#it's not like Zaun's a democracy

[mollysunder]

In s2, Ekko receeded into his own bubble like Jinx and Viktor have, and just like the latter, instead of have him further engage with Zaun his relationship with it becomes largely symbolic. Sure, we know in Act 1 that he and the Firelights have been using their base as a safe haven for Zaunites to escape the violence of the gang war, which is good but it's evident that they don't have any plans for Zaun. They've been leading people into their base blindfolded to protect their anonymity from the greater populace of Zaun, and so they ran into capacity issues.

Instead of fighting for more space in Zaun (or Zaun on general), his story has him fight for a tree. It's fine for him to be concerned about the health of the tree, because he lives in it, but in the hierarchy of issues plaguing Zaun, which includes the fact that Caitlyn (someone he recently provided aid to) was gassing it while Ekko was still around, this shouldn't have been his absolute top priority.

But the tree, for which it's value is largely symbolic to the Firelights (they didn't even grow it they found it) is what makes Ekko move in the story. And when Ekko does confront someone with power, it's Jayce... who resigned from the Council. Then he's unceremoniously thrust into another timeline where his relationship with Jinx, Zaun, and Jinx as a metaphor for Zaun are explored through Not-Zaun and Not-Jinx, rather than engage with the former two.

I could see Ekko's story work better if it was done with the intention to contrast Zaun's other two most influential figures, Jinx and Viktor, and how they all miss the mark with Zaun in some way. Jinx refuses to actually engage with the community despite becoming a powerful symbol of rebellion, and it's nearly irrelevant to her story. Viktor believes in doing good, and was able to build a community, however his power stole the ability for any of followers to dissent in anyway and thus never actually engaged with Zaun's populace they were just puppets. Meanwhile Ekko's style has translated into addressing the symptoms (some of which are benign by act 2) of Zaun's problems rather than the root cause.

But I won't hold my breath with that one as the writers have asserted that the alt!timeline was where the correct choices were made. By that logic, Vander and Ekko's similarities in leadership means the showrunners believed Ekko was making the uncontestable right decisions as well.

[avelera]

I adore Silco and think he’s one of the most fascinating complex characters in the whole show, but let’s not flatten the complexity of Zaun vs. Piltover plotline by pretending he was a saint or doing anything to help the common people of Zaun while he was alive.

Silco’s goal for Zaun was self-governance, independence, which is a laudable goal. Especially once Piltover stopped caring about the Undercity entirely because of the Hexgates, it was frankly criminal to consider them subjects and to neglect them as much as Piltover did, an injustice that Jayce recognized and IMO was the tipping point for him accepting Silco’s terms.

But Silco flooded the Lanes with Shimmer, which was developed directly by him, as part of his operation. He used it to personally enrich himself, to give himself power, and to win loyal followers to his cause specifically using substance addiction. His actions are monstrous. He tore apart families, the poverty has skyrocketed while he was in power, people like Huck were abandoned and left to rot unless they were of use to Silco then he gave them more Shimmer and pointed them at his battles to die for him.

A real argument can be made that Jayce should have turned down Silco’s proposal for the Undercity’s sake. Handing it over completely to Silco and his oligarchy of Chem Barons is a dubious decision at best, made only marginally the lesser of the two evils because of Piltover’s abuse and neglect. Yes, Zaun deserves to self govern, but does it deserve to be governed by Silco, and Renni, and Finn, and Smeech without any other recourse?

Piltover and Zaun are not democracies. They are two oligarchies run by the wealthy of their respective cities. Silco wasn’t proposing a democratic paradise for Zaun, he was proposing a second mirroring oligarchy for it, a personal fiefdom with himself in charge on the nominal argument that he’d treat it better than Piltover did, when we’ve seen what he did with most of that power already, which is flood the place with drugs to morph it into his own personal army and screw anyone small or powerless enough to not be able to fight on his behalf.

An argument can be made that Silco’s Zaun, without Vander to check his worst instincts, wouldn’t have been the AU of Ekko’s journey but a horror show and a nightmare. In the end, we don’t know if Silco was telling the truth about winding down Shimmer operations or if he truly intended to become a just and fair ruler of his people once they had independence, but we do have as an example what he has already done with similar power, enough to cast doubt on his honesty and good intentions in that moment.

Silco is a phenomenal character, a complex revolutionary and a villainous crime boss, a loving father who deliberately, methodically turned his beloved child into a weapon against his enemies, the would-be father of a nation and a monster who poisoned and destroyed his own people to achieve it, and I’m so tired of all of that being forgotten in order to simplify that Zaun vs. Piltover discussion into an easy good vs evil story.

[yanderearcane]

Yandere Viktor Headcanons

[I have notifications turned off for this blog, so go wild]

He was impressed by your appearance, especially for someone from Zaun 

Was to shy to approach you, but watched you from a distance

He was quite entangled by you

His entanglement turned into obsession

He wanted to impress you, get your attention, but he wasn't sure how

He feels that he can get your attention, he just has to figure out how to do it

Leaves little prototypes outside your home

Is flattered when you use them/like them

You finally approach him when hearing about him through the grapevine from above

You share many ideas of humankind and the unfair treatment of your fellow Zauns

While he is outcasted and alone, you have developed a social personality as to co-mingle with Piltovers, even though you hate them for their privilege. You just needed a way in. The best way to destroy a democracy is to take out the workers at the bottom; The whole pyramid will come crashing down- So, that's what you set off to do

You wanted Viktor's help

Whether he agrees with your motives or not is unclear from the beginning as he does not shy with his flirting with you

Your flattered and a little surprise by his sudden boldness

He does end up impressing you with his machinery- Though, when you take him up, you're a little surprised when finding out he knows Jayce

Though Viktor is quick to assure you he has no ties to that man- None that mattered

[cushfuddled]

I don't know if I want to make a video about this because it's SO subjective obv but also like. I've NEVER felt compelled to write a "homophobic au" where I take a tolerant fantasy world and make it bigoted. As a kid I used to complain ALL THE GODDAMN TIME about how fantasy writers could imagine a world with talking dragons and magic powers but always drew the line at equal rights for gay people. And here I am PUTTING THE HOMOPHOBIA BACK into a fantasy world WITHOUT homophobia. And I was like.

do I feel so compelled to do this???

I knew I didn't NEED an excuse to insert homophobia into Arcane. Write whatever you want etc etc. But I was so curious, since my preference up 'til now has always been for casually queer fantasy worlds. And uh yeah honestly I think this pivot stems from like, a disconnect between my understanding of systemic bigotry as a queer autistic woman and the way Arcane appears to pick and choose its world's politics from a salad bar.

In the real world, social issues are all tangled up in each other. Racism and classism and queerphobia and xenophobia and ableism and misogyny and misandry and ageism...all these 'isms bud off each other in a kind of swirling feedback loop, necessitating an intersectional approach to activism.

At the end of Arcane, no one broke the cycle of violence. The council chamber table is shaped like a gear, symbolizing its members' status as a "gear train" for all change within Piltover and Zaun. Jinx's bomb destroys that gear with the rest of the council room, only for an off-screen contractor to glue the pieces together between scenes. Piltover adds more "progressive" representatives to its gear train, but the underlying oligarchical mechanism remains. If the cycle of violence ever breaks, it will be because these new "teeth" convince the council to trade their power for democracy. If the elite don't give a real voice to the marginalized (I'm not sure one or two non-elected representatives makes the cut), the marginalized will take to more radical measures to be heard, and the conflict will start anew.

Arcane's hostile oligarchical world sculpted Viktor into the perfect time bomb. Its proud disgust for immigrants; addicts; the poor; the disabled, taught Viktor great shame and hate for who he was and where he came from. These lessons are at least cousins to Social Darwinism, fascism, and the politics of eugenics. Viktor aimed to "evolve" himself and his people into a "perfect" final form. He equated "progress" with the eradication of disability and sickness...then emotion.

Here Viktor branches off from the emotionalism central to fascist ideology, declaring passion ("Our emotions...rage, compassion, hate...") the "cause of [humanity's] greatest evil." Viktor describes emotions as Freudian "baser instincts," dirty and corrosive in their "self-corrupting" force.

To deserve love and admiration, Viktor believes he must become perfect. And for all he waxes poetic re: science and reason and the people of Zaun, Viktor still bases his definition of "perfection" on the ideals of his oppressors. It says a lot to me, that Viktor's idea of "progress" looks like the total eradication of sickness and disability; the rise of an obedient, docile, dogmatic collective; the dominance of Viktor's dome amidst the modest shelters of his followers; Viktor's sleek, agile, white and gold robots. Viktor's goals share a springboard with those of the Piltover elite. Both systems place undue value on power and purity. Both depend on a complaisant, malleable public, and both punish individualism. Piltover pretends to champion movers and shakers and out-of-the-box thinkers, immortalizing key figures like "Stanwick Padidly" and Jayce, but Jayce was only allowed back into the world of the wealthy once he proved

a. he had something to give

b. he was deemed suitably manipulable.

The moment Jayce tried to clamp down on Piltover's rampant corruption (aka wield his newfound powers in service of the less fortunate), Mel was there to reinforce the status quo. It was made very clear that Jayce's options were either to fall in line or lose his job—along with the chance to make any kind of positive change. Behind the curtain Jayce and Viktor were only puppets in service of the wealthy and powerful. Hextech didn't better the lives of marginalized people. It upgraded weapons for the police and generated new trade opportunities for employers (the economy would've undergone a hell of a shakeup with the sudden flush of consumer goods and access to overseas labor. From the state of Zaun and Piltover post-time skip, I assume the new trade routes shuffled money around but didn't make necessities like medicine or shelter any more attainable for your average citizen).

"You used me, and Viktor, for Hextech. You called us 'investments.'" "Two brilliant young inventors who shared a penchant for impossible surprises. Carrying magic from myth to machine. Rallying the hope and hearts of a nation. You were a wise investment."

Anyway. Why is Viktor so threatened by his ability to feel "affection?" Every other goal aligns with a kind of supercharged version of Piltover's oppressive value system, but this one...not so much.

I guess you could say "civil society" frowns on explosive emotions like rage and hate because they threaten the docility of a healthy status quo. Compassion poses a similar threat. It makes sense for Viktor to fixate so hard on emotions when they're the only weapon powerful enough to snap him out of his Hexcore power trip. But I'm more drawn to the reading where Viktor recognizes queerness within himself (cough his love for Jayce cough) as another barrier on the road to perfection (as measured by the standards of an oligarchical regime).

It seems to me that Viktor's goals are all symptoms of a society steeped in ableism, classism, xenophobia, and queerphobia—but only three of those conditions manifest in Arcane's worldbuilding.

I dunno, man. What resonates with my queer experience will totally contradict someone else's. But I guess I can't envision an oligarchical system like Piltover's—a system founded on classism, ableism, and a weaponized fear of the dirty "other"—would somehow evade racism and queerphobia. Like..."We're fine with black people and gay people. But god help you if you're poor or sick or disabled or from Zaun!" Bigotry is irrational and contradictory, so there are surely examples of this pick-and-choose phenomenon outside of Arcane. And good lord, I don't think anyone should feel "obligated" to fill their fantasy worlds with homophobia! But Arcane definitely sparked enough cognitive dissonance in me to make me crank out some "what if this world was also homophobic" fanfic.

(There's also League of Legends' legacy as an alt-right cesspool. Before I even knew what an MMO was, I'd been warned about a game called LoL, the supposed "worst of the worst" when it came to voice chat culture. Not sure how I feel about that context yet.)

[ray-the-sad-cat]

will forever be a Caitlyn defender because I genuinely don't understand how people hate her?

like, I totally acknowledge that her actions while being manipulated by Ambessa are undoubtedly problematic in the impact they had on the citizens of Zaun, however her determined pursuit over Jinx is totally justified.

Caitlyn's knowledge and only experiences with Jinx include nearly being blown up in explosions started by Jinx (multiple times), and being kidnapped by Jinx WHILE SHE WAS IN THE SHOWER!? it's strange to me that people don't act like they would be just as vengeful, fearful, and traumatized by Jinx's actions. Having the same woman that nearly blew you up multiple times, kidnapped you naked, and then murdered your mother, jeopardising the state of stability and democracy of the entire city would make anybody unstable.

while yes, Vi told Caitlyn positive stories about Jinx, Caitlyn's only experiences with Jinx have been overwhelmingly negative.

anyway I have so much more to say about this, but I wish people would think critically about the motivation behind character actions.

also respect to the animators and writers for showing nuance in the way systematic oppression impacts interpersonal relationships.

[constantfragmentation]

Hello frags, youre the one of the best Silco writers. And also, youre seem to have a lot knowledge about historical periods. What real historical figure do you think Silco would be?

I think he can be Julius Caesar or maybe Napoleon (as an fellow european myself)

My dear, I'm so humbled you think that highly of me. I'm in great company in the Silco writer fandom. Thank you for such a compliment.

Caesar and Napoleon were brilliant military minds and not that Silco isn't highly intelligent, I wouldn't put him in the same boat. In similarity, in the beginning, they too wanted a more equal democratic society and were ultimately corrupted by power. Even though Silco's 'the end justifies the means' attitude is still his main drive for what he does as a the mob boss of the Underground, I don't find him completely corrupted by power and wanting to be a king.

Frankly, if Jayce and the Council given Silco everything he wanted, I really wonder what he'd do. He's worked his entire life for liberation and now what? Without Shimmer, I think he would continue his little empire but who knows? Would he want to help create a proper democracy for Zaun or just have the Chembarons rule? IDK.

Historically, I would see him more like the scrappy freedom fighters that get too caught up in their cause and lose their way. Or they are so focused on the end game, they don't see the people they are ruining along the way.

Considering my heritage, I see him as a Michael Collins fighting for an independent Ireland. A blend of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce.

I don't think Silco is quite as blood-thirsty as Robespierre, but I can see the similarities as they were young idealists. Had the bridge battle gone in Silco's favour, it makes me wonder what they might have done to Enforcers or possibly Topsiders after all Zaunites suffered at their hands.

[moldybonessmell]

Arcane Season 2 Finale Critique

// SPOILERS ARCANE SEASON 2

Disclaimer: This is a wonderful show with amazing animation, character design, representation and more, and me pointing out flaws does not take away from this amazing project. I do not aim to put down this show or work done into creating it. Many people tell how amazing it is, but it's also interesting to analyse what are the cons.

So now, I'm going to go through all the plot points that made me raise my eyebrow...

Caitlyn just taking this high rank status so easily?? I get there doen't seem to be democracy in Piltover political system with a bunch of simply influential people being at rule. Cait nepo baby let's go ig But I can ignore that just for the sake of plot moving, alright

My biggest pet peev about this season is that we were getting hyped up about Zaun and Piltover civil war and Jinx being the leader but this kinda never properly happened huh???

Cait was teased to be a brutal dictator bla bla but she didn't do much?? Just tried to not let Ambessa take full control over the city and that's pretty much it. This one also endged me for no reason at all

Jinx was foreshadowed to lead a riot but we never really got one. What was all the build up for? She's even in the opening with a flag. Like yeah she brought people to fight Vik's zombies but I don't know, this left me confused.

The main fight was against an intruder aka Ambessa with a subplot of Black Rose revenge that was questionable bc who.. cares? (if you don't know LOL lore) AND against a bunch of overpowered zombies.

Like yeah cool we finally did a full circle but it all feels SO RUSHED

Each of these sub-plots should have been a different season, but creators kinda just cut these up and slappped them together and you can feel it.

I love arcane I think it has amazing animation, and character design, and representation, but bro does the plot for 2nd season dissappoint.

It felt like creators tried real hard to not go too dark (with Cait for example not becoming a full-on dictator) so it just feels like i got edged the entire time (and got edged in the bad sense)

By the way, we still don't know what Ambessa did to cause all this drama with The Black Rose, there's still no answer.

Also this whole thing with Maddie. Yeah Ambessa is smart and cunning bla bla bla but making "the other woman" love interest evil just for the sake of it is such an outdated and problematic trope. This "conflict" is as old as fandoms on internet - people hate on a person who's supposedly gets in the way of a main couple, when they're not even evil. Like if not for that one line Maddie didn't do anything bad to Cait and even tried to stop her from intruding Zaun. There were no other signs, it's a plot twist for a shock value and that's it. And it's kinda lame. "I told you so" moment like okay whatever you got a ton of post from people justifiyng their hate of Maddie cool ig (I'm not her fan btw I'm just annoyed at this)

Also, CaitVi instead of talking their feelings out and working on the relationship, they just made Vi say "I don't care you had someone else" and that's it. It's so damn lazy. Like yeah, once again, not enough time ig, but I would rather have them talking it out intead of a sex scene you know.

Also, what the fuck was this sex scene?? We have Vi, who's definitely traumatised from spending time in prison and now she gets locked up again, but instead of showing reaction, we only see her crying for Jinx. So, we counting: first, traumatizing place (sexual violence is pretty common in prisons too, so who tf knows what she could have experienced there), second, she's very distraught about Jinx and in a very vulnerable emotional state. And all this makes the worst fucking possible place and time for sex. Like yeah, we could speculate whether it's Vi's fucked up coping mechanism and whatsoever, but the show itself doesn't show anything related to that, and moreover, it seems like it's supposed to be a long awaited sensual scene. I don't know man, I'm just pissed off.

About Vi's writing in this season. I've touched on that in this post, but will say again. I don't like how the show doesn't really elaborate on Vi's trauma, like ever. We got like one full scene with her in fight club and two short reactions from her, but they were about other people. First breakup, then worrying about Jinx, then, finally, we got her reacting to Vander going mad and then Jinx's death. But in comparisons with other main characters (and Vi is supposed to be in the main cast) we got WHOLE ARCS about their trauma and long elaborate scenes with their mental breakdowns. It's not bad to have characters just to push development of other charas, but Vi wasn't positioned like this in the first season. She's a part of the main cast and helps with rebellions, but doesn't get development for herself this season. The just stands up and goes and does what other characters need her to do (Cait hunting Jinx, Jinx searching Vander and the standing up against Ambessa). I'm dissapointed at her being just a sister and just a love interest.

Other parts we don't know about is Vander and Silco conflict and what actually happened that Vander tried to kill him when they were close friends before.

This is it. This is my subjective view of the Arcane finale, I would like to hear your thoughts about it and maybe some details I could overlook.

[silvershadow1711]

I have (mostly) put Arcane s2 from my mind because, for as much as I liked s1, it didn't grab hold of me and demand all my attention. Arcane joins Game of Thrones in the "things I liked that were pretty fucking great at the start and ended up being such massive trainwrecks that 100% of the enjoyment now comes from hearing in-depth critiques about it" category. But there's something that bothers me that I haven't really seen anyone else bring up.

Sevika. Specifically, Sevika's new role as a councilor. The "you lack media literacy" crowd cheers and applauds and weeps tears of joy because this is such a major victory for Zaun, it's a sign that things will be better! The critical crowd (rightly) points out that, given that everything the council does is by vote and everyone else on the council visibly hates her, Sevika will be outvoted any time she tries bring up measures that will help Zaun. But that's not my issue.

Who decided that Sevika gets to be a councilor?

That's not a snarky insult- seriously; who made the choice that this woman gets to represent Zaun?

Did the people of Zaun have an election? (If so, how? Who organized it? What counts as an eligible voter? Is Zaun a true democracy or are there representitives?) Because if they did, I kind of doubt that the majority of people really want Silco's gaurd dog deciding what happens to them. "Oh, but she was only following Silco because she cares about Zaun--" would the average Zaunite see it that way? Would the average Zaunite who we would assume would be part of the voting body see the enforcer for the (former) leader of the chembarons who we have been shown doing nothing but commiting acts of violence in Silco's name and think "yeah, she totally has our best interests at heart"? The one time we see her trying to rally Zaun and call for unity, not one person there wants to hear the shit coming out of her mouth... and these are the revolutionaries! The Firelights and Jinxers, the people who would most want change, still don't want to throw their chips in with Sevika!

So then... the councilors maybe? Did the councilors choose Sevika to join? Why would they? At best, they don't know her and she's some random Zaunite to them. At worst, they know exactly who she is, in which case, it's even less likely that they'd allow her to be on the council. No one in Piltover is going to want shit to do with someone that intrinsically linked with Silco and therefore Jinx.

Did she just... show up? Did they put out a "Help Wanted: Inquire Within" sign and Sevika was the only person who asked for the job? Or did she force her way in, demand a seat and threaten to kill them if they didn't give her a place at the table?

This is what happens when you don't give a shit about the world you're writing for. When you see the setting as nothing more that different action set pieces for cool fight scenes to take place in, rather than a place populated by actual people. This is what happens when you shrink your cast down to a handful of named characters; anything important that happens has to include the named characters, even if it makes no sense in-universe (see: Bronn, a man who admits he doesn't know what a loan is, being the Master of Coin in GoT).

[ao3feed-piltovers-finest]

Snow in July

by Guiding_Star

The Kiramman household; a glistening cage of gold and silver, where she alone sings as a bluebird within its overlapping, gilded bars. The expectation upon her shoulders; a noose around her neck, coiling around her ever tighter like a snake, waiting for the time when she would just GIVE IN and FALL ever further from the Kiramman name. But she is not yet ready for fate to have its way with her, no. She is determined to shake off those shackles, and find her freedom, wherever that may lie.

Vi Vanderson; An icon of the common people. The name, respected within the lower, dilapitated streets of the ever growing nation prided for it's wealth. Her hope long ago was to make a difference in this world of glamor, like her fathers once did from the deepest depths of Zaun, but her naive hope was tested, and her good heart, fractured from the realization; she is nothing but a doll, placed up high by the Council's decree to make a play at democracy. All she can seem to do, now, is simply protect her family from the worst of it, and the name her fathers had earned before her with blood, sweat, and countless tears. (If only she could control her behavior, that is.)

Words: 1383, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021)

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/F

Characters: Caitlyn (League of Legends), Vi (League of Legends), Jayce (League of Legends), Viktor (League of Legends), Sevika (Arcane: League of Legends), Jinx (League of Legends)

Relationships: Caitlyn/Vi (League of Legends), Jayce/Viktor (League of Legends)

Additional Tags: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Somewhat Royalty/Aristocratic AU, Twinge of drama, Twinge of politics, jayvik if u squint, They're all in love ur honor, No Lesbians Die, Homophones...... homophones everywhere, Sexist Society, Does this count as romance?, Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn, Welcome to this mess of an AU, Tags May Change, Jinx goes by Powder, It was either this or dragon Vi x Knight cait, You get smut if you behave

Read on A03. from AO3 works tagged ‘Caitlyn/Vi (League of Legends)’

[avelera]

Was wondering if you had any theories about Viktor's childhood experiences and how exactly that shapes his politics?

I agree that Viktor is largely apolitical and pacifist, and I'm getting the sense that perhaps he believes politics/the council is incapable of solving the issues. After all, they haven't so far, and Viktor does respect Heimerdinger, so rather than Heimerdinger choosing to look away, Viktor perhaps believes it is impossible to solve the problems in the undercity through the council.

When I first watched season 1, I truly had no clue how they were going to be able to resolve the political conflict. The council kind of sucks, but so does Silco, and I don't think Ekko was powerful enough to fully take over.

I can picture Viktor also having no clue. He refuses to make weapons because he knows they'll be used against innocent people in the undercity (and I think he's also opposed to violence as a solution in general), but at this point he doesn't have an alternative solution. He refuses to side with the council, but he doesn't have an alternative. I doubt he even knows Silco is in charge or that he's someone they might negotiate with at this point (I think the council only learns about Silco when Caitlyn returns), so instead he chooses to stay out of it.

And with his cult, I'm getting the sense Viktor still had no clue how to end the conflict between Zaun and Piltover, so he doesn't try, but instead tries to create a safe place for people who, like him, want to escape the violence. It obviously doesn't work out the way he intends, but I do think that was the idea, and perhaps he hoped because of the remote location and his peaceful seperation from society, no one would really bother him. And when they do, he concludes mass hive mind is the only answer to the violence (because he still had no clue how to resolve any of these conflicts)

And all this gives me the idea that Viktor really is desperate to escape that violence, and makes me wonder what he lived through during his time in the undercity that inspires his actions, since we know so little apart from the time he met Singed.

This got a little long, sorry about that, but wondering what theories you had.

I think there's a core assumption to the question that I'd like to isolate out in the hopes it helps me explain how I see Viktor's views.

There's an assumption inherent here that in political times, everyone must be political. But let me point out, most people are not. All you need to do is look at voting turnout numbers to see most people are not political, especially not at the local level where direct action happens. When was the last time anyone reading this voted in their local, municipal election? Do you even know when the next one is?

Now let me add another aspect to this: Piltover is not a democracy. It is by definition an oligarchy, in which power is held in the hands of a small, elite group.

So, in such a world, why would anyone like Viktor think it's even possible for an individual to impact politics? Which is why I think Viktor always saw the only way of impacting the world for the better as being through where his own gifts lay: in science.

But I do think it's more complicated than that. And I want to take the chance to further explore the political landscape as Viktor would have seen it throughout Arcane and why that would be enough to make him take zero interest in politics and have zero hope for its efficacy at solving the problems he wants to solve for people, and that he wants to solve for people regardless of their political background or national identity, because Viktor is shown to be colorblind when it comes to those concepts.

As far as we can tell, the only people with political power in Piltover are the 7 Councilor. The major Houses have some influence, but that's it. Minor Houses, like House Talis, can't even trade upon their meager levels of influence in their own son's trial. Ximena, the presumed matriarch of House Talis in the absence of any extended family for Jaye being shown, has to trade on sentiment. That's how little political power is spread around.

One thing that Vander and Silco were almost certainly pushing for in their protest at the bridge was for "Zaun" to have a political voice at all. This effort was ruthlessly quashed. The undercity doesn't have a representative on the Council, they don't have any Houses, they are effectively voiceless except through riots and protests.

And, as they say, those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable.

Furthermore, organized crime tends to spring up and flourish in places that don't have a law of their own, or a law that common people can rely on. See the Italian mafia in the US, which in part sprang up from the fact these communities needed to be self-governing and self-protecting because the official law of the land wouldn't protect them. But then, of course, the criminal forces that stepped into that power vacuum may gain wide acceptance for keeping the peace and providing other social services, but then in order to hold onto power, they're going to prevent the actual authorities from stepping into their territory. Once they have a hold there, there's no elections either, there's no way to cast out a malfunctioning organized crime unit that's providing those social services.

This is more or less what I think happened with Silco. He stepped in and created a society in the undercity, one that he was able to run because Piltover turned its attention outward with the Hexgates, it no longer needed to rely on the labor of the underclasses in the undercity so they left them to their own devices.

But Silco's government was corrupt. I think that gets lost in a lot of Zaun vs. Piltover debates. Silco's Zaun was just as much an oligarchy as Piltover, they had their own Council with the chem-barons who are directly paralleled in the "Sucker" sequence in 2.02. There is no "Piltover is better" or "Zaun is better" they are both corrupt.

Where in the world would Viktor get the idea that the solution to the political problems between Zaun and Piltover would be solved by handing more political power to people like Silco? Why in the world would he reach the conclusion that two oligarchies would be the solution?

And even in such a world where maybe, self-governance would help some people in the undercity, why in the world would Viktor believe he would personally be able to make that happen?

In a society with no democracy, when the one attempt to gain a voice for the undercity was ruthlessly quashed most likely while Viktor was still a student in the Academy, where in the world where Viktor have developed a sense that he could have impact on politics or wouldn't simply die in the attempt if he joined a political movement, thus improving nothing? And if you can't buy into politics in any meaningful way, why pay attention to it?

Viktor has found his keys to the kingdom in science. He has one avenue to excellence, which is solving the material difficulties facing the undercity like cleaning up the air and making the labor there less backbreaking and difficult. He has a narrow focus. Indeed, one of his flaws is that it's kind of "his way or the highway" he doesn't appear to even seriously entertain other avenues besides science for improving lives in the undercity.

This is particularly interesting because he was an assistant to Heimerdinger, albeit in his role as Dean of the Academy I believe. Yet Viktor doesn't see Jayce's role as a Councilor as an avenue towards meaningful change, why?

I genuinely can only speculate there. Why doesn't Viktor ever try to advocate for the undercity when he has access to Heimerdinger? Or, as two scientists, do both just see it as the role of science to better lives down there, rather than political action? Heimerdinger does seem remarkably politically disinterested for someone who is the nominal head of the government. All the wheeling and dealing happens behind his back. Perhaps Viktor is just as oblivious, who knows? Maybe Viktor's lack of political interest is what made Heimerdinger like him enough to employ him as his assistant in the first place.

Now to further answer your question, I'd say Viktor isn't even trying to politically solve anything because it's unthinkable that he would be able to. That's why the undercity independence play I think makes him cautiously optimistic, if you see his face during the vote right before the rocket hits. He never really thought politics could solve this but maybe it can. Maybe the key is to just let the undercity go its own way. I'd argue Viktor seems a bit skeptical when he announces that Jayce brokered a peace with Silco, I don't think Viktor likes Silco, or likes the idea of handing the reins of power to him. But he does appear optimistic when the vote begins to go that way, in I would argue is one of the rare positive political moments for Viktor (the only other that I can think of is when he speaks favorably of Vander's vision for Zaun).

Then the rocket hits, which must be a gut punch of further disillusionment. It's not just Piltover that's preventing Zaun's independence, it's Zaun, it's the cycle of violence, it's the fact that the conflict has gone on for so long and is so ugly that a solution is no longer possible without more bloodshed.

This inevitable bloodshed includes Jinx and Cait's forces wiping out the remaining chem barons, thus in my opinion making the conflict a moot point, because there's no one on the other side to negotiate with anymore. There is no potential Zaun government anymore if there's no one to hand power to, there's no democracy to set up (not in Piltover either, so there's no example of one). Zaun dies with Silco and goes back to being the undercity, an impoverished community within Piltover. Its Shimmer economy dies, which was the only technology that gave it a prayer of competing with Piltover on the battlefield too.

Quick aside, I get that people are mad there isn't more Zaun vs. Piltover in S2, but that's already dead as a conflict in 2.03. Zaun gets decimated as a political player. It has no leadership, no weapons, nothing that allows it to act as an independent state anymore. Piltover won and it did so because Jinx's rocket gave them the motivation they needed to cut off the head of the snake, the snake Jayce was willing to negotiate with to give them their independence.

That's gone now. There is no Zaun. There's no one to give power to. There's no military, no forces, no money. It is not a state anymore. Sevika is trying to rally the various disaffected factions in 2.04 and even that is slow going because of the old internal hatreds. And even if everyone did rally, all Sevika is hoping for is to make enough of a cohesive Zaunite identity to be able to bring grievances to Piltover. She can't even organize that. Zaun doesn't have an identity anymore in 2.04, and not enough internal organization to begin to form anything resembles a town council let alone the government of a nation.

So in that backdrop, where in the world would Viktor have any notion that he can impact events with politics? Or any desire to when the most promising political hope Zaun had, which he had a hand in, was destroyed the second it arrived by a Zaunite who didn't want the deal? This is a difficult, intractable problem.

Of course Viktor would see the best way to "solve" this problem is to not engage with it at all. It's to sidestep it entirely. Go back down to the individual level, help those in need, give them a place away from conflict in which to flourish and live peaceful lives. He essentially starts a monastery during the political Dark Ages of the collapse of order in the undercity, a very natural human response.

Then, he decides the best way to solve this problem is just to stop it. Get everyone on the same side, even if it's into a hivemind. That's why he's willing to take poor shimmer addicts from Zaun like Huck and rich Councilors like Salo from Piltover.

I also think his view is informed by his parallels in the real world in that he's apolitical because he's a scientist, and to a scientist all these lines of caste and creed and nation are meaningless on a biological level, we are all people. That's how I think Viktor sees it. It's part of why I think too, somewhat speculatively, that Viktor only talks about being from the undercity as a place of origin for him, not as an identity, because I think he thinks all such identities are nonsense, they're missing the point of the general advance of humanity, something many scientists around the world feel. I'm more quick to ascribe an attitude I see amongst scientists, engineers, and astronauts to Viktor than I am to ascribe a political identity to him. I don't think he sees political identities are relevant.

For example, besides noting Jayce's privilege when they first meet, he never denounces Jayce as being from Piltover or sees it as a barrier to them working together. He never singles out details of Jayce's identity by birth as being relevant. Because such details are meaningless in science. He only even brings up Jayce's background, I think, the one time when they first meet to point out to Jayce that while he has lost the benefits of his patron and House Talis name, there's still a path forward for him, the one Viktor started with. He mentions it as a reason that Jayce doesn't need to commit suicide when he loses those things. But he doesn't blame Jayce for having them.

At no point, even when Jayce is othering the people of the undercity, does Viktor other him right back as being from Piltover. In my view, Viktor's response is actually, "Hey, a member of your in-group is also from the undercity, stop framing everyone from there as outgroup/other, you know better than this." And Jayce immediately acknowledges that Viktor is right. They are immediately back on the same page that political identity lines are meaningless when it comes to improving lives (aside, real world people who play identity politics do realize we're all aiming for a world where everyone can flourish regardless of their identity, right??).

However, he does admire those like Vander who imagined a peaceful end to the conflict by establishing a nation of Zaun, however it should be noted, I think Viktor saw Vander's effort as inspiring but tragically doomed to failure. Hence, the need for Glorious Evolution, when the most well-intention dreams have no hope of ever happening. Seeing people like Vander fail is part of the disillusionment that makes Viktor further decide to disregard and supersede all politics through his own scientifically endowed magical power.

So anyway I hope this very long, involved essay helps explain a bit better how I view Viktor's politics, specifically his lack of them.

Edit: I just realized you also asked about Viktor's childhood. I have less to say there because we know so little but I would add:

Viktor was othered by people in the undercity as well as people from Piltover. I think that would lend to his view that people are just people, there are no real lines of politics or point of origin that matter. People will isolate him for his disability in both. No one is better than anyone else. It's just that people in Piltover by and large have more resources than those in the undercity, but both will look down on someone like him and avoid him.

You also have the fact that Viktor emigrated to Piltover presumably while still fairly young, either a teen or a young man, one would guess, based on his intellectual ability. I don't think he inherently sees the two cities as being separate, more like just two different areas of town, one of which is disadvantaged. Like moving from a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn to Manhattan. If Brooklyn began to lobby to become its own city or state, separate from Manhattan, some would see that as a good thing from self-governance perspective, others might see it as nonsense, which is where I think Viktor would mostly fall, but more importantly, I don't think he has faith that Brooklyn and Manhattan becoming separate states would really solve anything that matters, when the issues are things like air filtration systems, which can be solved with science.

As for things like, did young Viktor face violence? I think if he did, it would just add to his sense that a lack of resources breeds violence and the undercity needs prosperity to flourish, prosperity brought by scientific innovation. Politics again isn't going to solve these problems.

And I would finally add, Viktor found success and a sense of belonging in Piltover. I don't think he's as down on the place as people make him out to be sometimes. Jayce is from Piltover. Heimerdinger is too, these are two people who accepted Viktor and arguably who have loved him. I think as a result, Viktor would just see Piltover and the undercity as two places of origin within one city, a city he belongs to and wants to help improve by focusing on those in need.

[mollysunder]

Any actual reform or "court" proceeding goes through the Council, they have the ultimate say in how things go. Even if Caitlyn were to become Sheriff she's only made herself subject to the Council. I feel like Caitlyn should focus on the kind of policy that could be enacted to smoothen the separation between Zaun and Piltover. She could study the law to see how it unfairly benefits the upper class of Piltover and try to enact reform.

I'm not sure how Caitlyn and Vi being on the force fixes anything for Zaun. Once Zaun becomes independent, Caitlyn and the Enforcers don't have jurisdiction there. Any reforms Caitlyn would makes are irrelevant to Zaunites (or should be at least). It also feels pretty roundabout to think about how Caitlyn and Vi can make things better through the Enforcers (or Wardens) when the Enforcers report to the Council.

The problem with the Councilor path is that she still has to deal with the other Councilors, who inherited their positions the Caitlyn did, because Piltover is an oligarchy. There's no real mechanisms to apply pressure against them to get their vote unless you threaten their money somehow. Caitlyn could seek to rally any lower and middle class reformists within Piltover itself to "pressure" the Council to share its power with its population. If Caitlyn could expand participation in Piltover's government and actually use it to enable the establishment of real checks and balances against the council, there's a chance to enact real change.

But then again I don't think Caitlyn or Arcane itself is interested in or prepared to examine the political finesse and heavy lifting it takes to essentially build a democracy. I don't think democracies exist in Runeterra in general.

Genuine question because I’ve been thinking about the quote, “You can not dismantle the master’s house with the master’s tools.”

What should be done with Caitlyn and Vi’s characters if they don’t end up on the force? What should/would they do?

I thoroughly believe in the strength of the Firelights, but Ekko knew that they had to figure themselves out and keep themselves safe before they can really start to fight the overall system that Piltover upholds. Especially since the Undercity is their priority and it will always be the Firelight’s home.

I also thoroughly believe in ending the cycle of violence, like Caitlyn said, and how they couldn’t truly “beat” Silco with the hexgem the same way they can’t really beat the council/Piltover with the hexgem.