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What exactly does it mean to be a "God", "Demon", "spirit" in League of Legends lore wise?

lolipopevelynn·11/26/2015, 8:38:15 AM·8 votes·3,867 views

honestly they all seem to be the same to me. is a cosmic being that is capable of saving the entire universe or even steering it into a different direction altogether. is literally death, is some kind of demon, and now is priestess to nagakabourous which is an actual God.

how exactly do they relate to each other? because in my mind atleast are all on the same plain, but nagakabourous is on a different plain? i honestly dont get it. is nagakabourous above all of them in terms of power and spirit? what makes it different from the rest or even ?

its just something thats not clear to me. in it states she is just a "God of the serpent isles", which means she really isnt a "God" of anything else. is the title of "God" simple a title no different from being a king or queen of something? because thats what it seems like to me when you look at other "Gods" in league such as "Sun God" and "moon God".

maybe someone can enlighten me.

24 Comments

GreenLore11/26/2015, 10:06:02 AM5 votes

Aatrox actually seems like a more physical being. I dunno if he really is on a different plain of existence,or if he simply lives in the physical world,but he usually is alone.

Basically Bard,Tahm kench and maybe even Kindred(who might be more like an avatar of death and not death itself) seem to be lesser spirits. They are powerful,but they still have their limits. Nagakaborous is the god of life,motion and something else that i forgot,so I guess that Nagakabouros is simply on a whole different level than the spirits we get to play,but is even less connected to the physical world.

Crowe Stalker11/26/2015, 9:06:33 AM4 votes

Honestly, League of Legends used to be more about the League than the Legends, but ever since they removed the League, it's just Legends.

You know it's true.

To answer your actual question, it's because Riot wants to make every Champion a Special Snowflake. The more you look at all these reworked 'Lores' the more it becomes apparent that literally everyone aside from the Champions is a Side-show. Just look at Poppy! She used to be an angry Blacksmith's Daughter, but now she's apparently destined to lead Demacia to greatness? Then what the fuck are the Lightshields, or are we going to ignore the fact Demacia is a Monarchy leaning towards an Orwellian Society because it's Convenient for your narration at the moment?

Ebonmaw Dragon11/26/2015, 12:52:16 PM3 votes

{quoted}

its just something thats not clear to me. in it states she is just a "God of the serpent isles", which means she really isnt a "God" of anything else. is the title of "God" simple a title no different from being a king or queen of something? because thats what it seems like to me when you look at other "Gods" in league such as "Sun God" and "moon God".

maybe someone can enlighten me.

The champions arent gods, they represent gods, like the Pope or Pharaohs... or priests.

The Sun is the "god" of Leona and the Solari The Moon is the "god" of Diana and the Lunari The Beared Lady, Mother Serpent, Kraken, Nagakabouros is the god of Illaoi Vilemaw is the god of Elise.

A "god" seems to be a misterious and powerfull (sentient) creature that dictates a "way of livng" (or... unliving if that is even a word in the case of Vilemaw) . They also can give power to those who belive in them.

Sharjo11/26/2015, 2:34:15 PM2 votes

Well in Illaoi's eyes the primary God is Nagakabouros, as Nagakabouros is EVERYTHING. Gods and spirits seem like interchangeable terms in this instance for Illaoi's religion so in that way we can imagine Nagakabouros as the supreme god above all things. Other beings like Kindred, Bard, Anivia, the Sun and Moon, they all fall in to the category of great powers that exist within the bounds of Nagakabouros herself, and as such while they may constitute to being gods they aren't as high on the food chain as the Bearded Lady.

Then there's Darkin and Demons.

Honestly I don't know with them, but my thoughts right now is that Darkin and Demons aren't a part of the great flow that Nagakabouros represents. I'm always gonna be drawn to something WAAARGHbobo said, that demons existed differently before they used humans for sustenance, implying they predate humans entirely. Not only that but the two beings seem immortal, and Illaoi isn't a fan of immortality in the living beings of Runeterra. Spirits and gods sure but Illaoi doesn't seem put the Darkin and Demons on the same level as those.

What I think, right now, and this is total head canon, is that before life truly came to be in the form of animals, plants and what not, the Demons and Darkin existed. They were eternal beings without souls, so they could live forever but would never find their way back to the world if they were to die. They'd be gone for good. Something happened that brought life to the world that had souls and could find meaning even after death and it changed the way in which the dark beings lived. Potentially they world couldn't sustain them anymore, and so they began to die out or something, or maybe they grew to despise these beings who could endure past death, and tried destroying them. The strongest among them changed their ways so that they could sustain themselves from the living beings of the world, but they still remained as shadows of their former selves, living as the last of their species in a world that was no longer theirs.

I went way off the deep end in theorizing as I got further in that, but eh, something to think about I guess.

Ironclad Dragon12/1/2015, 5:37:45 AM1 votes

Nothing technically makes Nagakaborous any more special or powerful than a normal spirit. It is the subject of a faith, but that doesn't mean it has godlike power.

Star Guardían11/26/2015, 9:11:31 PM1 votes

Gods and demons depends on the opinion of the culture viewing them. Aatrox may be a god to someone he sides with and a demon to someone he strikes down. My question is if there is one true God of the Runeterra universe (other than the writers)

NA Darklarik11/27/2015, 7:13:58 AM1 votes

Kindred is omnipresent. Just because they can manifest infront of someone like that actress dosent mean they arent everywhere. Look at the lore, Kindred was on the battlefield. They are their everytime a person dies, be it illness or injury, you just cant see them. For story telling purposes yes, Kindred manifests infront of the actor and for gameplay purposes they have a form in game.

Id say they are on the same plain as Nagak

Dreamspitter11/27/2015, 10:43:53 AM1 votes

Saw this thread on Reddit...

https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/3bzey3/tahm_kench_originnature_possible_explanation/

Remember, this game is League of LEGENDS -and what "Lore" we have isnt encyclopedic its legend and LORE. It may not be accurate, and may have conflicting versions.

*When the Gambler hears the song that calls on him to chance his luck again -- A gambler, thinking the way out of his misery is by trying that last gamble. *"The singer was a creature, with the biggest mouth the Gambler had ever seen (...)" -- Your thoughts become very persuasive when it comes to convincing you to indulge in your addiction.

So the Gambler ends up travelling away to try his chance again (sort of gambling isn't it?) *"Now when that hungry beast finally did rise" -- When the Gambler's hunger for "dice and cards" (gambling) rouse. *"And although the Gambler tried to cast him out" -- Although the Gambler tried to supress his own vices. *"It ate the gifts, the house, and gold!" -- His gambling addiction ended up consuming everything. *"This hunger's a burden, but it's the last time I swear, so please forgive" -- Now, are these the words of a demon/spirit? Or the Gambler's own words?

Basically I'm saying that Tahm is the materialisation of a person's own "demons", and Tahm will take the mannerisms of wichever person it wants to feed on.

He is the spirit of people's own, self made shackles.

Tahm let the Gambler try his luck again by going to some other land start fresh, but you can't run from yourself. Should the Gambler redeem himself it would have been wherever he was, with whatever problems he had caused. By trying his luck again he was letting the beast in - I think whenever the Gambler indulged, he let Tahm in.

Bits from the Q&A now, Q: Tahm says that "the world is one river, and i'm its king. Ain't no place i can't go, aint no place i cant go again." Is this true? (...) And how does that work anyways? (...) Not every lake, river, ocean, pool and oasis is connected, (...) Maybe there is a massive underground ocean that only he knows of? A: There is an ocean of darkness in every man's soul.

Q: In the River King video, Tahm makes a bargain with the gambler then comes to collect years later. Why does Tahm even need to make a Faustian deal in the first place instead of crashing any party whenever he wants? Is he bound by certain rules? Is that what he meant by being "let in"? A: Yes. Traditionally there are always rules with demons and devils. The gambler is making a bargain (ultimately with himself). It is the bargain that allows Tahm to create the human misery he feeds on.

Q: Why does Tahm feel the need to trick people? He could easily walk up to a village and eat everybody, since he obviously isn't threatened by most beings. He said that when he devoured the gambler's wife, it left him satisfied. Does he have some sort of physiological disorder? Supposedly he feeds on "despair", but i'm pretty sure anybody getting eaten by a giant monster will be in despair. A: If I can answer a question with a question. Who's despair is Tahm eating in the story? How is his bargain causing the maximum amount of sorrow?

His bargain gives hope to the Gambler, who thinks that he has been given a new chance -- He has not. He gambled his way out, and "a person is its own worst enemy". By raising the Gambler's hope, then watching it being destroyed by the Gambler himself Tahm created the most misery outta that.

Tahm didn't get fed off of the wife, he got fed on the Gambler's misery and failure in escaping his own conditioning.