Michael, you would fall and turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime.
Edit: i forgot to say, but yes! The caption is indeed lyrics from the song "White Winter Hymnal" By Fleet Foxes!
Super inspired by @weevildead 's michael painting! I hesitate to post this bc it was super experimental, and i hate the hair and how unblended the edges are w the obvious layers and weird blurring and stray marks...but idc im posting it.
Happy (slightly belated) Halloween, everybody! I’ve been wicked busy this term but I managed to put together some new screens for The Cabinet. Some musical snippets and other assorted bits n bobs to follow :) 🎃🕹️❤️
I want to quickly talk about Sky and Viktor's final words to each other, as it gives us some insight into Viktor's motivations in Act 3, as well as implications of his feelings for Jayce:
Christian Linke (Co-writer) confirmed Sky isn't alive; she's a manifestation of Viktor's guilt, created by the Hexcore to manipulate him.
It's also confirmed Amanda Overton (Writer) that Viktor was hopelessly projecting his relationship with Jayce onto Sky/the Hexcore as a way to cope with his loneliness.
Viktor's defeat and Jayce's rejection is what ultimately pushes him to give himself over to the Hexcore, shedding his humanity. This was the Hexcore's plan all along (CL's words). Once it had what it needed, Sky was no longer required to push Viktor toward the Glorious Evolution.
Before learning Sky wasn't real, I interpreted "No, you won't" as her knowing Viktor would lose his humanity, forget her, and lose himself after ascending. But now knowing she's a projection of his guilt, that interpretation doesn’t hold up.
"You won't," coming from an omnipotent being focused on evolution and higher understanding, should probably be taken at face value. It's a matter-of-fact retort, like it sees right through him.
It doesn’t make much sense as a premonition. The Hexcore, while powerful, doesn’t seem capable of seeing the future. You could argue, "You won't," translates to, "I’ll take over your mind and body, and you won’t really be you anymore." But this doesn’t fully align, as even after Viktor’s transformation, he is still present. The Hexcore uses him as a vessel, steering him with guilt, not erasing his identity. This interpretation feels unnecessarily cruel for something above human emotion.
The line is nothing more than an observation, stated plainly after the ruse was up. It acknowledges that there was never truly any of Sky to miss—Viktor barely knew her before her death, and that is one of his biggest regrets contributing to his guilt.
Here’s what I think:
The Hexcore conjures Sky to ease Viktor into his villain arc. As a manifestation of his guilt, she subtly manipulates him into pursuing the Glorious Evolution by giving him a false sense of righting his wrongs. But Viktor’s connection to her is a facade, and the Hexcore knows it. Viktor is hopelessly seeking in Sky what he desperately missed with Jayce—and the Hexcore knows this too. Remember when Viktor talks to Singed about Vander/Warwick? Viktor intuits Singed’s true motivation—saving his daughter.
This means the Hexcore is undoubtedly aware of Viktor's pain.
“I will miss our talks," Viktor says, speaking to someone he’s using as a stand-in for Jayce.
It's easy for Viktor to say he will miss their talks. Sky was filling a hole for him. That's all this version of herself existed to do. Talking with her was the closest approximation he had to what he really wanted.
The tragedy of this line doesn’t solely come from him mourning a relationship that was never real. Remember viktor made the decision to transform immediately following jayces rejection of him. He's not mourning Sky- he's mourning the loss of what he had with Jayce.
"No, you won't," simply meant, "I'm not the one you will be missing.”
Please enjoy this edit here on Tumblr in full. ❤️ Focusing on the GLORIOUS EVOLUTION of Viktor (with lots of Jayce too, because you can't have one without the other). HOW are these lyrics so perfect?
Note that we're working on reinstating this on YouTube without muting if possible (it's currently blocked globally), but it's also on TikTok in 2 parts. We will likely be posting as a youtube short as well just so it's findable on YouTube.
I think there's just something in it. This blanket.
When Viktor rejects his past, his job, his social standing, his academic ambitions - all that and more. He goes to live his new life fully naked. Only with that blanket in tow. But when Viktor starts to build his new life, and his new self, closer to his actual goals (at least so he thinks at the moment), he doesn't get any new clothes.
People in the commune did. Sort of. They have redressed for the new life. And Viktor keeps wearing the only thing he brought over from the previous one. The cane doesn't count here, it also transformed into it's new self. But the blanket is still the same blanket. Just wrapped more securely around Viktor to give more coverage and protection like clothes would.
I'd say the commune followed Viktor's lead in ditching their old fashion styles and wrapping themselves in loose fabrics, like monks. For them it was abandoning their past. For Viktor it was not letting go of his. Not completely at least.
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There's something, s o m e t h i n g in this, you know?
He was wearing that blanket and only it. It became part of his divine (?) soul.
We don't see it on him in the arcane mindscape, where Viktor is happy and exploring with Sky (like he wanted to do with Jayce). We don't see it on him, when they talk honestly with Jayce. Viktor is actually naked there, soul bare, doing what he always wanted to do.
But each time Viktor tries to reject and diminish himself and his humanity, the blanket is there on his shoulders.
----
And I don't mean it in the soft "Jayce is always there caring about Viktor's wellbeing" way (even though it's totally true). Maybe Jayce did put that blanket on him the first time, but Viktor did it himself all the times after that. He kept the blanket and wore it in the commune. His mind created his celestial body on the arcane-plane, where the blanket wrapped around him like flesh. His divine evolved self picked the blanket up from the floor it fell on, after Viktor stepped out of the cocoon fully naked, not needing anything in life anymore but his goals.
----
This contradiction is so human.
It's like. No matter how strongly Viktor might want to destroy himself, his self who is weak and not needed. There was this one gesture of kindness towards him. At, probably, one of the most terrible moments of his life. When he was accepted and cared for as he is, even if Viktor couldn't beare it at the moment.
Idk, man. Now pull the blanket tight.
----
Even when Sky (symbolic representation of Viktor's guilt and desire for connection) was gone, he kept the blanket. On his soul now.
The braces on Viktor's god-self mean several things at once (not getting into it here, maybe in another post). But the blanket moving to that plane, too? Viktor's subconscious clutching at it, despite everything?
Like he actually never could let go of his humanity. Like it's impossible, when there's at least one little lifeline left. A glimmer of hope, of desire Viktor wouldn't even acknowledge to have.
Not even talking about the great gay love here.
----
Viktor wearing the blanket, pulling it tighter each time he essentially tried to kill himself. Means that he wants it. That connection. That kindness. Means that he wants to live. Despite everything.
If Viktor really fully lost himself in his ascension, his older self wouldn't have been able to recognise that desire.
Viktor's tragedy is not in him losing his humanity. It's in the fact that this goal, this Perfection is impossible to achieve to begin with.
(The dehumanised ableist perfection of capitalistic ideal life, and "fitting in" lies in this grave, too.)
He has to keep choosing to accept to not be human, each time at each turn. Accept it from the world, the system of power. From himself.
And yet, he never can. Not fully.
This is why the grand lie of it all is Viktor's salvation, too.
---
As soon as Viktor regained his (human) perception of himself, the blanket disappeared almost completely.
And when he faced his fears and desires and came back to himself fully - the blanket is gone.
Because Viktor doesn't need the externalised symbol of everything he's trying to let go off. All the yearning and desire to live is within him now (also Jayce is actually there with him, bet that helps).
---
I think this is the major point I disagree with in other, more pessimistic reads of the show's themes. That it's a story about oppressed people lashing out and breaking themselves in various ways to escape the pressure and threat of death from the world. That it doesn't go anywhere but conformity or death. Oh, I can write another separate essay about how Viktor and Jayce didn't die at the end and how important it is that it didn't happen. This whole rant is part of it, too.
And I mean, bad things do happen to people in the story, they do lash out and break.
----
And yet, Viktor wears the blanket. Clings to it so strongly it becomes part of his godhood. Strong enough to eventually tell about it all (back in time) to Jayce.
And yet, even under unimaginable pressure, after breaking completely, Viktor is still holding on to that blanket. Is still human. Despite what the world told him all his life. Despite the world wanting him dead, gone, forgotten, not caring one bit, despite Viktor agreeing with all this eventually. He holds the blanket close.
Despite Viktor becoming a monster in everyone else's minds, a real threat to the proper Piltover society and his own people in Zaun. Despite all that, Jayce can still look at Viktor at his worst, most distant and cruel and say "I see you. I need you. As you are".
Despite Viktor going past any possible point of no return, destroying his body and mind, and being ready to destroy the world, too, despite giving in to everything he feared. Viktor can still hear it from Jayce and realise he was wrong.
Despite fucking it up infinite amount of times, there was still always the chance to get it right, and they found it.
----
Like. Isn't it wild. No amount of dehumanisation or cruelty you experienced can make you less human. Less worthy of care and love.
do you think jayce still would’ve resurrected him if viktor had died due to his illness instead of the bomb. do you think the pure shock and horror of seeing viktor alive next to him one minute and then lifeless in the rubble the next was the reason he brought him back without considering viktor’s wishes. or do you think jayce would’ve done it no matter what. because he couldn’t imagine a life without viktor. do you think-
Headcanon that after they vanish into the rune, Jayce and Viktor travel the multiverse averting Hextech in multiple universes and it's remarkably easy to get past-Viktor to stop in a number of places, because Viktor had an emergency cease-and-desist code phrase for himself if he ever fucked up with science so bad his future self had to come back and warn him against it.
(Jayce thinks this is the coolest fucking thing he's ever heard. Everyone else is wondering why Viktor was so sure he'd fuck up with universe-altering science that he'd need a code word with himself to stop it.)
Parallels between Jayvik and the Phantom of the Opera
I can't believe I haven't seen any discussion yet around the musical theater influences in Arcane S2 so far (besides my one mention of its parallels with Les Miserables).
So as a basic, Phantom of the Opera-loving bitch, can we please take a moment to examine the Phantom of the Opera parallels that are literally shoved in our faces during this opening sequence and what that means for Jayvik?
Viktor is the Phantom. The show opening outright says it. The parallels are there. They're impossible to miss.
And then, when you dig a little deeper, hooo boy those parallels become even more stark. Especially if you read Viktor as romantically pining after Jayce, which 99.9999% of humanity does.
To quickly summarize, Phantom of the Opera is the story of a deformed genius who falls in love with an opera singer, Christine, and then nurtures her talents, only for her to in turn fall in love with a nobleman, Raoul. The ensuing love triangle is the heart of the plot, with Raoul and the Phantom both vying for Christine's love.
This shouldn't be a hard one to see the parallels for.
Viktor = The Phantom. Literally a genius born with a disfigurement, in this case a disability he sees as a weakness and a disease that is sapping away his life and hope of a legacy. He is riddled with jealousy for the person trying to pull his scientific/musical partner away from him, a person who happens to be beautiful and live a life of privilege that Raoul/Mel could offer to Jayce/Christine instead.
Jayce = Christine. Instead of sharing genius in music, he and Viktor share genius in science. Like Christine, he is tugged between the glittering world of politics and privilege, vs his genius and love at a more esoteric skill, in this case science instead of music.
Mel = Raoul. Literally an aristocrat who is far more beautiful than the Phantom/Viktor, who steals away his partner's attention and offers them a glittering life of privilege in the public eye instead of the wonders of their joint musical/scientific pursuits. Whether or not Mel meant to embody this, or steal Jayce from Viktor, this is the role she fulfills in Viktor's view of the world.
But the most profound moment for me of, "Oh wow, they're doing Phantom of the Opera! Actually, they're not just doing Phantom, they're doing Phantom fixit fic?!" was this:
Which, if you'll forgive the potato quality of the screenshots, is literally the moment Viktor has his mask knocked away and then cringes in on himself to hide his exposed face from Jayce.
Which... is literally a scene in Phantom of the Opera? Just after "Music of the Night"?
But we're already in Phantom fixit territory, because Jayce doesn't recoil like Viktor expects! Instead, he embraces Viktor and loves him for all his self-perceived flaws.
And then, AND THEN, in a moment that made my Phantom-loving heart sing, Viktor tells Jayce to go!
And Jayce doesn't.
In the final song of the Phantom of the Opera musical, Christine is forced to choose between Raoul and the Phantom. She chooses the Phantom and kisses him. Flooded by remorse, the Phantom then relinquishes her to the man he knows she truly loves, and when Christine hesitates to leave, he shouts at her, "Go!" and then, of course, she and Raoul leave together.
Viktor is expecting that to happen! I think his order to Jayce very clearly implies that he thinks Mel and Jayce are still together. It's the classic, "Go be with the woman you love instead of staying here and dying with me," trope that we see over and over again in dramas.
But Jayce. Defies. The Trope.
Unlike Christine and just about every buddy war movie out there, he stays with Viktor. He chooses his scientific/artistic partner over the life of aristocracy and privilege that Mel would theoretically offer him. He chooses the masked genius with the disability and calls him perfect. He refuses to go when he is ordered to leave. He stays with Viktor until the end.
And I still can't believe that no one else is talking about this!
please don't let them take me, sure there's nothing left to try, i can feel the light shine on my face, did i disappoint you? will they still let me over? if i cross the line?
Ok most people have figured this out I believe but here’s to those who haven’t
The hexcore like a parasite using Viktor as its host to feed.(here’s my proof)
So in act one Mel reached out to touch the hexgoop that Viktor was defrosting in and the hexgunk reached back and tried to grab her (signaling that it is hungry).
We also know that the hexcore can straight up pulverize people (Sky) but after she was “absorbed” the hexcore’s animation almost replicated ced a burp.
When Viktor became robo jesus the hexcore used Sky’s likeness to pull on Viktor’s guilt of killing her to lead him to a group of very desperate and vulnerable people willing to try anything to change the situation they’re in. (very culty) (also easier to convince to “heal”)
When Viktor does the “healing” magic the subjects lose they’re entire personality (Huck and Salo for example) and when Jayce came back in the room with Salo, Jayce had visible breath while Salo did not.
Jayce’s “hallucinations” also show everyone as mindless husks, shells in the shape of a human with a hole in the head showing the shallow and mindless nature of these “people”.
I think the hexcore is feeding on these innocent people while keeping their shell intact to make Viktor think that he is helping people so that he will keep unintentionally feeding it.
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