#HATE HEIMERDINGER

[burningfunobject]

Am I the only one worried for act III??

Like they have SO much to get through in just 3 episodes and with the way the other two acts have gone (leaving certain characters for just one big segment in one episode instead of spreading their scenes out) makes me kinda worried

Like how are we going to get through all the stuff with viktor and jayce, get mel back, find ekko and the rat, caitvi, vi becoming an enforcer proper, jinxs everything AND noxus in just THREE episodes

Maybe they'll be longer??? I kinda doubt that tho

[oneshotprincess]

one more thing i definitely dislike about arcane is how...weirdly anti-science it is. maybe it attempted to be talking about the ethical decisions that are involved in scientific progress but instead...

tell me why a disabled man's pursuit to alleviate his suffering is treated as going against the very nature of the universe when his disability is hardly 'natural' (if such a thing exists) but rather caused by the machinations of the upper class of the society he lives. a society that has created many more disabled children and orphans just by how it functions. but ohhhhh magic science bad...don't mess with the order of nature...

[mollysunder]

The real sign of the inevitable dissolution of Jayce and Viktor's partnership/friendship really was the Progress Day Speech. I've seen people say this scene highlighted the growing shift in priorities between Jayce and Viktor. That Jayce was getting swept up in the limelight while Viktor wanted to keep it humble and stick to the work, and that's wrong.

First thing's first, Viktor does in fact want to go on stage (he was excited to just demonstrate the hexclaw), and Jayce is sincere in that he wants to share the spotlight and credit for hextech with Viktor. The problem in that scene is that for practically 7 years, Jayce has failed to see what's actually going on.

Jayce can't see that his face and only his face is on the mugs, the blimps, and the very banners that decorate the hall he's supposed to give a speech in. Jayce can't see that the Councilors direct all their questions on hextech to him while Viktor sits right next to him. Jayce doesn't notice that Mel, the most perceptive Councilor, still thought of Viktor as Heimerdinger's assistant (she didn't know they were close??!?!). He doesn't realize that the discussion on weaponizing hextech is centered on him rather than between him and his partner. Viktor isn't the one being invited to Piltover's parties for a reason.

Between Jayce and Viktor, they're partners on equal grounds, but to EVERYONE else in Piltover Viktor is practically a non-entity. The only person who doesn't get this is Jayce. It's a testament to Jayce's earnest naivette to think Viktor, as a Zaunite and visibly disabled, would be easily welcomed on stage by Piltover's elite to represent what Piltover has to offer. You'll notice this is the same crowd of people that attend Mel's Gala, the same Gala Viktor wasn't invited to.

This dynamic is insane!?!?! It's unsustainable!!!!! Obviously, Viktor is a grown man and could have mentioned something to Jayce, but also it's at least 7 years, how does someone miss this?!?!

By their last scene of the finale, Jayce was able to give Viktor a voice on the Council by literally standing by his side and giving him a seat at the table, but like peace treaty, the gesture has come far too late, and things cannot return to as they were.

[alternate-universe-archivist]

Jayce is stronger than me because if I had to look at this view everyday I wouldn’t be able to do ANY work

[lowpolybread]

“My mom told me these stories all the time. I remember this. She said…” “What?” “She said this is what the gods are like to each other. This is the kind of family they are.” “Why didn’t you wanna say that just now?” “She was trying to keep me away from you guys. Maybe you were right. Maybe she should have been preparing me better.” “Maybe she was preparing you. So when you got to us, you’d be different than this.”

PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS 1x03 + 1x05

[lovefrombegonia]

Post S2 finale Jayce ends up in a different timeline than his Viktor, and he is now in an AU where only like...a year has passed since jayvik broke into Heimerdinger's room. Arcane spits him out in the common lab of Jayce and Viktor that Heimerdinger provided them to ready their hextech invention for proper presentation. But only the zaunite is there then. S2 Jayce goes through 1700 emotional breakdowns, scares the shit out of S1 Viktor, and instead of talking about how they should stop with hextech research, his first priority is to beg "his" partner to go the doctors RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

S2 Jayce decides he is gonna make sure this Viktor gets proper medical treatment first and then solve the rest of the (secondary) issues. He has always thought of if Viktor could have been saved with an early diagnosis and treatment for his lung blight. Yes, Jayce always carried that guilt inside him and wondered if he had just ignored the signs of his partner's health deteriorating. Also, Jayce may or may not be shit-scared that if he tells this Viktor about what the canon Viktor ended up doing, this baby version might just decide to just jump off the top floor of this academic building. Jayce is not trying to test that probability right now. He has a priority list.

[1296-very-good-year]

S2 actually doesn't commit to saying Hextech was inherently bad. It's just Jayce + Viktor who were bad.

Heimerdinger, Ekko, and Jayce muse about the possibility that the Arcane itself is an evil corrupting influence. Then they find the anomaly, and Jayce is whisked away to the torment nexus to stew on this possibility. What does he learn there? Let's ask his flashbacks to find out!

He comes to regret kicking Heimerdinger off the council, and his dream of inventing Hextech altogether. It is only after he dismantles his Hextech hammer - and leaves it behind - that he's able to escape the pit.

I have SO MANY problems with this, but I'm going to stick with one here: the omnipotent, all-powerful, timeline-hopping futureViktor is the one leaving Jayce to suffer and learn this lesson.

When a writer (who is all-knowing) creates an all-knowing character, they give themselves the ability to interact directly with their own story and characters. Jayce supposedly needed to learn that Hextech was bad and was always going to go bad. He is forcibly, tortuously taught by the writers that his dream was wrong from the start.

Sounds pretty cut and dry, right? Hextech is bad. HOWEVER:

At the same time, in the same episode that Jayce is learning this, Heimerdinger enjoys 3 years of peace in a Good AU where he learns that actually magic is okay sometimes, and helps Ekko invent a Hextech device that saves the day. Maybe he should have been a more supportive teacher to Jayce after all!

And yet... Jayce is NEVER corrected on his assumption that s1 Heimerdinger was right. He goes off on his suicidal mission fully believing it, and he dies believing it.

There exists no timeline in which Jayce and Viktor are able to get their shit together without ending the world. It wasn't Hextech = bad. It was Jayce + Viktor = bad.

Maybe Hextech is just fine. As long as someone else invents it.

[hofudlaus]

The no hextech timeline proves silko right One of my big issues with the alternate timeline stuff is that we're shown a better zaun, a better way, how things Could have gone And the only Real Reason for said change we're given is Vi dying Vi dies=no hextech=no/less oppression somehow??? Sure no hextech would cause extreme changes in the timeline but it would not make the rich suddenly develop empathy and change laws n whatever To me, the only logical explanation here would be that there was a riot. Vis death being a spark that lit a fire in Vander again. Vi dies in jayces apartment. This causes the rest of the kids to stay there, to shocked to leave before the enforcers arrive(we see this happen) and the enforcers, after getting over the initial shock of the whole thing, then arrested the kids. When news reaches Vander it shows him that no matter how much he grovels for piltovers scraps of peace there will never be Real peace without a fight. He cannot meaningfully protect his family in a system that punishes them for existing, no matter how hard he tries. He now Agrees with silko, they need to fight back, he has to get his kids back. He has to make a better future for them. This is the only way I could realistically see them reconciling And I feel it's the only way there could be this big of a change in such a short time, a few years is Nothing in politics, the rich will fight you every step of the way when you try and change the status quo. The only way they would have gotten those changes is by denying piltover the ability to say no to them.

[verysadlesbian]

I am begging people to understand that criticising a character's actions doesn't mean you hate them and pointing out flaws in the writing and pacing of a show doesn't mean you hate it either.

[freakyalex990]

I love arcane... Act 1 was so good Love Heimerdinger...

[barrygeuse]

s2 of arcane was a major disappointment to me all things considered. it was gorgeous and i can't deny that; i fully enjoyed watching it, but its plot was overcrowded and it completely abandoned everything that happened in s1. silco and vander's sacrifices, the fight for zaun's independence.. it was all completely undermined by the war. countless lives lost and for what? we got a glimpse of what zaun and piltover could have been, but in our timeline everyone was fighting the arcane and ambessa rather than the oppressive piltover. it wasn't about the undercity and topside anymore. it just felt kind of nothingburger to me which was disappointing considering how much the first season elicited emotion

[burningfunobject]

I hope viktor beats up heimerdinger

That's it I just need him to go splat and pop back into shape

Then get lazered

I know ekko hates viktor in the games soooo

Honestly viktor deserves it

[combustable-head]

People who straight up hate Heimerdinger are so funny. You hate the whimsical yordle gandpa who says things like "gadzooks" or "ball sockets"? You hate a little science man who likes science and builds stuff like a bubble machine and has a funny looking pet? You hate a peepaw who likes to sneak around and plays a banjo? Alright man

[daredussy]

idk

theyre basically dominic sessa and paul giamatti

[crow-drawing-their-cards]

incredible rare opinion but I think Heimerdinger is the most complex character in all of Arcane and the biggest reason for that alone is that he isn't human and is 300+ years old.

other characters such as Jinx, Silco, Caitlyn, etc. really are complex don't get me wrong, but its mainly grief or psychotic behaviour and thinking due to quick horrible events that they haven't had the time or resources to heal from. Products of their environment and time.

Hiemerdinger however is such an interesting character to write and react about simply because of his life span and race. he has fucked up, he has had time to see things, meet people, etc. but those hundreds of years can really drain a person. Not to mention there aren't any yordles around him (which is what race he is in LOL and Arcane) from what we can see, or anyone close to that race. I mean look at the wiki on yordles!

he is simply a product of his environment like everyone else! He is probably so incredibly lonely. having to see people he's gotten close to die from age, see the counsel change and adapt, its why he wasn't as comforting to Victor as he could be. he's older and for that he knows how to distance himself like Vi. The only difference between him and the other humans characters is he's had far more years of that environment. I honestly find it unfair how you guys see him, because you guys can excuse or justify all the "bad" behaviour seen in other humans characters but not him.

[snakes-of-the-undercity]

HOLY FUCK JAYCE WHAT WAS TAHT?????!???!