@DrDiabolical is my main and my Ao3. Grinning at Shadows in the Mirror. You may notice that my main blog is curated and the content adheres to a categorical code. Here, I am much more loose and reblog whatever catches my fancy. If DrDiabolical follows you, you'll probably find reblogs of your posts here. MrDiabolical was taken so I had to settle for Sir :(
Lots of love to everyone has supported me, my fics, and my silly posts over at @sirdiabolical
I'm going to be leaving this blog behind. Life is too time consuming. Without getting into it, I'm very ill and it's not going to go away.
It's been fun, but every time I look at my works and my blog I feel guilty for starting something I couldn't finish. When I started this hobby, I didn't even have a diagnosis. I had some occasional symptoms. Four surgeries later, this is no longer the case. I may post again in the future, the occasional update. But I'll make no promises, I don't want to let anyone down.
I wish you all the best and all the love. Don't worry about me, I'm doing this so that I'll be okay in the future. Trust in my disappearing that I'm doing what's best for me, and I'll be a lot better in the long run.
I won't be responding to any replies or to any DMs. Please don't reblog this post.
While searching through Vander's memories, Viktor accidentally pushes too far and overbalances, falling, falling in a dizzying kaleidoscope of memories not his own until he abruptly lands in a heap.
When the world make sense again, three dizzyingly familiar faces look at him from the bar of The Last Drop.
Analysis: Arcane S2 Act 2 - What are the "flickers" hitting Jayce?
One of the few things I haven't seen analyzed based on Arcane 2.05-2.06 is what exactly is going on with the flickers, twitches, and overlaid versions of Jayce Talis we see?
Obviously, all analysis runs the risk of being laughably debunked on Nov. 23 but at the risk of making a fool of myself with the analysis and the potato quality of the screenshots I'm using, let me offer a theory.
So, remember at the end of Arcane Act 1 in 2.03 when the Wild Rune got all trippy and Jayce got "multiplied"?
Well now let's take a look at the "twitches" when Jayce keeps getting these little interruptions after he comes back in 2.05.
There's a slight shadowy overlay of himself that's merging with his image.
And when he first arrived back, three images of him merged into one, I just don't have as good a screenshot of it.
Anyway, so, what I think is happening is that every time Jayce is hit by one of these "twitches", it's one more split off dimensional version of himself returning to his body.
In theory, if his time in the Wild Rune involved time or dimension hopping, each of these split off versions of him is living in a different variation of what could happen in a different dimension or was experiencing a different time loop.
If that's the case, the reason Jayce "stutters" every time one returns is he's being hit with all the knowledge each variation has. That could include other attempts to fight Viktor, more knowledge about the void creatures, or even variations where Jayce died merging with his conscious, depending on different multiverse/time travel tropes, this is very much a few leaps of speculation as to what it does to him.
But it's clearly unbalancing and his demeanor actually changes a little each time one hits him. If anything, he seems to have a brief moment of horrible disorientation when they merge (or re-merge) with him, followed by his overall demeanor actually getting a bit steadier and more determined after he's regained his equilibrium.
Now throw in the freakout he has right before shooting Viktor. It does indeed look like Jayce is having a meltdown, or that part of him is resisting killing Viktor, all overlaid with him right before he shoots.
But I'd offer a third option: these are glimpses, shadows, of other variations of this event where Jayce did resist killing Viktor, or was angry when he confronted him, or had other, overpowering emotions unlike the relatively determined but emotionless version we see here.
The overlays are all the different emotions Jayce has experienced while reliving this moment over and over again in different dimensions or time loops. They're all flickering back into his body, one by one, leaving us with the Jayce we see who is exhausted and traumatized but otherwise seems determined and steady and does not hesitate before shooting Viktor.
I would argue, this because we are seeing glimpses of Jayce's past emotional attempts to attack Viktor, or not to, times where he was talked out of it, times where he was angry, times where he was emotional, all led to failed attempts that doomed the world. Maybe he has failed so many times because he was reluctant, or Viktor talked him out of it, or he was angry.
But this time, he just does the job. But we have a whole history of the times he didn't literally merging and overlaying with his body while we watch.
Anyway, I know I've made about 10 different leaps of speculation here, we really don't fully know what's going on yet but...
TL;DR, I think the visual stutters are other lives Jayce has lived returning to him, one by one, which at first disorients him but then gives him more information about different variations he's lived every time.
The Birth and Death of a Dream: Viktor and Jayce parallel
Spoiler Arcane season 2 arc 2 below the cut.
To be honest, I didn't realize the parallel between both scenes until I noticed the emphasis on the broken pieces of the weird Arcane shell in s2 act 2. Seeing the scenes side by side just makes you realize how many composition parallels exist. However, these are also completely opposite scenes.
In both scenes, Jayce has the same (or a very similar) look in his eyes; which is basically terror. In s1 scene, he's scared of not achieving it and it ending terribly wrong; in s2 he already knows everything involving the Arcane is terribly wrong, and still, he's terrified of the Arcane and what it has done with Viktor, because he does not longer recognize him.
The most obvious parallel here is how Viktor lets go the little piece I don't know what it's called. But it's not simply that he's letting go an object that held an important memory for him and Jayce. It's about letting go the Hextech dream. In s1 scene Jayce touches the little thing and moves it to Viktor, and he grabs it. Jayce literally invites him to be part of his Hextech dream, which Viktor accepts.
But as I said before, the S2 scene works not only as a parallel but as a complete opposite. The S1 scene is under a blue atmosphere; the color is associated with Hextech. In the S2 scene, the atmosphere is yellow, and the blue lights are few. The Hextech dream has changed; the Arcane has corrupted it.
So, while the s1 scene symbolizes Jayce and Viktor achieving Hextech and building a dream together, s2 scene means the assassination of it.
However, why it isn't necessarily bad?
Because Hextech has changed so much that's unrecognizable. In the same way that in s1 the crystal is blue and solid and in s2 the crystal (in Jayce's hammer) isn't longer any blue, it doesn't even look solid, with all the holes and that.
When Viktor lets go of the little thing it's not necessarily about letting go Jayce, it's about letting go Hextech. And with it, the dream he shared with Jayce.
It's sad; yes, but it isn't necessarily bad. Jayce killing Viktor (most importantly, killing the Hexcore) also symbolizes him letting go his dream and the work of his life. It is also sad, yes, but it shows amazing character growth and maturity. He justified the use of the Hexcore to keep Viktor alive at his side when it clearly changed Viktor into something unrecognizable.
And it's the same with Viktor, he lets go the Hextech dream, but why was he climbing into it? Because he justified it with the "help" he was providing to the people. But this is not different to what Jayce did to him, mixing him with the Arcane leaving something physically and emotionally unrecognizable.
He lets go the little thing because he's dying. But what if he also lets it go because he sees how the Arcane has made Jayce someone unrecognizable ("That's not Jayce")? They both realize the Arcane has changed the other at such an intrinsic level that's no longer worth it.
The little thing symbolizes their shared dream, but also themselves. It has a completely corrupted side but, the other side besides being a cleaner is still starting to get corrupted.
Because both Viktor and Jayce have been touched by the Arcane, Viktor has accepted it and used it for what he thinks is good, Jayce doesn't. But still has been touched by it.
The gemstone is in his skin but it has been corrupted, he's corrupted, less than Viktor but corrupted at the end of the day.
Most important, the thing that symbolizes his dream is corrupted and it's in his skin. He cannot remove the gem as he did with the bracelet, he cannot remove the corruption inside him Arcane has left. He has intrinsically changed, his dream (what defined him as a character) has changed too and he cannot get rid of it. Jayce won't be the same ever.
This change, this transformation of Jayce is represented through his physical appearance, he's older; yes. But he's also contradicting what has defined him form season 1.
Season 1 episode 1 is incredibly important for Jayce because without showing him the show gives us key points about his character.
He's privileged: He has a real Valdiani and all
He works in his appearance: For the nose hair trimmer
He's an inventor
And, what we see in season 2 is this:
A man who no longer worries about appearance and whose clothes are totally destroyed, the clothes that he used as an inventor. His change is less evident than Viktor's, who literally dies and wakes up as something different. But I dare to say that Jayce (as a character) has died too, waking up as something different, just as Viktor's.
Besides. I would like to point out how in s1 they are both floating in the air due to the Hexcore magic.
But in s2 scene, Viktor is the only one floating in the air while Jayce has the feet on the earth. When Jayce shoots him he doesn't only create a hole in his chest; the place where the Hexcore entered into Viktor's body. He also brings Viktor back to earth. In s1 they were both floating amazed, now Jayce is no longer amazed by it and in consequence, brings Viktor back to earth, actually and metaphorically.
And I think that has to be something about both of them realizing the risks of the Arcane.
And, if you're interested, a brief analysis of wtf is happening with jayvik this season here
The only scenes we got wherein Viktor actually expressed any emotions were the scenes in the cosmos. On the ground, within his Herald Era, he always has the same expression: calm, tired eyes, eyebrows slightly furrowed, mouth thinned.
Meanwhile, in the cosmos, we see him actually reacting to the things he comes into contact with: Vanders soul, Jayce's actions, etc. Look at him: his wide-eyed wonder, his almost childlike, innocent curiosity, his search for answers.
THAT is Viktor. This is him as we knew him in s1 act I, where he and Jayce figured out hextech. Where they levitated. Where they explored and discovered. And his eyes! Theyre gold! Those are Viktors eyes!
Maybe, without his deteriorating physical body to hold him back, Viktor can finally focus on that which he always loves: science.
"Scientists seek discoveries", and he still does!
Yes, his mind-body-soul-heart connection was, well lets say muddled at best (which does bring up my fav philosophical question of "where does the [sense of] self end?", but that aside), but he was still There, at least in some form.
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