[0:01]What happens when good doesn't win? When you attempt to make the right decisions to save the people around you, but the next right thing to do becomes unclear. When the pursuit of protecting others at all costs may lead you to lose everything. Vander resonates with me more than any other character in the show. So, this video is going to be deeply personal for me and things are going to get dark. I hope you're okay with that. Vander's story is one that they had to fit a lot of depth into in a short amount of time. Sees really only in three episodes and we don't see much of him before the three episodes. We don't see much of the man that he was, but what we can infer from the brief snippets that we do get is that he was once a violent, brutal man. He had ambitions of liberating the Undercity. He was a natural leader. Vander is a man that is willing to fight and die for his cause. When Vander spoke, people followed. His zeal for an independent Zaun was just as infectious to an oppressed Undercity as the toxic air that they were all forced to breathe. They all just wanted a better life. To Vander, this straightforward answer of revolution seemed to be the best. That is until he stands on the front lines of his revolution and sees firsthand the bodies of the families that he's indirectly killed. Their blood now on his hands. He quite literally lays down his arms, his massive gauntlets, and picks up two now orphan children. Vander is still the same idealist, and while he walks away from the bridge changed, he still has the same goal. A better life. Now instead of liberty by bloody revolution, he searches for ways of improving life in the Undercity. And this time without the bloodshed by protecting others and valuing life wherever he sees it. After a time skip, we see that while not liberated and nowhere near a paradise, the Undercity has banded together into a tight knit community. Merchants travel from far off lands to trade in the Undercity and there is a general understanding. Respect the hound and his rules, and never threaten the man that pours the drinks. We can sit around and play at hypotheticals all day. Would Vander have led the Undercity to a peaceful negotiation with Topside if he had enough time? Sence, Jace, Victor, and Vander all have similar goals. Could they have worked things out if again, given enough time? The thing is is that we don't know, and we are left to interpret the story as it's presented to us. Vander feels the pain and suffering of everyone in the Undercity. He protects the weak among them from threats that they would be unable to stop on their own. He plays Topside's game and makes a deal with Grayson, who's the sheriff of Piltover. Not only does he make a deal with her, but we see that Grayson actually has a lot of respect for Vander and a decent friendship with him. But that doesn't stop the fact that the Undercity is suffering. People grow up knowing the fact that they are lesser, living day-to-day lives, dirty, poor, not knowing where the next meal will come from. Piltover has failed them and they don't give a shit. While he tries to accommodate everybody and please everyone, Vander fails at making large-scale change happen quickly. He has good intentions, but no progress is happening. Maybe it's due to the closeness that I feel with the character, but I think Vander is a people pleaser. He does his best to accommodate everybody and with that he ends up driving support to Silco. Even his own adopted daughter almost abandons him out of disgust for not wanting to fight. Could I be projecting this trade onto him? Maybe. But it's something that I picked up on while I was watching and it definitely shook me. If large-scale positive lasting change was going to happen, many would suffer and die before it would. Another thing that I see in him and something that I relate to, probably a bit too much, is putting others' lives and needs in front of oneself. It's both a great gift and a terrible burden. Protecting others at all costs, trying to help wherever is needed, looking to give advice that sometimes isn't what needs to be said. He tries to impress upon Vi that she needs to be careful. She's a leader. He doesn't want to see her become him and make the same mistakes that he did. Like any good father would, but in doing so, he accidentally sows the seeds of a guilt complex in her. Yeah, I know. You know, but you don't know. When people look up to you, you don't get to be selfish. I'm not selfish. You say run, they run. You say swim, they dive in. You say light a fire, they show up with oil. Or whatever happens, it's on you. I'm not saying that Vander was a bad father, in fact actually the opposite. I'm saying that he was human, and we see this again in how he handled the lanes. The writers could have easily shown the Undercity as good with Vander in charge and bad with Silco in charge, but they didn't. They chose a much more real approach with more nuance than can be seen on just one viewing. With Vander, the lanes were slowly bleeding out day by day. Just looking to make it until the next morning, but overall, the people were safe. There's a sense of community. With Silco, no one was safe. Death, disease, and ruin were rampant, and he bought progress with the blood of its citizens. But it did lead to the creation of Zaun. We see from Vander that there are times when good intentions lead to a slow death. And remember when I said this video was going to get dark? Here we go. Saving others and prioritizing others is a gift, and it can be one of the best qualities in a person. However, it can also be used against you, to manipulate you and control your actions. It, in and of itself, can be the good intentions that lead to the soft death of who you are. When you live your life based on the decisions prescribed to the you by those around you, you lose yourself into the very people that you wish to please. You are no longer you, the individual. You become nothing more than a tool used by others to keep their peace. You can easily find yourself living a life that you don't want to live for people that disregard you and use you for their own gain. In essence, playing by the rules of the corrupt, appeasing everyone and trying to keep the peace to protect others. I can tell you personally, it's not sustainable. Things inevitably fall apart and you're left with the pieces of your life and decisions with no right answers that need to be made. Do you continue to put others in front of yourself or for the first time, do you value yourself and become selfish? You come to a point in your life where all you can do and all you have the strength left to do, is just to take one more step forward. And that's a warning that I see in Vander's story. I see myself prioritizing others and putting others' needs above my own. I can literally look at the city being led to ruin through complacency and see parallels in my own life and the mistakes that I have made. I see a man that has the strength to take one more step despite everything. He has the drive and the willpower to protect the people he considers family to him and continues to put others' lives above and beyond his own. It's a look into both the good and the destruction that these qualities can bring and the dangers that while I would like to, I never want to forget. I never want to forget because I never want to be trapped back into that again in my own life. It's a warning of a slow death from good intentions. Is this a, the curtains were blue, look at Vander? Yes, absolutely, I fully admit that. I know it's a stretch. But Vander shoulders everything. Just look at Vi. He gave her everything, including his life. In spite of the shimmer eating away at his mind, there was still that man in there that will do everything and anything to protect the lives of those nearest to him. It's a powerful moment in the show when Vander chooses to save Vi over taking revenge on Silco. We see just how strong of a man Vander really is. Even in his dying breaths to Vi, it's a plea to protect others. Vander's story disturbs me because I can see myself in it. I can relate to trying to appease everyone and to find peace between everybody's rules and in the end failing the people closest to me, as well as failing myself. Despite our best efforts, good doesn't always win out in the way that we expect or hope it to. His story shows us a selfless man, a good friend, a kind, forgiving father, and a person that many people would consider a hero. Protecting everyone he could while a city slowly died around him. While it's bleak, it also shows us that there is hope. There is always hope. Though we may be broken, imperfect and fractured with the mistakes that we've made in our lives, our only choice is what step to take next.
[10:21]I hope you enjoyed the video. Um, I know things got a little bit more personal than uh, normal. But it was important to me to talk about these things because these have been things that have been rattling around in my brain since I first watched the show. On that note, if you want to get to know me on a more personal level, then check out the live streaming channel. There'll be a link down below. I don't have a set schedule right now for live streams because I work and I go to college and I do too much with my time. I don't have any time, but I do stream as much as I can over there and it's I it's been so great getting to know so many people over the years and talk with so many people. And really honestly, you guys are the reason why I continue to make content. And the live streaming community that we have has been so amazing. It it's really is just incredible to me. So, go ahead and drop on by and say hi sometime. Love to see you there.
