JayVik

JayVik is the slash ship between Jayce Talis and Viktor from the League of Legends and Arcane fandoms.

Act I
Initially, Viktor saw Jayce as simply another foolhardy inventor who caused an explosion at the trial. His attitude changes when he learns of Jayce's hextech theory and he takes an interest it, believing that it had potential to become something when no one else at the trial did. After failing with his experiments and research over and over, Jayce becomes demotivated as he gets nowhere with his work. Losing hope, Jayce is about to attempt suicide; but is interrupted by Viktor arriving at his home.

Viktor makes himself known by asking if he was "interrupting" something then mildly insulting him by calling the other man egotisicial for signing his name on every page of his notes. At first, Jayce thinks that Viktor is there simply to insult his research like the others, but Viktor replies that he is actually there because he wants to hear more about this "hextech". When a bitter Jayce says that nobody believed him, Viktor recounts his life as a poor Zaunite cripple, and how nobody was there to believe in him but himself, and for that reason he believes in Jayce and his research, wanting to become his partner. Jayce still protests and says that no one thinks it can be done, Viktor tells him not to let anyone stop him from trying to change the world by, giving Jayce his bracelet back. Jayce is moved by Viktor's words and takes the bracelet and asks his name, becoming partners.

After Jayce and Viktor perfect the former's theory on Hextech, Jayce says they will have to test it with his team, but Viktor then says that everything will be destroyed tomorrow, causing Jayce to be greatly shocked and Viktor sheepishly saying he forgot to mention it. Jayce is nervous that his research will be destroyed, but when Viktor says that they have to break in to Heimerdinger's lab to prove it before Jayce's research is destroyed, Jayce immediately protests, asking why Viktor was willing to risk so much. Viktor replies that he truly believed that Jayce's Hextech dream could make the world a better place, and that it was a scientist's duty to do that. Touched, Jayce corrects him by stating it was their Hextech dream, putting a hand on his shoulder as they proudly look at their work.

Viktor and Jayce are breaking into Heimerdinger's lab in the middle of the night and Viktor makes a comment that things were going good so far. Mel catches them immediately afterwards and Jayce nervously tries to act natural and says it was a surprise to see her, while Viktor tries to cover by pretending he didn't realize it wasn't his bedroom. Mel helps Viktor and Jayce continue their forbidden Hextech research until they come up with an incredible breakthrough. When their invention works, the two float into Heimerdinger's lab and laugh in amazement at what they just accomplished.

Act II
This breakthrough catapults Piltover into a period of huge prosperity. All thanks to the Hextech Gates, constructed by Jayce. With them, travel over vast distances is possible, and Piltover becomes a centre of trade. Jayce is honored for his achievements at Progress Day and is chosen to give an address to the people of Piltover. He and Viktor defy Heimerdinger’s wishes and debut new Hextech Gemstones, which concentrate and focus Hextech into even more powerful forms, and in the process, we also start to see the deeper relationship between Jayce and Viktor.

However, an attack on Piltover by Jinx is blamed on the Undercity of Zaun. And Jayce’s new technology is set to be used as weapons to control the Undercity. Jayce is elevated to the council, under the newly created seat of House Talis. But all is not as it seems. Jayce was put on the council thanks to Mel’s scheming. Viktor continues his research while Jayce begins a romantic relationship with Mel, eventually becoming her lover, leaving his friend to the side.

After Viktor's terminal illness severely worsens, Jayce rushes to be with his close friend, leaving Mel alone in bed to go see him at night. Jayce and Viktor try to get Heimerdinger's insight on their project but Heimerdinger feared the Hex Core so much, that he was determined to shut down their research and destroy it. Aggrieved that Heimerdinger was going to shut down the project that could save Viktor's life, Jayce blamed Heimerdinger's inaction for the danger Zaun posed and convinced the other Councilors to vote him out of the Piltover Council.

Act III
When Viktor goes to visit Singed, Singed tells Viktor that using Shimmer with Hextech to keep himself alive will ostracize him. Viktor says Jayce will understand, taking it on faith that Jayce would never turn on him. However, when the two meet on the bridge that separates Zaun and Piltover, Jayce is furious that Viktor went to Zaun and goes on a rant about how the people from the Undercity are dangerous, forgetting Viktor is from there as well, which greatly hurts Viktor's feelings. While Jayce does quickly apologize, Viktor loses trust in him and does not tell him about his plan. Despite the fact that Viktor got angry with him, Jayce shows deep shame when he realizes that he was insulting him and tries to help him up, putting his hand on his back to support him.

Later Viktor scatters Sky's ashes in the ravine they used to play at as kids. Feeling depressed from her death, Viktor considers falling to his death but is accidentally interrupted from committing suicide by Jayce. Jayce and Viktor reminisce about how life was simpler when their only concern was creating the science that they thought would leave the world better. Although Jayce thought Viktor would insist on destroying his hextech hammer, Viktor instead made Jayce promise to destroy the Hex Core. Both Viktor and Jayce are aware that without the Hex Core, Viktor will die of his disease. Nevertheless, Jayce acquiesced to Viktor's request. Viktor ends their meeting by stating: "We lost ourselves. Lost our dream. In the pursuit of great, we failed to do good."

Ultimately, Jayce chooses to broker a peace with Silco and grant Zaun independence. Jayce has Viktor by his side when they both advocate the proposal for peace to the Council of Clans.

League of Legends
When both Jayce and Viktor underwent lore reworks in 2016, their League of Legends biographies were overhauled into parallel counterparts holding differing perspectives on the same events.

Jayce's current canon League biography describes him as initially an arrogant and dismissive individual when he first began his career as a Piltovan inventor. Only one person ever managed to match Jayce’s intelligence while also maintaining a healthy indifference to his superior attitude--Viktor. The two met at a mandatory Progress Day party, and immediately bonded over how little either of them wanted to be there. They started working together shortly after. Viktor expanded Jayce’s intellectual horizons and challenged many of his assumptions. While Jayce sought to improve humanity via versatile technology, Viktor sought to solve problems inherent to humanity itself, such as physical decay or illogical prejudices. They constantly argued with one another, but their conflicts never got personal – though their methods were different, the two colleagues knew their ultimate goals were very much the same. 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. To Jayce, Viktor became the closest thing Jayce ever really had to a friend.

However, a rift slowly grew between the two, amplified by an incident where Viktor's invention of a sentient golem was stolen by their professor and Jayce did not speak up in his defense. Eventually, their difference in scientific viewpoints came to a head during a collaborative project where Viktor proposed a technology where the user would sacrifice their free will in exchange for life-saving safety. The two nearly came to blows over the design's morality. Ultimately, Jayce reported Viktor to the academy which resulted in Viktor being ostracized from Piltover’s scientific community.

In response to this expulsion, Viktor sank into a deep depression. He ultimately chose to perform surgery on himself to mechanically augment his body and attempted to remove his emotions, perceiving them as weaknesses. Meanwhile, Jayce was taught a lesson in humility when he was given a mysterious powerful crystal he could not figure out. Their paths crossed again when Viktor was alerted to Jayce's experiments with the crystal. Viktor asked Jayce to aid him and use the crystal to save humanity from itself, and when Jayce declined, Viktor took the crystal by force. Jayce followed him to his laboratory down in Zaun, where he discovered Viktor attempting to transplant human brains into robots (with the intent of saving the people's lives). According to Jayce's biography, Jayce apologized for his previous actions and attempted to make Viktor see reason. According to Viktor's biography, Jayce burst in and started smashing. The confrontation culminated in the two attempting to kill each other, and Jayce ultimately destroying the crystal and bringing Viktor's lab down with it. (While Viktor's biography claims he only retained a fragment of his humanity at this point, Jayce's biography describes Viktor as showing sadness at having to attack his old friend as well as crying out in horror at the deaths of his "patients".)

After the incident, Jayce would be hailed as a hero in Piltover, while Viktor became increasingly obsessed with his mechanical ideal. In current canon, their relationship remains fractured, with both inventors having greatly differing views on how to improve peoples lives. However, both still hold respect for the other's intelligence and inventiveness, such as in "what if" storylines where both refer to the other as an old colleague or old friend.

Fanon
JayVik initially started as a small ship in the League of Legends fandom, mostly portrayed as a "friends to enemies to lovers" ship since both are canonically nemeses in the present game lore. However, most fanworks depict them still caring for each other despite their fights and differences. Similar to other rivalry ships, JayVik appeals to the trope of "opposites attract." In addition, fans often enjoy the scientist/inventor dynamic of the duo. More unique to the ship, Viktor's canonical evolution into a cyborg who attempts to remove his own emotions lends itself to an interpretation of tragic romance and heartbreak especially when contrasted against Jayce's belief in the good within humanity.

The ship rapidly increased in popularity with the release of the TV series Arcane in November 2021, since many fans noticed the chemistry between the two during the show's first Act. The pairing quickly became the ship with most works in AO3 for both characters, and the second most popular ship within the Arcane fandom as well as League fandom on AO3.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

TUMBLR

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM
 * JayVik tag on Instagram
 * Jayce x Viktor tag on Instagram

ART
 * Jayce x Viktor tag on TikTok
 * Jayce x Viktor tag on TikTok

WIKI
 * on the
 * on the