Riot should have more focus on Side Characters every once in a while
So with Irelia's new rework, we know a lot more of her family members. She holds her 'O-ma' very dear, most likely an elder or grandmother of sorts. She has four brothers, Kye, Ohn, Little Ruu and of course Zelos. Zelos however seems to have been the closest to Irelia of her four brothers, as she talks of him a lot and he was part of her original lore. Now I hear a lot of people talk about how "OH ZELOS CONFIRMED AS CHAMPION" or "MAKE ZELOS A CHAMPION!" and honestly I highly disagree with this.
If we have more interesting side characters, it makes the world feel more alive and emphasizes just how grand the Champions are in scale of the rest of the world. Can you imagine if everybody and their great grand aunt were Champions? It might feel a little bland if every single person in Runeterra, including Zozo, the Demacian Peddler who's name was dropped whatever so months ago in some random Demacian comic, was suddenly a Champion.
Now this doesn't apply to EVERY character, and some people may argue that they definetly should be Champions, which I understand, but from a narrative perspective I feel that having interesting side characters helps add more flavor and make the world feel more real.
For instance our most popular side-character, Rafen, Sarah Fortune's most trusted ally and her first-mate. Some may argue that he should be a Champion, which may be true in the future, but I personally feel that he's pretty amazing as a side character. Like the Alfred to Miss Fortune's Batman, and I never really considered playing Alfred in Arkham Knight. Other examples of interesting and important Side Characters are Zelos, Yone, Tamara, the protagonist from 'For Icathia' and even Darkwill. One of the characters I hope doesn't become a Champion, personally, is actually the Ruined King. To me he's always felt like that ever-imposing presence who's left an everlasting stain on the world of Runterra, despite being long-dead. That's probably just my opinion, and he may very well be a Champion in the future due to his popularity, but I kinda liked the idea of him just being a dark, deceased figure who, even after death, still has a tragic effect on people's lives.
Now why am I talking about this? Well I feel that though these characters are interseting, we don't even have something close to a visual aid to their appearance. At the very least a picture of them would really make the world feel more alive, and maybe more stories focusing on them.
etc.have not received any big lore updates after the retcon.
They essentially don't even have chapter 1 of their stories out,so it would feel awkward to focus on side characters like Rafen before them.