Smokey Champions pages and Theories :D

Stars Shaper·Oct 16, 2014·6 votes·3,553 views

So, since Riot thought of this kinda of sneak peek lets give some interpretations:

New champion sort related to the Champions involved. I don't think this is it though because there is no actual relations between ALL of them.
Lore retcone/improvement incoming. Might be, they also seem "related" by a betrayal act (Except Hecarim though)
Brace yourselves... Harrowing is coming. Another "might be" yet only LeBlanc has a new Harrowing skin between all of them.

Help me guess then :) Give your inputs!

34 Comments

MerxamersOct 16, 20144 votes

there was a huge discussion about this on reddit. some common points that came from it were:

All these champions had betrayed either a person or a peoples (except Hecarim; he's the odd man out). Considering how varied this group of champions is, this is the only real link between them.
Some of the splashes have mysterious changes to them. Zed has a ghost zed behind his back, Hecarim has a weird shadow cube behind him, TF's cards are whited out, Lissandra's bridge is greener, stuff like that
All of these champs are midlaners (except Hecarim, except he WAS picked mid by Curse Academy lol)

There was some VERY UNCONFIRMED hints that this is a teaser for a new adc, but this is again very unconfirmed.

MrBuffingtonOct 20, 20142 votes

except Hecarim

Brace yourselves, Hecarim retconn incoming :3

FF1224Oct 16, 20142 votes

all those champions are portrayed as antagonists

Shadowchaser99Oct 17, 20142 votes

It may signify both a harrowing skin with being dark and storm and Ao Shin because he is the "Storm Dragon"

Remlap1223Oct 17, 20142 votes

Me thinks its a teaser for Ao Shin. A MIGHTY STORM!!! Don't know why it's only those champions though...

junglerboy16Oct 16, 20141 votes

Didn't they do something like this for jinx last year? like a bunch of X wuz here signs on other champ pages? Only other guess is that it is hype for the Harrowing.

Solidair3Oct 16, 20142 votes

Didn't they do something like this for jinx last year? like a bunch of X wuz here signs on other champ pages? Only other guess is that it is hype for the Harrowing.

Wasn't that only on Vi and Caitlyn's pages?

Still, it seems a bit soon for a new champion... Gnar and Azir JUST came out, and we know azir came out on time, so it just seems a bit strange. And if it's for the Harrowing... Why would Xerath or Lissandra be there. Neither of them have harrowing skins.

Edit: Also, it seems a bit strange that ZenonTheStoic, an employee of riot himself, has NO idea where these smokey pages are coming from. I wonder if this was a mistake? An accidental early launch of something for a future event? But if it was, it would have surely been caught and fixed by now. I really wonder what this is all about.

Stars ShaperOct 16, 20141 votes

It seems hard to find a real connection... Not all are Mages, not all are from the same place/faction, not all have common involvement in lore.

Solidair3Oct 16, 20141 votes

It seems hard to find a real connection... Not all are Mages, not all are from the same place/faction, not all have common involvement in lore.

That's the problem. I don't think there IS a connection between them. If there is, no one has figured it out yet. They're all arguably "evil" (a bit of a stretch with TF, he's an ass but I'm not sure evil really describes him).

It's truly a mystery. A real head-scratcher.

Edit: And also! Even if they are all evil/antagonists/jerks, why were other evil-doers/antagonists/jerks left out? It's just too weak a link.

MerxamersOct 16, 20141 votes

It seems hard to find a real connection... Not all are Mages, not all are from the same place/faction, not all have common involvement in lore.

That's the problem. I don't think there IS a connection between them. If there is, no one has figured it out yet. They're all arguably "evil" (a bit of a stretch with TF, he's an ass but I'm not sure evil really describes him).

It's truly a mystery. A real head-scratcher.

Edit: And also! Even if they are all evil/antagonists/jerks, why were other evil-doers/antagonists/jerks left out? It's just too weak a link.

the connection that sticks out is not that they're 'bad guys' or 'evil'; it's that they explicitly and specifically committed acts of betrayal. Except for Hecarim. Not sure why he's in there.

Ebonmaw DragonOct 16, 20143 votes

the connection that sticks out is not that they're 'bad guys' or 'evil'; it's that they explicitly and specifically committed acts of betrayal. Except for Hecarim. Not sure why he's in there.

Maybe this is a teaser for a new champion that was betrayed by Hecarim

JunkοOct 17, 20141 votes

Hecarim could have easily betrayed Mordekaiser at one point, since the 2 know each other but don't trust each other anymore. There are hints that Mordekaiser is forced to serve the Shadow Isles (a line in old lore and the altars), the only Shadow Isles champion as far as i know back when Morde had his first lore was Hecarim, so maybe Hecarim captured him and backstabbed him during a deal?

insaiyanbaccaOct 17, 20143 votes

well hears something to make you scratch your head even more check out draven and blitz

ArcticSiriusOct 17, 20142 votes

Blitz's arms are destroyed and Draven's axe as well o_O

12talesOct 17, 20142 votes

Blitz's arm is just obscured by the header on the page. If you look at the full splash art, he's holding his arm over his head - the rubble in the foreground is just that.

ArcticSiriusOct 17, 20141 votes

Ah I see it now. Still, Draven's poor axe got axed :<

DreamspitterOct 17, 20141 votes

Didn't they do something like this for jinx last year? like a bunch of X wuz here signs on other champ pages? Only other guess is that it is hype for the Harrowing.

Wasn't that only on Vi and Caitlyn's pages?

Still, it seems a bit soon for a new champion... Gnar and Azir JUST came out, and we know azir came out on time, so it just seems a bit strange. And if it's for the Harrowing... Why would Xerath or Lissandra be there. Neither of them have harrowing skins.

Edit: Also, it seems a bit strange that ZenonTheStoic, an employee of riot himself, has NO idea where these smokey pages are coming from. I wonder if this was a mistake? An accidental early launch of something for a future event? But if it was, it would have surely been caught and fixed by now. I really wonder what this is all about.

why believe anything Zenon says

DarkerGreyOct 16, 20141 votes

These three are the only things I can imagine at the moment. It's probably something similar to the Shurima Event, but even bigger. The TwistedFate Twisted Fate page makes me believe it could be related to Ao Shin, but I didn't expect hearing about it before 2015.

Stars ShaperOct 16, 20141 votes

Indeed, Riot was pretty strong in telling us that "nothing before 2015", not even a talk about his archetype.

junglerboy16Oct 21, 20141 votes

Which is because they messed up when they revealed his concept so early. They could very well have gotten ahead of schedule or they are teasing him early so they can get months of hype out of it. Rather than say "we were wrong again, he will be out end of year" they can take advantage of the statement they gave and make a surprise early release. Or it has nothing to do with him, but whatever...

JunkοOct 17, 20141 votes

TF actually had his splash art on the page changed since forever. I'm not sure about Zed but could be too.

But yeah others had their change. And i'm wondering, why does Blitz's updated (And changed) splash art pop up?

DecritOct 16, 20141 votes

I belive it' s going to tease a skin sale or something.

... yeh, pretty much underwelming, but probably they outlined those who gets new skins and those who will have their legacy skins avaiable ( like underworld twisted fate, or how' s called )

but really hoping for a good metaphorical kick in the crotch.

Tony TomatoOct 16, 20141 votes

Some of the champions definitely have some serious changes to their splash arts on the page while others don't

Hecarim does have some sort of box thing behind his head.

Twisted Fate's cards are whited out and the one he's holding has a different pattern, as if something in Japanese or Arabic is written on it.

Zed has something going on with his, some sort of ghost figure or something behind him.

If this has to do with the Harrowing, then something much more is going on than is being let on. I would've assumed the community would've figured something out by now, but right now I feel like everyone is saying the same thing. "WTF is going on"

Sugar MantisOct 16, 20141 votes

Im really confused by this. All of them have deception in their lore except Hecarim, none have had VUs except Xerath (and maybe LB i forget), and none of them have a similar point of origin, which is their only similarity.

In fact, that last point isnt even true, because Cassioppeia is a part of this set, and she is Noxus/Shurima.

What could be the event?

Jungle Lux GodOct 17, 20141 votes

The only possible link all the champs is that there is a deception theme common among many of them, but that inherently leaves Hecarim out.

The more interesting thing to think about is what these shadows on champion pages mean. It could resemble a new champion release, but champion releases don't usually come out that quickly, and I personally wouldn't expect any new champion releases after the back-to-back releases of Gnar and Azir, especially considering Azir had a super rocky release absolutely riddled with bugs.

In addition, the most recognizable possible theme of a new champion from what we are currently seeing suggests a shadow-based champ, but that kind of champ has been done already with Nocturne and Zed, so that kind of champion seems very unlikely.

However, a more likely prospect is that it is for the Harrowing. The shadows fit perfectly with the theme of it, and even though LeBlanc is the only one of those champs getting a Harrowing skin and only a couple of them already have a Harrowing skin, the shadows don't really need to be on any specific champs to really have the shadow theme. In addition, it may be a sign that Riot wants to do something special for Harrowing this year, as Underworld Wukong and Ravenborn LeBlanc are already set to release during this patch, Reaper Soraka is already on the PBE, and Twisted Treeline Hexakill was in testing on the PBE last cycle.

The shadows are most likely to signal the Harrowing event.

SearingDarknessOct 17, 20141 votes

But just saying the shadows are signalling the next Harrowing has huge holes in it like, why only those specific champs, why champ pages at all, and why the splash changes for SO MANY different champs whether they have the shadows or not. http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/miscellaneous/Nov1wbBy-ao-shinshaco-rework-info-ive-found In that thread is gives out some of the other pages that don't have the shadows but have very weird changes to the splashes like Ez not having one of his arms and one of Blitz's hands being absolutely destroyed. Cho'Gath's is definitely worth looking at real quick.

Jungle Lux GodOct 20, 20141 votes

Ezreal's arm seems to be missing in the original splash art as well, and some champions use the chinese splash art on the forums, which is the case for Cho'gath.

RowGoOct 17, 20141 votes

Ok so this is a huge stretch but its all I got. Champ teaser ao shin.

Xerath = lightning Lissandra = hail Cassiopeia = serpent like Le blanc = fog "its all smoke and mirrors" Zed = dark clouds Twisted fate = sunny day (western) Hecriam = cloudy cause ghosts look cloudy

Again its a pretty big stretch.

RowGoOct 17, 20141 votes

It could also be related to the thing in the back ground of ez's new splash. To the left kinda looks like a goofy nock ult.

Stars ShaperOct 17, 20141 votes

It's probably going to be Harrowing related as many other champions now got some spooky things on their Arts.

On a Fun note, it might be lore retcone related: "Ima destroying your Lore and your Arts Evil Laugh"

MerxamersOct 17, 20141 votes

Could be. Maybe we'll get some more info about this, or even some lore progression!

Guardianangel743Oct 22, 20141 votes

Many of you may have seen the theories concerning the mystery of the champions surrounded in dust and those who had their background art seemingly changed, and additionally many people likely have come to believe the theory (even I have come to) concerning Kalista, the rumored new champion.

But, just for fun, I was wondering about people's opinion about this theory.

I know, in reality, it seems very dark and of course unlikely, but taking other popular theories and tying them together I thought it something to be plausible.

Just for fun!~ (^0^)/

http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/2jpfmy/another_shrouded_champions_theory_00/

OnegarionOct 22, 20141 votes

Actually it doesn't leave Hecarim out if anything it could actually shed some more light onto hecarims background. Knowing that he is from the shadow isles and knowing that he is a general that eludes to the fact that there must be someone above him. So its possible that this person is who he betrayed.

Now a little back story (use to be a huge lore fan and discussed it heavily). To start with have to consider the new Maokai lore that dropped months prior. Stating how the Shadow Isles use to be much different. A land that teemed with life. It was a place the polar opposite of what we know now. This means that every person that is not apart of the shadow Isles use to be a normal being and was twisted and corrupted. So with that we can assume that Hecarim was a high ranking general in his normal life and stayed the same in his Shadow Isles corruption. This could even mean that he caused the corruption itself.

Now then you can look to who was betrayed. Well that is still debated, but so far the fan favorite would be Mordekaiser who is also considered the ruined king, but thats another discussion. The tale goes that Mordekaiser was the first before the shadow Isles. If this is to be true than he was the first one and possible betrayed into becoming that way. Much like the shurima tale is so far (I think that will change and make Xerath act in good favor and not selfish).

Stars ShaperOct 22, 20141 votes

Undeath always had some sort of dark irony when it comes to the fantasy world... Glorious and pure characters could keep the same role they had in life because it would look double horrifing that they now are even more powerful in their demise.