#mel one chance | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

infinitelystrangemachinex · 12 days ago

Text

Jayce and the fallacy of the butterfly effect in Arcane's narrative

If Jayce's symbol is the butterfly, then my theory is that we're going into a full "butterfly effect" narrative in Act 2. Either we'll watch it happen, or we'll only see Jayce come out the other side of it changed by the experience, knowing - or more importantly, THINKING he knows - what to do to change the future. Literally, to "defend tomorrow."

tl;dr: Jayce will encounter the butterfly effect in season 2. Viktor and Mel both foreshadowed this in season 1. I think Jayce will fixate on Viktor and will believe that stopping or changing Viktor either in the past or the present - most likely the present - will mean he can save the future. I believe this will lead to an even worse tragedy and may have the same effect as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Ekko's approach to changing the future by sticking closer to the present - considering only tiny increments of time to alter more immediate future outcomes - will be the superior approach. I also think that Jayce attempting to change the future will create the conditions that push Viktor to become the Machine Herald.

One of the most common reactions even the casual viewer had to Arcane season 1 was this: "If [character] had just done this one small thing a little differently, [tragic event] wouldn't have happened!"

Arcane has been called a Greek tragedy for the main reason that because of how well built up the characters' personalities and reasonings are, there's no other way season 1 could have gone. There was no stopping the multiple tragedies that occurred, because with one event leading to another, the chain of seemingly inevitable events goes too far back to identify what one singular event caused everything, what one character made what one decision to put our characters on the terrible paths they walked.

Arcane is about to investigate this idea in its own narrative, and I think that Jayce will be the character to stumble into the flawed idea that you can change one event, or stop one character, and change the future for the better. This is because Jayce struggles with a few very interesting character flaws, one of them being that he believes himself to be the main character, and it is therefore his responsibility to intervene, be a hero, and fix things.

Viktor and Mel both foreshadow Jayce's future encounter with the butterfly effect.

Recall that Viktor said: "There is always a choice."

Jayce sees choices in black and white, believes that he has no other options but to go along with what he's persuaded and pushed into, and acts too boldly with too much power multiple times.

Recall that Mel said: "We can't change what fate has in store for us, but we don't have to face it alone."

Jayce tries to solve big problems on his own, and though he delegates to Enforcers and the like, Jayce relies on his reasoning and his alone to make important decisions if he doesn't simply become persuaded - usually through strong emotions like fear - by other characters. In addition, since Mel is specifically talking about Viktor's plight here, it's worth mentioning that while Jayce did say that he would help Viktor in acts 2 and 3 of season 1, Jayce does wind up leaving Viktor to face his fate alone. When Jayce tries to change that fate in s2 ep1, ep2 shows that only tragedy can come of this as well.

Viktor and Mel's statements here are not contradictory. Viktor makes the point that you can always make a choice. In context, he's literally referring to the classic "secret third option," because given a choice between aggression and passivity, war and surrender, Viktor chooses to defuse the bomb instead. Mel, interestingly, seems to believe that destiny is fixed in a broad sense, and she operates as a politician and diplomat and investor who navigates that line of destiny in the most optimal way possible. In reality, in context, she is referring to the fact that Viktor can't change the way he was born and so he has no way to change his fate and therefore must face it, which is true - she's only missing the information that Viktor actually does have the means to change his illness and his body. Her wisdom still applies however, because he'll have to accept the hand that fate deals him after he makes that choice. Will he face it alone, or not?

There is always a choice, there's even secret third options, because having a fate doesn't mean that you are doomed to make only one possible series of choices. What it does mean is that each choice comes with a hand that fate deals you. It is impossible to know what all of these branching choices and consequences are in advance, and it is just as impossible in hindsight - the branches are too complex and the end outcomes are all equally meaningful, just different. If Arcane season 2 is to be a tragedy, it may show us that each possible outcome is still tragic if you fall for the fallacy of the butterfly effect.

Jayce is counseled by some of the wisest, cleverest characters with the deepest life experiences in Arcane, but he hardly ever takes that counsel to heart. If he does, he still acts on that counsel in flawed ways that have unintended consequences. This will come to a head in season 2.

Viktor and Jayce both have a butterfly following them around in season 1. The butterfly effect refers to one small seemingly insignificant event changing the course of history, and changing that event therefore changes history. Viktor bled over the railing of a Hexgate in season 1:

And Heimerdinger sees what we can only assume is Viktor's blood contaminating (?) the Hexgate in s2 ep3:

This might be the seemingly unimportant "inciting incident" that Jayce (and Heimerdinger and Ekko) settle on as something that should be avoided or erased by changing the past (if they time-travel with Ekko, for example).

I doubt that, if this is what this crew chooses to fixate on, it will be the only event that is considered as something to change. But let's take this and run with it for the sake of discussion.

As silly as it sounds, how do you stop Viktor from allowing his blood to come into contact with the arcane? Stop Viktor's involvement with the Academy entirely? Don't invent Hextech at all? But what if someone else invents Hextech besides Jayce? What if future tragedy befalls Piltover because it didn't invent Hextech?

The possibilities and what-ifs could branch on forever. But because Jayce is who he is, and because his tragedy with Viktor is still raw and recent and frightening, I think Jayce's butterfly effect experience will have to do with Viktor.

My personal prediction is that the timeskip between s2 ep3 and ep4 will be Jayce experiencing a timeline where Viktor, taken over by the Hexcore, brings about an apocalyptic event similar to what Heimerdinger experienced in his past. Either Jayce and co. can't go into the past to change the present, or Heimerdinger and/or Ekko advise strongly against it to avoid a paradox. This will lead to them re-entering the canon Arcane timeline before this apocalypse, but still after the timeskip. Jayce, believing that destroying Viktor and his cult will save the future, and believing that resurrecting Viktor was Jayce's mistake to fix, attacks him. But the consequences don't unfold the way he hopes, because trying to change fate once the cards have already been dealt has led to tragedy before.

The butterfly is a symbol of something other than just the butterfly effect - change, evolution, and rebirth. If the butterfly symbolizes the butterfly effect for Jayce, then I think it has a different meaning for Viktor - the change and rebirth meaning.

I've always found it very interesting that we see a similar-looking butterfly on Progress Day... but made of metal.

Every time Viktor's situation changes, he adapts and evolves. If Jayce attacks him, if his cult is destroyed, if the Hexcore is causing Viktor to decay, if all of these things happen at once - he'll just evolve again, and I think the Machine Herald is the next step. And the Machine Herald will be a triumph for Viktor, but Jayce will believe that he's created something even worse. The resulting feud will be a personal nightmare for both of them.

I think this still allows Viktor to use his own agency to choose to become the Machine Herald (the MH will probably be the "secret third option" that saves Viktor, or there will be a secret third option that ends the feud) while still allowing Jayce to be offended and horrified at whatever the Machine Herald represents or is trying to do in the undercity. Introducing the element of time travel allows Arcane to explore the meta concept of tragedy and fate that season 1 was built on while showing that you can't "solve" a tragedy, because there are other terrible possibilities lurking behind alternate choices. Especially if what you're trying to change is singular people or events and not systems of power.

This is why Ekko's approach with his Z-drive will be superior to Jayce's sweeping attempt at changing the future. Ekko's goal has always been societal change. He creates his own punk society in the undercity, more progressive and successful than anything Vander or Silco ever created, and a better bastion of safety, hope, and progress than what Heimerdinger founded in Piltover. Trying to change systems by going back in time is most likely futile. But taking what Ekko has already built in the Firelights, curing his tree, and fighting for the Firelights' survival bit by bit by optimizing the present with the Z-drive shows that:

It's more worth it to focus on becoming wise (Ekko's mask is an owl) and making choices you won't regret

It's best if you don't face your fate alone (act as a collective and take care of each other)

Consider every option, not just the obvious black and white choices

Maintain and fix what you've already built instead of abandoning it once things get difficult

Adapt as needed if the choices you made lead to dark consequences, and once again, stick together and take care of each other when the bad times do come

That's my Act 2 but, ultimately, my season 2 prediction based on the butterfly symbolism we've already seen. Ekko's involvement is what will give the series the at least partial happy ending that the creators have referred to. I personally don't think that the Viktor/Jayce feud will end quite so well, but maybe, they will still survive.

#arcane #spoilers #arcane s2 #arcane spoilers #jayce talis #ekko #viktor #viktor arcane #long post #meta #jayvik #arcane meta #heimerdinger #I'm positive that Mel will be deeply involved with this too considering her comments on fate #honestly the thought of her being caught in the Viktor/Jayce feud is terrible to contemplate so I'm just gonna pray for my girl #I did not like the time travel implications when i first watched act 1 but after thinking about this i feel way better about it #Another reason I think this will come down to Viktor is because Heimerdinger has distrusted Viktor since season 1 and he will focus on him #Ekko will see the faults in focusing on one person #Jayce is least likely to survive all this considering how fast the consequences of his actions are catching up with him #but there could also be a chance here of viktor choosing to spare him - if only to curse him with the Defender/Herald feud forever idk #anyway i am feral for season 2 so far can't you tell

830 notes · View notes

orchideae · 9 months ago

Text

The attire dissection, folks. (Part 1)

A friend of mine (@spiderwarden) sent an ask a while back about how Yelan would go about putting herself together in terms of attire, and I remember going 'christ', because how do you begin dissecting most outfits that look almost too maddening to explain, in an anime-style game where outfits are often ridiculous and not meant to be explained 'realistically'. But then I realized that this is miHoYo, and this is their Genshin Impact, which means that the devil will always reside in the details. And personally, I like this little devil a lot. Now, I'd always noticed a few things, but they initially seem tied into a whole bunch of illogical 'outfitting', but her outfit is really actually not illogical at all. Let me see if I can explain this coherently.

(Zoomed in version here) The subject in question: the beautiful Yelan— okay, okay, I'll stop fawning, fine. Any way, I always looked at her outfit as a two-piece, a full length bodysuit of some kind (what are those called again?), with an overcoat which holds all of those blue accents in her attire. And I was never sure whether her shoes were boots and if they were, where they ended because I saw no proper cuff/top. I was so torn, I even once thought they were somehow tied into the bodysuit, because I genuinely couldn't make out the top of them! Yes, welcome to the 'illogical anime outfit thinking', but let's be honest, it's done commonly enough in that area of media. But no, the basis of her outfit is actually not that complex at all, and is rather realistic. What is complex, is the intense amount of 'personalization' of each piece , the thought that went into them and what inspired them. But that will be for for part 2.

It is technically a three-piece, a bodysuit, an overcoat and thigh high boots. To elaborate: first up, at the very base of it is a halter bodysuit that has a very low-cut back and shorts, it looks very close to something like this in shape. On top of that, as you can see rather clearly in her outfit, it is entirely see-through/mesh and is customized with fish-netting, cut-outs and various other detailing on the front (some of which rather intricate I might add, as this bodysuit may have been chosen for practical reasons, but has in that light, been fully altered to her tastes). Yelan, as per a teapot voiceline ("I'm guessing you've fallen for the rumors about me being very wealthy and having high demands for my standards of living?"), isn't someone who spends mora on things easily, but when she does for practical purposes, it's when she may splurge a bit, but it's not without reason entirely. But I digress a bit, because that's a topic for another day. Secondly, is the overcoat, this is the piece that's most easily identified by all the blues and it covers a fair bit of the bodysuit, it is also secured around the neck in a halter-design, it covers the 'outline' of her upper-chest, leaving her back bare as well, and it hangs down towards the front, ending roughly where her bodysuit does as well. And then thirdly, there's the boots, which are thigh-high and end exactly where you see the diagonal lines towards the front of her upper legs (if you look at any of the sideviews, you'll note the difference in elevation between the shaft of her boot and her leg).

What draws me most though, is the bodysuit. It's incredibly aesthetically pleasing in terms of its design, with the decision of the mesh material, along with the very specific decisions on details (ie: the fishnetting on her right side, the cut-out on its left half, the straps across her hips hiding the more intimate item of dress underneath them, and especially the separate design on the front that you'd more so find on those high-waist old-school sailor shorts with the bigger buttons at the front). The fact that it's a halter design, truly offers a more secure hold than honestly anything else would, as shoulder straps tend to slip from your shoulders (and especially being slender as she is, it becomes increasingly impossible to find something that will never slip), and strapless is absolutely not doable with all of the movement that she does. In essence, a bodysuit of this sort of design would be skintight but stretchy enough to allow for proper movement as she's really rather agile, but considering how secure of a hold it offers, it also means that (apologies for the TMI), there may not be any need for a bra, as the bodysuit would offer it, in its stead. But this also plays into practicality: the less layers, the better. I also wonder about this latter detail, because there is no sign or trace of any bra straps anywhere at all, and a halter-design bra also would be apparent somewhere. Nope, I think that darker part that you see covering her breasts is actually part of the bodysuit, and very intricately designed. I think this damn piece of clothing might be one of the most intricate parts of her outfit. I actually did find a modder that removed the 'drape' part of the overcoat that covers her abdomen, but left the upper portion of it (but you can tell from the images at the top of the post that these two 'parts' are a one piece that overlaps, due to the difference in elevation)— any way, this mod actually shows half of the frontal design of the bodysuit. Again, be aware that the part covering her chest area (the blue on one side, white on the other) is not part of the bodysuit, and instead is part of her overcoat. If she took it off, those would be gone. Now imagine the boots to be gone (which again, go up to the diagonal stripe designs at the front), and you're left with the bodysuit!

Honestly, all of this draws a magnificent image for me in my head. The sight of when she retires either in her home outside of the city, in Yanshang, or the home I headcanon that she's properly bought in Qiaoying Village (properly purchased, mind you, to help the villagers) at some point, for the night. When she takes off her boots, it would be quite casual and relaxed to see her in the bodysuit and the overcoat that covers it. And if in privacy, or around those she's more at ease around (granted, there would be nothing 'sexual' about it, she's very practical and very realistic, and there's nothing intentionally 'sexy' about it unless she intends for it to be), she'd even forego the overcoat. Yelan, walking around preparing her tea, barefoot and with her legs almost entirely bare? The epiphany of peaceful, in my head.

And a little bit of an extraordinary and beautiful sight, but that's just me... sorry, I couldn't restrain myself any longer. Hi hello, my name is Sae, and thank you for having read part 1 of my lunacy in terms of her outfit. Part 2 will focus on the actual design of the overcoat and bodysuit, and what was likely used as inspiration for her. I'm unsure whether I'll add in her hair, and accessories into that post, it'll all depend on how long it gets. But there's the intention any way.

#[ meta. ] the chances are if i open this door; there can be no witnesses left alive. is that a sufficient reason for you?#[ aven i'll never be able to write as much and as fast as you-- but gdi. i'll still write. ]#[ /distracts with chocolate so i can absorb some of the energy. ]#[ but also! I DID IT. MEL THANK YOU. literally scrolling by your ask is what made me re-analyze her outfit again. ]#[ and don't worry; i'll answer the ask at one point too-- but this first needed to go in a separate post. ]

9 notes · View notes