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Is Demacia Greece and Noxus the Persian Empire?

Ultimate Deadpoo·11/10/2016, 6:45:01 PM·3 votes·1,748 views

What got me thinking about this was that Ionia was in fact a real place, a city state of Ancient Greece that was invaded and conquered by the Persian Empire. Then Athens helped a rebellion in Ionia, when that was quelled things happened.

Persia, lead by get this, Darius the first invaded Athens and despite their superior numbers lost. So, after this Darius pledged revenge on Athens, and before he could, he died.

Enter Xerxes, who lead a massive force to Athens before being intercepted at Thermopylae, where the Spartans held the line against vastly superior numbers. They eventually fell, including their warrior king Leonidas.

The connection is obvious, Demacia is talked about being often out numbered like the Greeks, and the Spartans lost their king in combat, like Jarvan the First fell to Sion. The Persians were known for calvary (Kled) and lightly armored troops (look at all of Noxus's assassins) where as Greece had heavily armored troops, and while not everyone on Demacia is a tank, all of them wear armor.

So what do you think, please tell me in the comments if you think I am right about this.

9 Comments

A Superb Villain11/10/2016, 9:09:15 PM4 votes

Coincidence; Riot draws inspiration from real life, which is why we see things like the name Katarina, Darius, Garen, Ionia, etc. It's why many cultures of Runeterra have recognizable elements; Shurima is magic Egypt, even more so before the revision, Freljord is magic Scandinavia, Zaun is magic Bladerunner.

You can draw similarities, but not parallels. No faction is a stand in for a real world nation.

GreenLore11/12/2016, 12:44:23 PM2 votes

I think it is more of a coincidence.

In the old lore Noxus targeted Ionia because Ionia didn't join the league immediatly and thus didn't fall under its protection(and even when it joined the league noxus was allowed to keep its ionian provinces until the noxus-vs-ionia-match). And I think the real basis for this was more the fact that Ionia takes a lot of influence from japan,since Japan is well known for living rather secluded for a very long time,similar to how Ionia tried to keep to itself rather than joining the league.

Demacia assisting ionia(not sure if this is even canon anymore or ever was) was mostly done because Demacia and Noxus were already established to be archenemies,so it made sense for Demacia to use this opportunity to strike against Noxus.

Warlord Dienekes11/10/2016, 9:31:52 PM1 votes

Most fantasy draws from history. Riot is no different. Are their some parallels with Demacia beings militaristic city state? Yeah. But, Demacia obviously draws a lot of inspiration from the Holy Roman Empire and medieval France as well. Possibly more than they do Greece.

And they draw from Warcraft / Warhammer Fantasy more than they do anything historical in terms of design.

Leona is Waifu11/11/2016, 6:49:20 PM1 votes

On the connection with Sparta, Targon (especially the Rakkor) seem to be pretty clearly inspired by Sparta, whereas the connection between Sparta and Demacia is tenuous at best.

Ram Ranch Cowboy11/13/2016, 12:26:33 PM1 votes

Noxus is republicans and Demacia is Democrats

DragonShea11/14/2016, 12:22:04 AM1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Ultimate Deadpoo,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=8VeoelUv,comment-id=,timestamp=2016-11-10T18:45:01.365+0000)

What got me thinking about this was that Ionia was in fact a real place, a city state of Ancient Greece that was invaded and conquered by the Persian Empire. Then Athens helped a rebellion in Ionia, when that was quelled things happened.

Persia, lead by get this, Darius the first invaded Athens and despite their superior numbers lost. So, after this Darius pledged revenge on Athens, and before he could, he died.

Enter Xerxes, who lead a massive force to Athens before being intercepted at Thermopylae, where the Spartans held the line against vastly superior numbers. They eventually fell, including their warrior king Leonidas.

The connection is obvious, Demacia is talked about being often out numbered like the Greeks, and the Spartans lost their king in combat, like Jarvan the First fell to Sion. The Persians were known for calvary (Kled) and lightly armored troops (look at all of Noxus's assassins) where as Greece had heavily armored troops, and while not everyone on Demacia is a tank, all of them wear armor.

So what do you think, please tell me in the comments if you think I am right about this.

That would make sense. I get the feeling that Noxius is a bit like the Byzantine/Persian/Ottoman empire While Demacia is more in line with western europe.

Apperance wise Noxians look and have names more like Middeterreanians/middle eastern in general than demacians :Darius Draven Cassiopeia Katarina Swain Riven