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This change to Shyvana's lore is a complete and utter disappointment, and here's why...

6FlagsFunnelCake·3/6/2019, 1:03:53 AM·38 votes·14,579 views

#My Views on League Lore So to begin, let's go over my stance on League's lore right now. I love League lore. I am an absolute fan of it, I treasure every bit of worldbuilding and I have been in support for just about every single change that Riot has made in the narrative. With Varus's new lore, though it was painfully controversial, I was in complete support for it purely because it was a compelling story despite how much it differed from Varus's original lore. Even then, Riot managed to add aspects of Varus's old family through some expansion in the Darkin update, a much welcomed addition. Overall, I absolutely adore every piece of lore Riot has been pushing out, as each hold not only a compelling story but usually a good enough modernization that still upholds the general fantasy by the character. I am usually a pretty lenient person when it comes to changes like these, I understand that retcons happen and that some parts of new lore change. However, this is the first time that I am in complete disagreement with a narrative retcon Riot has thrown out, and for multiple reasons.

#My Problems With Shyvana's Retcon To start, let's go over my issues on Shyvana's new narrative as a whole:

Part 1: Dragon Dad First the elephant (or, dragon) in the room; Shyvana's father. Initially, I was under the impression that this idea of Shyvana being raised by her dragon father was one of the key parts of Shyvana that made her...Shyvana, from both a narrative and characterization perspective. Now Shyvana's father wasn't just some side character who could easily be thrown away, he served a very specific purpose in Shyvana's story and even has an interesting arc of his own. After Yvva tried devouring her own daughter, Shyvana's father was willing to fight his own mate and protect a daughter who may not even be his, eventually sacrificing himself to protect a young Shyvana. A compelling enough story, but his death actually meant something to the story, and it's tragic enough that it allows you to understand where Shyvana's anger and furiosity comes from. Along with that, she's been raised by a dragon all her life, which already has plenty of potential on showing the reader a viewpoint of 'dragon culture' by how he could interact with a young Shyvana. This also however ties into Shyvana's inner struggle in trying to fit in with humans, as she has to fight against the dragon nature she's been taught all her life by her father. These are already very important parts of Shyvana's character; her want to avenge her father, the dragon nature she's familiar with and how she struggles to fight it.

Part 2: Yvva Unfortunately, Shyvana's father isn't the only one who suffered from this retcon, as Yvva's motives for chasing Shyvana have completely changed and aren't at all as satisfying of a story. Originally, Yvva was portrayed as a wrathful and even obsessive dragon mother who was so disgusted of Shyvana's human form that she was willing to devour her own child. Along with that, Yvva's mate, Shyvana's dragon father, hid Shyvana away and eventually was even killed by the vicious Yvva. The whole family dynamic (mothers obsessing with killing daughters and wives killing husbands) is a very destructive and messed up family dynamic between dragons, an interesting enough part of Shyvana's past. Now however, Yvva is no longer a wrathful and obsessive dragon mother, she isn't even trying to kill Shyvana at all. Now, Yvva has been retconned into nothing more than a mother just trying to find her lost daughter, she doesn't even want to kill Shyvana really, as she only attacks because Shyvana and Jarvan had gathered an army to kill Yvva. Yvva is no longer a compelling or interesting enough antagonist to Shyvana's story, as she is barely an antagonist aside from an "Us versus them" dynamic since we it's completely unclear on why Yvva and Shyvana even fight. The original family dynamic of Shyvana being endlessly pursued by her murderous mother, and eventually leading to her beloved father's death was a very interesting story which could also translate to why Shyvana is so brooding and rageful at times, as her history is filled with nothing but conflict and a struggle to survive.

Part 3: Human Dad Now as for her new father figure...I am utterly disappointed. Shyvana's replacement for a father figure is now a mage/merchant from Piltover who stole Shyvana as an egg, raised her as his own daughter, and dies when Yvva destroys the village while flying by to search for Shyvana. Now in general, it's already a COMPLETE downgrade from being raised by a literal dragon (a pretty unique and badass thing not seen in the roster anywhere else), but the way this new father figure dies is so unsatisfying for the story when compared to the initial lore. Originally Shyvana's dragon dad not only sacrificed everything in order to protect Shvyana from Yvva, but he also sacrificed his own life fighting of Yvva in order for Shyvana to live. This father on the other hand isn't explicitly detailed and simply dies as a means to let Shyvana roam the world alone.

Now aside from my grievances with Shyvana's story as a whole, I'm utterly devastated by how this change is being treated. Again and again I'm seeing rioters (even in the Lore Patch Notes) mention this as a "small editorial change," on par with things like the changes to Lux and Garen's bios when Sylas was released. However, Lux's bio, which went through a change as well, did not suffer a complete rewrite akin to Shyvana's. The major change with Lux's biography is that it loses mentions of her acting as a secret, mage operative of the Illuminators, which is easily something that should be incorporated into a future story. Shyvana's on the other hand COMPLETELY REWRITES her origin and just messily slaps on the continuation of her story in an unsatisfying manner. Not only that however, but Shyvana's bio, when it was initially updated alongside the Galio rework, was taken as a well crafted bio that certainly didn't need any drastic changing. Along with the fact that it's pretty recent, I wouldn't really expect such a big change in her story, in fact if I were to ACTUALLY ANTICIPATE that Riot would edit her story so drastically, then I wouldn't be so disappointed and be willing to let go of 'old-lore.' This however, is not 'old-lore,' this is lore that came right alongside Galio's rework which was not only a compelling story, but fit enough into the overall universe Riot has been crafting to not cause any continuity errors. Not only does this show that, despite just 'small edits' to fit with the new standard of League's bios, but Riot DOES NOT CARE to keep ANYTHING from the new lore, no matter how big of a change. I would understand if details on Shyvana's creation were cut, leaving her origin as a half-dragon a mystery, or maybe just other smaller, unnecesary details. But to completely REWORK her father out is too much.

Now I understand that Riot has a new standard for Champion bios, where they have to be under a much smaller word limit and shouldn't be too detailed, as things like that should be explored in future stories. However, that DOES NOT excuse the need to REWRITE SOMETHING SO ESSENTIAL to Shyvana's lore. Unfortunately, this gives me the impression that, overall, Riot does NOT care enough about the lore to keep anything consistent, something that I really don't like thinking of. The worst part is that, the only reason I disagree so thoroughly with this decision is because of how such a small change Riot would needlessly make could cause so much of her character to just fall flat, especially as a fan of the initial lore.

tl;Dr: Shyvana being raised by a human rather than a dragon feels a lot more unsatisfying as a story due to how it lessens the idea of Shyvana's inner struggle as a half-dragon fighting her draconic nature, it takes away from the devastating family dynamic between Shyvana, her father and Yvva, and it turns Yvva from a vicious wicked dragon mother to just a dragon looking for her daughter.

28 Comments

I love cowboys3/6/2019, 1:09:50 AM22 votes

For some reason the lore team seems to be on a crusade to wipe out League's fathers.

Kassadin better watch his back.

Camille Ferrøs3/6/2019, 1:08:32 AM10 votes

The whole lore change is truly unneeded. It doesn't add anything new to her it just removes already established parts...

HalfTangible3/6/2019, 5:21:03 PM9 votes

Shyvana is one of my favorite champions and they did her so wrong here.

This change was entirely pointless and utterly ruins the character. I have lost all faith in the lore team with this s#@$.

"But the lore team usually does good w-" WHO CARES IF NOTHING THEY WRITE IS GOING TO STAY AS IT IS?!

No, really. Why should I care that the recent Freljord updates are good if Riot is so willing to just throw out the baby but keep the bathwater?! If nothing is going to stay, why should I care about what's there?!

Zapzya3/6/2019, 7:59:56 PM8 votes

I just hate the fact it gives people who say “why get invested in it if they’re just gonna change everything anyway” a legitimate argument. And they are right. Why bother if things aren’t permanent, just waiting for the next story revision, where they might remove their family? I love the lore, but if they are never done with the story, if they keep going back and changing things, no one is going to want to read it.

Gixia3/6/2019, 3:14:47 PM7 votes

There isn't much to say that wasn't said already, but fuck it I need to add in my agreement anyways. This utterly butchers Shyvana's narrative and it's been a long time since I've been THIS pissed off at the lore.

GreenLore3/6/2019, 2:19:32 AM6 votes

One thing thats actually more interesting about this story: It mentions that Shyvana has a sibling.

As it says that Yvva waited with her search for Shyvana until her other offspring left the nest.

Though unless riot has some plans for Shyvanas dragon dad I agree that the rest of the changes were pretty unnecessary.

GreatSirZachary3/6/2019, 5:42:40 PM4 votes

I said it once and I'll say it again. Straight up downgrade from what we had. The near end even goes to outright say Demacia has a conflict between its anti-magic ideology and its altruistic. Respect the reader's intelligence. Demacia's conflict has already been conveyed through character interactions and thoughts across the stories.

EdgeLady3/6/2019, 1:35:31 AM4 votes

The human who kidnapped her is, at least, only her adopted father. Maybe just maybe, we'll get some interesting origins for her real father that explain her half-dragon heritage much more interestingly and satisfyingly...

But did they really need to change so much and take out so much to do it? Maybe they did, but it still feels like there should be more, even if her story will be continued in the Demacia event.

Quepha3/6/2019, 7:45:02 PM4 votes

And Shyvana is added to the list.

To whoever's reading this: it's just a matter of time until your favorite character joins her.

Brotha3/6/2019, 10:36:52 AM3 votes

This absolutely ruins the canon of a badministrator song and for that reason alone they MUST bring back dragon dad.

Besteal3/6/2019, 6:38:49 PM3 votes

Aight. When Shyv says "for my father" in game when I play her later, it's going to sound very funny. And not haha funny either.

Alzon3/6/2019, 6:44:09 PM2 votes

Tbh I didn’t like Shyvana’s previous retcon either. I was somewhat disturbed when she went from an avenger to a refugee. The Half-Dragon’s existence should NOT revolve around her running in fear.

The Archive3/7/2019, 2:05:13 AM2 votes

The writing itself gave me some whiplash. It's vague af and reads like a list of bullet points, jumping from one idea to the next, never lingering or fleshing out anything. I had to go back and read what poses as a "transition" from new "dad" dying to meeting Jarvan like three times just to figure out wtf just happened. There's literally two freaking sentences between "dad" dead and 'oh, I gotta save this dude', like come freaking on. If a parental figure's going to die, SELL IT TO US, unless you're trying to say that she literally doesn't give a fuck about his death (like all of us do).

Bring back Dragon Dad.

[sg-shisa]

McGunnickle2/21/2020, 1:54:11 PM1 votes

Great post, i completely agree. the old lore felt original and exciting. its a scenario that doenst feel old or bland and gives shyvana real depth. the new one isnt too bad, but is really vanilla and boring compared to the old.

LunSeiSleidee3/15/2019, 12:19:01 PM1 votes

Vote with your wallet. A long complaint thread, even a hundred complaint threads, will do absolutely NOTHING to stop Riot from butchering more and more what once used to be a good game. Stop being addicted and vote by closing your wallets, like I did.

Oh, and two things you all should remember: 1) being invested in League's lore is completely laughable, as we know they will retcon everything every year or so; 2) the edits to Shyvana's story are meant to male her tale less controversial and more fit for preteens and kids, the sole market Riot is now focused on.

Downvote me, but as Darth Vader once said.... search your heart, you know it to be true.