The best theories are often big swings. This one may not land, but a major character development in the first three episodes of Arcane season 2 has led me to believe that the Netflix series may have secretly answered one of the show's earliest mysteries – without anyone realizing it.
Spoilers for Arcane season 2 follow. You have been warned.
Way back in the second episode of the show, a flashback, featuring Jayce and his mother struggling through a blizzard, is shown
"Someone help us," Jayce says after his mother collapses. Mercifully, his calls are answered by a mysterious cloaked figure holding a staff.
We never see the person's face, but they save both Jayce and his mother, teleporting them to a new location. The unknown person then gives Jayce a rune, which kickstarts his research in what would later become Hextech.
For years, fans have theorized that Ryze – a League of Legends champion and prominent arcane mage in the wider franchise universe – was the one behind the last-minute save.
But what if it's not him? My theory (stay with me here) is that Viktor is the one who saves Jayce.
How? That much is unclear right now. But I have some ideas. Arcane season 2's first act, after all, sees Viktor saved from Jinx's attack by a peculiar blend of Hextech and magic. This then leads to an augmented Viktor emerging with strange new powers, ones that allow him to 'heal' those in Zaun.
The rest of his powerset is under wraps, but Viktor has emerged as an intriguing force in Arcane – and it's not a stretch to suggest that his abilities and untapped potential could stretch beyond changing matter and into teleportation and even some form of time travel.
Need more convincing? When Jayce is trapped in the pulsating wild rune in Arcane season 2's third episode, he sees a quick flash of the person who saved him when he was a child. They are also holding a staff-like object that looks suspiciously similar to Viktor's. On top of that, their cloaks are the same color.
At the risk of putting two and two together and getting only a number Heimerdinger could compute, there appears to be some concern on the show with unmasking the figure who saved Jayce. Right now, no one has the ability to even come close to doing what the mage did decades prior. So, my theory: Viktor travels back in time and sets events in motion that will not only save Jayce, but lead to the creation of Hextech and his own survival.
Mystery solved? Maybe. Maybe not. Still, Arcane is laying down some breadcrumbs worth following.
For our verdict on the show, check out the Arcane season 2 review. Then dive into interviews with co-showrunner Christian Linke as he opens up on the painstaking process behind the show's final line and why he doesn't want to turn the Netflix series into a new MCU-style universe.
Vi and Jinx's final Arcane scene has "never changed" since being written six years ago: "It has stayed our guiding light for the entire series"
Arcane showrunners defend the League of Legends spin-off's reported $250 million budget: "The money is just a reflection of the amount of effort that was put into this"
