Jayce and his friend and colleague Viktor have always wanted to bring the best out of Arcane with science to help humanity advance swiftly. But a touch of the Arcane has changed the lives of these two friends in Arcane season 2. While Viktor was saving lives with his newfound power, there was something that happened with Jayce after he was caught in an anomaly involving Arcane. So, what happened to Jayce Talis in Arcane? Let’s find out here.
Spoiler Warning: This post includes heavy spoilers for Arcane Season 2, now out on Netflix.
Jayce Gets Released From the Arcane Realm
Jayce Talis was a revolutionary scientist from Piltover with his Hextech-powered innovations that changed the course of the city’s history. But with great power comes great responsibility turmoil of war, and he got caught up in it. He dedicated his whole life to harnessing the Arcane using science but, in the end, he had to be the one to destroy his crowning achievement.
Hextech began to cost lives and that fact began to haunt him as we saw Jayce slowly losing himself after returning from the Arcane anomaly, which he was sucked into along with Heimerdinger and Ekko.
In Arcane Season 2 Act 2, when Jayce returned from this dimension, Viktor remarked he was touched by the Arcane as well. After he was out, we saw Jayce disassociating often. Moreover, when we see Jayce return, the Arcane stone he used to wear in a bracelet was somehow become fused with his skin now. However, he remained resolute in his newfound mission to destroy Hextech as Viktor once asked him to. So, did the Arcane make Jayce lose his mind?
Arcane Is the Culprit Behind Jayce’s Abnormal Behavior
It’s clear that Jayce no longer consider Arcane a miracle anymore. He was afraid of his technology robbing off one’s life but now he is willing to go to any extent to erase Hextech from existence. So, what happened to Jayce while he was inside the Arcane dimension that totally transformed his perspective? There are two theories that shed light on his abnormal behavior.
The first has to do with his time inside the Arcane dimension. Inside this anomaly, Jayce could have envisioned a world powered by Hextech, and it would have been abysmal as Viktor once predicted. The other thoery is that Jayce must have time-traveled to the future, as he returned with a scruffy look, where Hextech spread to every part of the people’s lives and ruined it.
Be it any version, the end result is that Jayce must have seen the destruction of life using Hextech, which he invested all his life into. Moreover, the touch of Arcane also affected his mind as he was seen splitting and losing his mind. He saw the normal people of Zaun as otherworldly beings and went to kill a kid almost. So, there is no room for doubt that he is not the person once we knew.
After witnessing the harsh reality of Arcane, Jayce became hell-bent on tearing down his magnum opus to save humanity. Thus, Arcane seems to have corrupted his mind to a great extent, making him kill his best friend Viktor in the finale of Season 2 Act 2. That’s not the only death, as there’s another characters who seemingly lost their life in the ending of Arcane Season 2 Act 2.
With that said, what do you think is happening to Jayce in the TV show? Do you think he’s right in sweeping in to destroy Hextech? Let us know in the comments below.
Aparna Ukil
