Lore Theory: Varus, The Half of a duo Darkin, and the Truth behind his vengeance. WARNING: long

KuroCaliber··26 votes·2,985 views

Hello Boards and welcome to Lore Theory.

Today we'll be taking about everyone's current mystery: Varus.

So Varus, what's up with him? Well as you all know Riot had just released a champion by the name of Shieda Kayn. He currently is locked in a battle with the darkin Rhaast. Kayn himself isn't really that important, we care about Rhaast. More specifically, what Rhaast says when he has control of the body.

Popular Fan Theory: Darkin and the four Horsemen

So a very common theory on boards right now is that the darkin represent the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. This is because when paired with Aatrox, Rhaast refers to the two of them as War and Death. War and Death are two members of the four Horsemen.

The similarities don't end there, however, but also in their weapons. See the Darkin are the weapons themselves, so it would make sense that their forms would have a connection as well. Turns out the do, death wields a scythe like Rhaast and war wields a sword like Aatrox.

Where does Varus fit into all this? Well the first Horsemen wields a bow, same as Varus, however, it's what he represents that is interesting. See most believe him to be conquest, but others believe him to be pestilence. For the sake of this theory, let's go with pestilence as Varus.

So Varus is pestilence, and the last darkin is famine right? Well, kinda. See there are five remaining darkin, according to Aatrox, and this only accounts for four. But what if Varus was only half of a duo Darkin?

A duo Darkin is an interesting concept see, with darkin as weapons rather than people, it opens up to the idea that there could be a host who could wield two Darkin, especially two that were meant to go together. Which two? Pestilence and conquest of course.

Now I have two ideas for what the conquest darkin would be, and that is either another bow, (befitting the original source material) or a quiver of arrows. See as much as I like the idea of them both using bows, dual wielding bows is literally stupid, even for a fantasy game like lol. So let's go with the quiver.

Varus currently uses pure energy for his arrows, and that strikes me as odd now that people believe him to be a Darkin. I feel like darkin arrows would be more solid than that. It would make sense then, that the other half of the duo Darkin would be the quiver, which produces Darkin arrows.

See we have a lot of champions in lol, and ranged champions use a variety of weapons, but we do not have a dart user yet, as in someone who uses an atlatl. An atlatl is a dart throwing instrument. Read more here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spear-thrower In any case, this Darkin is present in the quiver, and supplied the darts for the atlatl.

That aside, let's get into more evidence. Outside of humor, I found it interesting that Rhaast calls Varus "demon pants". Which is odd considering that if Varus carried a complete darkin and that darkin was corrupting him, then either the darkin would be awake and communicating with him, or he would have like one pant leg like Kayn had one shoulder. What if his darkin is not communicating directly or fully taking him because it cannot in its current state. In order to take over a host, both Darkin need to be with one host.

So, logically, there would be someone out there with a "demon shirt", to complete the suit. Makes sense considering a quiver is worn on the upper body. Once the two are together, they are able to initiate a full takeover like Rhaast and Aatrox.

Now here is where the fun begins. Who had the quiver? Well, there is one goal Varus had now, to seek vengeance for his people who were killed. And they just happened to be killed by an army who craves conquest like no other, Noxians. What if the reason they attacked the village and Temple wasn't just because they were invading Ionia? What if it was because they were looking for the duo Darkin, and what if one Temple couldn't stand before their might. (I'm assuming here that as an extra precaution, the second half of the darkin was sealed into a pit in another Temple elsewhere).

That Temple that held the quiver of conquest feel, and that darkin was bound to the most powerful member there, the commander of those particular forces.(Def not riven, too busy killing yasuo mentor lol) if Varus is truly looking for vengeance, his quest will lead him to that commander, and then the winner would claim the other half of the duo Darkin and complete the takeover. What if the reason that pit, or more precisely, the darkin in the pit possessed the bow Varus had of all people? It was because it knew that Varus' quest for vengeance would ultimately lead him to the Darkin's counterpart. The two would fight, and only the strongest between the two hosts would survive, making them the ideal choice. Perhaps the darkin is whispering to Varus to egg him on, and Varus doesn't know because he believes it to be his own drive. But when conquest and pestilence meet, only one will claim them both, and that will be the end to one of their stories.

I have one last thing to bring to your attention. Currently among the darkin roster, we have a top, Aatrox, and a jungler, Rhaast. Varus is currently flexed mid and ADC, but what if the support is famine, and conquest's role solidifies Varus' lane. Conquest, being ranged, would either be mid or ADC. And then we'd have our full Darkin team comp.

But hey, that's just a theory, a LORE THEORY. Thanks for reading.

50 Comments

PixelPicksTW5 votes

I have a bit of a theory in response to yours Caliber. So it has been stated in the lore that Noxus doesn't have a "crown" (as stated by GreenLore above, it's possible that the crown is the other piece of the horseman). The closest thing they have is a Grand General (currently Swain). Swain's lore has stated multiple times that his strategy and talent for conquest are what make him a feared opponent. Now the major catch for this theory is that Swain was specifically prevented from going on the Ionian invasion, but this very well might have been because they didn't want Swain to become a Darkin (CONSPIRACY!!). After the Noxians invaded Ionia, they likely returned with loot. Supposing that the Darkin remained dormant because it "couldn't find the right host", it was believed to be non-dangerous and Swain would have been allowed access to the plunder from the invasion, where he would have stumbled upon the Darkin.

Now, while you might be thinking to yourself "PixelPicks, as much as I want to believe you, Swain doesn't appear to have a Darkin on his person, so how can he be one? And even if he did, how has it not conquered his mind?". Give me a moment to explain my friends.

As some of you may know, a while back Swain had a minor rework that also came along with a redesign of his splash art (I believe about the same time that League updated the lore with the Ionian invasion). The new splash art has one massive difference from it's predecessor: Swain's crutch. While previously it appeared to be a rackety piece of wood solely for practical use, the new Swain appears to have a far more decorative crutch. I would go so far as to say the new crutch resembles a scepter. Scepters are also symbols of royalty: in essence, they can be a substitute for a "crown". So, as to what the Darkin is, I believe it may be Swain's trusty crutch/scepter.

Now, as to how Swain keeps his mental stability, Beatrice (his bird) is likely the best explanation. There are many rumors surrounding Swain and the bird, but it is entirely possible that they share a mental link, and since the Darkin has no interest in possessing a bird, Beatrice remains unaffected by the Darkin. Because of this, Beatrice is able to keep Swain in check when the Darkin attempts to control him.

So, whadya think? :D

SolarisCorvus1 votes

{quoted}

I have a bit of a theory in response to yours Caliber. So it has been stated in the lore that Noxus doesn't have a "crown" (as stated by GreenLore above, it's possible that the crown is the other piece of the horseman). The closest thing they have is a Grand General (currently Swain). Swain's lore has stated multiple times that his strategy and talent for conquest are what make him a feared opponent. Now the major catch for this theory is that Swain was specifically prevented from going on the Ionian invasion, but this very well might have been because they didn't want Swain to become a Darkin (CONSPIRACY!!). After the Noxians invaded Ionia, they likely returned with loot. Supposing that the Darkin remained dormant because it "couldn't find the right host", it was believed to be non-dangerous and Swain would have been allowed access to the plunder from the invasion, where he would have stumbled upon the Darkin.

Now, while you might be thinking to yourself "PixelPicks, as much as I want to believe you, Swain doesn't appear to have a Darkin on his person, so how can he be one? And even if he did, how has it not conquered his mind?". Give me a moment to explain my friends.

As some of you may know, a while back Swain had a minor rework that also came along with a redesign of his splash art (I believe about the same time that League updated the lore with the Ionian invasion). The new splash art has one massive difference from it's predecessor: Swain's crutch. While previously it appeared to be a rackety piece of wood solely for practical use, the new Swain appears to have a far more decorative crutch. I would go so far as to say the new crutch resembles a scepter. Scepters are also symbols of royalty: in essence, they can be a substitute for a "crown". So, as to what the Darkin is, I believe it may be Swain's trusty crutch/scepter.

Now, as to how Swain keeps his mental stability, Beatrice (his bird) is likely the best explanation. There are many rumors surrounding Swain and the bird, but it is entirely possible that they share a mental link, and since the Darkin has no interest in possessing a bird, Beatrice remains unaffected by the Darkin. Because of this, Beatrice is able to keep Swain in check when the Darkin attempts to control him.

So, whadya think? :D

That would be a pretty cool theory but right now i dont think thtas what riot is doing with swain's character. Maybe they will edit swains lore in order for it to be more in tune with him being vastayan to an extent and it might hint at him having a darkin.

KuroCaliber1 votes

So you've piqued my interest with that theory, Pixel, so I checked out Swain's new staff. It seems to be normal wood for now. Usually Darkin weapons seem... Unearthly or alive. It also seems to be carved in the image of a bird, a recurring theme with Swain. So far, darkin don't seem to reference any animals. I'd be more inclined to believe someone like kassadin had a Darkin due to the sword attached to his arm, even in the pre void skin. But that's just grasping at straws. Swords already been done with Aatrox. I have separate theory with Swain I'll release soon. If anything, this noxian commander may have also killed yasuo's mentor, as darkin darts may have hadb interactions with the wind similar to Aatrox e. I also feel like it would give the greatest potential if the other half was not yet a released champion. Opening up a proper storyline for Varus as the two are destined to meet.

Sheeporoth2 votes

See we have a lot of champions in lol, and ranged champions use a variety of weapons, but we do not have a dart user yet, as in someone who uses an atlatl. An atlatl is a dart throwing instrument. Read more here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spear-thrower

Dart-user= Teemo TEEMO = DARKIN CONFIRMED

Lord Milutin2 votes

I don't like this theory so much because it is in conflict with my own, to be honest.

It is nice though, and probably some people will like it too. I am just a perfectionist and OCD kind of person, so in my theory there are 5 Darkins as we know, but 4 of them are Horsemen (Aatrox/War/Top, Rhaast/Death/Jungle, X/Apocalypse/Middle, Pallas/Pestilence/Marksman and X/Famine/Support), as you can see, there is "Apocalypse" himself, or the most powerful Darkin of them all in the middle, which is quite fitting, because he has 2 on his right (jungle and top) and 2 on his left (marksman and support). :D

GreenLore1 votes

Conquest could easily fill the middle,becuase conquest is the first horseman and sometimes thought to be christ himself,making him more or less the leader of the horsemen.

Lord Milutin1 votes

But it is said that both Conquest and Pestilence wield a bow...

GreenLore1 votes

Well nothing says that there can't be 2 darkin of the same weapon. Alternatively you could make Conquest the crown(as the first rider was said to have a crown and a bow)

Helmight2 votes

I disagree utterly with the assumption that the Darkin are meant to be representations of the Four Horseman. Just because we have a War and a Death doesn't mean that the other two are going to be Pestilence and Famine (how exactly would you convey them in game, anyways?).

Rather, I posit that the five remaining Darkin represent humanity's vices. Varus's Darkin, in this case, is the Darkin of Vengeance, since it lines up perfectly with Varus's story. It also makes a lot more sense for why there are five Darkin left, instead of four.

If Varus was intended to be a dual Darkin, as your theory states, surely Rhaast's taunts would have mentioned something to the tune of "where is your other half?" instead of just highlighting the demon pants. It's also a pretty convoluted theory tbh - Riot don't make their hints that obscure.

KuroCaliber1 votes

See I'd have been inclined to agree with your assessment, except for the fact that riot tend to retcon the older lore when updating champions to modern standards. I'm simply working with what I have, and frankly, I like convoluted theories, as long as they have good enough evidence.

Helmight2 votes

They certainly do retcon lore, but since fans have reacted pretty poorly to large retcons (see also: Trundle), Riot have toned back their efforts to usually just explain a champion as-is using new information. The vastaya retcons are a good example of this - they basically took characters that we already knew about and explained them through the lens of them now being vastayan.

For this reason, I think it's safe to say that Varus's imminent retcon will just replace the mystery goop in the Pit of Pallas with a Darkin bow of vengeance instead. Varus still gets to keep his vengeful theme, still has a kickass bow, and still gets weird-looking pants, all without substantially changing his story.

Convoluted theories can be fun, but I tend to apply Occam's Razor to these kinds of things. If a champion's getting retconned, Riot are more likely to change as little as possible than completely rewrite a character.

Steelflame2 votes

Varus being Pestilence is supported by his abilities though. His W is Blight, that his other abilities can pop. His ult is a disabling corruption that can further spread more blight. His E is one of the few Grievous Wounds left on an ability in the game.

Ultimately, I heavily suspect Varius is in for large VU at some point, to both tie him in more with the Darkin lore that they have been suggesting for him for a while, and to modernize him a little bit, as his kit is a bit old and could use some touch ups (Possibly moving his Blight just into his passive, and giving him an actual skill for his W. They would also be able to give his AP build a bit of love doing so, which I think would be nice. It would also fit the OP's idea that Varus is currently a flex between being the ADC and the mid for the Darkin team comp, as enhancing his AP build would make his mid more appealing). If they don't give him a full on VU, I would then suspect a Legendary or even Ultimate skin that expands upon the idea of his future wielding the bow, and the further corruption of his body and nature.

Helmight1 votes

Remember that Varus was designed and released literal years before Aatrox - and by extension, Darkin - existed, and had all of his lore written in a pre-Great Retcon era. Riot could not have possibly created him to fulfill a specific niche as a Darkin of Pestilence, since Darkin weren't even a glimmer in their eyes yet. Just because his abilities fit into the theoretical pattern doesn't mean that the theory was correct. Remember that we all thought Cho'Gath was the one who took Rengar's eye because he seemed to fit the pattern, but as it turns out we were wrong.

Varus is very clearly going to need a retcon at the very least, and might be up for a kit update as well. Given that he's still a meta pick in the botlane however, I find it hard to believe that Riot would opt for the latter. A simple retcon fits Varus into the story with his new Darkin heritage and doesn't interfere with his gameplay.

GreenLore1 votes

{quoted}

Remember that Varus was designed and released literal years before Aatrox - and by extension, Darkin - existed, and had all of his lore written in a pre-Great Retcon era. Riot could not have possibly created him to fulfill a specific niche as a Darkin of Pestilence, since Darkin weren't even a glimmer in their eyes yet.

However the fact remains that he fits the theme. He uses a bow and has abilities that could be seen as pestilence.

In general I think that Riot originally didn't plan for the darkin to be based on the horsemen(after all they once considered to make Jhin a darkin),but decided to do this later on. Probably when they saw that Aatrox fits war and Varus would fit pestilence.

Helmight1 votes

We still have five Darkin and only four horsemen. The numbers just don't line up.

GreenLore1 votes

They can easily base 2 darkin on the first horseman,because the first one is sometimes said to be conquest and sometimes said to be Pestilence.

Rebonack1 votes

{quoted}

I disagree utterly with the assumption that the Darkin are meant to be representations of the Four Horseman. Just because we have a War and a Death doesn't mean that the other two are going to be Pestilence and Famine (how exactly would you convey them in game, anyways?).

Easy. Famine will be the first champ since pre-pre-pre-rework Gangplank who can deny minions, resulting in a gold famine for his opposing laner.

Helmight1 votes

CS denial was removed from the game a long time ago due to how terrible it was to play as and against. I highly doubt it will ever come back, least of all as an exclusive part of a champion's kit.

Rebonack1 votes

{quoted}

CS denial was removed from the game a long time ago due to how terrible it was to play as and against. I highly doubt it will ever come back, least of all as an exclusive part of a champion's kit.

Mostly because the way Gang used to do it was completely non-interactive. He would murder every cannon minion in every single wave and there was absolutely nothing you could do about it.

I'm imagining here a Support champion who can simply target allied minions with basic attacks when they're below a certain threshold of HP. More or less how it worked over in DotA. Instead of a totally non-interactive targeted skill that pops a minion who is it full health, it would be a contest between Famine and the enemy ADC to see who can last-hit/harass better.

GreenLore1 votes

What if Conquest is the crown? After all the first horsemen was mentioned to have a bow and a crown(wheras the others were only described to have one thing)

KuroCaliber3 votes

That would be interesting, but I thought since darkin are weapons, then it would be something that either is a weapon itself it hold weapons. ( I thought of a quiver since it held arrows, and Varus' arrows don't have that Darkin feel like Aatrox and Rhaast's weapons do

Limrick1 votes

Well a crown could give magical ability, which could be considered a type of weapon. Maybe the other Darkin even look down on him for not being a "real weapon". Could be kinda interesting. I like your idea of the quiver though.

GreenLore1 votes

Well,if we go by the "4 horsemen" theory one of them wears scales anyway.

KuroCaliber1 votes

It's because famine brandishes scales that I believe they will be the support darkin. Probably an enchanter focused on buffing allies by debuffing opponents

GreenLore1 votes

Yes,but scales are not a weapon either.

KuroCaliber1 votes

They are not, and I don't really expect it to be exactly scales, anything if each hand held a bowl side of a scale, and the bowls were filled with fire, that would be a weapon...

GreenLore1 votes

Well by that logic,they could also make a crown that shoots lasers,which would then also be a weapon.

Cetri1 votes

Hmm... all the references to the Darkin being weapons in particular come from humans, right? If the thing about how only 3 of the 5 remaining darkin are known to history is still canon, that could mean that there is a darkin who takes the form of something else, like armor, a shield... or a crown...

After all, if all we have to go on is word of mouth wrt the darkin being weapons, but people just know about, say, a sword, a scythe, and possibly a bow, then that could just be an assumption.

Arkon Warlock1 votes

{quoted}

What if Conquest is the crown? After all the first horsemen was mentioned to have a bow and a crown(wheras the others were only described to have one thing)

what if mordekaiser is conquest? hes allabout subjugation and he is a suit of armour he might have a crown under there

GreenLore1 votes

Kinda doubt that,because a rioter once talked about Morde being human,so I doubt that he is a darkin.

KoKoboto1 votes

tl;dr

EvanThomas16 votes

tl;dr demon pants has a demon shirt too, somewhere

KoKoboto1 votes

ty

Melledoneus6 votes

This is the funniest tl;dr I have ever read.

KuroCaliber2 votes

I'm sorry, I thought you wanted to write a tldr, so I didn't say anything

Bultz1 votes

I think this would be a cool rework idea for Varus. Have him and another champion change in game like Kayn does depending on which one kills which. The concept would be hard to pull off, but would be cool if done correctly.

JustSmileGuys1 votes

You will be lonely all your life.

XIII Vanitas1 votes

Sorry, but I don't like this theory: it's unnecessarily convoluted and it would waste the possibility to create another independent darkin character, which is something that Riot wouldn't probably want to do.

KuroCaliber1 votes

They may not, however, Riot have been working very hard to tie up loose ends when it comes to the abilities and stories of older characters. We got a class to tie together rengar, ahri, wukong, nidalee, and the new champions on their release, so it would make sense that Varus, who was not part of the Ionia update, would get his due here. It would also alleviate some of the pressure of creating a full five team from scratch. As now that we have darkin as an established part of this universe (aside from Aatrox as a one off character) people will want more quickly. But in the end, it is just my opinion. I just thought of a cool idea and wanted to share it. Thanks for your honest disagreement though.

Wrathof3001 votes

An important thing to note, Rhaast only ever calls him demon ants when he kills him, so Rhaast is in fact taunting Varus' host and not the weapon itself which would mean Varus = darkin not the host, also Varus not responding could simply be due to him being an older champion (especially since he is from b4 a time when Aatrox was a thing). However, I don't think these things disprove your theory, but they are important to note, since I believe that Varus will be updated in the future (so when that time rolls around we need to pay attention to whether or not Varus is the host or the darkin and whether or not he has any responses to Rhaast's current taunts and what they might mean if he does have any). All in all I like the theory of a quiver darkin that could be linked to Varus lorewise.

KuroCaliber1 votes

As of right now I think Varus is the person, as we have no indication, by lore or lines, that he's had a full takeover.

Wrathof3001 votes

He most likely isn't fully taken over, hence why Rhaast calls him demon pants, he doesn't care for the host, because his expectation is that he too in time will bend to Varus' will. But like you said, we still have no official lore indications.

Mordepool1 votes

Matpat?

KuroCaliber1 votes

Just a fan.

TwinkiePro1 votes

Rhaast refers to the other Darkin in some of his VOs. He mentions the number 5 pretty often especially after killing aatrox. That leads me to believe there are at least 5 or 6 darkin.

Arakadia1 votes

item 3083 is said to be living. It also has "War" in its name, so it could be the "demon shirt" your talking about. The icon is old so it's possible that's why it doesn't look like a Darkin.

Rebonack1 votes

The main reason I peg Varus as Conquest is because Conquest has a bow and rather conspicuously no arrows.

But I can see Riot splitting using BOTH Conquest and Pestilence to result in five Darkin. The other option is to go with Hades.

Nik Nikerson1 votes

Obviously if the Darkin represent the Horsemen, then Varus is Tully Blanchard.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/25/Four_Horsemen_%28professional_wrestling%29_logo.gif

KhaZoo1 votes

I guess this theory has been debunked :(

On another note, The darkin aren't actually weapons but are meant to be trapped within weapons imbued with runic energy and energy of their own. During the darkin war they were trapped inside those magical weapons by great mages.

I enjoyed reading this theory, thank you.

KuroCaliber1 votes

:p I mean it was meant for old lore Varus. I like the new lore so I'm not that upset, but as always, I did like my little headcannon more.

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