The True Victim of the League of Legends Ret-Gone.

Disclaimer: Not a native or particularly proficient English writer. Unusual or inadequate language constructions might appear.

Although I believe that doing away with the League of Legends as a narrative artifact was the right choice (seeing it gone was my secret dream, for reasons very similar to those expressed by Narrative), there is an issue with it that needs to be addressed.

In the previous version of Runeterra existed champions like Fiddlesticks, Nocturne and Cho'gath, whose hat was basically 'scary thing being trapped by the Institute of War' (there were variations among them, of course, but functionally that's where they stood), which I think can be executed in a far more satisfying manner if released into the world (figuratively or literally).

However, there is a champion that, with the removal of the League of Legends (a massively influential, world-class combat arena), has been left without a clear place in the world, with a vital part of his identity irrevocably seized away from him.

I am not talking about Jax this time (but a point about him in a moment).

I am talking about this guy:

http://i.imgur.com/z8Qjt8i.jpg

Draven's identity revolves primarily around him snatching the biggest spotlight available and pointing it at his glorious mustache. He is the ultimate attention seeker and glory-hound of the game, his backstory repeatingly illustrating his quest for fame and acclamation (up to and including his actual in-game League of Draven passive).

Draven’s thirst for acclaim was the sole reason he joined the League (well, that and his lofty desire to gift Draven to a global audience, of course), and the most important part of his character. The League of Legends provided him with a world-class stage from which his renown, his legend, was able to reach basically every person in Runeterra; With the removal of League, that stage is gone, and nothing even remotely comparable remains for the Glorious Executioner to stand on.

I first thought about this when pondering how the removal of the League affected Jax. I realized that even though Jax’s lore revolved heavily around the League (the most successful League participant in history), his core as a character (unbeatable master-at-arms) and his motivations (desire to fight strong opponents, presumably) weren’t irrevocably entrenched on the League of Legends. Draven is the opposite case, I believe: His backstory touches only briefly on his enrollment to the League, yet his character (shameless self-promoter and fame-seeker) and motivation (gifting Draven to the world, collecting the adoration that is due to Draven) draws heavily upon the existence of the League of Legends to work to the extent it does.

Expanding upon this, my opinion is that while Jax has lost the framework by which his character was showcased, there are other avenues to deliver on his fantasy. Certainly, with the League gone, the Grandmaster-at-Arms can no longer face, fight and humiliatingly defeat combat powerhouses from a dozen of nations on a daily basis, and the loss of his main story blurb is a small tragedy for the lore fandom; However, being that Jax’s identity consist mainly on extreme fighting prowess, there are other ways to make him a part of the world while preserving his original character, and probably most of his (implicit) influence over Runeterra.

On the other hand, Draven’s story not only depended upon the previous structure, but was driven by it; He joined the League with the explicit goal of increasing his own reputation and self-exposure. Unlike with Jax, I have not yet seen a way to preserve Draven’s previous presence and influence on the new Runeterra , and I seriously doubt that is possible at all (hopefully I am wrong). Why I believe that? Because that part of Draven’s identity hinges upon a lot of the elements that made the League undesirable to the Narrative team in the first place: A world-spanning, monolithic organization, its influence dictating the politics of Runeterra and permeating all levels of society, with the eyes of the world constantly upon it. Virtually any other forum Draven may get, in Noxus or any other place will probably fall short of the formidable League of Legends, which was home of the finest, most puissant and most famous (or infamous) heroes of the land. In short, I really think that Draven’s identity will be irrevocably lost, or at least dramatically reduced in scope and magnitude.

Now, I don’t believe that preserving a cool character (Draven in this case), or even a dozen of them, was enough reason to prevent the retcon of Runeterra, but still would be a shame if Draven were to lose his identity or place in the world.