@RIOT Tahm kench question

midnight oil24··9 votes·856 views

I figured it would be best to contact the hierarchy of elders on this topic. I was looking around on the boards today and saw a thing questioning why Tahm Kench didn't have any special interactions with the river. I offered this idea up:

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.

How accurate is this? I want to see if I'm right or not.

10 Comments

TyrekGoldenspear5 votes

Looks good to me. I'll bump it so that Sharjo or Jeredan can see it and maybe take a swing at it.

midnight oil241 votes

Thank ye!

Tattersall2 votes

Came here to answer a question.

Got here and was given a lesson in lore. I agree with Tyrek.

midnight oil242 votes

You were the mundo person, right? Or am I mistaken.

Either way, I'm glad you agree with Tyrek and me on this. Tahm Kench, like Aatrox and Kindred, is a good character because he's so open to interpretation. Aatrox can represent the basic survival instincts that humans have that kicks in when we're against a wall. He's the literal embodiment of the fight half of fight or flight.

If you are, indeed, the rioter who hasn't gotten their red name yet, thanks for commenting!

FloRaider421 votes

Wait that was ambiguos? I mean half of his dialouge is about making a deal with the devil. "It is the heart from which the darkest water flows."

midnight oil242 votes

I was just stating my opinion. Seeing you around these boards, it seems like you have to be passive aggressive over everyhting. Why is that? Genuinely curious.

FloRaider421 votes

You did give a pretty well written explanation of this thematic aspect and I upvote you for that, but I genuinly was suprised that appearently this side of him isn't that well known. I mean he is introduced as a demon that offers deals that end very badly and I assumed it was pretty clear in that respect.

Do I really come off as passive aggressive?

midnight oil241 votes

Oh, ok, yeah, that's a good way to phrase it.

Just some of the ways you phrase things, like on one of dreamwalker's latest posts, you open with this:

A champion that doesn't try to usurp another champions spot from The Dreamwalker? That's new and interesting.

I know you have good intentions, but people will, in general, be less likely to listen if you open with something like that. It comes off as rude.

Also, it is a fairly noticeable thing if you look, I just said all this cause one guy thought that the whole "river king" section of him was referring to literal rivers that he was teh king of, not his metaphorical "greed river." Thanks for the upvote!

FloRaider421 votes

Wow, didn't think of it that way... In my language the statement wouldn't seem as bad, but now that I think about it in english it sounds much harsher in comparison. Thank you very much for pointing this out

midnight oil242 votes

It's no problem. I've had my problems with driving people away because I didn't realize I sounded passive-aggressive, so I don't want others to go through that either.

Hope you have a great day! That sounds passive agressive, but it was genuine.

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