#this is even better when u consider the fandom also loves ekko way more than jayce

[spiderstuffs]

Jayce killing Viktor doesn't do anything for the plot (analysis)

Will we ever talk about how painful and tragic jayvik, and Jayce's character as a whole are when we consider the fact that Jayce killing Viktor does absolutely NOTHING for the story?

I've seen so many people talk about how "Viktor created a paradox" and the whole classic paradox thingy (A person goes back in time and warns B person about future, B person changes said future and then there would actually be no reason for A person to having gone back because B person already changed the future) and whatnot, but

It wasn't a paradox. Mage Viktor telling Jayce to stop his younger self doesn't actually serve ANYTHING for the story. At all. Because it didn't change anything.

What I mean is — As we know, Mage Viktor, being in the top of the piltover tower with the Jayce statue-tree thing, tells Jayce to stop his younger self and yadda yadda, Jayce goes to the commune and kills Viktor. This is what we see when Jayce finds the statue.

In chapter 9, though — we get the exact same thing. As we all know, Jayce goes back to his own timeline after speaking to mage Viktor, and that's when he goes to the commune and kills Viktor. In chapter 9 we're in the original timeline, AFTER Jayce killed Viktor. And EVEN if Jayce killed Viktor, still — we get this.

We get this, and (assuming you watched the show,) after this, we see that Viktor is about to kill Jayce. Viktor has already corrupted everyone. Everyone. And he is about to kill Jayce. But yeah, we knew that, right? It was on the show. But what I'm talking about is:

Jayce is about to die. The world is about to be destroyed. Viktor is about to corrupt everybody, and THIS image above represents that Jayce ends up in the same place. Everyone ends up the same as the future timeline (where everything is dead). EVEN if Jayce killed Viktor. EVEN if Jayce went to the commune, killed Viktor, then fought Viktor alongside Mel in the council room, EVEN after Jayce DID what mage Viktor asked him (to stop Viktor), everything ends up the exact same. Jayce having killed Viktor did NOTHING, because in this moment, we see that Jayce has come to the same place where the tree version of him was. Even with everything he did- nothing changes.

Who changes everything? (as we know,) Our boy Ekko !! Except — he doesn't. Ekko doesn't change anything... at first. In the scene in which Ekko tries to throw the uh- hexcore thing he has?? (not sure what it is), he actually fails at first, and is hit by one of Viktor's dolls in the face.

And as we see in the show, the whole reason why he doesn't fail at the end is his power to turn back time. At first, Ekko fails. We don't get to see what happens when he fails (because the absolute second in which he fails he rewinds back time), but we can obviously assume that Viktor realizes that someone just tried to hit him from the back and he would - well, kil Ekko. But again, we don't get that, because Ekko rewinds time as soon as the machine-doll hits him.

This means. The WHOLE reason why Arcane ended the way it ended, and not in the destruction of Piltover and Zaun was Ekko. Not even Ekko, actually — his ability. That is the THING that saves everything. It is Ekko who saves them all, with his 4 rewinding seconds. His 4 fucking seconds are what do EVERYTHING, because, I REPEAT. Jayce killing Viktor didn't do anything, because the whole world was about to be destroyed anyway, and it is EKKO who saves them, with his ability to rewind time.

So- what does this mean for Jayce? well. it means that Jayce did EVERYTHING for nothing. mage Viktor speaks to Jayce in the hell-au and tells him to stop viktor for nothing. Jayce goes to the commune for nothing. JAYCE KILLS HIS BEST FRIEND, THE PERSON HE CARES ABOUT THE MOST, BELIEVING THAT HE'S DOING THE RIGHT THING- and then comes chapter 9, and he realizes that he did it for fucking nothing, and it turned out the same, and the only thing that saved them was Ekko. Jayce does not save anyone. Anyone — it is Ekko. This is why Jayce is the "Defender of Tomorrow", and Ekko is the "Boy saviour"- Jayce defends them, sure, but Ekko saved them in the end. and it fucking HURTS, man, because it means Jayce went through absolutely EVERYTHING, the pain of having to kill his best friend and person who he cares about the most - just for it to not even matter in the end. it hurts sooo much dude, poor Jayce :(

notes:

I like this. not only because it means that it isn't in fact a paradox- what happened is that through different reasons, the original timeline would've ended the same as the timeline in which old viktor is, and it didn't because of an external factor, rather than the "paradox" itself; and it is a nice break from the usual, classic paradox. it also adds SOOO much more to jayce's character and jayvik overall, it gives it an even deeper layer of tragicness, the fact that jayce killing viktor, in the end- actually does nothing. he does it, and it affects him extremely, but jayce gets to the end and realizes that, everything's the same. he killed him- and for what? it didn't solve what mage viktor wanted him to solve.

though, it's kinda weird to think about because, the reason ekko throws the thing at viktor is because he went to the AU, which would mean ekko from the mage viktor universe DIDN'T go to the AU? but, he's suppossed to be the same viktor, only that he succeeds? there is no possibility of him succeeding if ekko is there, because ekko is able to kill him... which creates another weird paradox... ugh, but i thinkmy point still stands, because that has more to do about if ekko would go in the AU rather than if jayce would've killed viktor. and it is. an entire can of worms i am NEVER openin, and it doesn't change anything about the theory, anyway.

and by the way- i might be wrong about something here. this is just an observation, and from what i've seen i think i'm right? but there might be something i'm missing, so please try not to be rude if there is, and comment politely!