Kindred's Role in Runeterra
So there has been quite a bit of speculation about League's newest champion, and the most prominent assumption is that The Lamb and The Wolf are personifications of death in Runeterra. It seems fairly obvious that is what the duo are considering their activities and how frequently they reference dying in their speech. It is all so apparent we hardly need to investigate further.
I disagree, to an extent.
When a world's population reaches a certain point, death becomes a constant rather than an occurrence; every moment someone is dying. To be capable of ending every life across the world at a moments notice requires no small amount of power bordering on near omnipresence, and the largest offender of this in Kindred's concept is the aspect of hunting. Hunting requires an investment from the hunter, to locate and eliminate their quarry, otherwise it is not hunting, it is execution. The Lamb and The Wolf are the Eternal Hunters, they track and kill those marked for death until eternity ends. They do not appear instantly, nor do they have a means of immediately dispatching their prey. Their procedure is a gradual, but inevitable one.
As hunters, The Lamb and Wolf are proactive, they seek out their targets. If they were the aspect of death what need would there be to hunt at all? Death is inevitable, there is no fighting it. The end of a life is a question of when and how, not if. To hunt would also imply Kindred must take the initiative, they are active, not reactive, continually seeking those marked for death.
If Kindred is not Death, than what are they?
Answering this requires a look at another champion, one who exists beyond the boundaries of Runeterra. Bard, like Kindred, bears the responsibility of a monumental task, though less involved with death and more so with continuity; Bard ensures the universe continues turning. It is he who intervenes to prevent unnecessary harm, to end conflict before it gets out of hand, to ensure a single string of fate remains uncut. Bard is the Wandering Caretaker, an ever mobile protector of reality. Fascinating to note that while Bard frequently safeguards what has yet to play a part in life, there is no mention of ending one.
Convenient, isn't it, there exists two mystical beings to do the one thing Bard cannot. As a gardner tends the flowers, so too must someone pull the weeds, and it is exactly that role Kindred fulfills. They nip a problem in the bud, they take life so others may live, they deny catastrophe by killing the catalyst.
Kindred is not death, but their purpose is deeply intertwined with its presence.
