#i survived it and it was not my fault

[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.

[bennitastisch]

sometimes taking the train feels like a cruel joke by the universe

[tikvin]

This was funnier in my head

I felt bad for Alfira my first Durge run, but then I saved her in another and was reminded that she is, kinda, a bit annoying lmao

[natasha-romanew]

sometimes i think about THIS jennifer jareau and i’m-

[tojisun]

he said, “i’m not the man that you think i am.”

“that’s alright,” you replied, voice measured despite its quiet rumble. “let me love you, anyway.”

he noticed the way your fingers twitched by your sides—an aborted need to pull him close—and he wondered: where do you find the fortitude to be gentle with him?

did you know how he felt at that moment? did you know what he felt when he cut himself open and was honest with the ugliness that muddles his heart, expecting your rejection, only to be met with your kindness as vast as the seas? did you know what you have done?

you fed a starving dog.

you stuffed him with tenderness until his fangs have dulled. you showed him a collar and asked if it was okay to leash him.

of course. claim me. please. i’m yours.

he stepped up into your space. “i won’t let you go.”

you said, “please. all that i am is yours.”

(you were just as starving.)

[dykedvonte]

I was rewatching mouthwashing, and I ended up thinking of the different reactions that Curly and Jimmy had in doing their tasks. How during the scene of Anya evaluating Jimmy and showing dread towards the idea of doing his evaluation, Curly was the one that offered to take it off her hands. He had no issue with adding more to his plate, because he knew - or well, thought, he knew that Jimmy wasn't going to "bullshit" with him since he's known him for a long time. When Anya hands Curly a note from Swansea, Curly goes to check out what the issue is and he takes care of it without a complaint, the only "complaint" he has is how this incident could have damaged the pods. Which is reasonable, those pods are their only way to be saved if anything tragic happens on the ship. However, in comparison to Jimmy being asked to do things, he's passive-aggressive about it. When Anya asks Jimmy if he could help her out with Curly's painkillers, he tells her that people should be worth their titles, specifically using her title as a nurse when she asked him for help and then when she says forget it, since he made her feel insecure, he still goes "Oh no, I'LL take care of it" as if he was doing a chore, a favor for her. Then, there's that part where he blows up at her for things that she didn't even ask him to do - more so the others asked him about it, like the code scanner, him deciding he needed to find the axe for the foam, and then, there's the medicine part (which when she does ask, and she reconsiders - going to do it herself, he takes that away from her). Jimmy complains about the tasks he has to do and he treats it like a big issue, a "woes me" that he has to do this and that - wanting the praise of the capital without actually doing any work. While Curly doesn't complain about it, in fact, he even mentions that he's aware of how well he is doing at his job as a Captain during that cockpit scene with him and Jimmy. If Jimmy only had to do a small amount of tasks to get irritated and annoyed at being captain, while Curly didn't which I feel like encapsulates their personalities. Curly understands what he's doing is a job, it's a responsibility, why would he complain at any point for doing what he's suppose too? Why would he be upset at people asking him to do tasks? While Jimmy on the other hand, isn't used to it at all and it's different to what he's had before and he's realizing that he doesn't actually like doing the work he has too. I just wanted to ramble about it even if it seemed kind of obvious xd

It’s obvious but it is a thing people miss or understate when trying to find parallels in Curly’s and Jimmy’s relationship/personalities.

Like the way people portray it as neither taking responsibility when it is almost split down the middle of Curly taking responsibilities and faults that shouldn’t be his and making himself unequipped to handle the ones that are while Jimmy refuses to handle the responsibilities he has because he wasn’t expecting the work that comes with them.

Not a lot to say but people forget that another thing the game comments on is prioritization of issues and responsibilities and how the guys fail at it in one way or another in the situation.

[thatswhatsushesaid]

characters who are oriented towards survival and self-preservation often look to other characters who are in more stable positions socially (and are similarly interpreted by some readers) as being exclusively self-interested. which is, i suppose, not a completely inaccurate interpretation. prioritizing one's survival is a type of self-interest. but it is self-interest that comes from a place of not wanting to, you know. die.

[fizzierolli]

Yeah man, Godforbid people have a different opinion on a song than you. Remember this for next time you say anything neutral to negative on any other HB song

idk when u sent this to me but this is so fucking funny CROOKED ATTACK

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

I'm not ready to shut up about Aveline and Carver--so, when you go see Aveline in Act 1, you can catch up with her a little bit and that's where this conversation can happen:

Aveline: "It's just one more change, though. The real end for me was Ostagar. What about you, Carver? You were there. Do you feel something similar?" Carver: No. Aveline: All right, then. Bit of a tit, your brother.

I wanted to see what she would say if Carver isn't in the party. Instead, she says this:

Aveline: Carver was there. I imagine he feels something similar. If he allows it.

......well, at least she didn't call him a tit?

[madmachaca]

I am a certified Gladstone Gander fan and defender and I, wholeheartedly, approve this message.

[nomsfaultau]

yeah besides having lived in survival mode his whole life, I think the main reason mandatory family reunion!techno isn’t suicidal by the end of chapter 9 despite his black depression is because the belief it’s impossible to escape Philza is so beaten into him by then that death doesn’t even register as an option.

[kairithemang0]

I need them to sit on a beach together and Owen falls asleep and Curt buries him in the sand and just leaves him there to suffocate and then forgets where he buried him, so Owen is buried under sand for an hour as Curt desperately tries to dig him up

[ahli-stuff]

Rewatched that amazing scene where Dazai and Kunikida lock eyes with each other and then dash to opposite sides across the room . GOD I love them GOD I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!! I wish there were seasons of them solving mysteries together

ARENT THEY JUST SO

[lululovesprongs]

omg jonathan wheatley please don’t leave wtf nooooooooooooo

[biblically-accurate-dca]

KILL!!!!!!!!!

[yuwuta]

You know I’m here to listen to you ramble about every AU ily give us the pacific rim NGE 🤲🏽

- @yuutito

aleks beloved, thank you for always enabling my rambling 💞 this is the kinda ask where i wish i could draw because there are such vivid images of what each jaeger/mech would look like to me but for now consider the following in the yuuta verse: 

hiromi and kento used to be co-pilots on the same jaeger, and despite having average drift compatibility, they had a near perfect streak. there were theories that judgeman would be even more successful with a single pilot, and ultimately hiromi was the better fit, which works out in the end because it turns out kento and satoru are a near perfect match in terms of compatibility, holding the record for a co-pilot duo. kenjaku is a much less predictable jaeger, but satoru and kento are the only pair to co-pilot it and survive. 

the zenin family has snuck their way into jaeger mechanics and government control of them. they almost exclusively build and fund mechs for their own family members, and have their own training program they put their pilots through to ensure that they are the only ones able to pilot the robots. other big families and government sectors don’t like this, but the zenins fund so many refuge relief and engineering programs, that nobody can say anything. 

the only good thing is because they tailor the mechs to their pilots, the drift compatibility of the co-pilots matters much less. 

toji is the first person in history to solo pilot a jaeger, and proves that solo piloting is possible, but only in extremely rare cases. he piloted alongside megumi for a while until playful cloud was put out of commission and toji retired to focus on stealing the zenin’s training regiment and teaching it to other pilots in training. megumi’s co-pilot is now yuuji, and sukuna was a jaeger was sponsored by the gojo family (which the zenin’s are still mad about)  

the zenin’s wormed their way into the financial and political side of things, but the gojo family is famous for their pilots and engineers. satoru’s mother and father were hailed as one of the greatest pilot duos, and even though they never wanted satoru to become a pilot, their deaths inspired him to take his training seriously. his cousins and aunts and uncles are a mix of co-pilots and engineers. it’s expected that yuuta become one or the other, but after rika’s death, he decides on the pilot route. it seems to be the fate of the gojo’s that the death of a loved one leads the path to pilot training. 

rika’s parents were scouted by the gojo family and the government to help build mechs. they packed up everything to move to sendai and begin their research and construction. rika was that little kid running around the hangar and yuuta was much less enthusiastic and much more scared one tailing behind her. even though her parents were brilliant engineers, rika always loudly proclaimed her dreams of becoming a pilot. when she dies, her parents memorialize her dreams by designing and naming a jaeger after her, and they only think its right that yuuta be its pilot. 

yuuta and rika have always been a special pair, and so even though their actions concerning you are far from normal, it’s not a surprise either. yuuta was asked to be rika’s pilot, but he also did it because he thought it was the right thing to do. but now, as yuuta watches you recover after he/rika saved you after an attack, he knows that wanting you is the wrong thing—but if he found you through piloting, if he found you through rika, how wrong could that be? how bad could a pilot really be—they’re the heroes after all, right?

anyways enough about yuuta’s pacrim au, time to talk about other ones teehee

there’s a pink wolf in your dreams and it always saves you from whatever impending doom is heading your way: a pack of hungry coyotes, the unstable ledge of a cliff, a group of angry huntsmen with arrows and pitchforks. it’s been this way every since your last co-pilot died in battle, while you were still connected to him. you try to make sense of it, try to find comfort in the savior of your dreams, but the natural human response is to scream and shout and wake up in cold sweat when face to face with a wild animal in your face. so, the instinct kicks in when you tiredly roll into the sparring room and the newest recruit has a head of pink hair and scar over his left eye that mirrors the one of the wolf in your dreams, is to run away as fast as you can. it’s futile though, because itadori yuuji is more than the wolf in your dreams and your destined co-pilot, he’s your soulmate. 

in a sort of post-war world, you and kento are very comfortable in your retirement. you have the respect of the entire world, support from every government, enough money to last multiple life times. the jaeger program is kept in effect, but at a much smaller scale due to the reduced likelihood of an attack; so, when the radar picks up the possibility of another attack years after the last one, kento isn’t happy to hear you’ve volunteered yourself for the war efforts. there are new recruits, younger recruits, even other experienced recruits who never fully retired—he doesn’t understand why it has to be you. he just got happy with his life with you. it turns into a whole argument, and ends with you leaving for your old base by yourself. your old jaeger has long since been retired, and you feel nervous stepping into the cockpit of a new mech after all these years, but much of it dissipates when you step in to find kento already suited up and waiting for you, because there’s no way he’d let you go out to war without him by your side. 

it’s a poorly kept secret that you and megumi are soulmates. with an almost perfect drift compatibility and a lifetime of friendship to solidify your coordination and teamwork, the only mystery is why you two refuse to actually date each other. your argument is that there’d be no privacy or true intimacy in that relationship—you and megumi are already, always, physically in each other’s minds; dating wouldn’t leave room for anything more. megumi’s argument is that he’s simply waiting for you to realize that you’ve been in his head long before your first drift sequence. when people aren’t wondering about the status of your relationship, they often take note about how even though you and megumi are co-pilots, you resemble pilot and mech more often than not: you have the controls and megumi seems to carry out your every command.