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literallys-illiteracy · 16 days ago

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Viktor in Arcane Season 2, Design and characterisation, an essay:

I do not like the Viktor redesign, nor his character within the show Arcane.

This is a thematic analysis of his design and depiction within the show which elaborates in moderacy why.

First and foremost, the design itself, before the character: Viktor, alongside his glorious arcane evolution in the show, is shown through an extremely organic, completely sleek design for his drones, and a membranal, coloured pattern for its corruption.

In both cases, I feel as if their design is stuck in the realm of purgatory in which it is not fully committed to either biomechanical replicants, eg. Androids, nor brutalistic utilitarian augments, eg. Adeptus Mechanicus.

As it stands, the droids in particular demonstrate this combination of themes, being almost entirely human in their appearance, showing no outward mechanical nor magical aspects in favour of a purely white, polished, mannequin-esque design.

In discussion of the droids, I want to note that for their themes of Viktor’s singularity and removal of humanity, this design does in fact work in their favour. This is particularly clear within the scenes presenting them in combat, and the moments in future when they are stalking Jayce through the world; In the final episode particularly, they are shown working in whole unison, scaling the towers and chasing people in a manner reminiscent of World War Z zombies, however in a more unified, hive mind-like manner, due to their purposeful manoeuvring acting as structure for another to get further.

These drone’s primary feature is their mask, being a visage vaguely akin to a humans, though unmoving and clearly artificial, which of course shows the inhumanity of this horde and Viktor’s rejection of human emotions �� The lack of a face is an aspect that is used quite directly, most notably in Viktor’s bargaining with Mel and Jayce, alongside the skittering, almost insectoid movement that the droid features to avoid destruction.

While this singular theme of cohesion and inhumanity is in favour of these mannequin drone designs, there is more to Viktor’s characterisation than removing humanity as a blanket thought; Rather than removal for the sake of removal, rather than disdain for humanity in large, Viktor should be seeking to move to a state beyond humanity, which is shown in his own personal design.

The concept of moving beyond humanity is one that Viktor shares with Singed in this regard, being a vague dichotomy between the synthetic evolution and the biological evolution, punctuated by their respective epilogue scenes within act one particularly, however I feel as if these contrasting thoughts were intentional narrative choices, then the somewhat organic nature of the arcane evolution works against the contrast.

Before moving to Viktor’s personal design I want to share my own personal view of Viktor as a character.

I want to preface by saying that I am in no way a veteran of League itself, however I have been interested in the lore long before Arcane’s release, and Viktor’s characterisation since I learned of his character.

Viktor as a character was not always the most consistent, varying between benevolent and something near the utilitarianist machine lord we see in Arcane, his primary consistent trait was that of synthetic evolution and moving beyond humanity’s flaws, improving the human form with mechanical augmentations.

There are many routes that one may take this story path, in essence Viktor’s main consistent trait was his relation to an archetypal visionary, similar to Swain, but in the nature of humanity rather than Noxus; In all incarnations of Viktor, he should remain as this same archetypal character, in any shape or form, which all incarnations so far have successfully done.

I want to note something, there is the concept of characters who “Are created to embody an archetype not challenge it”, specifically, at least from what i've seen, popularised by TBskyen. I want to clarify that I am referring to archetypes in the psychological or unconscious storytelling sense, rather than the conscious character archetypes such as the “Nordic Viking” character archetype that Olaf embodies.

I may write in depth at a later date relating the concept of archetypal characters to storytelling, moreso as templates from which character bases emerge, rather than the typical observation of a character itself, but I wanted to note this as writing about League made me remember Skyen’s phrase and I thought to clarify my meanings.

As i’m sure i have made abundantly clear, my personal preferred interpretation of Viktor’s character is that of the synthetic, syncretic and unifying ascension beyond humanity; Once again there are many pathways that this interpretation may lead to, notably, a utilitarian rejection of humanity is best based on one of two pathways, physiological imperfections or improvements, akin to the mechanicus, which is my preferred focus, which is akin to the Mechanicus in Warhammer, or the removal of unnecessary emotions for the sake of pure efficiency and cohesion, which reflects a character similar to HAL from a Space Odyssey – Neither of these interpretations of an inhuman herald is malicious, nor an incorrect interpretation, however i feel as if the new incarnation of Viktor leans too heavily into the purely unifying cause, when the synthetic evolution acts equally as important to the character in past and in theme.

While there is an element incorporated in the drones that Viktor creates, being faster and stronger than a human, there is a key trait of ascension beyond human limitations that these designs do not accomplish, as they are almost entirely human in design.

This improvement can be seen in the most crucial difference between Viktor and his drone’s designs, Viktor is not part of this unification, Viktor possesses differences, his walking stick, his differing mask, and his third arm, each of which marks him as separate from the surrounding evolution.

Viktor’s transformation seen in the final episodes of season 2 features many traits that I dislike for Viktor’s characterisation, especially when he takes the route of humanity’s emotions and differences being its downfall.

As mentioned above, Viktor hisself is not uniform in the same way that the drones are, being a wholly different colour, wearing a different mask, and featuring different kinds of synthetics to the rest of his flock.

Viktor’s departure from humanity is meant to be symbolised through his mask, being akin to those possessed by his drones, however having a large split, from which comes forth a decidedly inhuman remainder; the concept of his mask is one that was featured in the first act of the season notably, his suspension in the hexcore leaving nothing but his face, and his eyes glowing in the scene which he blessed the first sinn- healed the first wounded.

I feel as if, though conceptually this design is valid, the existence of his drone’s renders his divergence from the unity as antithetical to his own ideals; Though his motif if that of ascending beyond humanity, uncaring to human emotions and morals for the sake of evolution, he acts as the only synthetic which retains its humanity to any extent, while bearing the mask with the largest departure.

His gaining of this mask was a moment foreshadowed for a long time, being the only part of him that was uncorrupted by the arcane, being the only part of him visible properly during the astral sequences with Skye, and being the only part of him that is newly concealed after he abandons Skye once more; the leaving of Skye acts as his abandonment of humanity, his internal compass and anima, which is then followed by his later ascension, however as stated before, for someone who is meant to ascend beyond human individuality or emotion, he still remains as the only source of human individuality in the legion of synthetics.

I cannot stress enough this divergence, the fact that despite this incarnation of Viktor acting as an amoral, inhuman, “driven assimilator”, wanting to bring all others into the same fold, he is the only one who does not follow this tennant.

We can see this even further with the details of his colouration, his reborn body, and his augmentations; Viktor takes directly after the Hex core, being a greyish purple in colouration, with golden accents, which match in colour but not location to his drones.

Viktor’s body itself diverges from the standard drone we see, being extremely human in its design, appearing even biological, coated in metal, rather than a true biomechanical form due to its textured design, not present on his followers.

This leads to the primary problem that I have with this incarnation of Viktor, he is simply put, not the “machine herald”, and is hardly the ascensionist that defined the character for so long.

While I understand the choices made, the directions that Viktor was taken, I cannot help but think that he is simply lacking, in story and development; in thematics; and in what should be the singular unifier of these two aspects, his design.

His goal in this latest incarnation is more directly to remove weakness, rather than to build on existing strength, which both act as the plausible goals of an ascensionist herald such as Viktor, this is in large why his drones lack these same overtly mechanical, almost brutalistic design traits that are present in designs such as his Legend of Runeterra followers, yet at the same time, his own personal design features augments, rather than this same unifying design, with the third arm on his back.

While his archetypal story of ascension towards a vision remains in tact, seeking singularly to remove the human weakness of emotions and individuality, I cannot help but feel that his design does not share this trait, being the only individual in the world is not the removal of individuals, it is just the suppression.

Lore.

Though lore was somewhat discussed in the prior section, it was more so characterisation that was used argumentatively before this; My view of Viktor is one that I have made abundantly clear: “An ascensionist, visionary, who seeks to herald machines or augments”.

I have no inherent problems with the incorporation of the arcane, with his mystical presentation, nor his outward depiction as a villain, in fact, i believe that this utilitarian bargaining and carelessness acts in his favour, being one of my favourite character tropes in fiction, “Doing the wrong things for the right reasons” (Oh, worm).

My problem comes twofold, in his depiction through the show both before and after ascension, and his rejection of this sought ideal.

To summarise the first point, while Viktor acts in a cold logical manner for the scenes immediately before his rebirth, these scenes exist as the primary example of his inhumanity, placing him in the body of his drone – This bargaining scene is another that i feel could have been improved on, most notably, the spliced scenes in which we see Viktor’s face in the astral plane or something(?), severing the dissociation that would have serviced this scene and the following act perfectly. Imagine if Viktor’s face, for the entirety of act 3 prior to the finale, in which Ekko fractures the mask, was hidden; The face acts as the gateway to the soul, being the primary feature used to punctuate a creatures humanity, if Viktor’s bargaining to Mel and Jayce were without this depiction, the rejection of humanity would work far more effectively, and would have helped to enforce his separation of emotions.

Following the ascension, which occurs immediately after this bargaining, Viktor’s design is revealed, which i have already addressed my stylistic problems with, however, in his interactions following this moment, he acts in a more human manner than during the prior scenes, still holding a hope to show Jayce this beauty that he has discovered, yet still waiting until he arrived at the roof to do so?.

Viktor’s motivation is never allowed to develop in whole for the same reason that i dislike this incarnation, he refuses to act in either archetypal role of a visionary or a humanist, while seemingly attempting to remain as both.

While he claims to have become more than he ever was, more than human, his design and characterisation fail to show this at almost every turn, with almost every scene bar two (the aforementioned conversation in the council room and the moment when Ekko throws the Z drive at him) showing him as equally human from before the transformation.

While he claims to want to remove human suffering, he acts only to remove humanity in whole, not improve any aspect of it, or build off of its design, only mimic its appearance.

Viktor’s realisation of humanities weaknesses was not one that was unforeseen, and there is a theoretical merit to the concept of one who wishes to remove humanities imperfections in a communal, hive minded nature, the abject removal of all humanities aside from his own is simply a flawed execution.

Viktor, even after his transformation, clings to his flaws and to his humanity, separating him once again, even further, from his vaunted perfection: Viktor’s irregular textured body compared to other synthetics, his ostentatious mask, his seeming care for outward design, and most damningly, his walking stick, all of which far from necessary in his new perfect form.

If Viktor were to wholly choose, either ascension or unity for humanity, then I would be more than fine with his incarnation, if he had been firmly humanist or inhuman for his goals, then I would have liked his character.

If Viktor were to truly reject humanity, then why not show it first with the removal of his own flaws, his own separation of humanity, from which follows his realisation about human emotions, why have Skye representative of his humanity, of his nature in all of its flaws, when he clings still to his walking stick that represented them from the start.

The Finale.

In the finale of the show, Viktor embraces his humanity, Ekko having shattered his mask and revealed his face, following which he sees Viktor in the future having come to realise his flaws.

I dislike this ending for one primary reason.

It was never our Viktor who learned this lesson. *OUR* Viktor was robbed of this realisation, and even a flawed conclusion it may be, we have still lost a pivotal development in Viktor’s character.

There is no prize to perfection, only an end to pursuit.

And herein lies my biggest dislike of this characterisation.

Viktor’s future statement is one that has sat wrong with me since I heard it, and it is one that is a consequence directly of Viktor’s mischaracterized ascension discussed earlier.

Viktor’s sentiment is his desire to bring an end to suffering, hence that all suffering is derived from emotions, and from humanity.

And even in the end, Viktor describes this as “Perfection”. Viktor does not lament the loss of individuation, rather the loss of pursuit, that he had already completed his life’s goal.

And from this future revelation, Viktor chooses to abandon all his notions of improvement, in his future realisation borne of stagnancy, from the loss of a dream, he willingly abandons all notions of this dream.

This final speech of the future Viktor is one that almost in itself motivated me to write this discussion; should Viktor have simply lamented the loss of humanity, of minds to think, even of unpredictability, rather than the simple monotony of perfection; Should Viktor have understood the drive borne of emotions, from which progress is unattainable; Should Viktor have wished more outwardly to improve human flaws, to grow beyond human, in any way other than removing the “Human” aspect, then I would not dislike this character as much as i do.

Viktor’s design and mischaracterisation, in my opinion, are derived from a countless number of minor missteps and choices, wholly intertwined faucets of character which sought to represent discordant images of a person, souring both aspects in whole.

I do not hate Arcane, I loved it, and that is why I wish for its improvement, for its evolution beyond what it is, to improve its flaws and retain the core integrity of the show, to see it become what it could have been.

Also as a final message, having Jayce and Viktor kiss in the finale would have been infinitely better in the concept of humanity and the necessity for emotions, especially if it was preluded by a realisation of Viktor's actions and biases towards Jayce even following the transformation.

Let the men kiss riot.

Also small edit in post: I want to note that these statements are still for all intents and purposes, criticisms, however made with an attempt to remove any sort of knee jerk or personal reactions to the ending, I did not like the ending too much in general, however i tried to acknowledge those biases where possible and remove them where not.

Authors note: I am so sorry this is so much fucking longer than i thought it would be I didn't mean to ramble on for so long about him

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