Helga was probably the first person to welcome Arcann (after Findar, of course). Arcann never understood completely how she could change her opinion so fast. She accepted him the very second Findar declared him an ally, and she was a huge help, training with him, talking all the nonsense in the world not to make him feel such a white sheep among the wolves, helping him come to terms with his self-loathing and very complex feelings towards Valkorion, even sort of mentoring him, etc. Not to mention that she gave him relationship advice as soon as she noticed him being in love (he was so shocked that he could not even protest). So yea, you can say he’s got two moms now x)
Also Lumis, who is surprisingly very understanding. Even though Lumis has more in common with Vaylin, he still understands what it’s like to be abused since childhood and what it’s like to grow up under the shadow of a monster. He’s not entirely forgiving or something - he doesn’t have much to forgive for because he generally doesn’t care about neither the Empire or the Republic at this point, - but he gloats gladly that Valkorion wasn’t able to get Arcann. That kind of mutual understanding helps them become some kind of friends.
I also believe that he gets along well with Theron and Lana, who are not very much favorable of him, but they trust their Commander’s judgment and they are too practical to carry on their grudges. Especially Lana, who was on Nathema and as a Force-user, felt what terrible things Valkorion was capable of. After that, I believe she’s just not able to judge Arcann and Vaylin. Arcann was healed and joined them? Okay, great, they can use any help they can get. Vaylin cannot be healed? She is a threat anyway, no matter the reasons, and she must be dealt with. If their cases were reversed, I believe her opinion on that wouldn’t have changed, because morals are not on the table when the galaxy is on fire. So she and Theron are not exactly friends with Arcann, but they sure accept him without asking questions.
My unpopular opinion about this character
……….I……. I don’t know??? Uh, I think I’ve often seen people expressing a thought that Vaylin deserved redemption more than Arcann. I don’t know if that’s a popular opinion, but idk, I kinda disagree with that. I’m not saying she did not deserve redemption at all - both of them did because Valkorion is a dick and they deserved a normal life. It’s just… logical that Arcann was able to change and she was not. She was too broken after everything that’s happened to her, and it was only logical that she did not want to break herself again to become something else. Arcann was also abused, but compared to her, he suffered much less and wasn’t fractured enough for it to become irreversible. I would love though to have an option to not kill Vaylin, but imprison her and give her medical treatment. That’s what my consular would’ve done, and that’s what she deserved - to be healed as well, or at least to live with a tiny hope for recovery and be cared about by the rest of her family. Not to be consumed and used by Valkorion again. It’s not the matter of ‘who deserved it more’ for me, it just makes sense because it seems logical.
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.
I wish there was more time between him joining the Alliance and the two final chapters. Thus, more opportunities for interaction, and more opportunities for him to help. I mean, he joined the Alliance to help, but all he did was mentioning Nathema and… swinging a lightsaber later? That doesn’t look like much of a help. It also makes the romance with him look a bit unnatural - it feels too rushed, too ‘wait, what the hell has just happened’, because there was no time to interact at all.
I also wish bioware to change his design after a while (after Iokath, at least) and let us give him another armor set. It would be just natural if Arcann tried to let go this part of his past and move on. Not to mention that his classic white armor is reminding everyone around that he is the same person who bombed the planets, and he is standing right here.
Welp. That’s a lot of text. I regret nothing.