Confused about Taric's Lore

Vekkna··1 votes·1,232 views

His neat and stylish appearance combined with his shiny bejeweled armor and weapons have rapidly made him a celebrity champion of the League of Legends. Valoran's media, for some reason, has taken great interest in his personal life. While open about his life as a champion and gracious in all things, Taric is tight-lipped about his life outside the League and prefers his privacy.

Taric is obviously gay. The player base knows he's gay and jokes about it constantly. He's a ton of stereotypes rolled into one character, like SNL's Ambiguously Gay Duo but even less ambiguous.

Tryndamere Ashe Garen Katarina Ezreal Lux Illaoi + her harem of men Rumble wants Tristana Teemo wants Tristana Evelynn TwistedFate

...are public about their romantic feelings and/or relationships. In other words, they don't keep their bedroom activities private, and they don't keep their real-life issues out of your gaming experience. I mean, Illaoi literally will not shut up about all the guys she's fucking. So none of that can really be the reason to keep Taric closeted since sexuality is already woven throughout the lore/game.

If everybody's happy to make jokes and laugh at all the gay innuendo surrounding Taric, why not just have him come out and be done with it? This isn't an SJW rant, I just sincerely do not understand the point of keeping Taric closeted with such a huge amount of innuendo. I see posts saying that a gay character is taboo, political, unnecessary, inappropriate, etc. (fill in the blank with any and every possible reason to keep it out of the game), but Taric is already a gay character in your game, and that won't change whether he's out of the closet or not. So what's the point of keeping him closeted?

19 Comments

Sharjo5 votes

Taric is obviously gay. The player base knows he's gay and jokes about it constantly. He's a ton of stereotypes rolled into one character, like SNL's Ambiguously Gay Duo but even less ambiguous.

He's interpreted as gay by the player base. Nothing actually explicitly states he is gay and he's never been stated to be gay by the lore in any capacity, ever.

Riot's unlikely to ever explicitly say a character is of a specific sexual orientation unless it's something pivotal to their story, such as having a spouse or crush. There are also regions of the world where League is played that would be strongly averse to having a gay character.

Plus at the end of the day maybe Taric doesn't want to come out if he is gay? It's his business thank you very much.

Vekkna1 votes

Nothing actually explicitly states he is gay and he's never been stated to be gay by the lore in any capacity, ever.

Right, and that's my point. I don't understand the reasoning behind mashing up Elton John and Liberace and then giving him lore that could be ripped from a Jodie Foster interview.

I don't see how the lore I quoted is "pivotal to the story" in any way at all except to play up the innuendo. I mean, it's already there, and it's no accident that it follows so closely with the PR speak from closeted movie stars.

And obviously it's Taric's business, but why do none of the characters I linked feel the same way? Probably because they don't have any reason to feel shame, which is part of why it's problematic to me that lolgay Taric is in the closet.

EDIT: But Illaoi is obviously heterosexual without any romantic connection to another champ. Play her for 5 seconds and she'll tell you all about it.

GreenLore3 votes

Keep in mind that Taric will be updated this year and his lore will be changed alongside this update.

And some countries aren't that open when it comes to homosexuality,so a gay character could create serious localization issues. Also I think it would set a bad sign if the first openly gay lol-character comes off as a complete stereotype.

Mystery Ghost2 votes

Taric isn't gay many famous rockstars have long hair and dress like this nowhere in the lore or in his quotes says that he is gay that's what random kids say that arent even from Riot

Vekkna1 votes

Subtext is a thing.

OurLestrade1 votes

What makes him obviously gay?

Vekkna1 votes

What made Liberace obviously gay?

Ralanr1 votes

Honestly it doesn't really matter if he is gay. Being gay isn't his character.

Gems are his character. :P

In all seriousness, if it isn't implied then it's because Riot doesn't want to delve into the topic.

And Illaoi has like two lines related to sexual encounters. That's hardly "not shutting up about it"

Vekkna1 votes

Gay innuendo is part of his character, though, so why would being gay not be part of his character? I mean, Katarina's character is not defined by being straight or by her attraction to Garen.

Illaoi doesn't even have a romantic interest in another character, but we know that she's not a fan of monogamy and than she likes fucking multiple dudes. I think that actually is relevant to her character (as with Taric), but even if it wasn't relevant, it's still in the game anyway.

Ralanr2 votes

That's part of what the community imprints on him.

Vekkna1 votes

It's also the innuendo contained in the lore.

Ralanr2 votes

All it says that he likes his privacy.

Is the desire for Privacy gay?

Vekkna1 votes

-Valoran's media, for some reason -has taken great interest in his personal life -While open about his life as a champion -Taric is tight-lipped about his life outside the League -prefers his privacy

I mean, this is basically a word-for-word press release from Liberace, Freddie Mercury, Rock Hudson, Kevin Spacey, Jodie Foster, Lindsay Lohan, Queen Latifah, Lance Bass, Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Paulson, Wentworth Miller, Matt Drudge, Shepherd Smith, Sean Hayes, Ken Mehlman, Condoleeza Rice, a ton of pro athletes, and every other celebrity who was ever in the closet.

You're implying that Riot is so obliviously tone-deaf that they accidentally wrote a nearly identical "I'm not gay" celebrity denial into Taric's lore for no reason whatsoever. I think that's pretty unrealistic, but such is the power of plausible deniability I suppose.

Sharjo2 votes

You're forgetting that Taric in the old lore is an ALIEN.

All of these things, regardless of real world inspiration, can be chalked up to people wanting to know more about a new famous ALIEN.

Vekkna1 votes

Could be. Superman has that problem. Why leave that out of the lore, though?

Ralanr1 votes

I'm implying that you're taking this too seriously. This information is also no longer canon.

Is Taric gay? Probably. He could be Bisexual. He could be metrosexual.

A characters sexuality is a secondary trait that is meant to enhance (or draw opposition to if you want to screw around with it) a primary trait.

Illaoi's sexual references are meant to enhance how she is a woman who follows her desires without shame.

Another (but non sexual) example is Pantheon's baker joke. He's this mighty warrior, but this passion for baking gives traits we didn't see before.

If they do bring up his sexuality, they probably won't do it in a big way.

Vekkna1 votes

Am I taking it any more seriously than the lore-heads who rage about retcons or the balance-nuts who rage on Gameplay? Nah, not at all.

I agree about Illaoi, and it's completely connected to the real world that a strong woman's power can be entangled with or expressed through her sexuality. She's shameless, which is part of what makes her awesome.

The undercurrent in Taric's "I'm not gay" press release lore is that, unlike Illaoi, he follows his desires (or at least feels his feelings) with enough shame that he prefers to hide or stay "tight-lipped" rather than lie. From a lore perspective, I'm curious as to why that is.

Mystery Ghost1 votes

{quoted}

Gay innuendo is part of his character, though, so why would being gay not be part of his character? I mean, Katarina's character is not defined by being straight or by her attraction to Garen.

Illaoi doesn't even have a romantic interest in another character, but we know that she's not a fan of monogamy and than she likes fucking multiple dudes. I think that actually is relevant to her character (as with Taric), but even if it wasn't relevant, it's still in the game anyway.

Illaoi had relationship with Gangplank if you read the recent Harrowing event where she made her debut

Vekkna1 votes

Oh yeah, that's right! I forgot Gangplank was flaunting his sexuality.

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