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So Riot retconned? Anyone still not happy with this?

DrFlaggstaff·8/23/2018, 2:14:18 PM·4 votes·4,326 views

Solved, page 2. I misunderstood.

I have two links so: * 1. The Retcon 'issue' https://boards.euw.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/champions-gameplay-en/qTPeUBFu-so-what-is-the-official-lore-on-league-and-the-institute-of-war-since-the-revamp * 2. Me spotting the Retcon issue, if you don't quite understand https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/oQNPuA9U-riot-your-lore-has-a-plothole

Its hard to call it an issue, what an amazing intricate game, and the lore is literally 0% of the gameplay so I'm not particularly bothered one way or the other.

But the consensus seems to be: Riot chose to do away with the LEAGUE OF LEGENDS from the world of Runeterra because it made their stories too hard to write. One person mentions how no matter how epic a champion is they couldn't be as good as the summoners, and lee sins old story included him failing to become a summoner and causing mayhem, which makes little sense storywise.

I M (notsohumble) O

This is a failure on the part of the lore writers. Agreed, no one from Runeterra should be able to become a Summoner. I was under the impression that was kind of the central idea. Even the gods and godesses of this realm are nothing to the Summoners. Beings who didn't even exist within Runeterra, let alone that universe. But instead channeled the essense of Runeterra in some sense; used their physical forms to wage bloodless war and settle conflicts. Whether the champions merely don't remember, are never really there but holograms instead, or have some sort of awareness with the summoners, the crucial point would be that nothing they could even potentially do on the Rift would ever affect their own world. Because Summoners are not from Runeterra, nor the same reality. Memory, decisions, or N/A: the champions can feasibly do nothing on the rift but obey and get it over with. Even if they could muster a blow to their nemesis whos on the same team, why would they? They'll respawn, it changes nothing. "So instead", they each resolve, "Lets get this fight over with"

Thats what I loved so much about the lore several years ago, people just imagined all these ways in which the Rift might affect Runeterra and wrote fanfictions about it, (Not that I read more than general ideas, but,)

  1. Stories about champions that came to terms with their role in the league, and combat was a sort of 'combined will' between the champion and the summoner, a mutual understanding that this plane is beyond the one they hail form.
  2. There were stories about champions being tormented by the physically and mentally agonizing tasks the summoners drug them through by taking control of their bodies.
  3. Stories of champions that remembered nothing of the rift, but had dreams and phantom skills glimpsed only because of their time under control.

It was beautifully diverse. I guess I eventually decided in my head that so long as its nothing more than memories it need not affect them in any particular way. The whole 'mutual understanding/will' aspect and all. Obviously I get its not what they've decided to do. Guess I'm a little disappointed. Excited to see what my fav champs have been up to though.

23 Comments

RyzeTheSmurfMage8/23/2018, 3:20:03 PM9 votes

Because no major conflicts would be allowed in a world where summoners exist. For example, Noxus's armies would have no reason. Azir's sand and mortal army would have no reason to exist because he could very well defend the rebuilt Shurima alone on the Rift along with Nasus against most threats. Demacia's small but elite military force would also make no sense. The threat of the Void would also make no sense. Ryze's mission to protect the world by securing the World Runes would make no sense. Many things would make no sense and there wouldn't be any real tension.

Voltre8/23/2018, 9:04:17 PM5 votes

I know I'm late to the party here as I see you're now aware of the lore retconned that happened.

But better late than never. I think even though you feel like the old summoner/champion relationship was good (as many people had this exact argument with Riot's lore decisions 5 years ago), I think you'll come to appreciate that the champion's depths are much improved fast forward to today.

I'm not gonna sugar coat it. I HATED the old lore. I remember reading something about like Nasus or Morg or whatever being whisked away from their respective world's just to show up on Runeterran soil to duke it out in an arena, I cringed real hard lol. It just fell flat for me, that these champions were nothing more than puppets, every last one of them. But now that the summoners have been removed, it feels a lot more immersive because these characters are their own entity and they are in charge of their own destinies. I see it this way,

Before: I am controlling Nasus.

Now: I AM Nasus.

And the character lines that included references to summoners were incredibly cheesy and imo have not aged well. MF's "Watch your mouth kid or you'll find yourself respawning at home" or old Akali's "So many noobs, will matchmaking ever find true balance?" to name a few. The removal of these kinds of lines is a welcome one to me. Reading them now feels like Deadpool breaking the 4th wall for the billionth time lol. Ha. Ha. I get it. Anyway hope you enjoy all the new lore content.

P.S. I can't wait for Riot to redesign the Summoner's Cup. The 5 Old Mage Dudes on there need to be retconned. It's ugly as sin.

Ebonmaw Dragon8/23/2018, 11:10:49 PM3 votes

TLDR: "I want summoners but not really"

DrFlaggstaff8/23/2018, 11:04:05 PM2 votes

People. Did you even read my post???

The summoners didn't ever have to DO anything Never would we need to mention what Summoners want, or what they do, BECAUSE THEY DONT WANT, OR DO, ANYTHING in Runeterra.

ENTIRELY DIFFERENT PLANES OF EXISTENCE

The champions are summoned to a higher plane to act as avatars in a battle between immortals over issues far beyond their mortal minds.

I'm perfectly open to some criticism and discussion but geez at least read what I said.

SEKAI8/23/2018, 9:09:42 PM2 votes

I'd thought we've been through this talk like, 5 years ago.

LordHippoman8/23/2018, 9:13:53 PM1 votes

With time since the Retcon, I've come to feel like summoners were always kind of a doomed proposition.

The basic ideas of the IoW and League were great, I'm not going to argue that because I truly believe they were innovative and set the world apart from other fantasy universes. I'm still a little bummed we lost them.

The Summoners created a problem where according to Lore, every player WAS a summoner. Every match, in fiction, was to decide some issue, whether it be some minor political scuffle or to avert a full-scale war (Ionia/Noxus Match). This, again, is a cool idea, but it wasn't quite sustainable.

First of all, if you're trying to make meaningful characters, it's difficult when none of them can ever die, be maimed, retire, or in any other way stop fighting in the league. Every match is canon-ish, which creates a perpetual state of narrative entropy. The status quo absolutely must be upheld, at least in the case of the champions.

There's also the issue of having Summoners as, basically, player avatars. How do you negotiate what the "summoners" want? Do you poll the player base? Great, but the majority of players have no investment in Lore. If you took a group of pro-players, for example, and had them pick champions to decide a Lore problem, the choices almost certainly would not be made based on "Oh, I think Ashe would have a vested interest in this plot development.", they would be made based on "We need an ADC and want slows and CC. Let's roll Ashe."

DrFlaggstaff8/24/2018, 1:25:02 AM1 votes

Big thanks the HelixArrow and GreenLore for actually participating. To the rest, thanks for not reading.

Negalith8/24/2018, 2:01:26 PM1 votes

Hey, late the party but feel like I should post. I don't think your head canon of summoners is bad. On the contrary, who is to say that in the vast, relatively unestablished pantheon of gods and monsters that Summoners aren't just a group of beings using the Champs for sport or to settle disputes amongst themselves? At the end of the day, it's whatever makes YOU happy. Not everyone else. Like, for example, my head canon for summoners is that they are mages who hear legends, stories, and tales of these wonderous creatures and people and then they compete with other mages or "summoners" by crafting images of these characters to do battle with one another for sport. Essentially, a literal League of Legends.