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Anyone else think that Renekton's new lore is a bit weak?

Aheadatime·5/11/2016, 2:59:23 PM·3 votes·890 views

I feel like it diminishes Renekton's character a tad. He essentially just gets talked into being crazy by the person who destroyed the very empire he worked to protect for a lifetime. I understand it was over the course of thousands of years, but that's still weak to me. His hatred for Nasus could have been immensely more interesting.

Imagine it was Nasus who made the choice to lock Renek with Xerath, against Renek's will. This heart-wrenching moment of betrayal would have served to demonstrate the core differences in the two brothers' characters. Renekton's loss of humanity after becoming Ascended could have explained his unwillingness, with a visceral understanding that the omnipotent the celebrated lifestyle he had obtained would be lost forever. Nasus, on the other hand, recognizes both that the brother he knew and loved before becoming Ascended would have agreed, and that the sacrifice, in the name of Shurima, is the logical and necessary choice to make.

After Renek is released, he sees the empire he worked so hard to uphold in ruins, filling him with despair so gripping that his mind becomes unstable. He truly believes that had he not been locked away, he would have been able to protect Shurima from this fate, and thus directs deep hatred and anger towards Nasus, the one who he feels betrayed him and destroyed the empire. This hatred is amplified by the fact that he has lost everything; the empire, the reputation, the position, the blood he bathed in. All gone. All that's left is this burning sensation, this loathesome medley of emptiness, regret, horror, rage, and disbelief. So he does the only thing he feels he can to right the situation; hunt Nasus and exact his unwanted revenge.

This version of the story allows the reader to relate to Renek. We respect him, feel sorry for him, and although we don't necessarily agree with his conclusion, can understand how he has reached it. We also have a very pivotal and painfully empathetic moment of betrayal, wherein both brothers' points of view can be understood and empathized with. I dunno. Maybe I'm biased because I'm a Renek main, but I feel like his insanity could have been reached through more interesting means.

4 Comments

Lovely Pants5/11/2016, 4:04:02 PM8 votes

What you lose by making that decision Nasus' rather than Renekton's is the emphasis on the innate heroism and self-sacrifice in Renekton's character. Admittedly, the future conflict favors the emotional pull of Nasus' decisions over the (mostly) mindless beast that Renekton has become, but I think the symbol of Renekton as a tragic hero is much stronger. You'd think one man could not sacrifice more than he did the first time he attempted to give up his life for his brother, but then he sacrifices even his sanity, purpose, and love for that which he gave everything to protect.

Furthermore, I view the dualism of the brothers a little differently. Aside from the intelligence vs strength aspect, Nasus is a lofty idealist who finds it difficult to sacrifice anything, while Renekton was a bit of a grittier, more hedonistic creature who nonetheless put everything on the line to serve and protect. However, the brothers were really more similar than different when in came down to their most important values and neither were the kind that necessarily favored cold logic over passion, I'd say.

GreenLore5/11/2016, 3:59:55 PM5 votes

Well we knew about that already during the shurima event,so its pretty much what I expected(and still a lot better than his original lore,where he eventually became evil because he met a lot of evil people)

I mean Renekton willingly sacrificing himself to protect everyone makes him a quite sympathetic character,making his misaimed rage all the more tragic and making it clear that he has gone insane from being locked away with xerath in a dark room for thousands of years.

If Nasus would have really sealed away renekton against hist will,then that would have been an incredible dick move by nasus and would have likely made him unlikeable for a lot of people(I mean why did he sacrifice Renekton instead of himself?)