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I don't mind Varus being 66.66% gay

GelsominoKiller··62 votes·2,115 views

In fact, I think his new lore, as a standalone, is amazing.

Buuuut..

The new lore is a detriment to the original Varus' revenge trope. Previously, Varus was explicitly a warden of the pit of Pallas, so he KNEW what evil was lurking beneath. In the new lore, it is not clear if Valmar is aware of the consequences of his actions: he hopes Kai will be healed and everything will be fine; he's not signing a pact with a great evil that he knows will consume him. The intent is missing. This takes away a lot from the story. There is no self sacrifice.

What was amazing about Varus' previous lore is that you had this warrior that devoted his life to the protection of a great evil, but also loved his wife and child. He was torn between his duty and his family, (this aspect is nowhere to be found in the new lore), and ultimately decided to leave his wife and child to die slaughtered by the noxians. And for nothing: with his city falling under the siege of the invaders, the power of the pit of Pallas was doomed to fall in noxian hands. Grief and revenge moved him to steal that same power he sworn to protect, in order to get revenge.

In the new lore, everything happens so fast there's no time to meditate such a dramatic decision. Kai is dying faster than a racecar and Kalmar is compelled to save him. Valmar doesn't actually lose Kai. He's not consumed by hate and lust of revenge to the point he's willing to sacrifice everything.

TLDR: There is no duty vs family dichotomy. There is no loss. Everything happens fast, and in order to save Kai. There is no intent in releasing the evil form the pit to exact revenge. There is no Varus.

30 Comments

AbiwonKenabi10 votes

Ah thank you for putting into words my exact feelings. Good writing usually has the characters make decision, not just allow the story to happen to them. One could argue that Valmar "chose" to drag them into the pit, but is it a choice really? Was he really gonna just sit there and let Kai die? And as OP says, there's no reason for Valmar to believe this will be mega bad. Nobody dies (not even the mother character), there's no tragedy except some vaguely alluded to tragic backstory for the Darkin himself. Which, if that's the case, why not give some focus to him?

The couple also doesn't lead us to believe either of them were inclined to want revenge on the Noxians; Maybe if they had, it would have felt like the Darkin was preying on these dark feelings for his own benefit, reinforcing the "vengeful-ness" that is essential to Varus' character. And, as OP says, the most interesting aspect of old Varus' lore--duty vs family--is just completely cut.

People praise the new lore for being better and adding more, but did it really? Looking back at all the depth that was cut, was there really that much added? And Varus' old lore was a story that desperately needed fleshing out, and yet I feel it had more avenues for storytelling. I feel like their energies could have been better spent fleshing out Varus' relationship with his family and the Darkin, or looking at how Varus deals with the consequences of his choices. Lines like "I'm on borrowed time" or "Beware a man with nothing to lose" are far more compelling characterization, and are lines that make zero sense now. To top it off, Val and Kai don't really change and don't have a lot of opportunities to do so. They are characterized by loving each other, they still do, that's it.

The old lore had meaningful choices and consequences that yeah, needed to be fleshed out. The new lore doesn't have meaningful choices, nobody dies, there's not much room for the characters to grow, the end.

MysterQ3 votes

Sadly, it has 'gay' people and that makes it 99% better than anything without gay people.

Make old Varus gay, idc. I am not into lore (partially due to being new), but the current story also isn't fleshed out. People are just praising it because it is new/contemporary.

Autrah Fang9 votes

a question i have is: why did Valmar go into the pool with Kai? i feel like that isn't properly explained. if his sole intention was to save Kai with what he assumed was healing waters, why did he jump in with him? just to be with him to make sure it worked? to plead with whatever god waited beneath? or did he just fall in by accident? i want to at least believe Varus influenced him to do so, but we didn't get enough information to assume any of these reasons.

xelaker3 votes

because he's a homosexual. obvs.

Autrah Fang2 votes

{quoted}

because he's a homosexual. obvs.

that... doesn't make any sense... but uh.. sure? lol

GelsominoKiller3 votes

Good point. believe that he wanted to avoid Kai drowning, for he was severely wounded and could not keep himself afloat.

More questionably, why did the darkin fuse with the two of them? Seeing how vengeful is Valmar in the comic, wouldn't have made more sense to posses him and him only, because he would be easier to control?

Autrah Fang2 votes

{quoted}

Good point. believe that he wanted to avoid Kai drowning, for he was severely wounded and could not keep himself afloat.

that's also a good point. i honestly didn't think of that for some reason XD that's likely what he was trying to do lol

More questionably, why did the darkin fuse with the two of them? Seeing how vengeful is Valmar in the comic, wouldn't have made more sense to posses him and him only, because he would be easier to control?

perhaps he was incapable of possessing only one of them? maybe their proximity to each other made him unable to just choose one, and instead ended up taking both, and fusing them? or he decided he could craft the "perfect body" by picking the best parts of the two of them, and fusing them together, because just possessing Valmar's body alone would have had inferior abilities. then he simply miscalculated his capability to control them? he did seem quite confused the first time they started to speak inside his head.

again, these things weren't exactly explained the best in the comic, but i like the "perfect body miscalculation" theory myself lol. i feel like they could've thrown in a line from Varus himself somewhere in there after he started killing the Noxians to make it more clear :/

Oleandervine3 votes

Actually, I think there is a touch of explanation in the video. The ethereal Varus first passes through Kai, but rejects him, probably because his body was badly damaged and dying. Then he sees Val, and approaches him, mirroring him. Then, you'll notice that he follows Val's gaze to Kai, being dragged away. Val shakes his head defiantly at Varus, which is when he begins his flesh merging process.

This tells us important things. First of all, Kai is dying, and Val is also wounded, as you notice him limping. Varus wouldn't have a suitable host if the bodies were too damaged to function how he needed. Secondly, Varus saw the sheer determination in Val to save Kai, and he saw that without Kai, Valmar would reject him and the battle of wills against an angry man who had just lost the love of his life would be an incredibly hard battle to win. So Varus did what he needed. He placated his host, by giving them each other, and he merged their bodies to repair the damages that each had suffered. In most cases, giving someone something they want is an easier way to make them cooperative. Most of the host is composed of Val, as we see in the mental chaos that Varus fires a bolt into Val's chest that mirrors the glowing hole in Varus chest when he crawls from the pit.

Autrah Fang4 votes

{quoted}

Actually, I think there is a touch of explanation in the video. The ethereal Varus first passes through Kai, but rejects him, probably because his body was badly damaged and dying. Then he sees Val, and approaches him, mirroring him. Then, you'll notice that he follows Val's gaze to Kai, being dragged away. Val shakes his head defiantly at Varus, which is when he begins his flesh merging process.

This tells us important things. First of all, Kai is dying, and Val is also wounded, as you notice him limping. Varus wouldn't have a suitable host if the bodies were too damaged to function how he needed. Secondly, Varus saw the sheer determination in Val to save Kai, and he saw that without Kai, Valmar would reject him and the battle of wills against an angry man who had just lost the love of his life would be an incredibly hard battle to win. So Varus did what he needed. He placated his host, by giving them each other, and he merged their bodies to repair the damages that each had suffered. In most cases, giving someone something they want is an easier way to make them cooperative. Most of the host is composed of Val, as we see in the mental chaos that Varus fires a bolt into Val's chest that mirrors the glowing hole in Varus chest when he crawls from the pit.

that's a very good explanation for certain things in the video that i didn't catch/understand. i didn't realize Val was also wounded, and i didn't really understand what Varus was doing during that whole process with rejecting Kai, following Val's gaze etc. i did notice the correlation with the glowing hole and the bolt he shot in Val's chest though, so i knew the torso at the very least had to be Valmar, but i had a hard time when thinking about what parts would've been Kai's. that also solves the question with whether Varus intentionally merged their minds or not as well. as well as why he would do it.

anyway, thank you very much for your detailed explanation :D you just summed up quite a few of my questions lol. as well as making me like the video even more. i always liked how much story it told with essentially nothing but its visuals, but i guess i didn't realize just how much it told XD (i rely a little too much on actual written/spoken story, and not enough on visual i guess. i really tried to catch the points being told by the video, but obviously quite a few things slipped lol)

The Deckowner4 votes

I just think the new lore is kinda idiotic, like, why would he think that a pool of complete darkness that screams "this shit is evil" will heal someone? And why did he jump into it after?

iLBGAMing3 votes

He isn't gay for the love of god, the couple that are inside him are. You and so many people misunderstood that, it makes me feel frustrated.

AbiwonKenabi9 votes

The fact that the comics and music video give so much emphasis to the couple leads me to believe they are just as important as the Darkin himself. They are a part of the character.

Bunnymap11 votes

Read the post

Chromatic Eagle4 votes

The joke is that he’s 66% gay because there are two men inside of him.

reaperteaser8 votes

wouldnt that make him 200% gay?

Boulderox1 votes

{quoted}

He isn't gay for the love of god, the couple that are inside him are. You and so many people misunderstood that, it makes me feel frustrated.

i hate the new lore... but "you are what you eat"

TlT1T1T1T1T1TlT1 votes

{quoted}

He isn't gay for the love of god, the couple that are inside him are. You and so many people misunderstood that, it makes me feel frustrated.

Everytime someone says this, it just sounds like you are talking about 2 gay dudes shoving themselves into a straight man. So, Varus isn't gay. The 2 gay dudes raping him are?

What exactly are you saying?

redniwediS2 votes

That loss, that moment when Varus realizes the price he paid for duty, is still salvageable, and it can still be applied to Varus himself.

We have yet to hear the story of how the Darkin fell, and that gives me hope that this one little but powerful detail from the old lore will make it back in.

PokladnicaZla2 votes

Isn't the torn between duty and love still there? Didn't the Pristess tell him in order to fulfill his duty he had to choose between it and his light-heart.

GelsominoKiller5 votes

He isn't sowrn committed to the defense of the pit. He has no obligation to listen to the stupidly vague words of the priestess.

Oh yeah, about the priestess..

Everyone knows about the evil in the pit but no one warns explicitly about it. It's a cheap, amateurish plot device. Why hasn't the priestess just said: "in the pit there is a Darkin that is just awaiting to kill you and your lover and take possession of your bodies"... Why the mysterious phrasing, the undecipherable premonitions, the unwillingness to fucking explain the problem with straight, normal words?

PokladnicaZla2 votes

READ THE LORE ˝the warrior queen alone wielded the deadly bow in the final battle of the war, loosing the last bolt that broke the bridge to the darkin world forever. At the end of the Darkin War, the queen carried Varus’s bow to a land that would become known as Ionia. Her last act was to imprison the bow deep within a lightless cell sunk deep beneath a mountain temple overlooking the village of Pallas. There it remained, imprisoned by the natural magic of Ionia and the ritual ministrations of its guardians. The bow remained hidden deep underground for centuries, unknown, untouched, and all but forgotten until Noxian invaders attacked Ionia. Two beast hunters - Valmar and his heartlight, Kai - fought the first wave of these invaders at the Temple of Pallas. Though their courage was great and drove off the attackers, Kai was mortally wounded. A grief-stricken Val carried him inside, praying the temple’s magic would restore him. ˝

The bow is kept hidden ,so if any Darkin were to awaken they would no know of the others location.What's below likely (if ) known even by the pirestess and her followers.

GelsominoKiller1 votes

C'mon. The priestess in a panel even says "don't go, Valmar, he wants you".

She obviously has an idea of what lurks beneath. At the very least she knows it's a corrupting entity that wants to break free

PokladnicaZla1 votes

I said that not all of them are aware of Varus. She seems to hold the highest rank in their Order,so it's logical she knows more than others.

GelsominoKiller1 votes

My point still stands. If she did know, why she didn't warn Valmar with explicit words?

MysterQ1 votes

A little bit.

But it was so vague and cryptic. I read her lines multiple times, and to this day still have no clue what the hell she was talking about. Another user says Valmar/hunter is not allowed to get married. So that kind of pulls at the duty thing, but then makes the whole story strange.

Oleandervine1 votes

The priestess did, but I think it implied she is clairvoyant to some degree. She didn't tell him to choose though, she told him to GTFO and never see Kai again.

This, however, conflicted with another ironic prophecy Val received from another mystic who told him that he and Kai would become one one day. He took it figuratively. She meant literally.

XIII Vanitas2 votes

Yep, you totally nailed why Varus' old lore is leagues above the new one.

DragonShea1 votes

Just imagine having a gay couple having sex inside your head. That must completely mind breaking. Too bad Varus doesn't have brain bleach to get that out of his head yet.

Autrah Fang3 votes

{quoted}

Just imagine having a couple having sex inside your head.

gives a whole new meaning to "mind blown" amiright? XD

E Man forever1 votes

Remember, there is a darkin that is bloodthirsty and wants vengeance on the Ionians fo imprisoning him in a bow*[darius-angry]*

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