- Arcane's creators have refused to say why Jayce's season 2 arc has taken an unexpected turn
- After disappearing in episode 3, Jayce returned in episode 5, but not as the character we know
- The Netflix show's creators tease that "all will be revealed" in season 2's third and final act
Full spoilers follow for Arcane season 2's first six episodes.
What on earth has gotten into Jayce? It's one of the biggest questions on Arcane viewers' minds after another typically explosive and emotionally stunning capper to the animated series' latest batch of episodes.
I've written about my thoughts on what's happening to him in my Arcane season 2 act 2 ending explained piece. I'm an impatient individual, though, so I simply can't wait until the award-winning Netflix show's next three episodes to get a definitive answer. The gap between acts is even greater for me, too, as I watched season 2 act 2's episodic trio over two weeks ago.
So, when I sat down for an exclusive chat with series creators Christian Linke and Alex Yee before Arcane's second and final season initially debuted on November 9, I had to ask: what's going on with Hextech's co-founder?
Unsurprisingly, the pair weren't forthcoming with answers – you know, something about not wanting to spoil significant storylines before season 2 act 3 arrives on November 23 or whatever. Coy as they tried to be, though, Linke and Yee offered a tantalizing crumb of information about Jayce's descent into madness in Arcane season 2, which was just enough to satiate my appetite before one of the best Netflix shows' final hurrah next Saturday.
"Oh, you will find out," Linke teased. "You will find out in gratuitous detail. Let's just say certain illusions [about the good that Hextech can do] have dwindled."
"Yeah, it's safe to say his dreams for Hextech have died," Yee added.
Intriguing as those hints are, I was already under the impression that Jayce has experienced some extremely traumatic events since we last saw him. Indeed, after he disappeared alongside Ekko and Heimerdinger in season 2 episode 3 – read my Arcane season 2 act 1 ending explainer for more details – it was unclear when we'd see Piltover's so-called Man of Progress again.
As it happens, the wait wasn't a lengthy one. This season's fifth episode reunites us with Jayce after he returns to the material realm, aka the real world, following his Anomaly-based exploits. However, this isn't the same Jayce who went missing two chapters ago. The individual who reappears is an unkempt, exhausted-looking, and rage-filled character who's not only wielding a corrupted form of his Hextech hammer but whose rune-based magic crystal is now embedded in his left wrist.
Clearly, wherever he's been, Jayce has experienced some... how can I put this politely... unpleasant events. Why else would he perform a 180-degree turn and say Hextech, the magic-infused invention he created with Viktor that he's defended time and again, needs to be destroyed? Oh, and why else would he kill Salo and Viktor, not to mention escalate the conflict between Piltover and Zaun by murdering his former scientific partner in cold blood?
Whatever's happened to Jayce, this isn't his first emotionally harrowing jaunt. Being saved by a mage as a child, almost committing suicide when his Hextech dream was originally snuffed out by Heimerdinger, killing a kid in season 1 episode 8, and Jinx's attack in Piltover's council – it was "always the plan" for certain characters to die in that attack, Linke and Yee told me – are just four psychologically damaging incidents he's dealt with in this show.
Throw in being whisked away to another reality and becoming a physical manifestation of a "sophisticated conjuration", as Viktor describes it in episode 6, and it's understandable why Jayce isn't doing well. Let's hope the idealistic and good-willed man of science inside him isn't completely lost as we approach the end of Netflix's first League of Legends animated adaptation.
Ahead of season 2's last few episodes debuting on November 23, pass the time by reading more from my chat with Linke and Yee in the section below.
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