'A Sword without a Sheath'

Emerald Owl·11/14/2013, 10:55:33 PM·3 votes·1,423 views

So there's been a bit of speculation on the next champion after this small preview. Many people are pondering whether it would be Yone or Yasuo. In my opinion, it's Yasuo, not only because of the tag and the portrait but also because that's the type of champion CertainlyT makes. Yone sounds like a peaceful, honorable warrior, while Yasuo is a master who has no honor. Yasuo fits more in line with champions like Darius, Thresh, and Zyra for being 'evil' types, but not truly 'evil'.

However, the thing that interested me most was the 'maple seed'. At first, I thought this meant that they were both Canadian, but then I looked up exactly what a maple seed was. On the second picture, the sword is holding up a samara, aka a maple seed. These seeds are carried by the wind far away from the parent tree. The one specifically that uses double samara (pictured) is the Acer pseudoplatanus, also known as the sycamore maple, is native to Europe and Southwest Asia. Perhaps this means he's Ionian?

If I had to take a shot in the dark, the next champion is Yasuo, a soldier-without-honor top lane duelist who is as graceful as a maple leaf and has some wind-related abilities. In his lore, he trained under his parents but killed his 'master' and fell far from the tree. He could either be from Ionia (though we have a lot of dark Ionians as of late) or Demacia, as we have no 'evil' Demacians and honor is a big thing there as well. And his ultimate does true damage and refreshes on kill. Darius

the tree: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_pseudoplatanus

11 Comments

Maximum Sejuani11/15/2013, 12:15:37 AM4 votes

Quick though on the maple seed.

It represents the balance of good evil, light and dark, Yin and Yang whatever you want and how easily that balance can tip to one side or the other.

My 2¢

Gonsea11/15/2013, 1:55:54 AM3 votes

He samurai, he is Ionia alright. Same as ninja, or spiritual leaders (Karma, Irelia)

Caleum11/15/2013, 4:03:45 AM2 votes

Top lane YESSSSSSSSSSSSS

Riely11/15/2013, 5:07:09 PM1 votes

I honestly think it is going to be both of them. Either Yone hunting or following his brother in order to take responsibility for his family. Honor could be just as strong a motivation as dishonor.