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[Udyr Short] Silence of the Damned: What i loved, what i disliked.

NA Darklarik·2/24/2019, 4:54:43 PM·4 votes·4,721 views

Udyr's short story was, overall, fucking amazing.

Ive been maining Udyr since pre-season 2 (my real account is in LAS), i got more mastery points on him than i do with the rest of the rooster COMBINED (OTP), and ive always been a huge fan of his lore, both old and new, i even cosplayed him (poorly) 5 years ago xD. A badass Shaman, arguably one of if not the most powerful one in the Feljord, wronged by the Ice Witch, circled some of the world with Lee Sin, traveled to Ionia and fought in the war, returned to influence the Feljord and aid Sejuani. His story screams of potential, even more so than many other champions and yet my baby had always remained ignored. Until today! So, overall, i loved it, but i had a few gripes and things that were unclear, as well as some new directions im not yet so sure about.

THE GOOD:

  1. Udyr is a badass: I had hoped to see him fight, to properly get a sense of scale of his power, but boy even without actually throwing a single fist, Udyr proved how much of a badass he is, having the greatest Will Power of anyone in the Winter's Claw even when he is unfocused and unmeditated he defied a god and saved everyone from being assimilated.

  2. The story implies multiple animal gods exist in the world: This one caught me by surprise. Each of Udyr's spirit forms is actually borrowing from a Demi-god of the world. When he turns into the bear form, he matches Volibear . When he turns into the Ram, he is matching Ornn . Take note of the other mentioned Forms, the "Undying Eagle" (Anivia ?? Is an eagle, is undying), and the mentioned ones, A Iron Boar, a Clever Lynx. These entities could be real Demi-gods same as the mentioned ones, and it would imply there is also a Tiger and Turtle, perhaps not in the Feljord, but elsewhere in Valoran.

  3. His relationship to Sejuani: I hadnt expected him to be so important to Sejuani, being her mentor and head-shaman. Its a relationship i didnt see coming and the respect and back and forth between them shows a more human side to Sejuani than just a blood-thristy savage who doesnt care about slaughtering innocents even children (which she still does but well... details). What wasnt left clear is if he is her literal Father, or a sort of adoptive one (in the manner that Obi-wan is to Anakin from Star Wars).

  4. Udyr's daily Dilemas: Part of the story is Udyr's constant struggle not just with guarding Sejuani, and dealing with Volibear, but also his ability to hear everything and everyone. He takes empathy to a new level in his ability to feel everyone, man and beast, and in a way it makes him the most human character ive seen. I would have liked to see more on his thoughts regarding the butchering of innocents and defeated, being how he was trained in Ionia, but this is him year after and living in the unforgiving Feljord, im guessing he is simply used to it as a inevitability.

  5. Volibear is like the Ares of League: Like something out of chapter of God of War games, Volibear has a very Ares feel to him as the spirit of war and storms. He forces people to make Faustian bargains. I have mixed feelings about his new look and how it lacks explanation.. but well.

  6. More than 4 Forms: Wether this is teasing at a future Udyr rework (please no) or simply a lore bit, Udyr has way more than 4 forms. The fact that he physically transforms with fangs, fur, feathers, horns is awesome. While i cant say id like to see him reworked, i dont know how wrong or right a direction that gives him 6 abilities, like his R cycles between 2 sets of 3 basic abilities like Elise, incorporating Q-Tiger, W-Turtle, E-Bear into one set, Q-Phoenix, W-(New spirit 1), E-(New Spirit 2) in to another, would be a interesting direction and maybe bring him more into this crazy URF damage unbalanced burst meta.

THE DISLIKE (or rather, What im Unsure about):

  1. Volibear is evil, the Ursise are Eldritch monsters: No real way to go about it. I liked old Volibear being a noble warrior fighting to protect the Feljord from the Void doom that Lissandra plans to bring, and the Ursine a warlike race of Sentient Bears. Now, Volibear is this giant evil corrupting thunder spirit that seems to have had his original body/form destroyed (was it against Ornn? Or in some other battle), as he says "I will be reborn", Udyr refers to his current form as an "Avatar" that rips and tears itself apart. And what the hell is up with his many eyes? Did he take a chapter from Lovecraft? Is he corrupted/Working for the Void? All of these details raises questions, but one thing that is undeniable is the Ursise are demonic, corrupted and evil in nature. No longer a race and No longer it seems they are bound by a noble purpose, and im not so sure how much i like that direction.

  2. Volibear is Udyr's new nemesis, not Lissandra: This one isnt necesarily a bad, but im still unsure about it. The old direction where he was back in Feljord to stop Lissandra's corruption was good as well, including how in his 2nd lore she had been the one to personally kill his mentor and nearly him. While i dont dislike this new direction as it could be done even better than the old one, the old one was good too and im sad it was abandoned. It would seem he knows he will have to have an inevitable but losing battle against the god. Udyr may be powerful, but he is a man trying to fell a god. Hopefully i would like to see him succeed tho (But well, thats just my fanboyism).

  3. The timeline here is really fucked: This is a running theme in many stories, and something i think should be prioritized this year. The timeline. In the story, it seems to take place YEARS after the Ionian war, with Udyr having been in the Feljord for quite some time, interacting with numerous people, and having raised Sejuani since she was a child. How old he is, what other events he has been through, where the timeline connects the rest of the characters, past, present, and future makes reading these stories sometimes really, really confusing and frustrating.

Welp, thats all. Overall, i actually want to say i loved every bit of this, even the parts im unsure about. My gripe is so many details (as always) are missing and that is why some parts of it left me like "what the hell?". I really hope to see more of Udyr, hopefully see him battle, and address many of the questions i pointed out here, especially if he is Sejuani's father.

4 Comments

The Iceborn2/24/2019, 7:59:57 PM5 votes

I see very much how you would dislike that Volibear seems like his nemesis but Im honestly relieved by the fact that Volibear is priority nemesis before Lissandra.... You know, nobody likes Lissandra, poor girl hated by everyone...(Not really but still). But Lissandra has enough enemies as is, especially now with the Winters claw and all the spirit walkers aswell as demigods, so if a main character like Udyr doesnt find her to be his primary enemy thats great.

Zapzya2/24/2019, 7:51:32 PM2 votes

I loved the new story as well. Let me try and clear up some of your timeline issues. The invasion of Ionia took place around 10 years ago, so there was plenty of time for Udyr to come back to the Freljord. With that said, Udyr didn’t raise Sejuani from a child once he got back. It is more likely he just helped her become a good warmother. He’s probably just an adoptive father, but the people of Freljord don’t seem so care much about the difference.

GreenLore2/25/2019, 12:58:20 AM1 votes

Honestly I think it is a good thing that Volibear isn't Lissandras archenemy.

I mean Lissandra is already an important enemy of a lot of freljord champions.

Ashe & Sejuani want to be queens of the freljord and Lissandra wants to stop them(also she is responsible for the death of Ashes mother, who was also Sejuanis role model)

Anivia doesn't want the ice to get corrupted by her.

Nunu looks up to her, but doesn't know her true nature while holding the power that she wants, there'll be surely a conflict between these 2(or rather 3).

Udyrs people were hunted down by Lissandras frost guard.

Trundle was basically forced into submission to her and waits for his chance to strike against her.

So yeah i kinda feel like Lissandra has waaay to many enemies at this point, as she is already an important foe of almost half of the freljord champs(and Gnar and Braum also have some connection to her, though its a bit smaller).

And heck in the end we still don't know Volibears goals. He could easily be an enemy of Udyr&Ornn, while still being a big enemy of Lissandra(after all he blinded her).