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Mordekaiser – Final Points. Part I – Character: Morality, Personality

Vartius·10/1/2018, 2:06:05 PM·6 votes·5,776 views

In these posts I will be discussing different aspects of Mordekaiser, mostly touching upon the narrative surrounding his character. Things that should be considered in his future rework.

This part will focus, as the title states, on Mordekaiser's character – that includes his morality and personality. Part II will continue this topic with his voice and relations to other champions. Part III will be about his power – its orgins, extent I will try to offer a new, and hopefully interesting, approach to his character.

So let's get started...

A NEW BRAND OF EVIL

I want to start of by saying: Mordekaiser shouldn't be a sadist.

Don't get me wrong; sadism isn't a bad trait for a villain to have and Mordekaiser's current VO does lean in its direction... however I feel Mordekaiser doesn't need to be a sadist, meanwhile there are already a lot of villains displaying that characteristic in League (Thresh would be the prime example). And not only do I refer to Thresh-level sadism, that includes deliberate torture, but to the enjoyment of pain and death in general. I think Mordekaiser simply shouldn't care about how much pain he causes. Neither finding joy or regret in suffering of others. He could find enjoyment in his opponent's defeat, but mostly because it brings him closer to his goal. He also shouldn't care about morality of his actions; in fact, I believe Mordekaiser should be a moral nihilist. He should only do whatever is necessary to achieve his goals and fulfill his ambition. This approach shouldn't be confused with “for the greater good” or “ends justify the means” mentality, as both of these assume that the eventual results will be beneficial for everyone and, well... good... while Mordekaiser shouldn't mind either way. In my version he realizes that his actions are immoral, but he simply doesn't believe that morality or ethics hold any inherent value. As long as the universe itself doesn't stop him and he can beat all earthly consequences, he is allowed and deserves to get his way. This kind of mindset also means Mordekaiser could performs both evil and good acts, regardless of their inherent morality, but based on how beneficial to his cause they are. This creates some grey area for his character without making him outright neutral.

THE TYRANT'S PERSONA

Currently, Mordekaiser is just a walking tin can of metal references and “I'm evil!” style quotes. He doesn't have much personality to speak of. I know some people would prefer him to become a personalityless monster, however I find that boring and honestly unfitting... Mordekaiser used to be a human, after all, and his undeath didn't seem to corrupt him or impact his mind in any way – at least the lore doesn't make any mention of that (and I like it that way). Instead, the only way his personality would've changed is: it evolved over time. As he lived for centuries it's natural he isn't the same as during his mortal lifetime. But how much would he change? How should he be now?

I think Mordekaiser, first and foremost, should be calm. Cold and collected. He has not only planned for a lot of different scenarios – he lived through many of them. He shouldn't be easily stressed or angered.

It could be clear that he used to be arrogant in the past, but he tried to shed that part of himself after his last defeat – when he was banished for a few centuries before coming back. Since that day he should still trust in his abilities, but wait for the actual results, rather than boast simply believing he will succeed. I would like, for example, if upon his death (in-game or temporary one in lore) he actually remained completely silent – fade away without laughing or saying anything, unlike he did in the past. He may laugh after he comes back. He should be calm in the face of death, but not arrogant – he now knows, he may not be revived soon.

Something Mordekaiser definitely shouldn't feel is the fear of death. Fear of death is a good motivator to seek immortality, but I think Mordekaiser's motivation should come from his ambition and mindset: if he has the power and the will to gain immortality, why wouldn't he? I find it would be a much more original approach, as well as a more fitting one – after so many centuries and, unfortunate, defeats, Mordekaiser should accept that defeat is a possibility. He will try to make sure it doesn't come to it, but if he was banished for a few centuries, then a total defeat and true death is something that could potentially happen. Had his bones be destroyed and his castle surrounded, Mordekaiser wouldn't run or beg – he would fight and at least try to die upon a mountain of corpses and forever be immortalized in legends. _(Side note: I wonder who would take him in this case? Wolf or Lamb? He died fighting, so according to Noxians he would be taken by Wolf, however he accepted death and his final stand wasn't to escape it, but to take as many down with him as possible... So would it be lamb?) _

What would be interesting is if Mordekaiser actually found things like courage commendable. It would fit his identity as a warrior as well as a proto-noxian. Mordekaiser is different from a lot of other Dark Lords (for example Tolkien ones) in that he wasn't born or given great power, but rather started out as a warrior and acquired his skills and abilities over time, so for him to mock “the brave hereos” wouldn't make much sense, since he was there once. Even if his own determination came from ambition, rather than pure ideals, he would still probably see some similarities. This is more of a fun thought, rather than a concrete point.

Again referring to his roots as a warrior – Mordekaiser should still enjoy fighting; especially fighting challenging opponents. Matching and besting a fighter equal to him in skill should make him feel alive again. It's also where some shreds of his past arrogance would show – I could see Mordekaiser striking an especially daunting enemy with his fist, just to satiate his warlord's pride.

These last two points are very important to show the entirety of his character – Mordekaiser was always half a mage and half a warrior. Leaving out either would make him incomplete.

I've also been trying to draw parallels between him and Swain – the old leader of Noxian lands and the current one – to show how similar, yet different the two are. Both value their goals above morals, however Swain does it for Noxus; he's very much about his perception of “greater good”, while Mordekaiser's approach is egoistical; he does it for himself. Both are very cold and collected, but Mordekaiser enjoys fighting and is a warrior at core, while Swain is a strategist, not a fighter. He can fight, but he doesn't like it. Both are slightly arrogant – but Mordekaiser tries to get rid of this trait, as he had the chance to develop a bit further; Swain is in a very similar position to where Mordekaiser was after his first defeat. Swain lost during the Ionian conflict, but has gained great power following this defeat and has yet to face failure again. Despite losing, he's very much at the peak of his personal power... When Mordekaiser first died, he was in the exact same spot. Through his resurrection, he became more powerful than ever before. But Mordekaiser was defeated once again: this time at his strongest. As such Mordekaiser could learn from this defeat, while Swain has yet to face it.

CONCLUSION

I know this post has been a tad long, but I hope you read through it and enjoyed it. If you have any questions or you disagree on some points you can leave a comment and, knowing my overzealous nature, I will reply very quickly. And for anyone who doesn't care enough to read the entire thing...

TL;DR

Mordekaiser shouldn't be a sadist, but a moral nihilist. He should act calm and collected, but enjoy challenging fights. It should be clear he was arrogant in the past, but he tried to shed this part of himself. His former arrogance should only show during the most challenging fights. Some parallels should be drawn between him and Swain, showing how similar, yet different the two leaders are. It would be interesting, if Mordekaiser found value in things like bravery. This point is the least concrete one.

And that's about it.

And some simple art: https://i.imgur.com/4W35ZkO.png

15 Comments

General Matty10/1/2018, 2:11:26 PM2 votes

I agree. pizza feet boi needs some love and this is the kind of direction they should go.

RyzeTheSmurfMage10/1/2018, 6:08:40 PM2 votes

He should use both his magic and mace in combat tbh. Afterall he is not just a warrior, but a powerfull necromancer too.

QMighty10/1/2018, 8:40:35 PM1 votes

Hey, you're not Malicious Metal

The Iceborn10/1/2018, 8:56:05 PM1 votes

Does he have new lore out? Im confused

Whyte Lyon10/2/2018, 12:52:18 AM1 votes

I just want to add into this thread about what the writers had in mind for Mordekaiser when they first updated his lore.

Graham "The thing that is interesting to me about Morde, despite all this huge longevity (his immortality), Morde probably doesn't want to be undead. His ambition was to rule the world as an immortal human but at the moment he's not that, he's immortal but not human anymore. So there's a real push-pull within his psyche with the madness of existing for so long and being dead, then back alive and he hasn't got what he wanted. Now he's trapped on this godforsaken island"

Rayla "I like that is his biggest weakness too. That he really just wants to be human. But if he ever succeeded in becoming human again, there would probably be a moment where he would be killable."

Graham "He's immortal and more-or-less invulnerable, the minute he could become mortal he will be vulnerable."

Point being less about him feasibly capable of becoming mortal again, but more about him wanting to get out of his current predicament and yearning to get back to a point in his life that's better than being cursed with the Black Mist and miserable ghosts.

Obviously, when Morde's time for lore comes around again it's likely that his lore from (was it?) Kalista's release, will see some revisions and tweaks made to it. Because I do think, at least represented through what Graham had said, Morde sounds a wee bit like new Aatrox- well that is the overlap of existential crisis between the two.

Also, I love the art at the bottom of the thread! Mostly for how the armor is designed because it actually looks like armor from a bygone point in history, which is one of the things I've been hoping would happen in his redesign. Scrap the straight Black Knight cliche he has currently because to me it looks like it could be armor still utilized by any warrior from modern-day Runeterra rather than something that's unique to only Morde. Like a soldier in the army of today isn't going to look anything remotely similar to the soldiers of WW1.

Axzarious10/2/2018, 2:50:34 AM1 votes

This reminds me of another post somebody made of Morde as they follow the same principals. This also matches the image I generally have regarding Mordekaiser from the lore that's around already. Like one other in this thread mentioning that they were thinking Mordekaiser is like the new Aatrox? I really hope RIOT doesn't go that route by adding ANOTHER character assassination to the pile as they toss out another fantastic idea. Xerath. Karthus. You two shall be remembered... I really hope Riven doesn't join that pile... Just like how I hope they keep Jax as a character that somehow manages to just win by default in the lore. It was a joke, but it was pretty funny.