#he legit worked himself to exhaustion on the regular with hextech for Years

[a-heart-of-kyber]

It's interesting that I've seen at least one person say "Mel is a born Mage and Viktor is an Artificial one." Which holds this negative connotation regarding Viktor’s abilities and also...feels a bit off base.

We actually don't know if Viktor was a born Mage or not. Mel is in her 30s, and her powers have only just activated. Why would it be different for Viktor?

At the very least, Viktor was literally Fated to be The Mage. He's on some divine destiny shit.

It's also interesting that it's not until Viktor shows up that Jayce gets anywhere with Hextech. Literally, at the trial, Mel asks if he has anything to show for his studies other than an explosion, and Jayce says that nothing ever came of them. Then, suddenly, it's the movements of The Mage that Jayce recalls to stabilize the Hex Gem...and he's doing it while that same Mage is standing right next to him.

The first initial bit of genuine magic in the present time is Viktor bleeding on the Hexgate and receiving the vision of the Hexcore. It's also a bit wibbly wobbly on whether or not he is the Hexcore and the Hexcore was Always him. It basically spawned from his actual blood.

Also, The Black Rose says, "The Arcane is waking up." Whilst Viktor is essentially doing that? It seems the stronger Viktor gets, the stronger other magic users get.

Idk man, I actually think its pretty damn plausible that Viktor was also a born Mage the more I think about it. His abilities were just latent like Mel's were. And they started activating before Mel's did.

It also suits the idea of the line "In all time lines, in all possibilities, only you can show me this." People are assuming that Viktor just doesn't get magic unless Hextech exists, but this line is telling you that isn't the case. Future!Viktor has lived lives where he has magic without ever meeting Jayce, but it's only through meeting Jayce that he can be saved.