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The Idea of being free of emotion...

He Who Struggles·9/22/2017, 9:28:21 PM·13 votes·1,569 views
Shen

Hello another Shen post here! but this one got me thinking and I would like to hear what people think. So the other day I was playing Injustice 2 with my buddies and I watched as my friends picked Grid (Cyborg's clone FYI) and Mr. Freeze to fight each other. Since we are big DC nerds we always like to see the intros since they are awesome. And these were what we got literally in order.

First Fight: Grid: You're wife's disease is tragic.

Mr. Freeze: What do you know of my pain?

Grid:That I would give anything to have it.

Second Fight: Mr. Freeze: I envy your lack of emotions.

Grid: Why is that worthy of jealousy?

Mr. Freeze Because you cannot feel pain!

So while my friends were going "bruh" and "muh feels", my league fanatic ass was thinking about my boy, The OG ninja of league, Shen First let's talk about his daddy, Kusho. Kusho all we know from Shen's , Zed's , and Jhin's lore was that he was the previous leader/Grand Master of the Kinkou Order and Former Eye of Twilight. But There is literally nothing about his wife; Shen's mom. Was there a marriage between Kusho and Shen's mom? I would believe so if Ionia is similar to Ancient Asian culture. If/since there was a marriage, Was there love in it? Does love exist within the Kinkou? Who are so adamant about keeping balance to the world that it's leader had to be "blind" to all that would sway equilibrium? There had to be some since Zed's origins Zed of how he got his powers was that it was a desperate attempt to have Kusho's approval despite being the 2nd best student in the order. Even though Zed is not his son, Kusho practically rasied him like one and since Zed looked up to Kusho like a father.

Going past that and closer to the topic. Now with the interactios between Grid and Mr. Freeze, it makes sense as to why Eye of Twilight must be free of emotion to enact truly unbias judgement. Negative emotions such as sadness, anger, and envy causes pain and affects one's own judgement if that isn't obvious enough. And of course when you're in a better mood with more positive emotions, you tend to think more logically. But if we put this in context with the Kinkou's beliefs, then one must have both for there is Joy cannot exist if there is no Sadness and vice versa. So it gave me a thought that instead of finding a balance between the two types of emotion, The Eye of Twilight must be rid of both in order to go beyond himself and protect the World. That is both admiring and sad but what does that mean when it comes to Shen's inner balance? When he longs to be free of his emotions but still true to his Spiritual focus.

Which gives way to more questions. When does that responsibilty stop? Will Shen ever get a break? Even if he does, Would he actually wind down and give breath or just remain vigilant until the next mission? In Jhin's lore, young Shen was known for his wit and humor, would he still have it to this day if Jhin didn't exist? Is Shen allowed to love despite it being just as an unstable emotion as anger? If he can, would he pursue it? could it be someone from league as well? (lol jk).

But back to the issue. Shen in basic format is literally the Avatar/Witcher of Runeterra except without the cool elemental powers and hot sorceresses by his side and replaced with the responsibility of being judge, jury, and executioner and ninja techniques. His duty differs as well as He is not a bridge between the mortal realm and the spirit realm, but the one who closes the bridges between them if one tries to overwhelm the other. I haven't read every champion's lore but it seems to me that Shen's lore is the only one that talks about the spirit realm and how he is the only mortal who can traverse both other than his lesser rivals the Seven Demon Clan (7 sins?). If you ask me, that is probably one of the biggest responsibilites in the entire world and I myself would be like "fuck that". We also have no idea what sort of creatures lie beyond in the spirit realm other than that there are silver haired demons capable of taking out an entire boat of fishermen and small helpless imps who can do nothing against a blessed collar. If anything, the Spirit Realm could be just as dangerous as the Void (just not as threatening in terms of immediate danger). So in my humble opion ShenShen and KassadinKassadin (who broke free from the void) are the two strongest characters in league when it comes to mental discipline.

So summarize,Shen loses his father and has to rebuild his order. Zed, who he onceconsidered his brother killed his father and now taints the former halls of the Temple. Having to guard both the mortal realm and the spirit realm from interfering with each other. Enact perfect unbias judgement, and carry his team in league where all his teammates are 0/5/0. All of this while making sure his passions don't sway him? Doing this while free of emotion? Woke.

And its not that Shen is free of emotions, he is STRUGGLING to be free of it. That means all the shit he does is still so painful! I know their lore hasn't been updated, but all Akali has to weed out those who would sway equilibrium and Kennen just preaches and enacts the virtues of the Kinkou. Shen shafts them both when it comes to responsibility even if he is the leader of the order.

Its because of this that while like a lot of people like me would like to see a forsaken Shen or shadow master Shen, it would be more interesting to me if Shen gets a skin where he truly IS void of emotion, passion, and ego.

I talked to my friends about this and they would get angry and would argue with me that being void of emotions is not admirable/relatable because having emotions is what makes us human and having none makes one less than human. Except that Shen's goal is to not be human, its to enforce dispassionate judgement as Shen belongs to neither the territores of Man or the realm of Spirits. Is what I said to myself in the shower 30 minutes after my friends leave...

Sorry for the wall of text but this one really had me thinking because not only does it relate to my main but the idea of the topic was interesting enough for me to talk about it. Plus if there was a way to make league story arcs, I would follow Shens's because I think it would make an interesting story as he is someone who stands out as not being relatable yet is relatable and would be a refreshing story to read when most protagonists are RULED by their emotions and passions.

What are your thoughts? I would really like to read them <3.

Please do I'm very lonely...

18 Comments

Djinni9/22/2017, 10:43:03 PM8 votes

Shen's task is impossible, his existence is testament to this. We know very little of his father but the fact he has a son, to me, shows us that at some point he faltered emotionally and either fell in love or gave in to carnal desire.

The ideals the Kinkou hold are honorable but flawed, and this is also the reason Zed has taken his current path. Preached to his entire life and expecting to become something that no man can become, drove him to his dark state of living.

sumerska9/23/2017, 3:01:29 AM5 votes

The way I see it is, Shen who tries to remain free of emotion is almost in a way becoming "less-human" (which saddens me :C), while Zed who decided to allow jealousy and rage overcome him when he killed Kusho, is filled with emotion and is "more-human." I'm pretty sure somewhere in his lore it states that Shen "struggles to pursue unbiased judgement" by not being swayed by hate or love. This shows that Shen clearly is still human and struggles while trying to deal with this sort of internal conflict of choosing between doing his duty versus acting for what he personally believes is right and important to him. Being an ex-Akali main who really still loves the champ, I really hope the ninjas get a lore update soon :C

Fasmodey9/22/2017, 9:55:54 PM4 votes

Depends IMO. A virus being emotionless and a robot capable of doing everything multiple times better than any human ever existed being emotionless are not the same thing.

I thing being greater or lesser is much more complicated to decide by emotions only.

But if I need to choose one of the options, I would go for greater. Though emotions are what makes life interesting, valuable and fun, they are somewhat weaknesses too. And they make your perspective biased. I would like to be judged by an emotionless god rather than an emotional one.

Rebonack9/23/2017, 12:08:45 AM4 votes

There are actual people who don't feel any emotional attachment to anything. It results in them being paralyzed with indecision (treating every tiny thing as the MOST IMPORTANT THING) or giving nothing any consideration at all (nothing matters). Emotion is absolutely vital to the way the human brain determines how important a given decision is.

Of course, Runeterra is one of those sorts of places where souls are spooky immaterial material objects and where vitalism is a reality, so there's no telling how emotion or the lack there of would impact the little homunculus sitting behind Shen's eyes.

Virgin Ray9/22/2017, 9:33:00 PM3 votes

Either way you still aren't becoming human, greater than human means you are ascending to a higher position, ie diety, demi god, or superhuman. going down the scale is the same ie soulless, evil, animal like. Being free of emotion makes you a robot, and robots are constantly debated as either better than or worse than humans.

ChunLii9/23/2017, 4:24:49 PM3 votes

I like to think that Jhin broke Shen's shell of true neutrality. When is not suppose to be biased or take sides but Jhin broke him mentality and made him feel emotions that he must act upon.

Melledoneus9/23/2017, 2:40:56 PM3 votes

Let me start out by saying this post should have #showerthoughts tagged to it. That being said...

Shen's responsibility is a great one. He is one man deciding the entire balance between two worlds, and he has to search for his inner feeling to make the right call. Note that in his story, he stops before slaying the large white haired demon because the priest killed many imps, so Shen had to correct the balance by killing him. It's a difficult task, and nobody would be able to pull it off without the training Shen received.

Additionally, the reason why Shen is to judge without emotion is not to make him a greater human being: it's to ensure he doesn't act as one. Human beings act on emotions and biases a lot, and if one were to be unbiased they would need to... reject their humanity (GDI Dio).

The reason why it is difficult for Shen to be unbiased at all times is because he is dealing with inner turmoil that would drive anybody mad in his position. He witnessed the 'art' of Jhin, which is not exactly something anybody should see. But he couldn't talk to anybody about it, he couldn't share his feelings or cope. He just had a duty. Then his adopted brother killed his father and chucked his head at Shen's feet. The worst part is Shen witnessed the death of many Kinkou students despite his best efforts. And even worse? He never got to grieve or mourn. He simply had to stay strong for his clanmates and lead them stoically. Shen never got to let out the emotions that arise from loss, which is far from healthy.

Kusho probably retired from his role when he settled down to teach the next generation. Maybe Shen will, too, someday. But maybe he will fall in battle against a Greater Demon. Who knows? But what is clear right now is that Shen may be an amazing badass, but he's not invincible. When he fought a spirit invasion in Noxus High Command, he was visibly getting messed up badly. Spirits are bad mambajambas sometimes.

Overall, Shen is plagued with inner turmoil from the tragedies in his life that he keeps bottled up, and he is carrying the weight of two worlds on his shoulders. A character who deals with issues at all times but must stay calm and neutral in the face of it. That is The Eye of Twilight.

Cavemantero9/24/2017, 3:06:19 PM2 votes

Humans naturally have emotions. Robots do not. Thus resorting to suppressing emotion is a failure as a human being...the same can be said of being controlled by emotions and rejecting logic and discipline. Emotions shouldn't control the person to the point where the conclusion is the suppression of them or to be consumed by them. Emotions are unavoidable experiences...but maturity seeks to discipline them so they don't control the person and rather deal with them instead in a healthy way.

Craft Zeppelin9/23/2017, 9:14:39 AM2 votes

I'm starting to think that Shen's father was afraid of Zed's personality being destroyed in the process of being successor. Doing that to your son is one thing, but doing that to a adopted child is like double HERESY.

Teriyaki Bukkake9/24/2017, 12:50:23 AM2 votes

It makes you LESS of a human, but LESS-ER? Not really

DariusDemiurge9/24/2017, 7:48:16 AM2 votes

Shen's two biggest struggles are not killing zed and not throttling akali's body.