Arcane's Most Heartbreaking Friendship

Arcane was one of the greatest animations shows ever made, and it brought to life one of the best and worst relationships in the show. Jayce and Viktor were introduced in the first season, and they were both scientists that were determined to mix both magic and science together, to create something known as Arcane. After Jayce is fired from his position of studying Arcane by the council, Viktor offers to become his sidekick, and together, they create Hexcore.

Hexcore is able to bring their city to life, and everyone accepts the Hexcore, until the duo decides to tackle creating weapons to help the Undercity, that has been experiencing hardship for years. One of the council members warns Viktor and Jayce how dangerous the Hexcore could become, leaving the duo conflicted with their inventions. Viktor becomes more outraged, when he realizes that he is dying from a disease, and he is determined to use the Hexcore to save himself. He eventually tells Jayce about what is happening to him, and Jayce stays by his side, terrified of losing his best friend.

Things only get worse when the war escalates between the Upper and the Undercity, due to the inventions from Jayce and Viktor making everything so much worse between the two cities. Their paths both take a dark turn when they both accidentally kill two innocent people during tough situations. Jayce kills a kid by accident during war, and Viktor ends up killing a young woman who had feelings for him, when he starts using the Hexcore to save his life.

When they both realize their mistakes, Viktor begs Jayce to destroy the Hexcore, but Jayce fails to follow this demand. The council at the end of season 1 is blown up by one of the main villains from the Undercity, leaving many of them dead, and Viktor is barely alive. Jayce panics, and uses the Hexcore to save his friend, and this decision leads to complete chaos.

Viktor is angered by Jayce's decision to save his life, because he had broken his promise of destroying the Hexcore. Viktor ends his partnership with Jayce, and he sets out to the Undercity, where his new powers enfold. He learns that he is able to heal people by using the Hexcore within his body, and he embraces his new form. Jayce ends up getting sucked into the Hexcore that was secretly trapped somewhere in the Uppercity, and he escapes a year later, coming back to the present time.

He has now gone fully insane from witnessing the future of what Viktor will do to the world, and he is now determined to kill his best friend at all cost.

Viktor becomes the main villain in season 2, forcing both cities to team up to defeat this new evil.

At first, Viktor is seen as this powerful godlike figure that is healing the world one at a time, but Jayce is the only one who sees right through his persona. He breaks into the Undercity to find Viktor, and he kills his best friend without a second thought. This doesn't work, and Viktor uses the Hexcore power to go after the Uppercity, to start a war. Jayce and everyone else prepares for a fight against Viktor, and it instantly gets ugly during the fight.

It was honestly so sad to see Viktor and Jayce's bond still appear to be strong in some parts of Act 2. Despite what Viktor had become, and the horrible mistakes that Jayce had made with his Hexcore inventions, there was still this respect and love between them in the midst of war.

Viktor is eventually defeated with a miracle from one character who uses his own type of invention to take Viktor out, and when he does, he finally realizes his mistake. Jayce then reveals a crazy twist, one that made this friendship ten times more heartbreaking.

Jayce had been saved by a mystery man many years ago, and brought to the Uppercity, along with his mother. This mystery man turns out to be Viktor, and they literally meet in every single timeline, their bond remaining strong.

It was so shocking to learn this, because I was stuck on this mystery for two whole seasons. Realizing that Jayce's best friend was the one who saved him in every timeline, only to straight up kill in the end was shocking on another level. And what's even more insane, is that Jayce still wanted to stick by Viktor's side, right until the very end. Viktor realizes that he needs to die with the Hexcore, but Jayce refuses to leave his side. They cling to each other in their final moments, sharing one last beautiful moment before they died.

This was the most powerful and tragic friendship I have ever witnessed in television. After everything that they had been through, knowing that Jayce's own invention led to Viktor going down a path of evil, they still cared about each other.

They stuck by each other until the very end, proving that their love for each other was unbreakable.

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn