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Wrote a Viktor Analysis that I thought I would share

Ethereal311·12/27/2017, 8:57:31 AM·4 votes·878 views

(Did this a few months ago and just didn't really bother putting it on here since there are so many more lore skeptics here than on the League subreddit. tl;dr at the bottom)

From his Biography:

He devised a chem-shunt helm that allowed an operator on the surface to bypass the wearer’s fear response and, effectively, control the diver.

Viktor seeks to remove control from an individual. Compare this to Jayce's lore (Biography):

While Viktor considered this feature a brilliant means of reducing the frequency of construction accidents, Jayce found its indifference toward free will immoral.

Viktor is not ambiguously evil, he is explicitly evil from an individualist perspective (Piltover is very pro-individualist). This goes further when, from Jayce Biography:

More than that, they both knew what it was like to be ostracized by their colleagues: Viktor because of his unconventional thinking, Jayce because of his rudeness.

Viktor was ostracized because he was doing wrongthink. Jayce was just that much of a privileged dick:

earned the honor of being the youngest apprenta to ever... Utterly unsurprised, Jayce took the offer

Jayce literally is one of the most privileged idiots in Piltover... Okay... In any case the chemistry here is amazing. From Viktor's:

A heated discussion between Viktor and Jayce on free will and mental enslavement turned bitter - almost violent - and the two vowed never to work together again.

Yeah, Viktor is for slavery. Great way to make someone seem morally ambiguous in a single sentence. Meanwhile our pureblooded Piltoverian continues to do the impossible, become a slightly better and nicer person by finally facing the first challenge in his actual life (J):

If they wouldn’t give up, Jayce decided, he wouldn’t either. And maybe he’d try to be nicer.

Maybe.
Maybe the rest of the academy still thinks he's an annoying asshole. Just keep him away from the ladies before he engages his tractor beam gaze and 'boards them'.
Meanwhile, Viktor is slowly becoming a mafia boss (V):

But if you were desperate, Viktor was the man you went to.

Write this about anyone else and they instantly sound evil. "But if you were desperate, Mark Merill was the man you went to." Wow, the Benevolent Overlord sounds really spooky now!

Even if the ending paragraphs do present Viktor as slightly better and at least justified, they completely ruin his previous character. The Old Viktor was about striking out against an unjust system (Stanwick making the copyright of Blitzcrank) and ultimately trying to improve humanity through mechanical means. Although Jayce lore made him sound really bad (especially from the Jayce fans with the propaganda comics), it was pretty obvious that Jayce was a manipulative bastard that Viktor wanted to strike out against because he represented the fault of the system that Viktor wanted to replace. With the previous political relations that Zaun had with Piltover in the old lore, it wasn't uncommon for some raids here and there between the two (with the Piltover Institute providing no help to Jayce). He just got unlucky one day with the narcissistic Jayce and that's how Jayce got his fame.

New Viktor only regards institutions as irrelevant before his ultimate goal (previously this was just ambiguous enough to be extrapolated as industrialization). His only interaction in his character is with Jayce, and in that quiet little side story that results in him selling drugs to children (even in the case of it being a placebo the kid can believe he has taken an amazing drug to bully his bullies). As it stands, there is no third party to explain the rivalry free from bias and therefore the entire story is complete speculation so as to avoid any sort of actual scrutiny. Personally I would have derailed Viktor's Evolution following the Jayce incident and try to re-integrate into a society against the disparities between Zaun and Piltover while also disapproving of Urgot because of his basic savagery and cultism. You could even have him start to understand emotions if you want that sort of plot.

In conclusion, while the Jayce v Viktor story has morally ambiguous elements, these are largely superficial before the undeniable evidence that the moral conflict itself is binary in nature. Jayce lore was written first, then Viktor's lore and then Narrative DELIBERATELY MADE Viktor's piece morally ambiguous by cutting out and replacing entire paragraphs in the easiest and cheapest ways possible to put off the naysayers as if to say 'we can listen to you!' when the entire Viktor community was in uproar over the complete obliteration of his character.

Old Viktor was dynamic enough to be explored and could have gone in enough directions that the Jayce fans ultimately corrupted in the name of their asshole main. New Viktor endorses slavery.

8 Comments

Ebonmaw Dragon12/27/2017, 4:31:28 PM6 votes

Except that the thing about "removing the free will" from Jayce lore is simply not true, after all, in the story of Viktor we actually see how does the mechanims that bypass the wearer’s fear actually works

https://universe.leagueoflegends.com/en_US/story/viktor-color-story/

" I guess that makes sense. But I'm still afraid of them", said the boy.

"Of course you are. Patterns of fear are carved deep into your very flesh. Steel, however, has no such weakness."

Viktor retrieved a vial containing miniscule silver beads floating in milky fluid.

"That is where I may be able to assist", he said. "I have developed an augmentation that eliminates fear altogether. I could let you try it out for a short time."

** "How short?"**

"The implant will dissolve in twenty minutes."

"You're sure it's not permanent?"

"It can be, but not this one. You might find that without fear, your friends out there lose their grip. Bullies feed on fear, you see. And without it, they will starve."

The boy nursed his drink, considering the offer. After a moment he nodded to Viktor, who inserted a thin needle into the vial and injected one of the silver beads into the skin behind his ear.

The boy shuddered for a moment. Then he smiled.

"Do you feel your weakness falling away?" Viktor asked.

"Oh yes", said the boy.

Viktor walked him to the door and twisted a dial to unlock it before waving him out.

"Remember, you can always return if you wish a more permanent solution."

He is not forcing people, and its not even permanent if they dont want to... It has no side effects and the kid had his free will intact.

Viktor is not making "slaves" as Jayce thinks, his device only removes fear and pain from them.

Saying "But that was a placebo" without proofs is not enough and makes little to no sense because if he were actually an evil overlord that wants to turn everyone into his slaves, he would turn the kid into one without problems... in fact, im pretty sure that Everyone in Zaun would be already a "slave" of Viktor, and they arent.

The Anagram King12/27/2017, 12:34:26 PM3 votes

Individualism isn't better than collectivism. It's just different. If people want to be co-dependent, and work on common goals rather than trivial personal problems, then it's the next logical step, yes?

I mean, I identify with aspects of collectivism. We all do, to an extent. True freedom means murdering for fun > laws that curtail murder. Viktor overriding divers when they begin to freak out is hardly slavery. Jayce is absolutely, undeniably, in the wrong. It's practically black and white. I mean, assuming the divers regain control of their suits and stuff when they calm down. :P

Regardless, Viktor's pretty individualistic, anyway. He clearly thinks that people should be able to do things they want to do, regardless of what others think about them. I get a somewhat Ubermenscht (personal transcendence of 'herd' morality) vibe from his short story. And I think that's neat.

The thing that DID irk me about his new lore is not who VIktor is, but all the development cut away from him. He didn't have an epiphany and change his outlook after his view of society crumbled around him. He did not crave revenge, then suppress his 'bad' feelings. Frankly, one would wonder why he even suppressed his feelings at all. Seems stupid. The way the lore is presented just seems... dumb.

Viktor was always a bit on the spectrum, so one day he turned himself into a robot. Neat.

Sort've lamer than the old lore made him out to be. :P

HonestJohnTheCon12/27/2017, 1:19:57 PM2 votes

Where is it proven or even mentioned that the drug he gave to the kid was based on the Placebo effect? Knowing how skilled Viktor is, it could've been legitimate.

Also, Viktor doesn't endorse slavery. He thinks that the progress of the whole is more important than the individual; collectivism. That's not necessarily evil. Plus, he still believes that mechanization is the right path to progress. Ultimately, we can only decide between ourselves what Viktor's moral alignment is, because both bios concerning him have unreliable narrators. Viktor, obviously, would see his work as an improvement, while Jayce would see it as an abomination.

Viktor's a firm believer in stoicism (removing all emotions to remove negative ones). Which is actually just a view in life.

ElectroScalar12/27/2017, 9:18:36 PM2 votes

You're right, and you literally pulled exampled from the text itself.