Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

[LORE DISCUSSION] The Shadow Isles

ModCaptainMårvelous·11/8/2014, 4:01:32 AM·14 votes·5,311 views

Lore Discussion Omni-Post

PREVIOUS DISCUSSIONS Who built the Mercury Hammer? Are the Watchers Void-Beings? What happened in Shurima? Shurima Part 2 Who killed the man Yasuo was guarding? Who is C? The Black Rose Where is General DuCouteau? The Lunari The Darkin Zaun

Super late but it's lore discussion again. I got sick so this will be kinda short/simple, but we're discussing the Shadow Isles this week. Sorry for the lack of super colorful stuff but again not feeling well....really guys? A week -after- Halloween? Did you guys get out-spooked?

http://i.imgur.com/WNlPd0X.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/7Lin8Nc.jpg #What is known: Shadow Isles history

Unlike other nations and cities, which are chock full of old stories and lore, the Shadow Isles...kinda has nothing. We have bits and pieces thanks to champions and some lore pointers but mostly we are given free reign to assume. What -IS- known is this:

  • The Shadow Isles is home to some tortured spirits and specters. Left behind as some remenants of lost people or citizens, the Shadow Isles themselves are essentially hell-on-runeterra.

  • The Shadow Isles used to have some sort of government in the form of a monarchy. However, there is nothing left outside of destroyed statues and the omninous story of the "Ruined King", a tarnished figure who's face has been lost to time.

  • The Shadow Isles is home to some of Runeterra's most powerful spiritual figures. Vilemaw, Maokai and Nocturne (Along with Elise's spidergod, if it's not Vilemaw) are all immensely strong beings, with Vilemaw being a monster on the scale of Baron Nashor while Maokai/Nocturne are essentially elementals of nature and dreams/shadow.

  • Every year, the Shadow Isles undergoes the harrowing, a time when the powers of the Isles are at their strongest and seep out into the world. It can last anywhere from over a month to a few short days. I'll explain a bit about that soon.

So we have a nation with immensely powerful spirits that mysteriously vanished into nothingness, yet seems to have an incredible presence that seeps out and attempts to take over the world or at least plunge it into darkness. But again, the question isn't what is the Shadow Isles but what HAPPENED to it...and I actually have a theory.

http://i.imgur.com/7bPjN2q.jpg?1 #"I shall bring great suffering!"- The Betrayal of Mordecai.

"You mean Mordekaiser dont you?" You might say. No, I do not. Rather, I want to refer to the man Mordekaiser USED to be. Perhaps Mordred, Perhaps Mordecai, who knows. However, let me spin you a tale of what my take is on the Shadow Isles...

  • Foremost, the story takes place thousands upon thousands of years ago. Perhaps well beyond even Lissandra's time when only the most primal of figures appear. The Shadow Isles were a prosperous kingdom with unique creatures and fauna known only to these islands. There was a grand kingdom with a rightous figure: Mordecai, the greatest general of the isles.

  • Mordecai served the royal family without pause alongside the centaur lords of the islands, thwarting evil at every turn...however no matter how much he fought, he didn't feel he did enough. The longer he fought for the family, the more faults he saw in them. They didn't wish to explore, conquer, only just maintain the status quo. This GREATLY displeased Mordecai.

  • One day, in routinely breaking down a cult, Mordecai felt an infernal whisper in his ear. Promises of great power and an army with which he could conquer the world and bring his people to a place free of any troubles or worry. Mordecai was unsure but wished to think it over. Rather than destroy the cult, he let them live...which angered the centaur lord who reigned over this region.

  • Mordecai met this centaur in combat but was hopelessly outmatched: His body too frail, his strength meager before the mighty lord. That's when the spirit offered it's strength to Mordecai. Either accept or die. Mordecai accepted. The price was instant and terrible. Mordecai's body became fused to his armor, flesh and bone sinking away as a mere shell of pure metal remained: Mordekaiser, the Master of Metal. With his newfound power, Mordekaiser slew the centaur lord and raised him as the first vanguard of his army: Hecarim.

  • Now without a champion to defend itself or lead it's armies, Mordekaiser led a path of destruction across the isles. First desecrating the greatest grove of natural magic (Maokai), then laying siege to the kingdom, Mordekaiser eventually overran the remaining bastion and slaughtered the royal family. In one last ditch attempt, the King fought Mordekaiser, blade-to-mace...but he was no match. His blade, a symbol of rightousness, was the last artifact to be tainted by the Shadow Isles.

  • With no living being left, the Shadow Isles went into a sort of catatonic state, lying in wait and gathering their power. It wouldn't be until boats of the world began sailing past those horrific islands and explorers, young and old, ventured into the dark and desolate lands that the shadow isles would awaken once more.

As for Nocturne, Elise and Yorick? Nocturne could very well be a spirit kept in captivity until the Shadow Isles reigned free. Perhaps he's a damned spirit of this lost kingdom, a reverent of the deceased brought alive to give the Shadow Isles another formidable soldier. Evelynn? Perhaps the daughter of the lost royal family, twisted by the magics of the shadow isles. (I'd say she's either given willingly or betrayed her family to Mordekaiser, becoming a fiend)

And Yorick? Just a simple gravedigger who just happened to resist the influences of the Shadow Isles. In many ways he could be the strongest weapon against them...but he's apathetic, uncaring. He does his job and that's all he cares about. As a reminder, this is just my take on the shadow isles. A story I've woven from imagination, theory and what little I could find of the Isles.

http://i.imgur.com/hCYXODS.jpg?1 #The Harrowing: A Bastion of Scum and Villainy.

So...the harrowing. Personally, I have got a new take on it thanks to the new bit of lore we got with the first light promo as seen here. Lemme expand upon what I'm saying:

  • Foremost, we see the earliest stories of the harrowing are when the Shadow Isles are at their weakest. The Lightbringer's Bane swam too close to their shores and was lost. This is when the Isles sparked, awakening from their catatonic state to find that the world now had many, MANY cities to plunder and darkness to spread. (The Shroud, the Maelstrom, The Flower of Ionia)

  • The Battle of Port Mourn marks the Shadow Isles fully awakening, releasing their greatest warrior (Mordekaiser) to assault the first land they can find. Port Mourn serves as the first time the Harrowing was released to it's full extent and the aftershock can be felt to this day. Now people became fearful, preparing to face the harrowing whenever it returned...

  • The Death of the Conqueror and The Crimson Armada serve as the first attempts to fight the Harrowing, However, it's quickly realized that they cannot fight this deadly wave. Rather, the people of the world come to the realization that the Harrowing cannot be stopped, only distracted. Thus becomes the foundation of Bilgewater. "Marketed" as a lawless land where any privateer or buccaneer can make a profit, this is all smoke and mirrors. Bilgewater is not a port city: It's a tool.

  • Fast forward. The latest attacks from the Harrowing have ALL been near Bilgewater..yet the influence is not nearly as felt anywhere else. Sure a specter or two may get to shore...but the Shadow Isles can't get past Bilgewater with their full might. Don't believe me? Look at 1-6 (Or I- VI if you wanna be fancy). All near Bilgewater...they focus all their attention on that.

Bilgewater's sinister purpose is that the lawless and wicked go here to make quick profits, visit a brothel, things other cities won't let them do. These lawless and wicked, however, naturally draw the Shadow Isles to them. Every year they face the black mist, dying and becoming fodder to distract the specters. While small bits move past, the Shadow Isles spend their full might assaulting Bilgewater...but take heed.

If Bilgewater ever falls, the Harrowing after that will be the most bloody, violent wave of Black Mist. With nothing to stop it, it will spread across the globe. And from there? Only a matter of time......

A bit text heavy this sesh, but what do you all think? GO nuts and be sure to vote, by the by! Excuse me I have to go sit under a blanket and sob about work tomorrow. ;_;

12 Comments

Narasimha11/8/2014, 5:12:18 PM4 votes

Do note that it has been specifically said that the ruined king caused the downfall of the Shadow Isles. Also, Maokai's grove was affected after this event as well. Personally, my take has always been like this: Mordekaiser IS the ruined king. I think the king performed the ritual in an attempt to transcend life and death, similar to Ascension, but more like an opposite. And the ritual worked, in a way. The king became Mordekaiser, the first undead, a being that cannot live but cannot die either. It then follows that he could have existed before the Shadow Isles, because he was the one who MADE the Shadow Isles. And as his existence torments him, he seeks to return that torment to others. After all, "MISERY LOVES COMPANY."

Stars Shaper11/9/2014, 5:58:04 PM3 votes

I wanted to add:

I think it would be more dramatic if Hecarim was a horseman rather than a centaur and that this is reflected in his undead form or either he died with his horse.

Some1 wrote a while ago a fanfic which included hecarim being cut at his torso while his horse was decapitated.

The Red Warden11/8/2014, 4:24:34 PM1 votes

I would have to disagree on the Ruined King part, due to how he has been pointed at in other lores as the main cause for its spookification. I do believe Morde caused his decision to do so. Personally it has always seemed more fitting to believe Mordekaiser convinced the King of a power he discovered that would empower the SI to become the strongest faction there ever was, yet not having him realize its terrible costs until too late.

The transformation also has been depicted as happening mostly all at once, meaning it probably was caused by a seriously strong spell.

Sharjo11/8/2014, 5:16:41 PM1 votes

I dig your theory about Mordekaiser and his part in all of this, but one things is that you forgot about what Maokai's lore tells us. How it was the King who ordered his magi to crack open the barrier between life and death. How they used the sacred grove as the font of power from which they drank to perform this heinous act. You kinda left the twisted treant out of the mix.

Stars Shaper11/8/2014, 6:59:22 PM1 votes

I also have a theory about Mordekaiser, which kinda differs from yours.

What I do believe is that Mordekaiser was already a sort of undead being (his old lore stated he was the first undead) that contained the Black Mist. The ritual the King underwent freed the mist of its cage and now Morde is on his own quest to regain the lost power or either to reseal the Mist inside of him.

The basis for this theory is about what the mist does and the similarity with a skill of Mordekaiser: The mist reaps the soul of the living and brings it back under its domain to haunt the Shadow Island. Doesn't it recall "Children of the Grave"?

Leona is Waifu11/8/2014, 11:13:28 PM1 votes

Not really interested in the Shadow Isle, but I can see where someone could see a depth of unknown stories.

Omnipherious11/10/2014, 12:00:42 AM1 votes

Bilgewater being their recent focus because of the nature of the populace is definitely a good theory. You're probably right that they were probably somewhat catatonic for a bit and it was a ship passing too close that renewed their hunger. As for the motivations of those affliated with the Isles, seems like a tough nut to crack.

Based on Maokai's new lore, I'd say that pre-undeath Shadow Isles would've been extremely similar to present day Ionia. Both are island nations with immense spiritual focus and a variety of lifeforms + spiritual beings. It seems very likely that much of what makes Ionia has inadvertently been inherited from the Isles.

Udyr has a deep link with animal spirits and Maokai is a similar nature-based spirit of the Isles. Ionia has dark magic (ninja's shadow techniques, the magic which corrupted Varus), presumably this is very similar to the type corrupting magic that fell the Isles. Kalista's Bloodmoon skin also suggests some sort of link between the two. We could extrapolate and say "evil" Ionians share a similar Seven Deadly Sins motif with the Shadow Isles. Varus/Hecarim being Wrath, Syndra/Thresh being Greed/Gluttony, etc. Whatever the dark magic is, it corrupts you slowly from within until you no longer remember yourself.

However, it does seem that total corruption takes a very long time (centuries to millenia). Even the souls trapped in the Altars of the Twisted Treeline haven't been totally lost, seeming to cling on to love they once shared (ex1, ex2, ex3, ex4). Kalista seems to be a little bit different from other champions of the Isle. None of the others seem to have the same sense of self (ex1, ex2, ex3). Karthus preaches on about the beauty of death, Elise plots and schemes for the Spider Cult; all seemingly uninterested about the past and only with spreading more death/undeath in their own way.

Kalista also seems aware that her undeath is a curse. She mocks Karthus for willingly embracing death and Varus for allowing himself to be corrupted. She seems to have some regrets about allowing the Isles to fall to darkness. Though she realizes that this darkness was due to the folly of her King, she remains loyal to him and seeks to exact vengeance on all betrayers even if it is with the blade of the King himself (perhaps she thinks this could grant redemption?).

With all that in mind, I doubt Mordekaiser is the Ruined King; seems more likely he was an mage/alchemic advisor to the King like Xerath to Azir. I think we'll get more insights into the story once Mord/Hecarim get new tidbits (they seem like key players here). Personally, I think the Ruined King is long dead and this Black Mist is his will/grief given an undying form. I don't really have anything to back that theory up though. Maybe we'll get new info as Kalista nears release.

Spectral Torch11/11/2014, 1:43:18 PM1 votes

I would say I agree with your theories, but...I don't remember what happened on the Isles, that felt like...such a long time ago...

SchaakaKon11/8/2014, 4:46:15 AM1 votes

eeeh I dunno, seems a bit too deep. The Riot Lore Team could never pull that off.

Sooko11/11/2014, 10:53:13 PM1 votes

I think your Mordekaiser lore still lacks some music. Music is very important in the Shadow Isles: the Deathsinger, the master of metal who likes weapons how he likes his music, and Slashrick. Maybe Karthus could offer the gift of undeath to Mordekaiser once he heard he would face the centaur? Maybe Karthus WAS what the cult was about: undeath. Instead of the first undead, Morde could have become the Deathsinger's chosen, who was supposed to bring death to everyone and everything in Valoran. After all: IN THE END, ONLY THE DEAD WILL REMAIN... Maybe the whisper was actually a simphony, so acute it became painful to hear to any that was not dead.

And before Mordecai's betrayal, the Shadow Isles would probably have a less "You won't survive here" kind of name, right? Just thoughts on paper, well written, friend.

dialMARK4acti0n11/8/2014, 11:22:16 AM1 votes

At this point, I'd say the Shadow Isles and Bilgewater are as related as Tortuga is with the Curse of the Black Pearl. Pretty interesting that promo it was...