Caitlyn Kiramman: Why Do So Many People Hate Her?
!!!ARCANE SEASON 2 SPOILERS UP AHEAD!!!
After Season 2 of 'Arcane', Caitlyn Kiramman got a lot of hate from the 'Arcane' fandom for her dark, vengeful twist and her descent into moral ambiguity. Which is odd considering the entire show is about morally ambiguous characters making immoral decisions for multiple different reasons. So why does Caitlyn get so much hate while characters who have done far worse (like Jinx and Silco, for example) are still beloved? I'll try to dive into it the best that I can (this is a little long so bear with me here also don't mind any grammar/spelling or lore-related mistakes I wrote this at one in the morning on a Monster high lol)-
1. Contradictions. In the first season, Caitlyn is immediately introduced as a kind, caring, and empathetic person. She is extremely privileged- lives in Piltover, extremely rich and luxurious life, her mother is on the Council, et cetera- but also recognizes that she's privileged. She has a chat with Ekko in episode seven ('The Boy Savior') where she finally realizes how bad things really are for the Undercity after experiencing it first-hand and wants to make a change and to help those living in it. She even voices her concerns to her parents and actually makes an effort to make things better (when she isn't being traumatized). Then at the end of season one, her mother is killed by Jinx's bomb- so of course she's going to be angry, hurt, grieving, and seeking revenge, cause who wouldn't? But in the first episode of season two, we see her in the now-ruined Council room telling everyone that all of Zaun and its inhabitants were not to blame for the attack, that it was the action of "one deranged individual", then later in I believe the very next episode gasses and poisons the entire city in search of said individual. It makes sense from an emotional perspective; if a beloved family member is killed by a raging lunatic, a lot of people would go above and beyond morality to catch the culprit. From a logical perspective it makes zero sense; she just said that all of Zaun shouldn't be punished for one person's actions, then proceeded to punish all of Zaun for one person's actions. And it completely contradicts her entire development in the first season from a blissfully ignorant, privileged officer to a more aware, sympathetic, and informed individual, then proceeds to become a dictator that aids in the oppression of Zaun. But that's just it- emotion is not logical. Grief, loss, and mourning are not logical. Revenge is not logical. It doesn't make any sense to hold Caitlyn to a 'logical' standard while all the other characters are allowed to be ruled by their emotions. Am I disappointed that the ONE character from the privileged utopia that actually gave a damn about Zaun went from caring and empathetic towards the oppressed to becoming the oppressor? Yes, absolutely (and it might've made a bigger impact on the story and character development to show kindness despite trauma and hardships).
2. Dictatorship. Again, the whole 'only privileged character who showed any sort of empathy towards the oppressed becoming the oppressor' was a massive disappointment, and definitely grounds for at least some hate, but it doesn't immediately translate to 'horrible, irredeemable character' (the same way Jinx's actions are grounds for hate but it doesn't make her a 'bad' or hated character). Caitlyn becoming the oppressor was definitely an interesting choice. On one hand it makes sense- of course she'd do anything she could to get revenge on the individual who murdered her mother, and she was on some level baited and manipulated by Ambessa during a low, vulnerable point in her life (the same way Jinx was by Silco- then again, Jinx was a child who didn't really have much choice and Caitlyn was a grown woman). On the other hand, from the perspective of someone from a marginalized group, I HATED seeing the ONLY privileged character whose entire development in the first season was becoming informed, aware, and empathetic towards the oppressed become the oppressor because of one traumatic incident caused by one person from said oppressed group, especially versus the hundreds of traumatic incidents that other characters have gone through who didn't immediately turn their backs to their morals (Ekko and Vi for example). But that's also another reason why it's realistic. Characters like Ekko and Vi have been exposed to trauma their whole lives- it's basically normal for them. They both lost more than one parent and still stood their ground, but when Caitlyn loses one parent she goes on a tyrant rampage- because she hadn't been exposed to it before. She doesn't know trauma like the other characters therefore doesn't know how to deal with it the way other characters do. The way she deals with her grief is by hiding it behind her duties- which is exactly why Ambessa was able to lure her in (trauma explains behavior, but it doesn't justify it). The worst part of this was- after everything she did just to get revenge on Jinx, she lets Jinx go at the end because she's 'tired of hating Jinx and herself'. So everything she did- dictatorship, poisoning, raiding, oppression- was all for nothing, and she completely disregarded everyone else who was hurt by Jinx's actions just because she didn't want to 'hate herself' anymore. All-in-all her becoming the dictator was definitely disappointing to see from a marginalized perspective and possibly in bad taste from the writers.
3. Repercussions. Most characters who do wrong face the consequences of their actions- Jinx is wanted by Piltover, hunted throughout the whole series, thrown in prison, labelled a terrorist, et cetera. Jayce directly faces the consequences of using the Arcane, and many more examples. Caitlyn, however, gasses and pollutes an entire city, becomes a dictator, works under a tyrant whose sole purpose was to incite more feuds between the two cities just so she could get her hands on powerful weaponry, abandons Vi at her most vulnerable moment just because Vi didn't want to risk a child getting killed, and at the end of it faces zero consequences for any of these. What made 'Arcane' so realistic was being able to see the consequences of morally ambiguous characters' actions, but for Caitlyn it was 'Hey Cupcake', a betrayal to Ambessa, and everything she ever did wrong was completely forgotten about and Vi immediately forgave her. For legal repercussions, it's another classic example of class and privilege- Jinx faces immediate consequences because she's from Zaun. Caitlyn's bad actions are immediately forgiven and forgotten about because she's from Piltover. That's what the whole show is literally about. However, everyone else immediately forgiving her- especially Vi after she abandoned her, became a dictator whose main goal was to cause more problems in her home city, and was partially at fault for her father's death- didn't really make much sense and just seemed like a cheap way for 'Arcane' writers to continue Caitlyn's relationship development without actually developing her character.
4. Pacing. This is the part I personally had a problem with. The pacing of Caitlyn's entire development in season two was downright lazy, and that's an error on the writers' end, not the character's. Like I mentioned above, within the two episodes she's vouching for Zaun then gassing and raiding it. After one traumatic experience caused by one person she becomes a dictator aiding in the oppression of Zaun after an entire development about becoming more aware and empathetic (but that's what happens in a lot of stories, especially ones with a lot of morally ambiguous characters- long, excruciating positive character developments can be thrown away within a few moments). But then after all of this, it takes one nickname for her to revert right back to her caring, empathetic self? It just seemed like the writers wanted to give Caitlyn a 'descent and redemption' arc but didn't really put much thought into it, which was odd considering how much screen time she had. When you look at Jinx, we see her development into a 'madwoman' very clearly- we see the how, the why, the unique way she's morally ambiguous, her mix and wide variety of emotions, then we very clearly see her 'redemption'- becoming more 'moral' and 'safe' because of Isha, the how, the why, the independency, her emotions, et cetera. For Caitlyn, we see that she's angry and grieving over her mother and makes poor decisions because of that trauma, but then immediately turns back to the 'good' side because Vi called her 'Cupcake'. Then after that, we see absolutely nothing. No regret, no shame, no guilt for her actions, no genuine emotion or conflicting morals. Overall, I personally believe that the hate towards Caitlyn is rooted more in the fact that her development was not nearly as fleshed-out as it should've been and that it was rushed and lazily-written rather than cause of her actual actions.
5. Remorse. This is the main reason I personally don't like Caitlyn (I don't hate her, but I don't really like her either). As I mentioned above, Caitlyn shows absolutely zero remorse, shame, guilt, or anything for her bad actions, unlike many of the other characters. The only thing she's shown feeling bad for is her and Ambessa's raid getting Vi's father and Isha killed- and that's only because she's called out on it and because it directly affected her relationship with Vi. She shows zero introspection or understanding of the harm that she did to Zaun- gassing it, all of the people who were imprisoned, hurt, or killed under her military leadership, et cetera. She overlooked and aided in pain and suffering in Zaun after going on tangents about how Piltover needed to help them, then continued to fight only for Piltover. Caitlyn may have had a good redemption arc if she was shown actually feeling guilty over the things she needed redeeming for, but the writers took the lazy route and decided to pin all of the blame on Ambessa instead- despite the fact that Caitlyn literally worked for her and was completely aware of the damage she was doing. The only things that Caitlyn feels bad for are the things that strictly affected her and her relationships, but then goes to zero effort to actually do better. She fights Ambessa with Mel after betraying her, but again- that was for Piltover, not for Zaun. You can't have a 'sweet, empathetic' character and a literal dictator who showed no remorse for her actions unless they directly affected her at the same time.
All-in-all, I don't hate Caitlyn Kiramman. I actually LOVED her in the first season, but the second season did her dirty. Her development was rushed, lazy, and not fleshed-out in the slightest. The whole show is supposed to be about class division and the ONE CHARACTER from the privileged side who actually gave a damn about the oppression (not counting Viktor cause he was originally from the Undercity) not only turns her back to them but literally becomes the oppressor because of one traumatic experience. The whole show is supposed to be about moral ambiguity, guilt, love, and the repercussions of bad actions, but Caitlyn faces almost none of these. She doesn't feel guilty for any of her actions that hurt hundreds of people, she's ethical one second, unethical the next, then ethical again a minute later (as if the creators don't know how to write morally ambiguous characters with conflicting morals and emotions), and she faces zero consequences- legal, emotional, internal, external, or otherwise outside of losing an eye (which again, was for Piltover, not for Zaun)- for any of her bad actions. But overall, the constant hate she's getting for being a 'morally ambiguous' character in a show designed to be about morally ambiguous characters is unjustified. I don't dislike Caitlyn because she's morally ambiguous, I dislike her because her moral ambiguity fluctuated like the stock market, her development was terribly-written, she felt zero remorse for any of her actions, and the writers somehow wanted to maintain that 'sweet, naive, empathetic' persona on a literal dictator. Was she poorly-written and kind of selfish in the sense that she only felt remorse over things that affected her? Yes. Is she an evil, irredeemable monster? Not by a long shot.
Criticisms and friendly debates are welcome (though I probably won't reply cause I go on Tumblr once a year now lol byeeee)
