The origin of Nami's new skin, for those who don't know.

Theres a very large split in people who do and do not like the new Nami skin. I thought it might be a good idea to address some of these points and maybe teach some people something they might not have known before, and maybe they'll gain not just a new appreciation for a skin in a video game, but for the world as well. Hopefully, I'll do a good job explaining River Spirit Nami's inspiration and design.

What is this skin based off of?

River Spirit Nami is based off of a Tupi legend about a magical river spirit who was half fish and half woman named Iara. A mermaid, in essence, but not in the ocean. Instead, she lived in the rivers that ran all throughout South America. She would spy an attractive man, perhaps a fisherman, and sing to him from the river. As he listened, he would grow entranced by her, and would give up everything to live the rest of his life underwater in the rivers with her. This wasn't a bad thing; She didn't eat them or try to drown them. Its mostly European myths that are dominated by every type of monster trying to kill humans for reasons malign. Instead, she was beautiful beyond words and cared for her human lover's every need until the end of his life, when she would lay his body to rest in the bed of the river. The only victims she left were the families and tribes of the man, who simply never saw him again.

Why are there glowing lights in the water and not some fish like Koi Nami?

Amazonian tribes, most famously the Inca who used the rivers as their primary source of transportation, told stories of river spirits that accompanied ferrymen, fishermen, and other boats down the river as they went. The river spirits sparked green and gold in trails and globes of glowing, mysterious light, and they were most clearly visible at night. These weren't mere legends; You could go down to the river and see it yourself as the boats went by: Fantastic shimmering lights dotting the water around boats. Today we know that these lights are actually rare colonies of bioluminescent algae which live towards the top of the water that are reacting to the disturbances in the water that the boats make. Nevertheless, these river spirits make an appearance in the skin.

Why is the water green like sludge?

Water outside of the Tropics is generally clear because conditions aren't good for standing algae colonies. The water moves too fast, is too rough, or is too cold. In tropical rivers, none of these issues exist. The flow of the water is very gentle, it moves relatively slowly, especially on the surface where algae grows, and its very warm. On top of all this, it has an abundance of exposure to sunlight. These are perfect conditions for freshwater algae and as a result there is a LOT of it, and it turns the water a green color. Take the Amazon for instance:

http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=962741&d=1399719810

Thats some pretty green water.

The colors hurt my eyes, why is it so colorful?

Well, tropical fish are generally very colorful, and this applies to river fish as well. And since Nami is a river fish it stands to reason she'd be very vibrantly colored.

If you have any other questions about the skin's design, I'll try to answer them.

Seriously, the art team did a FANTASTIC job on this skin and I'd hate for people to not like it just because they don't understand exactly how much effort the art team put into getting it right.