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Ekko's Lore - Should It Be Changed?

Griffball36··6 votes·1,117 views

In my opinion (and probably the opinions of many others) the release of Ekko was a huge success. He came out about a year ago with smashing video, comic, and a great backstory. However, there are a lot of things about this particular champion that I feel could be changed for the better, to make his quotes and relationships with other champions line up, at the very least. So here's what I was thinking:

 In his lore, Ekko is said to have invented his own time machine, and be very fluent using it. However, this begs the question, what did he do to become a criminal, as displayed by quotes such as "Aww, who called the cops?" In addition to this, while Ekko's Chronobreak comic is freaking awesome, his relationship with Jinx isn't established anywhere except the small side-painting on the mural featured in Seconds. 

 So here's what I'm thinking: Instead of having Ekko start off with a boring little "Oh, I made my time machine," he could have stolen it from the Zaun Science Facility, whether he was looking to use it for another reason (maybe find his parents?) or just to get it and make his life easier. Either way, it leads to him getting cornered in the facility, guard bots all around him (after all, this is Zaun) while alarms and crazy lights are going off outside. It's in there that he figures out how to use the Zero-Drive, as he tries over and over again to escape, to no avail. Just when he loses hope, Jinx decides to start making a name for herself: by blowing up the science facility. Long story short, she saves him, and he tries befriending her. Fast forward a bit, Ekko and Jinx have met up a few other times, each ending with an awkward goodbye or interruption from the cops (remember, Jinx isn't insane at this point and would be willing to talk to him, since Vi was busy all the time). The comic Chronobreak happens, and a few minutes after Whistle Man is killed, the two meet up on a rooftop. Jinx is sad because Vi had left for piltover, which causes her to start going crazy when Ekko (her only coping device at that point) isn't there for her, since he had his own problems. The two split and it hurts Ekko to see his crush turn insane, and _he never forgives himself for it._ 

 Honestly, I'd be willing to write this whole story if Riot would let it happen (Hell, I'm already halfway through the draft). It would make a lot more sense than having Ekko just casually invent a time machine, especially if he's a street rat with limited resources and knowledge.



_** So, tl;dr is that I didn't like some parts of Ekko's lore, and I feel that if Jinx was more involved in it, as well as his street rat side being a little more acknowledged, the champion would make much more sense and be much more interesting.**_ Thanks for reading!

(P.S. if you think this theoretical new lore could be changed for the better please feel free to discuss it in the comments!)

24 Comments

FlameHalbrdOkido2 votes

I think this is a gud idea, at the very least we can get some insight on what the city-state of Zaun is like now, like how Riot has done with Shurima, and Targon and Bilgewater. At the most this story gives his and other characters more depth and life.

In fact I'd be willing to help you come up with some of the details for the city and its inhabitants since I've been writing my own story for a Zaun character

Griffball362 votes

I've actually been thinking about Zaun, since it's always been one of the more shady areas of Valoran. Since it's supposed to be a place of unchecked science, the higher-ups and nobles of Zaun would be the ones performing the experiments while they fed off the economic struggles of others. That would put a research center as a huge thing for Zaun nobles. By that reasoning, I figured it would be planned like a spiderweb: the Science Facility being a massive dome in the center, with poverty and cluttered streets getting more and more common as you went towards the edges. That's just an idea though, I'd be happy to hear yours!

FlameHalbrdOkido2 votes

Research center/ Science Facility: Science Conglomerate Association of Zaun. or better known to the common people as S.C.A.Z. great scientists and inventors are contracted to work there for the advancement of the nobility who pay them they contract more people for the yearly Techmaturgy Conference when its time rolls around

The problem is (and I believe this is canon according the Zaun wiki) Zaunities/ Zaun born don't really like working together because someone could steal their ideas, take the credit for it, backstab them, or kill them for their ideas. And if this is done well/sneakily enough the officails/ peace enforcers won't work real hard to figure out what happened.

"The S.C.A.Z. had always been a shaky half-formulated organization at best, the people of Zaun were never the best at working with each other. It was at best an inefficient attempt at an existing model better implemented elsewhere."

Competition is the law of the land in Zaun the survival of the fittest. A common saying goes in Zaun "If someone isn't chasing you down, you can never attain greater speeds" The end always justifies the means for Zaun Borns (I could go all day about the supposed culture of Zaun that I have cooked up using the Zaun wiki and my own imagination. Like i said ive been writing my own story, really a novel now...i might post it but its not done...theres a huge cliff hanger right now)

The dome could be firstly surrounded by a dense city center with gray skys of rising smog "Especially in the mid level slums so thick, so acrid, it hurt not to wheeze, into the twilight haze that perpetually pervaded the atmosphere at night. The moon or stars, were smudged by the ever burning light from blurred unidentifiable hexchem and mechanical sources."

Griffball361 votes

You put a lot more thought into this than I did! I always figured that, while there would be a lot of competition, (because they're Zaunites, they all want the credit) they would all be working towards the same goal. Just look at what they've done so far: Blitzcrank was conceived of a few twisted minds, Viktor completely replaced his body and attempted immortality... The way it seems to me, they wouldn't be working towards success at a Techmaturgy Conference as much as they would, "to see just how close they can get to being a god."

Then, the S.C.A.Z. would function just as a place for them to work on and hold their inventions and prototypes while they each work on separate projects. It's a corrupt system, yes, with a lot of backstabbing, but that's because everyone is so obsessed with the potential power they could get over each other with each invention! I mean, who wouldn't want the immortality promised by a metal body? To power-crazed Zaun scientists, sacrificing a bit of flesh for eternal life is hardly a price at all. And of course, they do need to compete so they can push each other to greater, crazier heights of innovation.

I actually thought about the origin of the Z-Drive (I used to think it was called the Chronobreaker) and it makes sense to me, at least. There was this one guy who saw the corruption of the nobles and scientists and didn't want any part of it. He joined the S.C.A.Z. to try and fix Zaun, in the only way he could think to do it: sort of like a batman-ish way of taking it upon himself to personally rid Zaun of its corruption. So as a failsafe mechanism he invented the Z-Drive, referring to it as a time machine, but nobles found out and had him killed to get possession of it. Once they found out it couldn't go back any further than wherever it was last set, (as shown in Chronobreak) they just locked it up and found no use for it, leaving Ekko to find out about and eventually steal it.

Anyway that's my side of Zaun so far, but you seem to already have it pretty well-established, I'd love to hear more!

FlameHalbrdOkido1 votes

I liked what u have in that last comment and Ill add to it to help fill it out

I think that they do work together sometimes for a common goal, just that in the end, when the final results come though, that teamwork can break up real bad, real fast. I also think that they will only work togther if they are assured to get something out of it for their own benefit.

hashtag: Ulterior Motives I think that beyond money, or family/friend connections or a desperate situation where they are in the same boat, they dont work together willing unless they have ulterior motives.

If anything at all, one thing that all Zaun borns constantly work towards is the advancement of their own city state. They want to be the best and especially better than Piltover, so sometimes for the Conference they will work together to prove that they are better than Piltover.

"They are single minded, bent like an overused Allen wrench on achieving their goals, like many other Zaun born; it’s a common mindset to pursue something to the ends of humanity, people here don’t let anything get in their way. Zaun borns prided themselves on the freeness of their city-state that allowed them to do as they pleased."

I think each Zaun Born has their own goals that they are obsessed with, not everyone wants to see just how close they can get to being a god, but they do each want power or something to satisfy a vice, or something in their own way and they would be willing to sacrifice anything to obtain it.

"Zaun borns have a belief of doing absolutely everything necessary as a means to end to make something ultimately far superior. Sometimes the goal is just to claim that they are the best at what they do: Fame, Riches, Recognition, Authority, Room and Privacy to continue to do as they please."

"Every Zaun born was criminal in some way form or fashion, some are open about it, and others just tried to hide it. Everyone had ulterior motives."

At this point its probably more efficient to just post what I have so far in the story, since I have at least posted 10% of my story interspersed in these comments.

Do you wanna read it?

Griffball361 votes

Sure I'd love to!

FlameHalbrdOkido1 votes

{quoted}

Sure I'd love to!

this is what I have so far that I am relatively satisfied with

edit: dun goofed didn't even post the link, well it was in the wrong section anyways, the real things below

FlameHalbrdOkido1 votes

{quoted}

Sure I'd love to!

sorry i posted it in the wrong section and i got deleted heres the new page: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/Tz2b7Qcf-the-endurance-of-hope

FlameHalbrdOkido1 votes

{quoted}

Sure I'd love to!

hope u like it now that ive actually posted the link here, sorry bout that

IcyPepper1 votes

In his lore, Ekko is said to have invented his own time machine, and be very fluent using it. However, this begs the question, what did he do to become a criminal, as displayed by quotes such as "Aww, who called the cops?" In addition to this, while Ekko's Chronobreak comic is freaking awesome, his relationship with Jinx isn't established anywhere except the small side-painting on the mural featured in Seconds.

It seems like he was part of a gang that had some weird Roman Numeral theme naming, and Vi (who is an amnesiac, apparently?) was a part of it. It seems that a common theme in the gang is custom-made tech, either through their own invention (Ekko) or heavy modifications (Vi) to I honestly don't know if she made it herself or not (Jinx) because she's crazy. Maybe they were all children who grew up in the slums and became little tech geniuses... somehow.

I feel like more is going to be explained when we expand on Vi's character arc, since her past is the mystery we're wondering about here. What the hell is with this gang?

Griffball361 votes

This is actually most of my point. This whole gang doesn't fit lore-wise and it doesn't make sense to me, especially if they're a back alley gang that somehow developed their own tech from the slums of Zaun. The lore surrounding them doesn't add up and I was trying to suggest some changes that would make it line up a lot easier, such as: A) Ekko steals his time machine, B) Vi and Jinx are part of a separate gang from the one Ekko is in, and C) Jinx meets Ekko and they like each other, leading to Jinx's insanity when he can't be there when she needs him the most.

IcyPepper1 votes

I don't think Ekko stealing the entire machine would be a good idea, he is a tech genius too.

But...

I'd wager there's got to at least be one or two components unique to a time machine that you can't just scavenge off the streets. The invention is still his, but made of stolen parts, and maybe another inventor is miffed that Ekko beat them to inventing such a powerful device. It could be an opportunity to set up a rivalry with another technological genius.

Griffball361 votes

That could be true, although the way Riot worded it made it sound like he was gifted enough to come up with a design and parts without any prior work in the field of science. That's how it sounded to me so I figured there should be a backstory to the machine, since I doubted that Ekko could build it. Good point, though.

FlameHalbrdOkido1 votes

Guys this is Zaun we are talking about the entire city is technologically advanced, everyone is some type of scientist/mechanic/engineer. They used their own ingenuity + the tools available to them to make this stuff

Rockman1 votes

Ekko lives with his parents

Kotex1 votes

I think his title should be changed to something like "The Chronobreaker"... "The boy who broke time" is just like.... a mouthful. They essentially mean the same thing, one is just shorter, and sounds better to say.

Griffball361 votes

I thought the Chronobreaker could be the name going to his device, since Z-drive doesn't have the same ring to it. For some reason Chronobreaker sounds much better to me for a time machine, since it's got its job in the name. However, that doesn't mean Ekko can't be named The Chronobreaker as well! I'll see if I can get a poll going.

Sincarnation1 votes

No, no, no, no absolutely fucking not Saying "Awww who called the cops?" doesnt make you a criminal. Disliking the police's presence does not make you a criminal, hell people say that when parties get crashed all the time. That's the joke. How about we keep a him a genius kid who lives with his parents and invented a time machine. You know instead of turning the black teen into a stereotype with a tragic romance

If you want it to be true in whatever fan-fic you write go for it, but by no means should Riot change the lore into anything resembling what you have suggested for Ekko. Expansion of character relationships is always welcome, but Ekko's base lore is perfectly fine

Griffball361 votes

relax, please. It was just a suggestion.

FlameHalbrdOkido1 votes

{quoted}

relax, please. It was just a suggestion.

On a happier note, Griff did u enjoy my story?

Griffball361 votes

Yes, I absolutely did! It was really well written!

FlameHalbrdOkido1 votes

{quoted}

No, no, no, no absolutely fucking not Saying "Awww who called the cops?" doesnt make you a criminal. Disliking the police's presence does not make you a criminal, hell people say that when parties get crashed all the time. That's the joke. How about we keep a him a genius kid who lives with his parents and invented a time machine. You know instead of turning the black teen into a stereotype with a tragic romance

If you want it to be true in whatever fan-fic you write go for it, but by no means should Riot change the lore into anything resembling what you have suggested for Ekko. Expansion of character relationships is always welcome, but Ekko's base lore is perfectly fine

I get where u are coming from, but u don't need to respond in that way. Ur right in stereotypes should not be encouraged, and that not liking the cops doesn't make u a criminal, so maybe Griff was wrong to suggest that. But also who's to say Ekkos s criminal, he's an orphan, we don't kno who out what happened to his parents, maybe he ran away from a rich family cause he didn't like it. We also may keep in mind that Valoran is a fictitious place and the stereotypes that exist here do NOT exist there. Thus is a GAME, it's supposed to fun, we should try our best to keep it that way and bit drag stuff from our world and try to fit in a fake world. If we continue to try to do that then we would always try to find a way to fault Riot for making characters that resemble people of certain races.

Sincarnation1 votes

{quoted}

I get where u are coming from, but u don't need to respond in that way. Ur right in stereotypes should not be encouraged, and that not liking the cops doesn't make u a criminal, so maybe Griff was wrong to suggest that. But also who's to say Ekkos s criminal, he's an orphan, we don't kno who out what happened to his parents, maybe he ran away from a rich family cause he didn't like it. We also may keep in mind that Valoran is a fictitious place and the stereotypes that exist here do NOT exist there. Thus is a GAME, it's supposed to fun, we should try our best to keep it that way and bit drag stuff from our world and try to fit in a fake world. If we continue to try to do that then we would always try to find a way to fault Riot for making characters that resemble people of certain races.

-_- I wasn't inserting my own head canon, in the Ekko AMA Riot confirmed his parents are alive and well. He hangs with street urchins but he has a normal family. It is the literal canon for Ekko, he isn't a criminal, he isn't an orphan, he is a relatively normal teen with crushes and the like.

Acting like it is ok to display anything just because it is a game is naive, game or not it influences people greatly. Dragging ideas and concepts from our world and fitting them into valoran is fine when you arent actively transforming a perfectly fine established character into a negative stereotype.

If Riot wants to make a new thief/criminal champion dark skinned, its stereotypical but whatever. Changing an established character to fit a stereotype is unacceptable even more so when they are on opposing sides.

FlameHalbrdOkido1 votes

{quoted}

-_- I wasn't inserting my own head canon, in the Ekko AMA Riot confirmed his parents are alive and well. He hangs with street urchins but he has a normal family. It is the literal canon for Ekko, he isn't a criminal, he isn't an orphan, he is a relatively normal teen with crushes and the like.

Acting like it is ok to display anything just because it is a game is naive, game or not it influences people greatly. Dragging ideas and concepts from our world and fitting them into valoran is fine when you arent actively transforming a perfectly fine established character into a negative stereotype.

If Riot wants to make a new thief/criminal champion dark skinned, its stereotypical but whatever. Changing an established character to fit a stereotype is unacceptable even more so when they are on opposing sides.

hm good points, i like ur delivery, thanks for educating me on a bit of info on Ekkos lore, and for ur well stated arguement

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