#vi analysis

She’s on the bridge with Powder, trying to keep her safe from this large man whose intentions they do not know, and then she sees her mother, and she just breaks down.

She tries to turn herself in, to right the wrongs that she has made, and then Benzo’s dead and Ekko is in her arms and she just grabs her siblings and goes after Vander without thinking it through, telling Powder you’re not ready because she’s just trying to hold onto the last good thing she has.

She’s standing over Vander’s corpse and she hears her little sister and she thinks you weren’t ready you weren’t ready you’re a jinx jinx jinx and then she looks down at her bleeding knuckles and she can’t do this she can’t be here so she walks away, and then she turns and she tries to go back. She tries to do the right thing and she’s taken away before she can take any action.

She tries to go back, to be the sisters they once were, she tries to keep things good between Powder and Caitlyn except too much has changed, she doesn’t know what’s going on, there’s people fighting them, and she just looks and she sees sweet innocent Powder mowing people down like it’s fun.

She’s tied to that chair with Silco’s body across from her and she’s grieving she’s mourning the loss of the little sister she knew and she’s trying to fix things with the little sister she has and all she can do is plead with Jinx that they can be ok, they can still fix this.

But Caitlyn is unconscious on the floor, and a rocket is fired across a blood red sky.

I think one of the most beautiful things in Arcane re: the sisters is how reconnecting is, for both of them, only possible when they break out of their pre-conceived notions of each other that they've been dragging since childhood.

To reconnect with Jinx, S2 Vi has to acknowledge her as an independent adult and let go of the perception of a small vulnerable child that she needed to protect at all times. S2 Jinx, to reconnect with Vi, has to see her sister as someone vulnerable, both physically and emotionally, and not as this sort of always-strong, idealised protector.

Only when they break their childhood dynamic they are able to see each other as equal and find a common ground.

And I love their dynamic in season 2 because despite all the bagage they have you can see how they are getting to see each other as their own persons, while also being silly af like only two siblings can be. It's very little time, but you can tell they are maturing together.

I think many 'arcane critical' Vi takes fail to understand this. They are trapped in S1 Vi's and Jinx's minds. They are still expecting them to conform to the unhealthy dynamic of protector and protected; and fail to see what Vi and Jinx see of each other in S2. Vi is no ideal protector nor a hero of the vulnerable: she's a flawed, young woman with tons of emotional bagage. Jinx is not an uwu baby who needs protection and is unable to do things for herself: she can very much protect herself, she's independent, a survivor, as well as deeply traumatised too.

And this is not subtext at all. Vi points out in the mines that Jinx hasn't needed her in a long time -she's realised her sister is more than capable of fending for herself. Jinx makes teasing observations of Vi's soft spots throughout S2: telling her she knows she's soft on Caitlyn during Act I finale, calling her a "sentimental excon" in act II... And she's seen her become an alcoholic due to all her unprocessed trauma and the situation after act I (and also makes a comment about that).

Their whole journey in S2 is about how they cannot, and do not, conform to the dynamic they acquired when they were children. They are two different persons now, and they are also mature enough to understand each other as multi-dimensional, as oppossed to their one-dimensional perceptions of each other as protector and protected that they had in S1 Act I and that dragged on S1 as a whole.

Criticising Vi's character for not going after Jinx after their last encounter is failing to understand many things, but mainly, it is a symtom of being trapped in the dynamic they had in episode 1, when most of the story of their relationship in the series is guided to tell us how this is not who they are, and these perceptions frozen in time are hurting both of them.

"Everyone in my life has changed" says Vi in S2 Act I finale. It is true: she's been locked in a jail cell, where all of the Lanes, her family, her friends... remained frozen in memory, and now she doesn't know who this people are. She's struggling with years and years of emptyness in which everyone she knows has grown and changed and she's been stuck -she's changed, too, but that's harder for her to see. She doesn't know who Jinx is, and until S1 finale she is unable to see this fact. Her behaviour in S2 Act I is, among other things, a backlash reaction to this realization, also a mistaken, unidimensional perception of her sister -not a perfect victim now, but a perfect perpetrator. Jinx also takes her time to get to see Vi for who she is now, but she's finally able to in S2. That doesn't mean they understand each other -quite far from it actually- but they are able to see and accept each other as complex people, with deep rooted bagage, part the same they were as children, part completely different.

Then it comes S2 ep8. Vi's fight with Caitlyn about Jinx demonstrates how Vi is now able to understand Jinx as a multidimensional character, see her complexity, her humanity, and argue she's different than they (both Caitlyn and Vi) thought she was. Jinx's conversation with Vi underscores how much Jinx recognises their dynamic has been hurting them both ("You're never going to give up on me") and how Vi has wishes and feelings of her own, even if she's repressing them to play her part as the big protector sis. These observations fuel Jinx's suicidal ideation, and Vi's incapability to give up her protector role, despite knowing Jinx doesn't need it anymore, gets her to have a breakdown. Neither know what this moment did to the other, because they still don't know each other that much. But they cannot save themselves without having had this conversation.

It's a perfect tragedy where a childish dynamic is entertwined with guilt, pain, and tons of trauma. It is a barbed wire that traps them both - it hurts when they are still, and it hurts more when they try to break free. Only with help they can disentangle themselves and one another; and that's where Cait and Ekko come in, too (and for Jinx, Isha and Sevika also did a part).

I agree with you on this, I don't know why people don't want to admit that Vi is also traumatized and not just Jinx and she feels guilty about what happened and what will happen. Cause Season 2 will focus on Vi and her suffering and hesitation in making decisions. And as you said, Vi is not the only one responsible for Jinx's actions, Jinx has gone too far in her actions, I understand her situation but I will never accept that she kills people and is the reason for the war. I mean the council finally agreed to the independence of Zaun and their freedom, then Jinx comes and ruins everything. And someone will come and say Jinx had the right to do this. Oh really I'm sure if it was another character who did this they would have hated her, I mean okay I understand the character but I will not accept that she does bad things and I say she has the right. That's hypocrisy guys, okay.

As for Caitlyn I feel sorry for what will happen to her, she was trying to keep the peace and help everyone but unfortunately what will happen in season 2 will change her character. For me, I can totally understand Cait's character change. The problem with these people is that they will never stop making Cait and Vi look like villains, even though they're not, they're just trying to protect civilians from Silco's men and Jinx too. I don't know, despite Jinx's bad actions, they still defend her and don't even justify her. Even Silco these people still defend him despite all the heinous acts he did throughout the first season.

I don't know what to tell them, are these people teenagers who love villain characters so they defend them or do they just like to make noise? I honestly don't know, but the only thing I know is that they are hypocrites of the first degree.

But don't worry too much about what they say because they are really annoying.

I've seen this conversation float around the fandom for a bit (with well-thought-out responses for both perspectives), and I'd like to add my own opinion.

I think Ekko would understand why Vi became an Enforcer (Vi felt responsible for creating "the monster" and stopping Jinx from killing more people, Pilties AND Zaunites. Joining Caitlyn was the only viable option to pursue Jinx + prevent full-scale invasion of Zaun. Vi's choice was fueled by guilt, only multiplied by her decision) because he also hated Silco's reign and believed Jinx had no good left in her. At the time, Ekko saw Jinx as a major threat to Zaun and the Firelights, on top of his personal feelings of betrayal. I think he could respect making awful choices in pursuit of limiting harm. Ekko also has a lot of admiration for Vi that I don't think could be erased so quickly.

But Ekko would ABSOLUTELY NOT be okay with it. Ekko would feel understandably betrayed and angry, and would take a long time to interact with Vi again. As we saw in the alternate timeline, Ekko makes snap judgments and needs time to process his hurt and accept people back. I think he may eventually accept Vi's friendship again, especially if he saw how much guilt Vi is consumed with and she like, helped rebuild Zaun or aided the Firelights or something.

However, all of this is moot if Vi rejoined the Enforcers. Based on how badly Vi spiraled from the guilt of joining initially (+nearly killing her sister +being discarded by Caitlyn), I personally do not think Vi rejoined. It just wouldn't make any sense at that point in the story. Alas, Caitlyn still seems to be an Enforcer *gag* - though it is ambiguous. Cait not defecting or otherwise denouncing Enforcement is my biggest gripe with how her character was handled. If Vi rejoined the Enforcers, Ekko would lose all respect for her. I think it would disgust him. He would not understand why Vi would choose to "help" as an Enforcer instead of directly aiding the Undercity and neither would I.

We see Vi get angry at Powder’s huge and irreversible mistake, and anger is something she uses to pacify herself and cope: she lashes out and attacks the thing that hurts her and in this case, it was Powder that she blamed. Vi, being an avoidant, leaves to calm down rather than directly confront the issue immediately.

Powder being the anxious attachment fears abandonment. To pacify herself she blames Vi leaving her as the reason why the bomb killed her family because she does not want to lose her sense of value which is instilled in her by her idolized person — Vi. What Powder needed was reassurance, but clearly (and reasonably so), Vi was unable to give that to her, which fed into Powder’s uncontrollable fear of abandonment and was the ultimate cause of her downward spiral which was left untreated under Silco’s care.

But Powder wasn’t the only one who was scathed by that tremendous trauma, although hers is more noticeable. We see Vi give less praise to those she cares about (calling Caitlyn an “alright shot”) and I believe that this is because she was aware that she overestimated Powder or at least believed her sister wanting to prove herself was because she imposed these standards into her younger sister. I’m going a little off topic but maybe some part of Jinx thought Vi would be proud of her strength. We clearly see that she believes Vi will hate her for how she changed but when she says “I thought, maybe you could love me like you use to… even though I’m different.” I get the impression that she wanted Vi to be proud of her and praise her for her accomplishments.

Find this photo on Pinterest @deviantart and here on Tumbler :)

VI’s tattoos are the some of the best ones that I have ever seen. Here are some reasons!!

1. First the tattoos are basically all down her back and all down her arms. This must have been PAINFUL to get. This is just another example of how well her character was mapped out. Vi is all about being tough and strong, which is EXACTLY what was achieved with these tattoos! They show sings of strength because it takes a lot of mental strength to withstand this pain, which is also the reason why these make her make her look tough.

2. They are very complex. At first glance it is hard to see why Vi chose to have gears and machinery when she is “punch first” kind of person, so why would she want something like this? There are two possible reasons that I can think of: First there is a theory that I saw by Schnee on YouTube who says it is because it is a reminder that Vi is connected to Jinx because Jinx is all about “if I can’t punch I can shoot” kind of person. Jinx invents and builds which is very much like vibe that VI’s tattoos give off. And so Jinx will forever be apart of Vi.

The second possible reason is that Vi acts not for herself but for others primarily for Jinx. Vi doesn’t have much self preservation, she throws herself into danger and loves chaos. She acts mechanically, she doesn’t do what she want, but what she feel obligated to do. This would connect to the fact that she is made of a metal mechanical frame like the tattoo reflects. The steam in the tattoo can also show that Vi also acts a lot out of anger. If she isn’t acting out of obligation she is acting out of anger, and “letting off steam”!!!!!

but they can’t go back.

“take. those. off”

We talk a lot about how jinx and vi are mirrors of vander and Silco, and they are! They are very much their father’s daughters! But I don’t think we talk a lot about how this scene parallels vander and silco’s separation.

There is a fight.

And then there are children.

One person, vander and Jayce, see those kids and think “this has to stop, this has to end.” They are choosing to take themselves out of the situation. Another, vi and Silco, see those kids and think “look at what is happening to them, we are so close to winning.” They can fix this situation if they just keep pushing.

“one dead kid? there’s hundreds more where he came from.”

“the base violence necessary for change.”

Vi is without a doubt her father’s daughter, but it’s just in this moment where she takes on the role of Silco, a revolutionary who will stop at nothing.

“you won’t make it alone.”

And I think this just adds another layer! Because no matter how much vi embodies Silco in this scene, she isn’t him. She is vander’s daughter, and she won’t make it alone.

One final thing that I don’t really have a commentary on but I think it’s really interesting. the first image that I used here:

this is an image that can convey a lot of meaning on it's own, but while I was looking for screen caps I found a really fascinating parallel: