Lore updates: Ideas for the future #9

Hey I'm back at this again. I was busy trying to get any Rioters attention to ask about the future state of support but only getting one response so far. (Thanks again for trying to help Bazerka) Anywho only one today but it's pretty spicy.

#The unseen blade is the... What exactly?: We've all probably at some point in time heard at least a little of Zed's backstory at some point. The whole "balance is weakness" thing is pretty self explanatory. Shen's order thinks "Enforced Equilibrium" and "Balance in all things" and Zed's like "get that weakness outta here" and maybe killed Shen's dad (he was at least present when it happened) then went full rebel because he was mad and had Shen's order almost wiped out by his own group of Ultimate Ninja Warriors of course. However Zed's had more put into his lore since his release: -Shen, Shen's dad, and Zed had worked together to imprison Jhin. Zed wanted to kill him but Shen's dad was like "Nah, lock em up" which aggravated Zed, who felt he was being too lenient with Jhin having already seen what the artist is capable of. Therefore in his mind Justice wasn't carried out. -Zed is the leader of a group of shadow Ninjas. We knew this, but it was shown in Xayah and Rakan's cinematic, and we learned too that shadow magic was corrupting their homeland. Therefore some think Zed is a racist because he obviously didn't seem to care about the Vastayan peoples problems with the land. However I disagree and I'll explain why soon. -Zed took an orphaned child soldier in as his apprentice/student. The relationship between Kayn and Zed isn't totally clear, it seems to be somewhere between respect, resentment, and jealousy. This is seen by Kayn wanting to be better than Zed and become the Master of Shadow, but also by his voice lines. Occasionally he'll say things like but not limited to "Together we'll be unstoppable Zed". We'll get to this too. -Akali hates Zed but was trained (by Zed) in the shadow arts and can use both the Shadow and Spirit techniques. However I don't remember any interactions (at least from Zed to Akali) I don't recall ever seeing an explanation for when she joined Zed or why she hates him however it could be that she joined him prior to Shen's dad dying, and Zed ordering the death of everyone in the (monestary?) might have led to her rejoining Shen. Seeing as how her reworks supposed to be coming soon maybe will get more context.

Okay now to talk about it all. 1st I'm just gonna put it out there: Riot REALLY needs to give preexisting champions VO updates when there's a champion released that effects their lore. Things like: Zed to Kayn and Jhin Yasuo to Taliyah Riven to ionian champions Ezreal to Zoe Etc, etc.

Okay now for real. My main problem with Zed's current lore (like most lore in league) is that there are multiple holes in it. We don't know how he feels about Kayn or Akali, we know he and Shen don't get along but aren't ENTIRELY against working together for reasons like trying to recapture Jhin, and we don't really know what Zed's motivations are. Sure he dislikes the style of Shen's order, but why? He didn't just suddenly wake up and decide "Balance sucks". While it may have something to do with him opening the box of shadows, he overcame the shadows therefore he is in control and had decided the things he did on his own. Shen's dad invited him back to offer him a chance to destroy the box and get rid of the shadows but then from behind closed doors we hear Zed shout out, and soon after emerged throwing Shen's dad's severed head in front of Shen and ordering the death of all Shen's order. This brings up the whole "whose side was Akali on during this event" problem and the other problem of did Zed cut off the head? Why? We don't know what was said or what happened exactly in the room.

Then we move to the Vastayan part with Xayah and Rakan. While it may be obvious to some, I feel that; like in real life, environmental issues can't be resolved unless the people who are experiencing a problem due to another people open a dialogue and make it clear that they have a problem. Based off what I've seen of Zed (and I've gotten him to M5 so I've seen and heard him quite a bit) we don't know how he interacts with people that aren't (or even the people that are) in his order. Let alone entities of entirely different species. Hell, we don't even know how he and Kayn are (that's coming up). Getting to the point, Xayah being the "plan" having person that she is never has been seen actually trying to talk something out (aside from telling Rakan a short term plan and telling him about "the plan" all the time. Which Rakan can't even remember half the time anyway.) Leading me to believe that Xayah created a great plan to remove the corruption.... Without ever even trying to reason with the order as she tends to do, and Rakan followed along.

I'm not saying Zed is a saint, he by no means is, however I feel Zed has a sense of Justice.

My reasoning being 1- it seems like the kinkou order remained uninvolved with the Noxian invasion as much as they could while Zed seemed to be trying to use the Shadow arts to get more powerful abilities that the Master refused to use to (in his judgment of Justice and what should be done) combat the Noxian invasion. So he took it upon himself to do so and that's how he ended up finding Kayn. It's unclear if Kayn was present when Zed returned to talk with Shen's father, but if he was it would explain how Kayn knows Shen (seemingly from meeting him in person, and doesn't fully dislike him like Zed seems to). If Zed was fighting the Noxians like Irelia was that could explain how he found Kayn.

Regardless I don't think Zed is evil (or at least as evil as people seem to make him out to be) because he probably cared for (in the mentor to orphaned child kinda way) Kayn and that might be why Kayn doesn't seem to really dislike Zed. Another thing Kayn does is provide a little light to (probably) how much Zed really dislikes Shen. I don't think Zed ever really talked about Shen personally to Kayn even though Kayn seems (somewhat) friendly with him. Companions tend to discuss their thoughts and students tend to inquire about their teachers "this thing is bad" opinion. They probe to learn why it is bad and why they should also have contempt for it. However being that Kayn is respectful to Shen it's likely that Zed never openly said "Shen is our enemy". Otherwise Kayn who can fully embrace the shadow arts if his potential is realized would likely be very spiteful towards his master's enemy. He not though. Meaning yes, Zed trained Kayn that shadow surpasses the spirit techniques, but not that the people who use those other techniques are evil, more like he taught that they are misguided and the shadows offer strength.

Any who, we'll likely see some updates with Akali and her rework when it's released, but those things are what I'd like to see in more detail.

And yes my theory crafting could be entirely wrong and that's fine, that's why the lore should be updated.... As always feel free to leave a comment expressing your thoughts on the matter, questions, suggestions, speculation, all of it- in the comments below! Until next time~~~