#machine herald era

[viktor-leagueoflegends]

House on Emberflit Alley - Fan art

by LauritsRask on twitter

[raevenswritingdesk]

Ladies, gentlemen, and estimed others, I think we can officially say that jayvik wins over caitvi for biggest arcane divorce because hoLY SHIT-

[mediacircuspod]

I know The Machine Herald is supposed to have no emotions to cloud his judgement, but I think it’d be funny, okay? Like Viktor giving monologue after monologue about how humanity is a curse and emotions are what breed evil, and then 5 seconds later he is absolutely enraged at seeing Jayce. He’s like, “That’s my ex who killed me, he’s such a complete bitch, but you know, I’m not bitter because that’s an emotion and I don’t have those” like sure honey, you put on your metal mask and pretend that a broken heart can be mended by ignoring it, and also killing people. That’s so real of you.

[thatscribblingrat]

[honeymilkbubbletea]

Something a bit silly before the horrors ™️ we'll witness in a few hours ☺️

[bringthekaos]

Posted it on Twit already, but for those of you not on that flaming turd of a website, behold! The Stupid Ass Ship Chart for my Pulse of the Machine boys.

[viktorthemachineherald]

#not my Viktor #not my Machine Herald

Machine Herald truthers: here’s how we can still win—

[phantom-shell]

One thing about Viktor in season 2 is that he fucking LOVES the blue blanket that Jayce gave him, he is NOT letting that thing go💀

[mistresscitrusslice]

Here’s the Jayvik Playlist. I don’t use Spotify and don’t know how to share an Apple Music playlist, so have some screenshots

The fanart thumbnail I used is from @shigeru13_ on Twitter

Songs are in chronological order from first meeting to time skip era to divorce era to getting back together. Yes, I know this playlist is 46% Taylor Swift, I’m not apologizing for it.

Playlist transcribed below if the image isn't working or for tts:

Achilles Come Down by Gang of Youths (for Arcane first meeting)

Enchanted by Taylor Swift (for League of Legends first meeting)

The Other Side from The Greatest Showman (mostly for vibes)

Fearless by Taylor Swift

Sweeter Than Fiction by Taylor Swift (imo the best song for Arcane Jayvik and my personal favorite anthem for them)

Sparks Fly by Taylor Swift

Our Love from Arcane (duets are the fucking best)

Ours by Taylor Swift (also works for both Meljay and Jayvik, but not Melvik)

Wonderland by Taylor Swift (the turning point, setting up for Divorce Era)

Creature by Half-Alive

Love is Complicated by Labrinth

My Love Mine All Mine by Mitski

The Moon Will Sing by The Crane Wives

Colors by Halsey

Burning Pile by Mother Mother (feels like Jayce POV)

Haunted by Taylor Swift (imo the best song for League Jayvik, saw it suggested by a Twitter post I can't find anymore)

Without Me by Halsey (definitely Viktor POV)

Oh Glory by Panic! at the Disco (feels like Jayce having Viktor withdrawal)

I Know Those Eyes/This Man is Dead from The Count of Monte Cristo (my personal favorite for Divorce Era Jayvik)

What Could Have Been from Arcane

Down Bad by Taylor Swift (feels like Viktor POV)

Red by Taylor Swift (the second turning point, entering post-Divorce Era and later reconciliation)

All Too Well by Taylor Swift

Hello Black Dog by Matt Maltese (AKA the best song recommendation I've ever gotten, thanks @sarcasticmaleont)

LOML by Taylor Swift

The Alchemy by Taylor Swift (final reconciliation)

DEFINITELY gonna update this after Season 2 or whenever I add new songs to it OR add more links whenever I write more essay-length posts about each song

[waxliiska]

"The glorious Evolution"

A drawing of Viktor from 2022, well.... I think I should make a new one

[viktor-leagueoflegends]

이런 착즙러라 미안합니다

by Noxusia90 on twitter

[sweetpinkcriptid]

jayvik fanart

Why is jayce lokey highkey serving "there goes my babyyyy"

[arowyn-m]

Jayce/Viktor/Hexcore situation in S2

Okay I've seen a lot of S2 theories circulating so I just wanted to get my two cents out there before we get any new information beyond the most recent teaser!

Lots of this is speculation loosely based on lore and possible foreshadowing. I'm not 100% convinced any of this is going to happen, but I do think some parts of it are more likely than not. Here's the gist of what I think will happen over the course of the 3 acts. (Buckle up because this is a long post)

ACT I:

Act I opens with the council attack. Everyone is dead except for Jayce, Mel, Viktor and maybe one other lucky but irrelevant councilor (probably Shoola if Mel’s armor protection has this radius)

Shoola is the closest councilor on Mel’s right.

In the German version of the trailer, Ambessa says “Half of your council is dead.” There are 7 councilors. At least 3 would have to survive for the council to be considered “half” annihilated. Although it could be a statement Ambessa’s trying to make, implying that just Jayce and Mel make up at least half of the council’s power. Either way—Jayce, Mel and Viktor survive, if barely.

Jayce makes it out with largely superficial injuries. Though they make it out alive, Mel and Viktor are badly injured in the explosion. Mel is expected to recover, but Viktor is not. Both are in a coma or at least bedridden at the beginning of the season. Despite the good news for her daughter, Ambessa is furious about her daughter’s injuries.

Jayce somehow finds out about the extent of Viktor’s Hexcore experimentation, either by finding his research notes or by seeing his modifications and putting two and two together.

Jayce uses the Hexcore to save his friend. Viktor wakes up not relieved or grateful like Jayce expects, but outraged.

Viktor sees Jayce’s decision as a blatant betrayal of his promise to destroy the Hexcore, and so decides the device would be better off in his care than in the clutches of someone he now sees as faithless. He returns to the Undercity, presumably for good.

Jayce stays topside and begins building Hextech weapons (like Caitlyn’s acceleration gate rifle we saw in the teaser) in earnest.

I’ve seen some speculation that this hooded figure is Jinx, but I really can’t see her skulking around the Undercity in a cloak. We know we get Jinx in a hood at some point in the series (due to reports from the Annecy event) but this cloak in particular doesn’t seem her style—and we see Viktor in a similar-looking cloak later in the teaser. This, paired with the convincing theories that Viktor and Jinx will at very least interact in S2 leads me to think that this is just Viktor standing in the aftermath of some Jinx shenanigans.

Later in the act is when we get hooded Viktor. He uses the Hexcore to heal some of the addicts living near the fissures, unintentionally rallying them to his cause. I think Huck is the person Viktor is healing or changing here ->

The character on the bottom middle seems to have a similar build. This may lead to Huck being the cult leader for the Gloriously Evolved.

I think it’s likely that this ^ shot is from the same scene where Viktor’s using magic in the sump. The primary lighting is a different color, but the Hexcore has given off both purple and blue light before. Heimer also looks like he’s in a dark environment where he wants to be hidden, so it wouldn’t make sense for this to take place in Piltover or in Ekko’s oasis. He’s somewhere in Zaun.

We see some foreshadowing to the Hexcore corrupting Viktor. Heimerdinger expresses worry about the whole thing and once again proposes the Hexcore be destroyed. This time, Viktor outright refuses.

ACT II:

Here’s where things get a little muddy and speculative. Arcane is obsessed with parallels, so it’s likely that the writers are going to try to replicate the same structure S1 had. Here we’ll have another timeskip mirroring the one in S1–about 6-10 years in duration. This would but Jaycr and Viktor into their late 30s/early 40s (closer to their in-game ages)

Both characters will have realized a design closely resembling their in-game counterparts. Viktor and Jayce are now full-on enemies, but how they got to that point will only be told through subtextual clues and maybe a flashback.

Either during this Act or within the timejump preceding, Viktor builds Blitzcrank.

I looked at Blitz’s wiki to find out why exactly Viktor built them, and it turns out they were built not as a weapon or shield, but as a means of disposing of hazardous waste. I wonder if one of Viktor’s main motivations in S2 will be making Zaun more habitable as well as healing its citizens.

Despite Viktor’s good intentions, the Hexcore will have corrupted/connected itself to him to some extent. Whether for good or ill (probably ill), it’ll become apparent that Viktor and the Hexcore are irreparably connected.

ACT III:

This is where the theory gets controversial. I’ve seen a lot of people predicting that Riot won’t choose to kill any champion characters in Arcane because it puts an end to their lore and makes them unmarketable. I wholeheartedly disagree, and here’s why: Arcane and subsequent stories based on League are going to be primarily about the champions. There are more than 140 champs in LoL. If Riot plans to make shows or movies about even half of these champions, the plot armor for each will become increasingly obvious. I don’t think Riot is going to shy away from killing champions, especially not when they’ve made it clear they don’t have a problem with showing drastic time jumps. Immense amounts of lore can happen (and have happened) within timeskips, especially ones that are 6+ years long.

Knowing that Arcane ends with season 2, it’s likely that all the main characters’ arcs will be wrapped up by the end of the season. Christian Linke mentioned that Riot and Fortiche have plans for other League-related projects, but I don’t see the characters of Arcane becoming involved enough in another show to complete a personal arc or resolve a major plot point from THIS show. The most I can see is cameos, honestly. I hope I’m wrong because I love these characters…but yeah.

So with those points in mind…I think Viktor dies at the very end of this season. Viktor has always been on a path of carrying out experiments farther than he should and creating things much too strong or volatile for him to handle safely. Jinx is on a similar trajectory, but she at least has some form of self-preservation, which is something Viktor has grown to lack. At some point, his luck will run out and his technology will be the end of him.

Towards the end of the series, Jayce and Viktor will have their final showdown, and Jayce will destroy the Hexcore. Because Viktor and the device are so interconnected to one another, destroying the Hexcore will kill him. Viktor dies to a fault in his technology, and Jayce keeps his promise in the end.

[tiecladartist]

So between Vander to Warwick, Viktor to Machine Herald, and Powder to Jinx, season two is definitely going to have an underlying theme of becoming a "Monster" (in quotations because I'm just going off of the "monster you created" vibes, but more accurately it'll be exploring a permanent loss of self, or finding one's true self/freedom in a form not typically accepted by others. Even the cities have been transformed from what they were before due to traumatic events beyond the control of the people affected).

I am very excited for this.

[honeymilkbubbletea]

~ And right now you're mine

All mine (all yours)

Give in, you're mine

All mine ~

I CAN'T get them out of my head

I think they need to be surgically removed 😔

[bringthekaos]

I keep seeing the Blitzcrank situation as a custody battle. Because Blitz is made from hextech, and Viktor loses all of his rights to it. Even the things HE made. So i keep seeing like two parents fighting over a child.

Jayce: 'It's My resources, MY brand, MY right to it!'

Viktor:' I made them, I cared for them, I named them, they are staying with me, you're ain't getting shit!'

Blitz in the background just tired of this drama, they just wanna go pet cats and poros

OMG you’re so right.

Reminds me of that couple sorting beanie babies at their divorce hearing. But instead of beanie babies it’s a nine foot tall fully conscious automaton who’s just standing there like