How Old is Jinx in Arcane?
Few characters have left a cultural mark on League of Legends quite like Jinx, also known as Powder. Arcane had huge ramifications for the lore, narrative and style going forward in League of Legends, with Riot Games wishing to stay more solidly within the lore of Arcane. This article will be going over her official age, along with her age in different appearances.
Who is Jinx? - Official Canon
Ever since the introduction of Arcane’s first season, the League of Legends lore has changed to match that of Arcane’s. This means all portrayals of her outside of Arcane may not be canon.
Jinx in Arcane
Arcane is the first work to "take her seriously", in a way. Jinx's backstory at this point otherwise nebulous, or handwaved away with obscure references to Vi and Warwick.
Between Episodes 1 and 3 in Season 1, Jinx, still known as Powder, is portrayed as an 11 to 12-year-old girl. After the catastrophic events of Episode 3, a timeskip pushes the story 7 years forward, putting her at roughly 18 to 20 years old.
Jinx in League of Legends
In the core lore of League of Legends, Jinx emerges as a chaotic mystery, an explosive force whose origins are largely unknown. Both her and Vi are much closer in age in League, at 21 years old.
Jinx was once remembered by a few as a bright, eccentric tinkerer from the undercity. How that wide-eyed child unraveled into a manic demolitions expert remains a mystery, but her trail of destruction is impossible to ignore.
Jinx’s reign of chaos began with a series of anonymous “pranks” targeting Piltover’s merchant elite. Seemingly random at first, these acts shared a singular purpose: to grind the city’s rigid order to a halt. Though the wardens first blamed undercity chem-punks, Jinx soon made her mark unmistakable.
To this day, Jinx remains at large. Her escalating pranks, unpredictable violence, and cryptic obsession with Vi continue to threaten both Piltover and Zaun.
Within League of Legends, Jinx was never much of a necessarily deep character. Her origins went largely unannounced, and she tends to represent a more primordial force of anarchy and unrest that mirrors the rotting heart of Zaun within the grasp of Piltover.
She was mostly devised as the "antagonist" to Vi and Caitlyn's buddy-cop duo dynamic. It's not surprising that Vi's lore is also quite nebulous within League of Legends, pinning her as an amnesiac picked up by Caitlyn as an enforcer.
Jinx has a somewhat playful relationship with Vi, but a tumultuous one with Caitlyn. Due to Vi's amnesia and Jinx's mania, it's very unlikely they remember being sisters to begin with, if they even are in this canon. In the League of Legends canon, both Vi and Jinx are 21 years old.
Jinx in Legends of Runeterra
Legends of Runeterra has Jinx's birthdate set in 971 AN, with the current year being 997 AN. This makes Jinx 26 years old during the events of Legends of Runeterra. They exist within the same League of Legends canon universe that is now obsolete (or non-canon, at the very least) since Arcane’s release.
Jinx comics
Legends of Runeterra takes a halfway path between Arcane and League of Legends. LoR acknowledges several points from Arcane, such as Vi and Jinx's shared backstory as sisters and Vi's rabbit doll. Regardless, Vi and Jinx keep a relatively amicable relationship, playing the role of two sisters who love each other, but are ultimately forced into opposite sides of the law.
Wrapping Up
Jinx sits at around 17-19 years old in Arcane, 21 years old in League of Legends, and 26 years old in Legends of Runeterra. However, the events of League of Legends and Legends of Runeterra are not necessarily canon.
Across all three portrayals, she's a character shaped by loss, guilt, but also an unstable person, shaped by an even more unstable environment. Do keep in mind that these portrayals are not necessarily perfectly canon with each other—all of these split off at some moment or the other, or never match up to begin with.
Canonicity has been a subject of contention ever since Arcane came out. The only solidly canon sources for events in the lore so far are Arcane, post-Arcane teaser cinematics, the Arcane Artbook and in-game Arcane minigames.
Even though LoL and LoR lore may not be necessarily canon right now, it doesn’t make them any less valid or fun to get into, though.
