So is it just me or is Kayn secretly just someone's DeviantArt OC?

King Braum·9/18/2019, 2:53:30 PM·32 votes·19,182 views

for those who haven't read Kayn's backstory. here's the long short of it.

Kayn is a child soldier from Noxus, who joined the invasion of Ionia and while Kayn's entire squad was wiped out, he stayed alive and killed off the majority of the defenders he faced, even dropping his sword and picking up a significantly inferior weapon in direct combat, the sickle before the Noxan army joined him to sweep the remaining survivors.

Skip ahead two days later. Zed hears about the fight and finds a bloodied Kayn still there, left to die by the Noxian (even though Noxus won that battle but hey they probably just didn't like the kid very much).

Zed personally welcomed the kid into his League and started to train him, Kayn then learned to master EVERY WEAPON THE ORDER OF SHADOW HAD TO OFFER. This is a feat we Haven't even seen Zed preform simply because according to traditions you learn to master a single tool of your choosing (similar to Shaolin Munks who choose two). But Kayn learned all of them in the span of what we can only assume is a few years, why he even did it we don't really know because as far as we know Kayn heavily favors sickle like weapons but that doesn't really matter.

Anyhow, Kayn became a master assassin shortly after and even gained a reputation which made him arrogant towards others and hopeful that one day he could overthrow Zed as the head of the Order of Shadow.

Zed seemingly noticed this arrogance so he send Kayn out to basically a suicide mission, retrieving a Darkin weapon from the heart of Noxus so it could never be used against Ionia and he did that too.

TL;DR Kayn is;

  • A Noxian child soldier who faught since he was 10 years old and the lone survivor of his first battle.
  • A personal student, chosen by Zed himself within the Order of Shadow.
  • A master of every weapon the Order of Shadow has to offer.
  • Naturally gifted in learning the shadow Technique
  • The owner of Darkin weapon which he stole out of Noxus And to top things off he's incredibly arrogant.

Like seriously, does this not sound like timmy's first League of Legends OC?

45 Comments

SEKAI9/18/2019, 3:37:03 PM26 votes

Kayn's kind of cool because it's as if he's designed to give off the most "deviant OC" vibe he can get, and then you actually play him and hearing his VO and you're like, "well it's not as bad as I'd thought".

The greatest part about Kayn is less about his personal history but his interaction with Rhaast. Basically a self-important edgelord (sort of) battling in wits with a brute, which probably sounds a lot worse than it actually is. Because what happens is that the said brute (Rhaast) has to fake a persona and take things strategically, and Kayn has to somehow overpower a hundreds if not thousands of years old entity in composure and stand his ground. When you see Kayn and Rhaast interacting with each other in jolly cooperation as they each seem to depend on one another, complete each other's sentence and fool around, it is in the end all for the end game of finding a vulnerable moment to completely consume the other.

Now, that's interesting.

Kayn's personal background is basically just a filler (and it's as if the writer does everything they could to make sure you know that), his interaction with Rhaast is the real writing.

4 Step Cadence9/18/2019, 3:02:16 PM20 votes

I can say that, as a former member of the Roleplaying community here, a lot of OCs are Noxus-Ionian edgelords. Including mine.

That being said, Kayn definitely feels like one of those characters.

Shieda Kayn9/18/2019, 3:30:05 PM14 votes

Pretty sure that's the whole point of his backstory You can see it in his design too. As some of my friends like to call him, "dark edgy sasuke".

TzQGRUST399/18/2019, 5:54:29 PM8 votes

It seemed to me that that was the idea behind his character, just a character made to be as "edgy" and "sick" as possible, I find it endearing tbh. I think he's a great character and I like his relationship with Rhaast. Kayn is as confident as anyone can be and he has the deviant art oc credentials to back it up, but when pitted against someone like Rhaast, I can only imagine that Kayn is doomed.

Jeddy0179/18/2019, 3:30:23 PM8 votes

Wait, was that not the idea?

mrmeddyman9/18/2019, 4:52:26 PM7 votes

I think that was the idea behind his development. Like unironically: That is what Riot was going for.

DerMangoJoghurt9/18/2019, 7:11:17 PM7 votes

Zed seemingly noticed this arrogance so he send Kayn out to basically a suicide mission, retrieving a Darkin weapon from the heart of Noxus so it could never be used against Ionia and he did that too.

Quite the opposite. Zed hopes that Kayn will one day lead the order of shadows. Kayn was sent to deal with the scythe imprisoning Rhaast because he was the best student in the order of shadows, and if some fool were to release this fallen god warrior it could have consequences beyond imagination.

Tin Obliterates9/18/2019, 5:44:53 PM7 votes

Isn't the whole point that he's this ridiculous over the top scythe-wielding edgelord who's too full of himself that's in a perpetual struggle against some demon that's trying to take over him?

He's pretty much supposed to be the DeviantArt oc that no one takes seriously.

ModAcademy Kayn9/18/2019, 3:22:42 PM6 votes

>:T

LordForrest9/19/2019, 12:10:19 AM5 votes

Don't forget that he is fucked in the head and doesn't understand emotions. So he is under the impression that he is in love with Zed, and that the best way to show that love is to stab him in the back and take his position.

Bonus points for the fact that Yaoi fans blatantly ignore the mental issues Kayn has to declare KaynxZed as cannon.

######No offense to Yaoi fans, but dear god does your fandom have a massive amount of horribly written trash.

Mártir9/18/2019, 9:42:27 PM4 votes

What is "OC"? God, english/american people, expecting people to know ALL their acronyms... (Hi from Spain btw).

Yordle Xayah9/18/2019, 9:10:22 PM4 votes

I mean, have you ever played The Force Unleashed?

"Uh... my character is this kid who um, Darth Vader finds in a planet or something and he like kills his father/mentor and takes him as his apprentice cause HE'S VERY POWERFUL so Darth Vader trains him but then he grows older and he meets this girl and then he becomes a good guy and he can like move star destroyer with the Force and like uh... he's a real hero and dies but he creates the rebellion from the original movies yes"

HalfTangible9/19/2019, 4:53:22 AM3 votes

Secret?

(I'll note that Kayn is not the only champ whose backstory reads like the "OC DO NOT STEEL" type of character. Neeko is a childlike lesbian who is the last of her pacifist uber magical kind from a far away land and is also the Chosen One given that the elders of her tribe sacrificed themselves so she could live)

ModCaptainMårvelous9/19/2019, 7:30:21 AM3 votes

If you go back and read the Champion Insights on Kayn, he was literally designed to be the "Better than you anime villain". And it's also reflected in both forms: For those who prefer their villains to be cold, cunning, conniving and ruthless killers who planned your death 10 steps ago, you got blue kayn. For those who just wanna FUCK SHIT UP and go absolutely apeshit, you got red kayn.

Honestly though, I feel you can apply this idea of "being someone's OC" to almost any character. Champions by nature read as OP original characters, even the normal human ones:

Garen (despite being a normal ass soldier) is captain of a special regiment, has magic-nullifying armor and regularly 1v1s with a beautiful assassin from the rival kingdom who is secretly his BFF/romantic partner.

Ashe found the mythical artifact and unites a ton of tribes under her rule as the "reincarnation" of a beautiful warrior who led her tribes in rebellion against evil oppressors with a magical bow. Her husband is also ex-ceo of Riot Games.

Caitlyn is the greatest sheriff in Piltover's ranks, an ace detective and on the hunt for the rival who threatened her family and will expose a conspiracy that could shake apart her entire city.

Swain is arguably one of the most important strategic minds in the world and a man who rose to power, avoided death and defeat, and controls a demon-arm with sheer wit, guile and intellect.

Part of being a champion is to go above and beyond as a character. To be a symbol and a pillar. If anything, I'd say that everyone's league OCs should excel in some absurd way.

Spooky Skeleton9/19/2019, 11:53:01 AM2 votes

The best part about Kayn is Rhaast. Man i wish Rhaast was a standalone champion so i dont have to sit there listening to an edgelord for the first half of a game.