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The Darkin Paradox

The Shøwstopper·2/26/2020, 9:57:15 PM·1 votes·7,280 views

Howdy! I have a few questions about some writing decisions you guys have made over the years, but first, let me prefice this by saying that i absolutely adore this game's lore and worldbuilding (been following and playing since late S2) and as such wanted to clear up some pretty major questions I have regarding the lore the best Sword-based champion, Aatrox.

Aatrox was not the highest among the Ascended Host, that was Setaka as far as we know, but his bio does mention that he was "forged to resemble some forgotten ideal". Between that and the fact that his new form doesn't look animalistic at all (whereas Rhaast has large horns that resemble a mandible of sorts ((and indeed a large portion of what Rhaast looks like in-game is due to him only taking Kayn's body and nobody else's)) and Vaarus with his ugly furry satyr pants), I am lead to believe that Aatrox was at one point an Ascended with limited to no animalization. However, he claims that he was at Icathia, as he remembers fighting the Void rather clearly, and Axamuk Var-Choi Kohari Icath’or is very specific in mentioning that all nine members of the Ascended Host Present looked like monstrous animals. Of those nine I have managed to gather the names of six with some light reading, those being Setaka (duh), Nasus (as Setaka died in his arms), Enakai and his bro Ta'anari and the not-so-bro Xuuyan and Aatrox. There was also an unnamed vulture-headed Ascendant, and, presumable, whoever this Horok guy is (as the void remembers the bite of his Nether Blade, according to Kassadin) and maybe Renekton as I don't think he would let his brother march alone, for a grand total of NINE ASCENDANTS.

So my questions are as follows:

  1. Is Justicar Aatrox his canonical Ascended appearance, given the fact that the facsimile of his previous form doesn't look like any furry ever?
  2. Did I hit the nail on the head? Was Horok an Ascended and was Renekton there at Icathia?
  3. Why don't the Darkin interact with Azir at all????? He was the immortal Emperor of the Sun, they pushed the borders of Shurima to the four corners of Runeterra for him!
  4. The only Ascended present for Azir's betrayal are Nasus and Renekton, but the darkin wars didnt happen until after Azir was killed. Where were our Sunborn?

24 Comments

GreenLore2/26/2020, 11:02:14 PM6 votes

Aatrox and all the other darkin can recreate their bodies in pretty much any way they want and Aatrox does try to recreate his ascended as best as he can, but he is limited by the fact that he still has to use mortal flesh of humans to forge it. Meanwhile it is entirely possible that Varus used to look animalistic when he was an ascended, but simply chose a more human-like form when he created his current body.

Also in general its been stated that ascension reforms the body depending on the ideals and culture of the ascended, so Azir is a golden bird because golden brids are likely a symbol of leadership. Going by this it is entirely possible that some ascended didn't become animalistic if they value ideals that weren't associated with animals.

As for some of your more specific questions: 3) It's possible that Rhaast was made before Riot decided that the darkin are fallen ascended, hence why he doesn't interact with Azir. And Varus still has his old VO from when he was first released as a human. So Aatrox is the only darkin who likely had a chance to get an Azir interaction, but Aatrox mostly focuses around the loss of his divinity, he doesn't really care for Azir anymore(or maybe they originally didn't want Aatroxs VO to reveal that information for us).

4)Shurima is a big place, so a lot of the ascended were likely stationed throughout the empire. For example from Malphites new bio we know that some ascended lived(or maybe still live) in Ixtal.

LanceTheJungler2/26/2020, 10:34:56 PM4 votes

It's known his current form is only a rough approximation of his previous ascended form, it literally says it in his bio.

Plus he still has horns and what looks like mini-tusks on his head.

Tin Obliterates2/26/2020, 10:31:45 PM4 votes

Justicar is another version of him in the Arclight skin universe, it's not his Ascended appearance.

Jaspers2/26/2020, 10:56:22 PM3 votes

[{quoted}](name=The Shøwstopper,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=ByidjrEo,comment-id=,timestamp=2020-02-26T21:57:15.501+0000)

  1. Why don't the Darkin interact with Azir at all????? He was the immortal Emperor of the Sun, they pushed the borders of Shurima to the four corners of Runeterra for him!
  2. The only Ascended present for Azir's betrayal are Nasus and Renekton, but the darkin wars didnt happen until after Azir was killed. Where were our Sunborn?

Answer to these is simply "retcons".

Velzard of Koz2/26/2020, 10:39:21 PM3 votes

I bet he was an owl

McGunnickle2/27/2020, 7:06:24 PM2 votes

Why don't the Darkin interact with Azir at all????? He was the immortal Emperor of the Sun, they pushed the borders of Shurima to the four corners of Runeterra for him!:

i find it highly likely that this is for a "technical" reason and not a narrative one. i guess the decision to reveal the darkin as former ascended came after the current stories and voicelines for both the shurimans as well as the darkins were created. afaik there is no hint for this plot in any quote or story of any of the champs and i cant believe the writers thought "lets have this interesting plot and not communicate in anywhere at all". its not how they work generally.

Jacksin2/26/2020, 10:38:56 PM1 votes
  1. Is Justicar Aatrox his canonical Ascended appearance, given the fact that the facsimile of his previous form doesn't look like any furry ever?

No it's just a skin

  1. Did I hit the nail on the head? Was Horok an Ascended and was Renekton there at Icathia?

I don't think we have any information on any specific ascended that were at Icathia except for Setaka and the unnamed Vulture ascended. If I recall correctly, there are two stories in Universe that told how Nasus actually recieved the Chalicar. One being that he retrieved her body, and one being that she died in his arms. Both being inconsistent with "Where Icathia Once Stood" where she is consumed by the Void.

"An abyss that bled purple light tore open amid the Shurimans, and I saw their ivory-skinned general overcome by whipping cords of matter. She fought to free herself with wild sweeps of her blade, but the power we had unleashed was too much for her. The pulsing, glowing light spread over her body like a hideous cocoon."

Of course, this might not actually be Setaka, because she is unnamed in the story. But the description matches her. The void took her body after wrapping her in a cocoon. (I have a theory that the Void is trying to hijack her body like Malz, but it doesn't have enough power to control her through the celestial magic, so when the Void does eventually gain more power, we could be seeing a void-ascended Setaka on the rift.)

  1. Why don't the Darkin interact with Azir at all????? He was the immortal Emperor of the Sun, they pushed the borders of Shurima to the four corners of Runeterra for him!

I know. It sucks.

  1. The only Ascended present for Azir's betrayal are Nasus and Renekton, but the darkin wars didnt happen until after Azir was killed. Where were our Sunborn?

I assume there are internal inconsistencies that the story has due to the other ascended being introduced in the story and the Darkin being turned from inter-planetary species to the ascended. That being said the Sunborn were already spread very thin across Shurima, and they were at a decline since Icathia. That's a few centuries to descend into instability. Many of them were already being deemed "Darkin"

Caretaker Jack2/27/2020, 1:48:59 AM1 votes

Wouldn't aayrox be different from nasus? He was turned into an ascendent, nasus was created?