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My problems with new!Leona

Talos of Altmora·4/22/2016, 12:07:17 AM·20 votes·4,367 views
My problems with Targon

After reading Jareden's response to my other two post in My problems with new Taric, I decided I needed to go into my problem's with Linda (Please see the other thread) more to properly illustrate it better. I know this is my third post on the matter and your probably thinking something along the lines of "Come on Talos, there not gonna change it because it upsetted a small number of people." And your right, I know they're not going to change it. That's why I makes me angry that they did it in the first place, not only were they characters I loved and wanted to hear more about, but I'll never be able to enjoy them again.

Now then as the Title suggests, this thread is about Leona. Well, it's misleading, because new!Leona is nothing like Leona, she is a completely different person. The kind, compassionate, but strong and determined warrior that we knew is no more. I would like to introduce you to Linda, the Solari Inquisitor, who brings enlightenment to some, death to others. The one who would like to tell you if you would like to shine like the sun, first you must burn like one.

Now, where do I begin? Well, let's start with Linda's backstory. So we start of with her living as a member of the Rakkor, a tribe of mighty warriors who believe that if they aren't the strongest warrior's the sun will die, and if that happens, well the whole world will end and there will be no new worlds at all. Linda was raised by this tribe, and was taught how to fight and kil as soon as she can walk. Oka, that is consistent with the old lore (to a certain extent anyways.)

In the mists that now surround the summit, monsters come down to attack. Linda joined in and is implied to have killed her fair share of monsters, until she meets the golden boy with bat wings. Clearly seeing that he is not a threat, and that the poor kid is lost, she kindly directs him to the top of the mountain. I hope you enjoyed that description because after that , Linda truly becomes a separate person from Leona after that. It turns out that Atreus saw her and tattled on her. (he is called a boy, but we're never given their exact ages, so I'll assume they are around the same age.)

Okay, so after that she faces trial by combat... Against Aterus. Now, old!Leona, when faced with the possibility of killing a friend and fellow member of Rakkor, she simply gave up. After all, she thinks that strength should be used to protect, what good does it to hurt your friends? Linda, on the other hand, apparently fought Aterus to a standstill but "neither could land a deathblow." I probably should've known then that Linda wasn't anything like Leona. I have no problem with her killing, as long as it is to protect people. However, should Leona have been faced with this, she would have tried to fight, but then quit. She would never try to outright kill a fellow member of her tribe.

Anyways, here we have the arrival of the Solari. The Solari are the ones in charge, a brutal church that 'rejects all other lights as false". The elder has had prophetic dreams and upon hearing what Leona has done, he believes that Leona is the key to this prophecy. In the original, Leona's values aligned with the Solari, and the fact that they saw something divine (Literally, before her execution the sun itself stopped it from happening.) in her, led her to be a member of the Solari and the Paragon of their beliefs. Linda was just apparently "Right place, right time" and she is whisked away to her new life.

Then, she joins up with the Ra-Horak, the Solari's inquisitorial arm (although they would much rather be called warriors) and is heavily indoctrinated, (not as in "she's met the Reapers" that would actually explain a lot) but all that changed when Diana came back from meeting her aspect. Linda escorts her to the elders and when Diana gives her pitch on her new-found religion, Linda "felt her anger build with every word Diana spoke" and hoped to kill her. This is the point where I realized, to my absolute horror, how far apart Linda was from Leona. Leona and old! Diana shared a connection, it was heavily implied that Diana had a crush on her, that they knew each other, that they loved each other. (if it was platonically or romantically is up to interpretation) It was a dynamic that could have been explored. It was interesting, and I, along with other fans, wanted to hear more.

Linda and new!Diana no longer have this dynamic. The lore team apparently didn't think it was worth exploring. Perhaps it didn't fit in with their new, "better" Targon. Perhaps it wasn't good for production. In any case, along with Leona's character, we also have also lost her dynamics with other characters. Anyways, Then comes Diana's murder of the elders. In the original, you could make a reasonable argument for self-defense (because they were in the process to execute her) but here? The moon took her over and had her kill them when the possibility of her just escaping not coming into question. Moreover, if the moon didn't want to be pursued, why is Leona alive? My personal theory is that the aspects are maluptive bastards that are all working together for "The Greater Good", it's just that because they have no physical forms, they have to borrow one. Some, like Pantheon, just steal the body outright. Others are more subtle. They slowly change their hosts, until, perhaps after decades of eroding away their will, the aspect has a new meat puppet.

Admittedly, that may be an argument from sheer spite, but the reading the new lore doesn't exactly give me anything else. In fact, let's talk about Leona meeting with her aspect. So, in her hunt for that heretic she climbs up the mountain tracking her. She doesn't stop to eat or sleep, letting pure fury drive her to the top (Trynadmere would be jealous) and it is there she meets the golden boy again. He offers her the knowledge of the gods, and Leona accepts this. "She took the boy’s hand as he smiled and led her into the light. " Then"A column of searing illumination stabbed down from the heavens and engulfed Leona. She felt an awesome presence filling her limbs with terrifying power and forgotten knowledge from the earliest epochs of the world."

So, this is another reason for my headcanon. Before she accepted, this quote was in the paragraph "Eventually Leona reached the top of the mountain, breathless, exhausted, starved and stripped of all thought save punishing Diana." But when she accepts the aspect, this changes to "The warrior who came down the mountain looked the same as the one who had climbed it, but inside Leona was much changed. She still had her memories and thoughts, was still master of her own flesh, but a sliver of something vast and inhuman had chosen her to be its mortal vessel. It gifted her with incredible powers and awful knowledge that haunted her eyes and weighed heavily upon her soul; knowledge she could only ever share with one person. Now, more than ever, Leona knew she had to find Diana. "

Weird change huh? Now, in my original post, a commenter spoke about the eldritch truth, you know, that trope about knowing something man was not meant to know changing a person, but I don't get that vibe here. What I get is that this was that this was planned. I talked about it in my post about Taric, but thankfully Jaredan (a rioter and an editor) came on and correct me on my mistakes. Still he said and I quote "I think that's an OK connotation to have. If you believe that Targon takes the agency away from everyone, then I understand why you would interpret it the way you did." I mean, it's pretty clear that the Aspects are more than willing to take control of their host (just ask Atreus...oh wait, sorry you can't, pantheon sent him to his ancestors and is wearing his body, nm) but maybe some can't take complete control immediately. Still Leona's switch from "KILL THE HERETIC!" Became "wow, I must find Diana." Granted, the same rioter also said that I should let things play out and gave a detailed explanation of the intentions they have. So you can come to your own conclusions. Check out his quote here.

So, there are my problems with Linda. Leona will always have a place in my heart as a kind person willing to defend the innocent even if it means her life. Linda is an awful replacement. A murderous inquisitor who I can assure you will not protect you (unless of course you are a solari.). A person who may not even be in control of herself anymore. She is not Leona, and she will never be. Even if you buy Jaredan saying that more of Leona's true character will show up later if I keep reading, why should I? Leona already had dynamics and character, and the lore team threw it away.

As a Side note. I want you to understand why I'm doing this, and why I'm so passionate about it. Lore was a big draw for me, it's why I joined LoL and left Dota 2. I love their characters and setting and I love the game. And I'm sure everyone on the board loves it as much as I do, if not more so. But seeing these characters changed so drastically, it horrifies me. Imagine for a minute your favorite character. He/she may not be your main, but you love him/her because of their lore and their personality. With this new lore, it shows me that riot does not care about that. If they think that character can be better by changing their personality, they will do it. Even if it is a complete contradiction to their original character. And the worst part is they won't even acknowledge it, they'll just say "oh, sorry about that, I hope you find something else to be excited about." They just don't seem to care. It's that reason that I don't use real money in league, just ip. I implore you, if you're afraid of riot changing your favorite's personality, or if they've already done it, don't use rp. Vote with your wallet.

That's all I wanted to say. I will try to respond to any questions and hopefully I can get another rioter here to have a discussion on it. Thank you for thanking the time to read this post.

94 Comments

Warlord Dienekes4/22/2016, 12:19:52 AM8 votes

Ahh Talos. Always good to see someone who still shares my hatred of the new Targon lore and willing to post about it.

InHaruhiWeTrust4/22/2016, 5:40:56 AM7 votes

"it was heavily implied that Diana had a crush on her, that they knew each other, that they loved each other." sorry but fanart is not cannon lol the community will ship anyone together that are friends especially if they are the same sex(ie, taric/ezreal, vi/cait, diana/leona, nami/mf off the top of my head). that being said i totaly agree. Diana was my favorite champ in league and they killed her character that i loved so much. i really like seeing posts like this showing that other people care about these characters like i do, but unfortunately riot doesn't care. the most you can hope for is for a rioter to comment and say that they won't change anything.

Xulsigae4/22/2016, 2:35:14 AM6 votes

Karma, Trundle, Poppy, Pantheon, Leona...it's a bit irksome. Sion is the best so far.

James Stone4/22/2016, 1:35:29 PM5 votes

I agree with you on everything you said. Linda/New!Leona's character is an abomination when you consider it's based on an older one, this new lore REEKS of the kind of edgy grimdarkness that requires a very specific story or a particularly talented writer not to come of as a depressed teenager's story pitch, and the lore team's continual disrespect for the work of their predecessors, almost reaching the point of disgustingly insulting, is a pity to see.

But what I want to know, above all else, is this. Where the fuck is the galactic empire spoken in Aurelion Sol's lore? Targon is supposed to be the epicenter of a fucking interstellar Dominium, an Empire so powerful not only have they conquered multiple planets, they have powerful enough magic to ENSLAVE THE CREATOR OF MOST OF THE KNOWN STELLAR BODIES IN THE UNIVERSE to do their bidding to fight the Void, with which they are apparently having a multi-planeted war with.

I just have so many questions, and just thinking about it gives me headaches. How the fuck does Runeterra manage to stay goddamned alive if most their troops have only swords, shields, bows and magic when fighting something that gives an interstellar empire and a Cosmic Nigh-Immortal Old-as-the-Universe celestial dragon a run for their money? Why do the Aspects, whatever the fuck they are and whatever their hierarchy within the Targonian Empire is, need the people of Mount Targon in particular to possess? I assume an Interstellar Empire needs spaceships, so where are they? Does the Yordle Mothership have anything to do with it. And, more important, why should I give a single solitary shit about anything else happening in this world, considering even Aurelion Fucking Sol dismissed the supposed major Shurimian event and the Sun Disk explosion as primitive child's play? Every story that they publish that's not this could be about a powerful interstellar Empire fighting alongside a Cosmic Dragon against a the Void in an all out multi-planetary war. After setting the scales so high, I'll feel massively cheated every time the lore team pulls me away from this premise to talk about all the ways Jhin kills a few pricks, or how Graves really likes his shotgun.

Headbiter4/22/2016, 1:30:42 AM4 votes

By the way, I would LOVE to have some sort of discussion table between actual fans of the lore and some of Riot's writing staff. You know, having someone from the community represent the critical thoughts of the community and debate/formulate them in a concise manner (in contrast to the moshpit that is twitch-chat/reddit).

Also, with actually critical arguments, not one of those press-events we can see at some conventions and in politics, where the "Do you think you do good work?" is considered a "daring question."

ModWulf Helhammer4/22/2016, 12:24:05 AM4 votes

Ok, couple things.

First: where the hell was it implied in actual lore that Diana and Leona had a thing? That was purely fan speculation, and Riot ran with the joke, just like the whole Ezreal and Taric thing (which is completely denied because Lux and Ezreal have a thing)

Second: they changed Leona to be more of a fighter because that's what she is. In game, you don't hesitate to dive straight into the enemy, lock them all down with massive beam of light from the freaken sun -- old lore Leona didn't show that at all.

Narasimha4/22/2016, 1:44:52 PM2 votes

On the most part, I disagree. Old Leona had her charm, but it was also nothing special. She was just a protector. Other than being blessed by the Sun, she wasn't anything special. She didn't have any specific driving forces. She had no real motivations. She was just stuck where she was. New Leona has much more opportunity to grow. She has room to doubt herself, to challenge others, to alter and in turn change others. She feels so much more alive now. Same with Diana. In the old lore, she was locked into the role of 'avenging pscyopathic religious zealot'. Now she has the opportunity to be so much more.