Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

My Theory Behind the History of Amumu

Electro522·1/29/2015, 4:41:07 AM·14 votes·7,768 views

To start things off, I absolutely LOVED both the Amumu music video, and the documentary behind it. I would love to see more of this content from Riot.

Anyway, with Amumu in the spotlight right now, I thought I would do something that I have been brainstorming on for quite awhile: The History of Amumu. Its quite an interesting topic, with plenty of speculation behind it. We don't have any clear answer to when he was alive, where he lived, who (or what) he really is, or exactly how he died. The point of this thred is to hopefully shed some light on our mysterious little mummy.

http://i.imgur.com/9Se4k7u.jpg

As a disclaimer; I am not a Riot employee. Anything I say in this thread may not match the views or ideas of Riot. In fact, everything I say in this thread could be 100% incorrect. So, take everything you read with a grain of salt.

To start us off, I think we should look into where, when, and how Amumu lived when he was alive. Out of all our questions, it is quite easy to determine where Amumu came from, and that is Shurima. But how exactly did he live? Was he from a noble family, or was he closer to the bottom of the social pyramid? This can actually be answered with music video just recently released.

http://i.imgur.com/UseCvgG.png?1

As you can see, Amumu came from a sarcophagus. Since Shurima is basically Runeterra's version of Egypt, we can look back into ancient Egypt for plenty of clues.

Now, people who were mummified and put into large stone coffins were normally people of very high importance, mainly Pharaohs, or the leaders of ancient Egypt. However, this doesn't exactly make sense for Amumu because he is sometimes to be depicted as a child (more on this later). So, how could a child be a leader of an entire Empire? Well, there was one person who did just this.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02050/Tutankhamun_2050264a.jpg

Tutankhamun is probably the inspiration behind Amumu. King Tut (as he is more widely known as) became ruler over Egypt at around the age of only 10 years old. So, if Amumu is a child at around the age of 10, why couldn't he also have been the Emperor of Shurima? If we look at the lore entry on Amumu that was accidently out on the PBE about a month ago, it says this:

"The walls inside were smooth obsidian and carved with ancient writings and images. He could not read - he was a simple man - but he studied the images.

"He saw a boy prince, sitting cross-legged upon a sun disk borne by a team of servants, a beaming smile upon his face. Chests of coins and riches were piled before him, the offerings of strangely garbed, bowing emissaries.

"He saw other carvings, again showing the smiling prince, this time walking among his people. Their heads were pressed to the ground before him. Stylized rays of sunshine radiated from the boy's crown.

Welp. There you have it. Essentially a confirmation on two things: Amumu was a child (sorry Yordle theorists), and he was once the ruler of the Shuriman Empire.

So, why is he so depressed? Even in the leaked lore, it says that he was actually quite happy. Well, this could be where the curse comes into play.

Further into the lore, we see this:

"He looked upon one last image before he left the tomb. It showed the boy prince dead, lying upon a bier. Those closest to him were wailing... but further back, people were celebrating. Had the boy prince been beloved, or had he been a tyrant? There was no way of knowing."

It seems like there were some people that were not happy about Amumu being on the throne. A child ruling an empire? Yeah, not too many people would be happy with that. So, someone could safely assume that he was assassinated, but this doesn't really make sense. In Azir's lore, we could see that the only people who could really get close to him at all were trusted advisors and friends. Thus, the same thing could be said for Amumu, especially since he was only a child. So, how do you kill someone that would be so closely guarded without risking your own life? Well, you wouldn't kill them directly, with a weapon. Instead, you would kill them indirectly... with a curse.

Both the lore and the music video shows that anything Amumu touches that's alive essentially withers away and dies. Even plants that are within the vicinity of Amumu turn black within a short amount of time. Basically, the opposite of The Midas Touch (which would turn everything into gold).

This curse was more then likely put on him before he died, and during his reign. Amumu would watch everyone he loved slowly wither away, and eventually die. Since Amumu was old enough to have some sort of a sense of reason (but yet, still be young enough to throw a tantrum), this would have sent him into a spiraling depression. He couldn't approach or touch anyone, or else they would just slowly die right before his eyes.

Talk about torturous, huh?

Thus, his death was probably that of suicide. Only, how does a child get to the point of suicide, even if stuff like this is happening? In the music video, we see that the curse actually does speak to him, and thus, it probably kept edging him towards ending his own life. Whoever put the curse on Amumu obviously wanted him dead, and the curse must have done its job. How did he commit suicide? Unfortunately, there is no way to know.

So, what about his resurrection? How did Amumu become the Amumu we see today? The curse was made to slowly kill him, not bring him back to life. Well, we can look to the music video for this:

http://i.imgur.com/UseCvgG.png?1

If you look closely, his sarcophagus is surrounded by destruction. He was an Emperor of Shurima, so, he would have obviously been buried in Shurima. But the destruction around his sarcophagus is an indicator as to when he was revived; right after the failed Ascension Ritual for Azir.

After the ritual was finished, Shurima started to fall apart, and the sands slowly consumed the entire empire. Everyone who was in the capital city that wasn't an ascended being would have been destroyed on the spot (which is confirmed in Azir's lore entry. He had to watch his own family get obliterated right before his eyes! The feels......they're too much!). But what if Amumu was buried in a certain location to where his tomb would still be affected by the blast, but the magic causing the blast had an opposite affect on his mummified body? Instead of destroying him, it actually resurrected him.

Since he is a re-anmiated corpse, it makes sense that he has no memory whatsoever of who he once was. Like Sion, he would probably have small memories here and there, but still not be able to remember everything. Although, he still held his personality which he had at the time of his death: a curious and endearing child, but with a broken soul that has left him in the depressed state he is in. Since he is a child, he is always looking for a friend, looking for someone to cheer him up, however, he doesn't remember that he was cursed, let alone remember what the curse actually does (damn... the deeper we go, the more depressing it gets!).

Well, there you have it folks! My theory on the history of Amumu! To summarize, Amumu was once the Emperor of Shurima, probably ascending to the throne at a very young age. People were not happy about a child ruling over them, so someone put a curse on him that made all living things around him or that he touched slowly wither away and die. This sent him into a deep depression that eventually led him to suicide. After the failed Ascension Ritual for Azir, the magic from the resulting blast actually resurrected Amumu, leaving him as an empty, depressed shell of whom he once was.

There were a couple other questions I didn't cover; such as how long before Azir did Amumu rule, or how long has he been traveling? Reason why I didn't cover them was because they aren't too important to overall theory.

There are more then likely other questions out there that I didn't think of. If there are, feel free to ask, and we'll brainstorm on it. :)

Tell me what you guys thought about this, and feel free to share your own theories. I'd love to hear what you guys have to say!

21 Comments

Aguamagician1/29/2015, 9:05:38 AM4 votes

I think your summation is pretty likely. There is more to the curse than just "you get no friends"

  1. the curse (or being a mummy) makes his tears salty, the leaked story says that and we know in game that his tears, when he is really sad, are acidic ( they do a %health shred). that means, wherever he goes, the land dies.

  2. The curse also twists everything around him to seem unfriendly and can talk to him, but the key (via the song) is that is preys on his biggest weakness and his biggest fear like any good curse.

    for example, MIdas curse preys on his greed, The Beast (from beauty and the beast) curse was on his demeanor and wrath.

Amumu's curse tries to actively make him mad. it lies, it cheats, it says "no one wants to be your friend" hell it probably says

Curse: "that guy over there is not your friend, you think he is, but he is not. go on try and hug him, shake his hand, a REAL friend would do it."

Amumu : Why is he running away?

Curse: See? i told you, he wasn't your friend, no one is your friend, they are all lying to you.

Amumu : No they are not, I...I...sniff

Curse: Are you going to cry? you remember what happened the last time you cried?

Amumu :Shut up!

Curse: Make me! oh wait you can't! your stuck with me, forever...FOREVER!

Amumu: SHUT UP! Curse of the Sad Mummy Amumu :oh no... I did it again. Amumu : I didn't mean to...guys?guys?

Curse: Temper temper Amumu, Temper temper...*fades out

Something like that. enjoy! :)

insert your own evil voice for the curse

Athenes Lulu1/29/2015, 6:44:11 AM3 votes

Rito tried to go hipster mode and decides to find a different way to "tell a story". Hoping for people like OP to decipher Amumu's lore into this.

+1 for your efforts.

Solideus1/29/2015, 1:02:38 PM1 votes

Great theory, great read.

SchaakaKon1/29/2015, 5:56:48 PM1 votes

Perhaps on the Amumu character update, we could hear the curse talking to us/Amumu.

Move command: Amumu "Okaaay."

Attack command: Cursed voice whisper "Kill Them allllll..." ect..

I think would be pretty cool.

DeadEquilibrium1/30/2015, 5:02:32 AM1 votes

My theory is a bit different, although some of what I think is just pure speculation or made up. But here I go:

The facts that we know or can assume (if the images and lyrics from the music video is true, as well as mistaken released PBE lore reveal is also true (given that it's based from a storyteller it may not be completely reliable)), we know that Amumu was once a young child in Shurima that died and was later entombed. He appears to have been in a position of power, prestige, or authority and might of been either a ruler or a figurehead. He lived and died before the events with Azir and the collapse of Shurima (given the richness of his tomb and the fact that he was mummified). At some point he became "alive" with the power to wither or destroy, and that he has no memory of his past.

What we can interpret from the video and lore? Well, the information we gather from the lore is mostly from murals in Amumu's tomb. Given that the comparison between Shurima and ancient Egypt is strong we can draw from conclusions from comparing the two. In Egypt, the Pharaoh was not only ruler, but was seen as a living god, and a child from the Gods. Depending on which period you draw from, sun worship was very strong and from Azir's lore/motifs we see that the Sun Disk is a strong element in Shurima. Amumu was depicted with "Stylized rays of sunshine radiat[ing] from the boy's crown." This could mean that he was A: Worshiped as a Living God or a child of one; B: A prince or leader with the authority from the gods (similar to Europe's "Divine Right" idea); C: Someone with magical or divine powers; or D: No special power or worship, just propaganda in the form of a burial mural. We don't know enough about Shurima to confirm A (although the bowing heads of the citizens in the mural means we can't rule this out) , while D seems unlikely. It is probably some combination of B or C. But most striking from the murals is the fact that he is always shown smiling.

How did he die? We are simply not given enough information to draw any meaningful conclusions. While he didn't die from anything too destructive (because he had a body to mummify) he could of died from disease, violence, poisoning, magical mishap, etc etc. What ever the cause, he died and is shown to have been buried. The mural shows that there were both those grieving and celebrating his death. Murals, like a lot of art (especially in more antiquated settings) is not historically accurate. A lot of them are not based on what was true or really happening, but what the artist or sponsor wants to be seen. While the first parts could of been done while Amumu was alive, his burial would of only been depicted afterwards and to the extent that the next ruler gave the artist. Why did they depict his funeral like this? Maybe Amumu's rule was marked by cruelty because he was just a figurehead and his death by a coup needed to be shown to be sad, but necessary to legitimize the new leadership? Maybe it was a religious thing and that Amumu's death was seen as a completion of the rotation of the sun; the sunset of his life but a the rise of a new dawn for Shurima? We just don't know enough.

Now is the real question: what about his revival and curse? One of the interesting things I found in the video is right at the beginning: Amongst some ruins in the desert they show Amumu's sarcophagus. While some dark mist stuff (later to be depicted in the video as his curse) comes out of the sarcophagus, you can see what seems to be chains inside. If Amumu was dead, why would you need the chains? It was around the sarcophagus that was chained either, but appears to be inside. Maybe he wasn't completely dead when he was buried, or maybe the servants who prepared the sarcophagus knew about the curse or that there was some danger involved. Whatever the reason, he was buried and then later awakened with no memory. His power/curse seems to involve some aspect of withering, or destruction (tantrum). The whisperings and rejections might be part of the curse or just a mental aspect of his despair.

Now my thoughts on his past: Amumu was part of a failed attempt of Ascension. Ascended beings have great powers to them but also seem to change or reshape their bodies: Nasus with his jackel head, Renekton the Crocodile, Xerath with a body of pure energy, and Azir with his falcon motif (although that might be a helmet instead of his actual head). Not only that, but all of these seems to draw on the power they gained through Ascending: Renekton and Nasus change their actual bodies, Xerath draws on and attacks with energy, while Azir summons sand soldiers to fight with. But to go along with the change in their bodies, they change mentally (maybe as part of the ceremony?) to be able to handle the changes and make use of their power. And ascended beings live extremely long lives. Renekton and Xerath were entombed but survived without any visable source of food and possibly no water either.

But Amumu doesn't change his body, but draws on some power, curse or not, to attack with. My theory is that Amumu is somehow a broken or disfunctional Ascended being. The withering is from the power drawing energy away from those around him, causing creatures and such to flee in fear of their lives (similar to the man in the lore story). The power of Ascension didn't kill him but kept him alive and enables him to cry for an seemingly infinate amount of time. The distruction of his tantrums is just the power from Ascension being released without reason or control. He can't normally access the power except when he is throwning a tantrum and when he does he's too upset to be able to use it for anything but destruction. This failed Ascension also broke his mind, causing him to lose his memories in order to cope. The mural has people grieve over the failed Ascension and the lost of the beloved child, but celebrating his imprisonment because of the destruction that he caused; they secured their safety and their lives.

tl;dr I think Amumu is a failed ascended being.

Ethereal3111/30/2015, 10:35:20 AM1 votes

My own personal theory was that he was indeed nobility and that he was reanimated by magic, potentially Rune Weapons or Xerath's Ascension or even a combination of the two. His entire magical arsenal is based off of his emotions and magical resonance (simply put, when he weeps he makes the ground despair and weaken, when he gets a tantrum the magical outburst makes the ground crack and crumble). His Curse of the Sad Mummy links up to leylines (these magical lines in the earth that carry magical energy, acting similar to tectonic plate lines) and resonate his energies on a massive scale, causing massive disruptions like magical earthquakes (basically shakes every magical signature around erratically to kill and maim). Those are just my own thoughts based on my own interests in trying to explain basic magic.

AznMushroomx1/30/2015, 3:39:55 PM1 votes

http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/2u428i/amumu_could_be_getting_the_ultimate_skin_even/

I'll leave this here...

James Stone1/30/2015, 9:36:44 PM1 votes

Very nice theory, I must say. I pretty much doubt Riot will follow up on Amumu's story and leave us with more than just guessing, but still, very sound theory. My new headcanon (A magical place).

Nybx4life1/29/2015, 5:24:25 AM1 votes

While I feel bad about doing this, I'll see if I can do a quick TL, DR version of this:

"Amumu is a possible Shurima child emperor that was cursed to have everybody and everything die near him, and was revived during Azir's failed Ascension ritual."

What I think about it? Possible. Although I would be curious as to his relation to Azir, and whether or not Azir would be able to recognize him. After all, a curse of that magnitude would have to be stuck in history. Now, on a side note, this would mean that Amumu and Sivir would also be related as well, given the Shurima emperor bloodline-thing.

A Superb Villain1/29/2015, 5:40:26 AM1 votes

I like your theory, quite similar to what I had in mind. However, I do not think he was cursed in the same way he is cursed now, that is to say, condemned to kill anything he touched would have drawn the attention of supporters. No doubt those that loved Amumu would have worked to undo the curse and punish those responsible.

I think the "whispers" in Amumu's ears are the curse's initial manifestation, and their lingering presence is an unintended consequence of Amumu's resurrection. If anything, that interpretation might be too literal and perhaps the "voices" in his head are his own doubts and fears, Amumu's own paranoia brought about his ruin, and continues to do so.

Still, that does leave the issue of why he was cursed to begin with, and I think the recently released music video may have an answer.

The moment when Amumu realized what he had done Too late it was, for him, for them, the evil curse had won The anger and the anguish overwhelmed his fragile soul Caused a wicked tantrum that he never could control.

Emperor's have a substantial amount of responsibility, so much that some men cannot meet the demands of the throne. To expect a child would handle it any better is absurd. Children do not have the best judgement, and when emotions run high they tend to make mistakes. I imagine Amumu had difficulty controlling his temper, and caused quite a bit of suffering when he became upset. He may have caused enough grief that some decided it would be best to remove him from the throne if he could not learn to be the emperor he was meant to be.

The curse killed him without causing a scandal, since there is no one to blame in the event of a suicide if no evidence points to external parties, and Amumu's short reign was forgotten. Somehow, Amumu returned to life, and now the curse continues its dark work despite no longer serving its purpose. The power of death and decay is a side-effect of Amumu's existence as a mummy, and the curse amplifies his terrible power by inflaming his emotions. Being the same child that he was in life, his disposition remains the same, only his tantrums now are significantly more destructive.

Le Furr9/7/2015, 5:54:35 PM

There's a few problems with your theory:

1- Amumu is shown to have 4 fingers, which not only means that he's not human, but also shares a common trait with another specie: Yordles. Every yordles Gnar Heimerdinger Teemo Veigar Ziggs Tristana are known to have 4 fingers ( both hand and feet). We can clearly see in Surprise Party Amumu skin that he references to another yordle which is Teemo

2- I believe the reason why Amumu is what he is today is because he has been cursed by Mordekaiser during his Ascension ritual. (Which explains why he has such power like his ultimate to root everyone in place. From that theory, we can conclude Amumu's case is quite similar to Azir's or Xerath, meaning he's a ''Failed-Ascended. Plus in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5eHLEQ4rNs&list=PLbAFXJC0J5Gae5_5P4coPFJqSpj8EVeN7&index=10 it's clearly shown that Amumu is part of the Ascended or sort-of.

3- From my theory explained on #2, I trully believe that Amumu legendary/ultimate skin would be the Ascended Amumu, in which would show a version of him alive, and having his total Ascended powers (his w being like Renekton's ult and etc.). In my opinion it should look like arclight varus with a dark-furred or golden yordle face or visible traits.