Science fiction and fantasy stories are full of characters with seemingly infinite power who seek to evolve or erase the human race because of its imperfections. It’s not entirely fair to call this type of character, usually a villain, tired, but it’s probably fair to say that it takes a pretty special version of this story to feel unique. And that’s exactly what makes it so surprising Arcane finds such an original story in the way it deals with Viktor.
What makes ArcaneWhat makes this type of story’s vision so effective is that it is carefully tailored to the characters and their perspectives. Viktor’s version of omnipotence and visionary power can feel limitless, especially when we get to see his cosmic new vision of the world. But in reality, as Jayce explains, it is deeply rooted in the struggles of his own human experience. He views humanity’s imperfections as destructive because his own physical imperfections proved so limiting, but it blinded him to the broader possibilities, both for humanity and for himself.
Arcane Season 2 (left to right) Kevin Alejandro as Jayce and Harry Lloyd as Viktor in Arcane Season 2. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2024Image: Fortiche, Riot Games/Netflix
This is an exceptionally clever storytelling trick and a brilliant way to definitively root Viktor in an understandable emotional world for viewers, even as he ascends to Arcane-based divinity. Viktor confuses knowledge with perspective, but contrary to what many people in both the fictional and real world believe, no amount of knowledge can truly allow us to escape the confines of our past and experiences.
However, this kind of characterization does more than just give us a tangible, recognizable connection to Viktor; it also offers Arcane‘s creative team a more interesting way to resolve the central conflict in the finale than other stories of this type. While many of these stories rely on pleas from the super-powered character’s loved ones, appealing to the humanity still within them, Arcane Let Jayce simply explain to Viktor why he is wrong, and the limits of his perspective. This argument seems temporarily interesting to Viktor, but not at all convincing, and that’s when Arcane brings in its narrative secret weapon: a multiverse.
We’re past the point of multiverse fatigue in popular culture at this point, from superhero blockbusters to Best Picture-winning movies. But ArcaneThe multiverse’s version is almost unrecognizable from the visions we’ve seen in recent years, largely due to the fact that it avoids falling prey to the siren song of the concept. It’s easy to imagine a version of Arcane where Ekko’s brief trip to the alternate dimensions of the multiverse shows him (and us) all kinds of wild visions. It could have been a quickly edited sequence of Ekko flying through the Arcane, with countless cameos, Easter eggs, and references scattered throughout the room. League of Legends universe. They could have been brief stops in alternate worlds that we could get sneaky teaser trailers for Arcane‘s replacement shows. It could have shown us a multitude of different worlds and realities. The entire sequence would have been beautifully animated, as was all of Fortiche’s work on the show; the studio would have been impressively delicate in delving into different animation styles or bringing in champions from other regions, or even previewing the look of its future shows. It would have been breathtaking. It would also have completely ruined the series.
Arcane Season 2. Rode Shannon as Ekko in Arcane Season 2. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2024Image: Fortiche, Riot Games/Netflix
Instead, the Arcane The team’s journey into the multiverse is much more elegant. Rather than succumbing to the temptation of infinite possibilities, the show simply gives us a vision of a world in which one thing changes: the outcome of the heist that started the show. The seventh episode of Arcane season 2 is stunning, and perhaps the best and most beautiful of the entire show: a perfect encapsulation of the way an entire universe can live within the random chance of one moment. Arcane avoids the gluttony of other multiverse stories, instead allowing the concept to give depth to the characters. Ekko doesn’t need to see the infinite possibilities and complications of all the universes because he sees the things he really needs to see: that no one is ever too far away, that Jinx is still the Powder he loves no matter what she’s done , and that fighting for that side of her is still worth it.
But that’s all just Ekko’s side of the multiverse; So where do we tie Viktor back in this story? Viktor does not experience the multiverse directly, but rather through seeing Ekko’s alternate reality Hexcore. The realization of its existence immediately forces Viktor to realize that Jayce is right. Not necessarily in the simple terms of Viktor’s own experiences clouding his judgment, but in the more complex terms of Viktor suddenly realizing that there are infinite realms of existence that he knows nothing about. It’s a blunt impact on the confidence he has in his own decision-making, and an immediate reason to reassess.
Arcane Season 2 (L to R) Harry Lloyd as Viktor and Kimberly Brooks as Sky in Arcane Season 2. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2024Image: Fortiche, Riot Games/Netflix
Of course we don’t see any of this, because it isn’t necessary; we just have to see that the realization leads him to journey into these different realities, and the fabric of time itself, to unite himself with Jayce in every possible reality, and to lead Jayce back to a world where he can find Viktor must save from itself. .
Arcane introduces the vastness of the multiverse to make Viktor feel small, granting him this vision while withholding it from the audience to convey its overwhelming weight; we may be able to see the world through Viktor’s cosmological eyes through Fortiche’s beautiful animations. But this vision, what Viktor actually sees, is a bridge too far, a void that communicates with absence.
It’s one thing to have an immensely powerful villain defeated by a story’s heroes, but that would never have been appropriate Arcanea story that doesn’t really have a real villain, and that certainly wouldn’t fit if Viktor, a tragic character who is pretty much lost in his own mind and knowledge, is defeated in the traditional sense. But learning a piece of knowledge that makes Viktor feel small and insignificant, as if he too is just a cog in a cosmic machine with a small but integral role to play, is a perfect way to close the book on his story.
The problem with so many of these stories is that in creating a godlike figure with limitless power, they lose sight of the qualities that make them interesting. But in its finale, Arcane makes it clear that even a god must remain true to his character.
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