Zyra lore update incoming?

An Undead brat··3 votes·1,461 views

With all the Vastaya stuff going on, Zyra is pretty similar to them in that matter. But what cought my attention more were these two lines Maokai says in his new VO to her: http://imgur.com/O5JQOhZ I mean, he can still only be ignorant or not knowing about her past, since they never met in the current lore, but we all know she HAD TO become a human or her doom would come rather sooner. But what I question more is the second line: http://imgur.com/FGQNJmC While it is a pun, it also is a thing her lore did not mention so far, because it always ended with her transformation. "Forgetting the roots" is also the same thing Xayah has something to do with, as she taunts other vastayan champions in a similar way.

What I want to say is, whatever might be coming, I hope lore team will mostly build up on what was said about Zyra instead of changing her story, because I just love it the way it is. Would be cool if we got to know who was the sorceress Zyra took body from instead of a woman ex machina, or if we learned what did Zyra do and where did she go after that - did she stay in the jungle? Did she get to explore the Runeterra and terrorized villiges she found? Did she join to any faction (I'm sure Noxus would welcome her with their arms open, imagine her attacking on or being attacked by a unit of noxian soldiers that actually convince her or manipulate her, as she doesn't know the tricks of human world, to join them)? Because there's so much more to see!

24 Comments

Blue Moon Wolf4 votes

I have a theory that the garden that Ahri visited in her lore was the garden Zyra was born from. I believe the part at the end of her lore about the garden not forgetting her will bring about Zyra, who would be the will of the garden. If that's the case, Zyra's goal would be to find Ahri to take the rest of her memories. But it's just my theory, so take it for what you will.

An Undead brat2 votes

I did actually not read Ahri's new lore yet, but this sounds like something I don't like as it doesn't seem to make Zyra a predator...

Blue Moon Wolf2 votes

Depending on how you look at it, it could be that Zyra thinks she is helping Ahri by taking her painful memories away. Besides, that's just my take on it. There could be plenty of similar scenarios that could pop up in a similar way, but having Zyra be something else. For example, the memories that Ahri gave the garden ends up creating Zyra, but instead of trying to hunt down Ahri, She's just those memories Ahri gave away personified, thus making her want to explore the world around her to learn about those memories and what it means to be alive. Honestly there are a whole range of ways Riot could take the concept if that's the case.

An Undead brat5 votes

I understand what you mean, but it would make Zyra the opposite of what she is. Zyra is a selfish predator that only wants to explore the capabilities of her new body and the world she hasn't seen yet, just out of curiosity. I would hate if they changed her to somewhat positive character, because she always was a neutral or even negative one (strongly dependent on the point of view). She wouldn't want to help Ahri, as a Rioter said when she was released: Ahri would only be a nine-tailed snack for her. It would be the same as making Garen a Noxian. But I'm glad for this discussion, it actually made me think about what I love about Zyra's character.

Sexy Jack Rabbit2 votes

I think it implies that we will eventually get a lore expansion on Zyra at some point, but much like how Swain got referenced by Rakan and Xayah, or Soraka by Aurelion, I don't think it necessarily means we will be getting a Zyra lore update any time soon.

Zyra's character isn't fantastic atm, and she's mainly just part of the 'Sexy 6'. All her lore will do, is be there to justify her crappy design, but who knows, it might end up standing out as being genuinely compelling and developed.

Chromatic Eagle1 votes

Sexy 6?

Sexy Jack Rabbit2 votes

Zyra MissFortune Ahri Elise Evelynn Morgana (Albeit morg is quite dated her lore still suits the reasoning.)

Effectively Riot's 6 Trademark 'Sexy' characters who's designs they felt the need to justify. It's a pretty big opinion I have, but the bottom line is.

People don't NEED a reason to be sexy, they just can be. The lore team for some reason feels the need to give all this justification for it though. Morgana looks like that cuz it's "Freedom" Miss Fortune because it's meant to be this like alter-ego. Elise does it because it helps her attract victims. etc. etc.

Chromatic Eagle3 votes

I mean, Elise is a spider. They use bait and the like to attract victims.

I'm not sure Morg is like that because freedom, as opposed to just being a dark witch.

I agree they don't need a reason to be sexy, but between people being offended for blatant sex appeal, and Riot potentially going too far for sex appeal (think Dead or Alive games), I'm not really bothered by it.

Sexy Jack Rabbit3 votes

Morgana's appearance is a reference between the duality between her and Kayle. Freedom vs Justice. Hence why she's effectively nude in comparison to Kayle who is fully armored. At least that's whats been up in a discussion about them some time back.

Riot did go too far with the sex appeal at one point, I do think that, but they've since reeled it back to a reasonable amount. (Not the skins department though, but meh. They're skins) On top of that, it doesn't really seem like they've learned anything if they just decide to call back all of their old characters like this.

Chromatic Eagle1 votes

Was that something Riot said about Morgana, or something the fans read into?

Riot is not trying to remove or abandon sex appeal. They've said that. They just want it to be appropriate for a T game, or at least make it more "classy" instead of skimpy (That was they're reasoning for newer heartseekers).

As for the champs, they're not against sexy champs, but they want them to have more personality. Besides, people like Kat are sexy and aren't defined or explained for it. Sivir as well.

Sexy Jack Rabbit1 votes

Was on a post from a red about the champions. Was in regards to their duo update, I'll attempt to find it. The Duality of Freedom vs Justice was a major factor in their design.

Could you show me where they've ever addressed the matter? It's not that I doubt you, just that I've never found any Rioters actually address the issue.

I also find the comment about the newer heartseekers ironic because they were close but to unanimously hated by the majority of the community. Quinn's was and still is awful and Lucian's is ugly. The old designs were WAY better tbh, at least imo.

Chromatic Eagle1 votes

Fair enough, though I imagine that Morg's update will make her similar to her other skins, hopefully Victorious (that I'll never get).

Can't find most of them because they're old discussions and I'm lazy, but I can at least point you in the right direction. The recent blog about Jinx. A twitter or interview regarding Taliyah. You can also probably google heartseeker quinn feedback somewhere.

Classy vs. Skimpy was more about Quinn vs. Vayne I believe.

EDIT: https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/lKR0ehmM-heartseeker-quinn-feedback-thread

Here. Somewhere along the 49 comments.

An Undead brat1 votes

This logic is a complete miss right in the Zyra's case, because she has on the other hand no reason to be covered at all, she just is because of the censorship... Evelynn is the same and will be no more after her VGU - as the leak proves itself accurate. Elise's and Ahri's theme is lurking horny people to sleep with them, they need to be dressed like this. I did never hear about MF's and Morg's case, but whatever, I'd say the same thing if I was a Rioter, because it's the easiest way to silence pussies that can't look at female body.

KoKoboto1 votes

I felt like that was all the Miss Fortune stories was, same with Ahri. Rito realized they dun goofed by making these champions basically sex objects in game. So now they were the first champions they decided to put major effort into when talking about their stories. I find it pretty funny. Of course the new character they have are better.

Chromatic Eagle1 votes

MF's story involved wanting to find the boy that saved her life. Ahri's story involved seduction, but with the goal of being human, with the league offering an alternative path.

An Undead brat1 votes

Ehm, I agree Zyra's lore is pretty so so, but calling her a "crappy design"? No, Alistar Malphite Nunu Rammus Volibear , these are a crappy design, but you only know too little about Zyra because her lore has a huge potential to be expanded.

And Swain is now a big name among lore updates, definitely.

Sexy Jack Rabbit1 votes

Poison Ivy called honey. So did her generic body-type and monster-girl trope. Zyra isn't unique in the slightest.

And frankly from a character design perspective the 5 you listed aren't horrible, save for Voli who is a Golden Compass Rip-off.

Swain is a big name amongst lore updates, but his still hasn't been updated. Which is basically my point. Champions get mentioned by modern ones all the time, doesn't mean they're gonna get updated soon unfortunately :\

An Undead brat1 votes

Stop fucking calling me honey, who do you think I am? And if you think Poison Ivy is the only human-plant hybrid, then you need to do your homework very bad, because that's a trope, not an original concept, Ivy wasn't even the first by far!

It took Riot 4 years to start actually updating lore after the retcon, Rakan and Xayah JUST came out, not to mention yesterday's lore about Ahri, which is more important for Vastaya than Jericho, there is no way his lore would come out already.

And yes, all those are horrible designs.

Alistar What Malphite I'm a rock Nunu We're- um, I ride a yetti, I suppose...? Rammus Ok Volibear You said it.

Sexy Jack Rabbit2 votes

Pfft. You need to calm down first of all. It's a term of endearment, I call everyone it. Poison Ivy isn't the only plant-human hybrid you're right, but pointing that out doesn't really convince anyone that Zyra's character is original. Her design is generic and overdone and her personality isn't individual.

in regards to swains lore update. That's exactly my point. I don't know why you are repeating this. Like Swains, Zyra probably isn't going to get updated soon.

You're looking at the characters in a vacuum.

A battling mountain, pretty cool and has potential. A Purple minotaur, pretty weird and has potential. A Yeti-rider, not exactly brand new but it has potential. A weird spin top turtle shell monster is pretty original and a good design tbh. Yeah Voli currently sucks. A Mostly naked Plant chick Poison-Ivy rip-off... well... The bottom line is that unlike Zyra, the previous champions all have plenty of potential to be super interesting in design. Zyra on the otherhand is just an overblown monster-girl trope with no inspiration but "Plant-girl with bobbies"

An Undead brat1 votes

I'm completely calm, you don't sound endearing, you sound offensive.

A Mostly naked Plant chick Poison-Ivy rip-off... well...

A perfect predator doomed to die because of how perfect is, referencing the circle of nature and how everything needs to have it's merits and flaws in the ecosystem, left alone as the last of her own kind and surviving only because an accident that gives her the whole new purpose and goal. But sure...

A battling mountain, pretty cool and has potential. A Purple minotaur, pretty weird and has potential. A Yeti-rider, not exactly brand new but it has potential.

So much more potential... A purple cow... We call it Milka here in Europe.

Sexy Jack Rabbit1 votes

Offensive? Do you mean condescending? Cuz I guess I could understand that perspective. Where I come from it's pretty common place. If that makes you more comfortable though, I'll refrain from it in the future.

Lore-wise she's not the most boring character in the world, but as you stated early it is still kind of so-so. I'm moreso referring to her actual character design and how that reflects back onto her lore, which is pretty negatively.

I mean it does to some extent, a purple cow is a pretty weird design, I think Riot could do something really interesting with it.

An Undead brat1 votes

Basically what is condescending if offensive, but whatever, it's playing with words... It sound like it because of that sentence tone.

The only thing that bothers me about her lore is the sorceress ex machina I was talking about, otherwise she has nothing in common with Ivy except gender and hair color in some versions of her, needful to say Ivy is a human with selfless interests, Zyra is a plant with selfish ones, people asociate them together because they don't know any other plant-like character and they don't even Zyra's based on a completely different character (specifically a race). And to her sexiness - it helps people to want to play her, because she fits to general idea of a beautiful woman. How many people would like the sorceress to be fat? It's the matter of business. If I said so-so, I mean that we of course cannot compare her to character designs of Leblanc Lissandra Jhin Diana and such...

XIII Vanitas1 votes

Short answer: no.

Long answer: probably not, you're reading too much into it.

An Undead brat1 votes

Yeah, there are completely new stuff said, but I'm reading too much. And there's a HUGE difference between probably not and no.

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