Alfie

Michael, you would fall and turn the white snow red as strawberries in the summertime.

Christian Linke (Co-writer) confirmed Sky isn't alive; she's a manifestation of Viktor's guilt, created by the Hexcore to manipulate him.

Here's the audio excerpt if you're curious:

https://x.com/Spideraxe30/status/1861424676578435381?t=p5X3TbHjC-LTd4rTUGdRIw&s=19

It's also confirmed Amanda Overton (Writer) that Viktor was hopelessly projecting his relationship with Jayce onto Sky/the Hexcore as a way to cope with his loneliness.

Viktor's defeat and Jayce's rejection is what ultimately pushes him to give himself over to the Hexcore, shedding his humanity. This was the Hexcore's plan all along (CL's words). Once it had what it needed, Sky was no longer required to push Viktor toward the Glorious Evolution.

Before learning Sky wasn't real, I interpreted "No, you won't" as her knowing Viktor would lose his humanity, forget her, and lose himself after ascending. But now knowing she's a projection of his guilt, that interpretation doesn’t hold up.

"You won't," coming from an omnipotent being focused on evolution and higher understanding, should probably be taken at face value. It's a matter-of-fact retort, like it sees right through him.

It doesn’t make much sense as a premonition. The Hexcore, while powerful, doesn’t seem capable of seeing the future. You could argue, "You won't," translates to, "I’ll take over your mind and body, and you won’t really be you anymore." But this doesn’t fully align, as even after Viktor’s transformation, he is still present. The Hexcore uses him as a vessel, steering him with guilt, not erasing his identity. This interpretation feels unnecessarily cruel for something above human emotion.

The line is nothing more than an observation, stated plainly after the ruse was up. It acknowledges that there was never truly any of Sky to miss—Viktor barely knew her before her death, and that is one of his biggest regrets contributing to his guilt. 

Here’s what I think:

The Hexcore conjures Sky to ease Viktor into his villain arc. As a manifestation of his guilt, she subtly manipulates him into pursuing the Glorious Evolution by giving him a false sense of righting his wrongs. But Viktor’s connection to her is a facade, and the Hexcore knows it. Viktor is hopelessly seeking in Sky what he desperately missed with Jayce—and the Hexcore knows this too. Remember when Viktor talks to Singed about Vander/Warwick? Viktor intuits Singed’s true motivation—saving his daughter.

This means the Hexcore is undoubtedly aware of Viktor's pain.

“I will miss our talks," Viktor says, speaking to someone he’s using as a stand-in for Jayce.

It's easy for Viktor to say he will miss their talks. Sky was filling a hole for him. That's all this version of herself existed to do. Talking with her was the closest approximation he had to what he really wanted. 

The tragedy of this line doesn’t solely come from him mourning a relationship that was never real. Remember viktor made the decision to transform immediately following jayces rejection of him. He's not mourning Sky- he's mourning the loss of what he had with Jayce.

"No, you won't," simply meant, "I'm not the one you will be missing.”

Please enjoy this edit here on Tumblr in full. ❤️ Focusing on the GLORIOUS EVOLUTION of Viktor (with lots of Jayce too, because you can't have one without the other). HOW are these lyrics so perfect?

MelJayVik meme

I think there's just something in it. This blanket.

When Viktor rejects his past, his job, his social standing, his academic ambitions - all that and more. He goes to live his new life fully naked. Only with that blanket in tow. But when Viktor starts to build his new life, and his new self, closer to his actual goals (at least so he thinks at the moment), he doesn't get any new clothes.

People in the commune did. Sort of. They have redressed for the new life. And Viktor keeps wearing the only thing he brought over from the previous one. The cane doesn't count here, it also transformed into it's new self. But the blanket is still the same blanket. Just wrapped more securely around Viktor to give more coverage and protection like clothes would.

I'd say the commune followed Viktor's lead in ditching their old fashion styles and wrapping themselves in loose fabrics, like monks. For them it was abandoning their past. For Viktor it was not letting go of his. Not completely at least.

I can't believe I haven't seen any discussion yet around the musical theater influences in Arcane S2 so far (besides my one mention of its parallels with Les Miserables).

So as a basic, Phantom of the Opera-loving bitch, can we please take a moment to examine the Phantom of the Opera parallels that are literally shoved in our faces during this opening sequence and what that means for Jayvik?

Viktor is the Phantom. The show opening outright says it. The parallels are there. They're impossible to miss.

And then, when you dig a little deeper, hooo boy those parallels become even more stark. Especially if you read Viktor as romantically pining after Jayce, which 99.9999% of humanity does.

To quickly summarize, Phantom of the Opera is the story of a deformed genius who falls in love with an opera singer, Christine, and then nurtures her talents, only for her to in turn fall in love with a nobleman, Raoul. The ensuing love triangle is the heart of the plot, with Raoul and the Phantom both vying for Christine's love.

This shouldn't be a hard one to see the parallels for.

Viktor = The Phantom. Literally a genius born with a disfigurement, in this case a disability he sees as a weakness and a disease that is sapping away his life and hope of a legacy. He is riddled with jealousy for the person trying to pull his scientific/musical partner away from him, a person who happens to be beautiful and live a life of privilege that Raoul/Mel could offer to Jayce/Christine instead.

Jayce = Christine. Instead of sharing genius in music, he and Viktor share genius in science. Like Christine, he is tugged between the glittering world of politics and privilege, vs his genius and love at a more esoteric skill, in this case science instead of music.

Mel = Raoul. Literally an aristocrat who is far more beautiful than the Phantom/Viktor, who steals away his partner's attention and offers them a glittering life of privilege in the public eye instead of the wonders of their joint musical/scientific pursuits. Whether or not Mel meant to embody this, or steal Jayce from Viktor, this is the role she fulfills in Viktor's view of the world.

But the most profound moment for me of, "Oh wow, they're doing Phantom of the Opera! Actually, they're not just doing Phantom, they're doing Phantom fixit fic?!" was this:

Which, if you'll forgive the potato quality of the screenshots, is literally the moment Viktor has his mask knocked away and then cringes in on himself to hide his exposed face from Jayce.

Which... is literally a scene in Phantom of the Opera? Just after "Music of the Night"?

But we're already in Phantom fixit territory, because Jayce doesn't recoil like Viktor expects! Instead, he embraces Viktor and loves him for all his self-perceived flaws.

And then, AND THEN, in a moment that made my Phantom-loving heart sing, Viktor tells Jayce to go!

And Jayce doesn't.

In the final song of the Phantom of the Opera musical, Christine is forced to choose between Raoul and the Phantom. She chooses the Phantom and kisses him. Flooded by remorse, the Phantom then relinquishes her to the man he knows she truly loves, and when Christine hesitates to leave, he shouts at her, "Go!" and then, of course, she and Raoul leave together.

Viktor is expecting that to happen! I think his order to Jayce very clearly implies that he thinks Mel and Jayce are still together. It's the classic, "Go be with the woman you love instead of staying here and dying with me," trope that we see over and over again in dramas.

But Jayce. Defies. The Trope.

Unlike Christine and just about every buddy war movie out there, he stays with Viktor. He chooses his scientific/artistic partner over the life of aristocracy and privilege that Mel would theoretically offer him. He chooses the masked genius with the disability and calls him perfect. He refuses to go when he is ordered to leave. He stays with Viktor until the end.

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Ok most people have figured this out I believe but here’s to those who haven’t

The hexcore like a parasite using Viktor as its host to feed.(here’s my proof)

So in act one Mel reached out to touch the hexgoop that Viktor was defrosting in and the hexgunk reached back and tried to grab her (signaling that it is hungry).

We also know that the hexcore can straight up pulverize people (Sky) but after she was “absorbed” the hexcore’s animation almost replicated ced a burp.

When Viktor became robo jesus the hexcore used Sky’s likeness to pull on Viktor’s guilt of killing her to lead him to a group of very desperate and vulnerable people willing to try anything to change the situation they’re in. (very culty) (also easier to convince to “heal”)

When Viktor does the “healing” magic the subjects lose they’re entire personality (Huck and Salo for example) and when Jayce came back in the room with Salo, Jayce had visible breath while Salo did not.

Jayce’s “hallucinations” also show everyone as mindless husks, shells in the shape of a human with a hole in the head showing the shallow and mindless nature of these “people”.