#just because Vi isn't down for senselessly murdering people for kicks doesn't mean she doesn't or can't love Jinx jesus christmas christ

[sir-adamus]

i’ve seen a number of posts and replies here and there implicitly framing Vi as the bad guy during the final confrontation and baselessly asserting that she doesn’t and can’t love Jinx, only Powder (ignoring that Powder and Jinx are still the same person and acting like there’s no continuity between them when that was part of Jinx’s whole struggle through Acts 2 and 3, and also blatantly ignoring Vi’s own assertion at the end of Act 2 that it’s okay that Jinx has changed, because they’ve both had to do what they needed to do to survive), when the only person who claims that is Jinx, who has a very warped perspective on things

and let’s just run down the things Vi did “wrong” in that scene:

1) have zero context for how Jinx’s mental state has deteriorated over the years and the defense mechanisms Silco has encouraged to ensure she never deals with her guilt or the consequences of her actions so any fond memories of her loved ones are buried beneath monsters in her mind

2) not saying anything when Jinx effectively demands that Vi enable her behaviour the way Silco does because that’s what her warped idea of unconditional love looks like thanks to his shite parenting (not that his love actually was unconditional because it was solidly dependent on her living up to the concept of Jinx, which is what he actually loved, not her as a person)

Vi has no idea what’s going on because nothing is explained to her, she’s not spent enough time with her to know how damaged her psyche really is (across Acts 2 and 3, she spends all of about ten minutes conscious in Jinx’s company), she can’t help that and treating that as her being the bad guy in the situation is fucking absurd

and of course she loves her sister no matter what - she’s constantly trying to reach out and reconnect and everything else keeps getting in the way. but that doesn’t mean she’s just going to enable Jinx and let her just do whatever the fuck she likes with no consequences - that’s not love. love is the hand that grabs yours, pulls you back and tells you when it’s time to stop, when you’re doing something that is hurting the people around you

like i know it’s a tragic and heartbreaking event but Jinx was being an asshole in that scene. terrorising Vi by intentionally making her think she’d killed and beheaded Caitlyn. putting a gun in Vi’s hands and trying to blackmail her into killing Caitlyn with a promise of getting Powder back if she did. intentionally baiting her with the two chairs and finally blaming Vi for everything as if she’d played no part in it. Vi ultimately never had a chance because every opportunity got ripped away before she could even start unpacking what’s been going on - it’s a tragic situation, that’s kinda the whole point

and those assertions are often paired with statements of Silco being a good father (absolutely the fuck not) because “he loves Jinx the way she is” (so... not wanting remotely what’s best for her, trying to kill someone she loves so she only has him to lean on - because no, get out of here with that ‘he knew Vi wouldn’t help her’ shit -  encouraging her to carve away and repress the parts of herself in desperate need of healing and in general forging her into a mirror he can see his narcissistic reflection in because only then is she ‘perfect’ in his eyes. fuck he doesn’t even want her to be happy)

yeah i am deeply concerned about basically all of that

Jinx is a defense mechanism. that is ultimately all Jinx is - she’s a way for Powder to hide from the guilt of unintentionally killing her family, because Silco was not a support network that allowed her to healthily process that guilt and grief, and so that trauma just buried itself deeper, poisoning everything because those open wounds were just left to fester - and because she’s still haunted by that guilt she buries herself further with explosions and violence to try and drown it out. she has no healthy coping mechanisms

and it’s soured her other relationships - Ekko was left to grieve for Vi and the others alone because Powder went all in with Silco and avoided dealing with her grief because he would enable that, because Silco’s a manipulative prick and that would be a tempting situation for a traumatised child who has no idea how to deal with something so overwhelming - isolating her (which was by design, Silco is a selfish asshole, and wanted her all to himself - and that’s reflected in her jealousy of Caitlyn because that’s what she’s learned from him, that love is selfish and singular) and preventing her from having any connection to anyone (hell most of Vi’s old contacts don’t even seem to know what happened to her except Ekko), again, no support network. and when Vi came back into the picture, Silco immediately tried to get her killed before Jinx found out for precisely that reason, reconnection might destabilise the mirror he’s tried to make her into, and she might heal and, shock and horror, start growing into a happier and better adjusted person with the aid of a proper support network and people who really do love her unconditionally (and most importantly will call her on her shit when she goes too far)

which as tumblr’s many posts on the matter have informed me, is Bad because of Reasons and Silco trying repeatedly to kill off someone Jinx loves is actually just him being The Best Dad who Loves Her the Way She Is and does nothing to actually help her mental or emotional health beyond making her so thoroughly dependent on his approval that on even the implication that she’s disappointed him she goes and kills people (seriously, that’s pretty fucked)