As a Husband, Changing Varus's story has broken my Heart (Open Letter to Riot)

(Okay so once again, please do not play the homophobic card.)

Riot,

Years ago when I started playing, Varus was one of the first champions that I saw released. When he went free to play for the first time I could not get over how awesome of a character he was, his voice, character, story, he was epic to me. The he said a line, THE LINE, that DEFINED him and made me ponder.

"Fear a man who has nothing to lose."

That literally made my mind run with an imaginative pondering. The idea of someone who literally has nothing left inside, handing himself over to become a weapon just to bring justice to those that he loved. I was in highschool at the time so in reality I had no idea of the depths of that.

Now, im 23, happily married, and with a baby on the way. I played Varus about 3 months ago and when I heard that line again, I put myself in his situation. What would I do if I were in his situation? If I lost my wife and my child due to another's savage actions, would I follow through? COULD I even do it? Would I even think about it? Varus's concept always had me ask this question in a moral grey area, and I honestly think that it is fantastic story development.

Having characters that are 100% good or 100% evil is boring, but when you have a character that has this justification of his actions that are seen as evil, it brings a new depth of story. " I have borrowed time " Which could mean so many things, so many questions. What happens when his mission is over? Does the Darkin take over completely? Can Varus's spirit overcome? Does his spirit WANT to overcome? Do they become one? Does he just die? Does the spirit like Varus or hate him (Like Kayne and Rhaast)? So many questions and so many routes to take.

But, as of yesterday, you broke my heart.

Old Varus does NOT exist anymore. The whole driving force of what Varus was has been removed. The vengeful husband that stands in a moral grey area is gone. His family, his driving force has been removed. His REASONING of gaining enough power to be considered for the league of legends. Now what is he? A darkin of revenge that fused two gay lovers together and wants to kill everybody. Wow. What depth.

"Oh but you don't realize, he lost his partner, it's equal to his original story. Your just a homophobe."

No I am not a homophobe, im not even talking about his sexual choices! Varus's original story was MUCH more tragic. why? because he never lost Kai. They fused together, they are as you say. eternally bound together with the "new" Varus. Neither are dead.

Compare that to losing your wife and child.

Now Varus is three people screaming constantly trying to get control, but the darkin is the driving force, this evil malevolent creature that wants revenge because he was trapped away. Did you take a page out of crash bandicoot warped for that one? When Cortex released Uka Uka?

I get the vengeful husband has been done before, but an evil entity wanting to kill the human race? That has been done 10 times over.

But ultimately, you took away the line that defined Varus " Fear a man who has nothing to lose" Now he is no longer a man, and he has things to lose, he could lose control of the body he has taken over, and he could lose his "sister" that you mention in the comic. The original Varus had NOTHING. No land, no home, no family. As he says "No turning back"

What purpose does he have now? It PALES in comparsion to the original. You could have easily fleshed out the original story and STILL have him become Darkin No problem.

"Oh, well we know what would happen, Varus would eventually be taken over by the Darkin"

Would He? What if This Darkin was different? Why does every Darkin have to be evil and want to kill everything that existed? What if the Darkin was trapped away for a misunderstanding. What if the Darkin was Rhaast's brother and was mistaken for his evil acts? There are so many different branches and paths that you could of went and you went the most confusing and convoluted way possible that doesn't even make sense.

Riot, you have done many great things in the past. But this change is downright terrible. One of your rioters asked "how do you think we did?" You look at reddit and twitter and turn your eyes away from the boards. You say "Well they like it so shrug" and you don't take into account what we say or feel.

So I can sum up what you did to Varus.

You ruined him.