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Why Riot constantly struggles with Viktor

ModCaptainMårvelous·12/8/2016, 9:00:51 PM·6 votes·1,339 views
http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Viktor_0.jpg

So, yeah, people aren't thrilled about Viktor's new lore gleamed from the Jayce bio, which is understandable. However, Viktor's problems echo a much deeper and more dire issue with league: The lack of villains.

League, as it stands, has around 133 champions. Of those, I'd argue at least 75-80% are heroic, relateable or redeemable in some way. Even champions who did heinous crimes like Camille have a moral compass more aligning with neutral/grey morality than pure evil. Yes, the methods are despicable, but it's for "the greater good".

Now, moving to Viktor, Viktor is a champion who was a product of his environment. He had problems, he wasn't good...but he wasn't evil. He took the problems he saw and pushed to fix them. In my own headcanon, Viktor is a tragic figure who makes increasing amoral decisions, albeit he's not a man who will kidnap children and put them in brain jars like the fuckos from Metal Gear Rising: Revengence. I always saw Viktor as a man who saw the worst in humanity and strived to fix it, albeit with a method that's only two steps from evil.

As you can understand, it's hard to defend Viktor when his method involves a warehouse full of corpses and putting brains in jars.

I understand League needs more morally reprehensible villains. It needs people like Jhin or Aatrox with next-to-no redeeming qualities who are all vying to be the biggest bastard of the bastard bunch. But Viktor is not one of those guys. He's morally questionable, yes, but he's not outright evil. The way he was described in Jayce's story makes me think he's more along the lines of mecha-hitler than any sort of misunderstood and scarred person.

By the same token, I don't mind Jayce becoming more of an asshole. Sure, it echos Tony Stark hardcore but I'll take an asshole "Hero" over a Superman beacon of truth justice and the Piltover way. What I -do- mind is that Jayce is given redeeming qualities. He strives to be better. Viktor, conversely, gets nothing in Jayce's lore. Maybe this was deliberate but all it does is show us that Jayce is a man who will learn from his mistakes (LIKE A SCIENTIST) while Viktor is a man who will repeat errors and only listen to himself (LIKE A BASTARD)

#But this can be salvaged.

Unlike what many others are saying, I -do- know that RIot can work with what Viktor has now. However, there have to be some major strides taken to help Viktor in this category:

  • Viktor needs to tell his side of the story. We need to understand his personal strife and what brought him to this point.
  • We need less evil, more misunderstood. Viktor needs to be shown acting because of what has happened to him, not because he believes he's completely in the right.
  • Viktor needs to learn from what happened. Hell, if his story ends with him completely ignoring Jayce because Viktor realized he screwed up, that'd be a wonderful twist. Now Jayce is hyper-paranoid while Viktor doesn't even concern himself with Jayce.
  • Show Viktor's struggles with his own humanity and to show that there IS a person beneath all that machinery, however muted and torn.

Viktor isn't dead. Riot can fix this. But there is a LOT of work that must be done on Viktor's end to make him more sympathic instead of Viktor Von Doom 2.0

23 Comments

Ralanr12/8/2016, 9:27:01 PM4 votes

I just realized that even Sion has redeeming qualities. League really does lack villains.

I like your idea about Viktor completely ignoring Jayce when something goes wrong. Yeah think it would be very fitting. But judging by Jayce's color text, Viktor sends people to attack Jayce on a regular basis.

I want Viktor to be grey, a dark grey but grey nonetheless. We really need to see his side of the story.

LostFr0st12/8/2016, 9:35:32 PM2 votes

The "kill him" was right after Jayce apologized so Victor was probably thinking "the friend I once knew is already dead."

I also think there's a good chance the zaunites that attacked Jayce in the colour text weren't sent by Victor. They gave off a Singed vibe to me.

DoktorKaiser12/9/2016, 12:11:35 PM1 votes

Clear villains arent fun or likable, I mean how many times did you like a movie villain that was purely evil? Never maybe? Purely bad characters from what I can recall from the top of my head are Jhin, Lissandra, Elise, Mordekaiser, Hecarim, Thresh, Ahri, Warwick, Singed, Morgana, Brand, Syndra, Malzahar, Evelynn, I would also put Camille, then there are the monstrous characters such as Void Creatures and things like Fiddle, Nocturne and Shaco. Now some of these dont have an updated lore, some dont have any backstory that could redeem them. Honestly there are plenty of "evil" characters, we dont have to make Viktor into another one. Problem is there are too many "hero" characters and not enough gray characters.

Ebonmaw Dragon12/9/2016, 3:53:27 PM1 votes

I think that the real reason of why Riot constantly struggles with Viktor its because of Jayce and the release order of the champions.

When Viktor was released, Blitzcrank and Urgot existed... and Blitzcrank was one of the most likeable characters in the lore. Due that and his tragic lore, Viktor was perceived as a "good guy" or "not so bad guy"... or something like that.

But then... Jayce came out.

Many champions have rivals with other champions in the game, or other characters in the lore... but their lores are not _centered _arround being "the rival of that other guy". And for me, Jayce is that kind of champion... 90% of his lore is focused arround being the Rival of Viktor, the only special thing about him is that he is "that guy who fought against Viktor and became a hero because reasons"