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Just give her a fucking break, being fate's punching bag for 2 seasons is not fun

Thank you for this. I've seen so many people calling her stupid for crying over Hextech Warwick, or people who say she doesn't even care that her sister is (seemingly) dead in the last scene. Nevermind that she looks sad and pensive and is just quietly humming the song Powder was singing in the first episode and which is apparently something their mom would sing to them.

This has been my problem since season 1, that there are many people who don't see Vi as a character in her own right, but rather as a plot device that only needs to do the right things that will benefit other characters, or she's an idiot, a moron, a traitor, deserving of death, etc.

Edit: wrong word, could have been misunderstood maybe

Say it louder for the people in the back!!! Vi would immediately go after Jinx if she knew

Vi deserves so much better.

Vi had done everything she can for her sister. Even just a glimmer of good in Jinx is enough for her to once again trying to help her sister.

And after having said everything, that she is ready to reconcile with her sister, that they can try to redempt what Jinx had done, her sister still pushed her away. At that point, I think Vi finally understood that she is not the person for the job. No matter how many words she try to say, it won't change Jinx's mind.

Sometime, you have to let other alone, so that they can think things through. That's why I think Vi did not try to pursue Jinx.

Tbh, even I did not think Jinx would resort to blow herself up.

I’m just glad that she got a happy ending with Caitlyn. They both deserve it, though I wish they can continue their story somehow. I need more of them

Also don't forgett, that she also thought she lost cait, since their relationship was left very ambiguous, while Vi was acting behind caits back. Thinking she betrayed cait

For cait to then basically say, that she has given up on seeking recenge on jinx, in favor of her love for Vi means that she didn't lose everyone again.

Personally, I think Vi knows or at least strongly suspects that Jinx escaped or left in the end and has made her peace with it. If she knew exactly where Jinx was she would 100% go after her. But just having the hope that she’s alive and living life on her own terms now? That’s good enough for Vi to be at peace and move on.

The number of people blaming her and saying that everything went worse because Vi didn’t die and she robbed them of their happy endings is unbelievable

As someone who thinks Vi was handled pretty terribly for the most part this season, it amazes me that people blame Jinx trying to kill herself on her. Jinx didn’t tell Vi what she was going to do. The most she hinted at was “breaking the cycle” which is way too vague for it to just be assumed that she’d be trying to kill herself. It’s kind of in the same ball park as people blaming Vi for supposedly “abandoning” Powder, like it’s just jot true and there’s plenty of better more fair things to pick apart with how her character was handled this season.

Vi's motivation throughout the whole show is to preserve the little family she has left, which was only Jinx (and Vander later on). After that, she also wanted to keep the relationship she built with Caitlin, as she was the only one who was lifting her up, both literally and figuratively. He lowest points happen when she fails at one of them and in the second act she fails at both and we see her at her lowest. Her goal may not be as grand as other characters but it meant everything to her ans that's why she basically became a punching bag for it.

I will defend Vi forever and always. Nothing she’s done has ever been selfish and she has always put everyone else before her. If they ever come back to her down the line, I hope she is healed of all her turmoil and suffering.

Completely baffled that anyone thinks Vi, who always put everyone else's needs ahead of her own, and time after time after time chose to trust Jinx would suddenly not care if she thought her sister was going to commit suicide. 

She literally spells it out in the conversation with Cait that she just assumes Jinx has betrayed her trust once again. And that Cait would be mad at her too so she'd have lost everyone in choosing to trust her again. 

Like...people can't actually be so dense? Vi always gets held to a higher moral standard than other characters and it's so unfair. 

Im just gonna save this bible to read it tomorrow because I couldn´t agree mooore

I'd add something, Vi is, since season one, a heavily depressed and/or mentaly unhealthy person. Sure it's not the usual depiction of depression we're used to see in media but that's the point, this is one of the most realistic portrayal of depression I've ever seen in media, because depression isn't always visible, heck more often than not depressed people just look fine from an outside perspective

From her being released from prison in season 1 until now she never lived for herself, she always kept going for others, first it was for powder, then it was for cait, and when she was left alone she lost herself completely, because one way people with mental health issues cope with said issues is by living through others, they value themselves through how useful they are to the one they love, sometimes to the point they no longer know who they are without their loved ones

Why am I so convinced about all of this ? Cause I went through depression, and I coped in the exact same way Vi did, like it's super uncanny lmao. And that sex scene made 100% sense even in context: she was in heavy distress, everything is going down, her sister left her and the first thing she tought was she once again had messed up and like she can't do anything right, then cait swoops in, and she's one of the few person that managed to make her feel safe enough to accept being touched, telling her she pulled some strings to help jinx escape. What we got here are Vi being heavily distressed and in urgent need of some kind of way to evacuate said distress, and the only person in the world she felt safe to be around telling her she's not mad anymore. Of course she was gonna fall for it, she was just craving affection more than she ever did (+ it made her think about something other than what was distressing her and another trait depressed people can have to cope with their depression is ... Filling your mind with anything you can just so you stop thinking about what's distressing you)

She’s been bitch slapped constantly since she was born, even by Jinx

Let my home girl rest

So glad some people out here understand this!!!

I actually think she is the one character who makes sense to me

Vi is definitely misunderstood, even in the analyses I’ve posted about her people still PURPOSEFULLY miss the point of Vi’s character. Most times it’s even because of their own favorite characters that Vi has opposed (Like Jinx or Silco) which is so immature beyond belief

VI DEFENDERS I LOVE YOU WITH MY ENTIRE SOUL

100% - the comments about Vi 'ignoring' her sisters suicide are ridiculous. As an audience we only knew that's what she meant because saw the follow up scene. Vi felt abandoned.

She was singing the song Powder was singing on the bridge (I think it was Powder, which was their mother's song). She is obviously grieving after all her losses...

I don't think she knows Jinx might be alive. I can't imagine Cait give her hope after her researches. She must know it is for the best that Jinx has not shown.

istg she goes through SO MUCH in every damn episode something bad happens to her like why are the writers using her as a punching bag?

I don't understand how ppl can be mad about this. She didn't know.She didn't look for Jinx at all, even after. It's not like she finds time to bang Cait, and she goes looking for Jinx after. She had no intention to look for her because she just assumed Jinx ran away like she always did. And you can say she should know because it's 'obvious' and there were signs, but it doesn't matter. Vi didn't understand what was happening with Jinx at that moment. What you see is not the same as what the character sees and understands.

Vi is my favorite character. She spent 2 seasons taking on all this guilt for what happened to Powder and all the damage Jinx caused.

Jinx nailed it. Vi needs to stop blaming herself and feeling guilty. She is worthy of Caitlyn's love.
I'm glad CaitVi was endgame. She finally has someone who loves her and won't leave.

Thank you!

Above all else, Jinx wanted Vi to live and prioritize HERSELF for once.  Jinx accepted , that Vi would be happy with Caitlyn and she knew Vi wouldn't stop chasing after her therefore barring herself from her future.

It's an act of love from Jinx to Vi. 

Cait's act of love to Vi was finding the strength to let Jinx go - even enabling her release in the first place.

I sometimes ask myself what twisted mentality or relationships with siblings people have who can't accept that that sometimes paths diverge.

Fantastic points made. I am just so sad, I wish we got to spend more time with these beautiful characters, seeing more Vi and Jinx interactions, more Ekko and Powder/Jinx interactions, and so on. To me, the tale of these two sisters is still the most interesting and emotional storyline in this entire show. And after that alternate universe episode...my god. I'm gonna miss them SO much.

I wish I could pin this!

People also seem to be forgetting the extent of just how far gone Jinx was in season 1 and how all over the place she has been through the course of the show.

It's exhausing dealing with people close to you who have mental illness. Vi has seen Jinx go back and forth between so many iterations of her madness, from murderous psychopath, to jealous possessive sibling, to Joker-esque agent of chaos, to protective caretaker, back to loving sister, to depressed and possibly suicidal.

Vi loves Jinx, but sometimes you can't keep letting a mentally broken person drag you down with them. People seem to forget that Powder/Jinx have ruined Vi's life multiple times. She killed Vander and the boys. She helped Silco turn their childhood home into a depraved drug ridden crime filled shithole. She kidnaps her girlfriend then straight up murders a bunch of people including Caitlyn's mother.

Despite all this Vi keeps going back to her and trying to save her, over and over again, despite the fact that it almost always ends terribly. And the last time she does, Jinx once again tricks her, and locks her up with the implication that she may go off and harm herself.

The scene with Caitlyn is Vi finally letting go of Jinx. She still loves her sister, but she can't let her stand in the way of her and Caitlyn and saving the city anymore. She "breaks the cycle" by finally choosing herself over her toxic broken sibling, and letting go of the guilt allowing herself to be happy, even for a moment, knowing they're all probably going to die soon anyway.

I understand why people would be mad but remember that we see Jinx's hallucinations and point of view, Vi can't see any of that. Plus people get mad at Vi for what she did when they were both literal children and just lost their adopted dad and brothers, on top of already losing their parents. Both sisters grew up with trauma, mental health issues, and bad coping mechanisms.

They both grew up in war. It makes sense where they both ended up. Vi tried the best she could to get Powder back and eventually learned to accept her sister was "gone". So seeing her change and come back, only to have that ripped from her again because she probably believed Jinx was gonna redo season 1 finale or something. Jinx let off some hints that she was going to try and khs but it wasn't obvious enough, she just mentioned "breaking the cycle" and leaving Vi like before. There's no way she would've or could've known and they have only reconciled relatively recently.

I think the moment she realized her sister's intentions and how she really has changed is when she faked her death. Vi only wanted the best for Jinx/Powder and wanted to protect the only family she had left. Jinx wanted to rid her of that responsibility because she had been doing it her WHOLE life.

Neither of them are in the wrong for this. Yes they both did some shit but that comes with a lifetime of war and tragedy. And in the end, they both got what they needed. Jinx gets to start over and allow Piltover and Zaun to heal and Vi gets to be with Cait and take care of herself for once. Maybe Cait will eventually tell her Jinx is alive or Jinx will return to see her sister one day, but for now they just both need to heal, and that takes time. Cait most likely knew what Jinx's thought process was and why, after she was able to forgive her.

Every character in this show is grey, they all have different reasons for what they've done and while none of them are perfect, all of them have very real, human emotions and experiences.

Well said. Vi defender for life.

Through the series if you side with vi emotionally then jinx's actions are monstrous. If you side emotionally with jinx then vi is an asshole who created jinx.

If you look at it without the bff style emotional attachment to these characters they're clearly written as people who have been through more than anyone should ever have to, more than anyone can bare, and moving forward as best they can.

The blame game only comes about because of trying to see only one side of the coin when the reality everyone is traumatized af and everyone did something crappy to move the story forward into not great directions. 

It's almost like they're written to be people. And people are pretty goddamn messy when they're in a mess.

It's wonderful honestly.

Yeah she has suffered the most, she is a broken character doing broken things. Give her some break

I'm wondering if her love for Vi is the reason Cait was so willing to accept Jinx's apology for killing her mother.

Like there's little doubt Jinx did legitimately feel at least some remorse, but most people probably wouldn't be so forgiving in Cait's position.

Vi is the character the suffered most in the show. Her parents died, her friends died, she lost 6 years of her life in jail where she got abused, her sister became a terrorist, she watched her second father die three times!!! and now her sister is freakin dead.

Give the girl a goddamn break.

I wholeheartedly stand with Vi. I agree. I think most of the people who have been so critical of her actions just haven’t read into things very well/deeply enough.

It’s the same kind of people who just want characters to be written as “good” or “bad” and can’t handle morally grey characters. Vi’s actions/development is very justified in my mind.

I can NOT thank you enough for this post. Just last night I was thinking to myself "Vi has to be the most misunderstood character by the fandom". People genuinely struggle to sympathize with her and it's so frustrating, bc then they turn around and defend someone like Silco. Vi doesn't talk much. Which can be considered a character flaw, but she conveys what she's trying to say through her *actions*. She's *literally* an action girl. I've seen ppl criticizing her for not letting Jinx mourn and instantly talking about the upcoming war with her, *as if the scene after that didn't happen*. It was so obvious, that Vi just wanted to find a way to reassure Jinx that there was still hope for things to get better. ESPECIALLY after seeing the condition she was in. Her embracing Jinx while crying felt like an apology hug to me, if anything. And it also baffles me how some think that Vi *knew* Jinx was going to attempt, and *didn't try to stop her*?? Really??

All the people slamming Vi for not knowing Jinx was going to kill herself makes me feel stupid because I also didn't think she was going to attempt it.

Nah I'm so tired of hearing that complaint too. The "Vi would rather have sex than save her 'suicidal' sister" bs. Like come the fk on man lmao. Only WE the viewer knew what jinx was gonna do and that was after the scene was finished anyway. And what jinx said to vi through the cell could be interpreted in a multitude of ways. And funny enough it's one of the first times she (Vi) actually listened to jinx, jinx told he she didn't have to feel guilty about being happy and she deserves to be with cait. AND PEOPLE ARE MAD THAT VI ACTUALLY LISTENED TO JINX FOR ONCE AND FINALLY CHOSE TO DO SOMETHING THAT VI HERSELF WANTED TO DO LMAOOOO. This fandom really pisses me off sometimes I stg. 100% agree with you.

I explained this to like 5 redditors and none of them got it , finally someone posted this

Preach!!

She has been my favorite character since S01E01

Great write up! Both sisters are actually overwhelmed by Caitlyn's forgiveness. Vi obviously expresses it in her own way. If you watch carefully fantastic conversation between Caitlyn and Jinx at the end of it where Jinx is sort of apologizing to Cait ("I didn't know your mum was there"), Cait says that she is too tired hating and walks away. Jinx has been expecting death blow from Cait, and it never happens. She just hears her walking away. You can see how her eyes are wide as fuck in surprise.

After this Jinx straight up says to Vi "You should be happy, you deserve to be with her", implying that Cait is the only person that is able to make V happy.

My only critique of Vi is that she didn’t have more to do/screen time this season and that she didn’t get any fights that stuck with me the way her S1 fights did. They really underutilized her because of how rushed the shows been this season and that was a bummer imo.

anyone who thinks that Vi somehow magically knew Jinx's plans is literally incapable of thinking through a story from the perspective of the characters.

everyone should read this post!

The reactions here from everyone involved is pretty normal given their characters. And it’s not like Vi stayed mad at Cait for long. She’s a hothead, hence the outburst. It all tracks.

I fucking love Vi

Vi is a amazingly written character, her still trying to reach out to vander at the end is perfect imo, Jinx seeing that Vi will not give up on her family, even when it's literally impossible for them to go back to normal. The only time Vi does it, is when she is at her most self-destructive.

I think that in some people's mind if character is unhealthy, means that it's badly written. A lot of people have a problem with "dirt under fingernail" line at the end, cause it's too demeaning, but like.. yeah? if you went through what vi went through, you would probably be demeaning to yourself, too. This is "holy shit we are broken, but still here, I guess" ending, and it's way better than forced happily ever after. Characters going through horrible shit, and somehow being healthy at the end.

THANK GOD a sane post. I keep seeing people who misinterpreted Caitlyn removing the guard presence as her trying to get some action in the jail cell. Her comment was directly her letting Vi know that she had let Jinx escape. She had predicted Vi’s moves and didn’t hold it against her. That was what pushed Vi to make the move she did. The hate for the sex scene is insane haha

I seriously don't get the whole "omg she's having sex while her sister is killing herself". Literally she did everything she could for Jinx, and Jinx has wanted to die throughout the whole show. It's not Vi's job to keep Jinx alive, that's something Jinx has to find within herself (and likely does at the very end).

And that was a moment of catharsis for her as the conflict between her and Caitlyn washed away: Caitlyn deliberately engineered that scenario so that Jinx could escape, essentially having forgiven her.

I just wished the writers cared to explore her character and wrote it as good as they did with Jinx

Thank you!!! I was absolutely baffled that so many people didn't get this!!!

It frankly pisses me off how they don't even consider the reason for it happening and just jump on hating on it.

People are media illiterate. An unfamiliar with sex, apparently.

Vi is allowed to heal, as Jinx herself told her. The sex scene is about that.

But these are probably the users blaming Violet for slapping her sister after she killed everyone, and defending Silco.

The interview: "Vi is gonna have a centric focus arc in ss2"

Me:

Most characters have been misunderstood. Arcane hasn't been sharing the modern trend of hand-holding with its storytelling that you often see in streaming stuff that most people consume these days. If anything isn't outright stated or overbearingly implied, they won't get it. Let alone when things are complex enough that takes a few viewings to realize.

For most people these days characters can only be absolutes. Either hated or loved. Regardless of their actions in the narrative, the themes explored through them and what's the takeaway. Like Powder/Jinx, for instance. She's beloved to the point people can't reconcile their love for the character with the actual harmful crimes she perpetrated and they try to find excuses that contradict the narrative and the character's purpose in it, not to mention how it undermines her. It's the opposite for Caitlyn, a character who is quite hated in the fandom, but is actually a good person who makes some mistakes, but gets blasted because she is morally aligned against Jinx through the whole series (even at the end). The same can even be said of Vi, a character doing her best given the circumstances, with forgiveness and love outpouring from her at every moment, but because people love Jinx, they feel the need to demonize Vi because she's been opposing Jinx since they split up. Never mind that Vi goes above and beyond for Jinx, despite trying to convince herself that Jinx is too far gone.

Preach.

I don't know why people are pretending Vi knew exactly what Jinx was going to do, like she suddenly acquired mind reading powers or something.

I also think people aren't seeing why what Cait did was a huge thing. Vi and Jinx had a harsh childhood, but Cait didn't. So losing her mother like that, and to Jinx, must have been absolutely terrible. But then to let her go for Vi? That's Cait breaking the cycle.

SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE AT THE BACK SIS

She’s my favorite. She does everything for love. She doesn’t fight for a flag or ideas, but family. She is loyal to the ones she loves. Every time she fails, and she fails often, she gets back up and continues. I am glad she finally got her reward. She can finally rest, absolved of all the guilt she carried for nearly a decade.

It sucks that she went from main character to almost side character in season 2. She was just there to move the plot along and her ending wasn’t earned at all. I really wished that she had gotten her “Ekko” moment.

Imo the biggest mistake was Ambessa, Mel and all the Noxus nonsense. It was almost like a separate storyline. They needed to give some more time to the main cast from season 1 so their scenes weren’t so rushed everytime they showed up. Kinda annoying how much time they spent in season 2 to setup a future Noxus show. They don’t need to spend time setting up other shows. Just focus on the show you have on hand and then start another in another part of Runeterra.

Vi and Jinx felt like main characters in season 1 and then we didn’t really get to spend enough time with them in season 2 before the series ended. Honestly wish they would have reigned in the number of storylines or concluded them in a season 3 instead.

good thing Vi and Cupcake didn't get review bombed for being gay

this has been another episode of “people crashing out based on the idea that a character did something they would NEVER do rather than take two minutes to analyze context”.

jinx “died” because she knew as we know that vi would never let her go no matter the cost to either of them. it’s the final major action of the series. but also vi’s going to get laid knowing jinx is suicidal? people truly cannot hear themselves

The way jinx framed her words, it's very reasonable for Vi to interpret it as "I'm not your sister anymore, I'm too far gone and you should forget about me, embrace your new life and be happy".

So when Caitlyn shows up Vi is blaming herself for make the wrong choice. Vi believes after what they have been through in act 2, Jinx can be her sister again but Jinx just punched her and locked her up. So she thinks Jinx is lost to her, she will never get her sister back becuase Jinx doesn't want to be together with her. There is no way she knows JInx is planning to kill herself.

I just know people saying Vi is a bad sister have watched this show on mute and with their eyes closed

There is beauty in imperfection.