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Jinshi finally realizing his future wife is a cat. We are so back!!

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When you’re reading a fic that says it’s gender neutral but then “You wore a short skirt and tied up your hair”

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ANALYSIS TIME!! Part Two (Because My Battery Died, and I Need Glorious Evolution So I Can Power My Devices From My Wrist.. Or something.):

So we know this looks like Viktor. That’s his cane, and my boi has got some serious red lined cloaked edgy drip goin’ on there, which we also see in League of Legends, although it’s a bit more raggedy there. He’s also already wearing a mask by the looks of it. His face is probably scarred up from the explosion, and he’d prefer to be seen looking like an automaton. Also, maybe like Darth Vader, it serves as a breathing apparatus, because boi’s lungs aren’t any good anymore. The thing I’m prolly most looking forward to seeing in Season Two is the development of Glorious Evolution. I personally am a big advocate of this and I can’t wait to see his transformation from sickly, on-the-cusp-of-death adorkable nerd to brilliant, seemingly unstoppable Darth Vader Arc Cyborg Nerd who will stop at nothing to reach unlimited potential and power, ergo saving his people.

Uh- anyway, to the shot- This seems to be the Undercity where he is surrounded by a few Shimmer addicts/ victims. The bright light appears to be emanating from Viktor’s hand as he passes it to the hooded figure next to him. This purple colour suggests he is weilding unstable or corrupted Hexcore technology, but not the Hexcore itself. It’s too small We know that in League he still uses it, so Jayce tooootally failed in destroying it. Major L, my dude.

The place is a shambles- crates and tools are strewn all over the place. Is this just typical, run-down wear and tear of the Undercity, or did a fight recently break out? I feel like this will be in Episode 2 or 3 for some reason. Maybe we will get a relatively smaller time-skip than Season 1.

Also, can I just say broski has augmented himself some HEIGHT. What the Hell. Bro’s taller than Cait. Vastly taller than Jayce, even, if you’ve seen the Bridging the Rift reveal. I wanna see him and Jayce argue or duke it out while he towers over him like that. Quality entertainment, peeps.

Okay, that’s all I can get out of that shot. Sorry.

I feel like this shot is overlooked. Like, there are no significant characters. No parallels, I think. What is its REAL purpose in the trailer? What’s that big purple smog? Weaponised Shimmer, or some other Chemtech ‘splosion? I thought Singed didn’t like people weaponising shimmer. There’s been speculation that part of the reason he created Warwick was to neutralise its effects with that green stuff and a blood transfusion.

Also, this isn’t Viktor. That cloak is different. There’s a new setting, Jinx’s graffiti is visible on a wall behind like later on in the trailer. It’s not Jinx- the physique doesn’t seem right-, or the mysterious Mage that saved Jayce in his youth. I bet it’s a new character.

Also, no proof yet, but I predict Sevika will die.

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Does Silco Know?

I'm surprised by the number of people I've talked who believe Silco is unaware of what Singed is doing to Vander, that it is all happening behind his back. Here I wanted to go over the reasons why Silco almost certainly played a roll in Warwick's creation, and perhaps even ordered it.

Weapon of War

Silco needs terrifying, never-before-seen weapons if an overwhelmingly underarmed Zaun is to scare Piltover into submission- it's why he has shimmer created and why he instructs Jinx to create Fishbones. It is likely that Warwick is intended to be another one of these wildcards.

Money and Strength

Singed's funding comes from Silco, so it would be difficult for him to hide such an audacious project. Singed also doesn't have the strength to carry shimmer-Vander's corpse away to his lab, but Silco's thugs do.

Holding On

Silco's biggest flaw is his inability to let the past and his loved ones go, and the way he, like Jinx, destroys what he loves. Silco romanticizes the betrayal and reminisces of the time he and Vander fought together. He refuses to give up on Vander, even forgiving him for the drowning and trying to reconcile. Vander has moved on, he refers to Silco as "brother" only in the past tense, but Silco continues to call Vander brother, even after the failed reconciliation and his "death." When Silco finds Jinx on the bridge, he tells Singed to keep her alive, even insists that "she can't die," despite being warned that the process will be torturous and it would be more merciful to let her go. He can't bring himself to do this because he loves her too much, too selfishly, to give her up to death or topside. Would it be that much of a stretch to suggest he did the same with Vander?

Hallucinations

After the explosion, Jinx hallucinates Vi, Mylo, and Claggor because she knows she killed them or indirectly caused their deaths. Jinx's bomb also helped to bring about Vander's demise, and she saw Vander's corpse. Despite this, she doesn't hallucinate him- not until e9, when she is already in a severe psychotic episode and Vi yells his name. Plus, in the concept for her minigun, she has scrawled "THREE LIVES" into one of the barrels. Mylo, Claggor, and Vi, but what about the fourth? It seems that Jinx may be aware that Vander is still alive, but how could she know unless Silco also knows?

When she finally does hallucinate Vander, she hallucinates scribbles of Warwick on or representing him.

So, if Silco knows, why would he talk to Vander's statue and not Warwick?

A- Privacy

Talking to Warwick means talking in the presence of Singed, who we see in e8 Silco doesn't trust. It's bad enough before you remember that not only does Silco say that Vander, who the undercity turned against, was right all along; he reveals that he is in the same spot Vander was in and is going to make the same decision; he is going to choose Jinx over Zaun, the same choice that lead to Vander's downfall. Silco is not going to risk Singed knowing that.

B- Pain

Throughout the show, Silco disassociates from pain, both his own and the pain he causes others. You can see this from the way he romanticizes his trauma, flinches and looks away at the cat being ripped apart, and reacts to the death of Renni's child. You can also see this when he kidnaps Vander- the blank, distant expression on arrival, the way he looks down and away when Benzo dies and Vander is punched, and how his good eye shines on the verge of tears. But he doesn't cry and he never does, because in his situation, to feel pain and empathy is a death sentence- the perfect way to prove your weakness and turn your allies against you. After all, it was his empathy towards Jinx that caused him to love her, and it was his love for her that turned Sevika and the chembarons against him. If killing Vander's friend and knocking him out was that painful for Silco, imagine how much worse it would be for him to see Vander disfigured, barely alive and in a constant state of mind-shattering agony, being sliced open and pumped full of chemicals. Singed had to drug Silco to keep him from going crazy over Jinx's similar transformation. Silco simply cannot bear to face the pain that he puts Vander through.

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So on the fountain, where Silco "talks" to Vander

When he's pouring one out, you can see markings on the fountain

Among them is Ekko's name

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JINX & ISHA | FOLLOW YOU (ARCANE)

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Open Discussion About The Psychology of Vander/Warwick in Arcane S2

We unfortunately did't really get to explore it that much in the show proper and while I'm developing my own interpretation (which I'll get to in amoment), I'd love to hear the interpretations and analysis of others.

Both Singed and Viktor described Vander's psyche being lost to or entangled with that of the "beast." My initial thought was this could be a separate entity transplanted with the murkwolf parts and DNA... But then I remembered Silco's quote "There's a monster inside all of us" and him threatening to show Vander "what he really is" back in Act 1 of S1. So the Beast/Warwick could actually be an aspect of Vander himself; possibly even an identity fragment or something similar to an alter as seen in DID or OSDD.*

... Or this is an entirely new entity that has Vander's memories due to inhabiting his body. Either way, I'd love to hear your thoughts! 👀

*Apologies if this last sentence comes across as insensitive. I have been doing research on both disorders and while Vander's situation is not an exact match to either, they are the closest things to my knowledge to draw comparisons to.

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Arcane Fortiche Warwick Concept

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Arcane Fortiche Warwick Concept

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Based on the new Arcane Fractured Jinx voice line to Warwick joking about how he’s a furry now, imagine Jinx just cracking wolf-related jokes whenever she encounters Warwick, partly for fun and partly as a form of affection.

Jinx: You’re looking very fur-ocious today!

Warwick: Jinx… Please stop…

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more ahriwick bc i'm obsessed

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| A bit of advice: don’t threaten the guy who pours the drinks. |

Another product spotlight, this time for our Vander-inspired fragrance products! Scented with oud, tobacco, and leather, this fragrance is evocative of Vander’s bar and home in the Lanes, The Last Drop, filled with bustling customers and the hint of smoke-leaf on the air: aromatic, mellow, and warm.

Something that always struck me with Vander's character is the comparative warmth and distance he has. With him in The Last Drop it feels alive, and a safe place to be. He's a figure of guidance and leadership to Vi, Jinx, Claggor, and Milo, but there's also a feeling of distance between them, evident most of all in Vi's yearning to be a protector, just like he is to the kids and the whole of The Lanes. I wanted to try and reflect that in a certain clarity that's present, even amidst the typically thicker, headier aromas of tobacco and leather, cutting through it to keep the fragrance from feeling overwhelming.

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So on the fountain, where Silco "talks" to Vander

When he's pouring one out, you can see markings on the fountain

Among them is Ekko's name

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i guess this is shortly after the beginning of the show when they find their dead mother on the bridge between piltover and zaun, where vander finally puts down his gaunlets? im just judging based off their choppy haircuts and lengths of hair being very similar in both pictures.

but if that's the case, that's so heartbreaking.

im personally inclined to believe it was jinx's memories of vander before she laid her father to final respite (i've heard some people speculate although im personally a bit dubiousthat it was the last morsel of vander's memories of his daughters.)

but either way, if this is how the show ends and begins, vander and his daughters coming together by circumstance, love, and misfortune to permanent separation for all the same reasons...i still hate it here.

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This is the edit I made without the lyrics. I have another one with the lyrics

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i don’t think we talk about powder putting ekko’s pendant into the drawer with the hex crystals enough???

first of all, the sheer fact that she still has them. through the pain and numbness of losing her sister, she still hid them, either in a grief-stricken fugue or a frantic attempt to finish the job that vi started, she kept them and enshrined them with her grief

then we know ekko managed to reconstruct hextech and the anomaly just from the shards, but i wonder if at any point powder stopped to think if the process would go faster with the complete crystal and decided not to give them to him to make the process go longer—maybe in an attempt to prolong something that finally made her feel alive, but also more evidence to the theory that powder knew, or at least suspected, that this wasn’t her ekko, what with his surprise at vi’s death and the mural

so she knows the pendant is a relic of an ekko from another strange universe where vi isn’t dead, and what does she do with this? she puts it away. she puts it to rest with the cause of vi’s death. to move forward, she has to leave a few things behind, and the dream of a universe where one thing went right was one of those things

tldr: episode 7 was also secretly about powder coming to terms with vi’s death all along

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sea waves...