What draws you to a character?
I was playing a Pantheon game earlier today and started thinking about some of his voice lines, more specifically these two:
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"Brother to warriors resting beneath wheat. Son of battles a thousand times lost. I know who I am, and I will show the gods what I can become!"
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"The best climbers know how to fall."
It got me thinking, what do you guys enjoy the most about your champion's character or quotes? What draws you to them? Do you feel empathy or sympathy for them? Is there a certain voice line or piece of lore that elevates them above the rest of the roster? Let me know because I'd love to hear what makes your champion stand out above the rest.
I myself love tragic, flawed, and mysterious characters. I'm really drawn to Pyke and Pantheon for those reasons. Pyke (naturally) has a lot of voice lines surrounding his descent into the mouth of the jaull-fish and his exposure to whatever was down there.
While those voice lines appear to be simple on the surface they paint a much more vivid and sympathetic image of his character. Lines like "Heard a lot of 'last words'... Forgot 'em all." portray the angry, vengeful revenant that terrorizes Bilgewater whereas lines like "Went too deep, part of me is still down there... swimming..." and "We're already drownin', all we gotta do is open our mouths and let the water in..." show us in stark contrast how he genuinely believes he's been inducted into something bigger, that what he's doing is justified and he's welcoming us to bask in that glory as well.
Maybe there's a part of him that wants to escape... but it's far more likely that he's so far gone, so irreversibly corrupted and his mind has been warped and distorted into a fragment of what it once was. He's just... _lost. _
https://i.gyazo.com/c15e6e7dbddd4ece003f41449015181d.png
Atreus (Pantheon) ascended Mount Targon and witnessed the death of someone he called his brother, Pylas, only to be cast aside and used as a mere vessel for the Aspect of War. Yet even after being impaled on a blade and left for dead beneath a murder of crows Atreus rose up, forsook his own name and became the new Pantheon to fight against those who would use their powers to destroy the world he nearly lost. The voice actor for Pantheon did a fantastic job, he's got so much character packed into every quote and the delivery is just spot on, I can't get enough of it.
is a good example of a "creepy" champion, I love his personality, wish It was explored better in game.
Others I like are 
and 
for very similar reasons - visuals, expensive animations, lore, VO, gameplay, personality...
And there are some light hearted champions I also like like 
and 
, but I mostly like them because of their personality, character and gameplay.
and 
They have one single goal and will do anything to achieve it
But their actions and motives are completely different
Sett does it for those he loves because of the people he hates
Mordekaiser does it for himself because of his obsessions
is a champion that I've always secretly loved. The angel design always delighted me and her hypercarry potential pre-rework was great. Her rework drew me in further and I've stayed ever since.
and I 100% understand where you're coming from. Atreus is an amazingly compelling character, his determination and willpower greater than anyone else. I am glad Pantheon's rework did not turn him into a vengeful god-slaying berserker due to having his body possessed by the Aspect of War, but instead chose to focus on his innate character as someone who always gets back up when you knock them down, and that, this, is what makes him mortal.
who I actually love because he is a vengeful god-slaying berserker. Aatrox has an amazing VO, everything he says has some level of passion, deeper meaning or loathing behind it. He really sells the concept that the Darkin were once Shuriman Ascended. A lot of people mourned the lost of old Aatrox being a great tactician of war inspiring bloodlust into armies, but I look at it as, that version of him being his old Sunborn self and now he has fallen from grace and become Darkin. He makes some jokes in his interactions which people were also not fond of, but as I said before, I see it as remnants of his Ascended warrior persona pre-imprisonment.
Everything about her.
Her voice lines.
Her model. (I think she's one of the older champs who still looks so good that she won't need a VU soon)
(Although I would like her to be in a more healthy state when it comes to her gameplay.)
because they are all quite kind, and their kindness is an important aspect of their character development. Compare that to Soraka, who is probably the most overtly "good" character in the game, but doesn't exactly have a character arc.
Darius is one example of this as his in game personality is essentially just a meathead. Yet his lore shows how he has to confront some painful situations due to the ideal of strength. 
Viktor is another example of this as his story is formed much like a villain from Batman. His motives start completely genuine and for the aid of mankind, but bureaucracy and unfairness of having his works stolen from him has caused him to lose faith in humanity and rely on mechanical means.
"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like banana."
"He- H- H- Hey- He- H- Hey- He- Hey look! I'm holding the wo- Hey- Hey-"
really appeal to me because the idea of mixing steampunk with high class but ALSO being deadly is just cool. Also their aesthetics are just uhg yes, Their voice acting is superb (for Caitlyn it's her pulsefire skin), and they're both just classy badasses. 
is also cool because even though she has huge gauntlets, she can still beat people up without them. Didn't really feel much towards Vi till they gave her some lore love. Her sarcasm and brashness is also funny.
and I low key ship it.
One of my two favorite champions (the other being Urgot). Besides simply enjoying playing her, I love Jinx because on the surface she appears to be this manic, fun loving psychopath who possibly has a split personality. But if you dig deeper, you see she wasn't always like that, and had some horrible thing, or series of things, happen to drive her insane. So on the outside, she's fun and lovable (despite being a terrorist), but at the same time I feel sorry for the girl she once was. Can't wait for Arcane to see what really happen to her.
I never thought that I would identify with him so much. At the least, sympathize. I believe that a lot of people can put themselves in his place: a person who is mistreated for reasons outside of your control. Despite your efforts to fit in, all it takes is one moment to have everyone turn against you.
