#argh...

here are someone elses opinions abt the ace viktor debacle bc we havent seen enough of these posts yet (/s)

jokes aside, i just really gotta put my opinion out. i havent seen enough, to my view at least, nuanced thoughts about it. maybe mine wont be either but im still gonna share them.

okay so: mr. Linke announced that Viktor was always meant to be seen as/written as asexual. he anounced this in a twitch stream, i think. he also mentioned that they (the writers) went around the queer community at riot to ask what representation in media is lacking, and asexuality was the final consensus. and, so, they decided to make a character asexual, and decided for that character to be viktor.

because the internet is not well known for nuanced opinions i now see a lot of people either 1) completely shitting on the dude, calling him homophobic, ableist and queerphobic in general, or 2) use it as a 'gotcha!' against Jayvik shippers and treating every word the man says as Ultimate Law.

the reasons i understand why/how the ace Viktor post-canon may have annoyed some:

it is done post-canon, specifically after a lot of people have started seeing a possible romance/romantic subtext between Jayce and Viktor, therefore it seems like a way to shut those people down. It also was mentioned in such a context that it seemed like Linke forgot that ace people can still be alloromantic (experience romantic attraction, just not sexual ones) and can even still have sex with their partners if they both decide to do so.

Making the physically disabled character (not often portrayed as sexual in media) and the genius character (often portrayed as 'too smart for those Humanly Urges, also often portrayed as neurodivergent, tho i dont think thats the specific case with Viktor) as asexual can be seen as a bit of a bad choice. Having him be the asexual character opposed to, say, Jayce, is the easy choice; his story doesnt require him to have sex or be romantic with others, so it is a passive way of doing asexual representation; by not doing anything at all, you can still claim that he is asexual. Obviously, disabled people can be asexual, obviously being smart does not mean you inherently view yourself as above sexual urges. However, the prevalence of both these stereotypes in media - albeit not often called asexual, but often just not portrayed as sexual beings - makes making specifically Viktor the asexual rep a bit 'weird'.

Doing this post-canon, on a stream not many people watch or will ever hear of, reminds a lot of people of the JKR "Dumbledore was gay all along:)". He could have done this post s1, when people were also already shipping Jayvik/Skyvik/etc and this was supposedly already 'the plan'. However, him doing it only post s2, makes it seem like it was a recent plan and not done for genuine representation. If they made it canon post s1, that would mean in s2, we would not explicitly that Viktor was asexual during the actual show/the story itself.

There are also a few arguments I heard, which i do not think are completely in good faith and for which I will try to "defend" Linke:

"If Viktor was ace, why not say it in the show" : Well, from what we have seen and have been shown, (names for) sexual identities as exist in the current world do not exist in Arcane [[our terms for it only exist, like, a century. I recommend "the making of the modern homosexual"-Plummer or "Making Up People"-Hacking, its an interesting topic]]. Viktor cannot suddenly mention "I am asexual" in the show, nor were there any places he could naturally have dropped that fact. HOWEVER, there are certainly scenes in s1 which could defintely be meant to hint at Viktor not feeling sexual attraction/not being interested in it: 1) the judgy-face when Jayce swoons after Mel in the hallway (something which i know my queer ace-alligned ass has done to my hetero friends with their crushes, lol); 2) him constantly rejecting Sky and not going into her advances at all (could also just be not attracted to her, of course, but it can definetely be seen as hinting at asexuality, in a way); 3) having the Meljay sex scene play at the same time that Viktor is focusing on hextech/working, again showing different interests between Jayce and Viktor, and could also be seen as him not taking interest in sex. This is not me saying this HAS TO MEAN asexual Viktor, but I will say that, if they meant to imply it in s1 in organic ways, these scenes could have been taken as that.

"He's just making it up on the spot!" : Linke has said that there were convos at riot with queer employees, who all helped with the representation in Arcane. I do not think he would lie about that - just a few tweets from those supposed employees and he'd be done for. I genuinely believe these convos may have happened, and I do also believe that this could mean asexual Viktor was, indeed, the goal all along.

"Viktor already feels unlovable, and this just plays into that!" : I understand the sentiment, but thats not how sexualities work. People who feel unlovable can still be straight, gay, bi, etc. etc. Him feeling unlovable and asexual can coexist without, like, standing against the other. It does not have to mean he is ace because he feels unlovable, nor does it have to mean he feels unlovable because he is ace. Also, unlovable =/= undesirable.

^ Continueing that: when does Viktor say he feels or is unlovable? Where are we shown that Viktor is actually super insecure within his body and his desirability? We know Sky likes him, and Viktor probably is aware of that too - has to be, after reading those notes. E9 Jayce implying that Viktor sees imperfections within himself does not have to mean Viktor sees himself as either unlovable or undesirable by romantic/sexual partners.

What I think is most important, is the following: Viktor is not a real character or an existing person, and therefore cannot have a real, self-identified identity; he does not have the existence needed to be able to self-identify. If Linke sees him as ace, then whenever he thinks of the character and concept of Viktor, the Viktor he imagines is ace. I see him as homosexual, and therefore whenever I think of the character and concept of Viktor, the Viktor in my head is a homosexual man. Neither of those are more true than the other - because the character itself does not exist in truth/false, because, again, he does not exist at all as an actual being.

I think my TLDR is: i understand the annoyance and even anger at this post canon attempt at representation, BUT we do not have to immediately take it in bad faith, or push terms like queerphobic/albeist on Linke. We know one sentence out of thousands the man says, one conclusion about a character he has without knowing for sure the steps how he got there. Speculating about them and completely filling in the blanks with either accusitory ideas ("he did it bc he subconsciously thinks disabled people can be desired!") or extremely defensive ideas ("he's the creator of the show. he knows Viktor better than we do. if he says Viktor is ace, he is ace") is not only useless as an endeavor, but also like. not needed.