First appearance: Playtest 1 (Pre-Launch) — Silky Slim v Escanor the Echo · watch it on YouTube
The Arbiter’s Rings are eight golden rings in loud, fluorescent colors that The Arbiter wears on his fingers. Few pieces of jewelry in the Void have had a busier life. They have been coveted by a champion, faked for a band of would-be thieves, worn as trophies by The Shadow King, and offered up by the Box of Chaos to desperate fighters. Whoever slips one on gets a brief, dizzying taste of the Arbiter’s power over time and space.
Description
The rings are golden bands, each in a different bright fluorescent color. The Arbiter wore all eight at once, glittering on both hands, when he opened the portal for the champions in his first appearance. They are prismatic spray rings, which is why the Shadow King later called them “Vythorn’s prismatic spray rings.”
A single ring carries a sliver of something greater. Whoever wears it becomes “master of time and space” for a few heartbeats, and enemy blows struggle to land on them. The ring resizes itself to fit snugly. Its power has limits: it cannot undo more than a few seconds, and it lasts only a moment of the fight. There is said to be only one.
History
The rings were on display from the very first fight. When the Arbiter opened the portal for Silky Slim and Escanor the Echo, he did it with both hands, all eight rings shining. They caught a champion’s eye almost at once. In S1 Ep1 — Ditch Em’ Darrell v Eshrinn, the trinket-loving Ditch Em’ Darrell admitted he wanted to “borrow” a few. The Arbiter, charmed by a man who “strikes a chord with my more greedy side,” bet on him and half-promised him a ring. In S1E3 — Blood Mage — Sunozar v the Shadow of the Arbiter, the rings came off when the Arbiter tore out his own shadow to create The Shadow of the Arbiter.
In S2 Ep1, Fate of the Arbiter (Fate of the Arbiter Part 1), a band of rebels faced what looked like the Arbiter. It was only a visage of him. The rings they won, and the severed hands that wore them, were illusions that faded away. Later in that story the party cut off the visage’s hands and believed they finally had the rings. They never did. The Arbiter had cursed the rings they took and kept the real ones for himself.
The real rings changed hands when the Shadow King killed the Arbiter, and the King kept them. In S4E9 — Shootout — Stanley Second Life Gibbs v Gideon Regalis Electus Gregorius the 537th (Greg), The Acolytes chanted for chaos, and the Grandmaster announced, “I think it’s time for a little finger action.” After a moment of confusion, the Shadow King understood:
“Yes, Vythorn’s prismatic spray rings. I kept them as mementos.… Very well, champions, let me prismatic finger you.”
The Arbiter eventually took his rings back.
In the Season of Fate, a vision of rule that only the Arbiter lived through, a single ring became one of the Box of Chaos’s prizes. In S5E10 — BoneBound Brawl — King Bofus v Bone Daddy (and Darcy), a shadowy figure handed King Bofus “a pretty little piece of jewelry that once belonged to the Arbiter.” He slipped it onto “the tiniest little” finger, where his crown had been. His eyes flashed with multicolored lightning, “like Neo in the Matrix learning kung fu,” he saw every move Bone Daddy could make, and he shook off his exhaustion with a cry of “let’s go, son!”
In S5E12 — Imitation Game — Kopy Katt v Ragu, Ragu paid a steep price for the ring. He sacrificed his mechanical bull, which charged headfirst into the box and was sucked down. The shadowy hand offered him a ring “that once actually belonged to the Lord of Fate himself,” the title the Arbiter held in that vision. Thea summed up its power as “the little timey-wimey, hibbly-bobbly stuff.” When Ragu finally activated it, he hoped it would take Kopy Katt’s can opener away. It did less than that: it only threw off her next attacks.
The ring surfaced again in the real timeline. In S6 Ep3 — Ether Drifts Part 2 — Team A deathmatch (Atlas v Robbie Clark and the Hunger v Copycat), it was once again on offer on The Ether Drifts. It still made its wearer master of time and space for a moment and left enemy blows struggling to land. There was said to be only one.
Appearances
- S2 Ep1, Fate of the Arbiter (Fate of the Arbiter Part 1)
- S1E3 — Blood Mage — Sunozar v the Shadow of the Arbiter
- S4E9 — Shootout — Stanley Second Life Gibbs v Gideon Regalis Electus Gregorius the 537th (Greg)
- S5E10 — BoneBound Brawl — King Bofus v Bone Daddy (and Darcy)
- S5E12 — Imitation Game — Kopy Katt v Ragu
- S6 Ep3 — Ether Drifts Part 2 — Team A deathmatch (Atlas v Robbie Clark and the Hunger v Copycat)