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This Article Contains Spoilers -
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers. If you do not wish to know vital information on plot / character elements in a story, you may not wish to read beyond this warning: We hold no responsibility for any negative effects these facts may have on your enjoyment of said media should you continue. That is all. |
| NOTE: This article regards the Arcane TV Series version of Jayce Talis. For his video game counterpart, see here. |
| “ | Do you not understand, I am part of this now! The next parent who gets a message their kid isn't coming home... I don't know where to take it. Do we just leave him here? | „ |
| ~ Jayce to Vi after inadvertently killing a child. |
| “ | Councilors. My recent unsanctioned activities in the underground have shown me two things: I'm not fit to govern the people who live there. And neither are you. Our opportunity to demonstrate our compassion, our dedication, our solidarity has passed. They're right not to trust us. [...] With respect, I don't give a shit what any of you think of me anymore. Except you. You were right. You were always right. | „ |
| ~ Jayce to the council about his failure to run the city. |
| “ | We finish this together. | „ |
| ~ Jayce's last words to Viktor. |
Jayce Talis is one of the two deuteragonists (alongside Caitlyn Kiramman) of Riot Games/Netflix's 2021 animated series Arcane, based on the popular 2009 online video game League of Legends.
He is a Piltover born scientist who co-created Hextech with his best friend Viktor, who becomes a councilor and is thrust into a world he doesn't fully grasp.
He is voiced by Kevin Alejandro.
Biography[]
Jayce was born as a member of House Talis, a family known for creating hammers and inventing the collapsible pocket watch. The identity of Jayce's father is unknown as the only member of his family seen is his mother Ximena. The earliest moment of Jayce shown is that of a flashback where he and his mother were trapped in a snowy wasteland in the midst of a blizzard, causing his mother to collapse, which would lead to the loss of two of her fingers. In their predicament, a mysterious mage wielding a magical crystal used his abilities to teleport Jayce and his mother to a beautiful land, and gave his crystal to Jayce.
In the years following, Jayce would become a student at the Piltover academy, desiring to find a way to harness magic through the power of science. Though he kept this true intention a secret from most everyone, he nevertheless managed to impress Piltover founder Professor Heimerdinger, as well as the Kiramman family who became his patrons. Jayce would also begin a close friendship with the daughter of the Kirammans, Caitlyn. At some point, he went down to the Undercity to gain materials for his experiments, as well as a series of crystals. Unbeknownst to Jayce, Ekko, who worked at the shop Jayce went to, revealed this information to his friends Vi and Powder, who broke into Jayce workshop and stole most of his crystals, inadvertently causing an explosion in the process. During the investigation, enforcers discovered Jayce was in possession of illegal materials, causing him to be sent to prison. When meeting with the council, Jayce revealed his true intentions of creating magic, which was ridiculed by the council, causing them to expel him from the academy. They consider banishing him from the city, but Jayce's mother claims he wasn't thinking straight and begs to let him stay. The incident estranges Jayce from his mother, and as well as the Kiramman family. Returning to his destroyed apartment, Jayce considers suicide before being confronted by Viktor, Heimerdinger's assistant and a crippled Zaunite who had been impressed by Jayce's ideas.
Viktor revealed that all of Jayce's research was to be destroyed and offered to help him prove the truth to the council. The two attempted to break into Heimerdinger's lab to retrieve Jayce's research, only to be confronted by Councilor Mel Medarda, who opted not to reveal the truth if the duo could prove their theory. With Viktor's help, Jayce managed to stabilize the crystals, which causes a bright explosion that attracts enforcers and Heimerdinger. Despite this, Jayce, remembering the motions of the mage who saved his mother, ends up causing a release of energy that leaves him and Viktor suspended in midair, impressing Heimerdinger and Mel. Over the years, Viktor and Jayce would go on to continue to perfect their work, "Hextech", including creating the Hexgates, which revolutionized trade in Piltover, and made the city one of the most famous in the world. Despite this, Jayce still worked under the council's orders, and sought to improve Hextech in his own vision.
On the 200th anniversary of Piltover, dubbed "Progress Day", Heimerdinger gave Jayce the honor of giving the Progress Day speech, with Jayce revealing he had just the idea of what to show the press. Later, he and Viktor presented their crowning achievement to Heimerdinger: the Hextech Gemstone, a stabilized crystal that could put the power of Hextech into the life of the common man. The two also showcase other inventions such as the Atlas Gauntlets, gauntlets that can help mine the fissures, and the Hexclaw, a third arm which has a laser. While Heimerdinger is impressed, believing that as the technology is early in its lifetime, giving people its power is extremely dangerous. Looking for advice, Jayce asks Mel, who encourages him to present the technology as it is his. During the speech, Jayce ultimately chooses not to reveal the gemstone, to Viktor and Mel's dismay, believing it is too dangerous. Following the speech, however, Powder, now grown up and going by Jinx, breaks into the lab and steals both the gemstone and numerous papers. Jayce proposes that all Hextech operations be shut down, to the shock of the other councilors. Mel then proposes a radical solution: instate Jayce as a councilor. The council votes, and Jayce is ultimately instated. Upon being elected, Jayce immediately makes it a priority to root out corruption in Piltover, having noticed discrepancies in Hexgate logs. At a theatre performance, Mel explains that most of the council use their position to break trade laws, and that Jayce has made himself everyone's common enemy in his attempt to tighten security. Jayce opts to play along, and chooses to engage in corruption with the councilors under Mel's guidance. Later, Jayce talks to Mel about his plans for Hextech, which leads to the two have sex. However, Jayce leaves Mel after learning that Viktor has fallen gravely ill.
Viktor reveals to Jayce the Hexcore, an evolution of Hextech that can learn, and has the ability to heal and grow biological matter, but has failed with every single subject presented. Jayce attempts to gain Heimerdinger's help, only for Heimerdinger to demand the Hexcore be destroyed, recognizing the creation as exactly the same as the Arcane forces which destroyed nations. Heimerdinger than has a meeting with the council, where he monologues about how the city has lost its way and that the councilors must hold each other accountable for their actions. However, Jayce retorts that no one holds Heimerdinger accountable, and that the city has begun to fail under his watch, culminating with him proposing to fire Heimerdinger from the council, which is unanimously voted on by all but Heimerdinger. He also tells Marcus to enact a blockade on the bridge between Piltover and Zaun, only for Viktor to violate said blockade when he goes to his old mentor Singed. This causes a riot to occur and Jayce and Viktor to drift apart. During this, Marcus hands in one of Jinx's grenades, revealing the ingenuity the denizens of the Undercity are capable. Mel then proposes using Hextech to prepare their own countermeasures, which Viktor refuses, while Jayce is forced to consider the possibility.
Jayce's resolve to go to war is then strengthened after a battle at the bridge leaves Marcus and numerous enforcers dead. He meets with Mel's mother Ambessa, who encourages him to create Hextech weaponry. The council holds a meeting to discuss Marcus's now revealed treachery, where Caitlyn and Vi, who were investigating the Undercity, reveal that the crimes committed were done under the mind of Silco, Jinx's adopted father and a revolutionary who seeks to make the Undercity its own independent nation. While the council refuse to go to war, Jayce proposes the idea of going in with force. Later, Vi meets Jayce to discuss the idea of dealing with Silco directly, and proposes destroying Silco's Shimmer factories. While Vi wields the Atlas Gauntlets, Jayce creates a weapon known as the Mercury Hammer. At the Shimmer factory, Vi and Jayce are confronted by Chemtanks, Shimmer powered bodyguards who kill numerous enforcers before attacking the two. Vi and Jayce manage to beat the Chemtanks, but during the fight, Jayce inadvertently kills a child worker. Upon realizing the factory is filled with the child workers, Jayce realizes the cost of war between Piltover and Zaun, and leaves Vi to figure out a different approach. He organizes a private meeting with Silco, who demands the Undercity's independence. Jayce, knowing the Undercity wouldn't stand a chance, agrees on the condition that Shimmer is discontinued, the gemstone is returned, and Jinx is turned in. Jayce then meets with Viktor, inadvertently saving him from suicide, talking about how everything made sense back then. Viktor then talks to Jayce about how they lost their dream, failing to do good in the pursuit of great. Jayce then finally confronts the council, revealing his plan to end the conflict by freeing the Undercity, which most of the council becomes up in arms about. However, Mel chooses to support Jayce, which causes the rest of the council to fall in line. Unbeknownst to them, however, Jinx launches a missile straight towards them.
Jayce is protected by a magical shield created by Mel (who secretly possesses magical powers), and survives the explosion, but Councilors Cassandra, Hoskel, and Bolbok are killed, and Viktor is mortally wounded. In a state of panic, Jayce takes Viktor to their laboratory and decides to break his promise to Viktor by using the Hexcore to heal him, encasing him in a magical coffin. In the aftermath of the attack, Jayce refuses to return to his position on the council, instead focusing entirely on making sure Viktor survives. He does however, attend a memorial for the dead councilors, which is attacked by Renni, a Zaunite Chem-Baron and the mother of the child worker that Jayce killed. Renni attacks Jayce with a chainsaw like weapon, and, after a lengthy chase, manages to gain the upper hand. Just in time, however, Vi shows up with Jayce's hammer and blows Renni away; the two then attempt to use the hammer together to take down a giant Chemtank, only for Ambessa and her army to take it down first. With war seemingly declared, Jayce begrudgingly begins work on Hextech weaponry again, including repairing the Atlas gauntlets for Vi, and creating a specialized Hextech rifle for Caitlyn.
Despite the war, Jayce continues to obsess over Viktor's survival, to the point of falling asleep in the lab. When Viktor awakens, Jayce is thrilled, and declares his intentions to quit the council and continue helping Viktor create science, but Viktor chooses to leave him, having realized that Jayce had broken his promise and lost his affection for him. Jayce sulks in his lab at the loss of his best friend, only to witness Heimerdinger and his new student Ekko sneaking in. Ekko explains that corruption similar to the Hexcore has infected trees down in his home, which Jayce interprets as similar to the Wild Runes that Viktor mentioned in his journal before leaving. He takes the two down the depths of the Hexgates and shows them the Hexvault. When investigating further, they discover a Wild Rune at the center of the vault, and are teleported across dimensions.
Jayce awakens in a desolate wasteland, where he encounters the mage that saved him as a child, and follows him; the mage then reveals that Piltover has been destroyed. Jayce travels through the remains of the city, discovering both people seemingly frozen in place as well as hordes of Arcane powered drones, who chase after him. While running from the drones, Jayce falls, breaks his ankle after his hammer falls on it, and becomes trapped in a cave. Jayce spends numerous days in the cave before finally managing to crawl out, and travel to this universe's version of the Hexgates, where he realizes that the apocalyptic event that ended this universe was caused by Hextech and the Arcane. He converses with the mage and questions why he was brought here; the mage reveals himself to be an alternate universe Viktor, who used the Arcane to forcibly evolve humanity into mindless machines devoid of free will, only to realize his mistake after realizing there was no benefit to this dream, and has realized that Jayce is the only one who can stop the past version of him. The alternate Viktor then embeds the crystal he gave to Jayce as a child into his arm and teleports him back to Piltover, armed with a corrupted Mercury Hammer.
When Jayce returns to his home dimension, he encounters Salo, a Piltover councilor who has been "healed" by Viktor. Viktor tells Jayce to meet him at his commune to witness his new accomplishments, but Jayce refuses, and uses his new hammer to kill Salo. Jayce then slowly makes his way across Piltover and the Undercity to the commune, having visions of the alternate future as he does. A child healed by Viktor brings Jayce to Viktor, who then uses his hammer to shoot Viktor in the chest, causing all of the people Viktor healed to die, coinciding with a battle between Vi, Caitlyn, Jinx and Ambessa's army. Jayce escapes with the former's help.
Returning to Piltover, Jayce confronts Mel, who has discovered she has magical powers and confesses to having shielded him from the blast. Jayce lashes out at her, and accuses her of having manipulated him and Viktor into creating Hextech simply for monetary gain. Their argument is cut short by the arrival of a drone created by Viktor, whom Viktor uses to try to convince Jayce into lending him access to the Hexvault in order to commence the "glorious evolution", the apocalyptic event from the alternate dimension. Jayce refuses, and, with Mel's help, is barely able to destroy the drone. During the fight, Jayce also discovers Ambessa has allied with Viktor, aiming to use his drones to join her army, unaware of the true danger Viktor poses. Knowing full well the implications of Viktor's success, Jayce attempts to convince all Piltover houses, as well as members of the Undercity, to join the army and face off against Ambessa's forces.
As part of the attack plan, Jayce goes down into the Hexvault to dismantle the energy sources there and prevent Viktor from achieving his goal, while up above, Piltover and Zaun battle against Ambessa and her soldiers. However, the attack is revealed to be a distraction, as Viktor, having mutated into a new, emotionless form after Jayce's attack, is able to infiltrate the vault underground, and reveal himself to Jayce. Jayce pleads for Viktor to not go through with his plan, which Viktor refuses. Using his powers, Viktor is able to gain the wild rune, and he and Jayce clash as they travel to the top of the Hexgates. Ultimately, Viktor uses the Wild rune to commence the "glorious evolution", which involves taking people's consciousness and personality and destroying them.
Jayce's personality is taken into a place where he barters with Viktor for the souls of the citizens of the city. Viktor claims he intends to help people, as people's emotions cloud their judgement, but Jayce disagrees, stating there is beauty in imperfections. At the same time, Ekko, who created a time machine in his alternate dimension, is able to damage Viktor's physical form to the point that some level of humanity returns. With Viktor now somewhat awake, Jayce reveals his encounter with the alternate Viktor, and is able to convince Viktor to give up. Viktor begins a self-destruction, asking Jayce to leave, but Jayce refuses, pledging to "finish this together". In the ensuing explosion, both Jayce and Viktor are seemingly killed.
Personality[]
Quotes[]
| “ | Hextech. For the era of Hextech. | „ |
| ~ Jayce after creating Hextech with Viktor. |
| “ | This corruption runs deep, Sheriff. I intend to root it out. | „ |
| ~ Jayce after becoming councilor to Marcus (unaware of his criminal dealings) |
| “ | Jayce: And who holds you accountable? Heimerdinger: What? Jayce: Shimmer is rampant in the undercity, attacks at the Hexgates and in the academy square, enforcers fear to set foot in the lanes, all under your watch. Heimerdinger: Jayce, you forget yourself. Jayce: I'm sorry, professor, but healing this city will take more than just speeches. Time and again, you've warned us what not to do. But let me ask you this, what's your plan to fix this? Heimerdinger: I see what this is about. Your Hextech projects need more time. More safeguards Jayce: Humans don't live for centuries! We can't wait for progress. We need a leadership focused on the future, not the past. You are the true father of Piltover, and your years of service can never be repaid. I believe it's time we gave the beloved founder of our city... a well-deserved retirement. |
„ |
| ~ Jayce to Heimerdinger before voting to remove him from the council. |
| “ | He was my mentor, Mel. And I betrayed him. | „ |
| ~ Jayce feeling sympathy for betraying Heimerdinger. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- His status and fate is unknown in the alternate timeline where Hextech never existed and Vi died raiding his lab. Theories include:
- Alongside Vi, Jayce (and possibly Caitlyn) were also killed in the explosion.
- Jayce suffered an even worse punishment than expulsion from the council since a child was killed by his experiments, likely imprisonment or exile.
- Like the main timeline, Jayce attempted suicide after all the misfortune that befell him, only this time, he was successful.
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