The PROBLEM: Jayce has to have invented Hextech in the AU Viktor timeline without Viktor going back, saving Jayce, and giving him the rune stone. This is why the hammer is there at the end of that timeline for Jayce to grab otherwise it becomes a leg brace. Also AU Viktor wouldn’t exist to go back. You cant make AU Viktor going back a requirement to his existence. But this would mean that AU Viktor is messing with another timeline by giving Jayce different world runes. But Jayce and Viktor end up dead in the end so why not just kill him? Or make sure Vi dies since in that timeline everything is fine?? And this would mean Viktor has already traveled to mess with our timeline and there are many better options than getting to the point where Viktor kills 100’s with him and Jayce… AU Viktor hurts my head. Also why Viktor looks different in the AU timeline and not like this crazy machine. That is the conclave Viktor ending since Jayce never sees the future to go back and blast a hole in his chest Let me know if you all want a video of me explaining this
I honestly feel like there needs to be a time line with a rough age estimate of the characters from season 1 and 2. Also we need to make sense of where the f*ck Mel was ejected from the Rose as she traveled by foot back to Piltover being in time for Viktors assault but being late to Jayce killing Salo. Because that Raven demon might not even be fused with Swain yet. I feel like this video could be 10 hours long on its own lol
So, about why viktor is different in the AU, i think it is bc jayce hasn't blasted him, so he didn't needed singed to remove all humanity from him to continue alive. I also think that this ending is not the "assimilation ending" that the real viktor was persuing, i think this is some kind of consequence of using too much hextech and hexcore
It's Okay that the whole timeline doesn't make any sense, because the whole show doesn't make any sense also. Stunning visuals, VA, music are making the second season good enough to watch and covering for the laziest storytelling ever. Probably even worse than the last Season of the Game of Thrones. And it's not just my opinion. Moreover, I had a feeling that from the very begging of the second season we are following different universe, because characters and political background somehow were very different from the ones in the first season, and I was really surprised that alternative universes are a thing. And people tried to draw time traveling schemes to understand what's happening in Arcane, and... It just doesn't make any sense. Storytelling recklessness problem, that just explain everything. The worst thing to claim it to be a basics for new lore.
@@alarichrul6639 The reason the back ground seems different is because we face now a time of war? War changes people. And honestly I really don’t get why anyone could think Arcane has lazy writing. Especially season 2
He tries to before and they shaft him pretty hard. Remember ekko saying we are having the same day since he tried to help piltoger by returning the hextech gemstone
@@entgrove he tried and got shafted after silco effectively won executive control over zaun and people became jaded and hooked on shimmer. He didn't try 3 and a half years before the start of the time skip.
@entgrove Also since he got sent 3 years into the past, Heimer would've been councilor when he was sent back, so he probably had the power to do more as head of the council. He basically got a do over in the AU after learning from Ekko.
The reason is most likely due to Silco finding Vander’s apologetic letter in the other universe. The two team up, run the Lanes, and don’t contribute to the development, production, and distribution of Shimmer.
On why the hammer isn’t working: My personal thought here goes back to when Heimerdinger notes that the reason the arcane causes destruction is not because of human error necessarily but because the arcane has a mind of its own in a sense and is retaliating or pushing back against its misuse. In this universe, the “perfection” that victor talks about is complete stillness, the total eradication of emotion and humanity. In that sense, the arcane has also reached stillness and “perfection,” thus stopping conflict, but also motion. The arcane, and also life itself, has died in this universe, and so the hammer has no energy to tap into. Very rudimentary thoughts here, not very coherent lol. Feel free to critique or add on.
It does make sense but i would say in terms of heimerdingers opinion its both, he witnessed the corruption the power of wielding the arcane brings and while he might understand that the arcane having a mind of its own is part of that or rather takes part in forming said corruption I think he still mainly believes that its just too great of a power to not give in to it. Jayce and Viktor are also good examples, both got consumed by the possibilities of hextech but for different reasons, jayce wanted to help ppl and enhance piltovers society while viktor was mainly looking for a way to save himself allthough in his mind it was also for the good of society. Both realised tho that they were consumed by it, jayce when he killed the kid and viktor when the hexcore killed his assistant however at that point he was still more enough of himself to realise it had to be destroyed and that it has a mind of its own. Jayce saving his life cost the end of everything which is kinda paradox as often in arcane and also life the more u try to achieve smth or force smth the further u stray away from it. Sometimes just letting things take their course will end up right where it needs to be and we often may not know that they are where they need to be at that moment. If Vi wasnt so overprotective Powder may have never turned into Jinx, if Powder didnt try to prove herself Vander wouldnt have died, if Vander didnt betray Silko and instead tried to stick with him he would have been able to save the both of them. List goes on.
My theory is that he was brought here to learn something, not to fight something. So his hammer is disabled so he doesn't even consider fighting when confronted with the creatures.
I like this.. this makes sense. My two cents was that the arcane only works in its home universe.. but as I say that how would victor use his power across timelines and universes
10:39 - This technique is called "kintsugi" The Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold or silver is called kintsugi, which means "join with gold". Philosophy: Kintsugi is an extension of the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, which values simplicity and finds beauty in imperfection. Purpose: Kintsugi encourages people to fix rather than discard, and to celebrate flaws and missteps.
Ekko is avoiding mind control not because he was under some rubble. But probably because both him and Jayce are touched by the anomaly (they're the only two not controlled directly by that beam). And resist it pretty well once grabbed because he already just left the very "bright future" Viktor show to people (with that amazing ep7). (All a guess from other video but; that sounds more reasonable than "he was under a roof.")
As for the hammer not working in the bad ending timeline: the hextech weapons malfunctioned and weren’t working correctly during the fight between Jinx, Vi and Cait in act 2. This was when the anomaly was acting up with Jayce, Ekko and Heim. I’d assume there is a correlation between that and the hammer not working in the bad ending timeline.
imo since its the bad ending, the entire world gets swallowed up in the anomaly that viktor casts in the last ep, and since hextech doesnt work properly when exposed, jayce's hammer is useless bc the whole world is the anomaly
A lot of context is lost because of emotions, so I’m sure this video will be helpful to everyone, and man by far these video essays are what I love the most about arcane, 1st and 2nd season alike
Everything in arcane feels like it was done with intention. It was 2 seasons where every frame had a purpose. Such an amazing 2 seasons and I hope now that they see their is an audience for it, where and whenever we go next will get 3 seasons
@@entgrove If Ruination Event come, it can be made with 2 seasons. The 1st season for human Veigo & the 2nd season for fighting Veigo with the Light Team
I still don't understand though why he was certain that throwing the time thingy at victor will solve everything ? It does make since killing victor with the green sword will unleash his grip from everybody
23:23 Janna does get referenced, they are in an ancient temple to Janna (Janna's image is on the walls) when Cait tries to shoot her sister-in-law's child in the face (just after they form a death squad that breaks Geneva conventions in order to travel)
I think future Viktor fuses the acceleration rune with Jayce so once Jayce‘s mind or soul or whatever enters Viktor‘s mind he is still „in possession“ of this rune or at least he is carrying it in this spiritual form of himself too. I think if it the rune stayed just as a physical object it would have not entered Viktor‘s mind and would have been lost similar to all other physical belongings. Also, I don’t think the acceleration rune saves them but rather is what absorbs the singularity as well as Viktor (being connected to the singularity) and all things connected to Viktor as well as Jayce since he stays in contact with Viktor.
I love how Jinx is positioning her legs on "Vander's" chest during the fall. She does this to intimately tell her father goodbye, but also gets ready to bounce off of him in order to escape through one of the side-tunnels before they hit the ground. Simply genius. The whole show!
thank you for this explanation!! i came to this understandings on my own but i feel a lot of viewers got kinda confused or didnt payed attention to the acceleration rune and how THIS exact universe is the only one saved. so thanks for helping others understand this plot line
At 18:26 I think the strings of light can't sense both Echo or Jace because of their traversal through the wild rune this is also why Victor personally uses his hands to take control of Jace
You know when I was watching arcane over and over I would skip that part 😅 I wasn't joking it really hurt me. Why I chose to hurt others is I think a self issue
I now understand better the purpose of Viktor and Jayce in the series and their story, however there is one thing i still dont get. Throughout the seasons we see Viktor growing and gradually getting more sick till the moment of Glorious Evolution and him becoming insensitive machine. Then at the end of the show we learn that Viktor is the Mage from Season 1 that keeps going back, saving Jayce and giving him the rune in all those timelines, which leads to the creation of Hextech eventually. My question is: HOW is Viktor in that "mage form" since the last form we ever see him as is the Machine. How he becomes a Mage in what looks human form and how he has the ability to travel in time??
Here is what I think. In that timeline. The conclave continues. Jayce never destroyed it because he never travels to the future. In that timeline Jayce survives without Viktor going back and does not get a ruin but they still discover hex tech. This is the conclave ending
@@entgrove Right, it is also possible that Vander never dies in that timeline, so there is no Warwick and thus no Apex Chemtech to merge with Viktor. Instead he constantly needs to Siphon energy from a Wild Rune. This is likely possible as we see Salo getting some of the containers when Jayce first returns.
The arcane already lets you travel through time and through alternate realities. I think he becomes a mage because in theory he absorbs everyone in that universe into the hive mind so he gains what they know.
Okay. My theory about why Jayce's Hammer doesn't work in the bad future is that the anomaly, where the hex crystal gets its arcane power from, is not in the mesh anymore. Victor takes it in his fight against past Jayce. And seeing as Jayce was sent to a future where he fails, Victor still has the anomoly. Also There can only be one anomaly, and Victor has it in all realities where he lives.. but Ekko makes an anomaly in the only reality where Victor does not live. So.. thats why Victor remarks "this device cannot *be*". Anywho, that's my theory
@entgrove Aww damnit you're right! Maybe it could be based on the rune Jayce was given? So the future that Jayce was sent to wasn't an "acceleration rune" timeline as that one had not passed yet, but a different rune timeline. So maybe the hex crystal doesn't react or can't channel power from an anomaly with differing base science/engineering behind it?? Hmm... I like thinking about this stuff
Yeah I think you were on to something but the Anomaly at the Hexgate exists, and I assume Viktor is one Anomaly as he is combined with the hexcore. We also see the Anomaly in Jayce hammer after he returns. Where it looks like Viktor gets temporarely occupied with it’s existence. So the way I have been thinking about it is that when Viktor reaches his Glorious Evolution he is part of the Arcane. Making him a constant, he could exist in all timelines and universes, but he himself is not omnipresent. Which would adress the core issue of Viktor. Some argue that the Ekko Powder timeline is a good one, which I disagree with. Since its likely Viktor can find the notes Jayce was working on, but it could also mean that the impact of Jayce succeeding in one timeline could have broken the constant. The key is that Viktor is not all knowing, so him being confused by Ekkos device is important because it shows that his idea of ”in all timelines, in all universes.. only you” speech is most likely false. He is flawed. He is a human trying to remove all flaws, thus being a paradox. Tldr Viktor is a unreliable narrator, even with all his glorious power and intellect. Because he is just human. I’d argue that they set up many hints to him being ”unreliable” during the seasons.
Also something interesting to note but I’m not too sure if it makes a difference: Jayce gets teleported into the future of the current timeline but Ekko is transported to an alternate reality. Viktor is trying to save this current reality which is why he gives Jayce the acceleration rune so it isn’t a different universe/alternate reality
The biggest problem os that the hooded figure was supposed to be ryze but riot had a lot more to do with season 2. That's also why warick survives the explosion he was originally supposed to die early.
Also a neat detail with the Z-drive, when Ekko goes to save Jinx, you can see his face paint fading with each rewind (Assuming the heat is burning it off).
For people with addictive tendencies, eventually, getting HAMMERED loses it's effectiveness and they seek out/need something stronger to alleviate their suffering. The drawback is that something stronger might just kill you.
6:59 more like magic is fluctuating the gem after all we seen hextech from vi and cait sort of just glitch out when the arcane itself (the orb thing you see is the arcane) is present, since victor caused ruination on piltover and perhaps the world, with the arcane, you can see that when viktor reached the top of the tower on the last episode
I like how explained stuff and like you said At the end many characters that didn't appear in arcane did not. Appear because they we're already too many characters or they don't show up yet in the timeline like zeri, Renata, seraphine and urgot
Powder follows Ekko into the cannon Arcane timeline. In Season 2 episode 7 we pretty early get to see powder noticing Ekko's notes about alternate timelines. Its pretty plain to see that she learns how both devices work the Z-Drive & the Dimensional Traveler. "Ma Meilleure Ennemie" the song of Ekko & Powders dance scene roughly translated to. "You are my worst enemy, leave me you are my best enemy, free me it hurts when your with me, I am in love with you" If we know arcane songs have alot of meaning. I think Powder has had a side of her that blamed her version of Ekko for VI's death. As the song ends we find her falling in love with our version of Ekko. Also when Ekko goes back to his timeline you can see the dots finally connect for Powder as she stairs at the broken portal presuming forlorn. In the last episode before we see Ekko burn a paper for Jinx (Who most likely is alive) we can see what i believe is Powder (as the hair & outfit match). I think that powder is trying to be with Ekko, following him into the current timeline. Have fun with this knowledge.
I like the theory but powder outs the blue flower in the same drawer with the hex crystals she never touched. I think alternate timeline powder stays there and her closing the drawer is her closing the book. Also it would be kind of weird for her to leave ekko for ekko 😅 I’m gonna rewatch the paper burn scene I did not notice this but if it’s there that’s insane!!
@@entgrove Just rechecked Its a different person, the hair & outfit are the same, but its pretty obvious on a closer/bigger screen that its not her. I still standby the fact she fell in love with our version of ekko & the songs meaning (because I listened to the English version of the song & that's pretty obvious after re-watching that episode). But she most likely did just close the book on the thing, burying her memory of the 2 of them in the same drawer as VI. The Powder Theory is pretty sweet & its going around with not just me. But I think on a closer look that it isn't true.
Unfortunately powder cant go to time ekko since jinx is still alive two of the same person cant exist one has to take over the other and since jinx hit the dash outta piltover/zaun not likely shes showing up
Check the Arcane Afterglow for season 2 act 3. The writers say they wanted to make something more about of Jayce and Viktor but ultimately chose that it killed them when it sucked them up.
@@entgrove Technically, Christian Linke said Jayce and Viktor were not "fine", got "vaporized" and it was "their end." He never used the word "dead" soooooooo I'm trying to cope here.
In his interview with Necrit (which was recorded later), he said there is a possibility for Viktor (and assumingly Jayce since they're connected/merged) to exist in some form
I remember Janna appeared as a myth in one of the chapters, when Vi joined the piltover forces, it was not as a character but rather as a story, we can see her shape when Jinx mentions her as the "wind lady" that helps people from Zaun breathe clear air when needed the most
What do you think about the yellow eyes at the beginning? I think they are all ravens but the ravens at the beginning have yellow eyes and later they are red
@@entgrove I'm not sure but crows have smoother feathers while Ravens are fluffier. If they are yellow eyed ravens they could just be regular birds. If yellow eyed crows...idk maybe just crows, maybe something more.
Check out my black rose video. I look at all the ravens before act 3 dropped. They show up a lot but always have yellow eyes. Now at the end they are always red 👀 I though it was maybe the black rose and Leblanc (yellow eyes) Red eye ones are definitely Swain
they might have gone back in time with the acceleration rune using what he saw from ekko, in order to complete the circle and start the timeline again, saving jace and her mother
Hot-Take: When Jayce hammered the Anomaly, the Anomaly tried to manipulate all three of them. Send Ekko and Heimer to a timeline/universe where they would be satisfied staying, that way getting rid of them. Make Jayce think he must kill Viktor in order to stop him, but in reality, the Anomaly "knows" that this series of events will allow it to take over using Viktor down the line. The Anomaly did not bet on human emotions, Ekko manages to come back with his dream of a better world, and prevents Viktor from completing his work by allowing him to see what Jayce "saw" which was the manipulation from the Anomaly but they both believe it as facts (it sounded believable without the time travel paradoxes). Viktor destroys his new form and as Jayce uses the acceleration rune, to stop the corruption of the Anomaly seems like, all the infected ones are called back by the Anomaly to stop Viktor and Jayce or something? it really seems like a fighting scene to me, and at the end they warped out due to Ekkos z-drive overload. Now that I wrote that out. Does Ekko keep his Z-Drive??? or it went our wirh Jayce and Viktoer. Also, this hot-take avoids time traveling except Ekko's z-drive, which we can explain. Also, corrupted mage at the end, like the one we saw from the Anomaly at the bottom of the hexgate, KINDA SUS, the initial mage is still unknown, goes Ryze-like territory, he has a Human Ryze skin in game, he does not need to be blue all the time. I don't think i forget anything. I just struggle to accept the time traveling paradoxes that are inevitable at some points.
My theories on where both Jayce and Viktor went are as followed worse case scenario a desolate wasteland being chased down by Viktor's machines as punishment for their sins and best case scenario both of them and everyone that Viktor turned have been sent back in time with only Jayce and Viktor having the memory of future events, so they decide to abandon hextech research and just live out their lives differently.
I was confused by the whole timeline/multiverse shenanigans after my first and even second watch. Your video is the first video to explain it and I understand it now. Thankyou!
What doesn't make sense is how did VIktor go back in time to save Jayce? If Jayce was meant to die in the ice, then hextech wouldn't have existed, so no hexcore, no time traveling Viktor.
Yep, thats exactly what I thought. And even in a timeline where Jayce wouldn't die in the ice, Viktor wouldn't come to save him and wouldn't give him the rune, therefore also no Hextech and no Viktor that would be able to timetravel. There needs to be a timeline where Viktor can timetravel, but for a time traveling Viktor there needs to be a timeline where a time traveling Viktor saved Jayce in the ice.
so conflicted about Viktor... on the one hand, the alternative future jayce went through was aesthetically amazing with all the creepy mannequins walking around, and on the other, i really wanted to see Viktor in an aesthetic design more closely related to the LoL depiction of a cyborg wizard trying to turn people into cyborgs, him having an army of OP mannequins in the real world is pretty lame NGL he didn't even need the Noxian army to help him because his own came out of nowhere. I refuse to believe Ambessa was stupid enough to think Viktor would actually help her out in the way she wanted and just become cannon fodder whose survivors turn into mannequins.
thinking the same thing. ambessa, as smart and tactical as she was, could not grasp the end game of it all when viktor reaches his goal. like bruh, you dont need to be a genius to know that you are next after that human-hater supervillain you are "allied" with is done dealing with the humans you guys are up against lol.
@@carlosvaldez3093the only possible reason I could think of for her allying with him is that she is that afraid of the black rose. Their strongest members were probably freaky enough to convince her that she needed this evil ultron to take them on.
I think Heimerdinger set everything we see in this alternate timeline into motion, including Vi's death. Now, hear me out: There's never been anything officially said about the exact length of the timeskip in Arcane from S1E3 to S1E4. I've always thought it to be about 3 years with how old it looks like everyone's gotten and stuff. This, paired with the fact that this universe's Powder looks to be about the same age as S1E4 Jinx and the fact that Heimerdinger said he's been in this alternate timeline for a little over 3 years or, in his words, "one thousand one hundred twenty-eight days six hours and... 20 minutes; give or take," it wouldn't be an absurd hypothesis that Heimerdinger went back to just before the time of the explosion in Jace's old workshop and from there has influenced almost everything of what this timeline became. Hear me out: Probably very disoriented, the first thing I'd imagine our Heimerdinger doing when he appears in this timeline is looking to find Jace and Ekko. He'd actually know where to find Jace, so he'd probably go there first before looking for Ekko. He'd realize pretty quickly that this Jace isn't the same Jace who he entered the Hexgate's lower chamber with and he'd either a: leave the room to try sorting everything out, or b: change tactics and try to deter Jace from creating hextech in the first place. I could see either scenario happening, but regardless I think both would result in Jace staying adamant and Heimerdinger walking away from it all, knowing that changes have to be made but still unsure how to take action and actually make that change happen. He still is Heimerdinger after all and is only just beginning to learn that he can invoke changes to his environment. But I see this initial interaction with Jace leading to a cascade of events where hextech is never created in this timeline. Assuming that this timeline is identical to the main one we're familiar with in Arcane, Heimerdinger is an anomaly here, and anything he interacts with is subject to change, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant. His arrival to Jace's workshop could have triggered the very series of events that lead to Vi's death during the gang's stunt. Maybe a hex crystal was moved from one table to a different one, or some valuables were moved around during Jace's hypothetical demonstration to Heimerdinger, moving them [and subsequently Vi] closer to the explosion than in our timeline. Whatever the difference, I believe Heimerdinger's presence is what triggered Vi's death. This Jace is now not just charged with reckless endangerment like what our Jace gets convicted of, but this Jace gets that as well as all the guilt and consequences of a child's death. Mel sees Jace's technology and it interests her, but his reputation is too far gone to have any use to her. It's a shame as Jace's ambition and charm could have been useful. Surprisingly though, Heimerdinger suddenly seems to have sprouted a backbone. He's been on the council longer than nearly anyone she knows, but he's never been as vocal as she sees him now. To her, he even seems to be playing at a political alliance with House Kiramann and Councilman Bolbok what with his talk of the Undercity's pollution and mechanical advances. House Kiramann has been advocating for undercity rights for almost a decade now and Councilman Bolbok and his species are reliant on technology for their simple survival. These are powerful motivators that Heimerdinger is pulling on, whether he knows it or not, and they're something she can use to her advantage down the road. [This is all in Mel's head, by the way, who, upon seeing Heimerdinger's newfound resolve, jumps first to the conclusion that he has underlying goals other than just helping people.] What happens from here gets a bit muddy when it comes to Mel, Ambessa, the rest of the council, and a little muddled also when it comes to the Doctor. We can assume that with Vi's death and without Heimerdinger's full support, Jace was banished. We can also assume that Viktor [without the aid of the Hexcore] dies before Ekko comes to this timeline. In this timeline, many think that Vi's death brought Vander and Silco together and that the note from S2E5 helped to repair their broken bond. With this repaired bond, I can see how Silco would distance himself from the Doctor and never help to mass-produce and use Shimmer in the way we see it done in the main timeline. Did the Doctor still perfect and use Shimmer? Maybe. But here, Vander and Silco are together, the lanes are kept from fighting, Shimmer and other chemical weapons aren't in high demand, and the Doctor doesn't have as much funding and backing as he once did. He also doesn't have Vander as the proper "test subject" either and his vision is now different from what Silco and Vander's vision is. Their vision is all about moving forwards, forgiving each other, and letting go of those, like Vi, who have died. The Doctor can't let go; he's stuck in the past with his daughter and with Rio [the mutation who must survive]. I suppose he could change, learning to let her go through the example of Vander and Silco, but if that is what happened, it would have taken a long while and probably would still be happening by the time our Ekko comes to this timeline. Going back to Heimerdinger's perspective, after the explosion killed Vi and banished Jace, he's seeing the first few major changes in this timeline compared to the one he's more acquainted with. I'd like to believe that this is what starts him down the path of consciously making changes to what he sees around him to bring about good within others' lifetimes. He's gotten a taste of what this may look like from Ekko, if you remember the moment he sees the tree and says something to the degree of "All this in your short lifetime?" He's shocked and in awe. He even starts in small ways to invent things to bring instantaneous joy and fulfillment to those around him, like the bubble machine he makes in Ekko's sanctuary. He's learning to cherish the here and now and is beginning to understand how precious time is to those around him. He learns what it is to share the life and love he has for things with those around him. Evident in his song, he's learning to let the gears turn and to move forward instead of letting the potential of fires keep holding him back. Instead of just enjoying a concert alone and while closing his eyes, he's now singing his own experience to those around him. Instead of his breezy comment to Jace and Viktor that hextech will be ready in "a few short decades," we finally see his character growing to empathize with those around him and to see time as precious just like they do. It isn't lost on me that our Heimerdinger [who historically has never thought of time as a precious commodity] then goes on to help create the Z-drive, a device which hinges on the fact that every second counts. I think this was a wonderful place for our Heimerdinger's story to come to an end and love this show.
Honestly, i like the idea of AT LEAST Heimerdinger not being alive - but him sacrificing himself. And Victor and Jayce doing that too... Because it makes their choices and actions to have PRICE. The weight of consequences. Like we have to accept the loss to move forward. Having them all being back will kind of.... make their choices and sacrifices meaningless. "Oh yeah how could we die we have plot armor, we just make it LOOK like we paid a price". I don't know...
Heimerdinger didn't die though. Yordles are immortal. Whenever their physical body "dies", they just get respawned in Bandle City, the Yordle city in the Spirit Realm.
I didn’t realize how much I needed this breakdown until I finished it. Act 3 of season 2 is quite dense, which begs the question: can one even extrapolate the finer points of Arcane’s narrative without the help of content such as this? Did Riot perhaps design it as such, knowing full well that the fandom will dissect every nuance in every frame? Arcane is bloated with blink-&-you’ll-miss-it minutiae. Regardless, I remain in awe of the achievement that is Arcane. It is impossibly gorgeous, worthy of the accolades and deserving of the hundreds of hours of video essays and analysis breaking down every production angle. I’ve already witnessed the ‘Fortiche effect’ on the animators of the world, solidifying this series as truly landmark. Bravo Riot Games. ¡Viva Fortiche!
My theory on the hammer not working: going into alternate universe, the living being occupies the place of itself here, like can be seen with Ekko, there is no second Ekko around. In Jayce's apocalyptic world, the gemstone from the hammer might also be a living being that then occupies not Jayce's hammer that becomes the leg brace later but takes the place of the Hammer at the top of the Hexgate. The Arcane is often hinted as something that "stirs" and "moves".
I think its been pretty hinted at and I think this even dropped in the Necrit interview with Mr. Linke that eventualy in every universe somebody picks up the creation of Hextech anyways and it doesnt need to be neccessarily Jayce and Viktor. The perfect example is the AU Powder. They create a Hextech device with MU Ekko. She has all the gems. She might use them, or she might not, but eventualy in every universe Hextech is created notwithstanding the existence of Jayce and Viktor.
I’m needing some elaboration here from 7:40-8:25… If Viktor never goes back to save Jayce, Hextech is never invented and Viktor dies, the current timeline doesn’t exist. But what I’m confused about is how the current timeline is still saved and exists with Viktor giving Jayce different runes, since a timelines are not just distinguished via peoples specific actions but the actual event that happens. Wouldn’t that little difference end that current timeline anyways?
it is a self-creating loop without a beginning. according to the principle of Novikov self-consistency, as in Terminator. when Skynet sends the terminator into the past, it becomes the cause of its own creation moreover, there is an opinion that the universe of series 7 is the same, they just got here at different times, but without hextech. Jace did not receive any runes here at all, but Ecco from our universe got here and created hextech in this universe, which still led to the appearance of god-Victor who begins to travel through time
@@gewalt9585 I think a better theory is that future Viktor is actually the exact same Viktor as past Viktor, and the bad future never happened, it’s just a construct. Also Viktor probably only went back to give Jayce the acceleration rune every time, he just had visions of what would happen if he gave him the other ones.
I think the biggest part of the final explosion is the fact that the acceleration rune and the inversed acceleration rune in the z drive slam into each other, think matter and anti-matter on top of two anomalies slamming into each other. (Yet again the zdrive and the one victor was using.)
I have a theory about future AU Viktor. We are seeing here one of the timelines he helped create - originally. Future AU Viktor was created by snapping himself out of it of his own volition after achieving the perfection of his Glorious Evolution. As such, he regained his former consciousness, he became so proficient with the Arcane that he managed to master time-travel so thoroughly that he took over his own uncorrupted body from another timeline that doesn't need his presence and used that to hop to multiple alternate universes before landing in this one where he gave Jayce the acceleration rune. I believe he was monitoring progress with the outcome of different timelines and working via the Wild Rune (the anomaly) to get Jayce, Ekko and Heimerdinger to study it, so they can be ripped into these alternate timelines - to show Jayce the future of Hextech and what he previously did to other timelines, as well as send Ekko and Heimerdinger into a place where the Z-Drive could be created.
Its also possible Viktor didn’t go back multiple times physically but rather that scene of him dropping the runes are Viktor’s visions of what could’ve happened if he did. He saw the acceleration rune worked in his visions and went through with that one.
i dont think that is what happened because when jayce shot victor back when vander was healing for a split second you can see like 5 holograms of jayce from different universes shooting victor
2:24 - the mask is that of the Fireflies (Ecko's gang). It being on the wall shows that the Ecko from that timeline has given up his life as a street hooligan and is trying to live a decent and honest life alongside Powder and Vander (he probably gave up on all of that after Vi's death)
I like the new Viktor lore. They did well with it, although I'm hard pressed to call them "machines," at this point, which is fine. This new lore is better and makes Viktor really cool. When I saw Jayce remembering receiving the rune in a different light, I thought it was just that: a difference in perspective looking at the same thing. While he saw the world in it, it was only what his mind at the time could comprehend from what he felt from the rune. As his understanding broadened, he was able to understand a more complete scope.
Hi Entgrove 👍🏿 thanks for the great vid, I wanna bring up a couple of thoughts #1 I really love how Arcane has this kinda zealot religious tone going on Victor & Jayce are acting out this “God” thing, Jayce is literally carrying a huge cross @ the end #2 Ekko is the real hero & unkown variable, he sells the crystals to Jayce, he & the firelight intercept Silco’s shipment & that sets Katelyn on the trail of Jinx & lets her meet Vi, he smacks Victor so hard that he can finally break free & see his friend again (Jayce) I mean Victor even says “This technology shouldn’t exist” anyhow thanks again for all your time & energy you put in & maybe tell me what you think of what I wrote 👏🏿👍🏿💪🏿
I think Jayce's hammer doesn't work because hextech is no more in the "bad" future where Viktor achieve his plan. I believe they said at some point that hextech utilize runes to work, and i think that those singularities we see in season 2 are doing a lot of damage to the runes themselves in the bad future. Maybe it's connected to the whole "chaos and order crossing ways" that Viktor mentionned : maybe using runes (chaotics things of nature) to create a one minded human like entity (order saw by a human) is broking the runes, cutting hextech from its energy source This is my theory tho, i might i've forgot/overlooked some details :)
WAIIITT 😮 viktor arguement about being one is THE SAME as the one in evangelion, where shinji has to decide if humanity should be of individuals with "free will" or a single one
Viktor spells out his own defeat in episode 6, his speech about hate and compassion being 2 sides of the same coin is a direct correlation as to what happens to him, Jase and Embessa aggression is what causes viktors downfall from peaceful and collaborative union by choice to aggressive conqueror. Make no mistake Jase was angry and trying to kill Viktor there was no thought of reconciliation at that point. It’s is only Jase’s compassion that makes Viktor change his mind in the end fufilling his saying about it being 2 sides to the same coin
i think the reason the hammer doesnt work in that future timeline is because the arcane weave was messed up and different, perhaps magic has become so chaotic and the formula for producing magic in hextech needs to be rearranged or reformulated.
i think in terms of what actually happened when victor came to his senses is he was gonna undo everything but he knew he was gonna die because of the explosion that was happening outside (all of that was happening in a split of a second) so his inital plan was just to free everyone and let him self die but jace said "no we end this together" idk why maybe its to take responsibility or more likely that he just missed him and they are soul mates (not in the romantic way but like a brotherly way, love on its own is not romantic that's a separate thing) probably a combination of both no clue what the rune was supposed todo tho since things would have played out the same with or without it just their escape happening. it also doesnt make sense why the rune is different each time. I think it may be a way for AU victor to pull them out if needed but idk that has no proof just a theory of mine
Am I the only one who noticed that in s1 we se that the mage has hand tattoos. And when we learn it’s viktor they’re gone? Als how did viktor get his human features back after transforming into a sorta god
That timeline is the conclave ending for Viktor. I think I need a video explaining the timeline stuff and just drawing it out. At least what I think. In that timeline Jayce discovers Hextech on his own, no rune, no being saved. He never goes to the future so never kills conclave Viktor. This timeline is that ending
The anomaly had an effect on the hextech weapons during act 1, when Vi Cait Jinx and Sevika are fighting. Even though they are not super close to it. In the dystopian future, the anomaly has infected the whole of piltover, and I believe that is why the hammer doesn't work there.
maybe, about the hextech in the hammer cannot be use, because there cannot be 2 identical entity in same timeline, no 2 Jayce, no 2 Hammer, no 2 Hex core. The only different between the core of Viktor / Ekko and the blue Hex Gem Jayce got is maybe that, one can exclude itself from the timeline, granting user the ability to time travel, the other cannot, so it be deactivate once another core appear. And maybe, that explain at the end when Ekko throw the core to Viktor, it explode, cus 2 cannot be exit in one universe, they reactive to each other, and maybe the result of the react here is void, or something we might know in next season.
11:14 I don't think you understand that it's not just a "nice looking machine", you already saw it many, many times, starting from the very first episode of Arcane series. His name is/was Huck. You can clearly see that once you compare earlier "gatekeeper" version of Huck with that "machine", all the markings in place including the amulet.
I'm so confused if Viktor was going back to the same spot in his own timeline trying different runes or if he was going to all the other timelines as well ? And why did he tell Jayce that in all the timelines and possibilities only he can show Viktor that he's wrong? Jayce failed in all other attempts and timelines, right ? The Arcane timeline we saw with the acceleration rune was the only one where Jayce stopped Viktor, so how was Jayce the only one to show Viktor blah blah blah..... Also, why not just go back in time, save Jayce, but not give him the rune and prevent hextech from happening. Also, this whole time loop paradox is confusing as heck how the future Viktor became who he is cuz he started going back in time and saving baby Jayce cuz he wanted to fix his mistake. But was the Arcane timeline the same timeline as his ? Did he just take Jayce to their future or was that another timeline, the one of future Viktors ? How many timelines was he trying to fix ? I hate this...... Also funny how Jayce was trying to talk sense into Viktor after he had already become machine herald. He could have tried talking before blasting Viktor, cuz Vik still had some humanity left and he was trying to help Vander. Yes he had partially transformed his followers and was able to control them, but he hadnt turned them into full bio-machines or hypnotized.
I’m gonna release another video called the problem with Arcane. Because if Jayce doesn’t somehow survive on his own and discover Hextech on his own in the end time with AU Viktor. Than it doesn’t work. Basically the end that we see is always the end when Hextech is invented and he doesn’t need to go back and give Jayce the hex crystal. But he could also just make vi die in the explosion right? Wouldn’t that also solve for the timeline that he’s on??? And in the current ending Viktor and Jayce die so Viktor wouldn’t be around in the future to go back. Meaning AU viktor must be from a separate timeline. And he proved that he can travel to this timeline so will he be back and just wanted to see what would happen if this timeline continues from this point?? Creating another branch because he is bored?? AU Viktor is a problem
Jayce doesn't actually talk Viktor out of the glorious evolution. Viktor talks Viktor out of it through Jayce. Ekko intervening is the thing that allows that exchange to happen and it requires the acceleration rune. Wizard Viktor knew from hind sight what his glorious evolution would lead to but we don't see any evidence that he knew from the outset how to stop it. Rather we see that he brute forced a solution by trying giving Jayce all the different runes until he found the one that leads to the right outcome. Jayce being alive is necessary for this outcome, it seems, and without Jayce, hextech probably gets invented by Viktor who then tries to do the glorious evolution and with no way for anyone to stop him or talk him out of it, Viktor erases everyone's humanity.
Remember the Z drive had a limit to how far back it could go... the point where Viktor saves Jayce is probably his limit. Perhaps Viktor saw a future where he did not save Jayce or give him any rune, and it was something even worse- or perhaps Viktor's connection to Jayce was the only piece of his humanity he was unwilling to let go of. Perhaps whatever happened to Jayce and Viktor in the end was the true Glorious Evolution- marrying Order (Jayce) and Chaos (Viktor)
It felt like ..Warwick and jinx set up "ending the cycle" were in on it together part of jinx plan... Vander still sees them both , final fight look at his eyes .. pink ..he still there.. jinx calls him .. dad .. she never said that .. Warwick could have ended VI ..just rage before jinx hit off ledge .. and there fall looked careing .. Just a theory
5:50 You... sir... are sadistic, how could you do this to me *4, times in a row* lmfao. Also Jayce drawing the Acceleration rune, and there being things down there he could eat, I have a suspicion those were sent by Viktor to see what he learns about them, to know which rune to give to Jayce in return. A self fulfilling prophecy built on past iterations of failed attempts. Then/Or it was started by him learning the acceleration rune in that cave at the first loop, Viktor using it to go back with the power of Wild magic, tweaking the outcome over each iteration- and it becomes a canon event by some paradox, in the most raw version possible. Maybe Jayce was the one who originally gave the rune to the other in the first place. Seriously Jayce is a *_beast,_* he even made his own prosthetic while in a cave with a bunch of scraps. (Heh Marvel reference Arcane really is awesome, so much reading between the lines that pays off for the lore. About the hammer reacting to Viktor, I think it goes more natural than that. It's reacting to the Wild Magic, raw magic. Hextech is a refined, highly controlled piece of matter, delicate enough to explode from too much impact. I think it's just a "feedback loop" from reacting to the presence of such a primal energy source of its own kind. Essentially a proximity sensor, which is why it wouldn't work in the "dark future", it was being drowned out, jammed, or suffocated. Like how electricity dilutes in water, I guess. Also the version that reacted to Viktor was altered by the Wild magic, so something might be to do with that. Viktor having that rune fused to Jayce makes me think "How could he know that's how it ended?" , but all roads before now led to him being in his peaceful solitude. So, I wonder if part of that paradox coalesced all his memories to one viktor, as the paradox compounds on itself. As if it were a Rogue-like, which makes me remember how I thought that Viktor had done all this and gotten away nearly scott-free, now I know how wrong that is when he has to have gone through this at least almost 10 times. Everything. It must have become a personal hell. He really is an amazing story character in the end. You made me go on such a theory rant, so I think I kind of have to subscribe now lol. Thanks for the thought provocation.
the reason Ekko didn't get forced evolve is becasue is possibly also an anomaly and just like Jayce Viktor or his puppets would have to directly touch him to evolve him or maybe the Z-drive is the anomaly. Ekko was also the only one to temporality resist the force evolution because he been to a timeline in which everything is perfect in that timeline he had everything everyone is alive he experience the near perfect life he wanted in a what if scenario and everyone else is currently going through that for the first time Ekko already walk away from that because he had a sense of duty.
14:47 Anybody else realize that the claw thing that sticks of of Viktors back looks just like the one he used when showing Heimerdinger the devices with the HexTech Gemstone in season 1? Idk if that’s foreshadowing or if I’m just stupid.
I think the Z-Drive does revert damage taken by Ekko it’s just for clarity sake they show blood, etc after he reverts time. His mind remembers the pain after using the Z-drive but his physical damage is reverted
When Jayce sees the anomaly instead of runeterra, I assumed it was cuz Viktor was taking him to his world in the future through the anomaly, similarly how he did it the first time, but this time across timelines.
when viktor walks in after lasering the door he like crushes the glass with his walk exactly where jayce killed salo some sort of symbolism showing viktor being able to retain salo's mind and speak on salo's behalf
In my mind, I thought when I first saw the mage help Jayce and his mom get out of the blizzard. It was simply some random mage that acted in good and kind faith and this grand act of kindness of using magic to help someone in need sparked Jayce's desire to use hextech (and magic) to help Piltover and Zaun. Now with the mage from Season 1 being Viktor it makes everything much much more complicated and convoluted with time traveling and multiverse dimension hopping. I really did not like the way the narrative took a turn towards a multiverse storyline because now it de contextualizes already existing Runeterra lore. Because now VIktor is not a machine herald anymore and is now something completely different which has led to his VGU being what LOL Viktor was before to now being Arcane Viktor.
I think the reason Jayce AND ekko weren’t hit in the forehead with the golden strings that connected them to the hive mind is that both of them “don’t belong” in this timeline anymore and therefore victor cannot really see them in his god form. We can see that from victors PV ekko is a comet and he even mentions that “this device cannot exist” which I think agrees with my point that both ekko and Jayce no longer are connected to this world and therefore are sort of resistant to viktors godly power
13:05 to 13:20 if thats true for viktor. as viktor was brought back last second by jayce at the end.... vander is still in warwick... we saw the shimmer flicker. vander must've let jinx go. shes probably going to try to find a way to cure him
something I realized, if you pay attention arcane looks ALOT like dishonored, it reminds me alot of it, it's pretty similar. we're they inspired off of it in some way with designs?
i cant wrap my head around what was the moment that god-viktor decided that his own revolution wasnt worth it and started travelling back? how could he think it was not worth it if there was no more viktor, only the arcane in that body? he shouldnt think of the glorious revolution as a failure, because he shouldnt see himself as flawed, only viktor would - but there should be no more viktor also why was he human viktor and not god-viktor when he gave the stone to young jayce, if the only way he could go back is if he already had the powers of god-viktor?
If Viktor and Jayce were both destined to die, how did the first timeline in which Viktor became the ascended machine herald come to be? Someone has to save Jayce that isn't Viktor or the loop would never begin. My theory is that Zilean, who we know is looking for ways to defeat the void, set the loop in motion and let it play out, but its also possible that Jayce was never destined to die and would have lived in some other way but lost his mother. Perhaps the timeline where a motherless Jayce goes full ego-mode like OG Jayce is the start.
it is a self-creating loop without a beginning. according to the principle of Novikov self-consistency, as in Terminator. when Skynet sends the terminator into the past, it becomes the cause of its own creation moreover, there is an opinion that the universe of series 7 is the same, they just got here at different times, but without hextech. Jace did not receive any runes here at all, but Ecco from our universe got here and created hextech in this universe, which still led to the appearance of Victor the god.
@@gewalt9585 Self-consistency principle doesn't apply here. It asserts that physical laws prevent one from changing the past, but Viktor is actively changing the past to find the correct outcome. Not to mention it takes as axiomatic that only one timeline can exist (accessibly, multiple timelines cannot interact if they do exist), which would destroy a whole part of Arcane's metaphysics. You could describe the Wild Rune then as a mere computational device and say that it enacts time-loop logic, but then the Wild Rune is reduced to mere computation with only a theoretical existence, making the arcane rune that Jayce has a none-reality.
also im not expert but i have a feeling they will continue the story but it will be not arcane league of legends, but some other league of legends, as the arcane had been destroyed
The PROBLEM:
Jayce has to have invented Hextech in the AU Viktor timeline without Viktor going back, saving Jayce, and giving him the rune stone. This is why the hammer is there at the end of that timeline for Jayce to grab otherwise it becomes a leg brace. Also AU Viktor wouldn’t exist to go back. You cant make AU Viktor going back a requirement to his existence.
But this would mean that AU Viktor is messing with another timeline by giving Jayce different world runes. But Jayce and Viktor end up dead in the end so why not just kill him? Or make sure Vi dies since in that timeline everything is fine??
And this would mean Viktor has already traveled to mess with our timeline and there are many better options than getting to the point where Viktor kills 100’s with him and Jayce… AU Viktor hurts my head.
Also why Viktor looks different in the AU timeline and not like this crazy machine. That is the conclave Viktor ending since Jayce never sees the future to go back and blast a hole in his chest
Let me know if you all want a video of me explaining this
I honestly feel like there needs to be a time line with a rough age estimate of the characters from season 1 and 2.
Also we need to make sense of where the f*ck Mel was ejected from the Rose as she traveled by foot back to Piltover being in time for Viktors assault but being late to Jayce killing Salo.
Because that Raven demon might not even be fused with Swain yet.
I feel like this video could be 10 hours long on its own lol
So, about why viktor is different in the AU, i think it is bc jayce hasn't blasted him, so he didn't needed singed to remove all humanity from him to continue alive. I also think that this ending is not the "assimilation ending" that the real viktor was persuing, i think this is some kind of consequence of using too much hextech and hexcore
It's Okay that the whole timeline doesn't make any sense, because the whole show doesn't make any sense also.
Stunning visuals, VA, music are making the second season good enough to watch and covering for the laziest storytelling ever. Probably even worse than the last Season of the Game of Thrones. And it's not just my opinion.
Moreover, I had a feeling that from the very begging of the second season we are following different universe, because characters and political background somehow were very different from the ones in the first season, and I was really surprised that alternative universes are a thing.
And people tried to draw time traveling schemes to understand what's happening in Arcane, and... It just doesn't make any sense. Storytelling recklessness problem, that just explain everything. The worst thing to claim it to be a basics for new lore.
I am just angry that there are no 4 5 seasons
@@alarichrul6639 The reason the back ground seems different is because we face now a time of war?
War changes people.
And honestly I really don’t get why anyone could think Arcane has lazy writing.
Especially season 2
On episode 7 i think the reason that zaun is developed and clean is that heimer decided to help the undercity rather than ignore it.
He tries to before and they shaft him pretty hard.
Remember ekko saying we are having the same day since he tried to help piltoger by returning the hextech gemstone
@@entgrove he tried and got shafted after silco effectively won executive control over zaun and people became jaded and hooked on shimmer. He didn't try 3 and a half years before the start of the time skip.
@entgrove Also since he got sent 3 years into the past, Heimer would've been councilor when he was sent back, so he probably had the power to do more as head of the council. He basically got a do over in the AU after learning from Ekko.
The reason is most likely due to Silco finding Vander’s apologetic letter in the other universe. The two team up, run the Lanes, and don’t contribute to the development, production, and distribution of Shimmer.
@@MiraBoo also Vander being more motivated to move Zaun forward after losing Vi to a weapon from piltover
I don't think you played him snapping his leg into place, needed at least 5 more times.
"That's my fetish!"
Wait, he played the snapping leg scene? Glad i missed that one, couldnt hear that sound again
It hurt my soul 🙉
@@entgrove im glad you cant hear broken hearts in this series
@@johnzero7397 I felt this comment
On why the hammer isn’t working:
My personal thought here goes back to when Heimerdinger notes that the reason the arcane causes destruction is not because of human error necessarily but because the arcane has a mind of its own in a sense and is retaliating or pushing back against its misuse. In this universe, the “perfection” that victor talks about is complete stillness, the total eradication of emotion and humanity. In that sense, the arcane has also reached stillness and “perfection,” thus stopping conflict, but also motion. The arcane, and also life itself, has died in this universe, and so the hammer has no energy to tap into.
Very rudimentary thoughts here, not very coherent lol. Feel free to critique or add on.
It does make sense but i would say in terms of heimerdingers opinion its both, he witnessed the corruption the power of wielding the arcane brings and while he might understand that the arcane having a mind of its own is part of that or rather takes part in forming said corruption I think he still mainly believes that its just too great of a power to not give in to it. Jayce and Viktor are also good examples, both got consumed by the possibilities of hextech but for different reasons, jayce wanted to help ppl and enhance piltovers society while viktor was mainly looking for a way to save himself allthough in his mind it was also for the good of society. Both realised tho that they were consumed by it, jayce when he killed the kid and viktor when the hexcore killed his assistant however at that point he was still more enough of himself to realise it had to be destroyed and that it has a mind of its own. Jayce saving his life cost the end of everything which is kinda paradox as often in arcane and also life the more u try to achieve smth or force smth the further u stray away from it. Sometimes just letting things take their course will end up right where it needs to be and we often may not know that they are where they need to be at that moment. If Vi wasnt so overprotective Powder may have never turned into Jinx, if Powder didnt try to prove herself Vander wouldnt have died, if Vander didnt betray Silko and instead tried to stick with him he would have been able to save the both of them. List goes on.
My theory is that he was brought here to learn something, not to fight something.
So his hammer is disabled so he doesn't even consider fighting when confronted with the creatures.
How would this explain mage viktor still having some control over his bots and being able to send jayce back into the right universe.
Fantastic perspective that makes logical sense. Well put!
I like this.. this makes sense. My two cents was that the arcane only works in its home universe.. but as I say that how would victor use his power across timelines and universes
Thank you for analyzing the leg crack. You're the only one to highlight how awful sounding it truly was.
🤣 I got you 🙉
@@entgrove Just like sippin on straight chlorine..
@@teresahunt5521 goated reference
All I heard was jace moaning😭😭💀
@@monayarovinsky5953 that sounds like an EQ issue.
10:39 - This technique is called "kintsugi"
The Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold or silver is called kintsugi, which means "join with gold".
Philosophy:
Kintsugi is an extension of the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, which values simplicity and finds beauty in imperfection.
Purpose:
Kintsugi encourages people to fix rather than discard, and to celebrate flaws and missteps.
Ekko is avoiding mind control not because he was under some rubble. But probably because both him and Jayce are touched by the anomaly (they're the only two not controlled directly by that beam). And resist it pretty well once grabbed because he already just left the very "bright future" Viktor show to people (with that amazing ep7).
(All a guess from other video but; that sounds more reasonable than "he was under a roof.")
As for the hammer not working in the bad ending timeline: the hextech weapons malfunctioned and weren’t working correctly during the fight between Jinx, Vi and Cait in act 2. This was when the anomaly was acting up with Jayce, Ekko and Heim. I’d assume there is a correlation between that and the hammer not working in the bad ending timeline.
Mmm this makes sense actually
imo since its the bad ending, the entire world gets swallowed up in the anomaly that viktor casts in the last ep, and since hextech doesnt work properly when exposed, jayce's hammer is useless bc the whole world is the anomaly
A lot of context is lost because of emotions, so I’m sure this video will be helpful to everyone, and man by far these video essays are what I love the most about arcane, 1st and 2nd season alike
Everything in arcane feels like it was done with intention. It was 2 seasons where every frame had a purpose. Such an amazing 2 seasons and I hope now that they see their is an audience for it, where and whenever we go next will get 3 seasons
@@entgrove I think 2 seasons for every region is good to maintain how many years it need to deliver, money, & time
@@entgrove If Ruination Event come, it can be made with 2 seasons. The 1st season for human Veigo & the 2nd season for fighting Veigo with the Light Team
EKKO is the true hero of Arcane!
well, without him everything would've been lost. The saviour boy
He is also the cause of it all
@@Christo_Coop how
@ he gave Vi the tip that causes the inciting incident that kicks off the entire show.
I still don't understand though why he was certain that throwing the time thingy at victor will solve everything ?
It does make since killing victor with the green sword will unleash his grip from everybody
WHY WOULD YOU TORTURE US WITH THE LEG THING ITS JUST CRUEL NOBODY WANTS TO HEAR THAT OVER AND OVER AGAIN
It’s horrible right?? 🙉
@@entgroveyou made me laugh multiple times
Oh yeah that horrible sound let's hear it again 😖
Honest to God made me dislike the video.
@@bonbon8721 literally. i was eating and i'm like ok this is the last time and he plays it again. was uncomfortable imo
the leg restoration thing, is just pressing an empty water bottle for sound effects 😄
Hurt my soul
That’s why they make dog toys with water bottles sometimes, because it mimicks the sound of bones breaking
the mask is not what you think.
its just ekko's mask from 1st season.
Ekko wore that while he raided the airship in first season.
We see it in Benzo's shop in the first act of Season 1. Or something that looks very similar to it. And it is representative of an owl.
You really are using 100% of your brain with these Arcane analyses!
Thanks froosty 😅
23:23 Janna does get referenced, they are in an ancient temple to Janna (Janna's image is on the walls) when Cait tries to shoot her sister-in-law's child in the face (just after they form a death squad that breaks Geneva conventions in order to travel)
I think future Viktor fuses the acceleration rune with Jayce so once Jayce‘s mind or soul or whatever enters Viktor‘s mind he is still „in possession“ of this rune or at least he is carrying it in this spiritual form of himself too. I think if it the rune stayed just as a physical object it would have not entered Viktor‘s mind and would have been lost similar to all other physical belongings.
Also, I don’t think the acceleration rune saves them but rather is what absorbs the singularity as well as Viktor (being connected to the singularity) and all things connected to Viktor as well as Jayce since he stays in contact with Viktor.
I love how Jinx is positioning her legs on "Vander's" chest during the fall. She does this to intimately tell her father goodbye, but also gets ready to bounce off of him in order to escape through one of the side-tunnels before they hit the ground. Simply genius. The whole show!
thank you for this explanation!! i came to this understandings on my own but i feel a lot of viewers got kinda confused or didnt payed attention to the acceleration rune and how THIS exact universe is the only one saved. so thanks for helping others understand this plot line
Can't be repeated enough. It really is 24 wallpapers per second.
It's a fantastic show.
Doesn't the "Glorious Evolution" sound a lot like the "Human Instrumentality Project"?
Yes
And I hope Arcane introduces them to the glory & Beauty of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
the chain of jayce in ep 3, kinda common reference to eva
Complete global saturation
Nanomachines son
At 18:26 I think the strings of light can't sense both Echo or Jace because of their traversal through the wild rune this is also why Victor personally uses his hands to take control of Jace
" I do not like that " Proceed to play it 5 times
You know when I was watching arcane over and over I would skip that part 😅 I wasn't joking it really hurt me. Why I chose to hurt others is I think a self issue
@@entgrove HAHA
I now understand better the purpose of Viktor and Jayce in the series and their story, however there is one thing i still dont get. Throughout the seasons we see Viktor growing and gradually getting more sick till the moment of Glorious Evolution and him becoming insensitive machine. Then at the end of the show we learn that Viktor is the Mage from Season 1 that keeps going back, saving Jayce and giving him the rune in all those timelines, which leads to the creation of Hextech eventually. My question is: HOW is Viktor in that "mage form" since the last form we ever see him as is the Machine. How he becomes a Mage in what looks human form and how he has the ability to travel in time??
Here is what I think. In that timeline. The conclave continues. Jayce never destroyed it because he never travels to the future. In that timeline Jayce survives without Viktor going back and does not get a ruin but they still discover hex tech. This is the conclave ending
@@entgrove Right, it is also possible that Vander never dies in that timeline, so there is no Warwick and thus no Apex Chemtech to merge with Viktor. Instead he constantly needs to Siphon energy from a Wild Rune. This is likely possible as we see Salo getting some of the containers when Jayce first returns.
The arcane already lets you travel through time and through alternate realities. I think he becomes a mage because in theory he absorbs everyone in that universe into the hive mind so he gains what they know.
Okay. My theory about why Jayce's Hammer doesn't work in the bad future is that the anomaly, where the hex crystal gets its arcane power from, is not in the mesh anymore. Victor takes it in his fight against past Jayce. And seeing as Jayce was sent to a future where he fails, Victor still has the anomoly.
Also
There can only be one anomaly, and Victor has it in all realities where he lives.. but Ekko makes an anomaly in the only reality where Victor does not live. So.. thats why Victor remarks "this device cannot *be*".
Anywho, that's my theory
But after Viktor takes the anomaly in the present timeline Vi’s hex gauntlets are still working.
I really like the this device cannon be theory!!
@entgrove
Aww damnit you're right!
Maybe it could be based on the rune Jayce was given? So the future that Jayce was sent to wasn't an "acceleration rune" timeline as that one had not passed yet, but a different rune timeline. So maybe the hex crystal doesn't react or can't channel power from an anomaly with differing base science/engineering behind it??
Hmm... I like thinking about this stuff
Yeah I think you were on to something but the Anomaly at the Hexgate exists, and I assume Viktor is one Anomaly as he is combined with the hexcore. We also see the Anomaly in Jayce hammer after he returns. Where it looks like Viktor gets temporarely occupied with it’s existence.
So the way I have been thinking about it is that when Viktor reaches his Glorious Evolution he is part of the Arcane. Making him a constant, he could exist in all timelines and universes, but he himself is not omnipresent. Which would adress the core issue of Viktor. Some argue that the Ekko Powder timeline is a good one, which I disagree with. Since its likely Viktor can find the notes Jayce was working on, but it could also mean that the impact of Jayce succeeding in one timeline could have broken the constant.
The key is that Viktor is not all knowing, so him being confused by Ekkos device is important because it shows that his idea of ”in all timelines, in all universes.. only you” speech is most likely false.
He is flawed. He is a human trying to remove all flaws, thus being a paradox.
Tldr Viktor is a unreliable narrator, even with all his glorious power and intellect. Because he is just human.
I’d argue that they set up many hints to him being ”unreliable” during the seasons.
It’s probably because the hex crystal within his hammer is linked to the main universes anomaly.
Also something interesting to note but I’m not too sure if it makes a difference: Jayce gets teleported into the future of the current timeline but Ekko is transported to an alternate reality. Viktor is trying to save this current reality which is why he gives Jayce the acceleration rune so it isn’t a different universe/alternate reality
The biggest problem os that the hooded figure was supposed to be ryze but riot had a lot more to do with season 2. That's also why warick survives the explosion he was originally supposed to die early.
Entgrove: I dont like this
Also Entgrove: Plays the leg snap 4x
😂😂
Also a neat detail with the Z-drive, when Ekko goes to save Jinx, you can see his face paint fading with each rewind (Assuming the heat is burning it off).
For people with addictive tendencies, eventually, getting HAMMERED loses it's effectiveness and they seek out/need something stronger to alleviate their suffering. The drawback is that something stronger might just kill you.
6:59 more like magic is fluctuating the gem after all we seen hextech from vi and cait sort of just glitch out when the arcane itself (the orb thing you see is the arcane) is present, since victor caused ruination on piltover and perhaps the world, with the arcane, you can see that when viktor reached the top of the tower on the last episode
I like how explained stuff and like you said At the end many characters that didn't appear in arcane did not. Appear because they we're already too many characters or they don't show up yet in the timeline like zeri, Renata, seraphine and urgot
The sound of his new hammer swinging at Salo Is so satisfying
Powder follows Ekko into the cannon Arcane timeline.
In Season 2 episode 7 we pretty early get to see powder noticing Ekko's notes about alternate timelines.
Its pretty plain to see that she learns how both devices work the Z-Drive & the Dimensional Traveler.
"Ma Meilleure Ennemie" the song of Ekko & Powders dance scene roughly translated to.
"You are my worst enemy, leave me
you are my best enemy, free me
it hurts when your with me,
I am in love with you"
If we know arcane songs have alot of meaning.
I think Powder has had a side of her that blamed her version of Ekko for VI's death.
As the song ends we find her falling in love with our version of Ekko.
Also when Ekko goes back to his timeline you can see the dots finally connect for Powder as she stairs at the broken portal presuming forlorn.
In the last episode before we see Ekko burn a paper for Jinx (Who most likely is alive) we can see what i believe is Powder (as the hair & outfit match).
I think that powder is trying to be with Ekko, following him into the current timeline.
Have fun with this knowledge.
Man i just want Ekko to be happy
I like the theory but powder outs the blue flower in the same drawer with the hex crystals she never touched.
I think alternate timeline powder stays there and her closing the drawer is her closing the book. Also it would be kind of weird for her to leave ekko for ekko 😅
I’m gonna rewatch the paper burn scene I did not notice this but if it’s there that’s insane!!
@@entgrove Just rechecked Its a different person, the hair & outfit are the same, but its pretty obvious on a closer/bigger screen that its not her.
I still standby the fact she fell in love with our version of ekko & the songs meaning (because I listened to the English version of the song & that's pretty obvious after re-watching that episode).
But she most likely did just close the book on the thing, burying her memory of the 2 of them in the same drawer as VI. The Powder Theory is pretty sweet & its going around with not just me. But I think on a closer look that it isn't true.
But I feel like Powder might still consider using the portal to meet Vi
Unfortunately powder cant go to time ekko since jinx is still alive two of the same person cant exist one has to take over the other and since jinx hit the dash outta piltover/zaun not likely shes showing up
Check the Arcane Afterglow for season 2 act 3. The writers say they wanted to make something more about of Jayce and Viktor but ultimately chose that it killed them when it sucked them up.
Dang really?? Well I guess that’s fine. They can always change it later if the want I guess
@@entgrove Technically, Christian Linke said Jayce and Viktor were not "fine", got "vaporized" and it was "their end." He never used the word "dead" soooooooo I'm trying to cope here.
In his interview with Necrit (which was recorded later), he said there is a possibility for Viktor (and assumingly Jayce since they're connected/merged) to exist in some form
I hope not... Viktor was so OP, undoing what he was doing would have killed him? No I don't want to believe it^^
I remember Janna appeared as a myth in one of the chapters, when Vi joined the piltover forces, it was not as a character but rather as a story, we can see her shape when Jinx mentions her as the "wind lady" that helps people from Zaun breathe clear air when needed the most
Quick note to the mask at 02:24it’s Ekko Firelight mask , it’s the mask from season 1
Great video as usual. Remember, Ravens for Swain, Crows for Fiddlesticks.
What do you think about the yellow eyes at the beginning? I think they are all ravens but the ravens at the beginning have yellow eyes and later they are red
@@entgrove I'm not sure but crows have smoother feathers while Ravens are fluffier. If they are yellow eyed ravens they could just be regular birds. If yellow eyed crows...idk maybe just crows, maybe something more.
Check out my black rose video. I look at all the ravens before act 3 dropped. They show up a lot but always have yellow eyes. Now at the end they are always red 👀
I though it was maybe the black rose and Leblanc (yellow eyes)
Red eye ones are definitely Swain
@@entgrove I remember that video I just didn't remember the birds but I'll check it out again. But yes, the red eyed ravens are definitely Swain.
Best breakdown I've seen yet! Keep up the great content!
they might have gone back in time with the acceleration rune using what he saw from ekko, in order to complete the circle and start the timeline again, saving jace and her mother
Hot-Take: When Jayce hammered the Anomaly, the Anomaly tried to manipulate all three of them. Send Ekko and Heimer to a timeline/universe where they would be satisfied staying, that way getting rid of them. Make Jayce think he must kill Viktor in order to stop him, but in reality, the Anomaly "knows" that this series of events will allow it to take over using Viktor down the line. The Anomaly did not bet on human emotions, Ekko manages to come back with his dream of a better world, and prevents Viktor from completing his work by allowing him to see what Jayce "saw" which was the manipulation from the Anomaly but they both believe it as facts (it sounded believable without the time travel paradoxes). Viktor destroys his new form and as Jayce uses the acceleration rune, to stop the corruption of the Anomaly seems like, all the infected ones are called back by the Anomaly to stop Viktor and Jayce or something? it really seems like a fighting scene to me, and at the end they warped out due to Ekkos z-drive overload.
Now that I wrote that out. Does Ekko keep his Z-Drive??? or it went our wirh Jayce and Viktoer.
Also, this hot-take avoids time traveling except Ekko's z-drive, which we can explain.
Also, corrupted mage at the end, like the one we saw from the Anomaly at the bottom of the hexgate, KINDA SUS, the initial mage is still unknown, goes Ryze-like territory, he has a Human Ryze skin in game, he does not need to be blue all the time.
I don't think i forget anything. I just struggle to accept the time traveling paradoxes that are inevitable at some points.
My theories on where both Jayce and Viktor went are as followed worse case scenario a desolate wasteland being chased down by Viktor's machines as punishment for their sins and best case scenario both of them and everyone that Viktor turned have been sent back in time with only Jayce and Viktor having the memory of future events, so they decide to abandon hextech research and just live out their lives differently.
AMAZING take. you've shown me parallels i have not even thought of.
I was confused by the whole timeline/multiverse shenanigans after my first and even second watch. Your video is the first video to explain it and I understand it now. Thankyou!
What doesn't make sense is how did VIktor go back in time to save Jayce? If Jayce was meant to die in the ice, then hextech wouldn't have existed, so no hexcore, no time traveling Viktor.
Yep, thats exactly what I thought. And even in a timeline where Jayce wouldn't die in the ice, Viktor wouldn't come to save him and wouldn't give him the rune, therefore also no Hextech and no Viktor that would be able to timetravel. There needs to be a timeline where Viktor can timetravel, but for a time traveling Viktor there needs to be a timeline where a time traveling Viktor saved Jayce in the ice.
@@colin813 Yep, there's either something HUGE we're missing or the writers didn't think this through properly.
so conflicted about Viktor... on the one hand, the alternative future jayce went through was aesthetically amazing with all the creepy mannequins walking around, and on the other, i really wanted to see Viktor in an aesthetic design more closely related to the LoL depiction of a cyborg wizard trying to turn people into cyborgs, him having an army of OP mannequins in the real world is pretty lame NGL he didn't even need the Noxian army to help him because his own came out of nowhere. I refuse to believe Ambessa was stupid enough to think Viktor would actually help her out in the way she wanted and just become cannon fodder whose survivors turn into mannequins.
thinking the same thing. ambessa, as smart and tactical as she was, could not grasp the end game of it all when viktor reaches his goal. like bruh, you dont need to be a genius to know that you are next after that human-hater supervillain you are "allied" with is done dealing with the humans you guys are up against lol.
@@carlosvaldez3093the only possible reason I could think of for her allying with him is that she is that afraid of the black rose. Their strongest members were probably freaky enough to convince her that she needed this evil ultron to take them on.
I think Heimerdinger set everything we see in this alternate timeline into motion, including Vi's death. Now, hear me out: There's never been anything officially said about the exact length of the timeskip in Arcane from S1E3 to S1E4. I've always thought it to be about 3 years with how old it looks like everyone's gotten and stuff. This, paired with the fact that this universe's Powder looks to be about the same age as S1E4 Jinx and the fact that Heimerdinger said he's been in this alternate timeline for a little over 3 years or, in his words, "one thousand one hundred twenty-eight days six hours and... 20 minutes; give or take," it wouldn't be an absurd hypothesis that Heimerdinger went back to just before the time of the explosion in Jace's old workshop and from there has influenced almost everything of what this timeline became. Hear me out:
Probably very disoriented, the first thing I'd imagine our Heimerdinger doing when he appears in this timeline is looking to find Jace and Ekko. He'd actually know where to find Jace, so he'd probably go there first before looking for Ekko. He'd realize pretty quickly that this Jace isn't the same Jace who he entered the Hexgate's lower chamber with and he'd either a: leave the room to try sorting everything out, or b: change tactics and try to deter Jace from creating hextech in the first place. I could see either scenario happening, but regardless I think both would result in Jace staying adamant and Heimerdinger walking away from it all, knowing that changes have to be made but still unsure how to take action and actually make that change happen. He still is Heimerdinger after all and is only just beginning to learn that he can invoke changes to his environment. But I see this initial interaction with Jace leading to a cascade of events where hextech is never created in this timeline. Assuming that this timeline is identical to the main one we're familiar with in Arcane, Heimerdinger is an anomaly here, and anything he interacts with is subject to change, no matter how seemingly small and insignificant. His arrival to Jace's workshop could have triggered the very series of events that lead to Vi's death during the gang's stunt. Maybe a hex crystal was moved from one table to a different one, or some valuables were moved around during Jace's hypothetical demonstration to Heimerdinger, moving them [and subsequently Vi] closer to the explosion than in our timeline. Whatever the difference, I believe Heimerdinger's presence is what triggered Vi's death.
This Jace is now not just charged with reckless endangerment like what our Jace gets convicted of, but this Jace gets that as well as all the guilt and consequences of a child's death. Mel sees Jace's technology and it interests her, but his reputation is too far gone to have any use to her. It's a shame as Jace's ambition and charm could have been useful. Surprisingly though, Heimerdinger suddenly seems to have sprouted a backbone. He's been on the council longer than nearly anyone she knows, but he's never been as vocal as she sees him now. To her, he even seems to be playing at a political alliance with House Kiramann and Councilman Bolbok what with his talk of the Undercity's pollution and mechanical advances. House Kiramann has been advocating for undercity rights for almost a decade now and Councilman Bolbok and his species are reliant on technology for their simple survival. These are powerful motivators that Heimerdinger is pulling on, whether he knows it or not, and they're something she can use to her advantage down the road. [This is all in Mel's head, by the way, who, upon seeing Heimerdinger's newfound resolve, jumps first to the conclusion that he has underlying goals other than just helping people.]
What happens from here gets a bit muddy when it comes to Mel, Ambessa, the rest of the council, and a little muddled also when it comes to the Doctor. We can assume that with Vi's death and without Heimerdinger's full support, Jace was banished. We can also assume that Viktor [without the aid of the Hexcore] dies before Ekko comes to this timeline. In this timeline, many think that Vi's death brought Vander and Silco together and that the note from S2E5 helped to repair their broken bond. With this repaired bond, I can see how Silco would distance himself from the Doctor and never help to mass-produce and use Shimmer in the way we see it done in the main timeline. Did the Doctor still perfect and use Shimmer? Maybe. But here, Vander and Silco are together, the lanes are kept from fighting, Shimmer and other chemical weapons aren't in high demand, and the Doctor doesn't have as much funding and backing as he once did. He also doesn't have Vander as the proper "test subject" either and his vision is now different from what Silco and Vander's vision is. Their vision is all about moving forwards, forgiving each other, and letting go of those, like Vi, who have died. The Doctor can't let go; he's stuck in the past with his daughter and with Rio [the mutation who must survive]. I suppose he could change, learning to let her go through the example of Vander and Silco, but if that is what happened, it would have taken a long while and probably would still be happening by the time our Ekko comes to this timeline.
Going back to Heimerdinger's perspective, after the explosion killed Vi and banished Jace, he's seeing the first few major changes in this timeline compared to the one he's more acquainted with. I'd like to believe that this is what starts him down the path of consciously making changes to what he sees around him to bring about good within others' lifetimes. He's gotten a taste of what this may look like from Ekko, if you remember the moment he sees the tree and says something to the degree of "All this in your short lifetime?" He's shocked and in awe. He even starts in small ways to invent things to bring instantaneous joy and fulfillment to those around him, like the bubble machine he makes in Ekko's sanctuary. He's learning to cherish the here and now and is beginning to understand how precious time is to those around him. He learns what it is to share the life and love he has for things with those around him. Evident in his song, he's learning to let the gears turn and to move forward instead of letting the potential of fires keep holding him back. Instead of just enjoying a concert alone and while closing his eyes, he's now singing his own experience to those around him. Instead of his breezy comment to Jace and Viktor that hextech will be ready in "a few short decades," we finally see his character growing to empathize with those around him and to see time as precious just like they do. It isn't lost on me that our Heimerdinger [who historically has never thought of time as a precious commodity] then goes on to help create the Z-drive, a device which hinges on the fact that every second counts. I think this was a wonderful place for our Heimerdinger's story to come to an end and love this show.
Honestly, i like the idea of AT LEAST Heimerdinger not being alive - but him sacrificing himself. And Victor and Jayce doing that too...
Because it makes their choices and actions to have PRICE. The weight of consequences. Like we have to accept the loss to move forward.
Having them all being back will kind of.... make their choices and sacrifices meaningless.
"Oh yeah how could we die we have plot armor, we just make it LOOK like we paid a price".
I don't know...
Heimerdinger didn't die though. Yordles are immortal. Whenever their physical body "dies", they just get respawned in Bandle City, the Yordle city in the Spirit Realm.
Yay, I hope to learn something new I did not hear somewhere else :D
Great video, I was waiting for it. I look forward to your next video, because I have no idea what happened between Mel and her mother.
I didn’t realize how much I needed this breakdown until I finished it. Act 3 of season 2 is quite dense, which begs the question: can one even extrapolate the finer points of Arcane’s narrative without the help of content such as this? Did Riot perhaps design it as such, knowing full well that the fandom will dissect every nuance in every frame? Arcane is bloated with blink-&-you’ll-miss-it minutiae. Regardless, I remain in awe of the achievement that is Arcane. It is impossibly gorgeous, worthy of the accolades and deserving of the hundreds of hours of video essays and analysis breaking down every production angle. I’ve already witnessed the ‘Fortiche effect’ on the animators of the world, solidifying this series as truly landmark. Bravo Riot Games. ¡Viva Fortiche!
My theory on the hammer not working:
going into alternate universe, the living being occupies the place of itself here, like can be seen with Ekko, there is no second Ekko around. In Jayce's apocalyptic world, the gemstone from the hammer might also be a living being that then occupies not Jayce's hammer that becomes the leg brace later but takes the place of the Hammer at the top of the Hexgate. The Arcane is often hinted as something that "stirs" and "moves".
I think its been pretty hinted at and I think this even dropped in the Necrit interview with Mr. Linke that eventualy in every universe somebody picks up the creation of Hextech anyways and it doesnt need to be neccessarily Jayce and Viktor.
The perfect example is the AU Powder. They create a Hextech device with MU Ekko. She has all the gems. She might use them, or she might not, but eventualy in every universe Hextech is created notwithstanding the existence of Jayce and Viktor.
All I want is for mature Ekko to somehow meet Zilean
I’m needing some elaboration here from 7:40-8:25…
If Viktor never goes back to save Jayce, Hextech is never invented and Viktor dies, the current timeline doesn’t exist.
But what I’m confused about is how the current timeline is still saved and exists with Viktor giving Jayce different runes, since a timelines are not just distinguished via peoples specific actions but the actual event that happens.
Wouldn’t that little difference end that current timeline anyways?
it is a self-creating loop without a beginning. according to the principle of Novikov self-consistency, as in Terminator. when Skynet sends the terminator into the past, it becomes the cause of its own creation
moreover, there is an opinion that the universe of series 7 is the same, they just got here at different times, but without hextech. Jace did not receive any runes here at all, but Ecco from our universe got here and created hextech in this universe, which still led to the appearance of god-Victor who begins to travel through time
@@gewalt9585 I think a better theory is that future Viktor is actually the exact same Viktor as past Viktor, and the bad future never happened, it’s just a construct.
Also Viktor probably only went back to give Jayce the acceleration rune every time, he just had visions of what would happen if he gave him the other ones.
Ecco and Heim disrupted the natural flow of time by bringing another singularity from another universe.
@@Bro-mf8qt It seems to me that Arcane himself is subjective here, and not Victor as such. self-creating and self-destructive.
@@Bro-mf8qt unlikely, since Victor must become a god to start traveling, so he does it after he kills everyone.
Thank you so much for that deep dive into my favourite story line! 🥰
I think the biggest part of the final explosion is the fact that the acceleration rune and the inversed acceleration rune in the z drive slam into each other, think matter and anti-matter on top of two anomalies slamming into each other. (Yet again the zdrive and the one victor was using.)
Great break down! Thank you!!!
Thanks Ben!! :)
Bro funny, played the broken leg placement on repeat but calmly talk us through it 😂 thank you bro you got me through it 😂
Loving all of this.
I have a theory about future AU Viktor. We are seeing here one of the timelines he helped create - originally. Future AU Viktor was created by snapping himself out of it of his own volition after achieving the perfection of his Glorious Evolution. As such, he regained his former consciousness, he became so proficient with the Arcane that he managed to master time-travel so thoroughly that he took over his own uncorrupted body from another timeline that doesn't need his presence and used that to hop to multiple alternate universes before landing in this one where he gave Jayce the acceleration rune. I believe he was monitoring progress with the outcome of different timelines and working via the Wild Rune (the anomaly) to get Jayce, Ekko and Heimerdinger to study it, so they can be ripped into these alternate timelines - to show Jayce the future of Hextech and what he previously did to other timelines, as well as send Ekko and Heimerdinger into a place where the Z-Drive could be created.
Ooo I like this. Wild. But I like it
Its also possible Viktor didn’t go back multiple times physically but rather that scene of him dropping the runes are Viktor’s visions of what could’ve happened if he did. He saw the acceleration rune worked in his visions and went through with that one.
i dont think that is what happened because when jayce shot victor back when vander was healing for a split second you can see like 5 holograms of jayce from different universes shooting victor
2:24 - the mask is that of the Fireflies (Ecko's gang). It being on the wall shows that the Ecko from that timeline has given up his life as a street hooligan and is trying to live a decent and honest life alongside Powder and Vander (he probably gave up on all of that after Vi's death)
I like the new Viktor lore. They did well with it, although I'm hard pressed to call them "machines," at this point, which is fine. This new lore is better and makes Viktor really cool.
When I saw Jayce remembering receiving the rune in a different light, I thought it was just that: a difference in perspective looking at the same thing. While he saw the world in it, it was only what his mind at the time could comprehend from what he felt from the rune. As his understanding broadened, he was able to understand a more complete scope.
Hi Entgrove 👍🏿 thanks for the great vid, I wanna bring up a couple of thoughts #1 I really love how Arcane has this kinda zealot religious tone going on Victor & Jayce are acting out this “God” thing, Jayce is literally carrying a huge cross @ the end #2 Ekko is the real hero & unkown variable, he sells the crystals to Jayce, he & the firelight intercept Silco’s shipment & that sets Katelyn on the trail of Jinx & lets her meet Vi, he smacks Victor so hard that he can finally break free & see his friend again (Jayce) I mean Victor even says “This technology shouldn’t exist” anyhow thanks again for all your time & energy you put in & maybe tell me what you think of what I wrote 👏🏿👍🏿💪🏿
I think Jayce's hammer doesn't work because hextech is no more in the "bad" future where Viktor achieve his plan. I believe they said at some point that hextech utilize runes to work, and i think that those singularities we see in season 2 are doing a lot of damage to the runes themselves in the bad future. Maybe it's connected to the whole "chaos and order crossing ways" that Viktor mentionned : maybe using runes (chaotics things of nature) to create a one minded human like entity (order saw by a human) is broking the runes, cutting hextech from its energy source
This is my theory tho, i might i've forgot/overlooked some details :)
I absolutely loved that
thanks for the leg breaking asmr
WAIIITT 😮 viktor arguement about being one is THE SAME as the one in evangelion, where shinji has to decide if humanity should be of individuals with "free will" or a single one
Ty for braking this all up. This shit got me fucked up.
Even though you held on to that leg crack a little too long for me 🤣🤔 By far, the best explanation of wth is going on. 🙏
Viktor spells out his own defeat in episode 6, his speech about hate and compassion being 2 sides of the same coin is a direct correlation as to what happens to him, Jase and Embessa aggression is what causes viktors downfall from peaceful and collaborative union by choice to aggressive conqueror. Make no mistake Jase was angry and trying to kill Viktor there was no thought of reconciliation at that point. It’s is only Jase’s compassion that makes Viktor change his mind in the end fufilling his saying about it being 2 sides to the same coin
i think the reason the hammer doesnt work in that future timeline is because the arcane weave was messed up and different, perhaps magic has become so chaotic and the formula for producing magic in hextech needs to be rearranged or reformulated.
i think in terms of what actually happened when victor came to his senses is he was gonna undo everything but he knew he was gonna die because of the explosion that was happening outside (all of that was happening in a split of a second) so his inital plan was just to free everyone and let him self die but jace said "no we end this together" idk why maybe its to take responsibility or more likely that he just missed him and they are soul mates (not in the romantic way but like a brotherly way, love on its own is not romantic that's a separate thing) probably a combination of both
no clue what the rune was supposed todo tho since things would have played out the same with or without it just their escape happening.
it also doesnt make sense why the rune is different each time. I think it may be a way for AU victor to pull them out if needed but idk that has no proof just a theory of mine
Am I the only one who noticed that in s1 we se that the mage has hand tattoos. And when we learn it’s viktor they’re gone? Als how did viktor get his human features back after transforming into a sorta god
That timeline is the conclave ending for Viktor.
I think I need a video explaining the timeline stuff and just drawing it out. At least what I think.
In that timeline Jayce discovers Hextech on his own, no rune, no being saved. He never goes to the future so never kills conclave Viktor. This timeline is that ending
@@entgrove that actually makes sense! i do wonder why the tattoos are gone though but maybe they did that on purpose
@@entgrove please do that video
The anomaly had an effect on the hextech weapons during act 1, when Vi Cait Jinx and Sevika are fighting. Even though they are not super close to it. In the dystopian future, the anomaly has infected the whole of piltover, and I believe that is why the hammer doesn't work there.
maybe, about the hextech in the hammer cannot be use, because there cannot be 2 identical entity in same timeline, no 2 Jayce, no 2 Hammer, no 2 Hex core. The only different between the core of Viktor / Ekko and the blue Hex Gem Jayce got is maybe that, one can exclude itself from the timeline, granting user the ability to time travel, the other cannot, so it be deactivate once another core appear.
And maybe, that explain at the end when Ekko throw the core to Viktor, it explode, cus 2 cannot be exit in one universe, they reactive to each other, and maybe the result of the react here is void, or something we might know in next season.
I’m looking toward to maybe seeing more of Vi and Cait, perhaps in a storyline that involves improving relations with Noxus now that Mel is there
nice to learn more
this video is EXACTLY what i was waiting for
11:14 I don't think you understand that it's not just a "nice looking machine", you already saw it many, many times, starting from the very first episode of Arcane series. His name is/was Huck. You can clearly see that once you compare earlier "gatekeeper" version of Huck with that "machine", all the markings in place including the amulet.
I'm so confused if Viktor was going back to the same spot in his own timeline trying different runes or if he was going to all the other timelines as well ? And why did he tell Jayce that in all the timelines and possibilities only he can show Viktor that he's wrong? Jayce failed in all other attempts and timelines, right ? The Arcane timeline we saw with the acceleration rune was the only one where Jayce stopped Viktor, so how was Jayce the only one to show Viktor blah blah blah..... Also, why not just go back in time, save Jayce, but not give him the rune and prevent hextech from happening. Also, this whole time loop paradox is confusing as heck how the future Viktor became who he is cuz he started going back in time and saving baby Jayce cuz he wanted to fix his mistake. But was the Arcane timeline the same timeline as his ? Did he just take Jayce to their future or was that another timeline, the one of future Viktors ? How many timelines was he trying to fix ? I hate this...... Also funny how Jayce was trying to talk sense into Viktor after he had already become machine herald. He could have tried talking before blasting Viktor, cuz Vik still had some humanity left and he was trying to help Vander. Yes he had partially transformed his followers and was able to control them, but he hadnt turned them into full bio-machines or hypnotized.
I’m gonna release another video called the problem with Arcane. Because if Jayce doesn’t somehow survive on his own and discover Hextech on his own in the end time with AU Viktor. Than it doesn’t work.
Basically the end that we see is always the end when Hextech is invented and he doesn’t need to go back and give Jayce the hex crystal.
But he could also just make vi die in the explosion right? Wouldn’t that also solve for the timeline that he’s on???
And in the current ending Viktor and Jayce die so Viktor wouldn’t be around in the future to go back.
Meaning AU viktor must be from a separate timeline. And he proved that he can travel to this timeline so will he be back and just wanted to see what would happen if this timeline continues from this point?? Creating another branch because he is bored??
AU Viktor is a problem
Jayce doesn't actually talk Viktor out of the glorious evolution. Viktor talks Viktor out of it through Jayce. Ekko intervening is the thing that allows that exchange to happen and it requires the acceleration rune. Wizard Viktor knew from hind sight what his glorious evolution would lead to but we don't see any evidence that he knew from the outset how to stop it. Rather we see that he brute forced a solution by trying giving Jayce all the different runes until he found the one that leads to the right outcome. Jayce being alive is necessary for this outcome, it seems, and without Jayce, hextech probably gets invented by Viktor who then tries to do the glorious evolution and with no way for anyone to stop him or talk him out of it, Viktor erases everyone's humanity.
Remember the Z drive had a limit to how far back it could go... the point where Viktor saves Jayce is probably his limit. Perhaps Viktor saw a future where he did not save Jayce or give him any rune, and it was something even worse- or perhaps Viktor's connection to Jayce was the only piece of his humanity he was unwilling to let go of. Perhaps whatever happened to Jayce and Viktor in the end was the true Glorious Evolution- marrying Order (Jayce) and Chaos (Viktor)
It felt like ..Warwick and jinx set up "ending the cycle" were in on it together part of jinx plan... Vander still sees them both , final fight look at his eyes .. pink ..he still there.. jinx calls him .. dad .. she never said that .. Warwick could have ended VI ..just rage before jinx hit off ledge .. and there fall looked careing .. Just a theory
5:50 You... sir... are sadistic, how could you do this to me *4, times in a row* lmfao.
Also Jayce drawing the Acceleration rune, and there being things down there he could eat, I have a suspicion those were sent by Viktor to see what he learns about them, to know which rune to give to Jayce in return. A self fulfilling prophecy built on past iterations of failed attempts. Then/Or it was started by him learning the acceleration rune in that cave at the first loop, Viktor using it to go back with the power of Wild magic, tweaking the outcome over each iteration- and it becomes a canon event by some paradox, in the most raw version possible. Maybe Jayce was the one who originally gave the rune to the other in the first place.
Seriously Jayce is a *_beast,_* he even made his own prosthetic while in a cave with a bunch of scraps. (Heh Marvel reference
Arcane really is awesome, so much reading between the lines that pays off for the lore.
About the hammer reacting to Viktor, I think it goes more natural than that. It's reacting to the Wild Magic, raw magic. Hextech is a refined, highly controlled piece of matter, delicate enough to explode from too much impact. I think it's just a "feedback loop" from reacting to the presence of such a primal energy source of its own kind. Essentially a proximity sensor, which is why it wouldn't work in the "dark future", it was being drowned out, jammed, or suffocated. Like how electricity dilutes in water, I guess. Also the version that reacted to Viktor was altered by the Wild magic, so something might be to do with that.
Viktor having that rune fused to Jayce makes me think "How could he know that's how it ended?" , but all roads before now led to him being in his peaceful solitude. So, I wonder if part of that paradox coalesced all his memories to one viktor, as the paradox compounds on itself. As if it were a Rogue-like, which makes me remember how I thought that Viktor had done all this and gotten away nearly scott-free, now I know how wrong that is when he has to have gone through this at least almost 10 times. Everything. It must have become a personal hell. He really is an amazing story character in the end.
You made me go on such a theory rant, so I think I kind of have to subscribe now lol. Thanks for the thought provocation.
the reason Ekko didn't get forced evolve is becasue is possibly also an anomaly and just like Jayce Viktor or his puppets would have to directly touch him to evolve him or maybe the Z-drive is the anomaly. Ekko was also the only one to temporality resist the force evolution because he been to a timeline in which everything is perfect in that timeline he had everything everyone is alive he experience the near perfect life he wanted in a what if scenario and everyone else is currently going through that for the first time Ekko already walk away from that because he had a sense of duty.
Viktor's philosophy implies I do not want to fight myself.
Heimerdinger go to the past, ekko go to the present, and jayce go to the future
14:47 Anybody else realize that the claw thing that sticks of of Viktors back looks just like the one he used when showing Heimerdinger the devices with the HexTech Gemstone in season 1? Idk if that’s foreshadowing or if I’m just stupid.
I think the Z-Drive does revert damage taken by Ekko it’s just for clarity sake they show blood, etc after he reverts time. His mind remembers the pain after using the Z-drive but his physical damage is reverted
5:04 easy quick explanation, he's probably out of mana and due to poisoned/got ignited/applied to grevious wound thats why he cant tp
Do you think that Jhin’s obsession with the number 4 has to be with the 4 seconds rule of the z drive? (or something related to)
0dio…. Wow…. Wow… this is an amazing thing to think about. I wonder
When Jayce sees the anomaly instead of runeterra, I assumed it was cuz Viktor was taking him to his world in the future through the anomaly, similarly how he did it the first time, but this time across timelines.
when viktor walks in after lasering the door he like crushes the glass with his walk exactly where jayce killed salo some sort of symbolism showing viktor being able to retain salo's mind and speak on salo's behalf
Bro watched arcane 15 times and reminds us of that with the jayce crack leg sound... Total psychopath
In my mind, I thought when I first saw the mage help Jayce and his mom get out of the blizzard. It was simply some random mage that acted in good and kind faith and this grand act of kindness of using magic to help someone in need sparked Jayce's desire to use hextech (and magic) to help Piltover and Zaun.
Now with the mage from Season 1 being Viktor it makes everything much much more complicated and convoluted with time traveling and multiverse dimension hopping.
I really did not like the way the narrative took a turn towards a multiverse storyline because now it de contextualizes already existing Runeterra lore. Because now VIktor is not a machine herald anymore and is now something completely different which has led to his VGU being what LOL Viktor was before to now being Arcane Viktor.
I think the reason Jayce AND ekko weren’t hit in the forehead with the golden strings that connected them to the hive mind is that both of them “don’t belong” in this timeline anymore and therefore victor cannot really see them in his god form. We can see that from victors PV ekko is a comet and he even mentions that “this device cannot exist” which I think agrees with my point that both ekko and Jayce no longer are connected to this world and therefore are sort of resistant to viktors godly power
13:05 to 13:20 if thats true for viktor. as viktor was brought back last second by jayce at the end.... vander is still in warwick... we saw the shimmer flicker. vander must've let jinx go. shes probably going to try to find a way to cure him
something I realized, if you pay attention arcane looks ALOT like dishonored, it reminds me alot of it, it's pretty similar. we're they inspired off of it in some way with designs?
i cant wrap my head around what was the moment that god-viktor decided that his own revolution wasnt worth it and started travelling back?
how could he think it was not worth it if there was no more viktor, only the arcane in that body? he shouldnt think of the glorious revolution as a failure, because he shouldnt see himself as flawed, only viktor would - but there should be no more viktor
also why was he human viktor and not god-viktor when he gave the stone to young jayce, if the only way he could go back is if he already had the powers of god-viktor?
If Viktor and Jayce were both destined to die, how did the first timeline in which Viktor became the ascended machine herald come to be? Someone has to save Jayce that isn't Viktor or the loop would never begin. My theory is that Zilean, who we know is looking for ways to defeat the void, set the loop in motion and let it play out, but its also possible that Jayce was never destined to die and would have lived in some other way but lost his mother. Perhaps the timeline where a motherless Jayce goes full ego-mode like OG Jayce is the start.
They retconne that lore. Viktor & Jayce will come back later i guess but who knows
It will be just like comic. ANother region will react to the event if the author want it
it is a self-creating loop without a beginning. according to the principle of Novikov self-consistency, as in Terminator. when Skynet sends the terminator into the past, it becomes the cause of its own creation
moreover, there is an opinion that the universe of series 7 is the same, they just got here at different times, but without hextech. Jace did not receive any runes here at all, but Ecco from our universe got here and created hextech in this universe, which still led to the appearance of Victor the god.
@@gewalt9585 Self-consistency principle doesn't apply here. It asserts that physical laws prevent one from changing the past, but Viktor is actively changing the past to find the correct outcome. Not to mention it takes as axiomatic that only one timeline can exist (accessibly, multiple timelines cannot interact if they do exist), which would destroy a whole part of Arcane's metaphysics. You could describe the Wild Rune then as a mere computational device and say that it enacts time-loop logic, but then the Wild Rune is reduced to mere computation with only a theoretical existence, making the arcane rune that Jayce has a none-reality.
This show is so so gooood. I really do hope they make more. Relatively soon 😅
also im not expert but i have a feeling they will continue the story but it will be not arcane league of legends, but some other league of legends, as the arcane had been destroyed