After using the Hexcore to save his collaborator, you might be wondering why Jayce killed Viktor in Arcane Season 2 Part 2 – and the answer may be more sinister than originally thought.
Up until Episode 6 of the League of Legends show’s second and final chapter, Jayce was stuck in an arcane anomaly, pulling him through another dimension where his Hextech crystal became fused to his wrist.
Viktor, meanwhile, has been busy healing the Shimmer-ravaged residents of Zaun’s undercity, turning the gray streets into a glowing, magical utopia. However, as Singed/Dr. Reveck warns him, “If you perish, this community is soon to follow.”
We see this horrifying reality play out in Arcane Season 2 Episode 6, when Jayce escapes the anomaly and heads towards the commune, using his corrupted hammer to kill Viktor and subsequently his followers.
Arcane Season 2 theory explains why Jayce killed Viktor
Although it might seem Jayce has simply lost his mind, a new theory has emerged and it makes a lot of sense: what if Viktor and his followers were nothing more than empty shells, having been taken over by Hextech?
If so, Jayce is simply carrying out what needs to be done, destroying the source before it spreads and takes over humanity. Let’s look at the evidence here.
When Jayce, Ekko, and Heimerdinger head to the Hextech base, their breath is visible, indicating it’s cold. Similarly, in Episode 5, condensation can be seen coming from Jayce’s mouth when he escapes the arcane to find Salo.
The same can’t be said for Salo, who’s also been healed by Viktor; you can’t see his breath as he talks. Could it be that he’s no longer human… he’s no longer Salo?
Earlier on in Arcane Season 2, Viktor wakes up and is fused with the Hexcore. Jayce hugs him before realizing he’s got no clothes on. He rushes to grab him a robe, saying he must be cold.
But Viktor insists he’s not, stating, “I sense a charge, an impulse, a recursive impulse. Unpleasant, but cold isn’t its name.”
Jayce doesn’t think anything of it at the time. But after his experience in the anomaly, could he have learned of some terrifying truth about Hextech?
There’s no denying those who have been healed by Viktor with his newfound abilities are all connected, each of them with a pearlescent handprint on their faces. Perhaps he didn’t become Arcane Jesus out of altruism, but because of Hextech’s “recursive impulse”.
When Jayce comes back into the physical realm, Viktor communicates with him momentarily through Salo’s body. When he becomes Salo again, Jayce says, “Hextech isn’t a miracle. It’s a curse,” before murdering him with his hammer.
He then heads straight to the commune, where he kills Viktor, who in turn kills all of those who have been healed by his magic.
As Viktor says in his dying words, “I understand now. The message hidden in the pattern. The reason for our failures in the commune.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
“The doctor was right. It’s inescapable. Humanity. Our very essence. Our emotions. Rage. Compassion. Hate. Two sides of the same coin, inextricably bound.”
Many assume Jayce has lost his mind, but perhaps these words reflect the biggest mistake of all: in the commune, they tried to rise above that which made them human.
Jayce may have uncovered a terrifying truth in the arcane: that Hextech had corrupted not only the bodies but also the minds and souls of those it was meant to heal, leaving him no choice but to destroy it.
Was Viktor’s commune a Hextech hive mind?
This theory was put forward on Reddit, where Viktor’s followers were compared to body snatchers.
“I just got chills because I was rewatching Episode 5, and something stood out to me. Once the rune goes away every time Jayce speaks you see his breath in the cold air of the chamber,” they wrote.
“I immediately went back to the Ekko, Jayce, and Heimer scene in Act 1, and boom! Every single time they breathe and talk in the Hextech chamber their breath is visible.
“The only person who doesn’t is Salo! Because Salo isn’t alive! He is a doll in the shape of Salo mimicking what it thinks humans are but is incapable of a full copy!
“Yeah, Jayce was right to kill Salo and take down the commune; they are all unknowingly a nest of body snatchers or sleepers for some other power that needs to be put down. They are all nothing but the walking dead!”
Many agreed there’s something wrong with the commune, with another writing, “The handprints on their faces is kinda f**ked too lol.
“When Huck was healed, I thought it was part of the scars from his shimmer use, but looking at all the commune members, it’s obviously Victor’s handprint from when he touched them. There’s something f**ky about that cult.”
As for what might happen next, one theorized, “I’m very positive that the next act is going to show us what Jayce’s intent was. We see ‘flashback’ lines where he says he ‘won’t fail’, but these lines haven’t been shown to us yet.
“Jayce is there for a reason because of what he saw from the Arcane, promised to embark on a mission to someone (probably Ekko and Heim) and the show is intentionally making him look absolutely batsh*t so that we resent him before they play us all.”
Arcane Season 2 Part 3 drops on Netflix on November 23. While you wait, be sure to check out these other great animated shows, the Season 2 soundtrack, the most traumatizing scene so far, and the most powerful characters ranked.