It would seem compared to what was believed before, Zed is not a rogue terrorist in Ionia but clearly someone looking out for its better interests from Noxus and is even disgusted by the likes of Jhin.
Even if his methods of doing so are shady, nothing seems to indicate he's particularly evil anymore.
what is evil, but an opposing opinion on right and wrong deemed unpopular by the majority?
Zed is never hinted at being evil or malevolent.
His conflict with Shen is reminicent of Captain America Vs Ironman in Civil war, with him being the Captain.
He dosent want to let himself be restrained by rules and old outdated traditions, when faced with threats that clearly require innovation, even if its morally questionable. Zed sees that the world is a grim and dark place, and knows you cant always take the high road in dealing with it.
He belives the ends justify the means. To that end he will use Dark magics if it means protecting Ionia and his people.
He reminds me of Red hood from DC and Malthael from Diablo.
Red-hood has his own shady ways of dealing with evil, Methods that aren't approved by heroes but he has good intentions.
Malthael the archangel of wisdom, Went crazy, Wanted to kill every human on the planet, When an ex-archangel of justice wanted to stop Malthael by stabbing him in the stomach with the blade El'druin, Malthael took no damage, You know why? Because Malthael had good intentions, He believed he was doing the right thing.
El'druin cannot hurt those with good intentions.
He kills ninja turtles.
In general I think he isn't supposed to be simply evil nowadays.
He is trying to keep the balance and order of the world just like the kinkous,its just that his methods are more extreme.
I don't think Zed supposed to be a villain per se, but more the anti-these of the current Ionia. Riot did an amazing job to make him a grey character, he is clearly not a a good person (stealing Vastayian magic, using shadow technique, which is using the soul of the fallen to empower themself), but in the same time you don't really think he is a villain, but more an extremist. His interaction with Shen in the Jhin Color text clearly shows Zed really believes he is doing the right thing. However, his goals aren't the most noble ones and his methodes are even less. And if his road to fullfill his goals are pawned with blood and terror, then Zed still won't hesitate or turn around.
Zed's definitely been shaping up to be quite the interesting character since Jhin's lore was released.
Though my main gripe is that despite all this...we know very little about the Kinkou Order in general as well. Both Kennen and Akali are both in an odd lore limbo and really have little development outside of being Shen's "two sidekicks". I was disappointed to see that the two were not even referenced in Kayn's reveal or champion interactions. Akali was mentioned a bit in Jhin's story; however, there was no mention of Kennen at all (other than a Rioter mentioning that Kennen was probably the oldest ninja in terms of age of the group).
From what I recall from what Rioters mentioned during Zed's reveal was that Akali had no mercy for Zed and was ready to kill him (indicating a possible past with Zed) while Kennen is ready to redeem Zed as he sees some good in him while Shen is neutral on the overall subject. This makes sense as Akali is the ninja said to be tasked with assassinating those who threaten balance while Kennen's kindness is meant to help those who want justice in the world. Shen watches over both sides to make a perfect balance as per the Kinkou Order's actions.
After all these years of having these characters in the game, I do hope we learn more about Ken and Akali as well as the conflicts between the Kinkou and the Order of the Shadow. Kayn has been revealed as Zed's fellow member and potential new leader while the two sidekicks to Shen have had little development at all in recent years. Akali is said to be young and brash in Jhin's story while Kennen's original lore indicates that he's a prankster...I really hope we just get more info about these guys too so we can learn about the overall situation about the two ninja clans.
He's the Akuma of LoL.
nothing seems to indicate he's particularly evil anymore.
Are you delusional? Zed has murdered his own adoptive father and the majority of the Kinkou order just because they wanted to prevent him from learning shadow magic, which is a practice that allows the user to steal life energy from their victims. On top of that, Zed's order is kidnapping, torturing and killing vastaya on a daily basis in order to freely harness natural energy, which is ESSENTIAL to their survival.
I think Zed is fully gray character, people just love to dichotomize to good and bad.
Idk but hes messing with the magic of the vastayah so
He's the League equivalent of Ra's al Ghul. So a bit of both.
THEY'RE WAKING UP, I REPEAT, THEY'RE WAKING UP.
He still killed his master, then had his ninja people murder the majority of ninja temple. That's pretty evil. Plus there was the whole, draining nature magic stuff for shadow stuff reasons, thing he did.
I mean, it's ok to not see him evil, the way some people don't see Jhin as evil, but generally killing your master, stealing a forbidden form of magic, capturing an entire group of people, and conducting rituals for said forbidden magic is at the very least illegal.
