#jinx and vi keep getting orphaned

[thenationofzaun]

I always hated the idea of Vander coming back as Warwick, as I felt it would cheapen the impact of his death in S1E3. I'm not a fan of characters coming back from the dead in general. But when I saw Warwick's video game voice lines, I was intrigued. I could definitely see how the show could find a way to make his return impactful and play a very interesting role in Vi's arc. Though I was still skeptical, the game dialogue gave me hope that the show could explore Vander's past and Vi's character in a cool way. Only for Season 2 to throw all that potential away.

"I became the monster I always was. Zaun gave me claws long before you did."

The monster he always was. Because as much as Season 2 contradicts itself and the show writers behind the scenes paint Vander as always having been a pacifist, it wasn't what was established in Season 1. This is told to us by the visuals (Vander attacking Silco in his youth and then killing enforcers on the bridge), Marcus ("You weren't always the peace keeper, were you?"), and Vander himself ("I'm not that man anymore"). All confirmation that Vander had a dark past, one where he was such a violent aggressive man to earn the nickname Hound of the Underground. After his devastating defeat and losses on the Day of Ash, he stamped that violent rage down and made peace with topside. Because he thought it was the only way to protect innocents and keep kids from being orphaned by Piltover. The present Vander we meet in Season 1 has already undergone massive character growth. Then there are his lines to Vi and Jinx.

With Jinx there's faint recognition and despair. And his lines to Vi are so juicy. His disappointment in her! The fact that he made a pact with the enforcers to minimize their crackdowns on Zaun and prevent bloodshed, only for Vi to join those same enforcers and aid in their crackdowns! Causing collateral damage to innocents, orphaning kids, and even getting kids themselves killed. What would make it even more juicy is if Vi's decision to join them was motivated by desire to avenge Vander! And if she excused her class treason by comparing it to Vander's pact with Grayson. Imagine thinking you're honouring your father's memory, then his literal reanimated corpse shows up and says "no girl wtf are you doing". Not to mention his last words to her was "take care of Powder". And now she'd be all uniformed up to arrest her sister for topsiders.

Vi could have come face to face with her demons in the form of Warwick. She could have recognized that she was becoming the rage-filled violent monster Vander used to be, and what he was eventually turned into after his death. Something he never would have wanted for her. She could have realized how much she lost herself. Warwick should have been her kill. Setting Vander free and at the same time killing her own demons and rage. Instead they don't use any of this rich material from the game. Vi gets no major character arc and no introspection. She doesn't even get to piece together Vander and Silco's past, because Season 2 makes the retcon that she apparently always knew Silco. So much potential wasted, and now I feel vindicated in my original assessment that Vander should have stayed dead. If they weren't going to do anything interesting with Warwick, then that furry could have just been omitted the way Camille and a bunch of other Piltover/Zaun champions were.

[this-user-is-new]

it’s crazy how most of caitlyn’s fandom is divided into two categories when people complain about her happy ending. first, you’ve got the delusional ones who think she totally changed for the better when it comes to zaun, that she’s just so "complex" and "morally grey" that we’re all just too dumb to get it, so of course she deserves her happy ending. and then there’s the other half, the ones who at least admit she didn’t change but excuse her ending anyway with, "well, it’s realistic. privileged people win."

let’s be real: caitlyn doesn’t change. not once does she question gassing "criminals," allowing police brutality, or keeping stillwater open, especially that torture cell she brags about to singed. enforcers still throw children from zaun into stillwater (i.e. isha), and she never stops to reconsider any of it. her view of zaun never actually evolves, and the show never gives us a moment where she meaningfully reckons with her biases.

she never acknowledges the conditions that led to the memorial attack. she never reckons with piltover’s role in keeping zaun oppressed.

but then you have people who assume she’s changed just because she lets go of her revenge on jinx and because sevika ends up on the council. but neither of those things reflect a shift in caitlyn’s worldview.

letting go of jinx????? that affects her relationship with vi at best, but not her views on zaun. and the whole "she gave her council seat to sevika" argument is just straight-up false. that was never her seat to give. salo literally tells her to gtfo during a council meeting because she didn’t inherit her mother’s position. so yeah, sevika’s seat wasn’t even some noble gesture from caitlyn.

and for the people who do admit she didn’t change but still brush it off with "it’s realistic. privileged people win." well, that argument doesn’t work, because arcane isn’t actually telling that kind of story. if it were, the ending would feel tragic or at least bittersweet. instead, it presents caitlyn and vi’s ending and the whole thing with noxus as a win, a triumphant resolution, instead of the inevitable result of the oppression the show claims to be exploring (at least in season 1).

the privileged side gets to maintain control, but the show never interrogates what that actually means for the people who lost. sevika is outnumbered on the council, and they throw in a little "maybe it won’t be easy for her" moment. but they don’t even explore it, because the show is over. so what was the point? just a vague hint at struggle with no actual payoff?

and then there’s ekko, who should be the heart of zaun’s future. but instead of showing us whether his people survived, whether the tree still stands, whether zaun has any future at all, we get one single shot of him mourning someone. and most likely his supposed love interest???? because apparently, his personal grief is more important than the larger tragedy of zaun’s oppression. either the tree is dead, meaning the last safe place for zaunite orphans is gone, or it's still standing, which would remind us that the undercity is still so hopeless that one tiny refuge is all they have. and that would make a huge contrast with caitlyn still living in her big mansion. but the show doesn’t care to address any of that anyway.

if arcane wanted to be a story about how privilege ultimately wins, then it should feel like a tragedy. instead, it indulges in the power fantasy of piltover keeping control while throwing in just enough "maybe things will change" crumbs to keep people from questioning it too hard. it’s not making a bold statement about injustice. it’s flinching away from the full weight of its own themes.

so yeah, season 2 lets her off too easy, not in a way that forces the audience to sit with the discomfort of real-world injustice. so since the ending presents itself as mostly happy, people are still (rightfully) gonna point out that she should have changed to make the ending work.

[neatwhiskeyplaguedoctor]

OMG! Finally I get to read some male reader with Vi and Jinx. It's so hard to find these, like, I'm a lesbian but I wanna read those too. But anyway, that was so good, I loved it! Great job! Your style is cool!

If you don't mind, could you do some hcs for teen and current Vi with a Vastayan boyfriend? And Caitlyn or Jinx too, if you like. Hope that's okay. Have a wonderful day, luv!

Sure, thanks you so much for the praise <3. Now I don't know much about LoL lore so I'm going off of TikTok info. Didn't know if you wanted Teen Cait as well so I'll do her as well. Just not Powder since Powders like 11.

[Fox Vastaya Reader]

Jinx

She met you through Silco after he hired you to easedrop on conversations for shimmer clients.

She found you sitting in the rafters after she went there to chill.

Jinx feel for you quick. She often barged in on meetings of you and Silco and dragged you away to hang out with you.

Slico wasn't thrilled when he found out you were dating Jinx, but allowed it since you made her happy.

She started calling you 'Whiskers' almost immediately.

Anytime you were doing work she would appear out of god knows where to play with your tail, ears, etc.

She introduced you to Isha as 'This is Whiskers, my future husband'

She picked d out outfits that complimented your ears and tail.

She loved your canines and always tried to feel them when she kisses you.

You use your tail to cuddle her.

She makes you fox releated trinkets if she makes you upset.

Vi(Past)

You met after she beat up some kids who were picking on you.

It was clear to everyone but her that she had a crush on you, saying "He's just a close friend."

It took Vander for her to realize.

The week leading up to her confessing she was a mess. Always asking if she looked good, fixing her hair, redoing her wraps, etc.

When you said you already knew about her feelings you simply pointed to your ears.

Her favorite part of your appearance was your ears, always finding an excuse to play with them.

She would purposely make your ears twitch by blowing on them cause she liked your reaction.

She nicknamed you Mochi cause your ears and tail were soft and because of how much she loved you.

Vi(Current)

She became extra clingy after she got out of Stillwater.

She found you working as a bartender and informant.

She often found any excuse to hug or hold her.

You eventually had to tell her to just hug you when she felt down

You used your tail to hug her when you were bust.

Vi got a small fox tattooed on her wrist while she was in Stillwater.

She jokingly called you 'Bartender' when you two are drinking together.

She's little spoon.

Caitlyn(Teen)

She met you in the forest while practicing her shooting.

She accidentally shot the tip of your ear off.

She immediately took you home when she found out you were an orphan.

She introduced you to Jayce and accidentally called you her boyfriend, making her turn beat red.

She randomly apologizes for shooting your ear, even though you didn't mind.

She often buys you expensive stuff to make you feel better if you feel down.

During winter she found it the best excuse to cuddle you saying 'You're naturally warm.'

She got pissed off when someone at the Academy called you a pet.

Caitlyn (Current)

She would randomly find loose strands of hair on her uniform and despite being annoyed she secretly liked it since it showed how much you loved her.

Anytime she was on watch you would stop by to give her food, drinks, talk, etc.

She would take you to Galas and Balls to keep her from getting bored, and cause she never got tired of the look of pure amazement when you saw everything.

You always make her go to bed when she's up too late, making sure to use your tail to coax her.

She nicknamed you 'Kitsune' due to your part fox appearance and because of your smarts

[night-triumphantt]

I have some thoughts about the arcane ending w nowhere to go but uh, if ur not here for some critique keep it pushing loll

Now that I’ve had a day to digest I’m actually v disappointed w the way the story gave up on its revolutionary messaging. The focus of season one is the piltover and zaun plot, the oppression of Zaun and its impacts on the characters, it is how vi and powder are orphaned, it’s why viktor is disabled, it is why the undercity struggles, Zauns independence is what silco was fighting for, vander and silcos ideological disagreements are based on it etc etc. the tensions between the two cities is rising and rising and then it just, fizzles out and pivots and makes viktor the main antagonist without any recognition of how he got here. And don’t get me started on how there’s zero consequences for cait who is?? Still an enforcer??

The plot highlights through Vi that the enforcers are an oppressive arm of a system w how she was treated as a CHILD and even as an adult and she betrays her ideals, to do what she thinks is right bc she thinks she has to take out her sister and bc cait asked her to do so as an enforcer. And then in doing so she betrays her ideals so aggressively that she is now the exact thing that hurt her, an enforcer, traumatizing a child, utilizing the gas on the undercity, excusing the consequences. And when she faces Caitlyn, cait obfuscates and says she wouldn’t have missed even tho that’s not *better*. Bc ok let’s say she didn’t miss, she just kills jinx in front of isha? and she just gassed the city w what we know is toxic gas? And then she discards vi bc vi isn’t going along with what she wants. Cait then is never shown reckoning w the biases and cruel things she’s done and said after that. There is ONE conversation w her and Vi and it’s framed as Ambessa is the issue which, she is partially but like, topside enforcers were all behind her and Cait was quick to lean into all her preconceived notions of zaunites. (Speaking of making what’s her name a mole was stupid and imo done just to make it so Cait doesn’t have to have that convo w her?? Idk)

Also, Vi goes on a drinking spree in which we never actually see her reckon w what she did as an enforcer, (it’s mostly framed around Cait) and then she hurts isha and,,, nothing?? No sorry?? Nothing. Vi has no plot that shows us her thoughts, her reckoning w what she did, or anything. In my opinion it’s bc the writers wanted cait/vi to work and if Vi actually had to think about what happened and what she did then they wouldn’t have worked out. Vi w/ no one to protect who has to rebuild her identity and really decide how she ended up where she did, I would have loved to see it. Her and Jinx’s convo where she says u don’t need me to protect u was actually rlly good, them reconnecting as equals & Vi seeing how jinx became a symbol of the undercity, fighting for it together, finding how she lost her way, like, cmon. Jinx not ending her story w yea actually u should die previously suicidal character, (don’t worry, this is a good way to die) and instead doing the hard work of rebuilding, and seeing a future for herself that isn’t painted in tragedy, surrounding herself w ppl who love her and help her grow (while silco loved her he could not help her grow bc of his own unhealed wounds) using her ingenuity to rebuild w ekko, like, ugh. These are very rough thoughts that got kinda, long, but yea in conclusion, while I loved the characters, the refusal to *commit* to the political message they started hurt the show a lot, and I’m rlly sad for what could have been.

I have a lot more thoughts about sevika and Mel as well but I’m mostly just bummed.

[visoceaneyes]

i really enjoy reading your opinions and discourse on vi and how ooc they made her in season 2. i know that your main interest is vi but i was wondering what your thoughts are on how ooc they made jinx in season 2. i was so confused by the sudden change in her character in s2 cus in s1 she was such a complex character, and in season 2 they watered her down to this emo girl playing mom to an orphaned girl (don’t get me wrong, i love isha). the way they wrote and talked about her mental health issues in s1 was wayyy better than in s2 also.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTjHspn36/

oml the way they did jinx irritated me so bad actually.

Like ain't no way they were riding caits dick so hard this szn that the girl who kidnapped her and almost killed her twice suddenly thinks her sister who she's obsessed with deserves to be with her....after her 6 months of oppression. She had more smoke for vi when that gas was released than the person who orchestrated it...tf was that? If she was in character she'd come for both of them at least and after what vi went through she'd burn the city to a crisp (keep in mind she killed someone she loved for vi, even if it was a mistake, she still shot because she thought vi was in danger apparently) and suddenly she doesn't have that energy? Cap

Isha was aight but it was weird to just make jinx a teen mom suddenly and they don't even parallel anything between her and vi, they just did it just to do it...and after everything she'd done in s1 how does a kid suddenly solve all that? How does it "fix" her mental state? Its almost like they just didn't want to deal with that side of her anymore aside from that one time she hallucinated when Isha was taken

[letmyrighthandbeforgotten]

Arcane characters but it's who I think their favorite character would be if they were in a modern au and watched arcane:

Mel: This was a tricky one because Mel keeps things close to her chest, but I'm gonna say Jinx. I think she'd appreciate a complex character and relates to her having a complicated relationship with Silco. She's someone who can appreciate a dark or villainous character on their own terms without thinking they're a good or perfect person. She does not partake in discourse. She's very above it all, she just likes what she likes.

Jayce and Viktor: Talking about these two at once because I think their faves are each other. And before you come at me, remember that they are canonically each other’s favorite person. Apart from that, I think they both like Ekko. They're so sad for him losing basically everyone he loves in one night, they love that Ekko is a brilliant inventor in his own right, they love his z drive, and they're surprised by how moved they are by him and Jinx. They both think he was cheated on screentime (they're right).

Jinx: I think her fave is Viktor. I think she's really into his transformation and the body horror of it all, but also his loneliness hits a little too close to home for her. She gets super emotionally attached to him and refuses to examine it closer. She trolls people by saying Viktor never did anything wrong.

Ekko: I think Ekko started out loving Vi but hated where they took her character in season 2. In fact, I don't think he likes season 2, but he'll rewatch season 1. He would appreciate Sevika for always standing on business.

Cait: Mel. I think Cait chooses a character early on to be her favorite and refuses to budge. I think she was pissed at how long Mel was gone in season 2, but at least she came back with magic. She really appreciates how Mel's most important relationship is with her mother and is in the trenches arguing with people over her character. Plus she can appreciate a beautiful woman.

Vi: First of all I don't think Vi watches arcane, but her friends force her to watch with them. I think she avoids getting super attached to any of the characters at first but falls in love with Isha. Her heartstrings are tugged by that little orphan who reminds her of a young Powder. She sobbed and refused to finish watching after Isha died.

[bwat5-blog]

Vander & Sevika

**Spoilers For Arcane**

Somehow my blocked tags were briefly freed from prison- don't be afraid they have all been apprehended. But in that small moment, I saw a rogue critter (who I will not be naming or re-blogging) saying that implying Sevika was mirroring Vander's lesson with "we don't hand over our people" was incorrect, because Vander did not actually care about his people and she was always fighting for Zaun.

I'm not gonna do a whole thing here. Honestly at the moment I am too tired. But thankfully this doesn't require it.

Vander: Made a deal to keep Enforcers out of the Undercity as long as Zaunites didn't cause trouble in top side.

Is this freedom for Zaun? Obviously not. He tried, he saw how terribly things went and how horrific the cost was, including him losing his mind and almost killing Silco, and he chose an unequal peace to protect his adopted family and his people. It is not a perfect situation. But it is what he could do to stop the bleeding. No he didn't strap on his gauntlets and charge back over the bridge no matter the cost in lives. He chose to save as many as he could even it meant a less than perfect solution.

When he knew he was facing death at Silco's hands, he didn't beg for his own life. He begged him to spare The Lanes.

Sevika: Fought alongside Vander until he chose the path he did. She then betrayed him. Was complicit in not only his death but the deaths of two teenage boys she for sure would have known as they were growing up, tried to take her turn in the "let's murder the fifteen year old girl" party against Vi who she also definitely knew, and when it was all said and done helped Silco release a dangerous, highly addictive and unstable drug that can turn people into monsters on the people she was supposedly fighting for.

Not to mention her intentionally lying to Jinx about Caitlyn. With the clearly expressed intent of destabilizing her to the point that Silco would toss her out and leave her all alone. After Sevika played a part in orphaning Jinx a second time already.

So to be clear:

Vander: Made a deal that chose peace over independence

Sevika: Helped Silco unleash a horrific drug on her own people, and of the four Zaunite orphans (the people she is defending of course) that grew up around her she is directly complicit in the deaths of two, tries to kill one at least three times including a successful stabbing and once when she is only fifteen, and after helping orphan the other and ABSOLUTELY being near enough to notice her mental health declining as she got older deliberately lied to her hoping to destabilize her to the point that she would be orphaned again.

Sure though. Fuck Vander.

**NOW**--

Fair is fair. Sevika starts getting her shit together in season two. She tries to get the Chem-Barons to stop ripping Zaun apart. She won't hand over Jinx, she is holding rallies trying to unite her people, and fights on the frontline when they join the war. And of course finishes the show as their voice. But to try and shit on Vander in comparison because Sevika was "always" fighting for Zaun. Yall can do better.

After all, between her two leaders, only one of their teachings would resonate with her seeking peace and cooperating between the cities for everyone's gain

[amorphousbl0b]

Arcane does a fun thing with its narrative Darkest Hour.

Or: yet another post about how insanely smart this show is and how absolutely genius its writers are (and how jealous of them I am).

For the uninitiated, the Darkest Hour is the moment just before the climax in which the heroes are at their lowest point. When the Avengers are scattered and Loki opens the portal in NYC, when the Falcon has escaped the Death Star but lost Obi-Wan, when the Fire Nation is set to annihilate the Earth Kingdom, when Frodo fails to destroy the Ring at the Crack of Doom. The heroes must confront their flaws and change for the better for a happy ending.

Arcane’s darkest hour is, of course, in Act 3. One might place it at the very end of episode 9, and that’s certainly where the story is at its most hopeless. But I’d contend it starts as early as the end of episode 8 and carries on through the entirety of episode 9.

After all, that’s when Caitlyn and Vi have separated, lost all hope, and Cait is kidnapped by Jinx. Jinx’s mind is fully gone and throughout the episode everything falls apart around her. Silco is losing control of his chembarons and may well have lost his daughter, the thing most precious to him, and is only barely keeping his powerful façade in line. Zaun has realized how ridiculously outmatched they are in a war with Piltover and the revolutionary cause has become almost impossible. Viktor has manslaughtered his assistant and may never be cured. Jayce has manslaughtered a child and finally realizes how quickly he’s losing his morals. Mel and her mother are fully separating and she is struggling with her warlike destiny. Sevika gets the absolute snot beat out of her and limps to an empty office without a boss.

So yeah. Lot of personal Darkest Hours going on.

“But what’s the interesting thing?” I hear you ask in my ear. I don’t know why I hear you. Shut up. I’m writing. Are you even real?

Excuse me.

Arcane’s interesting twist on the Darkest Hour lies in part of the trope that I didn’t mention. That’s in the villain.

Most stories with a clear-cut villain have a plot structure something like this:

Whether things are going well for one side is inversely proportional to the other. During the Darkest Hour, when the hero is at their weakest, the villain is at their most dominant.

Wait… isn’t Silco the villain of Arcane? Not to be too blunt, but he’s having a shit time. Things are falling apart for him just as badly as for everyone else.

That's the trick. Caitlyn and Vi are suffering. Jinx is suffering. Silco is suffering. Jayce is suffering. Viktor is suffering. Zaun as a whole is suffering. There is only one party in the whole story that isn't suffering, that actually is benefitting from this horrid state of affairs...

EKKO AND HEIMERDINGER

Kidding. They're not really a part of this dance. A big part of Arcane's theming is that acting to help people without an agenda is simply more virtuous than fighting for any invariably-flawed nation that innately perpetuates the cycle of violence.

No, the side that is doing fine is the other that is conspicuously absent from my two prior lists. While the characters that make up its leadership are experiencing personal Darkest Hours, the organization itself is essentially on top of the world, having just scored a huge victory and getting set to bring the war to an end before it even begins. I mentioned how poor the situation for the Undercity looks, but not its counterpart.

Piltover.

Wasn't it so that Piltover started this whole mess? Didn't their oppression cause the revolt that orphaned Vi and Powder's parents? Isn't it their actions that drive Silco to ever greater extremes? Isn't it their normalized political backstabbing that causes Jayce to sacrifice his principles because that's the only way to get ahead? Isn't it their corrupt police force that lets Silco operate his drug empire with impunity?

Silco might look the part. He might be the most personally evil character, might be the one who causes the most misery for our main protagonists Vi and Powder.

But structurally, the shining city of Piltover, its political machine, and its Enforcers are the actual villains of Arcane.

[ravenking1771]

Silco: The False Revolutionary

Silco throughout season 1 makes claims of representing the cause of Zaunite independence and advocating for its people against Piltover's abuse. However his actions are significant source of the suffering and impoverishment of Zaun and his rise also prevented any effective beneficial movement for Undercity rights.

Silco hasshown a willingness and ability to lie, deceive manipulate and gaslight those around him. From convincing Deckard to become the first Shimmer mutant in Episode 2, and lying to Marcus about what he intended to do to Vander and Marshall Grayson and his continued manipulation and corruption of Marcus over the years. Even Jinx was not beyond his manipulations lying to her about the fate of Vi, SIlco thought Marcus had killed her and told Jinx she had left Piltover. He continued telling this lies even up to the end of Season 1. Silco also tries to pin Jinx's various attacks on the Firelights. Silco also either lies to Jinx when he says "I would never given you up" or he lied to Jayce when negotiating at Battery Point. This means we cannot trust a word of Silco's grand declarations and revolutionary promises. Beyond Silco being an unrepentant liar there is also the possibility that Silco is deceiving himself in addition to everyone else.

Silco's failure to bring about the Revolution could be explained by incompetence or ignorance on Silco's part, but this is undercut by his demonstrated effectiveness in corralling the Chem-barons, running his criminal empire and keeping his business free of Piltover interference until Vi is released by Caitlin. Silco laments Piltover's rise due to Hextech and the backwardness of Zaun but shows no willingness to do anything about it. He has no spies feeding him info on Hextech, Jinx only attacks the Progress Day exhibit in an impulsive reaction to Silco telling her to take a day off. Silco is not robbing Piltover bank's or stealing food or gas masks to redistribute to the poor of Zaun. He is not training insurgents, providing weapons or riling up the populace against Piltover, setting up marches, organizing political parties etc. . These are all tried and true tactics of revolutionary movements and insurgencies in both our history and fictional ones. For example the heist of the Imperial payroll in Andor was direclty inspired by a Bolshevik bank heist in Georgia before WWI. Silco had a decade from the death of Vander to Progress Day and he never took any sort of subversive action beyond those of a gangster. His failure to even try to bring about the independence of Zaun or to fight for its rights is truly damning. I think this shows Silco's actual priorities and they are not for Zaun's benefit.

In fact I would make the case that Silco never actually cared for the people of Zaun, as seen by his selling of Shimmer in the Undercity. In Seasons 1 and 2 we can see that Shimmer use is illegal in Piltover so Silco was not earning his money by selling to the rich and powerful but the truly poor and desperate. This act both impoverished Zaun and concentrated wealth in his and his gangster cronies hands. It created a generation of broken and desperate drug addicts willing to do anything to feed their addiction as seen with Huck in Season 1. This also created another generation of orphans and those abused by the gangsters Silco surrounded himself with. The Firelights who grew out of this despair are actually, truly a revolutionary movement unlike Silco's criminal cartel. When they attack Silco's blimp in Episode 4 they do not steal the Shimmer but burn it and we later see that Echo has deliberately formed them to oppose the ChemBarons and to get justice for those lost to Silco and his drugs. Silco of course then surrounded himself with greedy violent and amoral characters like Finn and Renni who would betray him the moment Piltover placed any pressure on the Chem-barons. The surviving Chembarons then following Silco's death turned on each other and fought a destructive multi-sided gang war as Piltover prepared to invade following Jinx's attack. The Firelights meanwhile survived not just SIlco's criminal reign but also the occupation by Piltover and Ambessa's Noxians. I hope I have sufficiently shown that Silco failed to actually build a movement for Zaunite independence or recruit underlings that actually believed in his cause, even his own daughter Jinx was remarkably apolitical compared to her sister Vi and could not see beyond her own issues except when Isha, or Sevika or Echo talked some sense into her. Silco created a predatory society that cannibalized itself for a decade

Now what about Jinx's theft of the Hex-gemstone and eventually his "deal" with Jayce? One, Jinx acted almost entirely by herself, stealing the gemstone in an unplanned act of mass violence, and she also also acted alone in deciphering Hextech and the building of Silco's weapon. In fact, Silco was positively livid until Jinx revealed she had stolen the gemstone, because she had killed enforcers and no doubt attracted attention from the Upper City. All Silco does is take a meeting with an emotionally broken Jayce who caves in less than a minute. Two, Silco depending on whether you believe him says he refuses to turn Jinx over to Jayce and voiding the peace deal with him and Piltover. Did SIlco on the cusp of achieving his life long dream, in who's name he had murdered Vander and his adopted kids and sacrificed so many Zaunites to the ravages of Shimmer while refusing to do anything to help the poor and downtrodden of the lanes? Or did he merely abandon a convenient lie or realized his own self-deception.

Silco's lies or self-deceptions make me doubt his revolutionary ambitions. As for his motivation I would point to his cruel behaviour towards Vander, seeking to kill his entire adopted family, and if you trust the Season 2 stuff, his friend Connol's two children Vi and Powder (Silco was absolutely going to murder Powder in season 1). This I think is the real motivator for Silco revenge, and in his own words "Respect" Furthermore, Silco reveals he would killed Renni's son if he was not already dead following her coup attempt. My point being Silco was a petty man driven by his own petty desires for revenge for real or imagined slights, he was lacking in any morals or higher ideals save for his love for Jinx which manifested as a toxic lies and violent destructive life.

[lullabyes22-blog]

In Vi's blackguard file it says her bio dad is unknown.

Why didn't Silco add Vander's name?

It's mentioned in the earlier flashback chapters that after Vi's birth, Vander unofficially claims paternity, but makes no effort to have the fact jotted down in the Undercity's family records.

All this despite Silco's warnings that it may cause Violet difficulties down the line in case she needs to determine who her birth father is, especially given how convoluted the Fissures' family records are, due to the complete absence of any census-keeping, the absence of any nuclear family structure, and orphans running rampant everywhere.

Thus, with nothing recorded in the Undercity's census documents, only Lika, irrefutably Vi's mom by blood and on paper, gets mentioned in Vi's family records.

(And lbr Silco wouldn't include Jinx on there as Vi's family even if she was listed as her sister on the Fissure records.)

:')

[hexcorenova]

the line spoken by older viktor from the alternate universe is way more dramatic than it seems. my best friend pointed out some details, and thanks to her i came to a conclusion that's probably crazy, but I need to share it not because is 100% real, but for the suffering instead. let’s start with the idea that in all timelines, in all possibilities, only you can show me this might actually be part of a much larger conversation - and that the sequence of images showing different runes was a hint.

viktor gives 8 runes to jayce, which suggests that viktor tried 7 other times to communicate with him. but what happened to all those jayces from the parallel timelines? we know about 2 for sure:

one is standing right in front of us in that scene, mutated due to the hexcore

the eighth saved piltover, choosing viktor in the end

but what about the other 6? what if they all died in the attempt?

jayce is, at his core, a self-sacrificing person. a hero with no sense of self-preservation, willing to give everything for others - but he’s also incredibly unlucky. i went back and counted every moment in arcane where jayce could have died if no one had arrived to save him and interrupt the scene. and guess what? there are exactly other 6 key moments where the events have failed to keep him alive. here they are, in chronological order:

1️⃣ jayce dies as a child in the blizzard with his mother

I believe viktor tried multiple times to save him but kept failing; possibly because he was searching for him as an adult and only later realized which exact moment in jayce’s life was the key to preventing his early death. if hypothermia didn’t get him, he likely didn’t survive childhood as an orphan

2️⃣ jayce dies by suicide in his old apartment after vi is killed in the explosion in e1 s1

we can assume this because jayce is not transported to the same timeline as ekko and heimerdinger. the arcane shards are still embedded in the wall, later taken by ekko and used with the correct rune. either viktor doesn’t arrive in time (or judges jayce as guilty of murder and lets him die?)

3️⃣ jayce dies at the end of s1 when jinx fires the rocket at the council

this time, mel fails to save him due to her problems with an unknown magic, maybe also she died

4️⃣ jayce dies at the beginning of s2 during the attack on cassandra’s statue unveiling

he's ambushed by a chainsaw-wielding attacker, and vi fails to retrieve the hammer in time - maybe distracted by viktor in the hexcore inside the lab

5️⃣ jayce dies in the parallel universe

whether from the fall into zaun, starvation, or the infection in his leg, maybe it's the reasons why viktor still put an eye on him even without interactions (does it already happened at least one time before?)

6️⃣ jayce dies by viktor’s hand in the council chamber, during the fight with the puppet

even in the main timeline, jayce was already unconscious. viktor’s attack was an ultimatum, and if mel hadn’t stepped in, it’s doubtful jayce would have survived. right after this, viktor chooses to sever his humanity completely btw

i believe viktor’s words are referred to jayce’s persistence, his absolute determination to keep trying, again and again, to hold onto their bond, even at the cost of his own life. i also believe old viktor realized this only from an outsider’s perspective - watching jayce, across timelines, risk everything to reach him. now, let’s read that line again with some different images (not the alternate runes, but what was in viktor's mind probably) and after all this theory explained:

--

in all timelines,

in all possibilities,

only you

can show me this.

--

end of my emotional damage, cheers.

[chaoticdreamlandphilosopher]

I just saw a video that was talking about vi in season 2 of arcane and talking about how she wasn’t the same and the comments even having complaints of their own and them also complaining about how Vi is written in season 2 and I just need to get this off my chest and say that I don’t agree with what some of the comments are saying about vi because I can’t help but feel like some of the comments are people who just don’t like vi as a character because of how she chooses to react to others or trying to say that she has no right or shouldn’t be reacting this way to some other characters. I saw this one comment that was paragraphing itself and it involved things claiming that vi shouldn’t be mistreating or hating her sister and all of suddenly calling her by other name “jinx” even though the only reason she does those things is because Jinx committed a terrorist attack against piltover and cost the life of her girlfriends mother and causing children to become orphans in zaun, you’d think they would bring that up as reasons as to why she kinda disowns her own sister in the first half of the season before warming up to her but they don’t because they want to make it seem like she isn’t justified to not like jinx. And then other people complain about her relationship with Caitlyn thinking that her whole character revolves around her even though it doesn’t because we still see her be her her own character and still sharing other relationships with people other than caitlyn like with Jinx and Warwick (Vander) like we see her in other relationships and I mostly think that it is the fandom that is just claiming and making it about how she is revolved around caitlyn when even the Caitlyn and Vi shippers make it clear that they don’t want people to see the other as if they’re whole character is revolved around the other only for that to happen even with people who don’t like the ship. So then the comment explains that vi is supporting her for what she is doing even though yes she is participating in Caitlyn’s actions and not saying anything bad about it because she knows that Caitlyn is not in the mood to listen to people having second thoughts about this but we can still see in vi’s face that she doesn’t support the stuff that caitlyn would bring herself to do like when caitlyn was trying to shoot jinx but was also going to shoot isha on accident if vi didn’t step in and prevent her from misfiring also not to mention after that display she confronts caitlyn about it and even ask her what’s wrong with her because she’s begging to see that her mother’s death is really getting to her in a bad way, and when Caitlyn says that vi is no different then her sister because her blood runs through her veins which gets vi mad at her and then tells her then why is she the one acting like jinx, showing that she is done taking the hate that Caitlyn has been giving to her and the people of zaun and also them believing that she is agreeing with what Caitlyn is saying about the under city people is just wow, because she literally doesn’t say anything that makes it look like she is agreeing with her and she says something in return to contradict what Caitlyn said that didn’t involve her agreeing with her. I mostly think that the reason as to why they think vi agreed with what Caitlyn said was because she was hesitant to say otherwise even though that doesn’t always mean that the person agrees with them it will often mean they don’t agree with them but they will keep it to themselves and not say it because they don’t want to start something and that’s what vi was doing in that scene.

Also the comment goes on to explain that vi had no reason to be sad the vander died because she should have gotten over his death long ago even though this was different being that her and jinx had a chance to actually bring him back and start over again so for that to all go to shit because of what happened in act 3 of course she is going to be upset about it and even cry for him again because they were so close to having their loved one back.

And I honestly didn’t want to look at more of the comments because one of them would have been complaining about how vi didn’t mourn jinx in the end even though we had a whole scene of her literally mourning jinx the moment she sacrificed herself for vi and we literally see her just laying there crying over the fact that her sister and her adopted father is dead and that she is the last of her whole family, we even still her crying when it cuts to another scene indicating that she was laying there for a long time before someone found her.

What I’m trying to say is that the video and the comments didn’t feel like criticism it felt more like hate for the character and hating on their flaws even though these are the same people who say that they want more complex female characters but when that character is written to have more flaws she gets hated and the fandom will try and make it seem as though she has no right to feel the way she may feel and thinking she has to have flaws just flaws that they will like not flaws that they won’t like

[orionchildofhades]

jayce and viktor going to drink out in the cities after a day of work, stumbling out, drunk and happy, holding into each other to stand up.

ekko trying to see powder after vi got arrested, orphaned (again) finding out that creggor, mylo and vander are gone too. finding powder with silco and sevika Who betrayed vander and all they (benzo, vi, vander) stood for. ekko meeting scar and the firelights, finding the tree, tinkering to get his first board, scared because he doesn't want it to crumble like it did for vander, this little haven, so easily taken.

heimerdinger standing on his balcony and looking over the city as the hexgate is being built, wondering if he was wrong for being against it, if he lived in the past a little too much.

vi getting pushed in her cell as a kid, an enforcer, faceless, roughly holding onto her wrist until he pushes her forward so she stumbles against the wall. vi getting her first tattoos in prison, getting her scars, her brow broken by a guard, her lips smashed by an inmate, the V piercing her skin for Vander, just for a second. vi's knuckles bleeding, thinking about going back for powder, for being able to save her even against a shimmer-user unlike last time.

sevika keeping an eye on jinx for silco, bringing her to her hideout for the first time and shoving some fancy tools in he hands so the girl will calm down. them spending time alone, in silence mostly, while jinx works and sevika tinkers on her arm until silco starts asking jinx to do odds jobs for him in person here and there.

even marcus, staring at the sheriff badge on his desk, hearing his girl, newborn, babble in the next room, regretting his greed, his anger. vander was a good choice, grayson was right, now silco is playing him like a fiddle, and marcus is powerless, no going back possible.

just the 6-7 years we didn't get to see, the lives that kept on going, the world spinning. the little scenes we didn't get to see.

[dirtytransmasc]

Thoughts on slico?

honestly? I'm still oscillating loving him and needing to bash his head in at a very rapid pace, because that's just the character he is. and I started rewatching season 1 last night so.... my thoughts and feelings are all over the place.

but, the thing that I most steadfastly stand by, is the fact that he attempted to keep his promise to Felecia.

now. he fucked that shit up for a hot minute. he was blinded by his hatred and pain and anger towards Vander— which the anger itself, I think was justified. I understand why Vander was angry, considering Silco's actions for their people killed, got Felecia killed, orphaned her daughters. but Silco was trying to fight for Zaun. he lost his friends too. he was scarred too. and to be cast away so violently, and never hear a word from Vander's mouth (cause I'm assuming that letter meant that Vander never actually tried to have a conversation with him, at least, not until after it was too late). so I get why Silco was angry and turned away from his brother —and let that hate spill onto the girls. I think it goes without saying that taking out violent anger on little girls years after the fact, when they had no hand in what happened to you, is not justified.

in his rage, he forgot his promise. abandoned it in a ditch. and he was a little bitch for that. he was ready and willing to kill Vi and Powder just to get back at Vander. he had no care for those girls.

but you can see the very moment he remembered. when he pulled the knife back from view and looked down at Jinx crying. he remembered, and a war took place in his mind. does he stick to his promise or his anger?

and he chose his promise when that little girl clung to his chest. his niece. the youngest daughter of a friend he lost so long ago. clung to him. crying from the same pain he felt when Vander abandoned him.

and after that, he, in his head, which was superbly fucked beyond doubt, he thought he was keeping to it.

he was protecting Jinx the only way he knew how. and that was to change her. to make her someone people like Vi and Vander couldn't hurt. to kill Powder, so she could thrive as Jinx. and he, again, in his own fucked up way, was doing what he thought was best for Zaun.

I almost entirely disagree with his methods, but I acknowledge he was keeping his promise in his own way. he was being the best father he knew how to be. he was protecting Jinx the best he knew how to. he was fighting for a world where Zaun was a better place, though, being a good place, got lost along the way, in place of Zaun having power.

Silco was too jaded and sardonic and scarred and angry to be a good father or leader or rebel. he was corrupted. so trying to look at him from a moral lense isn't really an option if you want to understand him. but if you look at him through his set of morals and ideals and such, while it doesn't make him a better person, you can see that protecting Jinx and bettering Zaun are still at his core.

so. I don't know. I hate him and I don't. his world view is so fucked. the way he ended up trying to "fix" things was fucked. but I will give him that one thing; he tried to keep his promise, sorta.

[rustonyourfingers]

Rambling about Vi

ARCANE S2 SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

I've been going through arcane s2 tag but I haven't seen anyone mention this so far, and I really need to talk about it.

This post is about Vi, but more specifically -- Claggor's goggles and their symbolism. We know that Claggor's goggles were one of the things that Jinx kept after her bomb worked, and we know she used them frequently -- we see her wear them every time she works on something both in season 1 and in season 2 as well. Ever since season 1 the goggles were set up as a symbol -- of a life and identity lost, of Jinx's insanity and hallucinations becoming stronger and stronger, of lost innocence and fall into maddness and violence. And I love how now this symbol was passed onto Vi -- in such a vital moment of her journey as well.

Just moments before the group enters that hangout place (also, the way we keep coming back here, after all these years that passed between s1 arc 1 and s2 -- brilliant!) Vi decided to join the Enforcers -- the very people who for decades (at least!!) oppressed people of Zaun and treated them like animals, like dirt on the soles of their shoes that didn't deserve so much as to breathe. In that moment she's besically deciding to betray her people, but most importantly, herself -- the little girl who walked across that bridge and witnessed all the death and destruction the Enforcers sown, saw her own parents' dead bodies laying broken on the ground. She betrayed the older Vi, the one taken by Vander that followed him around, one that dreamt of getting the boot the Enforcers kept on their necks off and ripping it apart, so Zaun would finally be free of their brutality. She betrayed the Vi that was locked in Stillwater, beaten by the Enforcers for the simple crime of existing, to the point when anytime someone approached her cell, that's what she expected -- another beating. Young Vi saw the imbalance of power between the Enforcers and people of Zaun -- and she hated it. The Enforcers always had better weaponry, training, every advantage possible, and they used it in the most vicious way possible -- to oppress, to hurt, to make sure that people of the Undercity would never be recognized as human, as deserving to live and to have rights.

And now, Vi's putting on the badge herself. Now, she's the one with the advantage -- hextech weapons and bioweapons, things that even with the use of shimmer would be extremely hard to fight against. With that one action, Vi became the oppressor -- and while we see her refuse to acknowledge that until the very end of episode 3, to me her picking up those goggles was the first sign of her facing that reality.

Because Clagger's goggles are a symbol of the past -- the past where Vi was fighting for the right cause, to make her family's life better, to make sure there would be no more orphans in the Undercity. Vi is no longer fighting for the right cause -- she is now part of the causeless violence released onto the people of Zaun, onto the civillians, onto the kids. She not only stops to examine the goggles -- no, she picks them up and puts them on her head immediately, as a reminder of who she was, as a reminder of why she was fighting in the first place, as comfort because she no longer is who she was, she no longer fights for what she faught for in the past and she needs to belive that she's making the right choice in following Cait's lead, because if she faces the fact that she became everything she hated, the very thing that made her into the person she was in season 1, that'll break her. And Vi cannot allow herself to break. Not in the past, not now, not ever.

To me, the goggles are such a wonderful and important part leading to a) Vi's breakdown with Cait when she asks Cait to never change, and b) when she sees Isha protect Jinx with her body and aim a gun at her head, and realizing the fact that she's becoming to Isha what the Enforcers were to young Vi and Powder on that bridge, and that she was no longer fighting for the right cause.

Anyway, this is super chaotic, but I love how Clagger and Milo's memory lives on and still haunts the narrative for both Jinx and Vi. Just chef's kiss all around, what a wonderful show.

Also, English isn't my first language so hopefully this all makes sense lol.

[danothan]

hey u’ve discussed how halbarry and jayvik parallel each other before, may I ask, if u were to assign the rest of the justice league / DC characters their counterparts in arcane, who would get who?

woah this is such a fun prompt

jinx: ppl compare harley quinn and jinx for aesthetic reasons, but if jinx was anyone in dc, jason todd would be the closest contender

vi: ig that would make vi’s counterpart dick grayson w both being adopted orphans + having eldest sister syndrome to a ragtag family of other adopted siblings. but the thing abt vi is that she wants so badly to be vander, and dick wants to be nothing like batman, tho ig that does mean they have that “burden of parental legacy hanging over their heads” in common. i also know much less abt dick, so i’m sure there’s more stuff i’m missing. both became cops lmao

caitlyn: it would be so utterly insane if i said bruce wayne so i won’t LOL. but i mean… privileged upbringing, radicalized after parental death(s), ruminating tendencies, off-the-books detective work…. god, vi is not beating the freudian allegations, good thing i didn’t say bruce !

ekko: the dc characters w time powers are nothing like ekko so i’ll have to go for personality alone. idk much abt the arrowfam but i feel like it would be one of ollie’s kids, given their humanitarian values and how often they have to talk sense into ppl and remind them of basic empathy. i can’t go any more specific than that unfortunately, but i’ll keep an eye out once i get to know them more personally! i wonder if any of them have ever built a safe haven for their community. or if they skateboard. EDIT: ekko’s dc counterpart should be connor hawke, they both even have the green/orange color theming going on 🙂‍↕️

jayce: obviously unmatched parallels to barry allen

viktor: hal jordan and viktor couldn’t be more different, but they do have that god corruption thing going on (+ the symbolic white streaks in their hair). ofc this comparison is only being made bc of their relation to jayce/barry so a more accurate dc counterpart is def out there for viktor, but i wouldn’t know ^^; which dc character is anti-communist propaganda personified and/or a transhumanist trying to get rid of their emotions lmao

mel: ik so little abt talia al ghul so forgive me if this is off the mark, but mel and talia both have an insane family history and dynastic burden. i can see talia being compared to both ambessa and mel actually, sharing ambessa’s wolf-like “tough love” + sacrifices, viewing family as a weakness bc of how it softens her and projecting such views onto her child while also being overprotective in her own way, and mel’s fox-like “pulling the strings” cunning + upbringing, raised as a warrior and an heir and constantly having to prove herself but still being disowned/dismissed despite her undeniable worth. god, these families…

that’s as far as i’ve got, a lot of these ended up stumping me. i feel like this is a better question for a dc fan w more general knowledge, but it was fun to answer anyway! ty for asking!!