Akali and Kennen's lore makes it seem like they are just Shen's sidekicks

PapaGreg21·Sep 18, 2016·45 votes·2,531 views

Hopefully they get some lore that makes them seem more interesting.

53 Comments

Maximum MordeSep 18, 201629 votes

Cause they are.

Jeddy017Sep 18, 201611 votes

Well, they should be more than just Shen's sidekicks.

MagosAmphroseSep 18, 20161 votes

Shen was always the Kirk to Akali's Spock and Kennen's McCoy. That's how they were structured- Shen was the Eye of Twilight, the leader after he inherited it from his father, and the other two were his highest subordinates.

This makes me wonder- did Akali fill a similar role for Shen's father, or was she anointed the Fist of Shadow after Shen took over the Kinkou Order from his father?

Jeddy017Sep 18, 20162 votes

I meant their characters should extend beyond being Shen's sidekicks. I'm not saying they shouldn't be his subordinates, that's fine.

RainbowIceeSep 18, 20162 votes

what's wrong with being sidekicks ? not everyone wants to be the center of attention. Some people like being the distraction or just having a distraction to do their thing.

yay nibbersSep 18, 20166 votes

The problem is that's all they are. As in there's nothing else to them, their entire lore is "lol since born they is ams good at doing ninja so they growed up to be a shen's minion kek" and that's about it. No real backstory or motivation, practically no personality beyond "I'm a ninja, believe it!", nothing of any depth.

They're just Shen's sidekicks.

Lucky MonikerSep 18, 20165 votes

More like the token fan service female ninja and the token comic relief short guy ninja, following Shenpai around for his approval

yay nibbersSep 19, 20162 votes

Either way there's nothing to them. Fan service and comic relief are absolutely fine (especially fan service ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)) but give them some personality and motives and such. You know, actual character.

Off Meta EvanSep 19, 20161 votes

as a kennen main i agree with you 100%, the lore says he's supposed to be a goofy prankster but nowhere is that EVER potrayed other than his laugh animation (which looks fucking terrible btw.) and his dance. The worst part is that kennen is one of those champs thats old enough to have terrible quality voice acting, model, barely any lines, no interactions and shit animations, but young enough so that his kit isn't outdated as fuck meaning it'll most likely take a century and a half before he gets any kind of update. at the very least give the dude a skin that that GIVES him a visual update I.E. spirit guard udyr.

yay nibbersSep 19, 20161 votes

I feel like Evelynn suffers from similar issues. I won't say I main her, because I don't, but I do enjoy playing her from time to time but every time I do I have to suffer through her ugly particle effects and outdated model. It'd be so nice if they at least gave her a 1350 skin. I think she's at least on Riot's radar though, poor Kennen's stuck in that weird limbo.

Off Meta EvanSep 19, 20161 votes

yeah i would be suprised if she didn't get changed in the assassin update. the worst part of it all is that rito has done some extremely recent changes to kennen so its not like they've just completely ignored him they just don't think he's a high priority and to be fair, Yorick Warwick Galio and the assassins need the updates more but still tho, something rito.. plz..

T1013000Sep 18, 201615 votes

Sidekicks w/ benefits :P Akali

Baron PerenoldeSep 18, 201619 votes

Sideboobs w/ benefits*

DecritSep 18, 20161 votes

Sideboob is meta confirmed

VeltoxSep 18, 20161 votes

http://img15.deviantart.net/17e5/i/2014/111/3/6/akali_shen_league_of_legends_by_adream0fsin-d7ffltt.png

ShahamutSep 18, 20161 votes

How ELSE is the ~~Kinky~~ Kinkou order going to survive?

LordHippomanSep 18, 20168 votes

Akali at least has a niche. She's the assassin of the Kinkou, she's basically their muscle. Shen's the leader, Kennen is...uh...he's a Yordle?

I think they could definitely use a bit more on those two, especially Kennen.

NeameanSep 18, 201612 votes

Kennen is the delivery boy.

DarkRitualSep 18, 20168 votes

He is also much higher skilled at finding objects dropped on the floor.

SpecterVonBarenSep 18, 20161 votes

Delivering that Ori ball to the enemy team for the WOMBO right?!

MarbelaraSep 18, 20163 votes

It would be cool to see Kennen with the new Yordle characteristics reflected in the Kinkou. He could be thus, Kinkou's denizen, guardian spirit and the embodiment of it's ideals, with perhaps even centuries of age.

It would be hilarious to see him be thus the oldest member of the three, given that he's so tiny and seems childish at a first glance.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Forbidden_City_Imperial_Guardian_Lions.jpg

Oakleaf RangerSep 18, 20163 votes

I wish they gave him new VO's. His current ones make me think he is some kid who got his hands on a energy drink. Makes me want to kill him with fire.

Lintu PuckSep 19, 20161 votes

well that is what he is in his lore. a Yordle who had boundless energy and to in an attempt to hone/focus that energy into something useful (or to just get him out of Bandle City) he was sent to Ionia and got picked up by the Kinkou.

Oakleaf RangerSep 19, 20161 votes

more like he was kidnapped but listening to him still gives me ear cancer. The only reason I don't play the guy, since his kit is really good.

GreenLoreSep 18, 20162 votes

Well that Niche basically just means "she is another ninja to fight others,but she is really good at it",I mean all Kinkous are trained to fight,Shen himself fights quite some people in his lore.

Kennen might not stand that much out in the kinkous,but I feel he stands a lot more out compared to other champs as he is pretty much THE electro champ,wheras Akali is just another ninja.

GreenLoreSep 18, 20164 votes

Yeah they could both need an update to make them their own characters.

At least Akali is on the VGU list,which i can understand because currently the only thing that differentiates her from the other ninjas is the fact that she is a woman(Shen has his spirit sword,Kennen his lightning(heck he is pretty much THE lightning champ of the game) and Zed his shadow techniques,which are all not only unqiue among the ninjas,but also unique among the whole champion roster)

luna is my mommySep 18, 20161 votes

Volibear says hi

GreenLoreSep 18, 20162 votes

Well Volibear is also on the list for VGUs,likely because his character is so flat.

EDIT: If ooMarkofKaine is right and you were talking about the whole elctric-thing: Voli only uses electricity in one of his abilities,wheras Kennen uses them in all of his. It is like comparing Yasuo and Janna

ProtestantCaesarSep 18, 20161 votes

I think digbluefire mentioned Volibear because you called Kennen the lightning champion of the game. He just wanted to point out that Volibear uses a little lightning too.

That doesn't change the fact that Kennen is the lightning champion.

RalanrSep 18, 20164 votes

Weren't they always his sidekicks?

cinomenapplebaeSep 18, 20163 votes

I feel like they should write more about akali's training with her mom or something like that

AreSep 18, 20163 votes

They can wait for Shadow Isles to get updated another 3 times. Shadow Isles needs it more.

On a more serious note, Akali seems to have a more personal connection with Zed, but we'll probably see more about her duty to her mother. Kennen... Can't wait to see how they expand him.

5000000000000000Sep 19, 20161 votes

Riot: "hey, we're reworking Blade of the Ruined King and adding some lore onto it!" (tbh I'd actually love to see some item lores)

Blue Moon WolfSep 18, 20162 votes

MonkeyKing : I know that feel.

5000000000000000Sep 19, 20162 votes

Who even is Wukong?

Blue Moon WolfSep 19, 20161 votes

King of the monkeys allegedly, but I can't find that info anywhere in his lore. Pretty much he's just the Lugi to MasterYi 's Mario :L

5000000000000000Sep 19, 20161 votes

I think the king of monkeys thing is from the original character. And speaking of Yi, Wukong is supposed to be Yi's student but Wukong's fighting style doesn't reflect that at all. The only thing they share is a multi target gapcloser.

Blue Moon WolfSep 19, 20161 votes

True, but his title is the monkey king, which I feel has left Riot between a rock and a hard place (either he is the king of the monkeys or he gets a title change and he suddenly he'll feel less like Sun Wukong). Even Poppy calls him "your majesty" when she hits him. As for his fighting style, even though they are vastly different, there are quite a few similarities. Both their ults give a movement speed boost, they have an ability that increases their attack speed (Wukong's E, Yi's Ult and technically his passive), both get free stats (Wukongs passive, Yi's E passive) and have a way to ignore armor to a degree (Wukongs Armor break Q, Yi's true damage E active).

5000000000000000Sep 19, 20161 votes

I think those are too general. I mean, Darius has an AA reset, free stat (passive), armor pen, and true damage. Fiora has an AA reset and AS steroid, true damage, and MS steroid (upon hitting vital). There's also that they play very differently.

Blue Moon WolfSep 19, 20161 votes

There is also that they both have a gap closer and some other things (other people have mentioned them but I can't remember what they are), but I think the reason they don't work more alike is more because of the fact that since he's Wukong, he's expected to have 3 things in his kit (clones, his cloud and his staff) and that didn't leave much room to make his kit feel more "Wuju" like (plus, he was made when champs were getting released every 2 weeks, so they didn't have much time to put in his kit). I assume if they were ever to change his kit, they would possibly try to get it to reflect Yi's kit a bit more, though that would make him feel more like Yi's sidekick.

5000000000000000Sep 19, 20162 votes

That's true. It'd be very difficult to make both of them use the same style of combat yet feel different enough to be separate champions. Credit where it's due: they still made a kit that works pretty well, all while incorporating those 3 things you mentioned. I do still hope Wukong ends up using his own version of Wuju style, though. But first we'd need to know what Wuju style is beyond just making your weapon look different. If it's something like using your weapon to its fullest potential, a sword may cut through armor, but a staff may just crush it.

GigaPubeSep 18, 20161 votes

had to scroll through the comments to see if theres a pun i missed....its literally 2 lines for a lore change request. not even a change, its just a statement saying one thing, and then a kind-of statement for a speculative desire. no backup for your argument. no evidence for justification. no suggestions for changes. glad it got so many upvotes for everyone else to see....

PapaGreg21Sep 18, 20162 votes

The lore team has said they won't use any player advice for story content so why even bother to suggest anything. It's not like the skins team where they actually read suggestions and sometimes act of them.

ForgottenLuckSep 19, 20161 votes

I always saw them as friends and fellow students with shen just being the oldest and most responsible (A shenpai if you must)

PapaGreg21Sep 19, 20161 votes

I think the Jhin story fleshed out Shen and Zed a little more which made it seem like Akali and Kennen are basically cool game characters that were just tacked on somewhere in the lore that seemed to make sense. Especially since there really wasn't mention of them for that part of the story.

ForgottenLuckSep 19, 20161 votes

well Akali was mentioned and appeared for a bit but not much was said except that she was younger and a bit more rash than Shen, as for Kennen he was completely MIA on both stories, would have like him to appear though

GuaigaWaruiDesuSep 19, 20161 votes

I honestly think if any of them are ever reworked again they should compliment one another's abilities better. Considering they are a team.

Off Meta EvanSep 19, 20161 votes

from a lore perspective, i believe they're SUPPOSED to have actual personalities, like akali is ruthless and aggressive, shen is supposed to be calculating and thoughtful, and kennen is supposed to be a goofy prankster. but thats not potrayed through lines or voice acting. what would i believe help their characters immensely would be if you gave them an interaction with each other. like if they're all on the same team at once, when they spawn in let them say all at once "BALANCE DICTATES" or have like kennen say to an enemy shen something like "alright you big lug, lets go a round!" just something really goofy and child like while shen's interaction would be like "Be on your guard my friend, i will not hold back." something super serious. This is part of the reason i was super upset when they didn't change shens voice actor for his update cause it meant he wouldn't get any interactions along with it.

JusticePauldronsSep 19, 20161 votes

Well I mean, they are. And Akali has a crush on her shenpai

SlyTactician Sep 19, 20161 votes

Definitely agree with this as a Kennen main. Right now he's literally the "yordle ninja" and Shen's sidekick for the most part. He and Akali could both use some love to make them more unique characters.