It appears that evidently Viktor, simply earlier than his final ascension, wasn’t flawed when he advised Jayce, “This chain of occasions began with you. In my confusion I used to be unable to reconcile this.” Whereas Viktor concluded that Jayce’s hextech meant the Wonderful Evolution was destined to be, it really turned out to be the instrument of its undoing. It was a cycle that started when an older, extra mage-like Viktor went again in time and gave younger Jayce, freezing within the snow together with his mom, a blue rune-inscribed shard.
This single act was the catalyst for each Jayce’s analysis and Viktor’s ascension, however after many makes an attempt with completely different runes over who-knows-how-many timelines, future Viktor additionally offered the means for his misguided youthful self to “stroll away” from the cycle that solely led to “fields of dreamless solitude,” a way forward for loneliness the place the hive thoughts of humanity he created left him with no companions in life.
As Viktor put it: “There isn’t a prize to perfection, solely an finish to pursuit.” His Wonderful Evolution meant that there was no human struggling anymore but additionally no striving, no struggling, no overcome adversity. However the one manner he might cease his youthful self from pursuing perfection was by displaying Jayce the wasteland that resulted from his accomplice’s hubris, awakening him to the risks of blind ambition and progress.
Paradoxically (or maybe fortuitously), one of many failed timelines turned out to be a obligatory ingredient in persuading Viktor to “stroll away,” a model of historical past wherein he by no means had entry to hextech within the first place. That is the timeline that Ekko and Heimerdinger visited, one wherein, as a result of Vi died through the heist depicted within the Arcane premiere, Powder by no means did something with the stolen hextech prototype gems, and Jayce possible by no means made any sensible breakthroughs for Piltover or for his ailing pal Viktor.
Nonetheless, Ekko’s go to to that extra peaceable Zaun gave him greater than merely the means to cease Jinx from killing herself, to not point out a heartwarming likelihood to fulfill a extra loving model of his childhood pal, Powder. The Zero Drive additionally offered the paradoxical energy of the Anomaly that was wanted to crack Viktor’s masks and permit him to see the long run that was in retailer for Runeterra if he took away everybody’s free will.
In that sense, Ekko is the true hero of Arcane, each within the defeat of Viktor and within the uniting of Piltover and Zaun, the latter below the banner of a extra resolved Jinx. And ultimately, Jinx was in a position to “stroll away” from her personal cycle the way in which she needed to, however with much more reconciliation and that means behind her sacrifice. It’s like Ekko mentioned, even manner again in the season 2 trailer, “Typically taking a leap ahead means leaving just a few issues behind.”