#jinx doesn't even hallucinate him much

[thenationofzaun]

Wait... it just hit me that 6 episodes in and we didn't even get Silco being a kind, encouraging voice in Jinx's head

[lady-griffin]

Jinx's Hallucinations + Ekko

Before Act III drops, I wanted to talk about an aspect of Timebomb that I'm quite fascinated by -

Ekko isn’t a trigger for Jinx’s hallucinations.

He has even stopped her hallucinations – not intentionally or anything, but more than once Ekko's presence seems to have a nullifying impact on Jinx.

Which is odd, right?

One would assume due to their history Ekko would be just as triggering to Jinx as anyone else, if not more so, and yet the opposite seems to be true.

In Jinx's first reunion with Vi, she quickly becomes overwhelmed and has an episode due to a whole combination of factors, but notably because her hallucinations of Mylo and Claggor start attacking her, largely because she's starting to breakdown and is getting overwhelmed (a self-perpetuating cycle).

Jinx can't even begin to calm herself down, in fact she yells at everyone to shut up, because she needs to think.

Then she hears Ekko’s hoverboard and suddenly the hallucinations are completely gone.

Jinx isn’t sure if what she heard was real or not.

Which is a great detail, since it indicates Jinx is aware that the voices she hears aren’t “real," meaning she knows other people can’t hear them too. So, it's rather telling (at least for me) that she asks Vi to confirm if she too heard the hoverboard sound.

It's also impressive Jinx was able to instantly recognize the sound of Ekko's hoverboard, despite her being in the midst of a mental breakdown and unable to think properly.

It’s almost like Jinx’s brain went into fight mode or something, because seemingly all the hallucinations stopped at once because there’s now a much bigger threat Jinx needs to be on guard for – Ekko is heading her way.

I really can't emphasize how much I love that.

While not traditionally romantic, in any sense, this shows the amount of respect Jinx has towards Ekko and the threat he poses to her. He’s someone she actually has to take seriously when fighting.

Which is a bit unique for Jinx.

Throughout S1 we saw Jinx being far more scared of her hallucinations then actual real, physical threats, but in this moment it’s like her brain recognized Ekko as being the far greater threat than her hallucinations.

Which he is - but that’s also true for many of the other things Jinx faces and isn’t scared of.

Jinx does “glitch out” while fighting Ekko and the Firelights in “When These Walls Come Tumbling Down,” - but it’s more of an asset than a problem, as she easily dodges the Gorilla Mask Firelight (at least I think it’s a gorilla).

Then when Ekko disappears, Jinx's psychoses come rushing back; obviously, this has less to do with Ekko himself and everything to do with him taking Vi, but nonetheless, it's still a slight repetition of the pattern that keeps happening between them.

In "The Boy Savior," during Jinx's bridge fight with Ekko, she once again specifically doesn't experience any hallucinations; even though she was just experiencing them not too long ago.

Mylo was this 'demon' on her back that while she could initially argue against, the more upset she became, the bigger his presence was.

She saw Caitlyn as this devil figure, laughing and mocking her and her psychoses even blocked Vi almost entirely from her sight; whether literally or symbolically, Jinx clearly wasn’t fully aware she was shooting at Vi, despite her obviously seeing Vi and then shooting in her direction.

Then Ekko bursts onto the scene and suddenly no more hallucinations. Which is just...

I honestly don’t know what this is. I really don’t.

To be clear, I absolutely love this whole thing despite not knowing what it is exactly, because honestly, I'm just fascinated by this dynamic, because for whatever reason, Jinx isn't triggered by Ekko nor does she hallucinate him.

In S2, Jinx’s hallucinations have significantly decreased, but in “Paint the Town Blue," she's suddenly bombarded with pretty much everyone’s voices because she’s beyond upset and panicking about Isha being taken by the enforcers.

She sees pretty much everyone - Silco, Vi, Mylo, Claggor, Sevika, and Isha.

Jinx seeing Vi, Sevika, and Isha shows us that she can/does hallucinate people who she knows are alive.

In addition, Isha being one of her hallucinations shows us that Jinx doesn’t need to have negative or even complicated feelings towards someone for them to become a part of her psychoses, as Jinx largely thinks/feels positively towards Isha.

Though it should be noted, the hallucination of Isha isn’t acting aggressive towards Jinx, not like the others are.

Finally, Ekko or Vander are the only two she doesn't hallucinate, but we know Jinx has hallucinated Vander in the past, making Ekko the odd one out when it comes to Jinx's hallucinations once again.

Which for the millionth is absolutely fascinating to me.

Because why?

Why doesn't Ekko trigger Jinx? Why isn't he one of her hallucinations? How come he's the only one we've seen having the ability to stop Jinx's hallucinations altogether (even if it's completely unintentional)?

For whatever reason, Jinx’s mind has seemingly categorized Ekko as being different than everyone else and while it’s obviously not this big thing the show brings your attention to, it’s also clearly there, albeit subtly.

And yeah...

I don’t really have much more to say, I just wanted to talk about this interesting aspect of Timebomb before we get to the last and final arc of Arcane.

[whatdidtheydotomygirljinx]

Jinx just never really liked Vander that much.

One of the things that, to me, seemed like a main theme in Jinx's arc in season 1 was the contrast between her two families, and how her switch from Vander's daughter to Silco's drastically changes the way her personality takes shape.

And I hate that the fandom, and now the show, too, has reduced Silco to an unhealthy influence in Jinx's life, pushing her towards her "bad" side (being Jinx) when, for all his flaws... he gives her a better childhood than she ever had with Vander. The first three episodes of the first season, to me, when I watched them, illustrate quite clearly that Powder feels unhappy in her family life. She is the most mal-adjusted of Vander's kids. Her older brother constantly berates her, and it's quite clearly having a big effect on her self-image. She later takes up the Jinx name and persona once she feels like she has become irredeemable as a person. Her other brother never defends her. Vi is the only one who is there for her, and they care for each other, but at the same time you can see there's still a little insecurity in their relationship. Vi is worried that maybe Powder is indeed too weak, and Powder worries that maybe Vi does indeed see her as a Jinx like her brother does.

And when it comes to Vander... he's just not really all that present in her life. And I don't blame him, the man has four kids to take care of, on top of keeping things running in the Undercity. It's clearly not his intention. But it doesn't change the fact that he's not there for Powder, not as much as she needs. To me, when I watched the first season, it seemed like Vander was a figure that felt far away to Powder, someone that she admired but also feared being completely herself around, and someone that she ultimately wished to be closer to than she actually was. It's worth mentioning that Jinx never says his name post time skip, and he is not a hallucination for her, not until Vi brings him up in the finale. Hell, Claggor is somehow a hallucination for her and he never even speaks. Vander was just not an influential figure in Jinx's life.

I always found the scene at the end of ep3 of s1 fascinating, because Powder never once mourns Vander. She never once cries for him and never once says his name. When she sees his dead body, she becomes shocked and starts crying, but it's not actually what breaks her. What breaks her is Vi's rejection. Had it just been that she accidentally caused the deaths of her brothers and adoptive father, she would not have crumbled mentally. It's Vi's rejection that destroys her. Now, of course, a little girl that cares more about her sister's affection towards her than the lives of her family members is kinda messed up, but that's what makes her character interesting. And we can see that that little girl doesn't go anywhere, as Jinx displays the exact same one-mindness about her sister. Because Jinx and Powder were never really that different, after all.

She is quite clearly placed with her back to Vander's body, that she never turns to, barely looks at, only enough to recognize him and see he's dead, and never says the name of. She's turned towards Vi, calling for Vi, crying because of Vi, and no one else. Heck, Vi had just been crying over his body a few moment ago. Vi is clearly distraught over his death. Vi is devastated, she literally punches her sister and curses her in the exact worst possible way she can, in the way she know it will hurt her sister the most. But Powder... she just honestly dgaf.

So to then hear Jinx say this line in season 2...

...is just straight up jarring. I was pulled out of the story when I heard this. This is Jinx saying this to Vi. This kinda makes it seem like it was Jinx who was most attached to Vander, or at least that she was just as attached to him as Vi was. Which is just not how things seemed in the story at literally any point until this one. And then season 2 continues this way, and somehow makes Jinx seem like the closest daughter to Vander. Flipping Warwick literally acts more attached to Jinx than Vander ever did to Powder. Like literally. Season 1 clearly sets up that Vi is the favorite daughter, and then they just... flip it?? Warwick cares more for Jinx and responds better to her than to Vi. It's actually insane. It's true they sanitized Jinx's character to hell and back this season, but this is a straight-up rewrite. I can't wrap my mind around why they did this. Plus, the entirety of act 2 they set up this weird and pointless arc of Jinx rekindling her relationship with Vander or something... and like literally her story was genuinely never about that.

(This COULD have been Vi's story. And that might have actually been cool, and made sense. Maybe Vi is the one who finds him, and she is the one who helps him calm down. And then she brings Jinx, and maybe Jinx is terrified because she was never that close to Vander, and then she literally killed him, so seeing him again is the last thing she wants. Maybe VI is the one who tells Jinx that "he was your dad, too", which would make A LOT more sense, and maybe that's the first time that Jinx thinks that oh, yeah, he was... And then maybe they have a cute moment where Vander forgives her. Or maybe she sees the state he's in right now and loses it completely. Or maybe they look at each other and they both see the monster each of them has become. And then maybe Vi looks down at the enforcer uniform she's wearing, and, privately, sees it too. Idk. The things we could have had.)

Silco was actually a good dad to Jinx, in all the ways that Vander wasn't. He gives her all the attention that she never had before. He not only listens to her, but actively asks for her side of the story. He never insults her, and he defends her against Sevika. He trusts her and gives her opportunities to prove she's capable. She goes from being one of four siblings, and getting lost in the shuffle and often ending up feeling forgotten and alone, to being the most important child, always taken into consideration and almost put on a pedestal by her dad (this, like, has to have cured some inner wounds, i think).

Silco understands Jinx better than any other character in the show, and I'm genuinely sad that we didn't get to see any flashback of Jinx growing up with him. Because their relationship was so unique, and so integral to Jinx's character and to the rest of the story, that the fact that we never get to see any other glimpse into their bond is just...

As a final note, I'd also like to add that I dislike when people say that Silco "groomed" Jinx. I think a much more realistic analysis is that he enabled her. And as for all the times he tells Jinx that Vi "betrayed her", that's just a reflection of his own trauma, and also because he fears that if Jinx knew Vi was alive, she would go back to her and leave him (which, considering what goes down in the s1 finale, not an unfounded fear). It's wrong that he does that, but it's not out of malicious intent (also tbh Jinx never really seems to believe him anyway).

And for all the people who say that Silco "turned Jinx into a terrorist" (dumbest people in this fandom fr, im sorry), that's just straight up not true. Powder was already like that. That is quite literally why Silco adopts her. Because he sees that she's like him. Silco would not have taken Powder in if he thought she was just a cute, innocent kid who was orphaned (to, what, raise her for years so that, MAYBE when she's older, she MIGHT be useful to him? when they meet he doesn't know she's the one that caused the explosion, he just knows that she's been abandoned by Vi). This is the kid who thought playing around with explosives was a fun hobby. This is the kid who giggled at the thought of hurting others. This is the kid who already suffered from explosive emotions. This is the kid who saw her father and her brothers dead, because of her, and all she cared about was whether her sister was mad at her because of it. This is the kid who throws herself at the first person she sees, someone who her sister hates, who is the cause of all this destruction, and with an anger that shocks most viewers, declares that Vi is not her sister anymore. She is livid in that one moment.

Powder already had it in her from the beginning. And it's also ok to like a character (and to write one) even if they are not 100% morally pure in every single way under the sun, cause that is quite literally what stories are for.

[evieelyzabethh]

I love so much how you write ekko and I was thinking a scenario about the parallel universe thing (ep 7)

What if ekko and reader were dating and met thanks to the firelights but then the whole thing with the hexcore happened and got teletrasported in the other universe finding out that he was dating powder instead and he never got to meet reader and maybe he see her in the street of piltover looking different and all

Idk just thinking about how he will react

Ekko knows something is off immediately. Things just feel differently in his chest. Maybe it's being pushed into a parallel universe, but he's convinced that if you were with him, it wouldn't feel so different. It feels like the same soul, but a different body. His hair is different, his clothes are different, who he's with is different. As soon as he looks over and sees that blue hair, he's on guard, even more so when he realizes the change in relationship. He's dating...Powder?

Honestly, that's how he knows he's not where he should be, because he's not with you. And he does feel a bit bad not allowing himself to appreciate what's around him more, but Ekko is very aware with give and take. The Firelights don't exist here, his community never existed, his friends, Scar, everything he poured years of his life into aren't here, but they aren't here because they weren't needed. The people of Zaun can breathe. Vi is dead, but this is the first time since they were children that he's seen Powder. Even better, the first time he's seen her, and she hasn't looked gaunt. Hextech seems to be foreign here, and shimmer doesn't even exist. It's nice, he can admit that, but it's not home.

To him, it's almost like some utopic, drug induced hallucination. His head feels heavy (definitely an after effect of messing with the Arcane), his tongue is dry, his heart is pounding in his chest as he looks around him, convinced that Powder can hear it trying to beat out of his ribcage. Despite it looking pretty, it feels like a bad trip. He stumbles out, leaving Powder to chase after him until he disappears into the now unfamiliar streets. His feet fly in front of him, only barely managing to catch him and propel him further, too dazed to notice the concerned onlookers debating on if they should offer him help.

It's strange being known. No longer known within his found family for what he's created for them, but rather who he's become with his previously dead one. Claggor grew out of his baby fat, Silco and Vander grew closer than before, Mylo grew a god-awful mustache. He's an inventor here. It's almost haunting, the idea that he could've been using his talents for lighthearted fun. The idea that there exists a place that is not in dire need of saving. The fact that there even exists a place where those he's mourned and been changed by, live happily. For a second, he wonders if this is what Jinx felt like, constantly seeing faces despite knowing they weren't there.

He's hyperventilating, back pressed against a harsh brick wall, overstimulated by the way his jacket now seems to constrict him tight and tighter, feeling like a needle is going back through the already pierced flesh of his ear. He could be convinced there are millions of tiny rocks in his shoes as the more he shakes the harder they prick into the soles of his feet. He feels like his very soul is being pricked and prodded at. He feels like he's going insane

But he feels you before he sees you. His breathing slows, the hole in his chest seems to close, his lungs seem to fall back into a rhythm. He breathes you in before he reaches for the hand you have reached out to him. You look different here, like someone who he would never meet in this body, but of course his wandering soul found his way to you. You looked warmer, you fill out your clothes more, you might be a bit taller. Its wonderous what clean air and constant access to food can do for a person.

"Are you okay?" He leaps into your arms, nearly throwing you back and certainly catching you by surprise. Unsure of what to do, you hold the unfamiliar boy, stroking his back awkwardly until he slips from under your arms. He looks familiar but in a surreal way. You can't say for sure if you've seen him physically, but he very well could be the mystery man you see in your dreams sometimes, though much firmer.

"I am now." and you really don't know how to react other than to just smile and nod your head. As he watches you disappear into the crowd, the ground beneath him finally feels solid. If anything, he's more determined than he was before to find his way back home. This place is almost saccharine, too sweet, too bright, too much. It's not his world for a reason; his world wouldn't be complete without you in it.

[q8qwertyuiop8p]

Why I HATE the Silco and Vander Flashback

As a Silco fan I was so hyped for it but now I wish it hadn't been in the show in the first place.

1- Ruins the Character's Reaoning

The only question this scene actually answered was why Vander betrayed Silco, and it answered it in one of the worst (and most annoyingly cliche) ways possible.

We knew from S1 and the writer's responses that Silco and Vander led the revolution, what happened on the bridge changed Vander, and then he betrays Silco. Most people came to the conclusion that, seeing the destruction and orphans, Vander decided fighting back was too risky and advocated for peace. Silco, on the other hand, believed that they needed to continue fighting for freedom and refused to give up. Vander, fearing that Silco would instigate more destruction and destroy more families, attempted to kill him to protect his people.

But now we know Vander apparently tried to kill him not because he was worried about his people, but because he was mad that his one friend died. This just makes Vander look way worse and takes away from the nuance of his character. Vander didn't take in the kids because he felt guilty for what he did, but because he knew their mom and had a duty to her to take them in. Did Silco's guilt for starting the fight that killed Jinx's mom cause him to adopt her, too? Everything being about their mom takes away from the character development and uniqueness in why these characters did what they did.

2- Left Questions Rather than Answers and Created Even More Inconsistencies

We already knew before Season 2 that Silco and Vander worked in the mines, that at least Vander was familiar with Felicia, and that Silco intigated the bridge fight by throwing a molotov, but so many things are unanswered or now incredibly inconsistent.

What is Benzo's relation to Silco and Vander? He knew Silco well enough to recognize older him in thick fog. Why does he hate Silco so much? Did he ever know Felicia, or did he only show up in Vander's life after the betrayal?

If Silco instigated the fight, why does Vander say it was also his fault in the letter? Why does Vander say to Benzo "We both know there's worse things than enforcers out their"? What is he talking about? He seems to be talking about Silco since he touches the brace covering the scar Silco slashed on his arm. But this makes no sense for Vander to talk so badly of Silco if he also blames himself and regrets what he has done to his brother so much.

Where was Silco after Vi and Jinx were born? We see Vander interacting with the kids and their parents after, but not Silco, and the kids do not recognize him in s1e3. It's like he just vanished and there is no clear reason why.

Why is Silco so eager to kill Vi and Jinx in S1E3 despite him knowing their mom and making that promise to her? The reasoning for him wanting to was already very murky but this just makes it worse and once again takes away from the nuance.

3- Silco's Design

Yet another inconsistency. I personally hate Silco's new hair and think it looks really stupid, but it is what it is. The real problem with it is that it doesn't fit with what we see in season 1.

In season 2, young Silco has long hair and bangs like Jinx's. But in season 1, during the betrayal, young Silco's hair isn't even shoulder-length and his bangs are way shorter. So perhaps he cut his hair sometime before the fight? But we see that even on the bridge, during the revolution, Silco's hair is long. His hair is even long when Warwick hallucinates a post betrayal Silco, even though Vander has seen Silco with shorter hair.

This is especially bizarre considering the inconsistency with Vander's hair in season one. During the drowning scene, he has no beard and is young, but during the bridge scene he has a beard and looks much older. The writers have stated that this was due to communication errors with Fortiche and that Vander and Silco were not meant to look so much younger during the betrayal, so that they would make a similar error again is odd.

(Speaking of the design, a 100% personal reason I was disappointed was that in the concept, Silco wears a sleeveless outfit that shows off his muscular arms, yet they once again gave him long sleeves. I know what you may be thinking, but imagine they showed Vi's abs in the concepts but didn't actually show them in the show. Keep in mind that not only is Silco the only major character to die before season 2, he is also the only one who we don't get to see fully or partially shirtless (even Heimerdinger can be seen shirtless in the s1 Chinese Artbook). I thought they would at least give us a brief glimpse of those arms but instead they took the extra time to model sleeves. I will never understand how we got to see shirtless Salo before Silco's biceps. ☹️)

Besides that I felt like the way Silco especially was animated was very off, like the animator had never seen a Silco scene before and knew nothing about the character. I knew he would be a bit different, such as being less pessimistic, since this was before the betrayal, but it was just way too off. It's difficult to describe and I'm still trying to put a finger on what exactly was the problem, but one thing I noticed was that his smile looked unlike the way he normally smiles. His eyes are usually half-lidded, even in the S1 flashback, but they aren't that way at all. And no, it isn't just that it's weird seeing him with two good eyes, because he never felt off at all in the s1 flashback. He just overall gave off Jason Spisak vibes instead of Silco.

I also really hate that the way they were animated gives off a bit of a feeling that they were both into Felicia. Please not Snape and Lily again.

[golden-redhead]

One thing I will say about this season is that it really emphasized just how much Silco and his actions contributed to Jinx's issues and how much his presence affected her negatively going forward.

Most of all, though, I think it proved once for all that Vander and Powder had a special bond where he deeply cared for her and genuinely saw her as his own. Especially in season 1, I think a lot of the fandom latched onto this idea that his relationship with Powder was much more shallow than the one with Vi and as a consequence, she connected with Silco so strongly. But just because Vi and Vander were close and he acted as her mentor in many ways doesn't mean he didn't care about the others and didn't have his own connection with Powder. Just because we didn't see it doesn't mean he was neglectful or cared about her any less. He and Vi had a special bond, yes, but that's because they are similar. I also think that in some ways, he saw himself in Vi, just like Silco saw himself in Jinx. He wasn't a perfect father, he wasn't without flaws, but it's clear he did everything in his power to keep his kids safe and ensure a peaceful future for them.

Through their interactions this season and that alternate universum jumping, we found out that they both deeply cared about each other and Vander fully accepted Powder as his daughter. He clearly loved her a lot and she also saw him as a father figure in her life.

Moreover, even though alternate universe Powder also dealt with grief, this time over using Vi, it's clear that Vander was able to give her the support she needed. She didn't turn violent, she didn't struggle with constant hallucinations. She grew up to be smart, resourceful and compassionate. She grew up to be a healthier, stronger version of herself. Someone who's loved, appreciated and has her own place in the world. And all that even after facing the enormous loss that Vi's death must have been.

It speaks volumes about how much Silco projected his own trauma onto her and prevented her from ever realizing her full potential. I don't think he did it intentionally, I don't think he doomed her to be like this as a choice... He certainly loved her and in his own way wanted what's best for her.

But regardless of his intentions, that's still what happened.

Hurt people hurt people.

That's one thing that Arcane made blatantly clear.

[kr-starz]

I saw a TikTok about how Ambessa and Silco's last words to their daughters weren't out of love and oh my god am I pissed OFF, (no hate to this creator)

I am NOT super into Ambessa and Mel's relationship so I will not be elaborating on them at ALL, but here's what I feel like what Silco and Jinx's relationship can be chucked up to.

First of all, I'm not here to say Silco and Jinx was a healthy relationship. They're not. They are both mutually toxic and enabling. Silco could very well be classified as manipulative, but did he love Jinx? Yes. Let's just state this now, Silco is an underground drug lord who's trying to control the underground as a whole. In an attempt for independence and making Zaun a reality, he's come up with an immoral plan that does nothing but benefit him and his socioeconomic status. Improving his own status with both power, and influence, with Shimmer. That is how he is making himself heard to the people of Zaun, that is why he is so powerful.

In order to keep this status of power, he needs people. Loyal people. Sevika as an example is undoubtedly his most loyal. We have to also acknowledge that Silco is not scared of Jinx swaying to the pilties side, or siding with enforcers. He's more worried about how erratic Jinx can be, Silco might have a semblance that Vi is alive, but she's in a cell. Vi has been locked up and she is basically dead for what he knows, since, well she's responsible for blowing up a high ranking officials home and robbing them. Which would probably put her away for an incredibly long time.

Silco's impression is that Vi will no longer be in the city of Zaun for an incredibly long time, or she's dead. Him telling Jinx that Vi is gone isn't incorrect. She's in a cell, impossible to see. It is manipulative how Silco's isolated her though. He was indeed convincing Jinx of an outcome that was false and tried to convince Jinx that the only other person in her life that she was hopeful to see was no longer there and did not care for is a tactic that abusers use in order to convince their victims that they're the only person they need in their lives.

This was, necessary, for Silco at least. At this point in the story, Silco has yet to realize just how much he values Jinx as daughter. He continues to care for Jinx gently though, as a parental figure.

There are two faces powerful men must uphold. Their status and their values must be something unmovable, which means he must exude a powerful presence. So when Silco is doing business, he usually has a very different energy around him. But when Silco is at his home, he acts this way specifically with Jinx. He is soft. He is never inclined to make moves to touch or guide her. He acknowledges exactly how mentally disturbed Jinx is and does the very least in order to not agitate her. He knows Jinx has episodes and breakdowns which cause her to do harsh and brutal things. Yet has he ever yelled at her for hallucinating? Has he ever blamed her for being ill? No, he acts accordingly. He wants Jinx to acknowledge that there have been consequences to her actions, natural Karma, yet he doesn't blame her, he simply tells her.

When Jinx screws up the first Job, when they encounter the firelights. He first asks Sevika what happened, which gives him a clear run-down of what happened. Then, he goes over to Jinx, asks her what happens. He's open to hearing her side of things which is essential for trust in a relationship. To continue this topic of trust, he hands Jinx his syringe. He trusts her, even after screwing up to poke him in the eye and give him his dose of shimmer. All these indirect ways of telling Jinx that he continues to have faith in her, that he trusts her and that she is still valuable.

Value; this topic is important for Jinx and her psyche. As a person with abandonment issues, she most likely has adapted to this need of being needed, especially from people she deems important. So through this Silco has realized this and continues to put value on Jinx by giving her jobs and responsibilities, unwavering trust.

During this scene, we see Jinx wrap herself around Silco. She slides from Silco's desk into the same chair that Silco is sitting in. There's a lot of people I see looking at this scene in a strange way which is upsetting to me how they manage to sexualize a TEENAGE DAUGHTER and a PARENTAL FIGURE.

Jinx's love language is physical touch, this is established by Vi and her in the first act. They exchange many acts of casual physical touch. Always on the receiving end though, through Vi cupping her cheek, or touching her physically in other soft ways, I only remember Powder receiving touch from Vi.

When Jinx initiates any form of physical touch to Silco, we see no push-back, we also don't see Silco moving to initiate MORE physical touch. When Jinx is in his chair, he sits back, his hands nowhere near her yet he doesn't deny Jinx closeness. We see Jinx playing with the syringe, and this is the only time where Silco initiates touch. Not directly by the hand but by the wrist he grabs her to make sure she's listening. When Jinx pulls away he doesn't resist.

Silco never initiates any physical touch from Jinx, the request of handing over the syringe to Jinx is an act of trust. We can infer, from how comfortable Jinx Is that she's been giving Silco his medicine for years now. This is a tradition, and daughters sitting in their father's laps, especially at a young age is not a sexual act and it is STRANGE to think of it as one.

Jinx and Silco have no concept of what healthy father daughter relationships are. Essentially what Silco's way of parenting is, is "I will let you do what you think is best for yourself, as long as you continue to do some tasks for me." Which means he leaves Jinx to deal with her issues, which he himself is not equipped to handle. This doesn't mean he doesn't try to combat it, he takes measures so that Jinx doesn't have really bad episodes in the first place. He treats Jinx's hallucinations as normal as that isn't something that he himself can tame. But he does know that most of Jinx's episodes come from her trauma of Vi.

So in order to prevent these episodes which seem to harm her physically he does what we see as him Isolating her from Vi, making her not think of Vi, and reassuring that Vi is no longer present. He does his best to help Jinx, does this mean that this was the best option? No! But was this the best option for both his goals and Jinx, yes. It ensured loyalty while doing his best to help Jinx and her Vi induced episodes.

During the bridge scene, we can see that Jinx is badly hurt and Silco in an attempt to revive her in the only way he can is bring her to Singed. I think at this moment Silco begins to see Jinx as something very important, something stronger than just a loyal subject, and more-so his daughter. In the beginning we can see that he is almost 50-50 for Jinx, it's obvious he favors her, defending her and backing her up. Yet he continues to put his cause before her. But when he's found Jinx almost dead on the bridge, he does everything he possibly can to ensure her survival. Because Silco has gone through similarly traumatic events that have changed him (The Silco and Vander event where Vander tries to kill him) we can see that his perception of pain in exchange for power and life is a lot.

When Silco wakes up from being drugged the first thing he does is look for Jinx, then he goes to threaten Singed about where Jinx is. Which says a lot. He values Jinx enough in order to threaten an individual he used to work with, and enough to put his chemicals in his body as well as hers.

After this, there's the last episode of s1. Silco is tied to a chair, obviously kidnapped by Jinx, as well as Vi. He's muzzled, and the first thing he tries to say is "her name is Jinx." to Vi. It's the first thing he says muzzled and unmuzzled. Even at his most vulnerable, he's defending Jinx from her biggest trigger at the moment, Vi.

He doesn't ask to be released, he doesn't question what it's about. But what he does do is tell Jinx about the offer he got from Piltover, for independence. At this moment Jinx is splitting, because of the shouting from Silco and Vi, she's incredibly stressed out. Her two personalities of Powder and Jinx; she's having an identity crisis and neither Silco or Vi is helping. Silco notices the physical pain that Jinx is in due to the fighting, he could also observe how she's basically having an stress-induced episode because of her identities and Vi. So what he tries to do is shoot Vi, in an attempt of getting her to shut up. What Jinx does in response is to shoot at the nearest bullet fired, because here's the thing. Jinx is still in a daze almost, she would've had the same reaction she had with Silco if she shot Vi. Because at the end of the table is the two people she's valued the most.

When Jinx shoots Silco, what Silco does is finish telling her that he wouldn't have given Jinx to Piltover no matter what. Value. He's showing her that he values her. He then goes to tell her,

"don't cry, you're perfect."

This line is a show of Silco, even at the end, he wants to help Jinx as much as he can. "Don't cry." He doesn't want to see her hurt, he doesn't want to see her in pain because of her mental illness, he wants her to be as happy as she can, if she can.

"You're perfect." Jinx is quite literally having an identity crisis. She's on the bridge between Powder and Jinx. What a manipulative person who wants to mold her into the perfect person would've said something along the lines of "don't cry Jinx, you're perfect." He would've included her name somehow. But he doesn't, because right then and there, no matter what Jinx picked. Silco would've been on her side.

Through all of these acts of trusting jinx, and him doing his best to help her, not giving over Jinx in exchange for independence, and his final line of "you're perfect." It's hard to say that Silco didn't love Jinx.

End of TedTalk; and If anyone wants to claim that Silco can't love Jinx because he manipulated her, wrong! I've been in a relationship similar to theirs which is why I feel so strongly about this and It's incredibly obvious what he valued Jinx a lot, he loved her enough to learn her needs and catered to them. Showing Jinx that he valued her was his way of reassuring her he loved her. And him giving one last act of trust, telling her she's perfect shows that his love is unconditional.

[annamatix]

we all know silco loved jinx. in his own, twisted way.

but did jinx love silco?

after his death she says things like "couldn't do it himself, the big baby" which, considering the context of the conversation, doesn't sound very teasing/affectionate

the jail scene where she hallucinates him, before he gives her advice she doesn't sound too kind either

and then things she did while he was alive, like that scene where she believes silco lied to her and then pokes him with his medicine thingy, saying "don't move, i might hurt you silly" which. well ! it's justified, but would you do that to your basically-father if you loved him?

this is less about her interacting with silco and more about how she sees vander/doesn't see silco: she never called silco dad. ever. not that we see. but multiple times we see her calling vander dad, and then that one scene where vi is like "he's your dad too"

of course this is sweet and all i'm not saying vander isn't jinx's dad, he obviously is, but deducing from this... does jinx even see silco as a father? or a father-figure? or does she just see him as an adult figure who stepped up to help?

idk guuys idk idk

there are some other scenes too i'm blanking on rn but

now i'm not saying she hated him or that he didn't matter. of course not. she sought his validation, trusted him, all that stuff. it just doesn't seem like she loved him like he loved her. which breaks my heart so much

i so desperately want to believe they mutually loved each other because they're so precious and i love them but guys. are we sure.

[kaoskuantico]

Following this post

Not showing more about the alternate timeline, why it ended up so different and even looking as an utopia. Vi's death couldn't be the only thing, as far as we know, both timelines were the same until that point. It's funny they tried to make MARCUS feel sad because a Zaunite kid dying while they were robbing in a Piltover apartment. Something else should've been different in that universe to make it believable

Sky "dying" and no one talks about her until Viktor mentions her after he's brought back by Jayce in the first episode of season 2

Not showing Jinx having any dilemma about wearing an enforcer's uniform in Act II. They've could shown it, and Jinx doing it anyway because it meant saving Isha

Jinx not having as much hallucinations as season 1. Silco died because of her, everyone expected she'd be even worse. As much as I personally liked seeing her healthier in Act II, it was weird

Making Vi an alcoholic and not mentioning it again after Jinx briefly said she found Vi passed out

Focusing too much on Ekko and Powder's relationship in the alternate timeline. Again, another thing they rushed because they didn't develop it properly. I know it's LOL accurate but in Arcane they weren't that close. They should've put more focus on Benzo and maybe showing the firelights in the alternate timeline instead of their romantic relationship. This goes the same for Powder, I wanted to see more of her outside her relationship with Ekko. Considering only what we saw in both seasons of Arcane, Timebomb came out of nowhere for me, or at best, being forced.

NO ONE except Jinx calling out Vi for joining the enforcers. Sevika and Ekko would've done it, but they didn't even let them interact.

WHY Caitlyn didn't tell Vi she's sure Jinx is alive???? I know it was meant for the audience but come on, not telling Vi is weird. If they wanted to only show the audience, they've could done it through another way, not by Cait.

When Vi and Caitlyn reunited and were planning to betray Ambessa together, Caitlyn didn't hesitate to hit Vi with her gun AGAIN. Vi looked surprised, maybe because she didn't expect to be hit that hard? It would've been such a good moment to show Caitlyn's supposed remorse through her actions. You know, the "show don't tell" so many fans say. If anything, she showed she doesn't have any problem in hitting Vi with her gun right in the face, and even having the nerve to shrug it off, as if it was Vi's fault for asking for it.

As much as I liked Isha's death from an animation and soundtrack point, why did she shoot Warwick? Yes, he was aggressive but why she used her only chance to shoot at Warwick and not Ambessa? Or any other of her warriors. She was bonding with him prior to the attack, it's a bit weird she went from that to kill him, she saw how important he was to Jinx.

I'll keep updating the list

[thanakite]

I wonder if part of the reason Silco struggled to discipline Jinx when she did things that fucked with his plans or whatever was because he spent so much of their time together and because a decent amount of their relationship was encouraging her to follow her worst instincts?

Like yes, he's pissed at her when she kills the Enforcers at Progress Day, but he isn't so pissed that he actually does anything to punish her, and when she shows him that she got the Hextech Gemstone, he pretty much loses all his anger

And when she messes up with the Firelights and it results in the loss of a bunch of Shimmer, he kind of punishes her by not sending her out to do more and by having Sevika clean things up, but is it really THAT MUCH of a punishment to be like "Go work on your inventions" instead? Because while she worries about how he sees her and her usefulness after that, it's not like it actually does anything to actually curb the behavior considering she like nearly immediately goes out and kills the Enforcers at Progress Day immediately afterwards

Stemming from this, I wonder if that's ACTUALLY why Jinx has more or less changed so much from season 1 to season 2?

I've seen some posts where people are complaining that Jinx is less erratic and destructive in season 2 that makes it clear that they feel she was sanitized to be more palatable as a character in season 2 and that the general reasoning that being around Isha and taking care of her is what did it is weak, but really I do wonder if the change is actually because Silco isn't constantly telling her to give into her more destructive tendencies and such?

Until the scene in the bunker prison cell, they make it relatively clear that Jinx is not hearing/seeing Silco as one of the voices that speak to her (in fact a lot of those seem to be gone, which COULD be because they were trying to make her character more palatable, or it could be because she was starting to move on from the traumas that were causing them to manifest so vividly, especially with Silco's own death since he did play such a role in Vander, Claggor, Mylo, and Vi even appearing in them (her parents too as we learn, but I don't think she ever found out about that)), so she isn't hallucinating seeing/hearing him doing that and thus her worst impulses aren't being externally encouraged in that manner anymore, added on to the fact that the person (who she did come to care for and love as a father figure to be clear, but people are complex and can have VERY complex feelings about people in their lives) who instigated one of the worst traumas she experienced was dead (because Vander wouldn't have been taken if not for Silco and then Claggor and Mylo wouldn't have been there with Vi and she wouldn't have felt the need to set off her Monkey Bomb and thus likely none of them would have died)

Then, add on to the lack of Silco's influence that she wasn't trying to deal with getting caught by Enforcers and that she ended up essentially taking in Isha (who stuck around her pretty much all the time and COULD have been helping to curb some of the influence of her hallucinations and more negative thoughts) it seems like a more likely change to have occurred, AND could even be a factor as to why it wasn't until after Isha's death that she finally saw Silco as one of her hallucinations (And that it's interesting that he wasn't advocating for some kind of violence like he seemed to do in life, but instead was talking about how to break the cycle of violence which doesn't seem like a Silco sentiment as much as a Vander sentiment)

Anyway, this is a very long way to wonder if the majority of the changes we see in Jinx in season 2 weren't more related to the lack of Silco's influence in Jinx's life and not because of Isha as directly as people tend to assume OR the idea that they were trying to make her a more palatable character (Which to be clear, I do think that was a PIECE of it, but I'm not sure how big of a piece it actually was, as it's my understanding that she's pretty erratic and destructive and such in League of Legends as a whole and that she's still a fairly popular character so that seems like an illogical change to make for that reason when you have that information, beyond like more minor adjustments here and there, but maybe that's just me? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

Oh and again, as I've said elsewhere, I DO think Silco loved Jinx in his own way, but that doesn't negate that he wasn't necessarily a good influence on her, especially considering his actions as a whole and not just towards Jinx, resulted in A LOT of negative things for A LOT of people (people that he was supposedly fighting to free and do good for I mean, I don't really care honestly how he harmed Piltover so much, I more care about the direct harm he did to Zaun and the people there)

[sunderwight]

Not to theorize on Arcane with only three episodes left to go or anything, but I do think that there's a reason why the scenes we get of Viktor where he's actually acting like his old self, with Sky also acting reasonably human, are in some kind of theater of the mind/magical space/etc, rather than just Viktor in-person talking to Hallucination Sky in his shimmer dome or something.

Like, think about it. The first few scenes we have of Viktor post-cocoon, he sees Sky as a hallucination in physical reality, and it's disjointed and an obvious sign that something has gone Wrong. It's creepy, and weird. He's got one foot in physical reality and one somewhere else (and it's styled very differently from Jinx's hallucinations, too, which handily indicates that this is not the same sort of thing).

But then, after Jayce returns and we see that Viktor has established his cult, his personality seems to be entirely contained within this otherworldly space. He can perceive reality, but it's no longer overlapping. He has become somewhat quarantined from himself, with Sky there as well, acting way more like "herself" than she did as a hallucination before but also essentially chaperoning Viktor's consciousness. Like a golden retriever put in with a zoo cheetah to keep it calm.

What's interesting is that, internal Viktor is pretty much the usual Viktor he's been since S1, more or less. Like, that's definitely Viktor, who worries about Jayce and focuses on complex problems and wants to help people. But in-person Viktor is weirder. He's not a completely different guy by any means, but he doesn't emote the way that the internal Viktor does, and he says more weird shit in weird tones. Based on the decisions he ultimately makes, I think the internal Viktor is still calling the shots -- but I also think that he's increasingly on his way out.

He's been disconnected from his own physical reality by several degrees, observing it more than interacting with it. And though he sees that there's another influence on Jayce, there are heavy hints (such as Sky appearing right when he says that) that he's in the same boat. But because the process is happening gradually, and is happening within him, he can't recognize it. Every time he tries to, he is presented with a new distraction, or discussion, or there is a reassuring concession that seems to validate that he's still in control. Plus it's probably just difficult to perceive because it does seem to be basing a lot of its outlook on things off of his own. How do you discern the "wrongness" in something when it's the same flavor of wrong that you yourself tend to be?

It's difficult from the outside to definitively say whether this is just Viktor undergoing some funky character development, or if Viktor's another victim of something else. Maybe Viktor's just sequestering his own humanity a bit? Maybe it's all just intended to depict how he navigates through magical energy?

But I think another big indication that it's not just Viktor, is Salo. When Jayce comes back and asks if Salo's still in there after Viktor talks through him, Salo just calmly reasserts himself, and acts as if the idea that he's being forcefully subjugated is absurd. He's not being attacked or imprisoned, he's just engaged in a willing partnership with a benevolent power. If we didn't know what he was like before, or if the old Salo had been a very calm and altruistic individual to being with, it might even be convincing. But the disconnect is way more obvious here because the character we met in past episodes is way further removed from the serene cultist we see Jayce smash with his big hammer. We know that even a grateful Salo is not the kind of person who is going to put on a beige tunic, forgo his many vices and fancy parties, and join a commune just to thank his benefactor. No matter how happy he was to have his legs back, it would only be because it got him his life back -- he wouldn't want to regain his mobility just to up and abandon that life.

Outwardly it would seem that the thing that has subverted Salo's will is Viktor. But if Viktor is also being gradually quarantined, if the same thing is happening to him, then that further implies that another will is at play. One that is disguising itself as Viktor, or if you will as an evolution of Viktor.

Okay and now to actually theorized I guess -- I think that this might be where Singed's assertions about Warwick/Vander being a necessary component of Viktor's evolution will come into play. Because Viktor himself is not going to sacrifice a man to achieve that, but whatever else is part of Viktor does want to evolve. And then it just so happens that Jayce comes out of nowhere, ostensibly being controlled or influenced by something else, and shoots Viktor dead. At which point it seems like the human part of Viktor goes out, and the Machine Evolution guy fully supplants him.

Yeah, I kind of think that Jayce did do a bad thing, but that the twist will be that when he touched the arcane, "Viktor" showed him a vision or gave him some kind of time travel-y experience that convinced him he had to go back and destroy him, so that Jayce would unwittingly kill the only thing holding it back before Viktor finished helping Vander, probably ran out of juice and died in the process, and quietly took this thing out with him. It would, unfortunately, be very on-brand for Jayce to take a decisive and violent action to try and prevent catastrophe, only to unintentionally make it worse. This show on the whole has stuck to the idea that shooting your big flashy magic weapon at a thing is a great way to make a complicated problem much much worse.

I'm not sure they'd break the pattern for this one.

[thenationofzaun]

Season 1 Jinx: *suffers from terrifying hallucinations of her dead family including Vander explicitly turning into a monster and attacking her, a vision that scares her so much she collapses and shields herself on the floor*

Season 2 Jinx after Vander comes back from the dead as a monstrous wolf that attacks her: *calm, ZERO hallucinations, "something's got him riled up😀", telling jokes, no questions as to how it happened, one-liners and quips galore, "mEtAL fORtUNE cOokIE🤪"*

Season 1 Jinx with enforcers: *lures them into traps, taunts them for her own amusement, blows them to pieces, calmly walks through their tattered bodies and guts to shoot survivors, breaks into one's home to kidnap her and pretend to cut her head off as a joke, just zero empathy for them and no consideration for their humanity at all, complete disdain and dehumanization of enforcers*

Season 2 Jinx with enforcers: *doesn't kill a single one, not even when they take her new sister away to jail, has a comedic conversation with one about circus pants, only knocks them out, later helps them in a war*

Season 1 Jinx when she feels she's going to lose her family/her sister is being taken away from her by an enforcer: *freaks out, has mental breakdowns, lashes out violently, overreacts to horrible effect*

Season 2 Jinx when her new sister GETS TAKEN AWAY FROM HER BY ENFORCERS WHOM SHE HATES: *smiling, calm, telling jokes, quipping with enforcers, "what's wrong with my pants?!🤨🥺", only showing middle fingers and mercifully knocking them out*

Season 1 Jinx with Firelights: *killing them with no hesitation or remorse, taunting them before killing them, calling them "wannabe street trash", smiling and laughing while shooting at them, being so violent towards them that it shocks Vi, again zero empathy towards them*

Season 2 Jinx with Firelights: *their lieutenant is chill with her after one jail break, the others forgive her offscreen for murdering their friends, pink-haired Firelight and the others she killed in season 1 are forgotten and not cared about again, Jinx and the Firelights even have a cute makeover together (also offscreen)*

This has to be a tonal shift for the ages. No one will ever convince me that this was a natural character arc and progression after adopting Isha. This was a full blown personality transplant and character assassination lmao.

4K screenshots

[arcane-ish]

@alisha-on-arcane

So on rewatching I've convinced myself that the flashback is very, very rose-tinted. That we're seeing Vander's heavily processed memory of their lives together (though the vanco love shack looks pretty cosy) minus the fights and the hardship and the dirt.

The main thing I got from the flashback is that Vander is secretly the world biggest Silco simp and to him, through his mind's eye Silco was just the cutest most stylish little twink, complete with fuzzy water colors.

Now there are parts that are certainly real (the shack and the letter). But Vander's memories. Eh..

The problem is that there's always the character level and the meta level.

1.) Who is the flashback for?

IMO the flashback, particularly the music sequence to me is complicated that to me it doesn't feel like it is primarily about Vander.

In the end, this show is not about Vander and it's not about Silco. It's about Jinx and Vi (+ a little bit of Cait). And to me that Memories sequence felt even though within the story it is triggered by Vander, structurally, within the episode, I think it's much more about showing us young!Vi and young!Powder being happy. Because the whole vibe of the arc to me is about Jinx getting better and almost getting a better life unless if it brutally ripped away from her again.

Vi and Jinx reuniting for the sake of Vander, getting their family hugs in plus the memories montage about how happy they once were is supposed to make us feel wistful about Vi and Jinx so we can then be crushed by the Isha ending and Jinx going back to having her hallucinations.

Like how the montage imo shifts from a Vander POV (Vander thinking of Silco, Vander thinking about boxing with Vi at various ages) to the point of view of the children.

This is Felicia greeting her children, not Vander. This is Felicia giving Vi her glove, from Vi's POV, not Vanders.

This is Vi smelling the food and turning around and seeing her mom cooking for Powder, this is Vi remembering her mother cutting her hair.

To me those moments just don't feel like moments where Vander would have been around (ie the moment where the POV camera moves to look into the soup the mirror images contain Felicia, Vi and Powder but no Vander, so another vote for Vander was not part of this moment).

I don't think that there's any in-universe reason to why the memories switch in perspective. Like Vi and Vander's minds are connected. Or being around Vander makes Vi think a lot about her own mom. So I think the sequence is just "vibes" based. It shifts from Vander's POV to Vi's POV simply because somebody (probably Christian Linke....) wanted to have those scenes in there, whether they make sense of not and structurally/dramatically this montage is there as a calm before the storm before Isha eats it.

(also note that the sequence starts on Vander, his memories, then switches to Vi's POV and then the sequence exits on Vi, Jinx and Isha, with no Vander in sight:

, so yes, my read that it starts on a Vander flashback but it morphs into a Vi respectively Vi/Jinx centered one for artistic reasons)

2.) artist fuckups + fanwank or intentional varity or fuckup followed by intentional variety?

I have to find it but I recently came across another person complaining about the flashback and noting that in Silco's version of the The Drowning his hair is shorter and styled different and they also claimed that Amanda Overton said that the original flashback was a fuckup and Vander and Silco were not supposed to look that young.

So, here's my thinking. If Vander's POV is rose tinted glasses. Who says that Silco's version of events is the real one? Maybe the truth was somewhere in the middle?

And there is some basis for a "memory is relative" approach. Jinx has always had a warped perception of the world. But now we at least have Vi's flashes of Caitlyn. Or Viktor's version of Skye not having glasses and fewer freckles. Or Cait's warped view of the world or how she pictures Jinx right after her mom's death.

Now IF we take this line that ALL flashbacks are colored by the perception of the characters and we can't take any of them 100% per face value, that brings up a ton of interesting things to think about. (maybe Silco is the cutest twink in Vander's memories because that's Vander saw him, maybe Silco is much grimier and the world much darker because there's some self hate there, maybe Vander is scary and bearded on the bridge because that's how Vi sees him in this situation).

But even though this is a fun fanwank and you can get some mileage out of it, I always run into "okay, but how much are we just covering up production fuckups and the creators just being messy and not as careful.

To me the idea that Vander is still "lying" in his memories is a super interesting character idea to me. But the problem is that I have no faith that this will ever be anything but a theory. Because I don't think that with just 3 episodes left and so much shit left to cover we will get another dark version of those memories to reveal that there's a contradiction. Like it could easily fit in just maybe before the final Warwick transformation. But I just don't think it will happen.

But yes, as just a fun character theory, I can get into Vander being strapped down being tortured by Singed and just retreating deeper and deeper into happy memories of his cute boyfriend even if those memories aren't real, they need to be made even lighter and prettier because they have to balance out so much torture. Vander doesn't want to think about the dark things they did together because he's trying to preserve his sanity in the face of a ton of torture and chemicals.

sure if you like they can both have been in love with Felicia, though I think the jackets make a much stronger zaundads case, and 'three close friends' is a thing),

At this point my read is still 100% Zaundads were an item and they were friends with Felicia and Connol and they care about them as fellow friends. I can maybe get into the "but Vi looks like Vander and Jinx has Silco's hair" (but let's remember, Silco could just have styled her hair after she started living with it rather than that being a physical property), but just on what is being said, the looks being exchanged, my read is that they are just concerned friends. (especially with my read that at least part of the Memories montage is Vi gazing onto Felicia and not Vander gazing onto Felicia)

But yes, I can see why the normies might read it differently.

I don't need Vander to have been in love with Felicia for him to freak out after her death. Right now my pitch is, Vander was really into project ankle biter and lived a bit vicariously through Felicia and Connol's family.

And if Silco maybe does something reckless that gets Felicia killed this is more deeply symbolic about how he just doesn't respect Project Anklebiter at all the way Vander wants him to. (with my personal presumption that they maybe were on rocky terms about Project Anklebiter before)

(that said, if all that Silco did was throw a molotov cocktail that is still weak sauce if they are really not going to add anything to that. Like I was at least counting on Silco I dunno, wanting to fuck up the air vents or something like that. Especially since in Vi's version of the Day of Ash Vander still seems moderately into it at the beginning rather Vander never wanted Day of Ash because he wanted to stop way before Vi was born and Silco kept provoking more and more fights. And if Vander didn't lead the charge on the Bridge how the fuck did he ever get any reputation as a revolutionary if all he did was found a moderately successful bar. It feels like there should be more to the story, I'm just doubtful it will ever come)

ETA: I should probably note that project ankle biter doesn't just have to be read in a mpreg "Vander wants to breed his boyfriend" kind of way as much as a joke about it. It can also be seen metaphorically about what status children should have within their community. Especially if you consider that Silco's arc ended up being all about valueing Jinx's life and freedom over Zaun and this arc just ended with Jinx becoming a symbol for resistance and almost instantly her pseudo daughter gets killed. [and of course there's Ekko as the middle ground, who has child aged people fighting, but not doing full on revolution, so maybe there is a middle ground between kids should be tools or soldiers or ignored and kids need to be kept protected and in the dark]

[brain-depositary]

Okay, here are Arcane spoilers for Act 2. I have thoughts on Viktor, as there's been a lot of back and forth over whether what we're seeing is really him or if he is being controlled by the hexcore/arcane. And people are missing the narrative explanations, which seem to make what happened really obvious. And the biggest sign of this is that Viktor has been hallucinating Sky the whole time. The man has clearly lost his marbles.

The show is very clear that Sky is not there physically, but she's also absolutely not there mentally, spiritually, magically, whathaveyou. Her ghost isn't in the hexcore or whatever. There's simply no way.

It's not that we know for sure there are no ghosts in the world of Arcane. It hasn't been proven one way or the other that they exist. All sorts of fantastical things exist in Arcane and maybe ghosts do, too. But we know Sky isn't one because it makes no narrative sense for her to be.

Thematically, all of Arcane has been about people handling grief and loss not just poorly, but destructively. Powder hallucinates the people she's lost as critical voices and behaves erratically and dangerously whenever they do. Both Vander and Silco twist Vi and Powder's mother's dreams of peace into more violence and oppression. Jayce can't deal with the loss of Viktor and uses the hexcore to save him which Viktor specifically told him to destroy. Caitlyn becomes a dictator after her mother's death and uses the ventilation system her mother created against the very people it was intended to help. Ambessa has gone on a rampage for her dead son who preferred bloodless subterfuge, and I have a feeling Singed's daughter would approve of all the things her father is trying to do to bring her back, had she ever had the chance to know.

But Viktor, after losing Sky and her dreams, just kind of gets her back, and fulfills them? Yeah, no, I'm calling bullshit. Viktor is not going to be the only one exempt from the Arcane pain train. This would be bad writing.

Sky isn't a ghost here. She's gone. The version of her in the hexcore is purely a product of Viktor's imagination. We don't see Sky a lot, but what little we do, she's different, much more confident. It's not her. Viktor is handling his loss badly, too, but his method of doing so is just wholesale denying that it happened. Sky isn't dead, she's right there. Her dreams aren't gone, they're perfectly within reach. It doesn't matter if he dies now because he's succeeded in his goals of helping people. The sick are healed, the hungry are fed. The commune is thriving. Everything is great.

With whatever power he gained from the hexcore, he's able to project this denial onto the real world, at least for a little while. Everything in his little bubble DOES seem great, but the cracks in the facade come early. When Salo talks to Jayce in the overflow chamber, Jayce's breath condenses, while Salo's does not, implying that he's not breathing. Also, Salo's turnover at the commune is disturbingly quick -- his original personality just does not seem to be there anymore, despite his insistence otherwise. The "no weapons" rule, while idealistic, cannot realistically be enforced -- as much as Viktor denied, reality was going to come crashing in and he was going to be unprepared for it, because he just decided he didn't have to be. Huck didn't even seem afraid at all denying a heavily armed warlord and her contingent entry without disarming first when literally his only character trait has been being cowardly. There's nothing in him anymore.

So, is Viktor being mind controlled, or is this the same Viktor we've known the whole time? Well, it's not really either. This is Viktor snapping and having a mental breakdown. This is Viktor's equivalent of Jinx's tea party at the end of season 1, except he has far more power to make it last longer, seem nicer, and drag far more people into it. Probably, the hexcore is taking advantage of Viktor's vision to build its hivemind, but the vision itself is all Viktor.

So, given all this, my prediction is: Viktor will be salvaged and revived by Singed. He will get a reality check, that Sky is really gone, that the people he healed are hollowed-out husks, that the peace he created was too fragile to last -- and he won't care, he will try to get it back by any means necessary, even if he doesn't have the arcane abilities or ability to completely deny reality that he used to have. And this will create a bitter person, similar to the character we know as the Machine Herald from League of Legends.

[low-budget-korra]

Let's talk about Jinx

As an older sister myself, Season 1 Jinx infuriated the shit outta me. And some of her stans were so mean to Vi that it only added to this anger I felt.

"but Jinx was traumatized" So was Vi and basically everyone else from Zaun. And I'm not here to diagnose her, I already know that's a lot of people that take Jinx as BPD representation but I don't know if this is official or just a HC but even if she is, that's not an excuse to be mean to people.

Sure, it's something that blurs your judgment and everything, especially when you're having a mental/emotional crisis situation, but still, after everything it's okay, you need to be held accountable for the shit you did. And I'm saying this bc I see a lot of people that hide behind their diagnosis and use them as an excuse to be mean without consequences. Please, don't do this.

And something that I realized was that as soon as Silco was gone, Jinx started to get better. I'm sorry Silco apologists but Silco wasn't a good father figure, as he only fueled Jinx psychosis, insecurities and paranoia, and encouraged her to be okay with murder people and everything he also did.

And gets funnier cuz even Sevika became a better person after Silco was gone

"then why does Jinx still hallucinate Silco as her mentor figure?". Because he was, a bad one for sure but still a mentor figure. Sure, Vander was her father for a longer time but Silco was her father figure during an important and vulnerable part of her life, so it makes sense she still looks for him and maybe doesn't even acknowledge all the bad stuff he did to her.

"but she was only being guided by trauma, just like Caitlyn in season 2". Exactly! Understand why something happens, doesn't mean you have to agree with it.

I've also seen people commenting that Jinx was acting off character, that she was too calm and there were missing the chaotic Jinx from s1. And like bro? Do you care abt the well being of your fav character? Like I've said, she was more calm bc she didn't have anyone in her ears telling her that she was abandoned, that she was right to blow shit and kill ppl...also, the fact that people from Zaun were looking at her and treating her as martyr, also made her see things differently.

Remember Vander's line "when people look up to you, you can't be selfish" and that's why Jinx was just so chill. Isha also played a big part of this, as she became an older sister herself and prob, even unconsciously, started to relate and understand Vi.

Also, sure as hell she didn't die. She just knew Vi would never let her go/or punished by her crimes, and this would create conflict between Vi and Caitlyn, and Caitlyn with Piltover. And I think she saw how much Caitlyn cared for Vi , still in the battlefield after Vi was hurt, and knowing Vi loves Cait, she realized that Vi deserved to have this. She chooses to let go and walk away, a huge ass character development considering she was asking Vi to kill Cait outta of jealousy back in s1.

[q8qwertyuiop8p]

The fact that they killed off silco at the end of season 1 and STILL managed to completely butcher his character in s2 irks me so much. And it got worse with every scene like

The burial and the sucker montage was perfectly fine, though they forgot silco can't close both eyes and had a bullet wound in his chest

The way he is still encouraging Jinx to be Jinx in her ep4 hallucination is a little odd since he died accepting her before she truly chose Jinx but overall it was good

Warwicks hallucination was neat but Silco's hair is completely inconsistent with what we see in s1 (and just looks trash imo)

The letter was a disaster because it is such a cheap reason for the betrayal

The Felicia thing made their reasoning so much worse, they don't need to be godfathers to adopt those kids and the scene was just so pointless

The au scene- I don't even know what to say. Vander literally tried to murder Silco but it's OK because aw forgiveness and they are back together?! If Vander tried to kill Silco because he genuinely believed he was protecting his people from further bloodshed maybe I could get behind it but no, he tried to kill Silco because his friend died (which wasn't even Silco's fault) and he just 'lost his head'? And does Silco just not develop trust issues after that in the au? How is his scar somehow less bad if he doesn't have shimmer to heal it? It literally makes zero sense.

And the thing with Silco telling Jinx to 'break the cycle' was just an absolute insult to his character. He literally died choosing war/violence rather than giving up Jinx. His whole goal was to keep fighting for what he believed in. And is he seriously encouraging Jinx to kill herself? The man who chose to keep fighting rather than give in to the 'peace in water'? The man who would do anything to keep Jinx alive, even when death was the kinder option? The man who gave up his dream, everything he'd ever been fighting for, just to keep her safe?

They messed up so bad that the only flawless scene of him was a one second shot of him sitting in a chair 💀

The only good thing about what happened in this season is I'm genuinely not even upset that he is a minor character in season 2 anymore. I can't believe I'm saying this but I genuinely can't be mad about it. Because if they can ruin his character this much with his little screentime I can't even imagine the harm they would have done if he were still a main character.

Sometimes death is a mercy after all.