| SPOILER WARNING! This article contains spoilers from Season 2 |
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- Viktor – “Why do you persist? After everything I've done?”
- Jayce – “Because I promised you.”
- — Jayce explaining why he hasn't given up on Viktor.
JayVik is the slash ship between Jayce Talis and Viktor from the League of Legends fandom.
Canon
Arcane Season 1
Act I
As the Dean's assistant, Viktor initially saw Jayce as simply another irresponsible student who caused an explosion in his dorm room. He is there for Jayce's arrest, confirming that his research was unauthorized and leading to the night he spends in a cell. Viktor's attitude changes during the trial, when he learns of Jayce's hextech theory and how he aims to instrumentalize magic for the benefit of all humanity. Viktor takes an interest in his thesis, believing that it has potential to become something extraordinary when no other higher power did. The trial concludes with a surprise insanity plea on the part of Jayce's mother, resulting on his expulsion from the Academy and the stripping of all his formal honors. Jayce is remanded to the care of his parents and his research is doomed to be burnt at the furnace.
Viktor disagrees with the sentence. While Heimerdinger says he's glad to be rid of this problem, Viktor steals Jayce's notebook for himself.
Ostracized from the patrons who funded his research and feeling as if his mother has betrayed him by publicly declaring him a lunatic, Jayce decides 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 egotistical for signing his name on every page of his notes. At first, Jayce thinks that Viktor is there simply to insult his research like everyone else, but Viktor replies that he is actually there because he wants to hear more about this "hextech" theory. When a bitter Jayce says that nobody believed him, Viktor empathizes with his plight by relating it to marginalization he's received as a poor disabled Zaunite living in Piltover. 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 worries that no one thinks it can be done, so Viktor tells him: "When you're going to change the world, don't ask for permission."
Viktor offers him his magic childhood bracelet back. Jayce is moved by Viktor's words and promptly accepts, asking his name and agreeing to become 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 gone, 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 is now 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 only meant to take Jayce to his bedroom. Mel turns a blind eye on the condition they prove their quack theory true. She gives them the deadline of one night; nothing more. Viktor assists Jayce on the final tweaks to his prototype, insisting that more power will stabilize the charge. When they take too long inside the room the enforcers are alerted, bringing the Dean to their doorstep. Desperate, Viktor uses his cane to block the entrance so Jayce can have a little more time; when the prototype finally works, enforcers break through his cane and burst into the room to find the two blissfully floating inside Heimerdinger's lab, laughing in amazement and wonder 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 Viktor and Jayce at the council's supreme request. With them, travel over vast distances is possible, and Piltover becomes a valuable center of trade. Jayce is honored for his achievements at Progress Day and is chosen to give an address to the people of Piltover; he also invites the Dean to see the new projects him and Viktor have been working on, tools for common laborers and artificers, made with the purpose of improving quality of life in Piltover and in the Undercity. Jayce and Viktor are extremely proud of their inventions, but Heimerdinger rejects their proposal, telling them it needs at least a whole new decade of testing before they can finally be ready. Viktor's health has severely declined during the timeskip, and he is crushed by this news. Jayce tries to ask Mel for council and she tells him that many investors and prospectors already have their eyes set on purchasing his next work, which doesn't reassure him much. Jayce ends up arriving minutes before his Progress Day speech, and Viktor tells him the crew "were already asking if he could do the address." Jayce is receptive, insisting that they are partners and asking Viktor to join him on the stage, but Viktor doesn't feel comfortable in front of such a larger public.
During his Progress Day speech, Jayce is conflicted between going against Heimerdinger's word or selling out to Mel's schemes, and so he ultimately doesn't announce the new projects him and Viktor have been working on. Viktor seems disappointed that they have nothing to show for their work this year.
Later that night, Jinx launches an attack on Piltover and steals the polished hexgem Viktor & Jayce have just perfected. The crime is blamed on the Undercity of Zaun at large, and it is taken as a massive security risk. The councilors are worried this could be weaponized against them, and Jayce worries if anything bad is to happen him & Viktor will be blamed for it. Jayce announces he intends to cease all hextech operations until the matter is settled, including the foundry and laboratories and the hexgates. Everyone disagrees; they find the hextech business too lucrative to sacrifice, and they aren't willing to give it up. Mel suggests that instead of shutting operations down, they should simply elevate Jayce to councilor status, and have him deal with all the repercussions from there on. He is distraught, but they vote yes, and Jayce is elevated to the council thanks to Mel's scheming.
As Viktor's illness worsens, Jayce's time is monopolized by council duties. He is buried under by paper trails and the discovery of severe trade irregularities, tipping him off to how smuggling rings have been using the hexgates thanks to the corrupt council members & paid off Piltover enforcers. Jayce wants to check in on how Viktor is doing, but he is rebuffed again and again as Viktor begins to have arcane visions and connect more deeply with the Hexcore after some of his blood accidentally comes into contact with it. He dedicates himself fully to unraveling the Hexcore, shutting off everything else. At the same time, Jayce is invited to a council evening in the Medarda opera house, where Mel reveals that his investigations and efforts to stop criminal activity among the elite have only succeeded in making him everyone's n.1 enemy. With a target on his back, Jayce schmoozes and negotiates for his safety with all of Piltover's elite, putting on a brave face. Viktor refuses an invitation to go home with their lab assistant Sky and spends the night burning all his energy on unlocking the Hexcore, while Jayce is surprised by Mel revealing a romantic interest in him with a kiss. They go to bed together while Viktor's blood prompts another arcane vision from the Hexcore.
Viktor is hospitalized that same evening, and Jayce rushes to be with his close friend, abandoning Mel in bed. While Viktor was unconscious, the doctors have told Jayce that his illness is terminal and he doesn't have much longer to live. From that day onward Viktor focuses on the insights the Hexcore has given him on how to enhance plant life, but all of his test subjects keep dying shortly after experimentation. Viktor can feel his body eroding. He is losing steam, but Jayce's hope is undeterred. He is amazed by what Viktor is showing him and convinced they can still make this right, if they could manage to get Heimerdinger's opinion.
Jayce and Viktor try to get Heimerdinger's insight on their project but they are harshly rebuffed by Heimerdinger, who fears the Hexcore so much he is determined to shut down their research and have it destroyed. Jayce takes Viktor's side and steps between him and the Dean, opposing his decision and sending him out of their lab. Viktor tells him that he knows someone else who might help them crack the case, and Jayce tells him to do what he has to. Aggrieved that Heimerdinger was going to shut down the project that could save Viktor's life, Jayce blames Heimerdinger's inaction for the chaos that has unfolded for years and convinces 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 broke the blockade separating the cities, and ends up saying 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 interrupted from committing suicide by Jayce, a mirror of their first night together. 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. Viktor is haunted by the guilt of taking the life of another human being, and begs Jayce to promise he will destroy the Hexcore, because he can no longer do it on his own. Both Viktor and Jayce are aware that without the Hexcore, Viktor will die of his disease. Nevertheless, Jayce agrees 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."
Later that afternoon, Jayce makes moves to broker a peace with Silco and grant Zaun independence. Together, Jayce and Viktor advocate for an independent Zaun and a proposal for peace against the council, and they nearly achieve it: but the meeting ends with Jinx' rocket crashing into the room.
Arcane Season 2
Act I
The season cold opens with Jayce immediately after the explosion, disoriented and checking on the other councilors. Many of them have died, others are severely maimed, with only him and Mel surviving the attack unscathed. But there is someone else missing. His eyes sweep across the room to find Viktor buried in the rubble, bleeding out and in critical condition. Jayce is horrified by the sight. Time begins to lose structure, and shots of Jayce’s eyes welling up with tears are interspersed with images of him running through the halls, carrying Viktor’s limp body in his arms.
Jayce brings him to their shared laboratory, where a barely responsive Viktor is stripped of his clothes and laid atop the table. He is in great pain. Jayce is desperate to find a way to fix this, flipping through Viktor’s notes & his research on body augmentation. At that very moment, the Hexcore seemingly begins to respond to Viktor’s proximity: lashes of purple arcane power reaching for his body, as if trying to help. Cornered and with no other recourse, Jayce takes this for an answer, and uses the Hexcore to save Viktor’s life.
Viktor is swept into a magical coma, his whole body surrounded by a solid arcane chrysalis. Jayce spends the next days and nights standing vigil by his bedside, hugging Viktor’s crutch close to his chest. Viktor’s pulse is consistent but he shows no other signs of improving, Jayce worried sick and losing sleep. His hair is unkempt and he has pronounced eyebags as he notes that the Hexcore’s current behavior ‘is just the sort of puzzle Viktor would love’ if he weren’t out of commission. Haunted by his guilt and helplessness, Jayce exclaims: “It should be me there instead of him.” He is unable to accept that he survived the attack without a scratch when Viktor was so gravely injured.
Mel tells Jayce that her mother and Councilor Salo are already vying to use hextech to strike back against the undercity, and Jayce refuses, telling her that he promised Viktor never again. Mel mentions that he should check on Cait. Jayce meets with Caitlyn, who is silently grieving her mother and confesses to being consumed by hate as a result of Jinx’s attack. She tells him Vi refused to join the enforcers, and that she believes the Hextech Gauntlets alone could solve all her problems. At this, Jayce is torn, asking himself: What if she’s right?
That afternoon, an event is held in Piltover’s square to honor the fallen councilors. Jayce is standing in the crowd when disguised mercenaries and the chembaron Renni launch an attack. Renni announces her presence by taunting Jayce with the question: “Awful isn’t it, losing a loved one?” then hits him with her chainsaw. She’s come to seek revenge for the death of her son. She was tipped by Ambessa on Jayce’s whereabouts, and presumably knows Viktor was one of the victims of Jinx’s attack.
Unarmed, Jayce struggles to defend himself from Renni’s chainsaw. He tries to hide under the curtains and eventually attacks her with a common hammer, but it has no real effect. Renni retaliates by slashing him deep across the back and Jayce falls to his knees, crawling for his life while the baroness follows. Jayce is saved by Vi, who’s carrying his mercury hammer. He helps her aim the cannon, and together they try to take out the last chemtank still standing.
As a consequence of the attack, Caitlyn (now leader of house Kiramman) announces that she will lead her own strike team into Zaun. She has asked Jayce to build her team brand new Hextech weapons, and he has fixed Vi’s gauntlets for the task. Jayce works at the forge while injured from the previous attack, and while he gets the job done, he seems deeply unhappy to see things have turned out this way: he is breaking the promise he made to Viktor, and feeling terrible about it.
Jayce spends another night sleeping by Viktor’s bedside, until he finally bursts free from the arcane cocoon. His body has been almost entirely transmuted by the Hexcore’s influence, becoming half-magical and half-metal, and he is mildly disoriented in such a state. Jayce wakes up to the sound of Viktor calling his name and pulls him into a long and intimate hug, only interrupted when he realizes that Viktor is still naked (Jayce is shirtless, for his part.). Jayce takes the blanket he was using to sleep at the lab and wraps it around Viktor’s shoulders, hoping it eases his cold. Viktor confesses he doesn’t feel such a thing anymore, and slowly, he realizes what Jayce must have done to bring him back to life.
Jayce is excited to show Viktor the notes he’s taken, focusing on the positive side of things; the Hexcore saved him, helped him stay alive. Viktor is not receptive to this news. He is convinced he was supposed to die in the explosion, and that Jayce should have destroyed the Hexcore when he had the chance because it took an innocent human life. He feels guilt over Sky’s death, relating her aborted dreams as a scientist to their own failed endeavors. As Viktor turns away, Jayce announces he intends to make things right, saying: “I’m going to resign from the Council. I understand now, my place was always here, in the lab, with you. We’ll make this right. Together.” But Viktor is already set on walking away from everything. He says their paths diverged long ago, and that only affection held them together. Jayce begs him to stay and understand why he’s done it, citing the crushing pressure he felt from Piltover’s citizens and the fear that took hold of him at the sight of his best friend bleeding out in his arms. Quietly, Viktor bids him goodbye, and leaves with the blanket Jayce wrapped around his shoulders.
Jayce continues to camp out in the lab in the hopes that Viktor will come back. He’s found by Heimerdinger and Ekko, who expected the place to be empty. Heimerdinger is shocked to find that Jayce is sleeping at the bench, but Jayce avoids his questions. Heimer and Ekko have come to investigate a mysterious corruption slowly spreading up the firelights tree, one that matches the dark magic Viktor used to experiment on plant life.
During this time, Viktor is exploring the Undercity slums, following an apparition of Sky mimicked by the Hexcore. He is led to a dark junkyard and surrounded by hooded shimmer users who intend to kill him for his gear. Viktor recognizes the pain they’re in and uses his new powers to restore their health, gaining their support.
Jayce, Ekko and Heimer discuss the unintended negative consequences of using the Arcane, which eventually leads them to the failsafe installed at the bottom of the Hexgates. The corruption has already spread to the machinery here, and while they argue about what it means, the room is covered by white magical fog. Jayce faces a Wild Rune, and it begins to warp reality following his touch; affecting all of hextech aboveground and causing it to malfunction, while also splintering Jayce, Ekko, and Heimer inside the room. The Wild Rune zaps Jayce with visions of his child self and the mage that saved him from death when he was a kid, and Jayce expresses horror at what he’s done, hitting the anomaly with his hammer in an attempt to destroy it and causing the three of them to disappear.
Act II
TBA. Airs November 16th.
Act III
TBA. Airs November 23rd.
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 be brainwashed 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.
Quotes
- Jayce – “It's not a theory! I saw it with my own eyes what magic can do- the lives it could save. You've no idea how beautiful it is... and now it's gone. No one believed me.”
- Viktor – “Nobody's ever believed in me. A poor cripple from the undercity. I was an outsider the moment I stepped foot in Piltover. I didn't have the benefits of a patron or a name. I simply believed in myself. Which is why I'm here- because I think you're onto something. I want to help you complete your research.”
- Jayce – “No one thinks it can be done.”
- Viktor – “When you want to change the world, don't ask for permission.”
- Jayce – “... I don't even know your name.”
- Viktor – “It's Viktor.”
- — Viktor saves Jayce from committing suicide
- Jayce – “Viktor saved my life once. Now, he needs me and there's nothing I can do. I hate feeling so useless.”
- Mel – “I didn't realize you were so close.”
- Jayce – “He's like my brother.”
- —Jayce expresses his frustration about not being able to save Viktor from his illness. Arcane, episode 6
- Jayce – “I’m going to resign from the Council. I understand now, my place was always here, in the lab, with you. We’ll make this right. Together.”
- Viktor – “I must say goodbye to this place now. To you.”
- Jayce – “Goodbye? Viktor, you’re my partner.”
- Viktor – “Our paths diverged long ago. It was… affection, that held us together.”
- Jayce – “You think it's so easy? To turn your back while your whole city looks to you for salvation? To cling to principles while your best friend bleeds out in your arms? I never asked for this!”
- — Jayce tries to explain why he used dark magic to bring Viktor back to life. Arcane, Season 2 Episode 2.
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.
The ship only had around 26 fics when it was just the game but when Acrane came out it quickly reached over 1k on AO3.
When Arcane's finale aired, a massive interest in the ship was sparked due to their ending.
Fandom
FAN FICTION
- Jayce/Viktor tag on AO3
- JayVik stories on Wattpad
TUMBLR
- JayVik posts on Tumblr
- Jayce x Viktor posts on Tumblr
- JayVik posts on Twitter
- Jayce x Viktor posts on Twitter
- JayVik tag on Instagram
- Jayce x Viktor tag on Instagram
ART
- JayVik tag on DeviantArt
- Jayce x Viktor tag on TikTok
WIKI
- Jayce's relationship with Viktor on the League of Legends Wiki
- Viktor's relationship with Jayce on the League of Legends Wiki
Lists
| 5th | JAN 17th 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| 6th | JAN 10th 2022 | |
| 9th | FEB 14th 2022 | |
| 10th | JAN 24th 2022 | FEB 7th 2022 |
| 11th | JAN 31st 2022 | |
| 15th | FEB 21st 2022 | |
| 26th | 2022 |
Gallery
- Main article: JayVik/Gallery
Videos
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| League of Legends Ships • League of Legends Characters | ||
| SHIPS | het | EzLux • RaXayah • Shadowcannon • Timebomb • YasuAhri |
| slash | Ezko • JayVik • Settphelios • Shadowblink • TFGraves | |
| femslash | Akalynn • CaitVi • JinxQuinn • Leodia • Lightcannon • MFIllaoi • Neekolee | |
| poly | TFMFGraves | |
| family | JinxVi | |
| friend | CaitJay | |
| CHARACTERS | female | Jinx |