#fuck jayce man

[soyboywenzie]

I didn’t have my family for long but for as long as i had them, they were great.

[azvhaalk]

glorious evolution

[monophobix]

hey so are we gonna talk about how the most visible emotion we’ve seen from viktor this season is fear and it’s right before jayce shoots him hahahaha

[p4nishers]

ok so this is diabolical

jayce's memory reality

[ellenchain]

kissing the trauma away

[lookmiik]

I think they call this love

[catherine-sketches]

For the people saying that Jayce had no motivation to shot Viktor…

Did you not see the fucked up shit that Jayce is seeing?

My man went into the hexcore and saw horrors beyond his comprehension. He called hextech, HIS DREAM, a curse

When he looks at the people on the commune he sees hollow vessels with people faces and the marks of Viktor’s fingers

Jayce caved Viktor’s chest in because he KNEW that the pretty colors and the art deco architecture was a facade. That whatever Viktor is doing is stripping people from their true selves and leaving behind puppets that play a game called community where no one reacts like a normal person because no matter how good you life in your community is

NO ONE WOULD JUST STAND AND LOOK WHILE THE MAD HAMMER MAN NEARLY DISINTEGRATES WHAT LOOKS LIKE A CHILD TO ASHE

These are Zaunites. They would have curb stomped Jayce to the ground

But they didn’t

They stood there

Because their Machine Herald told them to “Suffer no more”

And what is fear, what is love, if not a form of suffering

[danielsarmand]

ARCANE 2.02 · Watch It All Burn

[thepixelatedbunny]

In defence of Jayce:

-He was not in his right mind, he was corrupted by the arcane and looked like he'd been put through hell.

-the show is implying he seen the future(?).

-ik people joke that Viktor is Jesus and it's funny but his "commune" is literally a hivemind. He can literally see and talk through his followers and change their personalities(see the councilor guy).

-did y'all forget that he was the one who saved viktor in the first place

Ofc I'm not ignoring the fact that he still put a hole into his former partner, but like damn guys.

[astral-herald]

Viktor's (subverted) Aristotelian Tragedy

A common sentiment I’m seeing throughout post-finale Viktor discourse is an understandable concern or distaste for the element of choice lost throughout his story. I know a lot of us – myself included – expected more time spent on his transformation, along with emphasis on the anger/rage/betrayal fueling it. But seeing him allow Singed to “begin the process” in episode 8 reminded me of Arcane’s origins – tragedy. Bear with me for another long analysis :)

Aristotle wrote the following on the tragedy: “A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself…with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions.” He also emphasized that the true tragic hero couldn’t be perfect, and his downfall into such catharsis-inducing circumstances was reliant on a fatal flaw, oftentimes pride.

Viktor fits this mold, as do many Arcane characters, and it stands to reason that this was intentional since the writing team has reiterated that the show is a tragedy, at its core.

Regarding Viktor’s fatal flaw, I’d argue it’s pride, but it manifests very uniquely. He never makes any grand declarations about his success and doesn’t draw attention to himself in any clear way throughout season one (“Progress Day” comes to mind). Instead, his pride manifests as staunch independence and self-reliance that lead to his downfall; his unwillingness to break his stoic mold arguably led to his use of the Hexcore…so it goes.

Fascinating caveat: Viktor’s pride is a defense mechanism, a necessary tool he built in order to survive and succeed in a hostile environment to people of his station. His self-reliance is increasingly desperate as his illness worsens. He’s cornered by fate but banks on the sanctity of choice at every turn – in season one, Viktor is bound by the conviction that we all have a choice. It’s why he’s so distressed when Jayce makes the wrong one regarding weaponizing Hextech.

“There is always a choice.”

Viktor’s choice to fuse with the Hexcore is the classic Aristotelian fatal flaw moment, the singular incident that opens the flood gates for eventual catharsis. We watch Viktor make an irreparable choice, one that we know to be bad, and endure the repercussions. He then makes the choice to abandon the Hexcore, and end his life, but audiences can’t shake the feeling that those consequences aren’t leaving anytime soon.

So why is Viktor so anti-choice in his final season 2, act 3 form?

Choice is Viktor’s weapon. Pride is what leads him to abusing it. Despite how uncomfortable and depressing it is to watch, Viktor’s slow descent into the Herald is a perfect twist of fate. The Arcane is even so insidious that it meshes with his original intent, to help those suffering in the undercity, while convincing him that their subservience is healing. He becomes responsible for their choices. He knows what’s best because he’s relieving the Gloriously Evolved of their suffering, right? The utopia is for the greater good, yes?

Admittedly, it was really hard watching act 3 Viktor descend fully into his choiceless ethos. But we can still relate it to his tragic flaw – his pride has mushroomed into coldhearted omniscience; not only does he know what’s best for everyone, evolution, but he also has the sense to make the choice for them to supersede their “baser instincts.” The grief we feel upon seeing this perverted, violent version of himself, as far removed from Viktor as possible, is the culmination of Aristotle’s treatise on tragedy. The catharsis is the rock-bottom Machine Herald.

"Choice is false."

But then Arcane decided to basically make Jayvik canon (get out of here, Christian Linke) and destroyed the early drafts of this post. I’m going to rapid-fire this next bit:

Jayce forces Viktor back to life. Viktor has no agency in his season 2 inciting incident. Again, it’s distressing when we mourn his agency, but it remains in accordance with Aristotelian tragedy.

Viktor clings to humanity as long as he possibly can. When Jayce calls out Viktor’s trajectory, alleging that his old partner had died in the Council chamber, whatever is left of Viktor gives way to the Arcane because his last tether has been snapped.

Jayce knows the game – Old Man Jenkins Mage Viktor told him so. Jayce becomes the linchpin in subverting Viktor’s tragedy. He knows what must happen. He understands now.

Machine Herald Viktor is given the chance to undo his fatal flaw, to reverse the catharsis, when he sees Old Man Jenkins Mage Viktor. With Jayce’s help, he takes it.

Given that it’s a version of Viktor who ultimately frees him from himself by empowering Jayce, we can gather that Viktor has liberated himself from his tragedy.

Aristotle’s catharsis is rapidly transformed from something based in release to something healing – Viktor’s tether to humanity returns. He grasps it. The walls of his pride and self-reliance collapse. He accepts Jayce’s help, finally being seen as the full individual he is. Catharsis ensues, for sure, but I don’t think it’s based in the typical tragedy genre.

All this to say, I think Viktor’s arc was, in fact, carefully constructed. He represents the Aristotelian descent into a fatal flaw and that’s very distressing to see unfold, especially since he embodied the tragic hero archetype so well from day one. However, Jayce undoes this narrative and we’re given an incredibly subversive ending that I, personally, never saw coming.

I’m sure that Mage Viktor has a much larger bearing on this analysis than I’m accounting for. But for now, suffice to say that he is Viktor’s way out of the tragedy. TALK ABOUT CHOICE!

This doesn’t erase anyone’s discomfort for Viktor having less and less agency, but I’d like to emphasize the logic and literary precedent behind the story decisions.

PS: here's a quick source I looked at about Aristotelian tragedies. I hope to re-up on Greek tragedies so I can get more specific about the parallels Arcane draws from them.

[periwinkle-the-11th]

ngl as a chronic-pain-haver who regularly sorrows over the lack of chronic-pain-comfort-fics, getting into jayvik is doing great things for me.

[rowie264]

do you remember that this shit was brushed aside as well?

[thegayestdiaz]

now who’s gonna have to tell christian linke that you can be asexual AND gay AND disabled. you can even be gasp an asexual that partakes in and enjoys sex! while also having your sexuality not be erased by your disability!

who’s gonna tell christian linke that asexual is an umbrella term, and asexuality is a 🌈spectrum🌈 and NOT a way to take away validity from a same-sex ship. maybe learn the difference between ace and aro first before attempting to speak.

asexuals can and do experience romantic attraction, so even if viktor was ace he is still madly, deeply, pathetically, and all consumingly in love with jayce talis.

trying to use an identity you don’t even understand or barely comprehend just to get back at queer fans is disgusting and insulting to both the people you’re mad at and the people you’re using and throwing under the bus.

it’s just your own homophobia, abelism and acephobia showing christian

[silly-toji]

Harry Lloyd's (Viktor's VA) in a jayvik animation's comment section.

[diamondzart]

I’ve seen the Jayvik nation blowing up today because Christian said that Viktor is ace solely because he keeps trying to establish that Jayvik is not canon so bad. And it kinda made it more confusing to headcanon Jayvik being asexual because the dude probably forgot that not having sex doesn’t mean the same people can’t be in romantic relationship. Because they absolutely fuckin can, okay? I was headcanoning them as an ace ship before Christian decided to use asexuality as a tool for his borderline homophobia regarding this ship. I don’t agree with him in any way, I will keep seeing them as a romantic couple and I have absolutely nothing against people who see them as active sexual partners and draw and write smut, it’s completely fine, and I headcanon them as ace solely because I myself am an ace and this is simply my comfort zone. I hate to see it suddenly being used as an argument like that. I send love to all Jayvik shippers out there!

[nualaofthefaerie]

!Spoilers!

Sky forgave him and let him go so Jayce can bring him back...SHE LET VIKTOR GO SO JAYCE CAN BRING HIM BACK...two sides of the same coin...they NEVER gave up on him, they NEVER stirred him wrong. They love him so much.