What's the deal with yordles?

Donny Lurch·Apr 10, 2015·7 votes·2,537 views

I've always been a fan of the "little" races in most games - gnomes, goblins, asura - but they generally follow some sort of rule for how they look. Now, I like the variety of yordles in LOL, but I don't understand how their taxonomy works.

Why are some of them furries, and some of them look like humans? Why are only the males the most human-like, while the females have blue or purple skin? Is Heimerdinger furry, or does he just have an abundance of facial hair? They're cute and diverse, but I don't understand it. Please help.

18 Comments

AJStarhikerApr 10, 20155 votes

It's because the earliest lore had two breeds, Yordles and Meglins. By S1, they'd been consolidated under Yordles, with Meglin becoming a military unit. Visual updates have been making the champion appearances more consistant for the race.

FluxBoundApr 11, 20151 votes

Teemo = Meglin?

AJStarhikerApr 11, 20153 votes

{quoted}

Teemo = Meglin?

Tristana.

RiotMistriotApr 11, 20154 votes

Sometimes they turn dark - maybe because they have to stare at everyone else's nose hairs. Veigar

GarurumonApr 10, 20153 votes

Female in the past have been mainly non-furry in their facials, making them sorta like midgets. But Riot is aiming towards making the females more equal to the men in hair and such. Yes, Heimerdinger's entire hair is covered in regular + facial hair.

Also colors may vary, such as human variations.

ThryaleApr 11, 20153 votes

not quite, with the most recent yordle themed update, trist is largely fur-less. And it's been generally accepted yordle lore that yordle females have a kind of 'peach fuzz' complexion while the males are completely furry.

GarurumonApr 11, 20151 votes

{quoted}

not quite, with the most recent yordle themed update, trist is largely fur-less. And it's been generally accepted yordle lore that yordle females have a kind of 'peach fuzz' complexion while the males are completely furry.

Yes, but have you seen the yordle shopkeeper on the new Summoner's Rift? That's the direction that Riot is trying to go with in the future. Of course the men will still have more hair, but the females will also get their fair share.

SirsirApr 10, 20153 votes

Females are Smurfs, Males are Hamsters. Its THAT simple.

Donny LurchApr 10, 20152 votes

{quoted}

Females are Smurfs, Males are Hamsters. Its THAT simple.

Yeah but Corki just looks like Vern Troyer with a long mustache. I can't tell if Heimerdinger is supposed to be similarly fleshy under all his hair. There's that one skin where the splash art has his goggles raised, and he appears to only have a long mustache like Corki, but that was before his update.

Perhaps humans may never know for certain, but at least they are cute and mysterious!

SiachiApr 11, 20151 votes

Corki's still an older model, so he still needs to get a VU to get him in line with other Yordles. When his VU inevitabley comes around, I'm almost sure they're going to make him into a hamster-person-thing.

And yeah, besides his classic splash art, Heimerdinger's alternate skin splashes are based on the old model, so they're definately outdated.

For some reason, Riot seems to be pretty bad at getting alternate skin models redone. Trundle got his character completely changed, and he still has skins that depict Old 'really nothing at all like current Trundle' Trundle.

BetaDude40Apr 11, 20151 votes

Riot's said that they want to get the base models and splash arts and what-not updated first, then they will start focusing on skins. In TUs, they usually touch up all of this at the same time, as well as in many VUs. But they don't go over the splash arts themselves.

CubedJusticeApr 10, 20153 votes

Almost every Yordle can be super annoying to face, too. Teemo Corki Kennen Ziggs Rumble Lulu Poppy

FluxBoundApr 11, 20152 votes

Gnar

CubedJusticeApr 11, 20152 votes

Tristana

SmknWdlApr 10, 20151 votes

Point is they are cute AF dont question them

KoboldApr 11, 20151 votes

We are still waiting on the Great Visual Yordlefication rework of 2013, in which all yordles are to be getting a visual update to be in line with a common theme for a race. Don't worry 2013 is coming soon.

VelivoloApr 11, 20151 votes

Please see above posts about Yordles previously being two different races.

I'm just glad they're working on it. It's been said that they want to bring female yordles more in line with the appearance of Lulu, and while we haven't seen much yet I'm excited for the Poppy update.

Also, do keep in mind that sexual dimorphism does exist even in real species, so it's viable for Riot to say "Well, female yordles just have less fur and that's okay." Additionally, taxonomy is not the correct word at all.

BeerOfRoot4843Apr 11, 20151 votes

There is no race. They call them Yordles so they don't offend short people. I know this because I am midget blue wolf-kin and they don't like to associate themselves with me.