A concern, concerning the Void

DonatellaVersace·Jun 30, 2018·6 votes·5,459 views

Within the past two years or so, with all of this new lore being released with champions, updates, events, random comics, stories, etc, I'm beginning to feel this overwhelming feeling of dissatisfaction concerning the Void.

It feels as though the lore team has been trying a bit too hard to iterate that the Void is this unstoppable consuming force that is beyond reality and that everyone within Runeterra should fear it. There is nothing wrong with this but, I feel as though in making the Void sound so powerful, it has diminished the importance and prevalence of other stories on all scales.

A question I have is, is making sure us players and lore-nerds understand how powerful the Void is, worth diminishing other stories to where they don't feel know where near as important as any story relating to the Void?

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate everything the lore team has done, including that of the Void, but it feels as though factors such as the Black Mist, Mordekaiser, Nagakabouros, the War of the Three Queens, Karma and Irelia, The Black Rose/LeBlanc, Demacia (in general), Morgana and Kayle, and Bandle City have just been explored and then immediately put aside for more information about the Void. And I understand that with the retcon, the lore team is trying to tie everything in together, but is it worth 1) not exploring some of the smaller scale plots that have yet to unravel? 2) incorporating the Void in too many storylines (Nami, Targon, Lissandra's Watchers, Darkin/Ascended, etc).

In my humble opinion, it'd be nice if the lore team would take a break from the seemingly constant Void hype and take the time to explore the smaller plots already created and awaiting attention.

Anyway, a big thank you to the lore team for everything they've done. They are truly a team of masterminds who built a world from the ground up and continuously prove their talent time and time again. <3

11 Comments

VorpalKitsuneJun 30, 20184 votes

While it does seem that they are trying to hype of the void, I am getting the opposite feeling from what they are doing. They do a lot of telling how horrible it is, but when it come to the show part, void incidents seem very lack luster to me. The void honestly doesn't seem scary at all from what they have shown/ revealed. Could just be me though. On to the main part, I would be interesting in seeing some other areas and events going on in the other parts of the world.

DonatellaVersaceJun 30, 20182 votes

{quoted}

While it does seem that they are trying to hype of the void, I am getting the opposite feeling from what they are doing. They do a lot of telling how horrible it is, but when it come to the show part, void incidents seem very lack luster to me. The void honestly doesn't seem scary at all from what they have shown/ revealed. Could just be me though. On to the main part, I would be interesting in seeing some other areas and events going on in the other parts of the world.

Looking back I do agree. I still stand by my statement that perhaps the Void has been turned into this unstoppable force, but you're right in your opinion as well. If the Void is as powerful as it has been made out to be, why has it not consumed all it has to consume by now?

Ebonmaw DragonJun 30, 20184 votes

{quoted}

... and Bandle City have just been explored and then immediately put aside for more information about the Void.

That is not true, Bandle has not been explored at all.

DonatellaVersaceJun 30, 20181 votes

[{quoted}](name=Ebonmaw Dragon,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=8sYpI4y9,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2018-06-30T07:35:31.738+0000)

That is not true, Bandle has not been explored at all.

Yeah I mistakenly included Bandle City in that statement, which proves my point even more. There are other plots waiting to be developed meanwhile the Void is continuously elaborated on. Not that that is necessarily bad, but that before continuing further with the Void, perhaps the lore team should consider other plots that haven't even been touched or mentioned.

LordHippomanJun 30, 20184 votes

I've been following League Lore since Season 1, I love the stuff. But I do have to say, the amount of "cosmic" Lore we've been getting recently is starting to finally burn me out.

Don't get me wrong, it's well written. Twilight Of The Gods is a fantastic story because Dinopaws is a great writer. But with all of these massive threats building up left and right, there are some very real problems.

To me, it's an issue of resolution. I'm going to reference what is probably the best received piece of Lore, ever, Burning Tides. Because Burning Tides resolved plotlines. The long-standing rivalry between Graves and Twisted Fate was explained and amended. The conflict between GP and MF took a massive turn. The status quo was changed, but in a way that allowed the world to keep turning. "Confessions Of A Broken Blade" does something similar, resolving a long-standing conflict, but in the end I feel like the status quo didn't change all that much. Riven and Yasuo are still doing pretty much exactly what they were doing before, Riven's heart is just less of a mess.

These resolutions allow us to see the world change and evolve, enhancing the setting and characters and making it feel like things keep progressing. The Darkin lore is backstory, which expands on the characters involved...but it sets up a bit of an unsolvable problem. With factions like the Void and the Darkin, any resolution that involves one of these massively powerful sides winning is so hard to write, because of collateral damage. A fight between Gangplank and Miss Fortune blows up a boat. A fight between Aatrox and Xerath probably blows up a country.

Is that something Riot could write? Yes, and I believe Narrative absolutely could. But it's much more difficult to convey, both in a story format and for the fans to understand. So I don't think things are going to be solved with these stories, at least not for a long time, and that makes it more difficult for me to feel invested.

RyzeTheSmurfMageJun 30, 20182 votes

I agree. Give us Veigar, Morde and Ryze lore!

Stars ShaperJun 30, 20182 votes

Imo they are still setting some power levels, Voidlings are still living things which means the Black Mist can still affect while Voidlings (the most powerful ones or the Void itself) seem to be able to affect souls too which would lead to a weird interaction.

Nagakabouros is on a different plane of existence and probably the only god (which lives in all dimensions) we know about.

Mortal battles are just that, it's not like anciant Romans cared about (or had means to) calculate the orbit/distance of far away asteroids that could have ended their world.

Meep ManJul 1, 20182 votes

I'd rather they just hurry up and give us the huge Invasion event and have us move past the Void.

MetallikaiserJul 1, 20182 votes

I think of it as a Game of Thrones scenario. Where all the other stories serve to show the difficulties in preparing the world for what is ultimately a threat to them all, with people like Ryze and Kassadin perhaps acting as our Jon Snow to warn the world.

DonatellaVersaceJul 2, 20182 votes

{quoted}

I think of it as a Game of Thrones scenario. Where all the other stories serve to show the difficulties in preparing the world for what is ultimately a threat to them all, with people like Ryze and Kassadin perhaps acting as our Jon Snow to warn the world.

True, but Game of Thrones, for the longest time, kept the White Walkers shrouded in mystery and legend, unlike what we're seeing with the Void. By this point, I think we understand that the Void is the big baddie. But like Game of Thrones, what I'd like to see is the exploration of other plots before we finally reach the endgame, whenever that will be. Like in GoT we went through the War of Five Kings, the Margaery/Cersei faceoff which we all know how that ended, and Dany's ascension in the East. Its just now that we're finally reaching the endgame. All of the political plots and whatnot have almost completely been wrapped up at this point, whereas some plots in our Runeterra lore haven't even been given progress, just introductions.

MetallikaiserJul 2, 20182 votes

I agree that they put too much on the void too early. But I dont think its too late to have the threat hanging in the air before then going into the plots of other regions as part of 'updating' them. Especially since I feel a revamp of Shadow Isles lore is pretty likely with the onset of an inevitably soon Mordekaiser rework.