Viktor

Their story, step by step

1. Step 1

   Born in the undercity

   Viktor was born into poverty in the lower levels of Zaun. Pollution left him with an illness and a bad limp, so he used a cane. He built machines on his own as a child and showed unusual talent.

2. Step 2

   Singed and the Academy

   As a child he found a hidden laboratory where the alchemist Singed kept creatures alive with painful implants, and he fled in horror. Cecil Heimerdinger later noticed his talent and enrolled him at Piltover Academy. Viktor faced prejudice as a poor Zaunite but worked his way up to become Heimerdinger's assistant.

3. Step 3

   Hextech with Jayce

   He met the inventor Jayce Talis after one of Jayce's experiments went wrong. Inspired by Jayce's idea of turning magic into science, Viktor offered to work with him. Together, with help from Councilor Mel Medarda, they completed hextech research that launched the hextech age and produced the Hexgate.

4. Step 4

   Growing apart

   On Progress Day, Heimerdinger warned that their latest inventions needed years of testing. Viktor argued that releasing them quickly would save lives. Jayce's rise to the Council and the pull of hextech's military uses pushed the two further apart.

5. Step 5

   The hexcore and himself

   Viktor invented the hexcore, a runic device that can adapt on its own, and he became consumed by his work. Learning that his illness was fatal, he turned to Singed and used a substance called shimmer to test the hexcore on his own body. The experiment went badly and left him with deep guilt.

6. Step 6

   Glorious Evolution

   Viktor came to believe humanity should be freed from emotion and made to evolve. He tried to spread this by force through the Hexgate, but Jayce confronted him there. Shown a future built on that idea, Viktor reversed it, and he disappeared along with the hexcore.

Turning points

• Offering Jayce a partnership on hextech
• Creating the hexcore
• Using shimmer on himself
• Undoing his Glorious Evolution

Where their story stands now

Viktor is presumed dead. Piltover remembers hextech mainly through Jayce, and few recall Viktor's part in it. Whether any part of him survives remains an open question.

Who they are tied to

• Jayce →Jayce was Viktor's partner in inventing hextech, then his rival, and finally the person who persuaded him to stop.
• Renata Glasc →Zaun's wealthiest chem-baron, who rules through manipulation and business.
• Orianna →A clockwork girl rebuilt from hextech after a near-fatal illness.
• Mel →A diplomat and solar mage, heir of House Medarda and former Piltover councilor.

Where this fits in the story

1. Zaun · step 1

   From port city to undercity

   Zaun began as an ancient seafaring port sacred to Janna. Around 772 AN the site was drowned in a catastrophic excavation, and it was rebuilt as the undercity below Piltover.

2. Zaun · step 2

   Chemtech and Shimmer

   Without rules, Zaun's alchemists pushed science further. Singed's Shimmer serum can enhance soldiers and also became a major illegal drug that drives the underground economy.

3. Zaun · step 3

   The Day of Ash and Silco

   Vander and Silco led a failed uprising on the Day of Ash, and hundreds died. Silco then built a criminal empire on Shimmer until his adopted daughter Jinx killed him.

4. Zaun · step 4

   A fractured city

   After Silco the Chembarons split, Piltover occupied the undercity, Noxus intervened and Viktor rose to prominence. Zaun is now represented in Piltover's politics, but the peace is uneasy.

Read the full story of Zaun