Into the Mists: Creating Shadow and Fortune
Heads-up: This article deep-dives the creation of the Shadow and Fortune novella, which itself is a continuation of the events that occurred during the Bilgewater: Burning Tides event. Readers who have yet to experience both stories may find certain plot elements revealed in the text below.
TL;DR: Spoiler alert!
A city in chaos
By the end of the Bilgewater: Burning Tides event, much had changed for the titular portside trading hub. Twisted Fate and Graves settled their differences and set off for new adventures. Sarah Fortune deposed Gangplank in a hailstorm of cannon fire. And the city itself grew from a piratey theme park ride into a realistic, dangerous place packed with compelling characters.
Unfortunately for Miss Fortune, Bilgewater didn’t take the change of management in its stride. Gangplank was a ruthless leader, but his grim dedication to the role was all that kept Bilgewater from tearing itself apart. It is in the midst of this post-Plank chaos that the Black Mist of the Harrowing again sweeps over Bilgewater and leaves Miss Fortune with a choice: Step up and lead, or watch as the unliving decimate a city weakened by the very chaos she created.
Shadow and Fortune is the story of that choice. It’s also the story of where League’s narrative compass is pointed.
A world that moves
“We wanted to show that the world is a living, breathing thing,” explains senior narrative writer Graham McNeill. “Actions have consequences.” Shadow and Fortune is part of a broader effort by League of Legends storytellers to build a world where places grow along with the characters who inhabit them. By picking up the thread of an existing story, League’s narrative writers are building a sense of continuity and establishing arcs that extend beyond one-off tales of derring-do.
It’s a natural evolution from previous storytelling efforts. “It’s been quite some time since we’ve done any ongoing, continuing storytelling,” says lead Foundations writer Ant Reynolds. “It’s definitely something we want to do more—this is just the start.” Burning Tides: The Reckoning helped establish who Miss Fortune is, what she’s doing, and what she’s all about. “But at the end, she gets what she wants. So what happens next?” The Harrowing, a staple of League lore and a familiar danger for citizens of Bilgewater, was the perfect mechanism for pushing Miss Fortune’s character, and the city, to new places.
“Tales of the Shadow Isles spread through the world, but not every Runeterra resident will believe them.”
Reynolds explains, “For the arc of Miss Fortune, she needs that external threat. That’s what makes her go, ‘Right, we all need to come together to fight this thing.’” Knocking out Gangplank is one thing; taking responsibility for the aftermath is another. “She figured that killing Gangplank would transform Bilgewater into this wonderful utopia, free of the oppressor’s boot,” adds McNeill, “but that’s not how it happened at all.” Rising to meet the challenge of the Harrowing and taking responsibility for Bilgewater’s residents helps shape who Miss Fortune is, and who she will grow to become.
Characters gathered
Miss Fortune isn’t the only champion getting attention in Shadow and Fortune. Lucian, Thresh, Olaf, and Hecarim all make appearances. Plotting out multi-character stories gives depth to the champions League players love, but also poses some risks for the teams involved. “You don’t want to cram too many champions into a story; it makes the world feel small,” McNeill contends. “It shouldn’t seem like every champ knows every other champ and they’re crossing paths every week.” Runeterra is meant to be a massive world, a world where the average Bilgewater resident might have heard of Demacia, but has never met anyone who’s been there. “Tales of the Shadow Isles spread through the world,” he adds, “but not every Runeterra resident will believe them.”
Characters also need room to grow within a given story. “Players need to recognize Miss Fortune or Lucian or Olaf in the way they behave, but the characters shouldn’t be limited by those expectations,” notes McNeill. “They should get to do cool, unexpected stuff that maybe surprises a player, but leaves that player thinking, ‘That feels like the right thing for that champion to do, like a natural evolution of their character.’” Dropping characters into a story for the sake of having them show up isn’t enough. McNeill continues, “If you’re bringing a champion into a story and he or she doesn’t have a moment of awesome, why even have them?” Reynolds echoes the thought: “Players love these champions. They don’t want to see their favorite champ in a story and go, ‘Oh, he’s lame.’”
Riot’s storytellers are dedicated to creating tales that help move characters along larger arcs, and focusing on a few characters at a time is a deliberate strategy for doing just that. Attempting to tell everyone’s story at once would rob characters of an opportunity to grow into something more. “This story follows up on Burning Tides, but it doesn’t continue all the arcs,” says Reynolds. “And this is only one small part of the world. The story doesn’t touch on what might be happening in Demacia, or Noxus, or Zaun.” In other words, there are many stories happening across League’s universe; Burning Tides: The Reckoning and Shadow and Fortune are just scratching the surface. Even Gangplank, one of the main characters of The Reckoning, is nowhere to be found in Shadow and Fortune. McNeill explains: “Gangplank’s potential return to Bilgewater is a big, important moment. Players know he’s alive, but the characters don’t. Him coming back needs to be a real ‘Holy shit’ moment – bringing him into this story wouldn’t do him justice.”
Twisted Fate, Graves, and Gangplank will have their time in the spotlight again, but Shadow and Fortune is Miss Fortune’s story, not theirs.
True terror
Shadow and Fortune has a secondary aim: to convey the real horror behind the Harrowing and to establish context for the event within the world of Runeterra. “It’s not just a tale to scare young children,” says McNeill. “It’s a real, nasty, horrible thing where you lock your doors, scrawl runes on the windows, and hunker down under the kitchen table, hoping it won’t come knocking.” McNeill likens Bilgewater to a city on the slope of a volcano, explaining, “It might be worth the risk for the time you can eke out, but the danger can come at any moment.”
The Harrowing also isn’t a once-a-year event tied to a calendar day, but an omnipresent threat. McNeill elaborates, “You can’t just say, ‘Hey, it’s coming up on Harrowing time, let’s go to the country house in Demacia for a few days.’ Everyone in Bilgewater wakes up every day worried that the Harrowing could come.” The constant threat of the Black Mist is one reason for Bilgewater’s vertical construction; it’s a way for the rich and powerful protect themselves from the terrors that sweep across Bilgewater when the Harrowing occurs. “You want to live as high as you can,” says Reynolds, “so you can stay above the Black Mist.”
Telling a Harrowing story adds depth to some of the Shadow Isles champions and extends the narrative reach beyond Bilgewater proper. “We don’t want any character to be one-note,” says McNeill. “The unliving need their own motivations and reasons for doing the things they do.” Putting Lucian in Bilgewater during the Harrowing helps move Miss Fortune’s story along; it also fleshes out the relationship he has with Thresh and opens up future storytelling opportunities. Each character in Shadow and Fortune adds a layer to the story, but also provides greater insight into the world as a whole. Even Olaf, who mainly provides levity in what is otherwise an extremely dark story, is helping players understand more about the places and people of League.
Like Burning Tides: The Reckoning, Shadow and Fortune is meant to serve as a stepping-stone toward a vibrant, living universe populated by League’s characters. The teams involved in its creation are working to build story arcs that take characters on memorable, meaningful journeys that deepen the connection between those characters and the players who love them. There are infinite stories to tell, and infinite ways to tell them. “There are humor stories and romance stories and pure fun stories—it’s all on the table. We know players want lore and stories, and we’re trying to live up to that, one tale at a time,” says McNeill.
Most importantly, McNeill concludes, “We’re not just throwing stories out into the wild and forgetting about them. The world, and its characters, are changing through these stories. They matter, and we hope that will resonate for players.”
needs some lore!
. He worked well within the story (personal opinion) but why did you decide to have him there?
