People are really mad at Jayce right now. In fact, looking back, I’m not sure Arcane fans ever really liked the enthusiastic Hextech scientist. During the first season, he was an inventor that had enough capital to make his ambitions a reality, with talented friends like Viktor who were able to take his grand plans and ground them in scientific thinking.
After encountering the miracles of the arcane as a child with his parents, Jayce grew up with a wish to make this ethereal magic a reality, no matter how detached it might be. He views it as a means of societal betterment for Piltover, Zaun, and the wider reaches of Runeterra. It wasn’t until he was roped into joining the council and Hextech was hijacked as a catalyst for Piltover to become a superpower that his position changed. And even then, you could view his perspective as warped, but ultimately righteous in what he wanted to achieve.
Jayce Only Ever Wanted The Best For Piltover
Don’t get me wrong, it was hard not to develop a disdain for Jayce during the first season, as he chooses to further his political career and sleep with Mel instead of working in the lab with Viktor. And perhaps with greater oversight, Hextech wouldn’t have morphed into a force that only functions to either make money or get people killed. There was a fleeting moment during the first season where Jayce and Viktor had the power to put Hextech into the hands of all people, instead of it existing merely as a tool for the elite. But he decided on power and status, furthering the divide he once promised to eradicate.
Piltover’s elite immediately choosing to develop Hextech into weapons to punch down on those beneath them was also a red flag that Jayce should have fought back against. But when all is said and done, would he even have the power to?
Restricting its use was the right move in the end, but when it’s made in service of the political elite and continued suppression of Zaun, it’s hard not to view Jayce as the bad guy here. He neglects his closest friend, leaves behind his noble ambitions in favour of wealth, and fails to realise the errors of his ways until it’s too late. But like every character in Arcane, Jayce is a morally complicated person with meaning behind every decision, and while he was evidently influenced by the allure of power, after seeing what Hextech is truly capable of in the second act of season two, he realises the error of its ways.
Killing Viktor Was The Only Real Choice Jayce Had To Make
The final episode of act two concludes with Jayce escaping from the arcane and blasting a hole through Viktor’s chest, presumably killing the magic-infused messiah and slaughtering every soul he’s saved from the brink of death using his newly adopted powers.
This provides Ambessa with the perfect reason to launch an attack on the commune and results in a battle which kills not only Isha, but also Vander, as the young girl tries to defeat him and triggers a massive explosion in the process. I have theories about what this ending means, but more on that later. First we need to focus on Jayce, who not only appears several years older, but seems worn, weathered, and like he’s been fighting for survival. Whatever he bore witness to in the arcane, it was traumatising enough that his first port of call when returning to reality was to kill his best friend, so its power couldn’t spread.
I personally believe in the theory that Viktor is inadvertently spreading a deadly magical void across Runeterra that justifies its existence by first presenting itself as a saviour. Viktor might be healing people, but even he is unaware of the true nature of his magical powers and what consequences they might bring. If Jayce has seen these in action, thanks to time progressing differently inside the arcane, he could very well be preventing the apocalypse. I also love the idea that Viktor is like a devil that presents himself as an alluring angel, because it earns them the trust to spread true evil.
The gear that Viktor drops upon his death is the very same gear that passed through the Hextech gate in the first season. A memento to represent how far both have come, and how it would take their eventual demise to drive them apart.
Both Jayce and Viktor believe they’re doing the right thing, a tragic ultimatum when they both joined forces to make the world a better place all those years ago. Circumstances forced the two men apart, and now it’s too late to fix the physical and mental void spread before them.
But What Do Jayce’s Actions Mean For Act 3?
In my review of the second act, I noted how some of the narrative felt rushed, particularly the way in which Jayce appears and murders Viktor in what feels like a handful of seconds. How did he find the camp or escape the arcane? It’s like he’s in the right place at the right time, so the writers need to explain it away with shock and awe. But maybe this is part of a plan that has been in motion for a long time, with Jayce, Ekko, and Heimerdinger escaping from the arcane after discovering exactly what letting them loose will do to the real world.
This brings me to the final frame of the episode, in which a Hextech explosion presumably gets Isha, Vander, and a lot of other people killed. It fades to black instantly, but before that, it sure looks like the explosion has been paused, or perhaps Ekko is using his canon powers to manipulate time after learning them in the arcane. It makes perfect sense, and when you consider everything we see in the preview for act three, it couldn’t really go any other way.
We’ll find out later this week, but I do think our harsh judgement of Jayce is unfounded, or we are all looking to dunk on the poor guy because of decisions he made we don’t have the context to understand yet. When I look back on his upbringing, rise to power, and desire to bring power and peace to the world through Hextech, Jayce was trying to do the right thing at every turn. But he’s only human, and so mistakes were made.