Mel Medarda from Arcane
Arcane provides a plethora of great female characters – Vi, Caitlyn, Powder, Grayson – and any one of them could have been March’s Woman of the Month, but I was particularly drawn to Mel Medarda, a young politician and aristocrat who holds a seat at the Council of Clans despite her years. Each of the main characters in Arcane eventually gets a flashback to their past to explore exactly where they came from and what makes them tick, and Mel’s (held off until the final episode) is especially intriguing given where she ends up. The child of a warlord, she was clearly raised to be pragmatic to the point of ruthless, but retained enough of her innate sense of decency to work towards a better world for everyone.
In this sense, she reminds me a bit of Margaery Tyrell, another character who uses soft manipulation... for good. It’s such a rare quality to see, especially in female characters, but Mel has an expert hand in gently pushing people where she wants them to be, all while demonstrating genuine warmth toward them. Usually this level of cunning suggests deceitfulness and slyness in a character (and glancing at the fandom, they’ve attributed these characteristics to her out of sheer habit) but when you look closely at what Mel actually does (and does not do) across the course of this season, there’s very little misfortune she can be held accountable for.
For someone in her position she’s also a surprisingly forthright person. She makes her intentions clear and follows through on them – another unexpected angle for a “politician” character to take. Usually such characters would pull strings from the shadows, but it’s clear Mel lives by a moral code she’s laid down for herself, imbuing her with a distinct personal integrity. In other words, she’s perhaps the only person in this show who lives with no shame or regrets.
And her design! Damn she’s gorgeous, from the indigo eyeshadow to the gold beadwork in her hair. Every time she’s in frame she dominates the screen.
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