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How were the Darkin corrupted?

Grinning Idiot·10/15/2018, 4:47:24 PM·7 votes·9,527 views

I am interested to hear how different people interpret the darkin lore. Aatrox's bio says that everyone who fought the void in Icathia lost something, "...even noble Aatrox."

I always understood this to be a kind of PTSD combined with existential dread from fighting the void and this emotional and mental strain was the first crack in the integrity of the Sunborn.

However, I have seen other posts that seem to view this loss as being an actual physical/ magical corruption of the Sunborn by the void. There is a case for this from some of Aatrox's quotes: "Am I the abyss? Or did I gaze into it?" "There is a darkness in my heart deeper than any shadow."

Even the fact that darkin consume victims' bodies to sustain themselves is similar, at least thematically to how the void spreads, I am thinking of the Frostguard story "The Eye in The Abyss" especially.

Personally, I think the darkin story is more poignant if it is a story of soldiers not able to be the heroes they were supposed to be, and ultimately giving into their own inner darkness and greed after living such long lives. What do you guys think?

29 Comments

wildfox9T10/15/2018, 5:14:45 PM12 votes

How were the Darkin corrupted?

item 2033 [slayer-jinx-wink]

DerMangoJoghurt10/15/2018, 5:00:23 PM9 votes

It's most likely a combination of all those things. Corruption by the void, loss of purpose, arrogance, hunger for power, clinging to the past; all of those factors contributed towards the Darkin. I doubt that the Void alone would have led to the Darkin wars, at least not that fast. In Twilight of the Gods Shabaka and Shabake are the most corrupted Darkin, yet they don't show any aggressive tendencies.

Pika Fox10/15/2018, 7:09:04 PM5 votes

They are humans turned "gods" with "immortality", live extended periods of time and faught in horrific wars that made them bear witness to horrors and deaths unspeakable, and witnessed planes of "existence" that boggles the mind.

Basically, they have human minds, and their psyche couldnt handle it.

AnAggravatedPimp10/15/2018, 6:18:52 PM5 votes

I think it's more a literal loss of self, as seen in the fall of Ithaca story. How the warrior lost bits and pieces of his name until as the void broke him down into nothing. Ascendant are more powerful than an average human so it stands to reason that it would be much harder to strip away their identity so the void did something more interesting, it pulled at their positive emotions, because I'm sure the Ascendant weren't abundantly joyous while fighting the abominations of the void. Any Ascendant that couldn't overcome the terror that they experienced moved on to become more and more aggressive until the infighting and use of body warping blood magic became commonplace and the humans dubbed the warring gods, Darkin.

RiotWAAARGHbobo10/17/2018, 4:18:14 PM4 votes

Personally, I think fantasy and superhero genres work best when they externalize emotions and use symbolism. So whenever possible we try to build those layers into our characters and worldbuilding.

In this case the “void” can be seen as a metaphor for how an endless, brutal war transformed the men who fought it— and Aatrox in particular.

Thus this is a situation where the answer does not, and should not be viewed one or the other (it is not binary). Aatrox was not changed by the void OR ptsd.

Instead both sides can be viewed as simultaneously true and possible— because of that metaphoric connection.

M00ndanc310/15/2018, 5:43:09 PM4 votes

How i see it, The Darkin got corrupted by the void mentally. The void planted more of a seed of corruption in there minds. This corruption was minor and was able to be kept in check since they were able to devote themselves entirely to serving there Queen and eventually Azir. But with the fall of Azir and tensions at an all time high that corruption spread and twisted there minds and made many of them paranoid of the others.

Oleandervine10/15/2018, 5:52:11 PM4 votes

I personally didn't like the Darkin becoming fallen Ascended, I think it looped far too much of the lore in on itself which leads to stagnation and too many explanations. I much preferred when the Darkin were an unknown alien force from outside the world threatening invasion and extermination of the humans. I think it explained their introduction of new magics better (Blood Magic) as well as gave us an understanding without explaining it as to why Darkin beings trapped in weapons would still be able to exert their will and form onto those who bore the weapons. I think the amount of unknown around the Darkin as otherworldly invaders made for a much richer story with limitless potential, and also provided a new type of villain to enrich the world with, aside from Void and Undead.

Wrathof30010/15/2018, 9:51:49 PM2 votes

Personally, I think the darkin story is more poignant if it is a story of soldiers not able to be the heroes they were supposed to be, and ultimately giving into their own inner darkness and greed after living such long lives.

I believe this is the correct interpretation. Void corruption is not necessary in becoming a Darkin, the main difference between a Darkin and and Ascended is that, the Darkin are now sealed within weapons. Likely, most Darkin also meddled in blood magic and other dark magic, however if Nasus and Renekton were sealed within their weapons like Aatrox and Rhaast they would have also been considered Darkin. Few of the Darkin were corrupted by the Void to the extent of say Malzahar, eg. Shabake and Shabaka and possibly Syphax from Twilight of the gods.

SSmotzer10/16/2018, 12:16:55 AM1 votes

The Void can corrupt someone by hearing whispers of it Malzahar or having images of it burned into your head, like the Darkin.

So, that would make them Void corrupted, just like the Iceborn.

DarkSoul199410/16/2018, 8:33:30 AM1 votes

The sheer horror of it would mess you up pretty bad.
The void messes with your mind.
Literal massive scars.
Physical void corruption.