Arcane and the Character Assassination of Viktor

[@veryultraviolet]

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[@williamb4601]

Something noticeable is that the new Viktor is now thematically in line with a void champion instead of Zuan or Piltover.Ability evolution. Destruction-focused spells. A mix of both late-game scaling and early-game power.

[@demonseed360]

An interesting observation someone pointed out is that the Void is always trying to influence people, just like it did with Malzahar. Viktor now occupies the same thematic space as Malzahar, with the Arcane trying to influence him, altering his mind and behavior. Whereas before, it was his own ideals that became corrupt and he tried to influence those around him to join his glorious evolution. Like Malzahar, he's now a pawn of a greater force rather than being the agent of his own destiny.

[@belcia69]

I think Viktor could also be a really good character in the pilot line of the conflict between Zain and piltover because he had seen both worlds and was somewhat stuck in between

[@dacoolestzzz]

Imagine the voice he could of had to this conflict. Being Jayce's closest friend and partner, now with hextech infused with him. Maybe he would gain some sort of power, but ngl I thought Viktor was gonna get strong from the hextech then build his OG suit from the game and help fight Ambessa since her invading Piltover was gonna happen

[@GrimtheSnake]

I personally feel like it could have been a really cool subversion to make Viktor the hero the story was trying to get you to root against

[@veryultraviolet]

that would be pretty cool

[@nambibaa]

another thing is they completely took away his autonomy as a character! one thing i liked about og viktors arc is that he did all these horrifying changes to his body by his own will, he chose technology and lost part of himself due to it. arcane viktor didnt really choose anything, he wanted the hexcore destroyed at first and later it feels like hes being manipulated by the arcane. that being said, his speech at the end of episode 6 was genuinely my favorite quote in all of television and it summarizes his character so well

[@bisqvis]

i so agree!! as a non league player i personally enjoyed viktors storyline in arcane (as i didnt know any better) but after hearing just a tad about league viktor i realised that arcane just completely removed all of his agency. because arcane viktor was written to be "possessed" by the hexcore you cant really say that it was HIM that was doing all of his evolutioning (or at least its up for interpretation) and i wanna say that this also just plainly negates all of viktors intelligence!! league viktors story is so intruiging and enjoyable BECAUSE he's selfmade and all of his actions came from HIS (semi) sound mind. he himself wanted to make the world a better place but lost himself in the process. I also personally really love mad scientist corrupted by their craft stories because something something autism something something creating yourself to be better than the thing that has rejected you for so long (for viktor: zaun & disability) that was my badly written rant ty for reading

[@daBunky]

he was not even evil/mad in league. he just looked the status quo in the eye and said 'actually, this sucks ass'. he was written as a shitty communist parody at first (hence the russian accent!) and... well, the more nuance and development, the more he made sense.

[@victor141415]

But his entire character arc was also mad scientist vibes. I don't think you got the story right, suggest you watch it again

[@Sappysappster]

@@victor141415 "You don't have the same opinion as me, CLEARLY you didn't get the story right"

[@mmminko5663]

omg sameee. i didn't know anything about league but i absolutely love arcane viktor. but after learning about league/machine herald viktor, i agree he kinda lost his agency. plus i feel like his league lore incorporated more of his identity as a zaunite, which i thought arcane was gonna do too in season 2. in league, he's always helping and offering his services to his fellow zaunites even when he was still studying in piltover. i was so excited for arcane viktor to go back and help zaun in season 2. well we did have that for 2 acts and then uh they decided to make him the big bad villain suddenly at the end i guess

[@sugarette_burn]

Same with Mel's magic, in the second season they explained how her ability to understand others hearts was a magical trait instead of empaty and intelligence. It's a backstab to her S1 character

[@WickedHumor]

I wish they had kept the hextech involvement to a power source, powering his "machine" parts, maybe like Iron Man's core. I'm okay with direction they went, I just wish they hadn't gone as far as they did. Some sort of middle ground, like commune Viktor, would have been best IMO.

[@oinkleberry]

They're definitely going to retcon Jayce and Viktor dying, it'd be too profitable not. And frankly stupid to actually run with this disasterous conclusion of s2.

[@6Kubik]

Considering they were both sucked inside the rune/arcane and that time/universe travel exist, it is actually not far fetched. They weren't turned into dust like Sky, so it wouldn't be a surprise.

[@NarrativeDeviceFox]

League lore nerd here, the biggest insult to injury for me is that Viktor's relationship to Zaun, plus any agency or nuance you could read into his story, was completely cut out in season 2, only to have him carted out as a one-note Big Epic Final Boss(TM) because... if I had to guess, the writer's room was very concerned about Piltover looking good. Viktor's 2016 backstory very much doesn't do that and they made him nicer and easier to root for in season 1. Admittedly, my read of the third arm was more cynical, it goes alongside Viktor outright saying "glorious evolution" and Jinx saying "machine herald". Watching those moments, it all screamed of insecurity, little crumbs of fanservice thrown out in a half-assed attempt to soften the blow of throwing the character out. As if the writers thought those superficial things were all anyone needed to say "ah yes, this is the Viktor we know and love." Re: Blitzcrank, their absence was very felt for me too. If Arcane wasn't the new canon missing characters would be a non-issue but when it is, you have to ask how they're going to factor in when many of them are at least hinted to tie into the stories of characters who appeared in Arcane, Camille comes to mind especially. To come back to Blitz though, that particular character did alot to humanize Viktor. It gave readers a glimpse into who he was before his obsession with the glorious evolution: someone who built a robot with cleaning Zaun's pollution in mind. Sadly though, part of me is glad they didn't show up because for all we know, the writers would have given Blitz's creation to someone else.

[@helloidontknow4543]

wow this was a very well made video I loved the introduction as well

[@veryultraviolet]

thank you! glad to hear it!

[@bloomins8088]

I'm also a non-LoL player, but i always tuned into their animated shorts and went on the occasional wiki lore binge. If they had kept this as just non-canon or another universe separate from the current game, that would have been just fine. And these skins could just be fun Easter eggs. But how does it make sense now that Jayce and Viktor are dead while still being playable characters? I'm not lore expert, but are there any other champions who have gotten this treatment?

[@veryultraviolet]

the only characters that are confirmed dead in the League of Legends game are Ambessa, Viktor, and Jayce. Honestly it doesnt make any sense to me. Arcane is supposed to be multiple years before how the characters present in LoL, but these characters are dead so…???

[@ceressix]

OMG THE INTRO MUSIC CHOICE WAS SO GOOD I LITERALLY LOVE GHOST SM perfect match for viktor

[@thank_you_pete]

12:47 I personally saw a couple reasons why Older Viktor might want to continue the cycle by giving Jayce the crystal. One, I do think that the whole “only you” statement is supposed to mean that only Jayce could be the one to help Viktor see the errors of his ways, thus it’s his responsibility to make sure he sets the timeline in motion by giving Jayce the crystal. Second, I think this older Viktor is more mentally present than the Arcane Herald. We see him show remorse and regret for creating his “fields of endless solitude” and achieving nothing other than loneliness in the end. This version of Viktor DOES have emotions and wants these course of action to be stopped, and he knows Jayce will be the only one to do so. Third, I’d be remiss not to say that there might be a hint of selfishness in these actions, seeing as Jayce is practically the only person Viktor ever feels understood him. He is so dedicated to his partnership with Jayce that timelines are doomed to fail through his trial and error because he can’t imagine a life without Jayce, but also needs to find the ONE timeline where Jayce stops him. And no matter the outcome of each timelines events, Viktor says that Jayce still is the one to awaken his emotions again in all timelines and possibilities. I personally took this as Viktor realizing the repercussions of his actions only after ascending Jayce and no longer having his partner with him. idk tho but I know I will miss Machine Herald Vik like a mf…

[@B9Knight]

for me i think the entirety of viktor's lore changes and also the piltover changes can just be under viktor's own words "in all times, in all possibilities" ig we can just say acrane timeline is slowly diverging from league's in some ways like viktor wasn't the only one that changed a lot from my understanding isha didn't even exist in lol lore whenever a story uses a multiverse and time travel it becomes either terrible or a work of art like multiverse can allow that same bio engineer viktor to exist while this viktor exist while the old human viktor that is trying to save different timelines exist.... and maybe in another universe Vi doesn't remember her sister just like in league it is kind of a cheesy way to change whatever you want while allowing the original things to exist but tbh it's better than giving up on the old things

[@Kantorek17]

We're living in the lamest era of multiverse-everywhere ever. This type of stories of the infinite number of parallel worlds and parallel characters are crawling under the skin already. It just seems everyone are trying to recreate Spiderverse or Marvel movies sucess. The funniest thing is somewhere Amanda mentioned that she's been watching Marvel movies, and that's when the idea of bringing this concept to Arcane struck her mind 💀 Explains a lot, since instead of sticking true to the show original identity writing team started chasing someones else sucess. It's really a pity, what could've been

[@TwinklingMysticShot]

10:30 What I liked about the OG lore was that Hextech really reflected up on our real world. It was a source of energy humans and society had grown dependent on, despite it hurting others and being bad, and people were activly trying to cover up the bad stuff. In Runterra, this was ofc the Brakern crystals that tortured the souls of a spieces when being used and led to the mass extinction of said spiecis. But society was dependent on it and Camille and her family activly worked to hide the truth about this. In our world it is coal, gass and oil. It hurts the enviorment, it hurts humans (polution), it makes spiecies go extinct etc. and ofc our society is dependent on this technology too and some people work hard to cover up the bad stuff it leads to. Now in new lore, when we look at Mel and Viktor. One born with the gifts of the arcane, another not born with it. Mel uses the arcane to draw her magic with 0 consequenses. She literary learns it like it was childsplay and defeats one of Runterra's most powerful sorceress with it. And then there is Viktor, that was not gifted, and therefore fucks up everything because he "played" with magic he was not born gifted with. And then he dies as a consequens and becomes the big bad of the story. All it says is "Don't fuck with nature(?) or what ever unless you were lucky and was born allowed to do it" I guess???

[@TwinklingMysticShot]

13:00 Jayce might be dead in the ep 7 AU. This being likely as he was the only one not sent to this timeline. If not, Heimerdinger would have been like "Oh Jayce is currently hanging out [somewhere] atm and we are not at the time he appeared like you and me yet" Right? Cus we are shown that in all universes, only one version of each person can exist. Therefore there is only one Ekko and one Heimerdinger, and the original souls of these bodies was sent to who-knows-where until Ekko was sent home atleast. This creates a problem. How could Jayce have been sent to the future of that "perfect universe" if the Jayce of that universe was already dead?

[@TwinklingMysticShot]

Also if the "perfect universe" has same timeline as "main universe" then Viktor would have been very much dying or already be dead by the time "our Ekko" leaves that universe leaving little time for Powder to invent hextech and for Viktor to use that hextech to cure his disease

[@TwinklingMysticShot]

6:20 The writers, when asked if Viktor broke in to the academy to retrive his claw, confirmed Viktor did not retrive the original. Here is the intrested part: the writers confirmed he had it in mind when evolving and *choose to grow it himself*. Yup. It was not the hexcore or arcane. It was a choice he made himself-

[@karisrahl4444]

I love Ghost, and I love that you used a song of theirs in the intro.

[@veryultraviolet]

Theyre in my top 5 of all time and Life Eternal is one of my favorite songs ever.

[@MonsterEnjoyer69]

Ngl I hate the way his new mask looks. The split face makes it look like he has a wide nose and mouth and super wide spaced eyes, which makes it look kinda silly to me. There was concept art in the Arcane artbook where he looked more robotic, like a mix of his original design and this one, and I really don't understand why they didn't go with that design. They could've easily had the hextech evolution look more mechanical, that way it would at least be aesthetically different from the void and fit with the aesthetics of Piltover/Zaun. Something that also bothered me is how the Viktor puppets are white and gold. It makes them look like humanoid Demacian petricite golems and doesn't really match with Viktor's darker color scheme. Killing off champions also feels really dumb to me from a business perspective for a MOBA. I also think that the idea the writers have that characters need to die for a story to be compelling/gripping is stupid considering so many great stories don't have the main characters die.

[@TwinklingMysticShot]

Same, when I see the face under the mask it looks very silly and I find him stupid or funny looking instead lf horrific or intimidating. Plus, it did not transfer well in to the games. In the show, the mask looks ok. In game I absolutley HATE it.

[@TwinklingMysticShot]

Also just wanna ad, since Viktor wins in almost every universe. This means he became OP enough to win over Ryze, Zilean, Aurelion Sol, Voliber & Co. , Azir, the list goes on. Ryze wanna stop people that fucks with runes, Zilean can control time. Yet non of these people gave a fuck about what Viktor was up with all this time in all these timelines. Makes 0 sense nobody tried to stop him AND that he defeated gods. Atleast Aatrox can be thankful he made his job easier. And maybe Olaf could die happily in battle instead of because of age in these timelines.

[@dacoolestzzz]

I want to point out also that in season 1 it is pretty clear that the mage man is NOT Viktor. You can see his face model is not Viktor for the few seconds it shows. I don't know if he was even intended to be anything more than a mage wandering the world and stumbling upon a kid lol

[@MinhPham-tj9dg]

Awesome video with great nuances and video production 🔥

[@veryultraviolet]

aw thank you!!!

[@LukaR.1]

You made a great video, I agree with everything you've said except for this 14:41 Im pretty sure it was teased how someone else will exploit arcane technology for their causes.

[@uiopgamer4647]

I disagree this is peak Viktor

[@veryultraviolet]

im glad that you find enjoyment in something i dont

[@victor141415]

So many missed points. Suggest next time while watching arcane do it with your eyes open, I would try to propperly awnser you, but it's just so much miss interpretation that, any point presented to you would just fly over your head, so sorry you didn't enjoy Viktor's new desing buddy, but it is here to stay and it was very, very well made.

[@riasmmmailno30]

"Hey bro ur wrong but I won't tell you why so let me flood you with ad hominem instead" LMAO insane cope

[@TwinklingMysticShot]

Oh the classic "just because I dissagree with you, it means you did not pay any attention to the show". Sorry bro, that "argument" is getting old. Try to come with a better cunter argument next time

[@TwinklingMysticShot]

Like for example, instead of just saying "It's very very very well made" maybe come with an example of *why* it is that well made? 🙃

[@daBunky]

good video, but I do want to say you're wrong on Viktor and Jayce not being close. they very much were. While they fell out, Viktor was Jayce's only friend becausw Jayce was so incredibly arrogant and genial that he only respected Viktor; because Viktor was his equal in intellect. They were good friends, but didn't work much together. Once the whole golem shtick went down and Jayce desteoyed Viktor's laboratory, however, they never made up. There was never a touching reunion or whatever. There was only Jayce, dedicated to keeping his privileged place within the status quo, and Viktor, who hated the status quo. Jayce was also the bastard of a powerful man from Piltover, rather than whatever he is in Arcane, further exemplifying them as diametrical opposites in social issues.