Swain is pretty much the 'hero of another story' at this point. Over the last 3 IRL years, following from his League Judgement where we get a brief look at how his leg was broken when he was young, then we time-skip to when he's a commander, then he gets demoted due to politics, then gets re-instated due to the League (which doesn't exist anymore I guess with no Institute of War) and because Demacia was putting in more pressure. And this is just from his League Judgement!
Then we get more of his story through LeBlanc's League Judgement, which reveals his past association with her, the Black Rose, bit of his ulterior motives, that he was meeting Katarina's dad etc.
And then in Cass' League Judgement, we kinda see a bit of their dad trying to either meet or flee the Black Rose (THAT story needs resolving).
But in the Journal of Justice, they kept a pretty good update on the politics that Swain was up to with LeBlanc. Like during the Ionia vs Noxus grudge match, they even put in an anecdote of why Swain wasn't up for champ select back then, and it turns out he was at a ball celebrating his appointment to High Command to replace Katarina and Cass' dad (so this should be chronologically set not long after Cass' judgement). LeBlanc was with him; even though she was up for champ select but lol illusions.
And it kept building up over time. Kalamanda aka the introduction of Dominion, showed them setting up the conflict between Noxus and Demacia to further Swain's political favor back in Noxus - he was the only active general fighting on an actual battlefield. It made him look good, Darkwill looked like a pussy, so Darkwill had to leave Noxus for the first time in a long time, and he got intercepted and 'died' handily. Swain looks like a badass, the Grand General's gone, and he basically consolidates a shit ton of power.
Which then leads up to the final JoJ, showing how he becomes Grand General, and everything resolves for him.
Basically out of many champions, Swain arguably has been the only one with a pretty full story-arc to this point. Heck, he got an in-lore position upgrade, which is a hell of a lot more than a lot of champs can say (Tyrant Swain should now technically be his default skin given his rank). And the side effect is that LeBlanc's story also got more developed through her association with him.
Looking at all the little bits of lore and story that's built up around him, there was obviously a writer who was very dedicated to writing for Swain and maybe LeBlanc and Noxus in particular. So now Riot has to use him as a story pivot most of the time simply because he's the only one with an established story to begin with.
, etc., all kind of have their things, and they do those things, and it works.
, and if they never bother accomplishing that, it just looks odd. It's weird to see Riven running around muttering about redeeming herself while doing absolutely nothing redeeming whatsoever, unless her greatest crime was her inablity to find a dumb bunny suit.
