Irelia: An In-Depth Character Analysis

What is this about?

Hello, I don't know how familiar of a face I am on these parts of the board anymore, but that is far from the point.

Over the past few days there has been more talk about Irelia, and I have to be honest, she is the reason why I joined League of Legends. I love her backstory, I love her character, her personality, her themes and what she's meant to represent so much that I could for a long time ignore the glaring flaws in her gameplay and her trademark octopus hair. The reason why I'm writing this post is because of several concerning statements I've come across when discussing Irelia. If you navigate the old forums, Irelia is essentially in a vacuum: People still argue whether or not she's a lich, which has only been clarified as of recent because IronStylus said she shouldn't be a lich. But that isn't my concern, I agree that she shouldn't be an undead or a lich, as seen by this statement:

{quoted} Personally, I like to design around story and gameplay. I can work with her being an Ionian general wielding unobtainium soul-blades. That's cool to build off of. However if we overhaul her narrative aspects, some things might change, but I don't see her main reads as changing. She's not going to turn into a magic wand user or anything.

Building around story and gameplay? Absolutely, Irelia has incredible amounts of potential and is a great narrative character with an amazing story. What caused me concern was her being an Ionian general and her having unobtanium soul blades, you can say I’m jumping the gun (and be right about it!) but what prompted me to write up this entire spiel was:

"So yeah. I don't care what it ends up being. Personally I like the idea of a soul-bound weapon or even something akin to having an ancestor's soul tied to the power source of the blades. Either way she's gotta get some flavor in there."

What my concern is, is how there’s being more focus on how Irelia is going to be a badass because she has amazing swords that have her ancestor’s soul imbued in them, and it won’t help her character. In fact, for the same reason as making her a lich would muddle her themes and the worldbuilding of Ionia, I think an ancestor-infused sword may actually detract from Irelia and what she’s meant to represent.

Irelia shouldn't be a legend because she is holding a sword imbued with the ancestor's soul which gives the blade its power, that misses the point of her being the "Will", that detracts from Irelia becoming a legend on her own. While I agree 100% that Irelia should be using those blades as a telekinetic blade master, as IronStylus said in the same quote, " If I'm going to be a telekinesis blade master.. I WANNA USE THEM BLADES," I think we should have a discussion as to who and what Irelia is. I really, honestly don't think Irelia's story needs to be changed all that much, if at all. It is rife with potential and it characterizes Irelia in a way that few other champions have been characterized.

As a note, I'm not saying "Don't change her kit it is best!" Please, for the love of everything that is good, please trash that kit, it needs to not only reflect her better but it needs to be revamped so it can actually be balanced and made more interesting. It has good concepts, her Q and her R, but her passive, W and E make many a player weep in lane.

I'm going to be dividing this up into multiple sections. The first section will be strictly only what has been made known about Irelia and what her character says and what it represents, and also what will cause muddling and confusion in the character, and will act as the Tl;dr section if you only want facts and character analysis. The second section will be an expansive look at how Irelia can be integrated into the world with multiple characters but mixes both my interpretations and what Riot has offered us and what could be done. The third section is going to be me shooting the shit about possible visual aspects to Irelia, like how wonky her silhouette currently is. The 4th section will be a proposed redesigned skill set from another user who I think has hit a lot of good notes on what to expect with Irelia.

---

** Who is Irelia? **

Tl;dr version: Irelia is someone who has had everyone and everything she's ever cared for taken away from her by events out of her control, and rather than back down or falter she soldiers on and carries the fervor and pride of Ionia on her back, no matter the cost.

Irelia is someone who has lost almost everything she has ever wanted in life and was forced to hold onto what she could with both hands and all her might.

Irelia is now a general, but she wasn't one by choice. Irelia wasn't the chosen successor to the Hiten art, it was her brother, Zelos. Her mother is not mentioned, and I'm assuming is dead, and she only had 2 main people in her life: her father, Master Lito, and Zelos. She also had her village and her neighbors to grow up alongside and become better acquainted with.

What happened next? Master Lito died.

Irelia was now left with just Zelos, the village, and a sword that no one could figure out how to use. Irelia was being trained, yes, but Zelos was the intended successor, and not even he knew how the sword worked. The only person who did know how to use the sword was Master Lito, "His art was a highly-guarded secret, but it was said that swords would breathe in his grasp." It was a living weapon in his hands, meaning that the true strength of the Hiten art is to be able to use that sword. This secret was not passed down because Master Lito died via sickness, which still runs in line with Irelia's core themes as she will suffer his fate. I will get to this in a bit.

The Ionian/Noxian war erupted, and the next person Irelia lost was her brother. Zelos left to find aid, and Irelia was now alone in the village. It sure would be a shame if the next thing that she lost was her village.

And then her village was destroyed.

Irelia lost her mother, her father, her brother and her entire village, surely there can be nothing else she can lose? "At the Great Stand of the Placidium, Ionians prepared for surrender-"

Irelia was about to lose her country. She was about to lose absolutely everything, every single piece of her identity was about to be erased, so she said no more. Irelia stood up for herself, took the weapon down and rushed headfirst to fight against the Noxians. Her young self-righteous anger getting the better of her, she ran forth and got stomped on almost immediately. Irelia was knocked down and out, out of commission, she lost everything. There is no lower point for her than that time.

If we go with this famous Buddhist story, then Irelia's cup was tossed away and she was given a chance to become more,

"A scholar had an extensive background in Buddhist Studies and was an expert on the Nirvana Sutra. He came to study with the master and after making the customary bows, asked him to teach him Zen. Then, he began to talk about his extensive doctrinal background and rambled on and on about the many sutras he had studied.

The master listened patiently and then began to make tea. When it was ready, he poured the tea into the scholar's cup until it began to overflow and run all over the floor. The scholar saw what was happening and shouted, "Stop, stop! The cup is full; you can't get anymore in."

The master stopped pouring and said: "You are like this cup; you are full of ideas about Buddha's Way. You come and ask for teaching, but your cup is full; I can't put anything in. Before I can teach you, you'll have to empty your cup." (Just one interpretation of the story, but gets the point across.)

When Irelia rises once more, given one last chance, the sword springs to life and she becomes the Will of the Blades. Irelia proceeds not to just kill one or two Noxians, Irelia has one of the highest body count out of the human champions in the League. It got to the point the Noxians were scared shitless, writing her down as painting the battlefield in their blood. And that's pretty easy when you control a telekinetic 6 foot sword and throw it like a buzzsaw, ripping through people like a heated claymore through butter.

Pretty much imagine Penny, from RWBY, and her movements except with a lot more red spurting from her opponents (and do ignore the kamehameha, no energy beams for Irie =p) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpybcYSAbeY#t=154. A pretty good visualization for how Irelia would rip through the Noxian forces and even for some of her motions/attacks.

Irelia takes her position as successor not due to inheritance but due to earning it, she becomes the next Hiten successor because she gave everything she could for Ionia and refused to back down even when at her bottom.

This is punctuated by the fact that Irelia is going to die an early death.

Irelia is, by far and large, influenced by Kenshin as stated by Xypherous. It's in every facet of her character: She is a student of Hiten, the ultimate sword art (Kenshin's Equivalent: Hiten Mitsurugi); Her bladesurge is a technique from Kenshin (though not performed by Kenshin, it's more Sojiro's); her father died due to a mysterious illness that no one could cure for the same reason why Kenshin was dying: All Hiten Mitsurugi users die if they use the art for too long. Master Lito died early because he was a practitioner of the Hiten art, and was an expert in it.

How much he knew or didn't know can go into speculation, but I think this helps tie into Irelia even more, as she's willing to give anything and everything for her people and this is punctuated by her putting her life on the line in more ways than one. This can be accounted for in terms of healing, but this is going more into speculation and I don't want to derail much more.

The summary of who Irelia is is not a badass Ionian general. Her character isn't in how cool and great and awesome she is and look at her, it is because Irelia, in no particular order:

-Earned the right to inherit the Hiten art -Is the reason why the Ionian war was won -Irelia fights in the game “League of Legends” to prevent another event like the Noxian war from ever happening again by defending of Ionia -Is the symbol of Ionian fervor -Is a woman weighed down by the responsibilities and expectations of her entire country on her back -Has lost her closest connections, imagine her own fervor if anything she cares about is threatened -Is the equivalent of the kamikaze typhoon, the divine wind, as seen both at the Battle of Placidium and in her sword which when split apart takes the appearance of a butterfly (A flap of a butterfly’s wings can cause unprecedented events to occur)

This instantly puts her at odds with Zed, Syndra and anyone who thinks that Ionia needs to be subjugated, wants to personally rule Ionia and in that vein. It also makes her able to interact with characters who can understand her plight and her dedication to her country such as J4, Kayle, Karma (though they can be at odds with one another every now and then!), Ashe as just a few that come off the top of my head.

She should not lose these facets. These are what make her an interesting character. She is a young woman who has found strength inside her, and is not just "a bad ass general who has killed a lot of people". She had some expectations but was never considered seriously, and forged herself to find her own strength. She was given the circumstances to become something more, and it's not because of an ancestor-infused weapon advising her what needs to be done, invoking her with new abilities or something of the like.

Irelia is her own legend. I think this is something that's needed, no macguffin per se, and a subversion of the chosen one idea. This is who Irelia is, according to everything Riot has offered us, with as little speculation as possible, the traits I've listed are what make Irelia "Irelia".

---

How Can Irelia be Better Integrated, and Worldbuild Ionia?

Tl;dr: Go into the history of the Hiten, establish what it's meant to do, what its drawbacks are, how it can relate to other characters in the universe of the League of Legends and use it to its fullest potential.

Before we go any further, you probably have noticed that I’ve said Irelia being a lich would muddle and confuse theming. Why would Ionia condone having their symbol of Ionian fervor be an undead woman? They harp on Zed for using a forbidden technique, wouldn't the fact that necromancy (as it is stated in the old lore) is illegal everywhere but in Noxus and having her as a by-product of said necromancy to the point of making her undead wave a flag or two?

There are some matters I can imagine Ionians being flexible about, but when it spits directly into their values of life, death and the natural cycle, I imagine there’s little wiggle room.

So what is the Hiten art, where did her sword come from, does it mean anything, should it just be a bar of steel? Will explain, will explain, it means something and it is more than just steel.

You can honestly go the route of her ancestors being inside the sword giving her superpowers, but it detracts more from her since it’s not her own ability. For the same reason as being a lich would muddle themes, it may detract from who she is or what she is meant to represent.

Can it be an ancestral blade? Yes. But what can it mean?

One cannot forget Master goddamn Lito, the man so powerful that he stayed dry in a thunderstorm while standing still on a rooftop. Is this because of his own training, his own dedication, because he is the next in line of the Hiten style and mastered it, or because he has a magic sword that lets him do this?

What is the secret of the Hiten art that makes it so potent, does it rely on the user and their willpower and therefore their soul (able to create soul blades), or is it more a trick because the weapon grants you the ability to be great, which would go against all forms of Ionian teaching?

It can go into the backstory of Ionia and the formation of it, go into the history of the Hiten while developing the rest of the world. It is meant to be the ultimate sword art, how did it come to be this?

Pure Speculation Coming At Ya

I propose the Sovereign. Ionia being a peaceful country since always and forever doesn’t make a lot of sense. What if the first Emperor of China angle is pulled: Ionia used to be divided up into multiple separate kingdoms, the Sovereign was this demigod-like being and united Ionia under his banner. Though a demigod when young, as he grew older his power started to wane, and he realized this. He needed protection, someone who could be at his side and act as his bodyguard, so he hosted a tournament (I’m a fighting game fan what can I say?).

So the competition was held and a man with a strange, butterfly shaped weapon entered the tournament . One after another he defeated the other entrees until it was time to fight his brother, a Silver Fang technique practitioner (Establishing Akali’s lineage as well). The two were locked in a stalemate for so long that the First Sovereign challenged both of the siblings to see which of the two of them deserve to be his right hand.

The Silver Fang brother was defeated while the other brother, with the strange weapon? He defeated the First Sovereign. The Silver Fang brother would go onto develop more powerful shadow techniques, and would eventually become a member of the First Sovereign’s specialized assassination unit, the Kinkou.

When the victor was asked what his technique was, he claimed that in order to touch a god, one must transcend their flesh for flesh is weak. To transcend flesh, one must have the willpower and belief to do so. When one has done that, one can fly. When one flies, they can touch the heavens themselves. This is the Flying Heaven art, or Hiten style.

The First Sovereign asked the Hiten practitioner to make more weapons like his sword, but the man declined, saying it is a unique weapon, impossible to make twice. The Sovereign then changed his request, and asked for weapons to be made for his elite guard, and one weapon for the Sovereign himself, so the legend of both the Hiten user and the First Sovereign can live forever. The swords for the elite guard were all fantastic weapons, and named the Manamunes after their creator, Mune, while the First Sovereign was given a weapon that could not only channel his innate powers but amplify them to the nth degree, the “Muramana”, named after him, Mura.

From there the Sovereign line could fall prey to hubris and the like, be buried and have a new republic/philosopher king style-government erected in place as the Sovereign and rule by lineage had failed them. Syndra can easily read about legends of the First Sovereign in musty old tomes that her master had kept, decide she’s got the chops to become one and to reform Ionia like he had done in the past, and becomes the first Sovereign in centuries.

“Doesn’t this make Irelia too awesome?”

Irelia has probably some of the best potential out of all the Ionians to interact with the largest portion of the League cast beyond “Hi,” and “What’s up?” Coupled with the fact that she’s meant to be practicing the ultimate sword art, how then do you nerf Irelia out in a narrative sense, and differentiate her from Master Yi?

Hiten is an art, but it’s not a martial art, it’s an assassination art.

For a quick rundown, Kung Fu is a Martial Art because it is meant to be used to help you meditate, it is meant to train the body and the soul, it is not meant to be used lethally. Ninjitsu, however, is an assassination art, you are trained in multiple ways for the explicit reason of killing someone, you’re not using it to meditate for enlightenment. Assassination in this case does not mean stealthy kills all the time, what it means in this specific context is that it is meant to kill, you can choose to be stealthy about it or just go the direct scream for blood route. Master Lito could have tried to make it a martial art, but with his early death, could not change the original intention of the art which Irelia now carries and will have to solve on her own.

So now we have it being the best assassination sword style, giving Wuju its proper place, but sort of creeping on Kinkou territory. What can be done?

Hiten, because it’s based on Kenshin, kills its user the more they use it. It killed Master Lito in the form of his “inexplicable incurable in various media doomed dad illness”, why would Irelia not be made subject to it? Would this not emphasize her core traits that I outlined above, having her give everything she has for Ionia down to the last drop of her life?

The Kinkou arts don’t infringe upon this, and actually balk away at such an idea since they can’t really have their best just kill themselves due to doing their job. They are an assassination art inside and out, Hiten is tip toeing the line of assassination and martial due to the it trying to transcend the body to overcome the weaknesses and limitations of flesh.

“But Soraka can heal her, that makes no sense.”

I thought of this too, which is why I looked at “Hiten” for inspiration and had discussed this in depth with a colleague of mine. Hiten means flying heaven, and the first idea that popped into mind was the soul. Rather than break down the body, it wears away at the soul, and in exchange for being able to use the full extent of the art, you drain your soul, your lifeforce, you wear it down more and more until it can’t take the strain anymore, which allows Irelia to do what should be impossible at the high cost of shortening her life. She stops tasting, hearing becomes more difficult, her vision starts to fade, pain becomes a distant memory, scents become harder to detect, but she pushes onwards. This would cause a bit of concern in her friends and lead to easy interactions on a personal level so it’s not always “business”.

“If they didn’t figure out for Master Lito, how did Irelia figure it out?”

The Battle of Placidium. The toll it took on her made Soraka + Company see that Irelia was suffering from the same symptoms as her father despite being healthy before the battle. They chalked it up to the near death experience, but after Irelia still showed symptoms day after day, they had to look into what was really ailing her, and they discover it.

Irelia doesn’t discover it, Soraka or someone else does, so Irelia can interact with others in the narrative. This is just one possible route, but I think establishing more world building and adding to other people’s stories through history, possible interactions and direct interactions is a better route to take than to detract from the character of Irelia and leave Ionia in its current lurch of who knows what goes on here.

---

** Visual Design **

Going to flat out admit it now, I really liked the first design Irelia had, when she was wearing lots of green and flowing robes and the like. Didn’t like the fact that her breasts were literally half her body (literally being used properly here) but there was a lot more fluidity, a lot more looseness to Irelia’s appearance so when she moved and attacked she’d carry this with her. I think this idea needs to be brought back. Have her armored but have some tassels possibly to make her look like she’s light in her step and flying across to cut you into ribbons. Equip her with segmented armor (to give her mobility) for her torso and let the rest flow about her.

What I think needs to be removed is the mantle of decorum. Karma now has a Mantle of Decorum and wears it much better than Irelia does, because it doesn’t interfere with her silhouette. See the attached image for Irelia’s silhouette with and without the mantle. It’s too clustered to me, it’s too much happening since she has so many floating objects: The Mantle and a 6 foot sword that splits apart and creates a winged impression.

I think the mantle should be redesigned to be an actual mantle she wears, re-equip it to her shoulders and have it be a part of her shoulderplates. Her metal baos are as trademark to her as Chun-Li’s are to her, so I think those should be kept, and her attire should feel more loose, more fluid. This includes the possible removal of her tight pants to be replaced by a hakama.

As for her sword, I think that must be absolutely kept. Irelia is not Irelia without that big honking blade floating at her side, she loses a lot of her visual impact without it, and I think it both aids her silhouette and ties her narrative into a perfect bow.

Colours I think she should keep to red, it being Ionia’s national colour, but possibly less saturated, and her hair should be defined a colour (I think black just for the greater contrast).

---

** Possible Skill Set Redesign **

You’ve probably seen him about the forums here and there, but ItemsGuy has a project going where he redesigns League champions and their skills. I think the skills he put for Irelia are actually quite fantastic, and I think it hits the marks that IronStylus wants for soul blades everywhere while maintaining her giant arse blade and making her stand out in role compared to other champions.

Irelia Redesign Link

*As Irelia, your goal is to manage these blades and use them to rend your opponents--staying in combat as long as possible so they don't fade away, and then striking once you have marked an enemy for death. Likewise, against Irelia, you're going to want to keep her from generating those blades through last-hitting (forcing her to sacrifice her own HP to do so), and prevent her from activating her Vorpal Blades by creating distance until they fade away.

Irelia's abilities have no cost related to them, and the use of her abilities is only limited by cooldowns. (Considering just having all of her abilities be cast from HP, with Bladesurge refunding more than 100% to prevent Irelia from slowly killing herself without Living Weapon. If there are no HP costs, Living Weapon's price will be fairly steep % current HP.)

All values in blue are meant to give a general idea of the ability's properties, and are subject to change.*

Innate: Transcendent Blades

-Whenever Irelia lands a killing blow, she generates a blade of weaponized Ki that grants her 4 + (0.5/level) bonus AD and 6 + (0.5/level) bonus AP. Irelia can hold up to *4 Transcendent Blades at a time. If Irelia goes for more than 6 seconds without dealing damage, she will lose all current Transcendent Blades.

*These constitute her main weapon, as opposed to being "extras"

Q: Bladesurge

-Irelia dashes forward to strike the target enemy, dealing (90/100/110/120/130% total AD) physical damage and20/50/80/110/140 + (40% AP) magic damage. This applies on-hit effects. If it kills the target, Bladesurge's cooldown refreshes, and 120% of the cost is refunded.

Range: 650 Targeting Type: Targeted Cooldown: 14/12/10/8/6 Cost: 5% of current health W: Living Weapon . -(passive) For every Transcendent Blade Irelia has, her lifesteal and spell vamp are increased by 2/3/4/5/6%.

-(active) Irelia creates an array of swords from her lifeblood, generating her maximum number of Transcendent Blades at the cost of HP, and refreshing the duration of all current Transcendent Blades.

Range: Self Targeting Type: Self-Cast Cooldown: 5 seconds Cost: 10% of current health + 2% of current health per blade generated

E: Vorpal Edge

-Irelia sends one of her Transcendent Blades to hover around the target enemy, marking them with a stack of Vorpal Edge for up to 6 seconds. Upon attacking a marked enemy, the blades will pierce them, dealing 40/65/90/115/140 + (40% AP) magic damage each, granting Irelia 90% bonus attackspeed for 0.25/0.50/0.75/1/1.25 seconds per stack (blades persist for the duration), and refreshing her cooldowns by 2 seconds per stack. Costs 1 Transcendent Blade. (Transcendent Blades's bonuses are available to Irelia as long as they are present)

Range: 650 Targeting Type: Targeted Cooldown: 4/3.5/3/2.5/2 seconds Cost: 4% of current health

R: Hiten Style

-Irelia causes all of her Transcendent Blades to rapidly spin around her for 6 seconds, dealing 25/50/75 + (30% bonus AD) x (number of Transcendent Blades) physical damage per second to nearby enemies. During this time, Irelia can reactivate this ability to fire a Transcendent Blade at mousepoint (0.5 second cooldown), dealing 50/100/150 + (50% AP) magic damage to the first enemy struck, and marking them with a stack of Vorpal Edge.

Range: 300 (diameter of spin), 625 (projectile range) Targeting Type: Self-Cast, Skill Shot (mousepoint) Cooldown: 70/60/50 seconds Cost: None

He says it needs revision, but I think the intention of Irelia’s Q remaining since it is when you feel best playing as her, when you do blade pathing and nab your opponent or use a minion to juke and escape is a must keep. I also think that her Hiten style should be her Ultimate, since it is what should ‘ultimately’ represent her.

I think Irelia’s role should be looked at as well: Is she meant to be a fighter, is she meant to be a tank like Garen or Darius, is her way of defending Ionia to cut down any opponent as swiftly as possible (to keep in line with her Kenshin influence)?

---

** Final Words **

I think we need to look into what makes Irelia “Irelia”, just like every champion in the League needs to be looked at and see what makes “X character X”, this way themes don’t overlap, they retain their independence and for the older champions they retain their identity and what drew people to them in the first place. This is what I saw when I saw Irelia, this is what drew me into the game, this is why I started playing League in the first place because of how much Irelia had to offer in her character, how much potential she has beyond the nerfbat.

What about you? What do you like most about Irelia? What do you think should be retained in her reiteration? What is her identity to you?