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Jayce Tails: Impotence and Lack of Control
Maybe everyone dislike Jayce but that doesn't take away from the fact that he's a well written character.
Many people believe that Jayce's story is about the acquisition of power and how it can corrupt you but in reality Jayce's story is about how changing society for the better isn’t easy and how you can lose control of your own life even if you have much power.
Let's go from the beginning to demonstrate this.
Due to him and his mother almost die in a snowstorm until they're saved by an arcane magic user, Jayce gains an admiration and curiosity about arcane magic and this makes Jayce think about how he can help society with it. and leads to experiments with it but he never expected that Vi and her companions destroy his workshop and expose his illegal experiments.
This causes Jayce to go to trial and there he explains from the bottom of his heart about his belief that magic can be controlled through science and how it can improve the lives of others but no one believes him or they just don't care. This is the first contact that Jayce has with the system and he can perceive how he is a small unimportant gear, so much so that if it were not for his mother he wouldn't be able to continue living in Piltover.
Jayce feels betrayed that he was forced to undermine both his work and his dreams and, in desperation, tries to commit suicide in what used to be his workshop.
This scene is important because it makes it clear that what Jayce cares about the most are his inventions, he is a scientist at heart and if he doesn't have control over his inventions then he has nothing. Viktor stops him and they both continue to experiment with arcane magic until they achieve what they set out to do, they both manage to create hextech technology.
Years pass and Jayce becomes a symbol of Piltover: the Man of Progress. The people who despised him now want favors and alliances with him. This can be seen at a high society party during Jayce's speech.
Now everything revolves around him, the Man of Progress. It's a very big title that he must carry on his shoulders.
At this point Heimerdinger suggests that they postpone the experiment while Mel wants them to go ahead. Jayce doesn't know what to decide and more importantly he doesn't understand why he should decide because Viktor has the same amount of merits as him, both were the ones who created hextech technology but Jayce is credited with leadership for stupid and superficial reasons: he isn't disabled, he has good looking and he was born in Piltover. Obviously Jayce has this in mind and that is why he isn't happy when he goes on stage because he just wants to be a scientist who invents things to do good.
Shortly after Jinx steals the hextech gem and Jayce takes responsibility before the Council and proposes to stop all investigations until the matter is resolved but they don't support him. Jayce realizes that instead of being concerned about the safety of the citizens, the leaders of Piltover care more about appearances and the solution that the Council proposes is equally questionable since they name Jayce, a scientist with no experience in politic, as one of their members but this isn't a security measure nor does it solve the problem, but rather it's a way to keep the masses calm, giving them a false sense of security since they will think that there will be no way for something bad to happen if the Man of Progress is one of the leaders of Piltover.
Jayce, being the only member of the Council who really cares about the safety of its citizens, decides to increase the security measures behind the back of his fellow Council members, which makes them not happy with him and make illegal transactions, this shows the fact that they only care about benefiting themselves and not the population. Jayce to make amends for his actions must talk to each of them and earn his favor through empty promises and fake smiles.
Something that I liked is how during the scene where the promises that Jayce makes with the members of the council take place, the instrumental becomes more unrestrained and chaotic because it symbolizes Jayce's lack of control over his own life.
Not only is he making a lot of promises that he had not previously premeditated or discussed with his partner, but he no longer has control of his inventions and, even as part of the Council, he doesn't have the control to change the things that he considers to be necessary.
Little by little the conflict between Piltover and Zaun is increasing and Jayce, despite being a member and leader of the Council, he doesn't know what to do, everyone suggests and even demands how she should deal with this delicate situation: Mel says something, the Council says another thing, Viktor thinks differently, Vi wants to act, Caitlyn wants diplomacy, Ambessa wants war. All this confuses Jayce and the fact that he can't make a decision and stick with it makes the audience annoyed with him, it's like Shinji who doesn't want to get on the EVA, but there's the funny thing: Jayce doesn't know what to do, he is only a scientist who never aspired to have the responsibilities he has today, he has no experience, leadership or will to play this role and he knows it better than anyone.
Remember the suicide scene? At this point in the story Jayce has no control over his inventions and the only reason he doesn't plan on ending his life is because it doesn't even belong to him anymore. He is similar to All Might from My Hero Academia or Satoru Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen because, like them, Jayce has gradually become a tool that everyone depends on, he as an individual is nobody, he has no value and people don't care about Jayce as a person, they just care about his role and fachade as the Man of Progress.
After going with Vi to fight in Zaun he realizes that he can't solve anything by this way. He kills a child unintentionally and this marks him for life for which he decides to take the diplomatic way to solve the conflict.
At this point it isn't known if the negotiation with Silco is because Jayce genuinely doesn't want to exterminate the inhabitants of Zaun or if he's simply afraid that they will end Piltover, the only thing that is known is that Jayce is tired and desperately wants to find an immediate solution to all this conflict.
After a great discussion with the Council, Jayce manages to convince them that diplomacy is the best solution and it's shown that if you can make a decision that does not have selfish ends involved, but as said before, changing things isn't easy by many external factors, this is seen when Jinx decides to end Piltover. It's the only time that Jayce as a political figure manages to do something good, something that could bring benefits in the future but it does not matter because something that he cannot control (Jinx) will ruin everything he achieved.
That's what his story is about, about impotence and lack of control. As I said before, Jayce's situation is reminiscent of Shinji's, they are disowned by people because they both function as a mirror. Both Jayce and Shinji reflect as a real life person who is given so much power and responsibilities and so little experience overnight, it's easy to say that Jayce and Shinji made mistakes because we are bystanders but what would we do if we were in a situation like that? If we were in Jayce's position we would obviously make the same bad decisions as Jayce and even make worse decisions than him.
That's why Jayce easily upsets people because he reminds us that we are inexperienced, that we have little control over things and that we are but an insignificant part of a society that will advance with or without us.
Jayce Tails: Impotence and Lack of Control
Maybe everyone dislike Jayce but that doesn't take away from the fact that he's a well written character.
Many people believe that Jayce's story is about the acquisition of power and how it can corrupt you but in reality Jayce's story is about how changing society for the better isn’t easy and how you can lose control of your own life even if you have much power.
Let's go from the beginning to demonstrate this.
Due to him and his mother almost die in a snowstorm until they're saved by an arcane magic user, Jayce gains an admiration and curiosity about arcane magic and this makes Jayce think about how he can help society with it. and leads to experiments with it but he never expected that Vi and her companions destroy his workshop and expose his illegal experiments.
This causes Jayce to go to trial and there he explains from the bottom of his heart about his belief that magic can be controlled through science and how it can improve the lives of others but no one believes him or they just don't care. This is the first contact that Jayce has with the system and he can perceive how he is a small unimportant gear, so much so that if it were not for his mother he wouldn't be able to continue living in Piltover.
Jayce feels betrayed that he was forced to undermine both his work and his dreams and, in desperation, tries to commit suicide in what used to be his workshop.
This scene is important because it makes it clear that what Jayce cares about the most are his inventions, he is a scientist at heart and if he doesn't have control over his inventions then he has nothing. Viktor stops him and they both continue to experiment with arcane magic until they achieve what they set out to do, they both manage to create hextech technology.
Years pass and Jayce becomes a symbol of Piltover: the Man of Progress. The people who despised him now want favors and alliances with him. This can be seen at a high society party during Jayce's speech.
Now everything revolves around him, the Man of Progress. It's a very big title that he must carry on his shoulders.
At this point Heimerdinger suggests that they postpone the experiment while Mel wants them to go ahead. Jayce doesn't know what to decide and more importantly he doesn't understand why he should decide because Viktor has the same amount of merits as him, both were the ones who created hextech technology but Jayce is credited with leadership for stupid and superficial reasons: he isn't disabled, he has good looking and he was born in Piltover. Obviously Jayce has this in mind and that is why he isn't happy when he goes on stage because he just wants to be a scientist who invents things to do good.
Shortly after Jinx steals the hextech gem and Jayce takes responsibility before the Council and proposes to stop all investigations until the matter is resolved but they don't support him. Jayce realizes that instead of being concerned about the safety of the citizens, the leaders of Piltover care more about appearances and the solution that the Council proposes is equally questionable since they name Jayce, a scientist with no experience in politic, as one of their members but this isn't a security measure nor does it solve the problem, but rather it's a way to keep the masses calm, giving them a false sense of security since they will think that there will be no way for something bad to happen if the Man of Progress is one of the leaders of Piltover.
Jayce, being the only member of the Council who really cares about the safety of its citizens, decides to increase the security measures behind the back of his fellow Council members, which makes them not happy with him and make illegal transactions, this shows the fact that they only care about benefiting themselves and not the population. Jayce to make amends for his actions must talk to each of them and earn his favor through empty promises and fake smiles.
Something that I liked is how during the scene where the promises that Jayce makes with the members of the council take place, the instrumental becomes more unrestrained and chaotic because it symbolizes Jayce's lack of control over his own life.
Not only is he making a lot of promises that he had not previously premeditated or discussed with his partner, but he no longer has control of his inventions and, even as part of the Council, he doesn't have the control to change the things that he considers to be necessary.
Little by little the conflict between Piltover and Zaun is increasing and Jayce, despite being a member and leader of the Council, he doesn't know what to do, everyone suggests and even demands how she should deal with this delicate situation: Mel says something, the Council says another thing, Viktor thinks differently, Vi wants to act, Caitlyn wants diplomacy, Ambessa wants war. All this confuses Jayce and the fact that he can't make a decision and stick with it makes the audience annoyed with him, it's like Shinji who doesn't want to get on the EVA, but there's the funny thing: Jayce doesn't know what to do, he is only a scientist who never aspired to have the responsibilities he has today, he has no experience, leadership or will to play this role and he knows it better than anyone.
Remember the suicide scene? At this point in the story Jayce has no control over his inventions and the only reason he doesn't plan on ending his life is because it doesn't even belong to him anymore. He is similar to All Might from My Hero Academia or Satoru Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen because, like them, Jayce has gradually become a tool that everyone depends on, he as an individual is nobody, he has no value and people don't care about Jayce as a person, they just care about his role and fachade as the Man of Progress.
After going with Vi to fight in Zaun he realizes that he can't solve anything by this way. He kills a child unintentionally and this marks him for life for which he decides to take the diplomatic way to solve the conflict.
At this point it isn't known if the negotiation with Silco is because Jayce genuinely doesn't want to exterminate the inhabitants of Zaun or if he's simply afraid that they will end Piltover, the only thing that is known is that Jayce is tired and desperately wants to find an immediate solution to all this conflict.
After a great discussion with the Council, Jayce manages to convince them that diplomacy is the best solution and it's shown that if you can make a decision that does not have selfish ends involved, but as said before, changing things isn't easy by many external factors, this is seen when Jinx decides to end Piltover. It's the only time that Jayce as a political figure manages to do something good, something that could bring benefits in the future but it does not matter because something that he cannot control (Jinx) will ruin everything he achieved.
That's what his story is about, about impotence and lack of control. As I said before, Jayce's situation is reminiscent of Shinji's, they are disowned by people because they both function as a mirror. Both Jayce and Shinji reflect as a real life person who is given so much power and responsibilities and so little experience overnight, it's easy to say that Jayce and Shinji made mistakes because we are bystanders but what would we do if we were in a situation like that? If we were in Jayce's position we would obviously make the same bad decisions as Jayce and even make worse decisions than him.
That's why Jayce easily upsets people because he reminds us that we are inexperienced, that we have little control over things and that we are but an insignificant part of a society that will advance with or without us.
Mel: How long are we gonna stand and here and let him do that?
Viktor: Just give him a minute.
Jayce: *Pushing on a door that clearly says pull*