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Lore of Legends: Darkin

Kasym·6/29/2017, 12:41:54 AM·1 votes·12,329 views

With the announcement of the new jungler(s) Kayn and Rhaast, there has been multiple confusions about Darkins. I am here to educate the what's and who's on Darkins, and I hope this will clear up confusions for many players and aspiring Lore-masters.

To start we ask the question: What is a Darkin? The answer is very unclear however. We know that they've been around for ages, and that they've had a hand in many affaires, but they're actual origins are still a mystery. The clostest thing we currently have are Demons, as said from a few of Rhaast's lines. Is it also speculated that Celestials (Bard Race) are the opposite to them.

Now, let's move on to who is a Darkin. Currently, as of June 2017, there are 2 and 1/2 actually confirmed, and possibly 5 speculated to exist.

The first is Aatrox , the Darkin Blade. Aatrox was released on June 13th, 2013, a full 4 years ago, and he hasn't been great. He's been a really bad pick for Top and Jungle for years, his skins are sup-par to suck, I think he took up drinking. He's ok as a pick right now, but I wouldn't play him unless you know what you're doing. Aatrox lore wise hasn't done much recently, all we know is that he's been alive since the beginning, and has been involved in many wars. His only notable action was being the one who "made" Tryndamere , giving him his ult, Undying Rage. Aatrox revels in war, calling it his artwork, and it is possible that he's been involved the constant Demacia Noxus Conflict, but that's speculation. As for a Darkin, he didn't bring much to them, just the fact that they exist.

The second Darkin is Rhaast, Kayn's bitch. Rhaast is a Scythe at the moment, owned by your thirteen year old nephew's OC Kayn. While it's currently unclear as to why he's a weapon with no lore to read, there is a lot we can take from his gameplay. First let's look at when Rhaast becomes... Rhaast. The Scythe flies up and impales Kayn, a flash of darkness comes, and Kayn is completely transformed into the Darkin Rhaast. This means that Darkin can completely possess a host body. Second, Rhaast gains Kayn's style of fighting and a few of his abilities (Notably the Shadow Walk), meaning that when they are possessed, they can grow and gain new deadly abilities. This may only apply to Rhaast, but Kayn does that Rhaast was "imprisoned" in a line (whatever that is) so perhaps this applys to all Darkin (Some people speculate that the blade in Demonblade Trynd is Aatrox). Lore wise we still have much to learn, however from a few lines we can determine three very important things. 1: They're are about 5 Darkin (This is unclear as Rhaast doesn't even know). 2: Varus is wrapped up in this Darkin business. And 3. They're planning something (When you attack Aatrox as Rhaast "Rhaast: We're switching to Plan B. You die!").

Now let's talk about that 1/2, and one of my favorite ADCs, Varus , the Arrow of Retribution. First off, VARUS IS NOT A DARKIN. Varus is a human, but after an attack at his temple during the Noxus invasion of Ionia, Varus used a forbidden bow too protect the place (Spoiler: he failed). Now Varus walks to bring vengeance to his people, using that strange bow. Varus himself is still human, however, it is the bow that is the Darkin. Rhaast has multiple interactions with Varus, calling him "Demon Pants" and telling him to join him and Aatrox. Now this could be just random Rhaast (a lot of his lines make him out to be an unreliable source), but remember what I talked about in Rhaast paragraph. First off, Rhaast can take over Kayn's body, and Varus has half of his body taken over by this "Corruption", second Rhaast is a scythe and DB Tryn's blade is probably Aatrox, so why wouldn't the bow be considered another Darkin. There is also another subtle hint in the designs for these characters. The Darkin have been speculated to be based off the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Aatrox = War Rhaast = Death Varus' Corruption = Pestilence

This further works as the White Rider of Pestilence carries a bow and arrow. Well that checks out right. Varus is bow is a Darkin, so why is a 1/2 Darkin. Well, we still don't know the name of it, or if it even has sentience, as it has never talked in canon before. Though, this leads to a theroy that the bow is slowly taking over Varus' mind, leading him toward revenge and anger so it can take over without any problems. Perhaps Rhaast's insults and pushings are helping to speed up the possession process. Time will tell.

So. There you have it, everything that has been confirmed about the Darkin so far. Hopefully we will see more revealed as we wait for Kayn's official release date. This also means that we will be having a Famine Darkin (Omen?) released sometime in the future, as well as a possible Darkin King.

If I missed anything, please comment and I will try to get the answers. And if there's another Lore discussion you would like, let me know.

See you on the Rift. Phoenix Phury.

12 Comments

InfernoFøx6/29/2017, 1:21:13 AM2 votes

Technically, Varus is not Darkin. But to an extent. Yes he was human before he used the bow, but same goes with Kayn. As we know of so far, Kayn is a ninja of the Kinkou Tribe (student of Zed). How he obtained Rhaast is yet unclear due to the lack of lore that has been released. But we know so far that Kayn is HUMAN.

But there is difference between Varus and Kayn. Varus's bow is the personification of vengeance (not pestilence) and corrupted his mind, but not his soul. As we can see from Aatrox and Kayn/Rhaast, their weapons are/were Darkin. But Darkin can manifest themselves as a weapon, as we see in Varus and Rhaast. Aatrox himself is Darkin because he took over the host he was using, much like Darkin Rhaast form of Kayn. Rhaast then is no longer the weapon but the body. And why the name of the transformation is "Darkin Rhaast" and not "Darkin Kayn".

What does this mean? Well, Varus is not Darkin, but he does wield a Darkin bow which is "taking over his mind" (which means his body could become darkin). But in the Darkin lore it is stated that Humans and Darkin are able to form a symbiosis having half of Varus's body as Darkin. And that Bow is counted towards the Darkin count as well as Rhaast the weapon and Aatrox the body (he could possibly have been the weapon he uses much like Darkin Rhaast form).

As you stated:

Though, this leads to a theroy that the bow is slowly taking over Varus' mind, leading him toward revenge and anger so it can take over without any problems.

This does make sense but it wouldnt go quite as you stated.

From what I suggested, this means once the bow can completely taken over Varus's mind (parasitic symbiosis), Varus is no more, only the body and the Darkin Soul remains and is now the body but uses the weapon it used to be.

So we can assume that Darkin either has a host and they manifest themselves as a weapon (Varus in his Bow do count in this via symbiosis) or they took over the host and is now controlling the body (Like Aatrox and Darkin Rhaast Form). That means we will have 2 forms of Darkin. Also, we can see that when Rhaast take over Kayn's body, we see the same features of Aatrox on Rhaast (mostly the "horns" on their head). So with this being said, in the future, we should be looking at the Weapon (does it have strange abilities that are almost living?) and features of the champion (horns? red? demonic looking?) to see if they are wielding Darkin or are Darkin.

I hope this answers some stuff for you

ShovelShepherd6/29/2017, 5:51:48 AM1 votes

I see that there are 5 Darkin....Four Riders of the Apocalypse...Lots of horns...the 5th Darkin is Teemo, the final and most fateful of them all! All joking aside, though. This is solid, I think I'll add to my unofficial lore archive. Also, to help your 4 horsemen theory, Rhaast's taunt to an allied Aatrox is him mentioning Death and War being in the same place. Not to mention that when Rhaast kills Aatrox, he says that they switched to Plan B. This could be symbolic of War always ending in death and a Final Battle is about to take place...Like Riot is that thoughtful [slayer-jinx-wink]

vLlZjHubery6/29/2017, 1:04:16 AM1 votes

we assume the bow is called pallus or whatever the name of the pit was called

KingOfYoutubers12/26/2017, 7:35:26 PM1 votes

can sion be the one last darkin ? i mean he looks like one and he has this thing in his stomach so could that be a his weapon ? that its also a heart of a previus darkin ? let me explain: sion was a normal human then and asteroid fell and was glowing red and its aura with power.... the asteroid's aura could draw other people on to getting them close to touch it.... sion followed that asteroid.... he saw it and was drawn to it.... he didnt have the power to back out.... his mind was controlled.... he could not feel his body.... he could not see.... he could not.... his eyes turned white.... his moth red.... a hole was made in his stomach burning like lava.... from that hole it turned his body into a monster.... but not sion himself.... he maybe weak but his heart is strong.... (silence) sion gasped for breath.... he was filled with rage.... the memories of the past darkins was his.... a voice in his head.... it was the "DARKIN" who spoke to him.... ordering him to kill the most strong.... (insert rest of the lore here) (pls riot give me strength) Sion item 3067

Šhαco1/29/2018, 3:52:03 PM1 votes

varus's new lore makes him 100% darkin, and for aatrox he was imprisoned in the blade he uses just like rhaast is imprisoned in the scythe but he escaped it and uses the blade now, just like when rhaast takes over and still uses the schyte

vinycz13/13/2018, 8:31:12 PM1 votes

The lore of Varus has been changed, now he is not a human, but a darkin with two souls of humans in himself and a flesh by humans flash... (Kai and Valarim).Varus is a darkin and Kai with Valarim ID the humans

Lady Faceless6/29/2017, 7:20:23 AM1 votes

I would be careful about any Varus statment... his lore is outdated and basically has no canon weight, since they could rework him into something else. (Just look at the Targon characters) We DO have this Rhaast interaction, but expect this too little secure information. I would say we have to wait to be sure, which role Varus play in the whole Darkin lore.