#Silco and Jinx were a direct parallel to THAT

[haine-kleine]

is it too early to say that the narrative of Jinx being Vander's daughter was an OOC characterisation used to overwrite her being Silco's daughter because they needed to speedrun her redemption without being controversial

[bakatenshii]

ANGEL YOURE BACK YOURE BACK YOURE BACK!!!!!:&/&&,&/@&;; oki so when I watched Arcane and Silco and the modified version of Viktor popped up I immediately thought of you. I was like….this is very bakatenshii taste. Silco is literally so beautiful. I am scrambling begging dying to find good fics for him

THIS IS SO AOOXPAIZOAISPZ THANK U <333 FOR THINKING OF ME OMFG i kneeee when i saw silcos scar and one eye i was donesies it was game over for me, they really ripped him straight from my cranium ughhg AND HES OLD. ive been rly enjoying me slightly decrepit miserable old men recently and he rly tickles my neuron heh

so very honoured that u thought of me omfg i think i just have such an obvious and consistent taste HAHAHAHA wait im gonna mention some spoilers in the tags ARCANE SPOILERS IN THE TAG !!!! (dont open them if u dont want to see them pls xx)

let me know if you find any good silco fics tho omg i am mmmmm

[joicecubes]

my take on this scene (arcane s2 act 2 spoilers. obviously)

if you’re active within the arcane fandom space recently i’m sure you’ve at least stumbled across the discourse where someone interpreted this exchange to be vi “realizing jinx is a better older sister” or something. personally i think it’s a lot less about comparison and a lot more about guilt.

vi has felt responsible for jinx her entire life. she was her protector when they were kids. she abandoned her after vander, milo, and claggor’s deaths leading silco to take her in. jinx went on to work for him. she killed caitlyn’s mother in the council meeting explosion. everything jinx has done and every horrible thing she’s experienced has been a direct result (at least in vi’s mind) of her own failures as an older sibling. and despite her guilt, eventually she forced herself to accept that powder didn’t exist anymore. even more painful, that since she’s the one who caused jinx to be this way, she also has to take responsibility and stand by caitlyn’s side in ensuring jinx won’t hurt anyone else.

but she fails. jinx runs free, vi wallows in her breakup sorrows, and the next time they see each other, jinx… has changed. and she has that same kid with her from their fight. and she’s come to vi willingly for her help.

i think vi is thinking a lot of things when she sees jinx comforting isha. surprise, firstly, to see this side of jinx she hasn’t seen since they were kids. the jinx she knows is a shell of her former self, changed beyond belief, and yet vi watches as jinx softens and treats isha with so much care. helps her dust herself off, says something vi might’ve said to powder what feels like a lifetime ago. “still got all your insides?”

the truth of it is, it’s not jinx being a better older sister than vi was. it’s jinx emulating what vi once was to her, and i think vi catches onto that. she’s watching as an outsider now, jinx and isha paralleling what her and powder’s relationship used to be like and i think it would make sense if the strongest thing she’s feeling right now is longing. how devastating it is that their relationship feels so irreparable, how deeply she wishes she hadn’t hurt powder so long ago.

but there’s also hope in her asking “why’d you come get me? you don’t actually need my help.” sure, she’s still bitter. how could she not be, after everything that’s happened between them? but she recognizes that jinx doesn’t need her anymore, it becomes especially clear seeing jinx taking care of someone else like vi used to take care of her. so why seek her out? why drag her all the way out here? there’s a deep, wounded, guilty part of her that’s desperate for reconciliation, so she reaches for it. especially now that she has no one else.

they make me so sad :(

[violent-viscera]

okay, so most definitely an unpopular opinion considering the amount of caitlyn fans/stans (in addition to fans solely bc of caitvi) but i wanted to articulate my thoughts on her s2.

firstly, i loved the idea of her character in s1. along with jayce, i understand that they were both fundamentally flawed due to inherent, latent prejudices that they held against zaunites. they often misspoke and stepped out of line when speaking to ppl like vi and viktor just on the basis of their privilege of being born piltovan.

but it was interesting to see how their good hearts and intentions led them to being forced to face their troubled and unfair prejudices. of course, i didn't agree with how they viewed zaunites, but i was rooting for them to become spearheads of change and reform.

anyway, i digress to where i am now where i am feel incredibly disappointed by the writing of her character.

i love a good villainess and was actually quite excited to see where her fascist arc would take her. it would be such a diametric, polar opposite of her character in s1 where she was slowly beginning to see piltover's role in the systematic oppression of zaun.

it would've been compelling to see her become completely lost to her grief and rage and the message behind how the repercussions of cataclysmic calamity that she and jinx cause as mirrors of one another would've been interesting (ie. jinx shooting a rocket launcher at the council in her loss of silco vs. caitlyn gassing innocent civilians in a bid to discover jinx after losing her mother)

but again, the writing didn't do much for me in the way of caitlyn or her mother in s2 in so many different ways.

i understand that there are nuances and complexities in difficult mother-daughter relationships and i understand caitlyn has every right to grieve. but her grief is not parallel to the grief of vi or jinx or any other zaunite when most of the misfortune that befell zaunite deaths can indirectly stem from the choices made by ppl like cassandra and the council.

yes, cassandra built systems to ensure that the grey did not completely suffocate zaunites. but this still by no means absolves all her other sins in her complacency in the oppression of zaunites–not to mention her attitude towards zaunites or anyone else that she deems "less than"

caitlyn's villain arc was watery and diluted at best. it was initially really interesting to see count caitlyn and her cape step up to the plate under ambessa's encouragement, but by the next episode she was already wavering and uncommitted. it seemed like a pointless route to entertain with how brief it was. and as others mentioned, caitlyn was being a cruel asshole without the direction of ambessa with the usage of chemical warfare.

caitlyn's choices had very little repercussions throughout the season. she hits vi with a rifle and turns her back on her and is basically instantly forgiven. she performs chemical warfare and her guilty conscience is the only real consequence she faces. she loses her eye in a fight, yes, but it is also a battle she invited when she accepted tutelage under ambessa to sustain a fascist regime. she makes it blatantly clear that she accepts vi bc she views vi as an entity separate of the rest of the animals of zaun and there isn't really any content that implies these views have changed or that there will be any reform imminent for enforcers/piltovan-zaun relations aside from reluctantly allowing Sevika a spot on the council

i dont even want to get into how vi become completely a shell of the amazing, compelling character she was in s1 and how the heart and soul of the show (the sisters' rs) was essentially abandoned to make caitvi happen rather than rly considering the optics and pragmatism of having an oppressed, falsely imprisoned, vulnerable zaunite being with an enforcer without due sensitivity and consideration of what needs happen to make caitvi happen in a sensible fashion.

i just feel like by the end of the show, caitlyn ends up right where she started where she's a privileged piltovan living her cushy life with no repercussions. there was no real reason to write her as an empathetic character, struggling with what she knew as a piltovan vs. what she sees when she is with vi down in zaun, bc in the end, the empathy did nothing to change how she treated zaunites or how her enforcers operate on the day-to-day.

and i actually think if the writers didn't try to play caitvi off as being a healthy, beautiful representation of a lesbian relationship instead of toxic one marred by power imbalances, it would've been a compelling and tragic message.

TLDR: i think many ppl have expressed their disappointment in how vi (and jinx) were written in s2, but i also think the writers did a terrible job in writing caitlyn as well.

[theoddityherself]

So after rewatching Arcane season 2 I just want to give my final thoughts on the second season and my issues with it. Before I dive deeper into my issues with the show, I want to discuss the positives. The show was beautifully made, the scenery was stunning and the character designs especially for characters like Mel, Ekko, the Firelights, Sevika, etc., were so cool. There were elements of the writing that I did like especially when it came to Ekko's writing.

Now onto my issues. First off, I don't want to hear anything else Amanda has to say in regards to this show. She says a lot of questionable things including that the sex scene was to help Vi reclaim her trauma, that they used oppression to help push the Caitvi ship and that she related to Caitlyn in that second season. I feel like the more she talks the worse she makes the some of the decision making behind the show look.

I feel like where the first season excelled the second season fell short and its very obvious that Arcane needed more than two seasons. It felt like there were a lot of things that were left unaddressed such as a deeper dive into Piltover's oppression over Zaun and a more fleshed out take on character stories. It would have been nice to learn more about Vander and Silco's friendship, Vi and Jinx's parents before their deaths, Sevika in general and even a deeper dive into how Viktor's story. Instead it felt a little messy, like they stuffed a bunch of different stories together and there was just too much going on.

The writing for Vi in season 2 was one of the biggest casualties in my honest opinion and her character suffered because of it. One of the writers admitted that they got bored of writing Vi and she became forgotten because of it and it definitely shows in that second season. In the first season we saw Vi as a teenager with so much personality and confidence grow into a young woman with who charmed the viewers but with the second season she became a shadow of her former self. The way she handled certain situations and made decisions is a direct reflection of the lack of care that went into her character and to be honest it was really sad watching a once thriving character kind of fade into the shadows.

Isha was very obviously a plot device and this is going to be a very unpopular opinion but Isha didn't really need to be added to the story. The time they spent on giving Jinx a young girl as a parallel to Jinx's relationships with both Vi and Silco, could've been spent on Vi and Jinx's relationship. As much as they tried to address the obvious issues between Vi and Jinx, I feel like the relationship between the two sisters was backseated for other things happening in the story when it should have been one of the main points of focus.

The writing for Caitvi did not do their relationship justice. I feel like season one gave their relationship the foundation to grow on and season two took it away immediately. Having Caitlyn hit Vi and then leaving her alone in an alleyway whimpering on the ground because Vi wouldn't let her shoot Isha, having them have sex in the same prison cell that Jinx almost took her life in, in the same prison where Vi was tortured for seven years and having Vi become a pit fighter with part of the reason being because of her breakup with Caitlyn were definitely some unhinged choices to make writing wise. Also having Vi describe herself as the dirt underneath Caitlyn's fingernails knowing the differences between their upbringing and how people from Zaun are viewed in general just didn't sit right with me. I feel like Vi and Caitlyn never truly addressed their issues in the way that they should have and the scenes between them could have been so much more beautiful had they had writing that showed actual care went into building their relationship.

Jinx was one of the characters, besides Caitlyn, that I really looked forward to seeing in the second season because of how well written they were in the first season but I do feel like they dropped the ball with Jinx. Jinx had so much potential to be an even more memorable character than she already was but I feel like rushed through her having proper healing when it came to her trauma, they failed to address and showcase her mental health properly and it almost feels like she lost some of the spark that made her character who she was in that first season. They also talked less about how intelligent she is. Besides AU Powder, her genius was ultimately ignored in season two. They left a lot of her things with character ignored and the growth that her character experienced alone should have required more than two seasons.

I want to try and give a different perspective on why some people ended up disliking her character in the second season. First I want to say that she had every right to grieve the loss of her mother, regardless of the things her mother did that was still Caitlyn's mother and she deserved to grieve her. Now it was how they wrote her handling her grief that was the issue amongst the many other turns her writing took. Having her almost shoot a child while trying to seek revenge on Jinx, having her hit her own girlfriend, making her enact martial law and having her gas a city to get rid of chembarons. Now people can say she gave up her seat on the council and she lost an eye as an excuse but for some people that truly wasn't enough for the things she did. I think that there is a big issue with a characters writing when some of the people who often her biggest critics are black/poc people while some of her defenders are not.

My biggest issue with the second season is that the Zaun and Piltover situation took a major backseat when it was one of the most important conversations in the first season. Besides the fact that at the end season two Zaun had still not been liberated from Piltover, a lot of the things the council spoke about in regards to Zaun was left completely addressed. Because they weren't liberated how does that address the issues that Zaun could possibly face in the future. The fact that Piltover's oppression didn't lead to actual consequences and that that was ultimately ignored in the end annoyed me.

I'm not going to speak too much on Mel because she's getting her own show but I feel like she deserved so much more in that second season. A lot about both her and her mother were addressed in Ambessa's book and because I know a lot of people won't read the book that's so much information that will go unknown if it's not talked about in Mel's show. I feel like Viktor's character was shoehorned and I do think more should have went to into truly discussing how he became the way he was in season two. Vander/Warwick dying multiple times in front of Vi and Jinx was unnecessary trauma adding onto the amounts of trauma that those characters already had and they really didn't need to kill him that many times. I do wish they had dived deeper into Ekko becoming Heimerdinger's pupil. Lastly I would have liked to have seen more of the not so main characters like Maddie, Gert, etc.

There's probably other things I wanted to address but ahead of time I want to apologize for any errors. I haven't proofread this post. Also this isn't a post attacking any specific characters or ships or anything like that. This is really just my thoughts on the season after rewatching. If you come onto my post trying to argue or attack me or anyone else who comments on or reblogs this post I'll block you. I'm open to opinions and discussions but not flat out attacking people or being insulting.

[skemford]

Jinx & Caitlyn were supposed to be Arcane S2 character foils/parallels but i don't think that show did a good job at fully accomplishing what it planned.

We got a lot of themes that weren't explored enough outside of visuals and i cannot stop thinking about what could've been.

Under the cut I'll share my thoughts about Jinx and Caitlyn being 2 sides of 1 coin and how Ambessa and Sevika are the opposites (mentor figures,if you'll)

What we see in Act 1 of S2 is a direct consequences of what happened in S1. Both Jinx and Caitlyn are "the monster that you created".

Jinx is a victim of systematic oppression: her biological parents were murdered by the enforcers and her sister (a teen) was arrested without anything that resembled a court. Zaun's system was fleshed out by Piltover's oppression which made people (like Silco) exploit its citizens from the inside. Silco loved Jinx but their relationship was still unhealthy which is almost impossible to avoid in Zaun, to be fair.

Caitlyn is a part of the oppressive society. S1 presents her as someone who wants to make a change. After she visited Zaun with Vi she says that people deserve better & acknowledges that council failed everyone. Despite the way she raised she was portrayed as empathetic and tries to "call out" her mother who's a councilor.

At the beginning of S2 both Jinx and Cait experienced a turning point. Both of them were challenged by their grief — Jinx lost her father and Cait lost her mother. These events are directly interconnected and happen after Jinx's "tea party".

Both of their worlds lost colors which continues to culminate through first 3 episodes of S2.

They deal with grief differently:

Jinx is more numb to everything around her. She feels lost, alone and acts reckless. Silco's death reminded her that she's a JINX and there's no one who'd deny this or comfort her.

Caitlyn focuses on her main goal (catching Jinx) through tunnel vision. She makes destructive decisions which affect both Zaun and her relationships with other characters, especially Vi.

The middle of season 2 puts them on two different roads:

Jinx wanted to fix certain things because "she can" and Caitlyn let her anger take ahold of her morality.

This leads to them getting closer to two other characters: Sevika and Ambessa.

Sevika is an unlikely ally to Jinx. After sharing mutual hatred for years they decide to talk about Silco's "disappearance" right at his office. Jinx and Sevika were vulnerable even in the way they sit: they didn't kept an eye contact which would require at least some amount of trust. Nonetheless, they both felt lost and no one would've understood their grief as much as they did together.

All decisions that Ambessa made were to protect her family. Her search for power and weapons was always connected with it. Mel was Ambessa's "anchor", her disappearance blinded Ambessa and pushed her to ruthless decisions. In some way, she can feel Caitlyn's grief too. They both feel as if they failed their families. Medardas and Kirammans do have a reputation to uphold.

So...where did it lead us?

We know that Ambessa was teaching Caitlyn how to fight during the timeskip (luckily, we even got one demonstration on the screen). They spend time together and Ambessa tried to "replace" Caitlyn's mother which can be noticed by the way she calls her "child" and gives lessons from her own experience. They both participated in Zaun's occupation ("paint the town blue" montage) with Caitlyn questioning why violence is always seen as a solution.

During the timeskip Sevika tried to push Jinx toward action and convince her to lead the revolution which Jinx refused to do. One important change is how Jinx introduced Sevika to her hideout and second one is allowed to walk in without any invitations. They seem to be more comfortable in the presence of each other and Jinx freely jokes with Sevika (who's annoyed but doesn't makes a big fuss out of it).

Ambessa and Sevika are on the opposite sides of Piltover vs Zaun conflict. They're defacto "leaders": Ambessa used her warriors to control Zaun and Sevika tried to organise rebellion by getting onboard as many people as possible. But they're not participating in these events by themselves, Caitlyn and Jinx represent them.

Reasons for why this happened differ too: Caitlyn was chosen by Ambessa while Jinx was chosen by people. Jinx is a symbol of freedom and her position as revolutionary (even though only as a concept) fully reflects the difference between oppression vs oppressed.

Sadly, after episode 4 we never got more in-depth look on mentioned dynamics. Caitlyn was quick to abandon Ambessa despite all the risks, Sevika disappeared and never had lines again, Jinx was going through a lot and Ambessa decided to trust Viktor (for some reason).

Caitlyn vs Jinx were a pillar for Piltover vs Zaun conflict in Season 2. They represented two different societies that were shaped by Piltover's ignorance and classism.

When writers decided to resolve their tension in a couple of small scenes,they also decided that oppression can be easily forgotten. I still think that putting Sevika, 1 zaunite, on the council seat while not letting her say anything either wasn't a perfect solution to decades of oppression

[whalebearr]

fave scene rn: ekko letting vi go back to jinx despite literally everything (an incomprehensible tangent)

ekko watching vi still stand on a resolve that he had abandoned long ago and still understanding her for it is soooo. Like knock me on the head w a brick instead. Just my own interpretations of these lil guys whose hearts r too big to contain in themselves . Awesomesauce

vi reveals her current predicament: she doesn't want to leave jinx . not again . even if she had become a direct witness of what her sister had become. top it off that her last semblance of family, ekko, is now testifying the same : powder is gone

but i just. Like. Ekko doesn't immediately lash out or anything. He just goes on to say the same thing he had already said when they were looking at the mural, that she can't be changed

And it's so .. ekko says these things like they're a script of some kind . He has thought of these things before, and most definitely to himself . their first conversations about jinx entails the same thing

He shows her the mural. He tells her Jinx is a byproduct of choice. She functions from an innate desire for destruction. Powder is Gone and he is so sure of it . Viscerally against any belief that says otherwise

yet despite everything. when vi says this

HE DOESNT EVEN. THERES THIS FACE HE MAKES LIKE.... FUFKDKCCUCKKKM.

Like. There's this look of. It's as if he's saying Yeah Of course you would. Of course you'd want to try. Of course you can't not have even a pint of some semblance of love for her still . Of course you can't swallow it back either . I remember feeling that way too. You're as stubborn as your sister. (As me) . Of course you won't be stopped unless you have absolutely tried everything . Of course you would

And to his understanding, that pursuit is a hopeless one

And yet. YET

HE STILL ALLOWS HER TO TRY .. PURSUE THIS OTHERWISE PERCEIVED DEADEND CHASE .. EKKO WHATTTJSJDD .....

AND it feels so insane. despite all the hate you have harboured for jinx you still let vi tread down the same path you did and otherwise probably regretted .. you still let her walk right back into the brutal pursuit of discovering the truth ...

it can imply a lot of things imo .. 🐢

Ekko wants Vi to find that resolve of his that Powder is gone herself (see point 3 why)

Ekko actually, genuinely, wants to see what if she pursued her instead? What if she tried to save her? Would it have changed anything? Would it be different if it's her? An underlying hope he won't explicitly acknowledge ..?

Ekko just knows no matter what he says Vi's heart will always be too big to tame. And in a way Ekko reflects the same attribute. He understands her, while it could be because he grew up with her, i think it's because he relates too. Ekko IS an emotional person . His decisions often stem not that he can do something, but he can't help but do it . He is rational and smart by nature so often these decisions don't always harbor the worst of consequences as the Firelights leader .. he can't help but hate silco so he leads the people well . He can't help but want zaun to prosper so he risks trusting caitlyn, an enforcer . he can't help but love the firelights so he breaks that 5 minute limit to avenge his fallen comrade . he can't help but have an attachment to the people he once loved so he hesitates delivering the final blow to his best friend in a bloody fistfight . he can't help but understand vi so he lets her go

can u tell i love point 3 the most . ekko & vi's paralleling natures .. your love too big you fools. i love u dearly

And there's the hug :[ <3 despite the risk of losing each other again they still allow the other to uptake their pursuits. EUGH . (sorry. Small #arcane critical u can skip: this should've been more emotionally explored in s2 btw. Vi learning Ekko is still alive after the explosion. Crazy stuff. I'm crazy . I'm not sane. man)

anyway yes. Just a random tangent. I love vi & ekko. they're one of, if not, my fave duo in the entire story . their hearts too big. Their love too strong.. they'll kill them!!!!

[ahli-stuff]

POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR ARCANE SEASON 2 ACT III:

League released a new Jayce skin called Arcane Survivor; I’m going to be categorizing his voice lines by how insane each batch of them makes me and doing some short thoughts and analysis

There is a LOT of reoccurring motifs over Jayce’s 8 minutes of voice lines. At least 60% of them thematically contrast, parallel, and/or directly reference Viktor, whether it’s referring to humanity, flaws, science work, and/or promises. Especially heavy on the promises.

Directly Referencing Viktor:

Pretty par of the course voice lines!! It’s nice to get a confirmation that Jayce doesn’t necessarily hate Viktor even after what he's seen, and if he does it’s tinged with a significant edge of bitter sweetness. This also confirms Viktor’s complete loss of humanity in the third act; people say that Viktor already lost his humanity the moment he stepped out of the hex core slime but. I’d argue that he simply lost the cruel side of humanity; he still had his conscience, all things considered. His development in the third act will be the loss of that too.

Jayce’s Dream Motif “Our Hextech Dream”:

I don’t actually need to go through and explain every one of these but. I want to, so, touché. Even after all the likely terrible things Jayce experienced, it’s horribly soft that he still remembers that special moment him and Viktor shared more than a decade ago. It’s still important to him.

Jayce and Viktor’s Scientific Zeal:

AGAIN. Ruminating over his work with Viktor.

Jayce’s Flaws/Humanity Motif:

These lines are in direct contrast to Viktor’s eventual ideology—to Viktor, hextech means perfecting existence, to Jayce, it will be making existence flawed. To Viktor, humanity leads to flaws but to Jayce, flaws lead to humanity.

Jayce’s Promises Motif:

Do I even need to explain this one? I think it’s so. Deeply notable that during the greatest thing you could do during a league match (kill the entire other enemy team) and arguably the worst thing you could do (dying), Jayce has the same thing on his mind. That promise. It remains to be seen if he made another important one while in the anomaly, but I heavily predict it’s his promise with viktor.

Conclusion:

There were like six voice lines each which contributes to the motifs I mentioned here that I couldn’t add, but they are all almost as equally meaningful and gut wrenching to Jayce’s character. I heavily recommend you check the skin showcase on YouTube out—I am so much softer on Jayce now because of some of his very sad lines. Not only because he’s being extremely gay for Viktor, but because this is a man standing alone burdened by knowledge, self-hatred, despair, desperation, and also… hope. He’s the protector of tomorrow, but in the most afraid sense of the title. Love this guy.

It’s shocking to me just how many lines they are refer to viktor in some sort of way. They are. They make me ill. Whether it’s romantic, platonic, something more, something in between, it’s heartening to know their relationship has the gut wrenching connection/estrangement that has the weight to stand next to silco-vander and vi-jinx.

[theoddest1]

Okay so, ima type in what I typed to my friend here.

"Yeah Ima be so dead ass. ||Mel and Ekko carried the final for me, ESPECIALLY Ekko."

Yeah, they should have just kept [Viktor] being Ryze. That made more sense to me than whatever this is. And I am all for mlm rep, but yeah, this felt WAY too, Jayvikky. I liked it better that they were brothers to parallel Vander and Silco, who also found each other and became bros, but it seemed like they went with how popular JayVik was and stuck with it. And Jayce being strung with Viktor for wherever they went felt...kinda nonsensical. I'd rather that Viktor was thwarted and too far gone to then just suddenly have a change of heart and go with Jayce. I imagined that he would have a contingency where he, incase his body was destroyed, would then later rise again to try and enact "Glorious Evolution". It would go well with the themes of his beliefs anyway because every time he dies, he comes back stronger in a new body. I feel like that would better set the ongoing conflict and fit well with the game and why he looks the way he does currently.

I also don't like how quick he and Mel's reunion was considering how much he favored her along with his odd and sudden dislike for her decisions-- Seriously, where did that even come from!?"

[Thought it over further. Him calling her out on her actions isn't the issue. It's the timing and how this transpires that confuses me. He just came from a post-apocalyptic world where Mel, Viktor, and everything else came to mind. The lack of time for them to truly talk made the scene felt out of nowhere and not at all fleshed out. He goes on to place part of the blame on her when literally it wasn't. She DID manipulate but only politically. Everything else was on he and Viktor. Then, when he DOES confront Viktor, the vibes are different. Viktor hurt and caused a chain of events that led to several lives being taken to ensure survival and his "Glorious Evolution", why is this essentially overlooked? Maybe when I review this again, it will make more sense, but as of now, the way Jayce treats both Mel and Viktor is VERY questionable.]

"I would have been pretty happy if He at least gave her a hug, a kiss, something to make their relationship seem consistent with what we were shown. I know that he's been gone for a while and a lot more cold, but this was a very odd direction to go with. I am super happy about Cait and Mel fighting side by side and that Mel may be the main character for a new Noxus related show! [Which I knew they'd set up!] but this series, after seeing it in its entirety, DID suffer too much from the pacing issues. I assumed at the First Act that it was quick paced to go with how they've all been shifted into places they didn't see coming, but the pacing issues continued to bring down the quality. 3 seasons would have made way more sense and would go well with the 3 ACT formula they had used. I hope they learn from this and refrain from making similar mistakes.

[I responded to my friend who posted these images above] I knew they'd make a callback to this line eventually, and I am genuinely surprised people are not catching this obvious set up to Jinx living. Also, I am betting that Heimer did "die" but only that alternate version of himself. [Though obviously I could be wrong, though a life of various lifetimes where he helps each version of the main cast sounds very Heimerdinger of him, especially since he didn't wanna leave.]

The biggest letdown for me has to be Jayce and Viktor's story. It just...doesn't make sense with what we have been shown. Also, if Viktor KNOWS bad shit would happen when bringing Hextech to life and all, why TF would he give it to Jayce then???? Or if he STILL wanted magic to be tampered with shy doesn't he comvince himself in a way HE KNOWS would prevent what happens next, surely NOT EVERY timeline has it where you continue on the path of destruction! You see what I mean!?!? Leave the time crap to Ekko, man. This new inclusion makes no sense! And he does this in VARIOUS timeliness for some reason. Man, I wish it was just a random ass mage or Ryze, this added stuff kinda kills the finale for me🫠

I feel that making Viktor time travel ruins a huge aspect of the story, ngl, especially when Jayce argues that people can "craft their own path." The story also shouldn't have ended with what I could only assume both of them "dying" or traversing time instead. Also, the way Sky was treated and essentially replaced with Jayce feels....very very weeeeird."

[I believe that the ending just didn't land that well. I feel, now thinking over every character, Ekko, Mel, and Jinx carried this season HEAVY. These 3 were the most interesting parts of the season, honorable mention being Singed cause he be doing what he MUST. Also, what was the point of introducing Loris if all he was gonna end up being was a random guy who reminded Vi of Vander? I guess nothing is wrong with this, but when you're already stringing for time, these inclusions make no sense... I liked him, though, RIP Loris🤧. Oh, and Caut barely facing consequences is KINDA CRAZY but it goes with the themes of forgiveness/ acceptance. The Cycle would never end, after all, but yeah Vi and Cait made up WAY too fast and just shows that this needed another season. Let me know your thoughts!]

[menacewithawolfcut]

I might be wrong (and prolly I generally need to rewatch the show sometime to refresh memory lol), but I think Viktor and Jinx sort of parallel each other in many ways; what I mean is they’re both originally from Zaun, are incredibly smart and gifted inventors (general constructions and later Hextech for Viktor and weaponry for Jinx), start out with genuinely good intentions for their creations (Viktor, alongside Jayce, sought to improve lives of Piltovans and Zaunites, and Jinx, at the time Powder, wanted to protect and help her family, as well as to prove she’s as capable as her other siblings), but both end up causing harm in one way or another at some point of the story, and they also both have health conditions resulting from direct and indirect consequences of inequality between the Topcity and the Undercity (physical for Viktor, additionally to his already existing disability, he developed a respiratory (?) disease from the pollution, and mental for Jinx, as her and Vi’s parents were killed by Enforcers, and because of general violent environment and poverty of the Lanes (this is a long one, but in a nutshell, if the systemic issues didn’t exist, the scenario where she’d she accidentally killed/injured her family in order to save them from a fight against Silco (his character fundamentally revolves around him to being a supposed revolutionary but also ending up actually being complicit in the suffering by creating a drug addiction problem, whenever intended or not, and enabling gang violence) and his posse, Vi briefly leaving her on impulse and being forcibly separated from her shortly after (by Marcus, as instructed, again, by Silco), and later adopted and influenced by him, wouldn’t happen)

[inkblotsonmyhands]

----------------SPOILERS FOR ARCANE SEASON 2 ACT I BELOW----------------

Alright then, hopefully no one who hasn't watched Arcane S2 Act I yet is reading this. I don't know if this has already been said or not but I was (like so many others) blown away by Act I last Saturday and literally cannot wait for the next two. Full disclosure in case I get any facts wrong (feel free to correct me!!), I have never played League of Legends in my life and know no lore whatsoever outside the show.

I'm fascinated by Isha and Jinx's currently nonexistent but gradually growing relationship. First of all, if I remember correctly, we know that this child's name is Isha only because of a subtitle—she never introduces herself, and no one ever calls her by name. Jinx only acknowledges her grudgingly, and until the very last scene of Episode 3, Sevika acts like she isn't even there.

I think there's parallels to be drawn between Powder and Isha, starting with what I mentioned—both of them are often ignored by the people around them. Of course, Powder was loved by her sister and adoptive siblings and father, most of them just rarely got the chance to really show it. I don't think Sevika or Jinx particularly care about Isha at all as of now, but we don't know much about her past. There's got to be some reason why Chross's men were chasing her, and there's got to be a reason why she apparently has nowhere to go. I would guess she's associated with either Chross, another chembaron, or perhaps a figure like Vander—relevant to the Lanes, but not a chembaron. I would also guess that, like Powder, whatever familial figure she has/had is either dead or has abandoned her.

She's small (although we do not know exactly how old she's supposed to be), does not appear to have much fighting ability, was scared the first time she saw Jinx kill people, and, despite it all, seems to be unnaturally resilient. From the little I've seen, she seems to be good at hiding and sneaking around. These are more traits that seem similar to Powder's. I'd like to add that her flinching when Jinx fired at Chross's men does not necessarily mean she's never seen violence before, but that she's probably never been in the direct line of it. I also think she has some emotional attachment to her hat. That could just be because it's useful, though.

The larger case I want to bring to light, however, is not her resemblance to Powder—but how she differs. There's two scenes where I think this really stands out.

The first is the Jinx and Sevika vs Smeech fight. The setting of the fight bears some similarity to the fight Vi, Claggor, and Mylo get into against some thugs at the beginning of Season 1. Obviously, Jinx and Sevika are much more experienced than the kids were at the time of their fight, but they're also fighting against equally powered opponents. Regardless, the two fights bear a resemblance in where they take place—the streets. Powder is present in one fight mostly because she goes where Vi goes; Isha is at the other because she was following Jinx. Powder, in an act of self-defense, tries to use the bomb she made, which backfires and results in her losing the loot and, in a way, nullifying the others' victory. Isha, in an attempt to help Jinx, throws the bomb that Jinx made—successfully distracting the thug, and allowing Jinx an easy kill.

The second instance is the Jinx and Sevika vs Vi and Caitlyn fight. There's no obvious similarity here, but I think, especially from Isha/Powder's perspective, this is a very similar situation to the fight Vi and everyone gets into against Silco's gang in the warehouse at the end of S1 Act I. Assuming Isha has very little context (just like Powder did, at the time), to her, it's a very big, very scary fight of the people who are "with" her—the good guys—vs the people attacking them—the bad guys. Powder, in an act of bravery, tries to intervene with a device she knows nothing about other than the fact that it explodes—and it does explode, and ultimately kills most of the people she was trying to save. Isha, in an act of bravery, tries to intervene with a gun, something she has presumably never held before, to save Jinx's life—and she succeeds. Another interesting detail is that in Powder's case, Silco's gang, armed with Shimmer, was blatantly and dangerously overpowered—Powder brought in the Hextech, which in theory, evened the odds, or even tipped them in their favor—but still cost them the fight. The fight Isha was witnessing was fairly evenly matched—Vi and Caitlyn had more Hextech weapons, but Jinx did have one Hextech weapon, and she and Sevika had the advantage of it being on their turf. Isha intervened with a simple gun, arguably the weakest weapon on the scene, but still succeeded. Lastly, Powder's intervention was from a distance, while Isha threw herself into the action. It should go without saying that I'm not trying to put Powder and Isha against each other at all—I'm just observing the situations they got put into.

To address the elephant in the room—I am aware that Powder and Jinx are the same person, but I'm drawing a distinction here because I'm examining the similarities between Powder (young Jinx, if you will) and Isha, wondering how Jinx would perceive them (if she perceives them at all), and how that would impact her relationship with her. I have no predictions as to what that may be, but I do expect Jinx and Isha's relationship to be an interesting one, and potentially, Isha may even play an important role in changing Jinx.

One last thing, although this is unrelated to the parallels—I mentioned earlier that Sevika acts like Isha doesn't exist until the very end of Episode 3. When Isha throws herself on Jinx, Caitlyn continues attempting to fire, and Vi attempts to stop her, I believe Sevika triggers the blast, ending that altercation, largely to save Isha. When she realizes that Caitlyn won't back away, she does the best thing she can to put a stop to the situation right there.

I could draw this even further into a Vander-Vi-Powder hold parallels to Sevika-Jinx-Isha theory, but that may be a stretch, even for me.

[ikebanaka]

Silco is such an insane fucking character, and it just hit me I never made a post about it. An oversight on my part, my apologies.

Anyways, the reason Silco is such an insane fucking character is that he is the embodiment of dramatic irony. Everything he is and does absolutely radiates dramatic irony. As I just told my best friend, if dramatic irony were actual radiation this motherfucker would the Chernobyl elephant's foot immediately post meltdown, with equally fatal and toxic results for everyone around him.

Let's run down the list, shall we?

He named Jinx for being the reason her father died, became her father, and then she became the reason he died. Just. Full circle on the accidental father killing.

Vander tried to kill him for being too violent and not caring about the lives being lost (your interpretation may be different, but that's what I've landed on). I uh, I don't think I have to explain the dramatic irony there. But to add a second layer, with this interpretation Vander tried to drown Silco to protect the Undercity from him (because he was wasting lives), but after Vander died he became the Undercity's greatest protector.

He is the Shimmer dealer in the Undercity, and while Shimmer provides minor healing and temporary strength, it eventually kills everyone who uses it. This is a direct fucking parallel to how he runs the Undercity; to his methods for trying to elevate the people of Zaun. And he himself relies on Shimmer to stay alive!

When he crashed the meeting of the Chem Barons, he proved that all of them were ironically incapable of surviving in the very air of the territory they claimed.

And when those two Barons tried to off him? The very child that he would've had killed in punishment (oops, there's another layer of irony for the protector of Zaun) was already dead because of the attack on the Shimmer factory. Whiiiich was the reason that Baron attacked him in the first place, to close the loop.

Now, I am fairly fresh off a rewatch, but all of this is still off the top of my head. There is for sure stuff that I'm missing. If anyone has additions I welcome them.

[lullabyes22-blog]

First of all, I just wanted to say how much I love your Arcane fics. I’ve been following FnF since I stumbled across it at 10 chapters long, and it’s been a wild ride since! Like a lot of people I’ve been all over the place with my feelings regarding season 2, but as far as I’m concerned FnF is my season 2 (and 3, 4, etc.) lol. You’re a gift to this fandom. Thank you for sharing your brilliant mind and imagination with us readers ❤️

You’ve answered some what-if asks and shared other Arcane thoughts on this blog before, so I have two questions for your consideration, but no pressure to answer either of them!

1. As a fellow writer, I’m in awe of the scale of FnF and the amount of planning/outlining that must be involved—HOLY SHIT! Are there any elements of s2 that have inspired you as you continue to write FnF? Have you considered adapting any s2 elements into later chapters (beyond what you’ve already predicted), or have you held fast to a specific Vision throughout the duration of this writing project?

2. Not sure if you’ve been asked this in the past, but what the hell would a living Silco’s reaction be to Vander’s hellish resuscitation as Warwick, assuming he isn’t immediately mauled in a confrontation?? Is Singed (assuming he’s the culprit) definitely fired??? This feels like such a MESSY terrible horrible no-good very bad situation for everyone involved lmao, and I would love to know your thoughts.

Aaaaah thank you so much! I'm super happy you're enjoying the story! I've been having a lot of fun with it, and I'm glad so many other folks are having fun with it as well <333

Also deeply honored you'd consider FnF in any way adjacent to canon material; that means so much T_T Especially since my own feelings on s2 are pretty mixed, and I'm not really sure what I would even do with those ideas, except maybe throw them out as a one-shot sometime down the road.

1. In terms of the s2 inspiration, I will say I was not the biggest fan of the plot's coherence/cohesion as a whole (too much stuff going on in too little time, too many threads left dangling etc). However, I was very gratified by the thematic journeys of the characters in S2, as in FnF they're actually following a similar trajectory (except for Silco who is, well, dead), and a lot of the same conflicts and themes are coming up. There was a happy sense of vindication that came from that, like, "Oh, so this was actually important, and not just me making a fanficcy mountain out of a molehill."

I will say though, that FnF has its own pretty airtight-ish plot, with many aspects already sketched out in advance, so I'm not going to go re-plotting things to match s2's direction unless and until it becomes necessary. In some ways, tbh, there's a sense of gleeful overlap, as a lot of the plot beats do mirror one another. (The Black Rose make an appearance by Act VII, there's a greater emphasis on magic and high fantasy going forward, Jinx is in the grip of an identity/existential crisis and Vi is stuck at a crossroads, Jayce has become disillusioned and split with Mel, Viktor has retreated underground and will be withdrawing deeper into his work, Ekko will be the one to snap Jinx out of a critical juncture and save Zaun in the long term, Sevika will take a greater leadership role etc...) All of the parallels if not the outright similarities were pretty satisfying.

As for how that's manifesting, a lot of the major developments and character arcs going forward are largely set in stone, but I do have a few key S2 events/details I've been mulling over in the background that I can see myself weaving into the plot at some point. But the rest is probably best kept as a surprise :>

2. As for the hellish resuscitation, well, I'd be lying if I said I haven't been thinking about that one a lot hehehe...

But long story short:

Singed is 100% fired because there is NO WAY Silco would sanction such a thing - and if it occured in the FnF universe, then Singed was absolutely doing it behind Silco's back and will now face the full consequences.

 As for Warwick himself - he'd 100% retreat to Silco and Vander's little Brokeback bunk in the mines. And Silco would 100% don his old mining duds and dustry greatcoat and go looking for him, because he needs to be SURE it's not just a rumor, and also because he does, subconsciously, desperately want it to be his Vander. And Vander, who has a good measure of the old Vander's memories, and is 100% aware it's not a rumor, because hello: deranged wolfman, will 100% run towards Silco with every intention of tearing him to pieces.

And that is where the similarities end.

Because Vander is too deeply trapped within Warwick's killer shell, and is therefore incapable of having an emotional reunion with anyone, and because Silco is not an idiot and would never go into a skirmish without a loaded gun and an escape route, the end result would be bloody, messy and tragic.

Worst case scenario: both men would kill each other, and in their final death throes, find boyhood memories resurfacing. They'd die in tears, messily and bloodily entwined, but finally at peace with their own demons - which is how Jinx and Vi, teaming up similar to S2, would find them.

Best case scenario: Silco would find Warwick and be forced to try and capture and contain him. He'd enlist Sevika's help and succeed, but when Jinx finds out, she'd be appalled and retraumatized, and convinced Silco is trying to erase her dead dad and supplant him in every sense. She'd go off the rails and have a complete breakdown, and Vi would be the one she'd run to, because Vi is the only person who understands and cares. The sisters would end up teaming against Silco to try and bust WarVander out, and this would cause an irreparable rift between Silco and Jinx.

Cue mass destruction and an epic family feud.

Sevika, who'd be the only person left in Silco's circle of trust, would have to make the call to have Warwick quietly killed in order to save the city from a war, and then lie to Silco, telling him Vander succumbed to his own madness and perished. This would cause Silco's mental state to completely disintegrate. He'd lose what little sanity he had left, and would descend into a pit of guilt and grief.

 Either way, it's a pretty awful tragedy on both sides, and it would take the entire remaining plot of FnF to resolve the fallout, and for Jinx and Vi to find any kind of peace.

So you can see why I've been mulling a lot, but also left it alone haha.

But who knows?

Maybe the story will change my mind, or I'll be struck by some miraculous idea and figure a way out, though I'm doubtful.

Thanks again for the lovely words and thoughtful questions! They really mean a lot <3

[arttsuka]

Usually, people tend to see the parallels between Jinx&Viktor and Vi&Jayce, nerds vs jocks in a way, I guess. There are more, sure, but I'm here to talk about Jinx&Jayce and Vi&Viktor instead.

(A little disclaimer, I haven't watched Arcane in 2 years more or less so sorry for any inaccuracies)

First things first, the obvious thing, their names.

J for Jinx and Jayce, Vi for Vi and Viktor.

For their appearance (at least in arcane), Jinx and Jayce have a more blue wardrobe and colors. Vi and Viktor have more red/pink instead.

All of them are stubborn but I think Jinx and Jayce are/were more optimistic than Vi and Victor who are more 'realists' (but can and will get stuck to certain ideas/beliefs and will sacrifice stuff to achieve their goals).

Jinx, due to her being younger and Jayce due to him being more 'sheltered' are more childish, easier to manipulate and rile up.

Jinx, mainly because of Silco and his influence in her life, didn't grow up (Powder to Jinx) 'in the undercity'. Sure, they were there, but it wasn't exactly like she was living on the streets with the other citizens, like Vi who we know had a social life (until she got thrown to prison for the ??? time). Viktor also was a direct 'product' of the undercuty. Jayce wasn't.

Jinx and Jayce both have memories from their childhoods that they keep 'close', thinking about them and it let them to change their whole personality, to shape it into something different. The bomb incident was the start of the Jinx persona, the Mage that saved Jayce and his mom were the reason he started to study and why he wanted to learn more about magic in the first place. Vi and Viktor are less likely to accept change, especially in people. Vi refuses to believe Jinx is no longer Powder, Viktor doesn't want to believe Jayce will put other things (fame, his reputation, other people) before him and their research.

Finally, Jinx and Jayce mainly use weapons (and while Jayce wields a hammer, it's still not exactly hand to hand combat). Vi and Viktor both have body 'modification' parts (her gloves and his cane + leg 'prosthetic').

So, to badly summarize:

J

Blue

Childish and optimistic

Weapons rather than body parts or armor

'Traumatic' thing that happened in the past changed them

'Not from the undercity' mentality

Vi

Red/pink

Realist but stubborn

Body parts that act either as weapons or armor (at least eventually)

Don't want to believe people change

Product of the undercity

I'm not very good at articulating my thoughts in a coherent way, I hope all that makes sense

[arcaneweaving]

oooo same question but for Caitvi!

ok hear me out: Anne Carson’s Grief Lessons. Each Arcane act mirrors one of these plays, imo. But I especially love “Herakles” for Caitlyn and Vi.

I see a lot of Euripidean Herakles in Vi. For example, in her relationship to her own strength. I saw one creator mention that Vi pushes what she loves away from her in an attempt to protect it; a direct parallel to Jinx/Powder’s “everyone who gets close to me dies.” Vi is at her most effective as a hero when she places herself in between what she loves and the looming threat. As she says herself, “No monsters are gonna get you while I’m here. Then a real monster showed up. And I just ran away.” Although this quote could be interpreted to mean Silco, I actually think that the “real monster” Vi refers to here is herself, acting in grief and guilt (the only time in this scene where Vi voluntarily leaves Powder is after she hit her). To Vi, proximity is equivalent to danger:

Container of uncontainable physical strength, [s]he civilizes the world by vanquishing its monsters then returns home to annihilate [her] own wife and children.

Then she becomes an Enforcer (an agent of state terrorism). Vi’s grief and guilt inhabit her and she is driven, much like Herakles by Madness, to destroy her home. As Powder says, “Vi was strong because she was afraid. Her fear of losing us is what made her fight so hard.” She fights so hard that she becomes the wicked thing— and each misstep consumes her so that she cannot recall the good in herself (Herakles says after Madness leaves him with the corpses of his family, “All my labours were less than this”). Grief begets grief, and guilt begets guilt. Similarly, Vi laments: “I choose wrong every time. And because of it, I’ve lost everyone.”

By contrast, Caitlyn pulls close what she loves to protect it. For Caitlyn, distance is a prerequisite for every loss she has endured (as she says to Vi, “Every way I slice it, if I go after your sister alone… one of us comes back in a box”). Caitlyn reaches to Vi in efforts to keep her as close as possible— in her home in Piltover (as Theseus says, “Leave Thebes then, follow me to Athens. There I shall purify your hands of blood and give you a home and share of my wealth”), on her task force as an Enforcer (“The whole city of Athens will exalt you in monuments and sacrifice. We win a fair crown of glory…”). She clings to Vi even as Vi pushes her away, like Theseus does to Herakles here:

Oil and water, flesh and blood. Their love is a shared grief.

[specialagentartemis]

This is slightly embarrassing for me to admit. but. I am actually really into Jayce/Viktor. how could this happen to me. (the character writing is really compelling, that's why.)

I loooove when characters love each other but are on incompatible sides of an ideological divide now. Like. I am convinced that Vi and Jinx are gonna manage to work through this and come to an understanding with each other again. Their sister relationship is the heart and soul of the series and I think it would be too gutting and unsatisfying if it ended with Violet having to abandon Jinx again, or with Jinx never pulled out of the pit she's in. They're direct parallels to what happened between Vander and Silco, and that ended up destroying them both; it would be a tragedy of inevitability if Vi and Jinx went down the same route, proving everyone right. I doubt they will. I Believe In Them.

However I am not convinced that Jayce and Viktor are going to manage to overcome their growing Conflict and I am so hype for their divorce arc. I love the betrayal that comes from characters going, I love you, I do, but I have to do this/I can't let you do this. Like yeah you two love each other So Much. Jayce burned the bridge with his professor to save Viktor, Viktor was relying on Jayce as the only person who would support him here, they were working toward the same dream to change the world for the better for ten years, they've saved each others' research and saved each others' lives. you're the most important people to each other and your ideologies are slowly becoming incompatible and love isn't enough and you are going to hurt each other So Much and I am here for it