#warwick deeping

[weirdlookindog]

"Two loyalties . . . two ages . . . two loves … a man that Time forgot . . ."

Lawrence Sterne Stevens (1884-1960) - Illustration for Warwick Deeping's 'The Man Who Went Back'

(Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1947)

[along-the-meadow-path]

She climbed out, and stood like a water nymph, her body agleam and asparkle with its dew, her skin like rare silk, smooth as a star's glance. Down fell her hair like smoke. She stretched her arms to the moon...

— Warwick Deeping, Uther and Igraine

[chronicsyd]

yea, we ALL know why I'M here at this point (like most people i waited All Night for this thing) but Enough Yapping, let's do this! (go watch it first, I'll be doing an Excessive deep dive of this thing (I also had a couple of drafts I've made in the last 48 hours talking about certain worries I've seen from the fandom about season 2, but decided to lay off posting about it until the trailer came out so I'll be addressing some of those in a later post as well), and as always, leakers will be blocked and deleted).

SO, with All That outta the way, let's get into it: Firstly, i was left Completely Speechless by this whole thing like HOLY SHIT! i don't even know What to SAY! Yes we've had a few repeat scenes from the old teaser and clips but obviously the new stuff's what I'm more interested in.

The trailer opens up with Vi admitting to Caitlyn that she was right and saying "My sister is gone. there's only Jinx now." which is something that I've been speculating about since June (well the "there's only Jinx and Jinx is the one that needs to be stopped" thing), so we've already had a clear cut path where Vi is concerned. BUT what interests me is that first part of the conversation is still part of when she's talking to her in her Enforcer Uniform, so her head's probably telling her that stopping Jinx is the right thing to do here after what happened with the Council.

I also don't think I've mentioned this in a post, but I've also had speculation that the person in the hood from the teaser was Jinx not Viktor (just things like how the shoulder width didn't seem to match him but the one second clip we got of him i wasn't able to cross-reference all that well, also the monkey painting in the background added to that factor) but it seems like the show is reenforcing that this is Jinx here.

I've also somehow underestimated just HOW unhinged Caitlyn's going to be this season. like "I want to tear that laugh from her throat forever." is a Crazy line like Jesus Cait!

But what sticks out to me about this scene is not only the fact that Vi's very clearly crying here, you can tell not only by the length of her hair but the fact that the black seems to be somewhat fading means that she spends quite a bit of time hiding out in Zaun (downright Confirming about my thoughts of a timeskip from my last post). Now of course we don't have the context about what she's crying about but it seems like she's just overall frustrated about her situation. But another thing that actually pops up later in the trailer is that Vi actually still has her hair like this,

which means that I actually might be wrong about Vi being in Zaun before she's even in her Enforcer getup with Caitlyn. it seems to me that this whole thing with Vi wearing black actually happens after she fights against Jinx in the temple, perhaps thinking that being an Enforcer and in Piltover with Caitlyn isn't the right choice for her and tries to go about life her own way for a while (which is probably the thing we're "going to hate" when it comes to Caitvi).

Now, the next part of the trailer is what they already showed us with Caitlyn and Jinx talking to Ambessa and Sevika so i don't need to go over that again. However right after that, Sevika asks Jinx what she's planning.

Jinx's response? "to watch it all burn". Whether or not if Piltover recovers from Fishbones doesn't seem to matter to her, she wants everything to burn to the ground. But just a side note the way she's looking at the match in this frame very clearly reminds her of Silco, and still going by the streaked makeup, it's still a fresh wound for her.

now, this frame?

I don't actually have any solid answers for. by the look in Vi's eyes, I'm presuming she's reaching out to either Jinx, Caitlyn, or Ekko. She's not wearing her Enforcer getup here (at least it doesn't look like what she's been wearing) and i can't solidly place the background, there isn't any familiar landmarks sticking out to me. But Vi's hair and bandages make me think that this is probably when she's just starting to come out of hiding here.

There seems to be a bunch of Undercity riots happening against Piltover, which i think is a factor where Ambessa tells Caitlyn that "in order to restore peace you have to enact Martial Law". I could be wrong about this but honestly i don't think I am.

Warwick looks just as fantastic as ever, but they haven't really given us any clear cut answers on how they're planning to utilize him besides being a living weapon for Singed. Singed says "you felt it, haven't you?" but it's rather unclear who he's talking to here, i don't think he's talking to Warwick, i think he might actually be talking to Viktor and talking about the Hexcore and the Arcane and such because of Viktor's "glorious evolution" path.

Now to the part of the Trailer that COMPLETELY confuses me...

someone says "the Arcane is waking up", NO idea who's saying this or who it's being said TO, NO idea who These people are supposed to be, I just-- yea this is the only part of the trailer that I'm at a Complete loss for words. The Arcane is magic we all know that, it's what Jayce's whole thing has been about, mixing magic and technology together into Hextech. but this is implying that while Jayce was doing all this the Arcane itself was just... slumbering? i guess. like are these people going to turn out to be mages because of this or something? idk, see, endless list of questions but Absolutely no answers. let's just move on before my brain explodes trying to figure this out.

I skipped a few repeat scenes (like the ones of Caitlyn and the other enforcers against the Chemtanks because I've already talked about it), and put a pin on the Ekko scene i skipped I'm coming back to it.

SO, it turns out we were right in claiming that Jinx loses her middle finger with the art book cover, and I'm Pretty sure that Caitlyn actually shoots it off (which probably explains the "WTF CAITLYN?!" comment i was talking about with addressing the leaks). Also this is like, the Most psychotic I think I've ever seen Jinx like Jesus Christ do NOT leave me alone in a room with her!

Ekko says "sometimes taking a leap foward means leaving some things behind"; maybe he's talking about the past? I don't know who he's talking to here specifically, it may just be giving advice to Vi, seeing as we do see the two working together later in the trailer after Vi's hair is grown out.

Now, I'm going to go a wee bit out of order here for a moment, just because I'm saving something for last.

I was Completely right about Vi facing off against Warwick at some point (i was basically Screaming "Chekov's gun!" for months when Warwick was confirmed), But Vi's still in her Undercity getup here, so I don't know if she's recognizable to him at all here, if this has to do with the illegal fighting ring that she's doing, but the dust seems to kinda go against that, like it's not a "now for our main event!" smokey kinda entrance, if you catch my drift here.

I can't tell if this is supposed to be a flashback of Powder or not because the other person is extremely hard to place, like it looks kind of like Sevika's new hair it's just that the lighting is so dark you can't make out their face. and if its a flashback to the age that Powder was in the opening shot the clothes don't seem to match, like there are things that contradict each other that doesn't make the scene clear cut to me.

Now this frame basically confirms something I've had on my mind, I just never made a post about. and that was my concern that Caitlyn was going to get herself hurt by these Chemtanks. the reason for that being we only saw her going against these things with her rife (and not the Hextech one). Vi and Jayce could handle themselves back in episode 8 because they had the Hammer and Gauntlets, but every other Enforcer there with a rifle was Easily taken out. and Arcane doesn't really go about the "simple plot armor" route, so i saw this ending not very well for her, despite being a good marksman.

And of course we only get another ONE SECOND clip of Viktor to prove he's alive that doesn't even Show His Face! like we Know this is him, and the gem in his wrist seems to imply that he's already going down the "glorious evolution" path here.

I don't have anything to say about this other than i have NO idea what it's supposed to be and that its Freaky looking. Like it kinda reminds me of Silco for some reason, like i don't think its supposed to but that's where my heads leaning for some reason.

Now, does it seem like I've left something out? It's because I did.

What these shots in particular are telling me is that Ambessa actually turns on Caitlyn (because I claimed that earlier in the season Caitlyn actually allies herself with Ambessa and i still believe that to be true) and tries to take over Piltover, because in the shot of Ambessa she's clearly hitting Enforcers, not people of the Undercity, and Caitlyn and Vi are wearing matching outfits here (Vi also reminds me of the ironhulk from Infinity War with this thing) meaning that the two are still working together here, but there is one little thing that I did leave out talking about these shots.

I can totally see this being a chaotic fight between the Undercity, the Enforcers, and Noxus, because Jinx is clearly still in Piltover during this shot. Now Jinx says "then stop me." during this but its definitely a spliced line i don't think she's saying it during this scene and I do believe that she's probably talking to Vi here (and maybe my ears are playing tricks on me but it kinds sounds "echoey" so it's probably from the temple fight). but can we talk about the Purple in her hair now? like despite having a hood on, That's Badass!

Edit: NOPE! I lied, I have a couple more things to point out.

Caitlyn blows up Jinx in this shot, which if I'm right about Vi being an Enforcer before going underground this is gonna cause some Serious issues between the two (because despite saying "my sister is gone" I don't believe that Vi would want an attempt at her sisters life, another pointer in the "thing we're going to hate with Caitvi" oy-vey...). When I mentioned Caitlyn probably being the one shooting off Jinx's finger earlier, i didn't also think about that final shot of Caitlyn from the teaser being right before what happens here. Because we already knew that Caitlyn was apart of this fight, just didn't dawn how drastically this fight is probably going to turn out. Because the explosion is all glowey like that Because Caitlyn's using her Hextech rifle in this scene, and it functions more in the way Jayce's Hammer does than Vi's gauntlets do.

So I'm not exactly sure when this fight scene is taking place, I don't think it's the temple fight, despite what little i can gather from the background, it doesn't seem to quite match the temple, and i think Vi and Caitlyn are still alone during that specific fight (could be wrong but that's just what they've shown as of right now) and I'm seeing Vi as shooting a rocket, blowing up the building that Sevika and Caitlyn were standing next to. it's also hard to name the expression that Jinx is wearing right after this, but it's clear that she was at least part of this fight as well.

Ok, NOW I'm done! I promise! I spent the last TWO HOURS on this thing since the trailer dropped and I'll most likely be spamming about it more if/when i suddenly get new thoughts about it. But that's all for now, bye! (I'M SO EXCITED FOR NOVEMBER AHHH WHY CAN'T IT GET HERE FAST ENOUGH?!)

[mariocki]

Doctor X (1932)

"If you ask me, I think Dr. Xavier is using very unethical methods."

"Necessity has no ethics, sir."

[dekarios]

oh my god is warwick gonna look at jinx oh my godd i might pass out from stress and excitement i cant do this ive been waiting SO LONG

[neon-green-reagent]

Warwick Davis as Plates in Skinned Deep (2004)

[moviesludge]

[fernsplaysthings]

Trying to decide which of my many characters I want to start with depicting pre- and post- 'The Horrors'.

Quinn's a really obvious one tbh. Iliya could be interesting too. My other TTRPG characters haven't changed much or haven't experienced 'The Horrors' yet.

Ateyla is also a really good and obvious one. Same with Varyllis.

Warwick is 'The Horrors'.

[a-little-revolution]

It seems like you're a big fan of Warwick Davis, I was wondering if there are any other little people actors you really like, especially women and trans/nb actors?

Hello! Yes I do enjoy Warwick Davis! Willow (1988) remains one of my favourite LP films, and I've really enjoyed his career of fantastical characters.

Like a lot of industries, white men make up a lot of the most famous Little actors (Warwick Davis, Peter Dinklage, Danny Woodburn, Martin Klebba, Verne Troyer), so I'm happy to mention some of my favourites outside that group!

Linda Hunt is a favourite of mine - she's a Hollywood veteran best known for her role in The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) where she was the first actor to win an academy award for playing someone of the opposite sex!! She's been on Broadway, done tv, film, and voice acting! You may know her as Lady Proxima in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).

If you think you don't know Deep Roy, chances are you do! He's been a scale actor in countless award winning films including Star Wars (1980), Star Trek (2009-2016), The Never Ending Story (1984), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and so many more! We owe so many beloved characters to scale actors and people hardly know it - Deep Roy has been responsible for dozens of them, I adore him.

Despite Patty Maloney's vast career in acting, I know her as Lois Addams from The Addams Family (1991)! Before my time she was in a variety of tv shows and films including Star Trek Voyager (1996), Little House on the Prairie (1982), and The Lord of the Rings (1978).

Cara Mailey is a young actress, author, presenter and activist! She's known for her role in Derry Girls (2018) and Read all About It! (2021), as well as her ebook "I Got This" - which speaks on her experience living with Achondroplasia. I wanted to be sure to give her an honourable mention because at only fifteen she's already become an activist for the LP community! I'm excited to see how her career evolves!

Thank you for the ask! Be sure to check these folks out!

[thesecondhandwoman]

JINX’S DEATH

Sevika x f!reader

Summary: Only days after Isha’s death, Sevika learned that Jinx’s followed, leaving her without any found family left. She hasn’t been dealing with any of it in a healthy manner, especially with everything changing. It came to the extent where you, her girlfriend, and new second-in-command, to step in and comfort her.

The dim light of Zaun’s flickering neon signs seeped through the cracks in the dilapidated windows of Sevika’s apartment. The once-vibrant buzz of the Undercity felt muted now, like the soul had been stripped from it. Zaun had always been chaotic, a blend of raw, unfiltered energy. But without her—without Jinx—it felt deader than dead, even before Silco’s death.

Sevika sat at her cluttered workbench, a half-empty bottle of whiskey in one hand and a delicate, half-finished gadget in the other. The gadget was unmistakably Jinx’s handiwork—chaotic, colorful, and covered in erratic doodles. Sevika stared at the swirling patterns painted on the surface, her thumb brushing over the smudged ink, as if she could bring back the touch of the one who made it.

Jinx was gone.

Her sacrifice haunted Sevika more than she cared to admit. The girl had been a thorn in her side for years—a chaotic storm that tore through Zaun, Silco’s operations, and Sevika’s patience with equal fervor. But Jinx was also a constant. A force of nature who had wormed her way into Sevika’s hardened heart.

When Silco had first brought Powder, soon-to-be Jinx, into their world, Sevika had scoffed at the pathetic child. “Another stray,” she had muttered under her breath. But even back then, she’d felt a begrudging sense of responsibility.

Someone had to keep the kid from blowing herself up—or taking half of Zaun with her.

Over the years, Sevika had watched Jinx grow. From a scared, fragile girl clinging to her trauma to the unpredictable force of chaos she became. She had rolled her eyes at the paint splattered across the walls, grumbled about the smoke from her makeshift workshop, and cursed the noise of Jinx’s endless tinkering. Yet, she never turned her away.

Sevika had acted indifferent, cold even, but deep down, she had cared. She’d cared enough to shield Jinx from Silco’s wrath when her impulsive actions jeopardized a mission. She’d cared enough to sit in the corner of Jinx’s workshop, silently smoking, while the girl rambled on about her newest “masterpiece.” And in the end, she’d cared enough to mourn.

Jinx had died saving her sister, Vi, and taking out Warwick—the monstrous creation of Viktor’s twisted experiments with Arcane energy. It was a choice that had shocked Sevika to her core. Jinx, the girl who had burned bridges and built bombs, had chosen to sacrifice herself for the sister who had left her behind.

The irony wasn’t lost on Sevika. She had spent years trying to shield Jinx from pain, from betrayal, and from herself. And now, there was nothing left to protect.

Sevika didn’t hear you come in. She never did these days. She was too lost in her grief to notice much of anything. You paused in the doorway, taking in the sight of her slumped over the workbench. The lines on her face seemed deeper now, her strong frame weighed down by an invisible burden.

“Sevika,” you said softly.

She didn’t turn, but her shoulders tensed at the sound of your voice.

You crossed the room and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You’re doing it again.”

“Doing what?” Her voice was rough, edged with irritation, but it lacked the bite it once held.

“Punishing yourself.” You gently pried the gadget from her hand and set it aside. “She wouldn’t want this.”

Sevika barked a bitter laugh. “What the hell do you know about what she’d want?”

You flinched at her harshness, but you didn’t pull away. Instead, you knelt beside her, forcing her to look at you. Her dark eyes were rimmed with red, tears threatening to spill over. It was a rare sight—Sevika, the unshakable enforcer, brought to her knees by grief.

“She wouldn’t want you to drown in this,” you said softly, but it held some firmness. “She’d want you to keep living, if not for yourself, then for her...”

Sevika shook her head, the tears finally breaking free. She groaned at the way they trailed down her cheeks, creating streaks along her brown skin.

“She was just a kid, just like Isha. She deserved better.”

You reached up, cupping her face in your hands. “She had you,” you whispered. “You gave her better.”

Sevika’s resolve crumbled at your words. She pulled you into her arms, clutching you like a lifeline. You held her as she broke, her sobs echoing through the small apartment. It was a raw, unguarded moment, and you knew how much it had cost her to let you see it.

“She drove me insane,” Sevika choked out between sobs. “But… she was my family.”

You ran your fingers through her hair, grounding her. “And you were hers.”

“Please don’t leave me like they did..” She whispered, nearly begging. “Please don’t leave me alone.”

You held her closer and gently kissed her temple before whispering: “I won’t.”

[weirdlookindog]

Again and again the terrified world had cried, “They are on the march!’’

Lawrence Sterne Stevens (1884-1960) - Illustration for Warwick Deeping's 'The Man Who Went Back'

(Famous Fantastic Mysteries, December 1947)

[along-the-meadow-path]

Her grace, her infinite tenderness, the purity of her, were all set about his soul like angels round a dreamer's bed.

— Warwick Deeping, Uther and Igraine

[cleopheanne]

Jyestha women

Amy, Dionne Warwick, Clarice Lispector, Shelley Duval.

I find that jyestha produces women who can seem aloof, deep in meditation 🧘‍♀️, their gazes carry a certain intensity, in some situations they can almost seem mystical as if behind their eyes (which always manage to be prominent independently of the rest of the face) is hidden knowledge, deep, old, knowledge about life itself, about it's mysteries all recovered by a thin sheet of sensitivity, and a surprising softness.

[manias-wordcount]

Things that Bite at Night (Warwick)

Kinktober 2024 Day Twenty-Nine: Predator/Prey

𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚? ⇒ 𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩

𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙧?

𝙗𝙪𝙮 𝙢𝙚 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙚?

You know better than to go out at night on most days.

But despite a lifetime of warnings, you couldn’t help but have a few moments where you just ignore them. Or forget. Or feel a little too brave- a little too invincible. And how could you blame yourself? You’re still young. You’re still naive enough when you try to acknowledge it. Who cares that you’ve been going to the bars long enough that nearly every bartender on this side of the river knows you by your face? Those same bartenders are twice your age and they go out at night. They make it back alive over and over and over again. So long as they don’t have any outstanding debts or look at someone the wrong way, of course. 

But you keep your nose clean. You keep your head down. You don’t have any reason to worry about disappearing late into the night. You don’t have any reason to worry about things that go bump in the night. You don’t have any reason to worry about things that bite at night either. You’re a Zaunite- born and raised. You know how to handle yourself. You know how to handle business. So why…?

Why can’t you move…?

Every part of you that is still desperate to fight is screaming at you right now. Every part of you is still afraid more than anything of pain and dying and the thing in front of you is fighting desperately to get you to move an inch- a muscle- anything. But your body feels heavy. And your mind is still in a daze. All you remember is that you were running. All you remember is that you were running so very fast.

In fact, the memory is vaguely starting to come back to you. It’s hard to recall perfectly- you must have hit your head when you fell not too long ago. You must have hit your head when were tackled. But before that, you remember that you were running between dark, damp alleyways- trying to make it back to the main road. Back where there were people. Back where that thing couldn’t get to you. Not without others around to stop it. 

But that didn’t come so easily to you. Because all you could focus on was making sure that your steps were quicker and faster than the sprint of that monster behind you. Your feet ached and ached with each step. Your legs burned every time you moved them. There was a dull throb in your shoulder from the sheer number of times you accidentally threw yourself into a brick wall trying to make a quick turn even quicker. And you can’t count just how many times you’ve almost tripped and slipped over uneven streets and sidewalks that were slick and wet with a concerning mix of booze, blood, and hopefully water.

But you still tried to run. You still tried to outrun the very thing that was chasing you. You still tried to make the heavy footsteps and deep, growling sound coming from behind you disappear with just your sheer speed and wit alone. You still shouted for help and tried to throw obstacles in its way. You tried ducking down both roads that you knew and roads that you had no idea existed. You tried to backtrack. You tried to go where you thought there might be people who could help you. You tried to go where you knew there would at least be people- kind-hearted or not.

But sometime later, you found yourself on the cold, hard, uneven floor. Sometime later, you found yourself dazed and confused and in pain all over. Sometime later, you found yourself staring down the muzzle of the beast you’ve heard be called Warwick.

Any hope or bravery you once had was ripped from you in a cold, dead instant the second you were met with the massive teeth of what you could only assume to be the real, live wolf monster that haunts the streets of Zaun. When you first caught sight of the thing, all you could tell was that it was a large, dark mass of fur and glowing green chemicals. As it chased you, you caught sight of metal glints here and there. Were they armor? Were they chains? You don’t know. You may never know.

But now as you lay here- whimpering pitifully with tears slowly leaking from your eyes, you realize that you’re not too surprised that you couldn’t escape. You’re not too surprised that this is what it has come to. Because the stories you’ve heard from others were brutal. A monster that stalks the back street and will tear the limbs off of anything it comes across. Most people have been lucky so far- Warwick had a funny habit of running into a few of the nastiest drug runners and kingpins you know. But that didn’t mean that there wasn’t the occasional, seemingly innocent enough civilian found in a pool of blood with a bite taken out of their jugular. A fate that you can only imagine is about to fall upon you in just a moment.

So the only thing that fills your aching mind in that moment is fear. Fear as it growls lowly in front of you, its large paws stamping at the ground as it lurks closer. Fear as it bares its fangs at you, showcasing the very wide mouth that you will can and will snap you up in just a second. Fear as it crawls over you- toying with you like you were never a person but just their latest hunt. Fear as the only thing you start to see is dark fur and the eyes of animals filled to the brim with bloodlust. Fear as it leans in closer and closer and closer and closer to your neck and-

Licks you.

It licks you.

The realization hits you slowly. In fact, by the time your mind has stopped spinning, you found that the thing crowding above you has already licked at your neck once more. The sensation was slimy and wet and overwhelming as its long, long tongue made a show of trailing upwards around your collarbone and It did so at an agonizingly slow pace- only further contributing to the feeling of being toyed with. Like it’s trying to rile you up. Like it’s trying to taste your sweat. Like it’s trying to see if you were worth the hunt. And if you’re worth hunting again.

But either way, you can’t move. You can’t move. You just can’t. You still can’t find a chance to escape. Because its large, large claws are keeping you pinned to the ground. Because it's heavy, heavy body is keeping you from being able to push it away. Because its wet, wet nose against your skin is keeping you awake and alive yet chock-full of fear. 

Because where there’s a nose, there’s a mouth. And where’s there a mouth, there’s teeth. Teeth that you’ve stared down once before. Teeth that are currently starting to nibble at your skin. Teeth that you know are capable of doing more than just a little playbiting. Teeth that you know belong to something that isn’t just some dog but a monster fully capable of horrible, horrible things. 

But that’s what you get. That’s what you get for going out at night. That’s what you get for taking that wrong turn and walking into its territory. That’s what you get for not being fast enough. That’s what you get for not being strong enough. That’s what you get for being brave. That’s what you get or being stupid. That’s what you get for being naive. That’s what you get for going out at night. A beast. A monster. A murderer. A hunter. A wolf. And you have no one to blame but yourself.

And the sharp pair of teeth near seconds away from sinking themselves into your mouth.

[mollysunder]

What if Ekko and some the Firelights are the only Zaunites that came to help defend Piltover?

I noticed in what is supposedly the big battle between PnZ vs Noxus, we actually don't see Zaun fighters attacking Noxian forces. The only Zaunites we see fighting Noxians, or at least providing support to Piltover is Ekko and the Firelights.

Between Ekko and the Firelights, only Ekko is wearing Jinx's X tag. From the trailer we can see that other Zaunites that rally behind Jinx or just support her either wear her pink X, dye their hair blue, or wear burgundy red (like Silco). The firelights don't dress like this, but Ekko does while he leads them in this fight. It could be a sign that they separated recently and came back together for this fight.

From the battle scenes we get in the trailer, it's more likely that Ambessa's forces had tried to take hold of Zaun, but were ultimately pushed out. In the shot where Ambessa's topside fighting against Piltovan enforcers, her mask is clearly damaged. If you look closely, you'll notice that there's at least three deep diagonal scratches across it.

There are only two seasoned fighters capable of leaving that kind of damage, Warwick or Sevika with her new arm (or maybe dhe got her claws back). Since I'm confident Warwick would turn Ambessa into ribbons, I think it's likely her and Sevika traded blows instead.

And then there's the scene where Ambessa has lead her forces in what must supposedly be Viktor's territory in the Sump. From the few shots of the place, we know there's about 6-7 people there including Viktor, and somehow they'll manage to repel Ambessa's army back?

Really, all the teasers and trailers have shown that Noxus will try to occupy every level of Zaun from the Sump to the Promenade, and even in Stillwater. The battle in Piltover probably only happens once Ambessa's forces are completely pushed out of Zaun and back into Piltover, and suddenly it's Piltover's problem.

Ekko and the Firelights are probably only helping Piltover because they assume leaving Ambessa in control would make everything worse. Meanwhile Jinx, Sevika, and Viktor's factions won't see a difference between Piltover and Noxus since they were literally working together (really it's a lateral move to most), and are content to watch them fight it out.

Obviously we see Jinx in what could be an airship over Piltover, but what makes us think she's there to help?

Tldr: Jinx, Sevika, and Viktor's factions respectively when Piltover asks for aid against Noxus.

[lipstickchainsaw]

I haven't really talked about Vander as a character in this act yet, and this is the last opportunity I get before he loses himself again, so I may as well take it.

From his flashbacks, especially the remarkably violent shot of him strangling Silco, we learn that Vander's pacifism in season 1 was very much a choice he had made, and kept making, very deliberately. Sure, we technically knew this. He made that soft threat to Marcus about having to put the gloves back on, not to mention how he beat people up in that first scene, but I don't think we understood how significant a choice that was.

But in these episodes, we've learned that Vander had a seriously violent streak entirely on his own. His vicious beating of the Enforcers on the bridge way back when wasn't just a man pushed to extremes in one moment; it was the expression of a rage that had been building for a while.

This makes his advice to Vi in episode 2 of season 1 very fun from a narrative perspective. Because yes, he gives that advice, and yes, we hear it, and we intellectually understand the point he's making, but, much like Vi, who hasn't had the experience Vander has, we don't really get it. We don't really see the point he's making, the deep well of experience he's drawing on when he puts that into words.

It similarly explains his incredible reluctance to actually put those gloves back on, because he understands that deep well of anger he still has within him, that he chooses to keep a lid on every day, and he knows that the last time he resorted to this violence, he didn't just lead a lot of people to their deaths, in his anger, he betrayed and nearly murdered his best friend.

It takes his actual children dying and being hurt around him to get him to break that rule, and open that well once more.

All of which is to say, the anger and violence driving Warwick isn't just from the monster Singed combined him with, some of that is legitimately Vander being Vander, and now, as then, even when he is at his most Vander, he makes the deliberately and reasoned decision to use that capacity for violence to protect his kid.

RIP Rictus, you stooge.