I thought that was silly. People put numbers and Roman numerals on their body to symbolize all sorts of sentimental things. “Hey, crow.” “Uh, me?” “Yeah, you’re crow, right?” “No, why would you think that?” “It’s on your arm, duh” (points to a bird tattoo). “Wow, you’re an idiot.”
@@themarveloushave5101 but why short of cait talking about her she didn't rlly have to much interaction with them. She was locked up for years which I guess is the best explanation cuz makes sense enforcer's would have encountered her but she had no name while locked up. Passed that every enforcer she met basically died.
I found a great detail that someone on Reddit pointed out that is very easy to miss: The reason Viktor left Jayce like that in chapter 2 is because when he took Sky's book off the table, he saw the blueprints of the hextech weapon he made for Caitlyn. Jayce promised Viktor that he wouldn't make any more hextech weapons.
I noticed that too and he never complained, backed up by his line saying 'our paths diverged long ago''. Viktor doesn't blame Jayce for what he chooses or has to do. He simply moves forward, and continues to evolve dependent by the environment... Just fantastic subtle characterisation and dialogue.
Nah, it's not the only reason. Even simply not destroying the hexcore was promise-breaking. Jayce has broken their bond multiple times over, and completely disrespected their scientific kinship for prestige and power.
they also quite literally said this out loud during the scene and it was clearly the entire point of the scene. idk how anyone missed it when they literally shoved it in the viewer’s face
As a person who exclusively watches arcane and knows no league lore, the black rose thingie made sense to me because it was the entire reason ambessa came to piltover to begin with. Now that they're named and tangible and less of a potential plot point and more of an actual one, it has increased ambessas urgency, relevancy, agency and role in the story. It was foreshadowed, so it fits.
As a person who also exclusively watches arcane and knows no league lore, the black rose felt out-of-nowhere and unnecessary to me at first. But i think if it becomes meaningfully a part of the plot like you are saying (and not just an excuse for a few more fight scenes or easter eggs) then i think it's gonna be good.
I also know very little about the lore of noxians, but the black rose becomes the reason why ambessa is here, not just "I want hextech". Now there is a reason why and why shes been so sus the whole damn time
@@TheRedGauntlet That's probably the set up. He'll give up his humanity, don the metal mask or somehow turn his face metal like the rest of his body, then Jayce has to follow through with his promise to destroy the Hexcore. It might not actually happen. but it more or less set up their relationship to be similar to the lore.
I’m so pumped to get more of Viktor. I’m definitely a Jinx fanboy and want to see how that continues but Viktors story is easily the highlight of the series for me.
That scene with Vi coming out of the grey like a monster scares me. But it’s brilliant. Vi may have made Jinx, but Jinx made Enforcer Vi. I guess they are still playing that monster game…
Riot did an amazing job with showing how rage and hate perpetuates a cycle, Ambessa choosing Cait because she's young and hurting which means she's easy to manipulate, amazing. Heimer running through the vents was so cute 😭
Also the way Ambessa first describes Cait as this great leader that will conquer the undercity, only to then IMMEDIATELY infantilise her and attempt to play into her insecurity (having lost her mother and feeling unable to fill that space) with a simple "come, child". Beautiful manipulation.
I only noticed today that act 1 of season 2 ends the same as act 1 in season 1 A blue haired, freshly traumatized girl getting influenced by a dangerous leader
When he said "the brambleback has left the jungle" in that scene I lost my fucking mind. such an out of pocket summoners rift reference to just throw out there
ALSO WE MIGHT GET TO SEE ORIANNA?! You can hear the ballerina-like music in his scenes. Those last Singed clips were so ominous, he is definitely cooking something up.
That's what i thought about as well. Orianna went down to Zaun with The Grey to help people. So we might see her at least as an easter egg in her human form before becoming a machine.
Arcane Season 1 Act 1: "Ain't no way they gonna top this" Arcane Season 1 Act 2: "Ain't no way they gonna top this" Arcane Season 1 Act 3: "Ain't no way they gonna top this" Arcane Season 2 Act 1: "Ain't no way they gonna top this"
Arcane Season 1 Act 3: has some rough pacing around Episode 7 and 8 but is still good 4 especially episode 9 Arcane Season 2 Act 1: great set-up, but I would have liked some more pensive scenes and less music videos just because, it was just a bit too much off rip
Caitlyn and Vi's squad using The Grey to maneuver undetected through Zaun to carry out precision strikes against the Chem Barons and hunt Jinx was the coolest shit ever
I think while the JayVik separation happened quickly, he also woke up from a coma already quite a different person, and figured out Jayce had broke the two promises they'd made: He didn't destroy the Hexcore, and one of the first things he sees is Jayce's designs for HexTech weaponry
i thought the secene really did a great job showing how changed victor is. He feels like he inst really paying attention and has just a completly different priority list now.
Ambessa setting up Caitlyn as the new head of the city is very reminiscent of the flash back of Ambessa with Mel talking about setting up a puppet ruler for the new Kingdom they just conquered.
@@CannibalShinobi It's also a parallel to how Silco used the Sheriff of Piltover as puppet. Which makes me guess that Caitlyn will see through it at some point because she is not someone who likes to be controlled.
@@chloescoolcreations9719 their lore kinda merge, but kinda, rell story's doesn't quite add up to mell one. HOWEVER, you've seen the family picture, doesn't mell brother look like someone we know 😉 ?
12:36 I thought the Hexgate might have gotten corrupted because Viktor coughed some blood into it in Season 1, because you can also see some "corrupted stain" on the floor when they enter it.
i have a theory. Janna is the elemental tied to zaun. what if janna is the wild rune that has been corrupted. and she is interacting threw victor. He was always depicted as coughing, and now he breaths so easily.
Vander to Grayson in S1: I can't offer up my own people. Sevika to Smeech in S2: We don't hand over our people. This made me respect Sevika so much because she picked up and practiced one of Vander's core values. Paying tribute to Vander (who she lost respect for) and also defending Jinx (who she disliked for her recklessness in S1) at the same time? Peak!
I think this is probably something that's symbolic of Vander and Silco, since both of them talk a lot about loyalty (like when fin tries to convince sevika to kill silco). Shows how much the two of them had in common ideals wise before splitting up
Sevika never said she wanted to hand over the kids, she thought Vander was weak because he didn't want to fight back. She's always been ride or die for Zaun, whether it was wise or not
In regards to the Black Rose. Ever since Ambessa was introduced, and really also in a way Mel and her motives, people new the world of League would be aware of two things from Arcane S1: - Mel is worried about outside threats & her mother's involvement in them. The whole plot point regarding Hextech weapons relies upon that understanding. - Ambessa is pretty explicit about having enemies on the outside that's driving her to act. To new people, the Black Rose is really just Ambessa's outside enemies being given a name and visual representation.
@@z34567890123456 as far as I'd sell my soul for Jhin in Arcane (or in a future show), my money for who was after the Medardas was Swain... cool it's LeBlanc and the Black Rose, but damn if I hoped till the last moment to see a raven-like demon and hear his great voice when the scene with the merchant went down...
The black rose is shown in the intro as well. First as petals on the floor behind Ambessa and then in her hand which seems to be someone else than Ambessa in disguise or in control of her (the eyes)
5:12 I personally think that it was really cool that it happened so fast, because it showed that Victor lost all his emotions and feelings after he woke up, he even said that him and Jayce werent partners for a long time and the only thing holding them together was affection, but since Victor lost his emotions, he wasnt affected to Jayce anymore, so he left him.
I agree, I think that the 3 year gap between seasons doesn’t help and it makes it feel that it was so fast but in reality he already expressed his falling out with Jayce in S1
I don't think Viktor has lost his emotions, as a matter of fact he showed a lot of them since waking up, empathy, compassion, regret, and sadness, being some of them At that moment, his expressions and actions read to me much more as stoicism That said, I'm an absolute sucker for every second Jayce and Viktor share screen time 😂 but I also don't mind how quick it was Because I feel there's something at play here, we don't understand the "Arcane" yet, the voice calling to Viktor, was that just his failing mind hallucinating, or is the Hexcore using Sky's voice to communicate with Viktor? Why did it guide him that way? Anyway, there's still a bunch of questions unanswered about his transformation and how has it changed him
he didn't lose his emotions.. he was just disappointed that Jayce saved him by using the hexcore whereas Viktor's dying wish was for Jayce to destroy the hexcore
@@blackreaper2343 yeah, disappointed is an understatement honestly. he felt utterly betrayed that Jayce wouldn't let him die. his trust in jayce was waning since the first season, seeing jayce constantly shift their research/development of Hextech past what they believed was ethical, for vanity and personal gain. Viktor's apathy towards Jayce comes from constant selfish betrayals. when he realized he was alive and... kind've a monstrosity, he understood it as the final betrayal, but not a surprising one.
I disagree. It wasn't fast. Looking at it from S1, Viktor and Jayce had several scenes where they didnt see eye to eye on crucial research and its applications which was what kept them together in the first place. The Hexcore fusing with him just gave him that push that the usually shy and reserved Viktor needed to sever that relationship.
I was not expecting the Ruins of Shurima under Zaun to be shown, but it was a pleasant surprise, nor was I expecting Leblanc/The Black Rose to make an appearance, and the religious imagery with Viktor is sick; I'm most excited about his storyline!
@@ace_kobra8512so Janna was confirmed to be of Shiriman origin in LoR and also ezreal has delved into shiriman ruins under Zaun. There is also the fact that pnz is geolocated pretty close to shirima.
@@muggle06 Oh I didn't even realize it was that connected. I've always just thought that Janna was in Piltover and Zaun because of the bad air and believers.
I can't believe you didn't talk about Mel being abducted by the Black Rose. I'm so excited for what it means for this season, as well as the setup for future series, like a noxus one with political intrigue.
I'm actually hoping it does not rlly come into play in arcane but hope it sets up future series. I just feel arcane already had to much going on that they kind of need to tie some loss ends that I feel black rose stuff would kind of make it to bloated to do in 6 episodes but it is a really interesting story plot I do want to see come into play in another series.
@@jamaalgaylord5029 if my understanding is correct, this is the final season in piltover and zaun but they will make more in universe shows. I feel that Noxus will not be the next one. I think it would be better to start with an unrelated region, and if i was to pick a region it would be bilgewater (Burning tides) or Demacia (Assassination of Jarvan III) or Freljord (Three Sisters)
@@wazpiro1 I'd say Shurima and Icathia or that war with the Three Sisters to show people who have no idea of Runeterra is dark, I can imagine with Shurima with season 3 that start first with Nasus and Renekton, the whole of Ascended/Darkin, and Azir, Xerath and Jax
5:20 If you pay close attention, in Viktor's lines when he parts ways with Jayce, the word "affection" is highlighted via an echo, it would feel that Victor was with Jayce because he liked him, but when humanity left him, that part was gone too, so I think the abrupt goodbye is fitting.
@@panpan4757Viktor love his assistent that died because the hextech. As you can see when Vektor cure a Shimmer victim, he saw the brief moment of his beloved.
@@kingki1953 ... I think there´s more to it. Sky technically didn´t die... she got consumed by the hexcore. Now that Viktor and the hexcore is fused... I see it has either the hexcore is using the consumed Sky to communicate, or Sky is in a sense still alive and has become one with hexcore too.
5:27 when he was grabbing his book he noticed the schematics for hextech weapons and realized weather he wanted it nor not they were gonna weaponize hextech so he left, also his story is the same, he sees glorious evolution as the path forward and im willing to bet the people he "fixes" lose their humanity or something
Hey there! I'm here to give you my non-lore knowing perspective when the black rose came into the picture. I was dying to know what caused Mel brother to die, and why Embessa needed hex tech weapons. Here intro was scary and cool. Now I see why Mel's mom been making crazy moves. Can't wait to see more!
Black rose is one of the biggest force in the runeterra. Potential spoiler about Mel's brother: Black rose wants to stop mordecaiser(One of the powerful being on the entire runeterra) so they collect the kids which have a potential mage and make an experiment with them(Rell is an example of that) after reading the ambessas lore I believe that he might die because black rose got attention with him because of being the potential mage and die
@@TurkmenTR-u9kdoesn't ambessa say in season one that Mel's brother crossed the wrong people and got himself killed? That doesn't sound like the black rose experiments or why would they end up going after them
Season 2 is the only reason why I bought on Netflix this month. In the first 3 episodes you can tell why this took so much time to make. The animation is absolutely amazing!!!
Solid start, my only real complaint is how fastly paced some storylines have felt and how much new concepts there are. The black rose, the wild ruins, hex-tech evolution, Viktor are kind of a lot for me to keep up with when the focus is the characters. So long as the characters stories aren't lost amongst the concepts then all should be could. Arcane 1 was as close to perfect as possible and there's a lot of great stuff here so far. Would really like the next 2 arcs to focus a little more. Maybe kill a character and let the others breathe abit. Very interested in what's about to go down!
bro when he was walking among the people addicted to shimmer i was like "he's literally the second coming of jesus" and then that last scene he was in happened and i was like "oh he's jesus straight up" it's crazy
15:38 Notice how aside of her usual colors there's now a hint of red on her outfit, and around the neck no less, almost like leash, symbolizing the control Ambessa has over her now. Absolutely genius.
I believe the farewell from Viktor was abrupt because they also wanted to give detail to the fact that he becomes detached from his emotions (expect for his pupil that died i guess). U can see this from the line where he said that their paths were only connected by the bond they shared and not labwork. Therefore, since those emotions no longer exist, theres no point of him being there.
Nah, plenty of emotion still exists, emotion is why he left. He always wanted to quit but never had that final push until all of those things happened. Their paths had diverged longs ago as shown by the weapon blueprints on the table that he saw.
(I don't know viktor's lore so if this process did actually remove his humanity I'm completely wrong here, but) I think there's more to it than that. If you take it from viktor's perspective, this is the same day he almost jumped, and he still hadn't had a proper conversation with Jayce about the blockade indecent. He was in a bad place, and the worst parts of Jayce had been festering in his mind. Him refusing to destroy the hex core like he promised was the final straw. He just couldn't attach himself to his partner, or his work anymore
@@icyish-fish I mean sure that is valid, but then again he showed nothing. No displeasement, anger, sadness (altough we see he still feels guild and sadness about his pupil). He just said, our paths diverged long ago, i dont belong here, therefore im going away. Thats it. He didnt even feel the urge to comment anything else, stated 2 facts and then left. U could be right, but i stand by my analysis till next week ^^
Need to dissect the intro theme; Ekko has two shadows on the ground, acting as clock hands and ticking like a clock; the split second visual of Jinx's kid before Vi's closeup; Victor's body without the purple/arcane/voided skin; Mel discovering Ambessa's Black Rose; Caitlyn crying on the ground holding her head and her shadow looking like a crown symbolizing her struggle with martial law.... I'm sure there's more that I'm missing but it's soooo good.
@@lockekappa500 Oh true!! I wonder if it's a play on their personality alignment... Caitlyn wears black, viktor wears gray, while vi, ekko and jayce wear white. Necrit needs to put together a short or something explaining this.
My opinion on the black Rose’s involvement (even though I am a lore nerd) is that even though to someone who hasn’t played league, the way the introduce them, where Ambesa is even scared, and you can see that fear on her face, is all the viewer needs to know about what to feel when being shown people from the black rose
No offense, but it was straight up stupid and cringe. Maybe the weakest feature of act 1... I don't know, maybe I'm just a butthurt 33 year old, but I did a facepalm.
No it actually started with Jayce leaving his fcking food around for curious little blue haired children to eat and accidentally find his stash of extremely volatile and dangerous crystals
@@drakensong9953it would’ve been even before then right? If you really trace everything, it started in the snow storm. If Jayce and his mother aren’t trapped out there about to die the mage never teleports them, Jayce never gets inspired to create magic himself, never gets the crystals, then Little Man never even meets the guy to give the tip to Vi.
Correct me if im wrong, but although the Black Rose was not directly referenced in season 1, Ambessa did say that the People who killed Mel's Brother were 'The wrong people to mess with' and still seek revenge. So an outside enemy was hinted at!!
I think that since Ambessa is coming from outside Piltover, it makes sense that she would bring outside dangers and politics with her. The black rose is mainly presented as a threat to Ambessa with Mel’s (kidnapping/death?) being collateral/punishment and the implications of Mel’s disappearance to Piltoverian politics being secondary to the black rose’s main intent.
Ambessa choosing Kate also feels like a desperation play . It seems she wanted to have more setup for her plans but the black rose appearing early pushed her over the edge . THE daughter and the spy also deduces that she seems desperate and is afraid. It might have been a card she had and was setting up but it seems desperate.
14:55 I like the fact that the shield-Vander-lookalike left from Caitlin's team after her hateful transformation. Its like Vander's soul, represented with the shield-guy (a weapon to protect) will be present, even if the "actual" Vander its going to be alive. The cheery at the top is that the Vander-lookalike most likely will take care of Vi during her meltdown. I love their potential.
I dont think about potential when it comes to that guy. He's clearly set up to be killed. One off likable one dimension character to set the tone for the main character. Just like Clagger, RIP maboi
I thought in all honesty that it was Graves. I think he has the same facial hair as before- but it was very interesting since he just seemed like a guy in the background. I would love to see if he were Graves. I don't think he's Braum, because Braum is beefy and the size of a mountain.
@@Lone207I don't think that's a possibility. Graves is from Bilgewater and has wastly different personality from that guy. I know that they could've simply changed it but they would've at least kept core concepts. That guy doesn't have a shotgun or any resemblance of such and he lacks that southern accent. Not that improtant but he aslo should be a smoker, not a drinker
@@sapk3532 if you dont mind me asking what made you like him? I mean it in the sense that he was not built up to be likeable, at least in my experience, cause to me he seems a lot like a plot device, hes theres because the plot needs someone to be there, hes the cog of a machine we were not shown to and thats what excites me about his character, im curious as to who he is spying for, my guess is that hes from a less powerful group the likes of the firelight
The scene where jayce, ekko and heim go into the corrupted hex gate is one of my favourite animated scenes ever. The trippy visuals were done so well! (The animation in general was incredible. All the smoke effects and particle effects added to every scene, yet never made it feel cluttered, the hextech weapong glitching out. It was all just 😚👌)
Viktor has so much religious symbolism. the staff, the robe, the powers, the people kneeling at his feet, parting ways with a friend. I'm not religious, i don't follow a belief, but i definitely noticed that!
I’m a Christian religious Jesus Lover, so I felt both in awe and a little disturbed by the massive symbolism. The cloak, the staff, the followers, the healing, the miracle, the new followers, the omniscient power, the hope of Sky alive in some way… Whoo. They did it so beautifully and unnerving.
loved the tiny bit of foreshadowing of viktor as this messiah where he stops before going in the big room and there's this stained glass(?) thing behind him and framing a halo around him and his staff
Not a LOL player…but the introduction of the black rose is awesome. It gives us a reason for WHY Ambessa showed up in season one. Like a real reason…Ambessa’s running from something, the something that killed her son, the something that Piltover is supposed to be an answer to. Then Ambessa says “ you don’t know what family means to me.” Then she says “keep Mel the enemy it keeps her safe.” Just for Mel to get snatched!!! I can’t wait to see what else we get!! I came here IMMEDIATELY after watching the new season.
Yeh but they never explain why the black rose is so interested in ambessa other than having an affair tht leads to a child. They hint tht there's more but don't ever tell us
12:38 I have a theory that this organic matter could be the blood that Viktor coughed out in season one when he was at the hexgates with Marcus and Jayce. It would make sense because the Hexcore is connected to Viktor, having the same patterns of organic interfusion that his blood had.
Arcane is basically establishing that magic, the Arcane, might originate beyond reality, from the Void. Which is why its misuse is evolving matter like the hextect gem to become an sort of source for corruption and evolution. They have basically made Viktor the "Void threat" of Piltover and Zaun, when there was none in the previous lore. Arcane is not a new threat. It's a reinvention of magic and Void in the lore.
The things about Viktor and Jayce: it makes complete sense that it ends as abruptly as it does: Viktor has his (or his hex cores) goal now. hes not that human anymore he talks more like a mchine. he has a purpose and hes following that, he has no motivation to interact with jayce anymore while jayce obviously wanted that. I think it fits very well and wasnt rushed because of "we have too many other story lines".
the way i see it, basically "old" viktor died and new viktor may have his memories, but it's distant and his hexcore goal is now the new life purpose. he acknowledges "our paths diverged long ago but we were held by affection" like a therapist who listens to the patient and goes "ok i understand why you stayed, but we should try something else now" idk maybe in act 2 or 3 viktor will come back to his old self, but something tells me he wont
Yeah alot of people are missing that the Hexcore has taken him over for the most part. The Hexcore has no need to affection or emotional ties, so Viktor doesn't either
@@aaunyea4799Exactly right. He speaks as if these feelings of friendship were not part of him anymore, just like he can't feel the cold the same way as before He's only rational now. No humanity left. Which makes for an absolutely perfect vilain. Both awe inspiring and dreadful in the way he will not be concerned with things that should concern a human. Makes me think about Bondold the Lord of Dawn in Made in Abyss
I noticed that as well, And it also makes sense for why the hexcore held onto him for that long when before it could transform him easily in a short time, It spared his face and maybe brain for a reason? Could it be Sky's doing as she was possibly absorbed fully into the hexcore like an AI because she had no shimmer in her system to stabilize it? Remember viktor was sure he'd die if he didn't have the shimmer to keep his body together and regenerating, maybe the plants and Sky only died in body while the information got absorbed, you know..LIKE VEL'KOZ does?
11:19 it was confusing to me, I honestly didn’t understand what was being introduced lol but i figured it fit into the story bc it’s like im learning more about whatever ambessa’s baggage is and what her true intentions are- so it doesn’t feel completely out of nowhere
The first episode was an emotionally tragic art ballad - from the still framed pencil drawn montages to the deep sad music. It was absolutely a beautiful way to recap and fill in the most tasteful way. Emotionally I felt like I barely had enough time to grieve with the characters before they were attacked again... What an amazing way to draw out the fear and anger. Just beautiful.
The big shield guy is someone to not be overlooked, he seems to know more than what he shows. At Cait's incoronation he leaves for the Undercity probably.
He is very sus indeed, they didn't show his face for a long time during his introduction, he was pretending to be asleep when enforcers approached Vi, and he was not fooled by Ambessa's propaganda. Another Vander's brother? Also his face and hairstyle reminded me of Bildgewater for some reason, but I dunno
7:45 I disagree with the idea that the Arcane is entirely a new threat and one that will be exclusive to this show. If you go back to the concept art of Icathia, the 'arcane corruption' looks an awful lot like Void corruption. My hypothesis is that Arcane is going to end with the world of Runterra being exposed to the world ending threat of The Void for the first time (Or at least The Void will be established as a global threat, not just a Shiriman one). With the Hex gate either being destroyed by void creatures, or possibly turning into a Void Gate.
I also thought it looked similar to void corruption. Also, as I was obsessing over finding more of Talon's lore, I stumbled upon rainbow goopy webby stuff in the Katarina comics. She falls onto a giant slug thing surrounded in it. I think that is the same stuff as the corruption we see on the tree.
I loved Sevika in the first season, even if she was kind of in the background, but after these first three episodes and can confidently say I adore her!!! She is such a deep character, who tries to hide her soft side behind mean words and emotionless faces, but deep down she truly does care for the people of Zaun and we see that despite the fact that she didn’t really like Jinx she still would’ve never given her up, because “Zaun doesn’t give up it’s people” 😭 I can’t wait to see what happends between her and Vander/Warrick and I genuinely hope she becomes a champion in LoL, the gambling arm will be such an interesting feature!!
The fact that she used the same words as Vander to protect Jinx even though she wanted to give them up in the first few episodes shows a lot about her growth in character 😮💨 I love her
I like that they introduced black rose, it gives a lot of explenation to why Ambessa was so interested in the hextech weapons in season one. It woulf have been too much to process if that would have been introduced in S1 aswell. It was also nice to be wondering why she was obsessed and why she came to piltover! :)
11:19 As someone who DID NOT KNOW much about the Black Rose and do not play League/ do not know much about canon lore, it’s appearance was honestly quite ominous (also I saw the black rose imagery in the Enemy intro on Ambessa’s hand first, so mildly not as surprising) and gives “A NEW EMEMY HAS ENTERED THE ARENA” vibes. And it provides more possible reason to Ambessa’s motives as to why she suddenly appears in Piltover, for the revenge of her son that was involved in the Black rose if I interpreted the show correctly? Honestly very VERY interesting when I binged a few of your videos on some League lore, soooo. New OP weapons incoming possibly? 👁️
I don't understand, honestly. If Ambessa had problems with the black rose and exiled Mel to keep her safe, how does her coming back keep Mel safe from the black rose exactly? Why would the black rose have anything to do in piltover except for the fact that Ambessa went there? Ambessa says that she keeps Mel as her enemy to protect her but in public there's literally no way of knowing that they don't align, Ambessa herself says that they must look like they were unified in their decisions.
@@laiag4854 im assuming mel has something special that the black rose wants. maybe ambessa's bloodline has a power that ambessa doesn't have so she focused on martial war tactics, but mel or her brother did have it and maybe ambessa has been hiding this from mel her whole life
I just gotta say, the editting in ep 3, absolute cinema. The transitions between Vi and Jinxs fight and Jayce, Ekko and H underground gave me chilllllllllllls. to me, i loved it as a narrative weave and the juxtaposition from the gritty, dim fight with its sharp edges and framing switching to the cream-white backdrop at the rune, round room with the focal point of the colored orb and the shifting of the mens colours filling in the frame as the chaos grew. Peak. (I have never touched LoL, so humor me if i made any lore errors)
Ikr Ambessa has mentioned that she has an enemy we thought it was Swain but by the looks of it is the Black Rose hence why she is desperate to weaponize Hextech to protect her family
@@ConClasher3 I mean we saw on ep 3 that they also used some rune weapons (just like Riven's weapon) the green thing that repels the Black Rose magic so I think they can manage to know what Hextech can do to deflect or attack Black Rose magic
For me, (I don't know anything about the lore) Black Rose is brilliant because, in the first episode of this season, Ambessa doesn't have a purpose. Black Rose gave her that and shows us why Ambessa does what she does. It even gives us a different way to see her-like, what if she actually feels fear and does all of this because of that?
My favorite lore detail was on the first EP at 33:36, where it shows the three Kiramman clan heads (Caitlyn's ancestors) portraits. And on the first portrait, we can see that the first Kiramman head to what it seems like an expedition leaving Ionia, the person on the portrait also looks very Ionian along with the background. Which means Caitlyn's family roots begins in Ionia!
I also thought the blossom tree she sat at in the beginning was very "ionian"... maybe her ancestors put it there as a memorial of where they came from?
@@Idlesthetic all the heads of the kiramman clan are woman, thus the ionian head of clan hopefully is not from her father side as it could imply alabama alegations. sure, if a clan head did not birthed a daughter then maybe it would make sense to assume a man as head of the house, but the family pictures suggest otherwise and its a huge liability to name someone who married into the family as leader of such powerful organization. So its more likely that every single one of caitlyn's mothers (as in _(mother), grand(mother) so on and so forth) had a daughter to heir the clan.
Viktor is giving Lisan Al Gaib energy and I'm here for it. I just really want to know what Warwick's roll will be. I assume he is going to hit hard in act 2.
It got me really pissed when that girl jumped in front of Jinx, It kinda pissed me off when they made Caitlin seem like the bad guy, that girl killed her mother
Loved the theatre easter egg with jarvan's ceremony. First I thought wtf demacian architecture and all the banners but then I realised that its a theatre scene. Kinda cool to see the artistry in piltover. Btw the shot when caitlyn and jayce were talking in this kind of garden with the huge tree was so fxcking beautiful.
about the wild runes, i theorise reality is trying to stabilize itself by throwing the opposite concept/power at a problem, for example, the hex gates use something akin to space so the arcane manifested itself as a wild rune of time to balance reality out
It still wasnt explained how exactly they survived the attack beside "those thing happen cant be controlled" said by Mel in episode 1. I really, really hope they will eventually reveal the magic powers that Mel seemingly has and thus was able to protect herself and Jayce completely
my dumb theory is that mel's armor redirected all the "damage" she was supposed to take to Viktors cane (wich also has a bit of gold on it) thats why he got hurt while jayce didnt
Probably beyond that, it is literally art in motion! (Damn you, in a good way, French studios and your use of creative vision!) Like how there was a renaissance for art and ideology long long ago, the same has happened culturally since Arcane S1 came out~ The waves this’ll impact is definitely for the history books~~
SPOILER I think that the reason why they made the Viktor bye bye scene so quick is to show that he is already turning "robotic" in the sense that he feels detached rom his previous emotions towards Jayce. He himself said that what held them together was attachment. Since he's going away, he must be trying to say he no longer is attached, right?
I felt the same way. If there's anyone who would have a quick, low emotion goodbye scene it would be the half-robot guy. No sadness, no emotion, only clarity. Praise the Omnissiah!
I definitely agree that this is a possible explanation, but also I believe the emotional detachement could just be caused by him being severely traumatised by everything that happened to him just before he passed out (Sky dying, his suicide attempt and Jinx's attack) + waking up in a body that isn't his while halucinating seeing and hearing Sky. I'd imagine this is very overwhelming and when he realised he hadn't died despite requesting that Jayce destroy the hexcore (thus letting him die) he probably percieved this as a betrayal from the last person he cared about and that could explain why he was acting so cold to Jayce. Just food for thought, I'm sure both theories are correct to a degree
Also the whole setup of "you must be cold" and viktor just describing what he's feeling without involment of any words of emotion like a machine just giving out information about something without interpretation.
I myself am a league player so i know the lore but we watched the 3 episodes tonight in a watch party and one of us doesn't play league so they didn't know about leblanc and the black rose, but they said when they heard the rest of us get excited at the reveal they also got excited, and that even without knowing what it means the reveal is super cool and they're excited to see what it means! For them the uniqueness and cool visuals of the reveal piqued their curiosity
Also found it really cool how they showed Ambessa’s quick thinking. She heard about the power of the Kiramman name from Salo and then saw Caitlyn begin to slip and IMMEDIATELY took advantage of it. You can see her quickly decide right in the moment. Love what they’re doing with Ambessa
The more we learn about Ambessa the more interesting she gets. Introduced as a cold blooded warmonger, then a femboy hunter, then a mother that really cares a lot about her family, and now an insanely smart strategist? I mean seeing Leblanc herself saying she doesnt understimate Ambessas intelligence should be enough but wow the twist at the end of Ep3 its crazy. Ambessa truly is The Matriarch of War in every sense the War has, not only physical battles sheesh.
My biggest concern is they build her up to be this unstoppable juggernaut who doesn't lose and always is a step ahead, and then her just lose to some dumb shit. Which usually what happens when these type of characters.
@joshuasmith4643 I mean she is a new champion in league of legends safe to say she won't lose in a stupid way because making her look bad will actually hurt the champ in league of legends like people not playing her and never buying skins . She might not win but if she ''loses'' it won't be a stupid loss
@alexandrubodnar5914 I hope there's an equal to her that out smarts her or bests her so it doesn't feel like one of those "she's been ten steps ahead for so long, then all of a sudden she loses to someone who has shown to barely win anything." Tropes.
@@joshuasmith4643 I mean, I doubt that would happen. There are a lot of formidable enemies in current Arcane's storyline (Warwick, Jinx, Vi, Jayce, Cait if she wakes up, Sevika, Black Rose)
@@joshuasmith4643 my guess is she's going to have so much shit coming at her she can't keep up. Black Rose, Jinx, Warwick, Victor. Eventually no matter how good you are it's just too much
Hypothetically, if the HEX-Tech Core is actually a world rune, and since Simmer def appears to be void related, I mean its purple and it mutates stuff! And we know Victor used shimmer, maybe its a void corrupted world rune now?
Oh, Yeah? I already saw all of Act II. It's out there, if you know where to look. Believe me when I tell you, you haven't seen ANYTHING YET. Ambessa Medarda is nothing on Runeterra to mess with. Not even a little bit. That's all I'm going to say. You'll see. She's built different.
@@jackspratt7264 Oh, I already realized that in act 1. She is a beast. She has Mel's intelligent but also the strength and martial prowess to back it up. Definitely not an enemy you want to face (good luck to the Black Rose).
Rejoice, for the machine herald has arrived. We need not suffer anymore, we need not care for trivial human matters. All we are is a vessel for humanity’s collective evolution, and we go willingly.
As a non-leaguer, Black Rose was totally fine for me. A lot of stuff comes out of nowhere in Arcane and I think it could make sense that a group of assassins bided their time for chaos to ensue in Piltover before making their move, just hiding in the shadows in Season 1.
I have a theory that the Grey has fused with the spirit of Janna. Notice the wind sigil on the top of her staff with three dots in a triangle, and then compare to the three 'eyes' that smeech saw when he entered the misty chembaron's territory.
Someone pointed out that the three 'eyes' were actually Caitlyn and Vi's search team. The colours check out and they did unleash the Grey after all, you could even see the 'creature' dematerialise into the team when they entered the arcade where Jinx hid.
I thinks its a valid theory cause since season 1 they've been showing things with double meanings, and its always on purpose. The Grey clearly looks alive/more than just the enforcers using it.
Sevika is the epitome of Loyalty you can't buy. Particularly like that fight scene. Caitlyn on her villain Arc is just perfect. Ambessa manipulating the events in Piltover is Peak. Also just an addition the song SUCKER was just soooo goood man. LEBLANC reveal Insane. Have a great day can't wait for the other episodes. Sorry if this spoil it for you, you should have watched it first before you came here.
That splash art bits they did is by far the best way to do an exposition dump. Show, don't tell is the way to do it. It shows how intelligent the writing is and how they respect the viewers intelligence.
That's the best way to introduce the black rose, we've already been told in episode 8 (or 9 I don't remember) that whoever killed ambessa's son doesn't think the score is settled
Viktor and Jayce breaking it off abruptly is pretty explainable because the first conversation they had was whether or not he was cold, when he clear should've been. It's like he is ignoring or is growing beyond his humanity, and Jayce is likely the biggest thing tethering Viktor to humanity.
One thing I noticed was that the noxian solider had a spear with runes like Rivne’s sword that glowed green when we first see the black rose. I guess it was made by the emperor of noxus which is a cool detail. Loved the video mate!
Why is literally no one talking about Warwick? I’m so hype for how him being in play is gonna change everything! Just Warwick going to town on the barons or even all the noxian forces that would be in the lanes?
I think people are just tired of being edged on the warwick plot since episode 1 from season 1 that by now we are just waiting for riot to finally be done with the edging and hoping it happens this season
@12:44 I believe Viktor's blood fell into the hexgate in season 1 when he was with Jayce shortly after he became counselor. Thats why we see some stuff on the floor in the hexgates core.
In answer to your question, as someone who knows very little about the lore, the black rose didn't feel like it was out of nowhere. It was made clear in season 1 that Melmom was very worried about, and unwilling to fight, whoever it was that killed her son. Her being such a strong person but allowing the death of her son to go unpunished suggested it was something more than a military threat. I don't know about a black rose specifically, but mages doesn't feel left field.
From the perspective of someone who only knows of Arcane. Seeing the black rose makes sense why someone like Ambessa is acting the way that she is aside from just standing on family. And why she suddenly popped up in season one (remember Mel's surprise and explanations in regards to physical presence). This is something for someone of Ambessa's caliber to worry over. This black rose thing can pop up from anywhere at anytime and control anyone...Makes sense now why she sent Mel away. I wonder why not Kino too. Did Kino choose to stay? Thanks for the amazing reviews Necrit! Recently found your channel and became a fan!
Something I really enjoy about this show is, that every character is so well written, that you can understand their reason behind their doings. Which leads to not having that one villain, neither having a hero. And I love it
The way I feel about "The arcane" is not that it is an adition to the league lore, but more a general description jayce gives to the magic of runeterra (The world rune are just an extremely powerful version of this) where maybe overusing it cause significant side effects such as maybe opening portals to "the void" and other stuff. Example xeraths magic ult is called "rite of the arcane", and Ryze has shown to be using arcane it this very show.
Xerath is an anomaly of an Ascended even to a Bacai lol, Ascension is based on beliefs/ideals thus Xerath all ever wanted to be free, free from mortal constraints thus became an Arcane energy, I'd be cool if he does show up in this show I'd cream so much
right!! the way they were describing it was just as a general magic that is present everywhere but is beyond reach, kinda like the fade from dragon age ig
As soon as I saw the black rose in the intro with ambessa and knowing the noxian connection on top of that I was like LEBLANCCCCCC! Would love to see her in the series! Also hope to see Janna! Loved that they talked about her but I need MORE
I was straight up glued to the screen like I haven't been in years. This is the type of show that just simply makes you giddy, begging for more right away as the episode ends. Exciting, heartbreaking, funny, intelligent and mysterious.
i appreciate the spoiler free section necrit! partner had work early today so we couldn’t stay up last night, and he’s at work for a few more hours :( the wait is killing me. glad to hear it’s great tho!! will be back to give the full vid a watch when i’m caught up and can join the convo
As someone who has barely tapped into League’s lore and only first heard about the Black Rose through you, I think it was pretty well executed. It’s like they’re a specter that’s been hovering around Ambessa all her life, and now that she’s in Piltover it’s followed her and started to spread its corruption. Like a really angry revenant that just won’t stop trying to kill you.
Yea, soundtrack went crazy, i also loved how Jinx installed Get Jinxed as song in ep2. Cant believe its been 11 years since ive heard it for the first time...
"How do you know my name"
"It's written on your face"
That one got me, not gonna lie.
Vi: Carrot top got me good... and i hate to admit it.
@@yondaime500 well your wrong my names six!
I thought that was silly. People put numbers and Roman numerals on their body to symbolize all sorts of sentimental things.
“Hey, crow.”
“Uh, me?”
“Yeah, you’re crow, right?”
“No, why would you think that?”
“It’s on your arm, duh” (points to a bird tattoo).
“Wow, you’re an idiot.”
@@kibblesnbits3174except Vi was well known among enforcers at this point, so it makes more sense than if that was a random assumption
@@themarveloushave5101 but why short of cait talking about her she didn't rlly have to much interaction with them.
She was locked up for years which I guess is the best explanation cuz makes sense enforcer's would have encountered her but she had no name while locked up. Passed that every enforcer she met basically died.
I found a great detail that someone on Reddit pointed out that is very easy to miss: The reason Viktor left Jayce like that in chapter 2 is because when he took Sky's book off the table, he saw the blueprints of the hextech weapon he made for Caitlyn. Jayce promised Viktor that he wouldn't make any more hextech weapons.
ooooh that adds another layer
I noticed that too and he never complained, backed up by his line saying 'our paths diverged long ago''. Viktor doesn't blame Jayce for what he chooses or has to do. He simply moves forward, and continues to evolve dependent by the environment... Just fantastic subtle characterisation and dialogue.
Oooh thanks for the info, that's even better! I'm so excited to see what's coming for Viktor
Nah, it's not the only reason. Even simply not destroying the hexcore was promise-breaking. Jayce has broken their bond multiple times over, and completely disrespected their scientific kinship for prestige and power.
they also quite literally said this out loud during the scene and it was clearly the entire point of the scene. idk how anyone missed it when they literally shoved it in the viewer’s face
As a person who exclusively watches arcane and knows no league lore, the black rose thingie made sense to me because it was the entire reason ambessa came to piltover to begin with. Now that they're named and tangible and less of a potential plot point and more of an actual one, it has increased ambessas urgency, relevancy, agency and role in the story. It was foreshadowed, so it fits.
Interesting to read about this arcane-exclusive perspective, thanks !
I appreciate this comment a lot
As a person who also exclusively watches arcane and knows no league lore, the black rose felt out-of-nowhere and unnecessary to me at first. But i think if it becomes meaningfully a part of the plot like you are saying (and not just an excuse for a few more fight scenes or easter eggs) then i think it's gonna be good.
FACTS
I also know very little about the lore of noxians, but the black rose becomes the reason why ambessa is here, not just "I want hextech". Now there is a reason why and why shes been so sus the whole damn time
viktor scenes are absolute peak
Yup , he beacame the Jesus of Arcane :D
kinda prefer his Doctor Doom look more
@chems7303 He committing heresy. He should spend his time doing glorious evolution things instead of Jesus things
@@TheRedGauntlet That's probably the set up. He'll give up his humanity, don the metal mask or somehow turn his face metal like the rest of his body, then Jayce has to follow through with his promise to destroy the Hexcore. It might not actually happen. but it more or less set up their relationship to be similar to the lore.
absolutely, I was so disappointed that he wasnt in ep 3
Can we just take a minute to acknowledge how freaking gorgeous Viktor's new character design is? Like, WOW. Fortiche went HARD.
his eyes!! my goodness, I am so excited to see more of him in the next two acts
He’s so beautiful
Also, Harry Lloyd is a beast of an actor
I’m so pumped to get more of Viktor. I’m definitely a Jinx fanboy and want to see how that continues but Viktors story is easily the highlight of the series for me.
@@alexeizaraiov I love the slight effect on his voice, it's so perfect
That scene with Vi coming out of the grey like a monster scares me. But it’s brilliant. Vi may have made Jinx, but Jinx made Enforcer Vi. I guess they are still playing that monster game…
WHEN I FIRST SAW BLOOD MAGIC AND THAT BLACK ROSE I FUUUKKKINGG SCREAMM LEBLANC WTF!!!!
and vlad
@divineteddy2210 i forgot to mention mommy janna that mural is looking spicy
Vlad and Leblanc. That blood magic was definitely Vlad at work
@@HolyFire-bz2vz my gosh i cant wait for the next 6 episodes
@@pabz7827 fr cant wait to see where the show goes tbh
Riot did an amazing job with showing how rage and hate perpetuates a cycle, Ambessa choosing Cait because she's young and hurting which means she's easy to manipulate, amazing. Heimer running through the vents was so cute 😭
Omg yess I totally agree arghh everyone is hurting poor babies 😭❤️
Cait going through the Eren/Gabi arc rn lmao I just hope she just comes out of it better than eren
Also the way Ambessa first describes Cait as this great leader that will conquer the undercity, only to then IMMEDIATELY infantilise her and attempt to play into her insecurity (having lost her mother and feeling unable to fill that space) with a simple "come, child". Beautiful manipulation.
I only noticed today that act 1 of season 2 ends the same as act 1 in season 1
A blue haired, freshly traumatized girl getting influenced by a dangerous leader
When he said "the brambleback has left the jungle" in that scene I lost my fucking mind. such an out of pocket summoners rift reference to just throw out there
ALSO WE MIGHT GET TO SEE ORIANNA?! You can hear the ballerina-like music in his scenes. Those last Singed clips were so ominous, he is definitely cooking something up.
That's what i thought about as well. Orianna went down to Zaun with The Grey to help people. So we might see her at least as an easter egg in her human form before becoming a machine.
I'm so excited because Ori is really my GOAT
Arcane Season 1 Act 1: "Ain't no way they gonna top this"
Arcane Season 1 Act 2: "Ain't no way they gonna top this"
Arcane Season 1 Act 3: "Ain't no way they gonna top this"
Arcane Season 2 Act 1: "Ain't no way they gonna top this"
Literally me
Arcane Season 1 Act 3: has some rough pacing around Episode 7 and 8 but is still good 4 especially episode 9
Arcane Season 2 Act 1: great set-up, but I would have liked some more pensive scenes and less music videos just because, it was just a bit too much off rip
No but for real. I had such high expectations for this season and it’s literally just better than I thought it would be. I hope they keep it up 😂
No but for real. I had such high expectations for this season and it’s literally just better than I thought it would be. I hope they keep it up 😂
Can't say they're not consistent.
Caitlyn and Vi's squad using The Grey to maneuver undetected through Zaun to carry out precision strikes against the Chem Barons and hunt Jinx was the coolest shit ever
Frfr
chemical warfare be cool fr.. only joking ik what u mean
hehe yeah, playing with vision... jinx didn't place a ward =)
it make no sense to me to be honest. It is very weird that Vi doesnt have problem with that. Dont tell me it dont effetc innocent people in Zaun
@@yuujiendless7719 she did seem to have a problem with it but seemed to have to go along with it when she was suckered into being an enforcer.
I think while the JayVik separation happened quickly, he also woke up from a coma already quite a different person, and figured out Jayce had broke the two promises they'd made: He didn't destroy the Hexcore, and one of the first things he sees is Jayce's designs for HexTech weaponry
That and Season 1 _was_ the entire build-up to this moment. It's not like it just happened for no reason.
i thought the secene really did a great job showing how changed victor is. He feels like he inst really paying attention and has just a completly different priority list now.
Ambessa setting up Caitlyn as the new head of the city is very reminiscent of the flash back of Ambessa with Mel talking about setting up a puppet ruler for the new Kingdom they just conquered.
Yeah... damn
@@CannibalShinobi It's also a parallel to how Silco used the Sheriff of Piltover as puppet. Which makes me guess that Caitlyn will see through it at some point because she is not someone who likes to be controlled.
I’m convinced Mel is Rell
@@chloescoolcreations9719 their lore kinda merge, but kinda, rell story's doesn't quite add up to mell one.
HOWEVER, you've seen the family picture, doesn't mell brother look like someone we know
😉 ?
@ ekko?
Forgot to mention Mel got KIDNAPPED by the black rose? wtf?????
for her next trick, she'll make her lifebar disappear
Most likely to use her against Ambessa. now that we know the BR are chasing her, it makes a lotta sense.
@@bluewolf7111 I think black rose will team with Mel 👌 We'll seeee
@@Roxar96 that would be epic. maybe even with ekko, victor, heimer, vi and even jinx?
I dont think the black rose works with anyone, they use them
12:36 I thought the Hexgate might have gotten corrupted because Viktor coughed some blood into it in Season 1, because you can also see some "corrupted stain" on the floor when they enter it.
Necrit, I woke up, watched arcane, then came to watch you, *you predicted it*
same here !
@@xaterepd9519 same here
Same
I think many of us did. At least I saw it bc like why tf is an old woman with resemblance markings to LB? I screamed anyways when I saw the black rose
Necrit, I woke up, watched arcane, then came.
Wasn't expecting the Janna references to become part of the story.
That wispy wind woman!!
Janna is a core part of zaun
she appears 2 times just in this first act
@@saludth When pleeeaase 🐸🙏
i have a theory. Janna is the elemental tied to zaun. what if janna is the wild rune that has been corrupted. and she is interacting threw victor. He was always depicted as coughing, and now he breaths so easily.
12:45 remember when victor coughed up blood down the pit in the hextech tower??
YEAH! THATS WHAT STARTED IT!
Vander to Grayson in S1: I can't offer up my own people.
Sevika to Smeech in S2: We don't hand over our people.
This made me respect Sevika so much because she picked up and practiced one of Vander's core values. Paying tribute to Vander (who she lost respect for) and also defending Jinx (who she disliked for her recklessness in S1) at the same time? Peak!
I think this is probably something that's symbolic of Vander and Silco, since both of them talk a lot about loyalty (like when fin tries to convince sevika to kill silco). Shows how much the two of them had in common ideals wise before splitting up
Silco said the same thing when the barons wanted to give up Jinx to Marcus
Sevika never said she wanted to hand over the kids, she thought Vander was weak because he didn't want to fight back. She's always been ride or die for Zaun, whether it was wise or not
As rough around the edges as she is, Sevika has ideals and something she believes in, and it's something she's willing to die for.
Bruh i love her character since s1 and she gets even better on s2
In regards to the Black Rose. Ever since Ambessa was introduced, and really also in a way Mel and her motives, people new the world of League would be aware of two things from Arcane S1:
- Mel is worried about outside threats & her mother's involvement in them. The whole plot point regarding Hextech weapons relies upon that understanding.
- Ambessa is pretty explicit about having enemies on the outside that's driving her to act.
To new people, the Black Rose is really just Ambessa's outside enemies being given a name and visual representation.
NGL the shtposter part of me wanted that secret adversary to be Kled
@@Keram-io8hv not to worry we have a kled in piltover but he got killed by savika :(
@@bluegate4630 walmart kled
I went into the season fully expecting the person hunting the Medarda family to be Jhin. But when I saw that Black Rose it made WAY more sense.
@@z34567890123456 as far as I'd sell my soul for Jhin in Arcane (or in a future show), my money for who was after the Medardas was Swain... cool it's LeBlanc and the Black Rose, but damn if I hoped till the last moment to see a raven-like demon and hear his great voice when the scene with the merchant went down...
The black rose is shown in the intro as well. First as petals on the floor behind Ambessa and then in her hand which seems to be someone else than Ambessa in disguise or in control of her (the eyes)
5:12 I personally think that it was really cool that it happened so fast, because it showed that Victor lost all his emotions and feelings after he woke up, he even said that him and Jayce werent partners for a long time and the only thing holding them together was affection, but since Victor lost his emotions, he wasnt affected to Jayce anymore, so he left him.
I agree, I think that the 3 year gap between seasons doesn’t help and it makes it feel that it was so fast but in reality he already expressed his falling out with Jayce in S1
I don't think Viktor has lost his emotions, as a matter of fact he showed a lot of them since waking up, empathy, compassion, regret, and sadness, being some of them
At that moment, his expressions and actions read to me much more as stoicism
That said, I'm an absolute sucker for every second Jayce and Viktor share screen time 😂 but I also don't mind how quick it was
Because I feel there's something at play here, we don't understand the "Arcane" yet, the voice calling to Viktor, was that just his failing mind hallucinating, or is the Hexcore using Sky's voice to communicate with Viktor? Why did it guide him that way? Anyway, there's still a bunch of questions unanswered about his transformation and how has it changed him
he didn't lose his emotions.. he was just disappointed that Jayce saved him by using the hexcore whereas Viktor's dying wish was for Jayce to destroy the hexcore
@@blackreaper2343 yeah, disappointed is an understatement honestly. he felt utterly betrayed that Jayce wouldn't let him die. his trust in jayce was waning since the first season, seeing jayce constantly shift their research/development of Hextech past what they believed was ethical, for vanity and personal gain.
Viktor's apathy towards Jayce comes from constant selfish betrayals. when he realized he was alive and... kind've a monstrosity, he understood it as the final betrayal, but not a surprising one.
I disagree. It wasn't fast. Looking at it from S1, Viktor and Jayce had several scenes where they didnt see eye to eye on crucial research and its applications which was what kept them together in the first place. The Hexcore fusing with him just gave him that push that the usually shy and reserved Viktor needed to sever that relationship.
I was not expecting the Ruins of Shurima under Zaun to be shown, but it was a pleasant surprise, nor was I expecting Leblanc/The Black Rose to make an appearance, and the religious imagery with Viktor is sick; I'm most excited about his storyline!
they showed the shuriman ruins?
@@CopernicusLee yeah, that Janna temple in the last fight
I was wondering what the "temple" was, but it can't be Shuriman right? That wouldn't make any sense
@@ace_kobra8512so Janna was confirmed to be of Shiriman origin in LoR and also ezreal has delved into shiriman ruins under Zaun. There is also the fact that pnz is geolocated pretty close to shirima.
@@muggle06 Oh I didn't even realize it was that connected. I've always just thought that Janna was in Piltover and Zaun because of the bad air and believers.
I always thought the face you see in the Gray is Fiddlesticks since everyone in Zaun fears it. Also I am convinced Isha is Teemo in disguise.
I can't believe you didn't talk about Mel being abducted by the Black Rose. I'm so excited for what it means for this season, as well as the setup for future series, like a noxus one with political intrigue.
I'm actually hoping it does not rlly come into play in arcane but hope it sets up future series.
I just feel arcane already had to much going on that they kind of need to tie some loss ends that I feel black rose stuff would kind of make it to bloated to do in 6 episodes but it is a really interesting story plot I do want to see come into play in another series.
@@jamaalgaylord5029 if my understanding is correct, this is the final season in piltover and zaun but they will make more in universe shows. I feel that Noxus will not be the next one. I think it would be better to start with an unrelated region, and if i was to pick a region it would be bilgewater (Burning tides) or Demacia (Assassination of Jarvan III) or Freljord (Three Sisters)
Noxus series with political Intrigues, plans, BLACK MAGIC, DEMONS, AND MOTHZR FUCKING SWAIN WOULD BE INCREDIBLE
We need the Ionia Invade
@@wazpiro1 I'd say Shurima and Icathia or that war with the Three Sisters to show people who have no idea of Runeterra is dark, I can imagine with Shurima with season 3 that start first with Nasus and Renekton, the whole of Ascended/Darkin, and Azir, Xerath and Jax
5:20 If you pay close attention, in Viktor's lines when he parts ways with Jayce, the word "affection" is highlighted via an echo, it would feel that Victor was with Jayce because he liked him, but when humanity left him, that part was gone too, so I think the abrupt goodbye is fitting.
They are friends
@@Infidel. no one said otherwise?
@@panpan4757Viktor love his assistent that died because the hextech. As you can see when Vektor cure a Shimmer victim, he saw the brief moment of his beloved.
@@kingki1953 idk about "beloved", it was more of a mutual or one sided crush, but either way he regrets indirectly killing her
@@kingki1953 ... I think there´s more to it. Sky technically didn´t die... she got consumed by the hexcore. Now that Viktor and the hexcore is fused... I see it has either the hexcore is using the consumed Sky to communicate, or Sky is in a sense still alive and has become one with hexcore too.
5:27 when he was grabbing his book he noticed the schematics for hextech weapons and realized weather he wanted it nor not they were gonna weaponize hextech so he left,
also his story is the same, he sees glorious evolution as the path forward and im willing to bet the people he "fixes" lose their humanity or something
Hey there! I'm here to give you my non-lore knowing perspective when the black rose came into the picture. I was dying to know what caused Mel brother to die, and why Embessa needed hex tech weapons. Here intro was scary and cool. Now I see why Mel's mom been making crazy moves. Can't wait to see more!
yeah the black rose is kinda scary on lore glad we can see it.
For sure. The black rose are not the kind of people you wanna mess with
Black rose is one of the biggest force in the runeterra.
Potential spoiler about Mel's brother:
Black rose wants to stop mordecaiser(One of the powerful being on the entire runeterra) so they collect the kids which have a potential mage and make an experiment with them(Rell is an example of that) after reading the ambessas lore I believe that he might die because black rose got attention with him because of being the potential mage and die
@@TurkmenTR-u9kdoesn't ambessa say in season one that Mel's brother crossed the wrong people and got himself killed? That doesn't sound like the black rose experiments or why would they end up going after them
@@pasta1998 maybe he tried to save a child from being experimented on, which would go along him messing up their plans and upsetting them
Season 2 is the only reason why I bought on Netflix this month. In the first 3 episodes you can tell why this took so much time to make. The animation is absolutely amazing!!!
I pirated it
Solid start, my only real complaint is how fastly paced some storylines have felt and how much new concepts there are. The black rose, the wild ruins, hex-tech evolution, Viktor are kind of a lot for me to keep up with when the focus is the characters. So long as the characters stories aren't lost amongst the concepts then all should be could.
Arcane 1 was as close to perfect as possible and there's a lot of great stuff here so far. Would really like the next 2 arcs to focus a little more. Maybe kill a character and let the others breathe abit. Very interested in what's about to go down!
They made Viktor the Techno-messiah. The amount of Jesus imagery with Viktor is nuts, even with the way he talks.
Praise the Omnissiah.
LISAN AL GAIB
bro when he was walking among the people addicted to shimmer i was like "he's literally the second coming of jesus" and then that last scene he was in happened and i was like "oh he's jesus straight up" it's crazy
HE SHALL BRING A NEW AGE OF GLORIOUS EVOLUTION!
The image behind him when he was about to walk into the corridor
15:38 Notice how aside of her usual colors there's now a hint of red on her outfit, and around the neck no less, almost like leash, symbolizing the control Ambessa has over her now. Absolutely genius.
omg it's like a dog collar
I believe the farewell from Viktor was abrupt because they also wanted to give detail to the fact that he becomes detached from his emotions (expect for his pupil that died i guess). U can see this from the line where he said that their paths were only connected by the bond they shared and not labwork. Therefore, since those emotions no longer exist, theres no point of him being there.
Nah, plenty of emotion still exists, emotion is why he left. He always wanted to quit but never had that final push until all of those things happened. Their paths had diverged longs ago as shown by the weapon blueprints on the table that he saw.
@@phuchoang2023 i did say their work had diverged long ago yes. I dont personally agree, but thats is a very valid take :)
(I don't know viktor's lore so if this process did actually remove his humanity I'm completely wrong here, but) I think there's more to it than that. If you take it from viktor's perspective, this is the same day he almost jumped, and he still hadn't had a proper conversation with Jayce about the blockade indecent. He was in a bad place, and the worst parts of Jayce had been festering in his mind. Him refusing to destroy the hex core like he promised was the final straw. He just couldn't attach himself to his partner, or his work anymore
@@icyish-fish I mean sure that is valid, but then again he showed nothing. No displeasement, anger, sadness (altough we see he still feels guild and sadness about his pupil). He just said, our paths diverged long ago, i dont belong here, therefore im going away. Thats it. He didnt even feel the urge to comment anything else, stated 2 facts and then left. U could be right, but i stand by my analysis till next week ^^
Need to dissect the intro theme; Ekko has two shadows on the ground, acting as clock hands and ticking like a clock; the split second visual of Jinx's kid before Vi's closeup; Victor's body without the purple/arcane/voided skin; Mel discovering Ambessa's Black Rose; Caitlyn crying on the ground holding her head and her shadow looking like a crown symbolizing her struggle with martial law.... I'm sure there's more that I'm missing but it's soooo good.
Yep it took me the 2nd episode to catch that Ekko detail
I wonder what the theme is behind everyone wearing these basic looking clothes.
@@lockekappa500 Oh true!! I wonder if it's a play on their personality alignment... Caitlyn wears black, viktor wears gray, while vi, ekko and jayce wear white. Necrit needs to put together a short or something explaining this.
@@bluetigress8261 I also heard someone say that it's an attempt at separating them from their champion selves, and just showing them as people.
Ekkos shadow-clock is ticking backwards btw...
Mommy leblanc never misses.
That little girl is Zeri !!!!! Change my mind.
I hope they show her true self in the following episodes.
@@buggy1691before she was corrupted by weird stuffs?
that’s actually pretty cool if its true
@@buggy1691 isn't Zeri around Ekko's age?
@@buggy1691 zeri is around the same age of ekko and jinx lol
My opinion on the black Rose’s involvement (even though I am a lore nerd) is that even though to someone who hasn’t played league, the way the introduce them, where Ambesa is even scared, and you can see that fear on her face, is all the viewer needs to know about what to feel when being shown people from the black rose
6:39 I love the gambling feature on Sevika's new arm.
It will be her gameplay mechanic when she joins the rift
No offense, but it was straight up stupid and cringe. Maybe the weakest feature of act 1...
I don't know, maybe I'm just a butthurt 33 year old, but I did a facepalm.
@@staLkerhu have you no joy?
@@staLkerhuyou’re not the only one. But still I thought it was cute
@@staLkerhuMight not be as powerful but it is fun and chaotic Jinx style
Just a reminder that it started with a building being blown up. The butterfly effect is hitting hard
it started with jayce buying the hex crustals in benzos shop and little man following him
No it actually started with Jayce leaving his fcking food around for curious little blue haired children to eat and accidentally find his stash of extremely volatile and dangerous crystals
@@drakensong9953it would’ve been even before then right? If you really trace everything, it started in the snow storm. If Jayce and his mother aren’t trapped out there about to die the mage never teleports them, Jayce never gets inspired to create magic himself, never gets the crystals, then Little Man never even meets the guy to give the tip to Vi.
funny how this applies both seasons
It started with the magician helping a small child and his mother.
Correct me if im wrong, but although the Black Rose was not directly referenced in season 1, Ambessa did say that the People who killed Mel's Brother were 'The wrong people to mess with' and still seek revenge. So an outside enemy was hinted at!!
I think that since Ambessa is coming from outside Piltover, it makes sense that she would bring outside dangers and politics with her. The black rose is mainly presented as a threat to Ambessa with Mel’s (kidnapping/death?) being collateral/punishment and the implications of Mel’s disappearance to Piltoverian politics being secondary to the black rose’s main intent.
Facts
Can't be helped when a noxian is involved because they are always trying to expand their territory politics is inevitable with them.
Ambessa choosing Kate also feels like a desperation play . It seems she wanted to have more setup for her plans but the black rose appearing early pushed her over the edge . THE daughter and the spy also deduces that she seems desperate and is afraid.
It might have been a card she had and was setting up but it seems desperate.
14:55
I like the fact that the shield-Vander-lookalike left from Caitlin's team after her hateful transformation. Its like Vander's soul, represented with the shield-guy (a weapon to protect) will be present, even if the "actual" Vander its going to be alive. The cheery at the top is that the Vander-lookalike most likely will take care of Vi during her meltdown. I love their potential.
Maybe it's an easter egg to Braum, initially being designed as a Piltover-champ albeit that was supposed to be a female.
I dont think about potential when it comes to that guy. He's clearly set up to be killed. One off likable one dimension character to set the tone for the main character. Just like Clagger, RIP maboi
I thought in all honesty that it was Graves. I think he has the same facial hair as before- but it was very interesting since he just seemed like a guy in the background. I would love to see if he were Graves. I don't think he's Braum, because Braum is beefy and the size of a mountain.
@@Lone207I don't think that's a possibility. Graves is from Bilgewater and has wastly different personality from that guy. I know that they could've simply changed it but they would've at least kept core concepts. That guy doesn't have a shotgun or any resemblance of such and he lacks that southern accent. Not that improtant but he aslo should be a smoker, not a drinker
@@sapk3532 if you dont mind me asking what made you like him? I mean it in the sense that he was not built up to be likeable, at least in my experience, cause to me he seems a lot like a plot device, hes theres because the plot needs someone to be there, hes the cog of a machine we were not shown to and thats what excites me about his character, im curious as to who he is spying for, my guess is that hes from a less powerful group the likes of the firelight
As a non league player and only arcane watcher, the black rose was set up in season 1 when Ambessa was introduced so it didn’t come out of nowhere
The scene where jayce, ekko and heim go into the corrupted hex gate is one of my favourite animated scenes ever. The trippy visuals were done so well! (The animation in general was incredible. All the smoke effects and particle effects added to every scene, yet never made it feel cluttered, the hextech weapong glitching out. It was all just 😚👌)
Cinema
that shit reminded me of Gold Experience Requiem if you've seen JoJo part 5
250 million dollar budget well spent
Seeing jhin already was 💯
Viktor has so much religious symbolism. the staff, the robe, the powers, the people kneeling at his feet, parting ways with a friend. I'm not religious, i don't follow a belief, but i definitely noticed that!
Exactly
Cyborg Jesus
Well yea he’s portraying a prophet
the music too.
I’m a Christian religious Jesus Lover, so I felt both in awe and a little disturbed by the massive symbolism.
The cloak, the staff, the followers, the healing, the miracle, the new followers, the omniscient power, the hope of Sky alive in some way…
Whoo. They did it so beautifully and unnerving.
loved the tiny bit of foreshadowing of viktor as this messiah where he stops before going in the big room and there's this stained glass(?) thing behind him and framing a halo around him and his staff
Not a LOL player…but the introduction of the black rose is awesome. It gives us a reason for WHY Ambessa showed up in season one. Like a real reason…Ambessa’s running from something, the something that killed her son, the something that Piltover is supposed to be an answer to. Then Ambessa says “ you don’t know what family means to me.” Then she says “keep Mel the enemy it keeps her safe.” Just for Mel to get snatched!!! I can’t wait to see what else we get!! I came here IMMEDIATELY after watching the new season.
Yeh but they never explain why the black rose is so interested in ambessa other than having an affair tht leads to a child. They hint tht there's more but don't ever tell us
12:38 I have a theory that this organic matter could be the blood that Viktor coughed out in season one when he was at the hexgates with Marcus and Jayce. It would make sense because the Hexcore is connected to Viktor, having the same patterns of organic interfusion that his blood had.
Arcane is basically establishing that magic, the Arcane, might originate beyond reality, from the Void. Which is why its misuse is evolving matter like the hextect gem to become an sort of source for corruption and evolution. They have basically made Viktor the "Void threat" of Piltover and Zaun, when there was none in the previous lore.
Arcane is not a new threat. It's a reinvention of magic and Void in the lore.
Episode 3 had everything going on at the same time!
My goodness, the pacing and sheer amount of screenshots and aesthetics were just... Chef kiss.
The things about Viktor and Jayce: it makes complete sense that it ends as abruptly as it does: Viktor has his (or his hex cores) goal now. hes not that human anymore he talks more like a mchine. he has a purpose and hes following that, he has no motivation to interact with jayce anymore while jayce obviously wanted that. I think it fits very well and wasnt rushed because of "we have too many other story lines".
the way i see it, basically "old" viktor died and new viktor may have his memories, but it's distant and his hexcore goal is now the new life purpose.
he acknowledges "our paths diverged long ago but we were held by affection" like a therapist who listens to the patient and goes "ok i understand why you stayed, but we should try something else now"
idk maybe in act 2 or 3 viktor will come back to his old self, but something tells me he wont
Yeah alot of people are missing that the Hexcore has taken him over for the most part. The Hexcore has no need to affection or emotional ties, so Viktor doesn't either
@@aaunyea4799 Yeah, the hexcore took over his heart
@@aaunyea4799Exactly right. He speaks as if these feelings of friendship were not part of him anymore, just like he can't feel the cold the same way as before
He's only rational now. No humanity left.
Which makes for an absolutely perfect vilain. Both awe inspiring and dreadful in the way he will not be concerned with things that should concern a human.
Makes me think about Bondold the Lord of Dawn in Made in Abyss
I noticed that as well, And it also makes sense for why the hexcore held onto him for that long when before it could transform him easily in a short time, It spared his face and maybe brain for a reason? Could it be Sky's doing as she was possibly absorbed fully into the hexcore like an AI because she had no shimmer in her system to stabilize it?
Remember viktor was sure he'd die if he didn't have the shimmer to keep his body together and regenerating, maybe the plants and Sky only died in body while the information got absorbed, you know..LIKE VEL'KOZ does?
11:19 it was confusing to me, I honestly didn’t understand what was being introduced lol
but i figured it fit into the story bc it’s like im learning more about whatever ambessa’s baggage is and what her true intentions are- so it doesn’t feel completely out of nowhere
The first episode was an emotionally tragic art ballad - from the still framed pencil drawn montages to the deep sad music. It was absolutely a beautiful way to recap and fill in the most tasteful way. Emotionally I felt like I barely had enough time to grieve with the characters before they were attacked again... What an amazing way to draw out the fear and anger. Just beautiful.
The big shield guy is someone to not be overlooked, he seems to know more than what he shows. At Cait's incoronation he leaves for the Undercity probably.
I think he left because he wasn't down for the whole martial law thing
piltovan braum
He's going down to Vi, we saw him in the teaser
He is very sus indeed, they didn't show his face for a long time during his introduction, he was pretending to be asleep when enforcers approached Vi, and he was not fooled by Ambessa's propaganda. Another Vander's brother? Also his face and hairstyle reminded me of Bildgewater for some reason, but I dunno
At several points, there seemed to imagery alluding to other regions and lore. Cait with Kindred, Jayce with Ornn, and this guy with Braum
7:45 I disagree with the idea that the Arcane is entirely a new threat and one that will be exclusive to this show. If you go back to the concept art of Icathia, the 'arcane corruption' looks an awful lot like Void corruption. My hypothesis is that Arcane is going to end with the world of Runterra being exposed to the world ending threat of The Void for the first time (Or at least The Void will be established as a global threat, not just a Shiriman one). With the Hex gate either being destroyed by void creatures, or possibly turning into a Void Gate.
I also thought it looked similar to void corruption. Also, as I was obsessing over finding more of Talon's lore, I stumbled upon rainbow goopy webby stuff in the Katarina comics. She falls onto a giant slug thing surrounded in it. I think that is the same stuff as the corruption we see on the tree.
oh my goodness, oh my damn, oh my goodness, they're going ham
😂😂 it’s been ages since I heard that audio
This is how bacon is supposed to be.
It´s an old meme but it checks out
But This Season 2 is not as great as season 1. My opinion
@ it’s your right to believe that but I disagree
I loved Sevika in the first season, even if she was kind of in the background, but after these first three episodes and can confidently say I adore her!!!
She is such a deep character, who tries to hide her soft side behind mean words and emotionless faces, but deep down she truly does care for the people of Zaun and we see that despite the fact that she didn’t really like Jinx she still would’ve never given her up, because “Zaun doesn’t give up it’s people” 😭
I can’t wait to see what happends between her and Vander/Warrick and I genuinely hope she becomes a champion in LoL, the gambling arm will be such an interesting feature!!
would be interesting to make her arm kinda like Twisted Fate's pick a card
@ Yeah, there are so many ways they would be able to go about it!
YESSSSS MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY! Sevika would've been a wildddddd champion in the rift!!!
The fact that she used the same words as Vander to protect Jinx even though she wanted to give them up in the first few episodes shows a lot about her growth in character 😮💨 I love her
when I saw her arm work I thought of Blitzcrank. Victor is in the lanes, he made blitz, her arms look unstable and used to be filled with shimmer
I like that they introduced black rose, it gives a lot of explenation to why Ambessa was so interested in the hextech weapons in season one. It woulf have been too much to process if that would have been introduced in S1 aswell. It was also nice to be wondering why she was obsessed and why she came to piltover! :)
I love the fact that worst day in life of Piltover einforcer is chillest tuesday for Noxian soilder
Noxus has seen too much shit. Overnight political turmoil is just a common occurrence.
11:19 As someone who DID NOT KNOW much about the Black Rose and do not play League/ do not know much about canon lore, it’s appearance was honestly quite ominous (also I saw the black rose imagery in the Enemy intro on Ambessa’s hand first, so mildly not as surprising) and gives “A NEW EMEMY HAS ENTERED THE ARENA” vibes. And it provides more possible reason to Ambessa’s motives as to why she suddenly appears in Piltover, for the revenge of her son that was involved in the Black rose if I interpreted the show correctly? Honestly very VERY interesting when I binged a few of your videos on some League lore, soooo. New OP weapons incoming possibly? 👁️
I don't understand, honestly. If Ambessa had problems with the black rose and exiled Mel to keep her safe, how does her coming back keep Mel safe from the black rose exactly? Why would the black rose have anything to do in piltover except for the fact that Ambessa went there? Ambessa says that she keeps Mel as her enemy to protect her but in public there's literally no way of knowing that they don't align, Ambessa herself says that they must look like they were unified in their decisions.
Ambesa wants access to hextech, to combat them I'm assuming. At the same time, it was stated that she was looking for something in Piltover/Zaun
@@kassaken6521 ooh I see now, thanks!
@@laiag4854 im assuming mel has something special that the black rose wants. maybe ambessa's bloodline has a power that ambessa doesn't have so she focused on martial war tactics, but mel or her brother did have it and maybe ambessa has been hiding this from mel her whole life
@@laiag4854 she will nuke blackrose using hextech just wait .
16:47 They DO say women live longer than men
I just gotta say, the editting in ep 3, absolute cinema. The transitions between Vi and Jinxs fight and Jayce, Ekko and H underground gave me chilllllllllllls. to me, i loved it as a narrative weave and the juxtaposition from the gritty, dim fight with its sharp edges and framing switching to the cream-white backdrop at the rune, round room with the focal point of the colored orb and the shifting of the mens colours filling in the frame as the chaos grew. Peak.
(I have never touched LoL, so humor me if i made any lore errors)
Facts
The intro of the Black Rose makes sense as we were told about Ambessa's enemies from Season 1. Then about the death of her son.
Ikr Ambessa has mentioned that she has an enemy we thought it was Swain but by the looks of it is the Black Rose hence why she is desperate to weaponize Hextech to protect her family
@@cdelio8716 Yup
@@cdelio8716 Idk much about the lore but what did they use to like cancel out Leblancs magic there? Like if thats effective what more can Hextech do
@@ConClasher3 I mean we saw on ep 3 that they also used some rune weapons (just like Riven's weapon) the green thing that repels the Black Rose magic so I think they can manage to know what Hextech can do to deflect or attack Black Rose magic
I really wanted the Kled be the one who killed Mel's brother
Just imagine scene of guy where he goes "Hey free land!" and gets steamrolled by Kled
For me, (I don't know anything about the lore) Black Rose is brilliant because, in the first episode of this season, Ambessa doesn't have a purpose. Black Rose gave her that and shows us why Ambessa does what she does. It even gives us a different way to see her-like, what if she actually feels fear and does all of this because of that?
My favorite lore detail was on the first EP at 33:36, where it shows the three Kiramman clan heads (Caitlyn's ancestors) portraits. And on the first portrait, we can see that the first Kiramman head to what it seems like an expedition leaving Ionia, the person on the portrait also looks very Ionian along with the background. Which means Caitlyn's family roots begins in Ionia!
Err, you mean her ancestors? She doesn't have any descendants yet and probably won't since she and Vi are kinda a thing.
I could see it. Her father kind of looks Ionian, maybe from her father’s side.
I also thought the blossom tree she sat at in the beginning was very "ionian"... maybe her ancestors put it there as a memorial of where they came from?
Which makes a lot of sense since Ionia is basically Runeterra's Asia, and she and her parents had Asian traits.
@@Idlesthetic all the heads of the kiramman clan are woman, thus the ionian head of clan hopefully is not from her father side as it could imply alabama alegations. sure, if a clan head did not birthed a daughter then maybe it would make sense to assume a man as head of the house, but the family pictures suggest otherwise and its a huge liability to name someone who married into the family as leader of such powerful organization. So its more likely that every single one of caitlyn's mothers (as in _(mother), grand(mother) so on and so forth) had a daughter to heir the clan.
When the *black rose bloomed* from the old lady’s hands I actually got shivers
Viktor is giving Lisan Al Gaib energy and I'm here for it. I just really want to know what Warwick's roll will be. I assume he is going to hit hard in act 2.
The whole Cait/Vi dynamic was such an emotional roller coaster for me
🤢🤢🤮🤮
It was amazingly written. That's how good romance is built up
It got me really pissed when that girl jumped in front of Jinx, It kinda pissed me off when they made Caitlin seem like the bad guy, that girl killed her mother
@@Kinj i agree with you
🐌🐌It was like the end of a rifle hit in the gut. Hey guys, what's with all the guns all of a sudden?!
Loved the theatre easter egg with jarvan's ceremony. First I thought wtf demacian architecture and all the banners but then I realised that its a theatre scene. Kinda cool to see the artistry in piltover. Btw the shot when caitlyn and jayce were talking in this kind of garden with the huge tree was so fxcking beautiful.
The tree and the falling leaves reminded me of a particularly painful quest in Ghost of Tsushima 😬
I actually got baited,i was like no way they gonna introduce demacia this early and there's literally noxus in piltover aswell
about the wild runes, i theorise reality is trying to stabilize itself by throwing the opposite concept/power at a problem, for example, the hex gates use something akin to space so the arcane manifested itself as a wild rune of time to balance reality out
It still wasnt explained how exactly they survived the attack beside "those thing happen cant be controlled" said by Mel in episode 1. I really, really hope they will eventually reveal the magic powers that Mel seemingly has and thus was able to protect herself and Jayce completely
In the first shot you can see there is some golden light and weird magical sounds. Something definitely did protect them.
Weird that no one in unvierse pointed out that Mel survived it
Probably said that as a lie to comfort Jayce or at least lessen the risk of Jayce getting angry at her regarding Victor getting hurt.
my dumb theory is that mel's armor redirected all the "damage" she was supposed to take to Viktors cane (wich also has a bit of gold on it) thats why he got hurt while jayce didnt
I'm not even sure Mel is aware. The part where Jayce questions he and Mel were okay and not Vik even though he was next to them - she seems confused.
We're witnessing animation history. This show is going to be used in classrooms
Probably beyond that, it is literally art in motion!
(Damn you, in a good way, French studios and your use of creative vision!)
Like how there was a renaissance for art and ideology long long ago, the same has happened culturally since Arcane S1 came out~ The waves this’ll impact is definitely for the history books~~
They are setting up the big Mordekaiser arc. I CANNOT WAIT!
true man, the hints are too obvious 3/10
doubt.
i think we will get noxus vs demacia/ionia first. after that we might get mordekaiser but that is very, very far away.
SPOILER
I think that the reason why they made the Viktor bye bye scene so quick is to show that he is already turning "robotic" in the sense that he feels detached rom his previous emotions towards Jayce. He himself said that what held them together was attachment. Since he's going away, he must be trying to say he no longer is attached, right?
Yes I thought exact same thing. It looked like he didnt feel anything
He wasn't feeling cold, he wasn't feeling anything
I felt the same way. If there's anyone who would have a quick, low emotion goodbye scene it would be the half-robot guy.
No sadness, no emotion, only clarity.
Praise the Omnissiah!
I definitely agree that this is a possible explanation, but also I believe the emotional detachement could just be caused by him being severely traumatised by everything that happened to him just before he passed out (Sky dying, his suicide attempt and Jinx's attack) + waking up in a body that isn't his while halucinating seeing and hearing Sky. I'd imagine this is very overwhelming and when he realised he hadn't died despite requesting that Jayce destroy the hexcore (thus letting him die) he probably percieved this as a betrayal from the last person he cared about and that could explain why he was acting so cold to Jayce. Just food for thought, I'm sure both theories are correct to a degree
Also the whole setup of "you must be cold" and viktor just describing what he's feeling without involment of any words of emotion like a machine just giving out information about something without interpretation.
I myself am a league player so i know the lore but we watched the 3 episodes tonight in a watch party and one of us doesn't play league so they didn't know about leblanc and the black rose, but they said when they heard the rest of us get excited at the reveal they also got excited, and that even without knowing what it means the reveal is super cool and they're excited to see what it means! For them the uniqueness and cool visuals of the reveal piqued their curiosity
Also found it really cool how they showed Ambessa’s quick thinking. She heard about the power of the Kiramman name from Salo and then saw Caitlyn begin to slip and IMMEDIATELY took advantage of it. You can see her quickly decide right in the moment. Love what they’re doing with Ambessa
The more we learn about Ambessa the more interesting she gets. Introduced as a cold blooded warmonger, then a femboy hunter, then a mother that really cares a lot about her family, and now an insanely smart strategist?
I mean seeing Leblanc herself saying she doesnt understimate Ambessas intelligence should be enough but wow the twist at the end of Ep3 its crazy.
Ambessa truly is The Matriarch of War in every sense the War has, not only physical battles sheesh.
My biggest concern is they build her up to be this unstoppable juggernaut who doesn't lose and always is a step ahead, and then her just lose to some dumb shit. Which usually what happens when these type of characters.
@joshuasmith4643 I mean she is a new champion in league of legends safe to say she won't lose in a stupid way because making her look bad will actually hurt the champ in league of legends like people not playing her and never buying skins . She might not win but if she ''loses'' it won't be a stupid loss
@alexandrubodnar5914 I hope there's an equal to her that out smarts her or bests her so it doesn't feel like one of those "she's been ten steps ahead for so long, then all of a sudden she loses to someone who has shown to barely win anything." Tropes.
@@joshuasmith4643 I mean, I doubt that would happen. There are a lot of formidable enemies in current Arcane's storyline (Warwick, Jinx, Vi, Jayce, Cait if she wakes up, Sevika, Black Rose)
@@joshuasmith4643 my guess is she's going to have so much shit coming at her she can't keep up. Black Rose, Jinx, Warwick, Victor. Eventually no matter how good you are it's just too much
It was gorgeous! Everything about it. The music, the animation, the story, the characters, the action. I've fallen in love all over again.
Hypothetically, if the HEX-Tech Core is actually a world rune, and since Simmer def appears to be void related, I mean its purple and it mutates stuff! And we know Victor used shimmer, maybe its a void corrupted world rune now?
Bro the ending of act one has me thumping my chest
Oh, Yeah? I already saw all of Act II. It's out there, if you know where to look. Believe me when I tell you, you haven't seen ANYTHING YET. Ambessa Medarda is nothing on Runeterra to mess with. Not even a little bit. That's all I'm going to say. You'll see.
She's built different.
@@jackspratt7264 how have u see it wtff
@@jackspratt7264 Oh, I already realized that in act 1. She is a beast. She has Mel's intelligent but also the strength and martial prowess to back it up. Definitely not an enemy you want to face (good luck to the Black Rose).
@@chrisomatic3228yeah these people who saying they seen act 2?? How?? Bro i don’t want spoilers 😭
@@notfamous221 i wanna see it lol
Pretty sure Viktor Jesus was the Arcane trying to be sentient. Fits the good intentions horrible fallout theme of this show pretty well
Rejoice, for the machine herald has arrived. We need not suffer anymore, we need not care for trivial human matters. All we are is a vessel for humanity’s collective evolution, and we go willingly.
As a non-leaguer, Black Rose was totally fine for me. A lot of stuff comes out of nowhere in Arcane and I think it could make sense that a group of assassins bided their time for chaos to ensue in Piltover before making their move, just hiding in the shadows in Season 1.
I have a theory that the Grey has fused with the spirit of Janna.
Notice the wind sigil on the top of her staff with three dots in a triangle, and then compare to the three 'eyes' that smeech saw when he entered the misty chembaron's territory.
Someone pointed out that the three 'eyes' were actually Caitlyn and Vi's search team. The colours check out and they did unleash the Grey after all, you could even see the 'creature' dematerialise into the team when they entered the arcade where Jinx hid.
@@biomutarist6832I think the blue lights were her team yes, but there does still seem to be a living component to The Grey with how it moves and such.
@@katelawyer3689 I think this is more so just scenery to make them seem more monstrous tho we will learn more in the future I expect
I thinks its a valid theory cause since season 1 they've been showing things with double meanings, and its always on purpose. The Grey clearly looks alive/more than just the enforcers using it.
Sevika is the epitome of Loyalty you can't buy. Particularly like that fight scene. Caitlyn on her villain Arc is just perfect. Ambessa manipulating the events in Piltover is Peak. Also just an addition the song SUCKER was just soooo goood man. LEBLANC reveal Insane. Have a great day can't wait for the other episodes. Sorry if this spoil it for you, you should have watched it first before you came here.
That splash art bits they did is by far the best way to do an exposition dump. Show, don't tell is the way to do it. It shows how intelligent the writing is and how they respect the viewers intelligence.
That's the best way to introduce the black rose, we've already been told in episode 8 (or 9 I don't remember) that whoever killed ambessa's son doesn't think the score is settled
Viktor and Jayce breaking it off abruptly is pretty explainable because the first conversation they had was whether or not he was cold, when he clear should've been. It's like he is ignoring or is growing beyond his humanity, and Jayce is likely the biggest thing tethering Viktor to humanity.
It also has a figurative meaning: Viktor is now "cold" emotionally.
One thing I noticed was that the noxian solider had a spear with runes like Rivne’s sword that glowed green when we first see the black rose. I guess it was made by the emperor of noxus which is a cool detail.
Loved the video mate!
Why is literally no one talking about Warwick? I’m so hype for how him being in play is gonna change everything! Just Warwick going to town on the barons or even all the noxian forces that would be in the lanes?
I think people are just tired of being edged on the warwick plot since episode 1 from season 1 that by now we are just waiting for riot to finally be done with the edging and hoping it happens this season
@@TimoCruz177I believe act 2 will start with Warwick. It seems fitting with the constant reminders
@@kurasai6009 I hope so, I was hoping to see my boy in action from the moment season one was announced
Wasted potential
@12:44 I believe Viktor's blood fell into the hexgate in season 1 when he was with Jayce shortly after he became counselor. Thats why we see some stuff on the floor in the hexgates core.
In answer to your question, as someone who knows very little about the lore, the black rose didn't feel like it was out of nowhere. It was made clear in season 1 that Melmom was very worried about, and unwilling to fight, whoever it was that killed her son. Her being such a strong person but allowing the death of her son to go unpunished suggested it was something more than a military threat.
I don't know about a black rose specifically, but mages doesn't feel left field.
This is beyond peak animation and story telling.
From the perspective of someone who only knows of Arcane. Seeing the black rose makes sense why someone like Ambessa is acting the way that she is aside from just standing on family. And why she suddenly popped up in season one (remember Mel's surprise and explanations in regards to physical presence). This is something for someone of Ambessa's caliber to worry over. This black rose thing can pop up from anywhere at anytime and control anyone...Makes sense now why she sent Mel away. I wonder why not Kino too. Did Kino choose to stay?
Thanks for the amazing reviews Necrit! Recently found your channel and became a fan!
POTENTIAL SPOILERS
They are very dangerous, like nation level dangerous if they play their cards right.
Something I really enjoy about this show is, that every character is so well written, that you can understand their reason behind their doings. Which leads to not having that one villain, neither having a hero. And I love it
The way I feel about "The arcane" is not that it is an adition to the league lore, but more a general description jayce gives to the magic of runeterra (The world rune are just an extremely powerful version of this) where maybe overusing it cause significant side effects such as maybe opening portals to "the void" and other stuff. Example xeraths magic ult is called "rite of the arcane", and Ryze has shown to be using arcane it this very show.
maybe xerath does show up!
@@Tijnobtrue! All of Xeraths followers also use arcane magic
Xerath is an anomaly of an Ascended even to a Bacai lol, Ascension is based on beliefs/ideals thus Xerath all ever wanted to be free, free from mortal constraints thus became an Arcane energy, I'd be cool if he does show up in this show I'd cream so much
I had the same idea. This idea would imply that Xerath's sun disc is related to a world rune itself.
right!! the way they were describing it was just as a general magic that is present everywhere but is beyond reach, kinda like the fade from dragon age ig
As soon as I saw the black rose in the intro with ambessa and knowing the noxian connection on top of that I was like LEBLANCCCCCC! Would love to see her in the series! Also hope to see Janna! Loved that they talked about her but I need MORE
Also the Bunny Person talking to Mel in the theatre fits in Aurora's people into this world. Would LOVE to have her as a cameo at least
I was straight up glued to the screen like I haven't been in years. This is the type of show that just simply makes you giddy, begging for more right away as the episode ends.
Exciting, heartbreaking, funny, intelligent and mysterious.
i appreciate the spoiler free section necrit! partner had work early today so we couldn’t stay up last night, and he’s at work for a few more hours :( the wait is killing me. glad to hear it’s great tho!! will be back to give the full vid a watch when i’m caught up and can join the convo
Hopefully you two will enjoy that glorious first Act, cant wait to hear your opinions on those first 3 Episodes
As someone who has barely tapped into League’s lore and only first heard about the Black Rose through you, I think it was pretty well executed. It’s like they’re a specter that’s been hovering around Ambessa all her life, and now that she’s in Piltover it’s followed her and started to spread its corruption. Like a really angry revenant that just won’t stop trying to kill you.
WOODKID IS ON FIRE
Yea, soundtrack went crazy, i also loved how Jinx installed Get Jinxed as song in ep2. Cant believe its been 11 years since ive heard it for the first time...
Yessssss! I hope he’ll do a tour again someday
Always has been tbh
*Crawls inside* To ASHES and blooood.