Gnar, the Missing Link: Revealation and Speculation

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Okay, so, hot plate fresh out of the Riot oven is their next upcoming champion: Gnar, the Missing Link. I'll talk about Gnar's lore, but first let's speculate what kind of character Gnar is and what kind of role he plays in the overall League story, as well as his own. So, what have we got with Gnar? Let's start out by taking a look at the lore teased in his reveal:

Time marches on for most, but not Gnar. A yordle born millennia ago, Gnar was captured and trapped in true ice, frozen - quite literally - in time. Civilizations formed and fell as the prehistoric yordle vacantly stared on, but nothing – not even true ice – could confine Gnar forever. After breaking free, he wandered Runeterra until he found himself taken in by his yordle descendants. But, as they would soon discover, there’s a beast behind the boy.

This tells us a lot about the kind of character Gnar is from an archetypal standpoint: prehistoric, primitive, and possibly violent. Much like the typical "fish out of water", or "caveman out of frozen block of ice", story that media loves to reuse, Gnar is a relic of an older more uncivilized time. He's loud, speaks in an ancient tribal language and grunts, and will likely have difficultly adjusting to "modern" life. I'm not joking about the tribal language, either. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_Gqbf_lof0 But that's only window shopping for character, let's go on in and try some of it on. Much of Gnar's story was revealed in his initial promotional material, although it was all cleverly relayed by cave paintings. In which we are shown a story about Gnar and his family peacefully living out their lives, millions of years ago. They had a house, some trees, a stream with some fish. All in all, a pretty great existence for an ancient species. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jl6rSVRAbBg/U9fz2oW9bWI/AAAAAAAAAMs/u2EQgT_alxo/s1600/gnar+promo+1.jpg But then everything changed when (the Fire Nation) a large one eyed monster attacked them. Killing the mother and father, Gnar stepped in front of the creature to protect his two younger siblings. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B1boo1pl500/U9f0V442Z8I/AAAAAAAAAM0/odTEANnRMBY/s1600/gnar+promo+2.jpg We don't know why, or how, but something happened at this moment that changed Gnar forever. Either from the effects of this creature or due to something that had always been waiting, dormant, in side him Gnar transformed into a hulking creature. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QQ442bKv2fY/U9f0wQnfy-I/AAAAAAAAAM8/zkdGsuj_qRY/s1600/gnar+promo+3.jpg It's unknown what transpired after that encounter, whether Gnar was able to save his siblings or defeat the creature, but what we do know is that eventually Gnar found himself frozen in True Ice in what would eventually become the Freljord. And for millennia Gnar remained trapped in that ice, until now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcoAiqQPSOw Yes, Gnar is a character that is primitive, and possibly extremely bestial, but he also come across as sympathetic. While he does have this mysterious "Rage Gene", allowing him to become a hulking monstrosity, he has little control over it. Gnar is still simply a child, and one who has lost his parents and everything he has ever known and loved. Gnar had a good life in that house by the river with the fish, and all of it was taken from him in a flash. Additionally, we know that modern Yordles need social interaction in order to live a healthy life. It's unknown how conscious Gnar was during his imprisonment, or even if prehistoric Yordles had evolved that trait yet, but it's very likely this isolation would have had a severe effect on the destructive fluffball. I'd have to imagine he'll be hulking out quite often; Gnar has a lot to be angry about. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RjjNzNulj10/U9fwLbyri3I/AAAAAAAAAMM/Ca2eZQf-atU/s1600/Wallpaper_Gnar.jpg In terms of lore, the thing that enriches the world of the game and brings it to life, Gnar brings a lot of interesting notions to the table. League of Legends has rarely dealt with ancient history, only giving slight glimpses of it in champions like Lissandra, Xerath, and Aatrox. While Lissandra is very much ancient, Gnar dwarfs her, ironically, in his total life span. Gnar should have very interesting insights into how ancient Runeterra was, and what it was like. You know, if he could communicate.

The creature that attacked Gnar and his family looks, oddly, like a Frozen Watcher. The large single eye and the nature of Gnar's mysterious gene seems to fit with the Watcher's penchant for altering native species, such as the Freljordians into the Iceborn. This brings up the question if there are other races that the Frozen Watchers may have meddled with, and why. Another hint that the Watchers may be involved is Gnar's imprisonment in True Ice, which contained him for millions of years. We know that the Watchers had some dealings with True Ice, giving some validity to this notion. This places Gnar's location of imprisonment, at least, at an ancient Freljord as this is the only place where True Ice can be found.

However, once free, Gnar did not stay there for long. Eventually he found his way to one of the jungles south of the Great Barrier and came across a familiar face to us players. This exchange is revealed in his lore, spoken, surpsisingly, from Rengar's perspective:

"The jungle does not forgive blindness. Every broken branch tells a story.

I've hunted every creature this jungle has to offer. I was certain there were no challenges left here, but now there is something new. Each track is the size of a tusklord; its claws like scimitars. It could rend a man in half. Finally, worthy prey.

As I stalk my prize through the jungle, I begin to see the damage this thing has wrought. I step into a misshapen circle of splintered trees. These giant wooden sentinels have stood over this land for countless ages, their iron-like hides untouched by the flimsy axes of anyone foolish enough to attempt to cut them down. This thing brushed them aside like they were twigs.

How can a creature with this level of strength disappear so easily? And yet, even though it has left this unmistakable trail of destruction, I have been unable to lay my eye upon it. How can it appear like a hurricane then fade into the jungle like the morning mist?
I thrill in anticipation of finally standing before this creature. It will make a tremendous trophy.

Passing through the clearing, I follow the sound of a stream to get my bearings once more. There I see a small shock of orange fur, crouching, waiting. I spy on it from a distance. A tiny fish splashes out of the stream and the creature scrambles for it, diving gleefully into the rushing water. To my joy, I realize it's a yordle. And a hunter, at that!

This is a good omen. The beast will be found. Nothing will escape me.

The yordle's large ears perk up and face towards me. He runs on all fours with a bone boomerang in hand, quickly stopping in front of me. He babbles.

I nod in appreciation at the young yordle and venture onwards. I traverse the difficult terrain with ease, trying to pick up any sign of my quarry. As I try to pick up his scent, a distraction. I'm startled by strange chittering. The yordle followed me. I cannot allow him to disrupt my hunt. I face him and point into the distance. He looks at me quizzically. I need to be more insistent, good omen or no.

I rear back and let out a roar, the wind whipping the yordle's fur and the ground rumbling beneath us. After a few short seconds, he turns his head and, with what I think could be a smile, he holds up his small boomerang. There can be no further delay. I snatch the weapon out of his hand and expertly throw it into a tree, impaling it high amongst the branches. He turns and scrambles for it, jumping frantically.

I barely get ten paces when a roar shakes me to my very spine. The deafening crack of stone and wood echoes all around. Ahead, a giant tree crashes across my path. The bone weapon of the yordle juts out from its trunk.

An unearthly growl rises behind me.

I've made a terrible mistake."

I don't want to spend to much talking about Gnar's lore, as it isn't really about Gnar as it is to merely introduce him. Before signing off, however, I would like to briefly talk about the main character in this story: Rengar. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TO2Qw36hKc0/U9f-p-aw4LI/AAAAAAAAANY/UcSyC609oxc/s1600/rengar.jpg Recently Riot put out a new cinematic which featured, what can be put bluntly, a team of "evil" characters versus a team of "good" characters. However, the question that I saw popping up was why Rengar, a known killer for sport, was on the good guy team. He's not caring, protective, charming in the way a lot of the other characters on the team were, and he came across as incredibly bestial in nature which would place him in the "savage" category; one which is typically relegated to evil characters in fiction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzHrjOMfHPY So, why do I bring this up? Because Gnar's lore shows a side of Rengar that we have never seen before: his human side. It's notable that while Rengar is clearly an angry humanoid cat, he was raised by a human hunter and taught human ways. He treats Gnar with a charming respect, as one hunter to another, and also restrained frustration at Gnar's excitement. While his gamplay, dialogue, and the cinematic perfectly capture Rengar's personality as a hunter, they do little to give a deeper insight into who he is as a character which I always felt was his weakest aspect. To my utter surprise Riot went and fixed that, giving Rengar both a more developed personality as "a hunter with a heart", but also potentially as someone to bounce off of. Both Gnar and Rengar have little place in the civilized world, and both are hunters with the potential to cause collateral damage. If I had one wish it would be to see this relationship developed and pushed further, as I think it would do an excellent job at adding a lot to both characters.

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