#literally. He killed himself without Viktor

[rexxdjarin]

so much of Jayce going after Viktor really comes down to

“please don’t leave me. I don’t want to live without you.”

when you really think about it.

[avelera]

So apparently, Fortiche shared concept art where Jayce's Hexcorization in the cave would extend all the way to his face:

And this is really interesting to me from a narrative perspective, here's why:

Much of S2 Jayce's arc is incredibly... punitive. Like, he is really being punished step by step for everything he did wrong in S1. From Renni terrorizing and almost killing him for the death of her son, to Viktor leaving him "for another woman" (the Hexcore as represented by Sky) much like Jayce left him for politics as represented by Mel, there's really a sense of the narrative not only tearing Jayce down to his bare essentials (something that's very common for TV writing to do, by the way, it's very common that you want to see characters reduced down to who they are for their "long night of the soul" moment before they learn the lessons of what they really stand for before going into the climax armed with those lessons), but Jayce's time in the cave really goes even further than that and not only does S2 take away his political career, his Hextech ambitions, his state as someone able-bodied, much of his strength, and certain other gifts, it looks like in this draft they considered taking away his beauty too.

I think it would have been interesting either way if they had, but I want to dive into the narrative structure of action and punishment in Arcane, why Hexcorizing Jayce's face might have been a step too far and not really addressed a lesson he needed to learn, and my thoughts on punitive character arcs in general in Arcane (or lack thereof), specifically with regards to Jayce and Caitlyn.

I've mentioned elsewhere that I always found it interesting that much of the hate directed towards Jayce by the fans was for his perceived incompetence in difficult moments, rather than at how naturally gifted he seems to be at everything.

When I first watched S1 on my own, I thought Jayce was a bit unbearable because everything comes so easily to him (after Viktor becomes his partner and Hextech takes off as a result, that is). He is naturally beautiful, he's built like a god but doesn't appear to do any sort of exercise routine to maintain this other than working in the forge, he becomes the Man of Progress and rockstar of Piltover pretty much without trying, girls are literally sighing dreamily as he goes by.

He's also naturally a genius, from what we see, revolutionizing multiple industries with one invention. Even his rescue as a child is a literal miracle and it spurs him to create an invention that makes him a rockstar. When he enters politics, he immediately dominates, to the point where he's able to get a unanimous vote to overthrow the founder of the city within weeks of going there. Even in battle he's naturally gifted and naturally lucky during the raid of the Shimmer factory (up until the death of Renni's son), even though he has no prior skills as far as we know. He also wins the love of arguably the most beautiful woman in the series, again, seemingly without trying.

Then, S2 doesn't just take all of this away from him, it seems to go a step further into actually punishing Jayce for how easy and miraculous his life was in S1.

I'm of two minds about the Hexcorization reaching his face, but I have a hypothesis. I think it would have looked fucking rad but, I kinda get why they didn't do it:

Because Jayce's good looks are not something he can control, unlike the other things the narrative punishes him for.

Insofar as he can control his looks, he gives up on the clean-cut, immaculate "Golden Boy" image. Even in the idealized astral plane, he keeps most of the marks of his time in the pit like his hair and beard. I think it's because Jayce likes who he became down there. The clean-cut version of him was always the mask of him trying to please others, Jayce's appearance after he emerges from the cave is him shedding the opinions of others (contrast this with how Viktor idealizes himself in the astral plane, removing all marks of his illness. This isn't a criticism, just an interesting point of contrast).

So basically, my theory is Fortiche may have pulled back on Hexcorizing Jayce's face on the one hand to soften the visuals a bit, but secondly because it keeps the focus on punishing Jayce for things he chose to do, rather than things he doesn't really have control over.

But make no mistake, the narrative comes down hard on Jayce in S2, for every little thing the fans could and often did hate him for in S1. He pays for all of them, arguably in excess of what he maybe deserved, since as he says he didn't ask for any of this. But he did go along with it, and there's where the hammer of consequence (quite literally) comes down on him, tears away all his privileges, drags him down to literally the level of Viktor when he first left the undercity and says, "You have to do it all again but now focused on what really matters, and it's going to be ten times harder than it ever was."

This, in my opinion, is why Jayce is so popular coming out of S2. It is a hell of an arc, it's a hell of a redemption! You gave the man everything any man could want, then you took it all away, and then as his crowning moment of showing he has truly learned these lessons and made up for his mistakes, he makes possibly the most loving gesture possible, puts his weapons down, and reaches out to the person he loves most and literally sacrifices himself on the altar of his mistakes to make things right and show Viktor he is loved, and to protect Viktor from the horrifically lonely fate of his future self. It doesn't get any more noble, loving, or self-sacrificing than that.

Because more than we like to see a character punished we like to see them learn from their mistakes and come back better. Jayce's S2 nobility is earned, perhaps even to excess, no one can question whether he suffered enough to make up for what he did in S1 but even the most uncharitable read of him in S1, his biggest hater, would have to agree his time spent starving to death in agony, alone in that cave for months, has got to be just about the worst punishment a human can face and live.

Which is one reason I must add that I find it a little puzzling that Arcane's creators didn't predict the hate that Caitlyn would get in S2.

Keep in mind, because this is very important, the Arcane creators did not make S2 in response to fan reactions to S1. S2 was already in production and the script was locked in and done before anyone outside their organizations saw S1. So nothing that happens in S2 is as a result of fan response.

But, the creators did understand that Jayce was going to need to suffer narrative punishment for what he did in S1 in order to be redeemed, whether they predicted how hated he would be after S1, they did predict that redemption would be necessary. And boy-howdy, did they give him a hell of a redemption arc!

But Caitlyn's S2 actions are almost in lock-step similar to Jayce's S1 actions, being manipulated (by a Medarda!) into accepting power, but maybe not having a choice in the matter, but still maybe expanding that power on their own because it is useful in its own right. Caitlyn also makes terrible mistakes. A child doesn't die but people in the undercity do get hurt during her rage-fuled raids, even if most of them are mob bosses and their goons. The narrative asks, does that make it right? Caitlyn like Jayce hurts the person closest to her who is from the undercity and uses bigoted language against the people of the undercity to Vi's face in much the same way that Jayce did to Viktor on the bridge, though in Jayce's defense, he apologized immediately after.

So, seeing how hated Jayce was coming out of S1, to the point where there's still barely any merchandise of him, I'm shaking my head rather ruefully that there was so much merch made for Caitlyn this time around. And I get it! Caitlyn and Vi were very popular after S1, they are intentionally THE main romance of the show and it was a very popular romance coming out of the innocence of their meet cute in S1.

But it's a romance that dearly needed a longer third act if you wanted Caitlyn to be as embraced after her mistakes as Jayce was after making up for his all through S2. You need to give her as long or at least as in-depth of a redemption act with as much suffering and acknowledgment of her mistakes if you want Vi and Caitlyn at the end to get celebrated the way Jayce making it up to Viktor is, because as much as I understand the choice to focus on pacing instead of exposition, and I do think Caitlyn's apology and realization of her mistakes are there on the page more than people complain, I do also agree that it is a bit "blink and you'll miss it" even if it's there. Jayce got a whole episode of being thrown into the Torment Nexus for his mistakes, real or imagined, if you didn't like him or his choices, you definitely got the sadistic glee of watching life kick the stuffing out of him for what he did in S1.

But besides her fight with Ambessa, which was a result of a confluence of many events in the story, not just Caitlyn's mistakes, Caitlyn doesn't really suffer much for the mistakes she made to those she loves. Her losing an eye to Ambessa didn't happen because she said bigoted things to Vi or became a short-term puppet dictator of Piltover. It was a result of Ambessa's actions and maneuvering more than it was a result of Caitlyn's personal mistakes to her loved ones.

In contrast, Jayce's time in the pit gave him the chance to reflect on and suffer for the the mistakes he made that led to the Anomaly that led to him being down in this pit, and what he would do to make it up to his loved ones like Viktor when he returned. Caitlyn never got a moment like that and from what I'm seeing of the vitriol directed towards her, so similar to what Jayce got after S1, it seems like she really needed it if we were going to like her to the same extent again, in a way uncomplicated by lingering questions about whether she ever truly learned the lessons her character needed to learn to grow as a person.

And it's just funny to me that a narrative that was so aware that this whole huge punishment arc was needed to rehabilitate Jayce wasn't aware that we'd need one for Caitlyn too, at least if they're going to move all that merch they made for her (please give us Jayce merch, Riot, I'm begging).

[phantosss]

finished s4 today and here are some questions I still have

-WHAT HAPPENED TO SLOANE???

-why on earth did raymond "I would take my year with you over a lifetime with someone else" chestnut just leave allison?? like I get if the actor couldn't/didn't want to be in the season but they could have at least come up with an explanation

-why did luther get his ape body back, its not connected to his powers at all. they just did it to make two bad jokes didn't they

-why did some of them get different/upgraded powers but luther and diego didn't?

-when klaus was shot and allison gave him the marigold why didn't he just stay dead? s3 established he has a choice in whether he comes back to life

-what is durango even supposed to be? reginald says that jennifer is more powerful than all of them put together but thats only if she comes into contact with them right?

-HOW DID SHE GET IN THE SQUID

-how did five start the commission

-there was a total of 43 marigold children and yet we only ever meet like 16 of them. who are the others?? Also wouldn't their marigold also have to be absorbed to reset the timeline? Unless it did all get absorbed off screen somehow

-if jennifer was so dangerous why didn't reginald just kill her instead of building an entire town to keep her trapped... i know he wouldn't have had a problem with it.

-also this is more reginald just being stupid but why on earth would he send his kids with MARIGOLD on a mission where he knew a girl with DURANGO would be when he knows if they just made contact it would end the world. ALSO ALSO reginald was literally there so why didn't he just blow her up himself!!?? this shit gets dumber the more i think about it

-five says that the day they were born the timeline shattered or whatever but isn't that just his fault? he's the one with the time travel powers so without him there would be no way to create other timelines. wouldn't it have made more sense for just five to sacrifice himself then...? I guess Viktor would have still ended the world but the commission literally wanted the world to end in that timeline so what's the deal

-how could claire and diegolilas kids still be alive when their parents never existed. that would've created another grandfather paradox according to this shows logic but nope!

-oh yeah and what was the deal with the ben on the train at the end of s3 ... Literally had nothing to do with anything

thats all i can think of rn... I'm sure theres more but... my head hurty. if anyone has an explanation to any of these lmk

[theplotdemandsit]

When Five finally makes it back home with his siblings, finally makes it back to the right timeline, he finds he’s still holding his breath. 

“Is it really over?” He thinks out loud. 

“I guess there’s only one way to find out,” comes Luther’s response. 

So they do. And everything seems…normal?

But as much as Five wants to sleep for ten days straight, he can’t help but feel on edge. He spends his time visiting each sibling, popping in for dinners or briefly making sure they haven’t felt anything out of the ordinary. One day Allison asks him if he actually wants there to be an approaching apocalypse. His eyes fall onto Claire who’s catching him up on High School Musical the Musical the Series.

“No,” he answers. “I really don’t.” 

They make time for family dinners every Sunday. They still bicker and maybe swing some fists every now and then, but everyone is fast to apologize and laugh again. With room to breathe again without high stakes, the hurt finally begins to heal. They had been family before, but it slowly begins to feel like a real family. 

And for the first time, they really get to know each other. For all the crap they gave Luther about the moon, they listen as he shares the misery and loneliness and betrayal he felt. Allison describes her time as a Black woman in the 60s without her voice. Literally. Viktor tells them about what it was like growing up powerless only to end the world twice. How he lost his memory and found the one he loved only to lose that too. 

Klaus manifests Ben (who is still a ghost but as alive as he could get) and together they tell of their adventures growing up and the cult Klaus accidentally created. In between laughs, they also learn about Klaus’s harrowing experiences with drugs and death.

And Five? He has over 40 years of stories, and at first he doesn’t want to share any of it. His time in the Apocalypse, his time in the Commission, murdering for the sole purpose of survival in order to get back to his family—it’s not a side to him he wants his family to know about. 

But at the same time for reasons he can’t explain, he does want them to know. For the first time, he wants to talk to his family, the family he worked tirelessly to save. 

Little by little, he does just that. Every now and then he will start a sentence with, “Back in the Apocalypse…,” during dinner or his visits with them. Silly ones at first, like the time he had the nasty Twinkie. The time he sang all the Beatles songs he could remember and pretended he was having a concert. The time he found Umbrella Academy action figures and reenacted missions with them. 

When it’s just him and another sibling, he starts sharing some of the hard stuff too.

He tells Allison how he starved during his first winter alone and hallucinated that she had helped him find food. When he woke up he found himself in a storage house full of canned goods and bawled his eyes out.

He tells Diego about the first time he killed someone. How the scariest thing was that he wasn’t shaking. 

He tells Viktor how he sometimes still wonders if he deserves everything he got for messing with time in the first place. How he’s afraid that one of these days he’ll wake up and be alone again.

He tells Klaus about the time he thought about giving up and ending it all. 

He tells Luther about Dolores. About how even though he knew he was crazy for talking to a mannequin, Dolores was the better part of him that salvaged his sanity.

He tells Ben (and Klaus, by default) that his biggest regret is not being there. That he tries not to think about how things might have been different if he’d stayed.

Slowly, slowly, bit by bit, the tension eases from his shoulders. He stops worrying so much about the world ending and how to keep everyone alive. Instead, he spends his time going to the park with Claire, helping Diego and Lila with the babies, having midnight food outings with Klaus, and listening to Viktor play his music.

At their weekly family dinner, Luther tells Five he has a present for him and pulls out a box of Twinkies, saying, “I know you want to try one.”

Five gives him a practiced glare and says, “I would rather swim in a pot of boiling oil.”

Before, his family might have stared at him like he grew two heads, but now they laugh and think his retort is hilarious. Luther opens the box and pulls out a bag of marshmallows instead, and Five can’t help but crack a smile. 

One day they ask him what his plans are—what’s next for the oldest sibling.

Five warms his hands on a hot mug of coffee. “I’m tired of thinking about the future,” he tells them. “Right now, I just want to spend time with my family.”

That earns him plenty of “aww”s and “You’re such a softie, Five.” He waves them away and tries to duck out of their hugs, but they get him in the end. And even if he could teleport, he doesn’t want to.

He hadn’t been looking for happy, but he found it anyway.

Now cross-posted on Ao3 under the same handle!

[menofprogress]

Some of the most (imho) insane choices they made wrg to jayce and viktor:

- having jayce look at viktors crotch post sourdough starter not once, not twice, not thrice but FOUR times. And making it look like hes always catching himself, but cant help it.

- having fire mel turn into fire viktor, essentially comparing the two in jayces mind. What makes this more significant is the lack of other ppl, like if it was "just" about ppl who are important to jayce, why not include his mom or cait?

- jayce rembering viktor with an extremely soft smile on his face, when viktor didnt smile at all in the actual scene. Like it doesnt even matter if jayce is misremembering, imagining, or seeing something that we, the audience, cant. It could be any of those and it wouldnt be any less insane.

- viktor NEVER taking the blanket off, like???? Bro lived in that thing and im just supposed to be normal??

- viktors straight up refusal to believe jayce would hurt him or be against him. Like he cant fathom a world where him and jayce are genuinely enemies and even when theyre actually fighting hes still never going for a killing blow bc he STILL wants to leave the door open for jayce to return to him.

- the sheer fact that viktor does not want to live in ANY world without jayce and is deadass risking the fate of the entire world bc he needs jayce to survive and find him

- and jayce doesnt want to either!!!! He chose to stay and die with viktor even when viktor absolutely believed he would leave him after ~all that~. He could have returned to his mother, mel and cait, but hed literally rather not come back at all than live in a world without viktor like wtf???

- literally the way viktor cant stay mad at jayce? It doesnt happen much, but jayce can be hurtful (the undercity comment) not think things through (building weapons) and actively go against viktors wishes (not destroying the hexcore) and viktor absolutely is mad about that, but he can never STAY mad. Bro, jayce shot him point blank and viktor was like "ah well. Maybe i need to throw him around a little so he can listen to me?"

[akascow]

yet another JAYVIK post about the Butterfly Effect :3

also spoilers lol

So Hextech isn't invented in Ekko's alternate timeline, and I feel like since life seemed so much better without Hextech there can be a couple things to infer about alternate Jayce and, by association, our Jayce (and Viktor!) here:

this is a long one and my long posts never get notes but i promise its actually super interesting to think about so u should totally read through it 🧎🏻‍♀️‍➡️🔥

1. (and also my favorite one bc its Very JayVik lmao) alternate Jayce never pursued Hextech after the explosion: maybe too guilty over killing someone (because we see alternate Vi died from that explosion during the kids' robbery), he does what Heimerdinger advises him to: fully admitting his crimes and not mentioning the arcane. And we can assume the academy burned all his studies too becauseeeeee…

Viktor never endorsed it. Assuming the admission of guilt theory is correct- Viktor never would’ve even known about the arcane in the first place, because Jayce would never mention it in the council room trial. Viktor would never know that the arcane can be used to help cure people, which we see is what piques his interest in the first place. And like, obviously Viktor wants to cure his leg and illness lol

Which means Viktor never interrupted Jayce's suicide attempt after the trial and Jayce probably goes through with killing himself, Viktor never went to check on him. It seems the compelling force behind Viktor’s interrupting in season 1 was initially from Jayce’s journal, which he picks up while browsing all the Hextech equipment they were planning to destroy. Viktor only really looks at the notes because he was interested in the arcane in the first place, which again, can't happen if Jayce never mentions it in the council room. 

Which is SO important to the plot and me that everything happened the exact way that it did for everything to succeed (which is quite literally the butterfly effect btw lmao). Because it shows how extremely important Jayce and Viktor’s partnership was to not only their own lives, but the entire future of Piltover, good or bad ie no hextech=no shimmer and peace between the cities, hextech= tons of shimmer, the corruption of the arcane, and the destruction of piltover.

Jayce needed someone there to believe in him, and that was Viktor: After the council disagrees with him, and he’s kicked out of the academy and banned from studying the arcane, he tries to find comfort with his mother. She’s the one who was saved using the arcane in the first place after all, so surely she’ll understand. But she tells him to give up on this dream, a dream he’s had almost his entire life. His own mother doesn’t believe in him.

He then goes to the Kiramman’s because “I'll find someone to believe in me,”  most likely assuming if they sponsored his studies in the first place, they would still support him after the trial. But they kick him out from the Kiramman household too, as well as forbid his and Caitlyn’s friendship. And with no one left, the very next scene we see of him is as he’s deciding to jump. 

The only thing that stops him is Viktor showing up. With an interest in the Hextech theory after he reads Jayce’s notes, Viktor wants to help Jayce make the Hextech a reality. Viktor believes in him, and he supports him. That interaction is what leads to their partnership forming, them sneaking back into the lab, grabbing the Hextech equipment and showing Mel and Heimerdinger that it was possible to create magic, and Mel's influence leading to the council’s support and the okay on continuing to develop Hextech together, projecting Piltover into success (and of course accelerating it into ruin, seen in s2. but I won’t get into that snowballing effect here because we’ll be here for hours)

Also, Viktor would be against Hextech if his first and only introduction to seeing it was as a tool to invoke harm (on a Zaunite especially). Which is what would drive Viktor away from investigating it, and before their theory ever even has the chance to get off the ground or evolve, it's already dead in the water for good because:

Something both of them, but especially Viktor, have been extremely against during the entire show was that their plans for Hextech WILL NOT be used as weapons to kill or harm, only to make lives better (especially in the undercity). Think about it: Viktor only adamantly opposed using the Hexcore AFTER it killed Skye.

The guilty conscience of accidentally killing another person with his own technology would not have helped Jayce’s mental state either lol. Like, think about the DIRECT PARALLEL in our timeline: where Viktor almost jumps and kills himself, after Skye's death, as a result of his tampering with the Hexcore, before Jayce interrupts him (ohhh their mirroring, it hurts me)

2. If not from jumping, then alternate Jayce was arrested or exiled… I mean like, he inadvertently killed a young Zaunite girl. That's a lot more consequential to his conscience, reputation, house name AND criminal record than just the building blowing up in our timeline. It’s pretty vague if anyone died in our timeline from it, I think the most that’s mentioned is some people were injured (“Was anyone hurt?” “A building was blown to bits, what do you think?”) so it would weigh heavier on Jayce’s shoulders if someone actually died in this timeline.

Also remember: he felt so guilty about accidentally killing a child with his hammer in s1, that he gave up entirely on trying to wipe out the production of Shimmer. Once he sees how his Hextech can be used against someone, he drops all his plans because "thats not what we created Hextech for"

From that theory, I'm assuming more-so that he was exiled though? Because Heimerdinger said he was in the alternate timeline for like 3 years and couldn't find Jayce, so I don't know... plus I feel like he would have found Jayce in jail if he was there lol.

And beforeeeee anyone yaps, ik Heimerdinger actually said he thinks Jayce ended up somewhere else, and never specifically stated that he "couldn't find Jayce". BUT from the end, since we see two Ekko's before he goes back to the main timeline, we can assume that the original person's mind inhabits the other's body so that there aren't like paradoxical two people in one place at the same time. 

SO theoretically, Heimerdinger actually does go looking for Jayce, and if he found the alternate timeline's Jayce, he probably would've mentioned it to Ekko when asked if Jayce was there too… right? I’m assuming he was hanging around Ekko for most of the 3 years that he was there, waiting for our Ekko to be projected into the alternate Ekko, because it's not like Heimerdinger just happened to show up right when our Ekko gets there, he might’ve assumed it would happen eventually. And when the alternate Ekko starts freaking out about being in the wrong universe, it's pretty clear that this is his Ekko now lol

But then why stick around Ekko and not Jayce? I guess he was currently closer to Ekko, calling him his current pupil, and given that he was the one who showed him the Firelights community and gave him hope. Plus I mean, Jayce literally voted him off the council from a disagreement over the Hexcore so there's some salt in the wound there lmao. Or maybe because Ekko is a lot younger and would not react as calmly or rationally as Jayce would (I'm assuming... idrk HAHA). You could argue that Heimerdinger was just visiting both of them back and forth, but again if he couldn't find any Jayce, then I think it would explain why he doesn’t mention any Jayce at all, and that's where this make the most sense, at least to me.

3. alternate Jayce also died in the explosion with Vi- When we see it in our timeline, he and Vi were the closest to the blast. If it killed Vi, it would’ve presumably killed Jayce too. And if he did die, then obviously Hextech would never be invented, reasons being: everything I just mentioned in the previous theories.. but like, even more simplified bc he wasn't there to begin with lol

I only say it's a weaker theory because Heimerdinger definitely would've seen a memorial for him (or at the very least a gravestone), given Jayce was in the Talis house and under the study of the Kiramman family, it was a pretty high status name compared to the average Piltovian citizen, and probably wouldn’t be silenced or brushed away… 

Although to counter that, I guess since everything in the over city is super status-y, maybe the Kiramman’s wouldn't want their name being tied with the death of two people, which is a similar but obviously more significant reason to why they kicked him out of their house in our timeline after the trial, his “name is no good now.” Plus we hear in the council trial from Ximena that the Talis family is a lower house too, and their voice doesn’t hold as much weight, so maybe it wouldn’t actually have that much mention? He hasn’t become the “Man of Progress” yet either since he’d never get to finish his studies…hmmmmm idk

also edit but some ppl just pointed this out to me that viktor likely died from his sickness bc he didnt have the hexcore to heal him and that makes me SAD !!!!

anyway thats all i have. if you made it this far i greatly appreciate you :3 🫶🏻 i love analyzing this show because OUGH the jayvik butterfly effect goes CRAZY HARD bc its both figurative with the theory and literal with the butterflies being in SO MUCH of their imagery UGHHHHH what the FUCKKKK

also some shameless self promos symbolism of viktor’s humanity and jayce's hallucinations analysis posts if u liked this one :3c

[hexefreya]

I don't think that we appreciate Viktor's plan enough. It is my firm belief that not only did he want to erase Hexcore and himself from existence, but also do some good in the process.

It was established that Hexcore found a way to corrupt the very water, spreading like a disease and infecting the environment. What this means is that by simply killing Viktor Hexcore problem wouldn't be resolved as wild rune remains and will lead to catastrophic consequences in the long run. Only Viktor himself could defeat Hexcore by consciously making the choice to destroy it. And Jayce was the only one who could make this outcome happen - he very well knew about it and the power he had, armed with Viktor's own feelings.

So the question remains: why did Jayce wait till the very last possible moment to show Viktor the power of love? He didn't try to earnestly talk to him even once, and always looked like a person set on a mission throughout. He also seemed to know the outcome of some encounters beforehand.

For instance, when Viktor is entering Hex vault? Jayce isn't even trying to attack Viktor here or be on a defensive, as if confident Viktor would do nothing and just walk by.

And of course this scene, where Jayce kneels by his weapon and closes his eyes, resigned for what is about to happen.

It is my opinion that Jayce had a pretty good understanding of the future events and his role in it, which leads me to believe that the severe escalation of Viktor's evolution, leading to the final fight, was necessary.

I honestly feel like animators did an amazing job showing how incredibly hard it was for Jayce to straight up crush Viktor time and time again, especially when knew about Viktor's feelings and realised himself that those were reciprocated. Can you imagine the pain Jayce must have felt? Killing the person he loved, warping them into something monstrous and even then, at his worst, Viktor was anything but indifferent to Jayce, and him alone.

But if it weren't for Jayce shooting Viktor the first time, literally breaking his heart, Viktor wouldn't lose his faith in humanity (Jayce) and agree to move on with Singed's procedure. It was stated that his power was finite, so I would speculate that Jayce didn't even try to persuade Viktor because he knew that even if he succeeded either Savior Viktor didn't possess enough power to stop Hexcore, or it was straight impossible without Ekko's anomaly. Hexcore would remain in the world any other way, therefore it was necessary to trigger Viktor's evolution to the Machine Herald form.

It also explains why Jace yet again isn't trying to convince Viktor in the Council room encounter afterwards, despite having Viktor coming forward, wanting to talk and bearing news of the hostile intentions of the Noxian. This is interesting, because in my opinion the most significant detail here is Viktor's reluctance to "evolve" Jayce to the point he'd rather kill him. And we know that for the Mage Viktor's plan to work Jayce has to be connected to Hexcore. That's why there is no attempt at talking at this point. Even if Viktor were to concede this very second and destroy Hexcore, it would still leave completely disorganized Piltover and Zaun facing oppressing Noxian forces. It is only after Jayce rejects and "kills" him once again that Viktor lashes out and completes his evolution. And as a result, it gives a perfect common enemy to unite forces against, which finally brings Piltover and Zaun together.

We shouldn't forget how everything started, how Viktor shared Jayce's idealistic dream and passion to bring magic to people and improve lives. Sure, ironically they got caught in a paradoxical anomaly that was dooming the world instead.

"In the pursuit of great, we failed to do good".

Viktor had achieved the end of pursuit and regretted it. Eventually he came to terms with the fact he's the only one who can effectively destroy hexcore, consciously chosing to erase it and himself from existence. And I refuse to think he is anything but pedantic about it, the scientists that he is. He knows what exactly must transpire, and he has the hindsight of different timelines and possibilities to organize the best of possible outcomes, the one that maximizes good this time.

[b-h-art]

Oh how the lines "there is always a choice" and "choice is only an illusion" both stand true in the show. How Jayce's "I never asked for this" and Viktor denying him his forgiveness is literally their entire relationship. Viktor couldn't forgive jayce for what he did at that moment, it went against everything he was. But Jayce also didn't ask for this, Viktor made that choice for Jayce when he saved his mother and him that day. And Jayce made that choice for Viktor when he decided to save Viktor by fusing him with the Hexcore. Neither of them had a choice given to them but both of them made the decision anyways. For each other. For their entire life-even before they come to know each other- they have been making choices again and again- but not for themselves. For the other. The only choices they had and took were Jayce joining the council and Viktor going on shimmer. Both of which came a full circle when jayce took Viktor to the council and got him killed only to fuse him with the Hexcore cause Viktor had already been taking shimmer. There is always a choice. But not really. Never for them. Never a choice for themselves. Even if they know it will destroy everything. They still made that choice anyways. Viktor still goes on and saves jayce cause thats what he is-he asked jayce what he was and that is the answer- a human. After everything, he still is human enough to crash out over his misdoings and go back and try to undo them the only way he can. Try to get his redemption anyhow. Try to not loose the only real thing he ever had-their dream. So he goes back, again, without a choice really, cause that is what he is , a human. Goes back and saves Jayce, again and again, cause he cannot live without doing so. And he cannot die because of what he brought upon himself. But he never really had a choice anyways. The illusion of choice. The story of opposites.

[ellie-r2]

Considering that this is Jayce's face when blasting Viktor again in the council room fight, he definitely wouldn't have let himself live if he had to kill/live without Viktor again

He was literally fighting with himself to do it the first time even though he promised Viktor

Which is sad and then the way you can see his choice to stay and die with Viktor in his face too when Viktor tells him to go

[cosmiccockatrice]

As a MelJayVik lover and as your residential multishipper, this post is gonna be about JayVik itself.

The way I see the after bomb sequence in season 2 is not platonic in anyway. Jayce's pure horror in seeing Viktor's lifeless body and immediately rushing him to their lab, to preform what's basically necromancy will never be seen as platonic in my eyes.

Jayce was incredibly distraught and went out of his way to get to their lab to revive Viktor. They are not platonic. Jayce would go to the ends of the Earth to save Viktor, even if it meant killing him in the process. (Post ravine Jayce and commune Viktor)

He sacrificed himself for Viktor in the end, literally disappearing into the astral plane with Viktor to save the world. He couldn't live without his partner. That's not brotherly or platonic to me in anyway.

Your honor they are soulmates. So inextricably bound that in all timelines and all possibilities it was only Jayce that could show Viktor.

Their relationship was Arcane writer's and animator's magnum opus. Not even a single "I love you." Yet it wasn't needed.

This is my opinion and I will stick by it. This is also why I will not be reading the fanfic Playlist For When Your Boyfriend Stops Breathing.

I care enough about my mental health to not read it. I will not be able to handle it.

So JayVik nation. This is my two cents about them..

[cryingprincess13]

So, you know this awkward moment when your hyperfixation ends and you realize that media was kinda actually bad? For me it was season 2 of Arcane.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love this show, it gave me an unforgettable emotions and, like, one of the longest hyper-fixations. But now, when I look back, it's just... so weird.

Season 2 sucked and it needs to be pointed out. If the first season was as close to reality as possible, giving us relatable characters in a kind of unreal world where you could understand everyone, even if they were a terrible drug lord, the second season gave us Marvel-esque reunion of every single character fighting one big evil with “friendship is magic” kind of end. They also added so much of unnecessary stuff??

-the prison caitvi sex

- episode 7

-black rose stuff without adding proper explanation

- Zaun trio backstory (which is once again just makes their timeline and episode 3 of s1 even more weird.)

Etc. etc. all of it was clearly a fan service, I’m sorry. Like, I did liked all of it, but if you gave me the choice between having all of em couple reunions and actually good written and placed season at the same level as the first one? My choice will be clear.

Season 1 was weaved and paced very well with its plot and characters. In season 2, they turn most characters into complete idiots for the sake of sprinting through the plot. The plot itself is paced in what can probably be described as “wonky” at best. It’s not good. There are far too many plot holes that just aren’t addressed. They completely forgot about the actual plot of the story (Zaun/Pilties conflict) and apparently made it just angst part for caitvi??? Don’t even get me started on how fucked up Vi was in this season. Like you made her a fighter whose whole world now is around her girlfriend and/or sister happiness and then, when one of them going to end herself she just makes out in a prison cell??? Like in the place where she supposed to have some kind of ptsd and where her sister was literally a hour ago? They made her enforcer like in game but never actually gave us how she came to it.

Viktor? Lmao now he’s a Jesus. Like for what you changed the perfect concept of actual machine herald?

Same with Jinx. She was so inconsistent this season. Here’s she depressed, oh here she’s manic again, hey, look, here’s a child who somehow gonna make her as sane as she could be, we gonna kill her of course and never mention her again AT ALL. As a psychology student, no child in the word could possibly made season 1 Jinx or Jinx at all sane. Even in depression state. Isha was so clearly made to be a plot device it’s actually hurts.

They also got a little too indulgent with the music videos this time as well. Zaun revolution? Jinx trying to off herself and literally burning last drop down? They could make it so deep of an episode but here we are again with the mv. Every plot important line was given just as a music video. Was fun the first two times, now give me actual conversations please.

The ending? Did I mention marvel already? Also the (not)killing off Jinx was such a stupid decision. Warwick can heal himself, they know it clearly but apparently Jinx just need to sacrifice herself and then Vander just gone at all lmao.

It's not just the pacing and the amount of new plots that make season 2 bad. It was confirmed that a lot of the writers from season 1 didn't work on season 2 and it shows. And you know what? I can tell.

[the-crustation-sensation]

How i think arcane s2 fumbled Viktor. Coming from a disabled person

Not proofread we die like all my favorite characters

As previously mentioned, I struggle with chronic pain. I have POTs and probably EDS now that I think about it, and I use a cane on bad days since at times walking long distances is very painful

I started watching arcane shortly after discovering my own disability and I was SO happy to see a well represented disabled character, guess who my favorite character is (hard mode)

Anytime there’s someone with a physical disability represented in modern media, they’re never allowed to just… be disabled, casually. Yes disability massively affects and changes one’s live immensely, but it’s not the only all-encompassing trait of their personality. A lot of the time when I see a disabled character, they’re just there to be disabled. They don’t get a character arc outside of their disability… or much of a personality either (9 times out of 10 their usually always paralyzed in a wheelchair too, but that’s a different conversation)

And sometimes having a characters arc revolve around a disability is acceptable, but it’s not ok to have a token disabled character and do nothing else with their plot line. Disability is allowed to be a part of their story, but it doesn’t have to be the whole story. Make your disabled characters people with a disability, not a blank slate token character.

And that’s why I was so pleased with Viktor in season one. He exists With his disability, not despite it. It was very refreshing to a character have a very defined personality and purpose outside being a token disabled character. Yes of course his disability is a huge part of his story, but it’s not the entire story.

Now how did s2 fumble?

In s1 I think viktors descent into illness was well written, I was kind of expecting his disability to be a big part of his overall character arc in the first place (as it so often is) but in s2 I feels like the writers almost forgot that Viktor was dying of cancer … not trying to perfect himself

I was so excited to see what s2 did with his character arc, and I just ended up.. disappointed. On surface level i loved Jesus!viktor just as much as the next fan, but when you dig deeper into his story it felt so icky

Whenever a disabled person is represented, not only does their character arc revolve around disability, it has to revolve around “fixing” said disability. And a big pattern I see is many character arcs having an undertone of radical acceptance. I.e “you where never broken, you just needed to accept yourself” “you just need to love your disability as a part of you”

No… you don’t have to love the part of you that’s actively causing you pain and lowering your quality of life, or actively killing you like Viktors terminal illness.

Self acceptance with disability is all fine and dandy, but it is SO overplayed and overwritten. You’re allowed to be frustrated with your disability, and learn to move past it.

The big point is Viktor was never trying to “perfect” himself in s1, he was trying to live.

In s2 they took the idea of Viktor working to cure his terminal illness and ran with it. They blew his arc so wildly out of proportion until he literally became a god obsessed with “perfecting” all of humanity.

And that just felt.. icky. It didn’t feel like Viktor. The Viktor in s1 had a dream of helping his people, of using his creations to uplift everyone! He never would have wanted to force all of humanity into “evolving” without their consent. And do not even get me STARTED on how he completely lost his autonomy to the hexcore, and in turn took it from so many people. That deserves a post on its own

I was so excited for the arcane writers to do something creative with his character arc, but no. Once again a disabled character fell victim to their entire arc being about fixing their disability, only to end with radical self love and acceptance

And the thing is I could get behind an arc of Viktor healing! He deserves to heal and live his life happy and healthy, but to me and him all of a sudden obsessed with “perfection” felt completely out of left field

I think my biggest problem with season 2 overall is that it lost sight of the entire theme of the show. Season one was a beautiful statement about classism, segregation, and how differently it affects people. It was representing real world problems on a scale we could understand. And the best part about s1 was that everyone on the main cast was relatively morally grey, they were humans who had realistic flaws, and made mistakes.

Nobody was shoved into a traditional “good guy/bad guy” box, and that made the show feel so much more real.

S2 was rushed, and for some reason the writers said “actually never mind, we’re going to bend everyone’s morals out of proportion so we can have a big bad villian we all fight at the end”

It had an overwhelming undertone of “forgive your oppressors so we can come together against a common enemy” which felt like a massive slap in the face to everyone who’s actually experience the classism and poverty that arcane represented in s1

I think so many of the problems with s2 could have been fixed or at least explained in detail if we got a s3. I understand as a writer myself that would have been a long, and expensive process that the arcane producers weren’t willing to go through. But I can’t help but mourn the story we could have had if the writers were just allowed to spend more time on it.

Overall, I could write an essay picking apart every tiny detail of arcane in general, so I’ll stop here. I just needed to get this rant out in writing and out of my head, I’m so insanely disappointed and mildly insulted with how the arcane writers treated Viktor, who had such potential

Feel free to share your opinions or completely disagree with me in the comments, please be kind as this is just my humble analysis and opinion.

[viktorarcanedeservesbetter]

Drabble Request from ao3: post canon jayvik, fluffy? maybe a day in the life? maybe with a focus on their bodies and how they get around (loved your last Drabble)

When Viktor wakes up, he knows it's going to be one of those days.

The kind of day where even if he takes his medication, his leg will simply not cooperate with him, nor will his lower back and hips. So, turning in bed, frowning when his left leg ends up tanged in his right, he reaches for his pill container, pours out two pills, and dry-swallows them.

Beside him, Jayce, who'd been awake for some time it seemed, stretched, pulling him into his side when he was sure Viktor was alright to move without choking. Sighing, he rests his head on Jayce's chest, ear over the bigger man's heart, and tries to level his own rate with Jayce's.

"One of those days?" Jayce asks, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, me too. Knee is killing me, woke me up about an hour ago. Took my meds and wrapped it."

"It is likely the cold rain," Viktor replied, trailing his fingers up and down Jayce's arm. "But I think I overdid it yesterday. I lifted a lot more than I should. And you don't need to say-"

"I did tell you," his partner replied, less teasing, more warm. "But I get it. We needed that project done before the weekend. I just wish we were able to spread it out longer, but Peter loved it either way."

Viktor hummed as he angled his head up to meet Jayce's eyes. "Quite the good pay, as well. We can finally afford the new headboard and have enough left over for a new gate on the farm. I am sure if we do not replace it soon, the girls will get out, and we will be playing 'wrangle the animals' for a week."

Laughing, Jayce sat up, helping Viktor to adjust on the pillows. "I'm sure Callie would do a good job of herding them back. It is in her DNA."

"Callie would attempt to herd them all back, but the minute Jollie moos at her even slightly menacing, she's running home, tail between her legs, quite literally."

"She's sensitive!"

"She's insane. No wonder they let us have her for free. Perhaps the farmer knew she'd be the shyest herd dog in existence."

Jayce snorted as he slipped out of bed, reaching for his own brace and slipping it on. Viktor watched, eyes softening, as Jayce tightened the straps and stood, a little unsteady. He felt awful for Jayce, going through what Viktor himself had lived with, even if Jayce had taken it in stride.

Well, he felt more awful that Jayce had gone through it alone, traumatically. At least Viktor was born with his-he never knew what 'normal' was. Jayce knew loss, knew the difference, and even if he was okay with it-Viktor still felt bad.

"You need yours today?" Jayce held up Viktor's brace, the one they'd remade together once they got settled in the town. It was much like his old one, still with the foot and hip support, but Viktor shook his head. They had nothing to do today, not with the rain pouring outside. "You sure?"

"I'll just use the bandages," Viktor replied, reaching into the side table and pulling out a spool of fabric. "Can you-"

"On it."

Before walking out the door, Jayce smiled at him, leaning to press a kiss into his hair. Viktor hummed, happy, and his eyes followed Jayce out their bedroom door-expanded to accommodate his wheelchair, same as the rest of their doorways-and moved back to his leg.

With all the strength and coordination he could muster with his pain meds barely kicked in, he lifted his leg and slid a pillow under it, keeping it propped as he unspooled the bandages. Practiced, he began to wrap his leg from the thigh down, enough pressure to provide some stability without cutting off blood supply.

As he worked on supporting his leg, there was a sound of soft scratching, a leaping bound off wood, and suddenly a weight behind his back, purring loud. "Oh," he smiled, finishing wrapping the end on his ankle. "Hello, Rio."

The tabby purred as she came around, rubbing against his thigh, and crawled into his lap. "I was wondering where you were."

Following, as always, was Callie, panting heavily as her paws clicked against the floor. She jumped up enough to place her front paws on the bed, huffing until Viktor was able to lean enough to scratch behind her ears. The Collie's tail wagged at the touch, and increased in speed as Rio crawled off Viktor's lap and began rubbing her body and face against Callie's snout.

"I am glad both of you get along," Viktor said, using his arms to push his body towards the side of the bed. Callie moved to accommodate him as he was able to push his left leg over with ease, and moved the right leg-again, using his hands-over as well. Rio leapt off the bed, still purring, and onto the side table, as routine. "I have heard the saying about cats and dogs."

"Yeah, I think they're the exception to the rule," Jayce said, pushing in his wheelchair as Callie moved away. Both animals knew the routine by now-likely due to being raised around them-and waited patiently. Viktor could tell, though, that Callie was eager to get the day started, her front paws tapping back and forth in excitement. "My family's cat, Peter, hated my turtle."

Viktor snorted as Jayce pushed the chair closer, angling it on the side so Viktor could ready himself. "I think your cat Peter hated everyone though, no? All the stories you've told me..." He trailed off, hands and arms strong as he reached for the armrests. In a steady motion, he pushed himself up, holding most of his weight in his biceps and left leg, and settled into the chair. "I think that cat of yours hated life, Jayce."

He grinned as Jayce rolled his eyes, undoing the breaks of the chair, and allowing Viktor to roll past him. "Peter liked my Ma and that was it. He hated everyone who wasn't her, though I'm sure he would have at least tolerated you, since all animals love you." As if to corroborate that sentence, Rio leapt from her perch and onto Viktor's lap, chirping as she soared through the air. "See? They go where you go."

Viktor shrugged. "The animals like you too, Jayce. It is just that you are very big, so you can be intimidating to small creatures."

"Oh, whatever. I think you just have something special that makes all animals, even the grumpy ones, like you. Remember John's bull? He said it hated everyone, yet when we went to go get Jolli and Jamie, it walked right up to you, mooed, and let you pet it for ten minutes before it walked away."

True.

Viktor pushed into the kitchen, reaching for the coffeepot, and pressed start. Even though they'd stayed up late and hadn't cleaned up, there was one thing neither of them forgot, and it was readying the coffee for the morning. It was something small that made their days easier.

Next to him, Jayce reached for his own cane, a thinner, simple design. His knee must be bothering him, Viktor thought. Jayce didn't typically use a cane daily, only brought it out in emergencies at home and only packed it when they went out for the day. Damn the rain-it made both of them sore in their bones too often.

Plus, they had been hard at work.

"I think we should do breakfast here," Jayce said, reaching for the egg basket and examining one of them in his free hand, the other steady on his support. "It's pretty dark out now-usually means the storms going to be bad all day. I went ahead and sent a message to John and Felix next door-Felix is going to stop by the farm and make sure all the animals are good."

"Oh, that's good," Viktor handed over a mug. "I do not think that I can make it out there today-not until we get that path fully paved or the other chair with the adaptive wheels."

Jayce took the mug with a smile. "Same here. I don't want to take a bad slip out there, and my outdoor cane still needs some tune-ups before I feel good in this type of weather. Felix needs the volunteer hours anyways, so he'll stop by and we can sign him for about two to four, depending on what he needs to do."

"Good."

They fell into comfortable silence as they began prepping breakfast, calm against the raging storm outside. Callie found herself interested with a few toys from her basket, as Rio continued to lay in Viktor's lap, a comforting weight. Though Viktor could still feel the twinges of pain in his spine and leg, and knew from Jayce's tiny expressions as he moved that his partner was feeling worse for wear too, Viktor knew everything would be alright.

They had each other, they knew what the other needed, so everything, as far as Viktor could ever hope for, was perfect.

With Jayce, it always would be.

[jacqcrisis]

I think my favorite thing in rewatching season 1 of arcane...other than, you know, jayce and viktor meeting, 'what were you doing?' 'I dunno, science???', viktor calling Jayce's ass out with that 'you signed your initials on every page', Jayce being so goddamn precious about his partner, Vitkor just tagging along with Jayce in his counselor duties like a jilted wife watching her husband slowly lose himself to his new job and the Other Woman, Jayce's absolutely BONKERS decision to smith shirtless like that still boggles the mind and is the best character decision ever made-

But!! My favorite thing is when I think it was Mel asks Jayce where Viktor is and Jayce, in the most 'I'm not bothered by this but I absolutely secretly kind of am' tone, says 'I don't know, he just disappears sometimes'. Like goddamn, you were just cavorting around with the Piltover elite and getting your guillible ass led around by your dick by Mel, but god forbid Viktor go somewhere without you. How many times has Viktor come back from doing his own shit to Jayce just a little pissy he wasn't included in the field trip? Just a little, just a tiny bit offended that Viktor didn't invite him cause you know, he just invites Viktor literally everywhere every time and Viktor could extend the courtesy but it's fine! He'll get over it. Again.

And then Viktor is immediately not in Jayce's line of sight maybe a day later and Jayce is throwing up his hands like 'Ugh! Guess I'll just hang out with this lesbian I just met and go kill a bunch of miners and maybe even a minor >:('

Amazing. Spectacular. No one's doing it like Jayce.

[menofprogress]

I saw someone say that Viktor constantly reaching out to Jayce and trying to get him on his side after he initially left him and after Jayce fought, rejected and shot at him makes no sense but i disagree.

Imho jayce and viktor are incredibly, INSANELY codependent, they were each others closest contact for nearly a decade, saw each other every day, single mindedly worked towards the same goal, etc. Their lives immediately take a nosedive once theyre even slightly separated from each other (viktor nearly dies, jayce kills a kid, viktor atomises sky and then nearly kills himself, jayce lands in apocalypse land and viktor starts a cult). They instinctively always act like theyre still partners, even when theyre clearly supposed to be enemies because not being together feels unnatural to them.

Jayce doesnt act consciously when reviving viktor using the hexcore and YES viktor is hurt and distressed bc he was essentially turned into rio and he feels like he needs to leave, but then what? He probably finds out about jayces disappearance a few days later and is like "oh no, oh fuck, i know I left HIM, but i didnt want this" i mean he probably thought jayce was dead.

So for a few months he builds his commune and deliberately integrates sentimental things about his and jayces partnership (his 'home' looks like the hexgates, hes still wearing the blanket, for some reason theres a forge in the commune) which, imho, shows hes mourning and missing jayce in his own way. (A special personal hc of mine is that he grew out his hair out of grief). And in the pit we have jayce sobbing and crying bc he misses both mel and viktor so much.

So jayce reappears and viktors like "heeeyyyy bestie, oh my god, i missed u come visit me!!!" And jayce is rightfully confused like "didnt YOU break up with ME?" and viktor is like "nooo, hahaha, i was crazy back then, just forget about it, pls visit me?" And is only mildly concerned by jayce killing one of his followers (and then hes also mostly concerned about jayce, not salo lol)

Then jayce arrives and shoots him and its very painful bc viktor fully didnt expect jayce to hurt him! Hes so shocked 😭

Anyways after that Viktor "attacks" (more like "does a mating dance for") jayce in the council room and AGAIN asks him to join his emo band and is AGAIN shocked and hurt when jayce genuinely fights back and rejects him. Viktor is temporarily hurt and gives singed the ok to start the process.

And then as the fully transformed herald he STILL talks about how happy he is to see jayce and doesnt really put any effort into neutralising him. Like he could have just shot him hbxhnxgkhfj

All the while we have jayce talking big talk about stopping viktor, but when it comes down to it?? He doesnt manage to take him out and still talks to him. And then he sees Viktor in the astral realm and once there is a SLIVER of hope hes immediately like "oh thank god i can stop trying to kill him, this was never going to work"

All of this isnt contradictory to me. It means that both of them actually know that they should be on opposing sides now, they start acting according to the idea that the other one is now an enemy, they make plans accordingly, but when it comes down to it theyre reluctant to actually follow through bc that would mean a life without the other and thats worse than staying enemies forever.

Viktor kept reaching out, hoping to be partners again after MULTIPLE rejections and jayce couldnt bear to kill viktor or to let him die alone. Being apart from each other is quite literally the worst thing for either of them, so the instinct to reach out to each other will always take over.

[themostexcellentfinder]

Let me get this straight. Reginald and Abigail are alien scientists (and also maybe robots?) whose origins are never explored or explained. Abigail creates both marigold and durango somehow, then dies. Reginald is so overcome with grief that he goes to earth and finds a portal to space and time and decides to make it his mission to go through this portal to formulate a new timeline in which Abigail is still alive. He releases marigold haphazardly on earth and it goes into the atmosphere and somehow at will infects specifically 43 women and impregnates them immediately (instead of giving them powers).

At this time, the introduction of marigold into the atmosphere splits the timeline into infinite timelines despite this time portal existing beforehand. After finding this random portal in the sky and not understanding it Reginald deduces that there is a specific set of rules in order to use this portal that involves the element his wife literally just created. Reginald searches for and acquires 7 of these powered children with marigold specifically because according to the rules he only needs 6 of them but wants one for extra just in case. We never hear about the other 36 powered children in the original timeline despite the reasonable assumption that they may have caused some trouble at some point.

Reginald prohibits Five from traveling through time most likely because he does not want him to fuck up his plan, but he is such a bad father that Five says fuck you and does it anyway. Reginald only has six kids now that Five is gone and moves on thinking everything will be fine. Meanwhile, the extremely dangerous element durango has been released somehow in a way that is never explained and infects literally only one child. It is never really made clear whether Reginald keeps this child, Jennifer, in a container or whether or not he is trying to obtain the container to kill her. Reginald kills Jennifer and Ben before they can end the world and now only has five children left so he just gives up on his dream I guess instead of trying to find any of the other special children to kidnap and indoctrinate. He runs the umbrella academy into the ground and gives them all irreparable trauma and then 10 years later decides to off himself either to entice his children to figure out the mystery or just because he failed at everything at life. But since he killed Jennifer he couldn’t have known Viktor might cause an apocalypse unless he just had a bad feeling since five time traveled and he traumatized his children and recognized this as a whoopsie.

In season 3 alternate Reginald has the same scheme and just got different children and did slightly better at it and when the umbrellas kill most of the sparrows he decides who cares 6 is enough and goes on his merry way to activate the portal in hotel oblivion. In season 4, Abigail is alive but has survivors guilt and decides she needs to see her creation through and end all the alternate timelines, seemingly having infinite knowledge of all the timelines even though she wasn’t there, so she tries to cause the apocalypse in increasingly confusing ways. Reginald and Abigail die unceremoniously without consequence for their actions and without any semblance of explanation for their origins.