Pantheon and Targon moving forward lorewise

Wrathof300··3 votes·639 views

I came across some Rioter comments addressing lore updates, stating its better for the community to be proactive instead of reactive, with regard to changes/ expectations in the lore. So this is a little bit of 'where I would like to see Pantheon's future lore go'.

The topics are in this order: Atreus' return; The powers of an Aspect; Champions of Mount Targon and the Targonian Empire.

Atreus' return

Pantheon is antagonized based on the fact that Atreus' persona was erased when they fused with him at Mount Targon's peak. We then got confirmation that Atreus would return in the lore but now people are expecting Atreus to return, take back his body and then tear the Targonians a new one. Personally I don't want Atreus to just retake his body because it seems like it will be a waste of Pantheon's character. If Pantheon and Atreus were to come into conflict over possession of Atreus' body, I hope it would result in a fusion of their 2 personas. (A Hajime Hinata/ Izuru Kamakura situation for anyone that would get this reference) Basically it ends with Atreus having the best of both worlds all of his powers and possibly memories as an Aspect, all of his emotions and his personality returns and some of Pantheon's personality remains, although its hard to say what that would imply due his lack of characterization atm.

The powers of an Aspect?

The Targonian Aspects fuse with their hosts granting them knowledge and some form of celestial power, Diana's moonlight, Leona's Sunfire, Taric's gems which are actually condensed starlight, and Zoe with the ability to warp space and time in addition to her star magic. We then get to Pantheon, who, to summarize they seemed to have pushed Atreus' human limits to the max. Wishfully thinking we could assume he also has some form of celestial magic. However what if this is because individual power was not where the Aspect's power lies? Based on Aurelion's story we know that the Aspect of War can have multiple vessels across the comsos simultaneously, this is effectively an instant army of warriors with minute celestial powers.

A power worthy of the Aspect of War, I like the idea of multiple vessels of the same Aspect however, not for every single Aspect. More than likely some Aspects would favour certain planets/ sections of the galaxy, otherwise we would have a Solari vs Lunari happening on every single planet.

There could be planets where the Lunari are prominent and some where the Solari don't exist and vice versa, but I think Runeterra's situation is special (hence the numerous Aspects as alluded in the lore). Likewise certain Aspects are better as single entities at a time, example Taric and Zoe, they're stand out characters known for being different from the norm. An Aspect so involved in Targon's reign that they went as far as to have an Aspect on as many planets as possible, it fits the Aspect of War. The only downside that has been alluded to in Zoe's lore, is that each iteration across the cosmos seem to also go by the name 'Pantheon'.

Champions of Mount Targon and the Targonian empire?

I really want to see more of Targon's cosmic side, I would love see get an Aspect from another Planet cough Kaylecough, although I would prefer it to be another Aspect of War that might be a problem if they both refer to themselves as Pantheon. Aside from fleshing out the Targonians themselves, I think it is also important to flesh out their enemies, who/ what are they fighting and why, this would also help tell us who the Targonians are. They're space Noxus so surely they have more foes than just the Void... have they encountered the Darkin? What other celestial creatures have they used Aurelion to battle? What do Aspects from other planets look like!?

This is a problem Riot created with the new Mount Targon however, currently all of the region's champions are Aspects, and normal people just won't hold a candle to them. So I am interested to see how Riot spices up future additions to Mount Targon's roster.

A regular warrior like Darius or Garen, are not impossible, there are people who turn down the offer to become an Aspect afterall. Mythological creatures like Alistar would be a great addition(though not Alistar himself, I like his role in Noxus' gladiatorial arenas), since we do know monsters come down the Mountain from the portal, Leona's Aspect was hiding among them when she first encountered it. Based on the short bio updates, Soraka sounds like she is going to be a celestial banished to Runeterra by the Targonians. I could see this being the origin of the monsters that descend the mountain. Disfigured and sentenced to death.

Sorry for the long, post hope you enjoyed though. Just my thoughts atm.

8 Comments

Warlord Dienekes4 votes

And as a fun counterpoint to demonstrate both the nigh impossible task Riot has in front of them balancing player expectations, while also showing the annoyance of fans who have what they like about something destroyed in front of there eyes, there is me.

So when I see this:

Personally I don't want Atreus to just retake his body because it seems like it will be a waste of Pantheon's character.

I immediately question what character Pantheon actually has, because the only thing we've seen from him is that he's a bit of a dick. And then would probably just admit, even if he does end up with a fully fleshed out personality I really don't care about it, at all. I want to see it wiped from existence a bad memory about the time Riot thought it was a good idea to take the character defined as a simple soldier and turned him into an alien with a god complex. An idiotic alien with a god complex, if the comment by Waarghobo is true that aspects get more powerful over time, but War just doesn't care about his vessels.

I don't want to see Atreus with all of the memories and powers of a god. I want my spartan back.

I really don't want to see any more of Targon's celestial side. I don't care about the celestial side. I care about Leona, and Diana, and Atreus, and Taric. And to a much, much, much lesser extent Zoe. I don't give a fig about Twilight, Sun, Moon, or War. Protector seems chill.

Wrathof3001 votes

Yep, been pretty much established that Pantheon is the dick of the group, the no nonsense kinda guy. He went out of his way to remove the persona of the vessel to ensure he got the job done, a big contrast to the other Aspects. It shows that the Aspect is extremely driven in his mission/ loyalty to Targon. Similarly with Vayne, quite a few people hated her for killing Frey, but this is who Vayne is. She is hardhearted, you don't need to sympathize with her, only understand the reasons why she does what she does.

Whether or not the Aspect of War cares about their vessel is something that hasn't been touched on, even if they themselves come across as a selfish or a dick. Of course I wouldn't expect them to care as much as the other Aspects, if at all. Once they've swapped, it sounds like Atreus is out of the picture, at least that is the impression we are lead to believe.

Warlord Dienekes1 votes

Missing the forest for the trees here I think. I honestly don't care if Pantheon's personality is he's an ass. Sure the spartans themselves were supposedly noted as being exceptionally polite. But they also ran a slave economy, not usually considered "good."

My biggest qualm is that I hate just about everything that they added to the lore. I don't want to see anything more about the Aspect of War. I don't care what the aspect's personality is. Or whether he cares about his vessels. Or anything.

I just want the space parasite to go away.

Emperor of Fate1 votes

Well , i surely want to know more about the celestials and the void! If Kayle andMorgana turn into celestials i want morgana to be corrupted by the void. As far as the avatars are concerned i do not care about them that much...they are just less interesting than most champs...Also i dont want the celestial empire to have another serious enemy..void causes them enough havoc..

Wrathof3001 votes

I could see where having the Void as their main foes sounds like Targon has it's plate full, but in fact its not like the Void is actively attacking the Targon, at best we could assume its being systematic in its corruption of the Universe.

Aurelion gives us the impression that they've gone out of their way to have influence on as many planets/ sectors of the galaxy as possible. Similarly Noxus is the biggest empire on Valoran conquering territories. Demacia can be see as their long time foes, but they aren't Noxus' only foes. Noxus has made attempts to conquer parts of Ionia in the past and they are currently planning to take over Piltover/ Zaun. They have claimed cities in Shurima as well, which could lead to more conflict later down the road. We can also throw in Mordekaiser and the Black Mist here as we know Morde wants to reclaim his former throne, the Immortal Bastion, currently Noxus' capital, and still we have the internal political conflict within Noxus' military. Of course they don't need to have as many enemies as Noxus, Noxus is known for making an enemy with anyone they don't see eye to eye with, but I certainly feel as though there could be a lot more stories told about Targon, than just Targon vs the Void.

Emperor of Fate1 votes

{quoted}

I could see where having the Void as their main foes sounds like Targon has it's plate full, but in fact its not like the Void is actively attacking the Targon, at best we could assume its being systematic in its corruption of the Universe.

Aurelion gives us the impression that they've gone out of their way to have influence on as many planets/ sectors of the galaxy as possible. Similarly Noxus is the biggest empire on Valoran conquering territories. Demacia can be see as their long time foes, but they aren't Noxus' only foes. Noxus has made attempts to conquer parts of Ionia in the past and they are currently planning to take over Piltover/ Zaun. They have claimed cities in Shurima as well, which could lead to more conflict later down the road. We can also throw in Mordekaiser and the Black Mist here as we know Morde wants to reclaim his former throne, the Immortal Bastion, currently Noxus' capital, and still we have the internal political conflict within Noxus' military. Of course they don't need to have as many enemies as Noxus, Noxus is known for making an enemy with anyone they don't see eye to eye with, but I certainly feel as though there could be a lot more stories told about Targon, than just Targon vs the Void.

celstials are more than likely a very old race ,so tehy surely ahve a lot of stories to tell..but do we really need to hear them? i still prefer to gain info that moves the timeline forward rather than ''filler'' stories with ultimately no effect on the main conflicts.

Wrathof3001 votes

Well I could see where stories that move the lore forward would be preferred, its mostly opinion, no one form of story tellinng will be better than the other. However, I really liked Taliyah Bird and the Branch and Bloodline stories, because even if they didn't move her story forward, it put a lot of things in perspective. It set up connections between lots of champions, Taliyah has allies she would be able to rely on in future lore, Yasuo, Sivir and Nasus, and it wasn't one-sided gain either. When Yasuo confronts Riven and effectively 'ends' his redemption arc, we know he is going to make his way to Shurima and meet his pupil, Nasus was made to come to terms that he would have to face Xerath and his brother once more, and Sivir can't run from the decision of becoming Shurima's queen, she has to decide.

2 stories with major implications for the lore, without rushing the pacing of the lore.

6FlagsFunnelCake1 votes

I'm honestly hoping that they do a much larger rewrite on Pantheon and keep him an Aspect of War, but give him more designs and motifs that relate more to an ECLIPSE (Taric is the Aspect of the Protector but he has a lot of motifs that relate to starlight and crystals, so it's not too far off!).

What really made me think about this was actually Zoe's release. Zoe is meant to be a aspect of trickery and mischief but she also represents a sort of harmonious existence between Light and Dark (Sun and Moon), as a twilight can represent the mysterious 'inbetween' of the Sun and Moon. Now imagine a counterpart to that in Pantheon, an Aspect of War who represents the literal war and horrifying chaos between the Sun and Moon, rather than a Twilight's harmonious coexistence.

Also, this can add an interesting dynamic between the playful childlike Zoe and her complete opposite, a dark and brooding Pantheon. Even in Zoe's story, she mentions how she doesn't like Pantheon because he hurts Aurelion Sol, who she sees as a pet.

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