Does Jhin have magical abilities?

Larius01·5/27/2018, 3:09:53 PM·3 votes·5,514 views

Recently I participated in a disscussion in a different thread where the question was whether has inate magical abilites or not. I personaly think that he does. I think that he channels his magic through his gun to empower his shots and to also create the special effects when he murders people. A few people seem to dissagree with me and think Jhin simply uses magical weapons, and because I thought it's an interesting disscussion I thought I'd make a separate thread about it. So what are your thoughts?

19 Comments

SEKAI5/27/2018, 3:44:53 PM7 votes

Jhin's guns are hextech machines given to him by whoever that is employing him now, crafted by an unknown craftsman; a set of 2 guns and an accelerator that he carries on the shoulder which can allow him to assemble the 2 guns into its final form, a cannon. His other weaponry includes a set of grenades and traps that explodes.

However, each or at least many of Jhin's bullets are self-crafted and infused with his own magic. It's confirmed that his bullets twist the bodies of his victims in 'artistic' fashion, it can probably be inferred that the fourth shot of each round being especially powerful may be due to these bullets as well as the fact Jhin's victims in-game automatically explodes is also likely to be a part of this property (though for gameplay clarity purposes, it is labelled that Jhin automatically summons an exploding trap underneath the target if he kills them, which doesn't make that much sense lore-wise).

Prior to using his current weapons, Jhin sported the use of blades, which he used to a similar fashion via infusing them with magical energy of his own to empower them.

So yes, Jhin does know how to use magic, to some extent. But ofc, while some of his abilities demonstrated in-game may be supported by his magical capabilities, but his skill set is ultimately not defined by his innate abilities.

DerMangoJoghurt5/27/2018, 3:20:05 PM1 votes

According to Jhin's color story, it's Whisper and it's ammunition which are magic.

This gun was made by a true forge master. Magic pulsed from its bronze, Ionian heart.

and

Each bullet had been infused with magical energy.

Although we can't disprove he has magical abilities, none of his weapons require it.

Ebonmaw Dragon5/27/2018, 5:48:31 PM1 votes

Does Viktor have magical abilities?

The answer, surprisingly, is yes, because Hextech counts as magic. The same should apply to Jhin, i guess.

NekoniClaws5/27/2018, 11:44:22 PM1 votes

Thinking it through, it's not very clear. But I think it leans towards Jhin possessing a little magic.

His hextech accelerator part of his gun is, clearly, hextech and thus magic. I know -somewhere-, It's simply described as enhancing the power of his bullets. In game, that part of the weapon applies spell effects (slows, and the snare on his W). But then you have the unrelated spell effects of his traps and the flower effects that have nothing to do with hextech (though his E can be physycal). In game mechanics he has magic in every part of his kit.

In lore, it's stated he's talented at smithing, which implies that he crafts both his traps, and would allow him room to craft his own bullets individually for each target. It's stated his 'gun' is magic (it's referring to the whole weapon, so hextech part is included, but it doesn't specifically EXCLUDE whisper from being magic) It never specifies that he only kills people with the whole thing. So we're at a catch 22.

I'd like to say I don't think magic would make Jhin special. Magic's not a rarity in Runeterra, and is ridiculously common in Ionia. He clearly has some (is stated to) chi abilities (which in RL we'd define as 'magic'). But I feel a narrative and gameplay lean towards him possessing some small amounts of magic rather than none.