Tahm Kench...the river king?

Omitsuru·Feb 13, 2017·1 votes·1,578 views

This is actually meant for rioters to answer, but I do welcome anyone who might know to answer.

So I've been mulling this question around for a little while now, and decided to see if I could get an answer. Tahm Kench's (TK for short) moniker from his lore is "The River King", so in his gameplay why does his kit not reflect this when he is within the river on summoner's rift? Rengar is an example of what i mean by this. The additional range for his basic attacks thanks to his passive is dependent on him physically being within the confines of brush. To transfer this idea to TK, why does he not get some kind of advantage when he is in the confines of the river when he is suppose to be THE RIVER KING?

Now I'm not asking for something over powered or anything crazy like that (or at least that wasn't my intent). Just something that shows anyone on "his" land when the "King" is present.

Just some examples of an addition that could be added to his kit: I'm leaving the blanks up to the riot team.

Passive: When in river, "acquired taste" stacks last _ second(s) longer. (my idea was 1 second)
Passive: When in river, max. health that is turned into magic damage is increased to _%. This % is doubled when attacking river monsters (skuttles/dragons/herald/barons) (my idea was 2%, so it would be 4% against monsters)
Passive: When in river, +__ to flat movement speed (my idea was +25, nothing too crazy)
E (Thick Skin): When in river, decaying gray health converted into health is increased by _. (my idea was 5, so 50% at lvl 5 instead of 45%)
R (Abyssal Voyage): When activated in river, Abyssal Voyage is only interruptible by heavy crowd controls, not damage. (similar to shen's ult)
R (Abyssal Voyage): If successfully activated/used in river, cooldown of Abyssal Voyage is lowered by _%. (my idea was 25%, since his ultimate is movement based in nature, not offensive (not damaging) nor defensive (no additional shields)).

These are all suppose to be stand alone additions as well, not meant to be combined. Thank you in advance for reading.

20 Comments

BootlesslyFeb 13, 20172 votes

TahmKench Because the whole worlds one river, and I'm its king.

AptestFeb 13, 20172 votes

because rengar is a denizen of the literal jungle. but TK is king not of any particular literal river, but rather of a more abstract concept.

OmitsuruFeb 14, 20171 votes

Well I'm not so sure...I mean we ALL know where the idea/kit/animation/skins for rengar came from. And it wasnt always a jungle that they fought in. I mean only 2 of the 5 movies that they were in did they fight in a literal jungle. Also i was merely using rengar's passive to help explain what i was trying to illustrate in regards to TK being in the river

midnight oil24Feb 13, 20171 votes

It's more of a symbolic thing. He says that "all rivers end in me," which is talking about how anyone who is swept up in their ambitions or sins will eventually end up in his bottomless maw. The "river" here references both his water theme but also the idea of being swept up in your greed and ambition, and making hasty deals to get what you want with little effort (which is why the gambler was used in his story. There's no effort in gambling, it's just making a deal). As such, he's "the river king" because he pushes you down the river, and eventually you're "dragged under the water", signifying that your laziness, your desire to achieve your ambitions, has caught up with you in the end.

At least, that's how I see it.

twochain2Feb 13, 20171 votes

He definitely lives in a river though and I would imagine thats how he gets everywhere.

midnight oil24Feb 13, 20171 votes

He's shown to not need the river to move about, as he references taking Nami to the moonstone, despite the fact that it's nowhere near the ocean. I think that the River is more of a symbolic thing, the way he moves about, not necessarily made of water or even on this plane of existence. Remember that in his ult he's shown diving down into anything, even dirt. Not only that, remember that his main skin is just the way the people of bilgewater see him, it's possible that in other cultures he's not even a fish. He probably does different things for different cultures. I just don't think he's tied to the river. Or rather, he's tied to the River, but no river that we know of.

OmitsuruFeb 14, 20171 votes

Well also dont forget, that in his ult's animation water actually FORMS where he dives and arrives. So it could be just him manipulating the natural occurring water in the surrounding area (even dirt has water in it) to create a water "gateway" for him to utilize. So it could merely be that he can access his "river" at any location so long that is has some form of moisture. I mean we're merely getting into semantics here, but interesting nonetheless.

midnight oil24Feb 14, 20171 votes

Keep in mind that a spirit like that would not require the same things as us. It's entirely possible that he's merely leaping through another world. That's the miracle of water: it flows, so it can be used for whatever shit you want in symbolism, hence my river metaphor idea. Which, I would like to note, came off the top of my head and I'd never actually thought about it before today.

OmitsuruFeb 14, 20171 votes

I agree with that, and considering that I'm sure valoran probably has more water than earth (merely speculation), I think his ultimate ability can get him almost anywhere he want/needs to go.

OmitsuruFeb 14, 20171 votes

I think it could be taken both literally and figuratively, it merely depends on how an individual interprets TK's back story. So I cant really counter your statement since it is your truth. My post was speaking more along the lines of it being a literal river(s).

Mysticman89Feb 13, 20171 votes

Yeah kench goes by many names, and many appearances as far as I understand the lore, and it's more a metaphorical river rather than literal that hes the 'king' of. That there is a literal river going through SR is more of a coincidence, and he's no more likely to get special river bonuses than nami as a result.

(Also, while they only balance around SR, I do hate to see a champs power budget used on things that cant really transfer to other maps, as TT/HA don't have a river.)

midnight oil24Feb 13, 20171 votes

What are your opinions on my interpretation of the river metaphor? I'd also love to see how you interpret it :)

Mysticman89Feb 13, 20171 votes

I am far from a lore expert, but your interpretation seems roughly in line with mine.

midnight oil24Feb 13, 20171 votes

Okey doke. What I wrote was just my interpretation, there's a lot of ways the "river" could be taken.

ErockandrollFeb 13, 20171 votes

{quoted}

Yeah kench goes by many names, and many appearances as far as I understand the lore, and it's more a metaphorical river rather than literal that hes the 'king' of. That there is a literal river going through SR is more of a coincidence, and he's no more likely to get special river bonuses than nami as a result.

(Also, while they only balance around SR, I do hate to see a champs power budget used on things that cant really transfer to other maps, as TT/HA don't have a river.)

Don't take the River on SR like an actual river. A body of water that takes maybe a few seconds to cross. By simply wading through it without it even hampering your movement. And the water, appears to be still. That's not a river, nor a lake, nor a creek. That's little more that a standing pile of rain water.

I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure there's only one river in Valeram. Which as far as I can tell, is the only continent on Runeterra. So when Kench referrs to it as the worlds only river, I don't think he's wrong about that.

OmitsuruFeb 14, 20171 votes

Well even the creators/designers of the game call it a river so...

OmitsuruFeb 14, 20171 votes

Well coincidence or not (it is since the river was there WAY before TK was even thought of), Nami isnt claiming to OWN/RULE over a body of water, TK is. Generally if you have the balls to say you're a king/owner of something, you'll have something to back it up (whether its your blood, power, or money). And if you can make that claim legitimate, said person usually gets advantages that only THEY are allowed to utilize (diplomatic immunity is a good example for presidents of countries). Just a thought.

And I agree about the second thing. Look at kindred in any other arena, she doesnt get JG hunts off her passive because SR is the only arena the the JG is present.