#arcane act 1 spoilers

[hutaotown]

act 1 had me tweakin out but act 2 feels bittersweet yk? like of course im sad over the possible??? character deaths, but everything felt necessary and like it was happening for a reason. viktors little speech about humanity really confirmed this. it seems like he realized that what he said to jayce earlier was right and killing him is what needed to happen. everything seemed like a dream and its only natural that it all comes crumbling down and tragic shit happens to the characters that only wanted the best.

ANYWAYS, back to my normal nonsense here are some less existential thoughts.

- sevika KILLED ME. like how did they make her hotter??? especially w that ugly ah haircut????

- im also becoming a jayce stan like viktor was hot ash w that long hair, but jayce??? ho mama im boutta BUST.

- vi punching isha??? like girl will always be a kid attacker smh. loving small parallels between jinx and isha tho super funsies.

- when cait knocked out vi and took her to ambessa i was so so scared UNTIL i realized that vi was tied up. like it just HIT ME bc caitlyn KNOWS that vi can get out of situations like that. i got so hype after that.

- it seems like isha will become more of a symbol than jinx. from how she showed up at the rally to what went down at the end of the season. its giving rue in the hunger games, how she is seen as the innocence in this horrible conflict.

- that undercity doctor ALWAYS pissed me off i dont even remember his name thats how much beef i have with this man.

- even with all this beef i still understand all sides and love the politically tension because its ALWAYS more complicated than right and wrong.

- MEL WHERE ARE UUUU GIRL JOIN ZAUN PLSSSSSS COME TO US.

- im SO excited for the chromakopia edits on tiktok they always hit

- i hope vi and jinx stayed chill for the rest of the season i CANT have them beefing again. also excited to see how caitlyn fits into this dynamic.

- I CANT BELIEVE I ALMOST FORGOT THE FELICIA VANDER SILCO FLASHBACK!!! i genuinely LOVED seeing their relationship and younger silco made me cry a bit :( he deserved better.

- last thing i swear but jinx ate vi up in their fight the way she was like girl we both psychotic stop crashing out over your girlfriend and lock innnn

- also im a maddie defender SUE ME

[noka-exe]

Divorce

[arcanegifs]

ARCANE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: 2x02 - “Watch It All Burn”

[bestwitchsam]

Jinx and Isha 😭😭😭

[chronalshifts]

caitvi in act 2: reunion, cute banter, extremely good double-cross subplot, will probably get back together

jayvik in act 2:

[thomas-jefferson-miku-binder]

people complaining about how vi becoming an enforcer in act 1 was out of character for her—that’s the fucking point! that the way she perceives this grieving caitlyn’s needs makes vi take herself apart and ignore what makes up her identity (hence the opening where she’s stripped of her tattoos and blurs the remaining one on her face). so vi picks up the enforcer uniform, she stays in piltover, she goes after jinx, not because that’s what vi wants, but because she thinks those are the requirements to make caitlyn love her, to be with her. let’s not pretend there wasn’t a scene of violet being extemely offended when she’s offered the title. the only reason she ends up accepting is because that’s what she thinks is best for cait

[infinitelystrangemachinex]

Jayce and the fallacy of the butterfly effect in Arcane's narrative

If Jayce's symbol is the butterfly, then my theory is that we're going into a full "butterfly effect" narrative in Act 2. Either we'll watch it happen, or we'll only see Jayce come out the other side of it changed by the experience, knowing - or more importantly, THINKING he knows - what to do to change the future. Literally, to "defend tomorrow."

tl;dr: Jayce will encounter the butterfly effect in season 2. Viktor and Mel both foreshadowed this in season 1. I think Jayce will fixate on Viktor and will believe that stopping or changing Viktor either in the past or the present - most likely the present - will mean he can save the future. I believe this will lead to an even worse tragedy and may have the same effect as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Ekko's approach to changing the future by sticking closer to the present - considering only tiny increments of time to alter more immediate future outcomes - will be the superior approach. I also think that Jayce attempting to change the future will create the conditions that push Viktor to become the Machine Herald.

One of the most common reactions even the casual viewer had to Arcane season 1 was this: "If [character] had just done this one small thing a little differently, [tragic event] wouldn't have happened!"

Arcane has been called a Greek tragedy for the main reason that because of how well built up the characters' personalities and reasonings are, there's no other way season 1 could have gone. There was no stopping the multiple tragedies that occurred, because with one event leading to another, the chain of seemingly inevitable events goes too far back to identify what one singular event caused everything, what one character made what one decision to put our characters on the terrible paths they walked.

Arcane is about to investigate this idea in its own narrative, and I think that Jayce will be the character to stumble into the flawed idea that you can change one event, or stop one character, and change the future for the better. This is because Jayce struggles with a few very interesting character flaws, one of them being that he believes himself to be the main character, and it is therefore his responsibility to intervene, be a hero, and fix things.

Viktor and Mel both foreshadow Jayce's future encounter with the butterfly effect.

Recall that Viktor said: "There is always a choice."

Jayce sees choices in black and white, believes that he has no other options but to go along with what he's persuaded and pushed into, and acts too boldly with too much power multiple times.

Recall that Mel said: "We can't change what fate has in store for us, but we don't have to face it alone."

Jayce tries to solve big problems on his own, and though he delegates to Enforcers and the like, Jayce relies on his reasoning and his alone to make important decisions if he doesn't simply become persuaded - usually through strong emotions like fear - by other characters. In addition, since Mel is specifically talking about Viktor's plight here, it's worth mentioning that while Jayce did say that he would help Viktor in acts 2 and 3 of season 1, Jayce does wind up leaving Viktor to face his fate alone. When Jayce tries to change that fate in s2 ep1, ep2 shows that only tragedy can come of this as well.

Viktor and Mel's statements here are not contradictory. Viktor makes the point that you can always make a choice. In context, he's literally referring to the classic "secret third option," because given a choice between aggression and passivity, war and surrender, Viktor chooses to defuse the bomb instead. Mel, interestingly, seems to believe that destiny is fixed in a broad sense, and she operates as a politician and diplomat and investor who navigates that line of destiny in the most optimal way possible. In reality, in context, she is referring to the fact that Viktor can't change the way he was born and so he has no way to change his fate and therefore must face it, which is true - she's only missing the information that Viktor actually does have the means to change his illness and his body. Her wisdom still applies however, because he'll have to accept the hand that fate deals him after he makes that choice. Will he face it alone, or not?

There is always a choice, there's even secret third options, because having a fate doesn't mean that you are doomed to make only one possible series of choices. What it does mean is that each choice comes with a hand that fate deals you. It is impossible to know what all of these branching choices and consequences are in advance, and it is just as impossible in hindsight - the branches are too complex and the end outcomes are all equally meaningful, just different. If Arcane season 2 is to be a tragedy, it may show us that each possible outcome is still tragic if you fall for the fallacy of the butterfly effect.

Jayce is counseled by some of the wisest, cleverest characters with the deepest life experiences in Arcane, but he hardly ever takes that counsel to heart. If he does, he still acts on that counsel in flawed ways that have unintended consequences. This will come to a head in season 2.

Viktor and Jayce both have a butterfly following them around in season 1. The butterfly effect refers to one small seemingly insignificant event changing the course of history, and changing that event therefore changes history. Viktor bled over the railing of a Hexgate in season 1:

And Heimerdinger sees what we can only assume is Viktor's blood contaminating (?) the Hexgate in s2 ep3:

This might be the seemingly unimportant "inciting incident" that Jayce (and Heimerdinger and Ekko) settle on as something that should be avoided or erased by changing the past (if they time-travel with Ekko, for example).

I doubt that, if this is what this crew chooses to fixate on, it will be the only event that is considered as something to change. But let's take this and run with it for the sake of discussion.

As silly as it sounds, how do you stop Viktor from allowing his blood to come into contact with the arcane? Stop Viktor's involvement with the Academy entirely? Don't invent Hextech at all? But what if someone else invents Hextech besides Jayce? What if future tragedy befalls Piltover because it didn't invent Hextech?

The possibilities and what-ifs could branch on forever. But because Jayce is who he is, and because his tragedy with Viktor is still raw and recent and frightening, I think Jayce's butterfly effect experience will have to do with Viktor.

My personal prediction is that the timeskip between s2 ep3 and ep4 will be Jayce experiencing a timeline where Viktor, taken over by the Hexcore, brings about an apocalyptic event similar to what Heimerdinger experienced in his past. Either Jayce and co. can't go into the past to change the present, or Heimerdinger and/or Ekko advise strongly against it to avoid a paradox. This will lead to them re-entering the canon Arcane timeline before this apocalypse, but still after the timeskip. Jayce, believing that destroying Viktor and his cult will save the future, and believing that resurrecting Viktor was Jayce's mistake to fix, attacks him. But the consequences don't unfold the way he hopes, because trying to change fate once the cards have already been dealt has led to tragedy before.

The butterfly is a symbol of something other than just the butterfly effect - change, evolution, and rebirth. If the butterfly symbolizes the butterfly effect for Jayce, then I think it has a different meaning for Viktor - the change and rebirth meaning.

I've always found it very interesting that we see a similar-looking butterfly on Progress Day... but made of metal.

Every time Viktor's situation changes, he adapts and evolves. If Jayce attacks him, if his cult is destroyed, if the Hexcore is causing Viktor to decay, if all of these things happen at once - he'll just evolve again, and I think the Machine Herald is the next step. And the Machine Herald will be a triumph for Viktor, but Jayce will believe that he's created something even worse. The resulting feud will be a personal nightmare for both of them.

I think this still allows Viktor to use his own agency to choose to become the Machine Herald (the MH will probably be the "secret third option" that saves Viktor, or there will be a secret third option that ends the feud) while still allowing Jayce to be offended and horrified at whatever the Machine Herald represents or is trying to do in the undercity. Introducing the element of time travel allows Arcane to explore the meta concept of tragedy and fate that season 1 was built on while showing that you can't "solve" a tragedy, because there are other terrible possibilities lurking behind alternate choices. Especially if what you're trying to change is singular people or events and not systems of power.

This is why Ekko's approach with his Z-drive will be superior to Jayce's sweeping attempt at changing the future. Ekko's goal has always been societal change. He creates his own punk society in the undercity, more progressive and successful than anything Vander or Silco ever created, and a better bastion of safety, hope, and progress than what Heimerdinger founded in Piltover. Trying to change systems by going back in time is most likely futile. But taking what Ekko has already built in the Firelights, curing his tree, and fighting for the Firelights' survival bit by bit by optimizing the present with the Z-drive shows that:

It's more worth it to focus on becoming wise (Ekko's mask is an owl) and making choices you won't regret

It's best if you don't face your fate alone (act as a collective and take care of each other)

Consider every option, not just the obvious black and white choices

Maintain and fix what you've already built instead of abandoning it once things get difficult

Adapt as needed if the choices you made lead to dark consequences, and once again, stick together and take care of each other when the bad times do come

That's my Act 2 but, ultimately, my season 2 prediction based on the butterfly symbolism we've already seen. Ekko's involvement is what will give the series the at least partial happy ending that the creators have referred to. I personally don't think that the Viktor/Jayce feud will end quite so well, but maybe, they will still survive.

[viwifey]

ARCANE 2.05 - "BLISTERS AND BEDROCK"

[ashidaii]

arcane but its 2d animated

[pheracy]

Jinx & Viktor finally meeting

Why is no one talking about how exciting it is that we've finally seen Viktor meeting Jinx and Vi?!

The way I jumped from my sofa and started screaming omg. This is something I've wanted to see since I started watching Arcane. Look at them! All together, in the same frame, talking and breathing the same air! Viktor calling Powder by her name and she getting startled because of that. He telling her she could use her gadgets and skills to do good and build that peaceful place together had me crying ngl. Man, I love this interaction with all my being.

Why is it THIS exciting for 2 characters from the same series to actually acknowledge each other's existence?

[liscorrino]

"I'll never leave" ... "Never mind"

[counting-stars-gayly]

caitlyn is sososo interesting this season because yes she’s the most open and vulnerable with vi, but even in their scenes together, you can see cait choosing her facial expressions. and even in the kiss scene it’s all focused on vi. we don’t see cait for the majority of it, and we don’t see her face when they kiss. when we DO see her face in that scene, it’s uncharacteristically lacking in emotion! it’s intense, and while you can tell this moment means something to her, she’s not being herself. she’s hiding. and she’s been doing that all season with everyone.

i think the subconscious reason cait kissed vi when she did was that she knew they were in conflict and wanted to kiss her before they fell out, instead of actually dealing with the problem. that moment just feels like resignation from her. (AND i think vi looked so confused at caitlyn’s affection because she couldn’t tell what was going through her head.)

[t0xicn30n]

My baby, my baby

You're my baby, say it to me

I bet on losing dogs

I know they're losing and I'll pay for my place by the ring

Where I'll be looking in their eyes when they're down

I'll be there on their side

I'm losing by their side

[bestwitchsam]

Family fight #ArcaneAct2

[artandbrimstone]

respite

[hellalesbiangirl]

I see alot of people saying Cassandra (Caits moms) built the vents but it actually looks like her mom (Caits grandma) built them if you look at the pictures.

Low quality but its the best i could do