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Helmets That Cover the Eyes and yet Revel the rest of the Face, Why do they look so good?

Xanini·2/23/2015, 2:26:29 AM·2 votes·5,418 views

I want this to be a collection of images and links for a possible explanation on why do you like these types of helmets or why you don't like these types of helmets. Personally, I can't get enough of this specific type of look and aesthetic. A couple of champions have this aesthetic in some of their skins or just on them in general. Examples are: Aatrox (justicar skin), Lissandra (the champion as a whole has this type of look), MasterYi (while not really an exemplar of this, it is unknown if he has eyes there, but since it obscures his face it counts), RekSai (she has no eyes, so the armor plate on her head makes the aesthetic, I go over monstrous creatures later), Syndra (he classic skin is not quite doing it, but her other two skins do), Shyvana (darkflame skin), Sona (Ultimate skin so x3), and Talon (crimson elite skin). Here are some links of my favorites and some classic examples of this.

Blind Zealot, Product of MTG. http://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com/attachments/87/215/635032494210694080.jpg

Sheoldred, Product of MTG. http://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com/attachments/85/745/635032493704932354.jpg

Elesh Norn, Product of MTG, and inspired Lissandra Lissandra along with other sources. http://media.wizards.com/images/magic/daily/stf/stf137_grandCeno.jpg

Now I didn't want to only uses MTG products as examples but since I already referenced most of the champions that have this effect, my list was growing small. This look is not just found on monstrous females, but also apparently regular monsters as well.

Gora Magala, Monster Hunter's Enemy Dragon, first form doesn't reveal his eyes. http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140120060906/monsterhunter/images/1/1e/MH4-Gore_Magala_Render_001.png

An anime know as Freezing has a race of "invaders" that all embrace this aesthetic. http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/freezing/images/0/0b/S-class.png/revision/latest?cb=20111109205238

Before that, Digimon has a lot of these examples, like angemon and angewomon.

However, I do not consider hoods, full-face-covering masks, and shadows, aka PantheonMordekaiser , as having this aesthetic. This Aesthetic gives of this creepy elegance and mystery aura. Some characters wear this to simply look that way (like skins) but to some characters they are actually blind and this Helm/Armor covers their eyes Lissandra RekSai. One can chose not too like LeeSin and just ball hard and dive with their eyes closed.

This Aesthetic is rarely seen on male, unless they are monsters, and are mostly found on females and Half-monster-female. I consider The Blind Zealot from MTG a perfect exemplar of what this helm shows; it shows blind obedience to a higher power complemented with a lack of concern about anything else, a sense of ruthlessness, and a horrifying beauty or elegance. I was curious, so I made this discussion to clear up why it is liked or disliked and what champions do you think will benefit from having a skin like this.

Personally I think these female champions would look great with this aesthetic. Irelia Kalista Karma Fiora Kayle Morgana Evelynn Leona Diana These males champions would look awesome with this aesthetic. Zed Yasuo Varus TwistedFate Swain Pantheon Kassadin Lucian and finally these monster champions Chogath Anivia Nautilus Urgot Volibear Warwick Skarner
TL:DR - Helmets like this, why do they look so awesome, and which champions can benefit from this type of aesthetic? And why we need more of this.

8 Comments

Lost R2/23/2015, 3:09:11 AM7 votes

The eyes are considered the window to the soul; large eyes denote an open character and innocence, while small beady eyes indicate a cold or sinister character. It's an idea that's older than anime, but anime popularized it (the genesis of big eyes in anime came from Betty Boop, a western cartoon that gained a lot of popularity in Japan after WWII, when most of their film industry after the war's end was supplied by films from American soldiers, and Astro Boy began or at least popularized the trend). The colors of eyes can also be used to describe their nature. A character with hidden eyes imply that the character is elusive or otherwise mysterious. This can be used in many different ways.

Lee Sin's blindfold is because they were burned away, and that event unfolded due to a terrible mistake he made due to his own foolishness (though that's bound to change since the League doesn't exist anymore).

Lissandra is also blind due to a bear mauling, and even though her ultimate goals are laid out for all to see, how she is immortal and her overall history is a long and complicated one. Plus, she has stuck around in one spot basically for several centuries; why she decided now to act on her ambitions is a mystery to everyone except her.

Heimerdinger's eyes are obscured behind goggles. His mystery comes from what academical interests he pursues, which only a handful of people in all of Runeterra would understand.

Kayle comes from a higher plane of existence (She and Morgana are based on the Archangels Michael and Lucifer from the Bible, respectively), so Kayle's hidden eyes imply she knows truths about the universe that mortals cannot begin to comprehend. Morgana's revealed, yet glowing eyes, show that she's a fallen angel like Lucifer, but still indicate that she's supernatural. There is another way of interpreting this, depending on your faith; in the Bible, angels cannot look at God directly, as He is too bright to look at. Morgana's revealed eyes imply, like Lucifer, that she believed herself to be on equal footing or superior to God, and dared to look at Him.

Rek'Sai is a very mysterious creature. Communication is a very important factor in how we, as humans, understand one another; What a person says, how they say it, the words they use and their tone reveal more about them than you'd realize. As Rek'Sai doesn't speak in the human tongue, you cannot gauge her personality or her motives. Unlike the other Voidspawn, who were drawn to Runeterra explicitly in their lores, Rek'Sai seems to have been around longer than any of them. In the journal entries in her lore, she's described by others less like a physical entity and more like a manifestation of the personality of Shurima; no different than a sandstorm.

Of course, all of this is up to interpretation, so take it all with a grain of salt.

Ebonmaw Dragon2/23/2015, 3:01:40 AM1 votes

Wait a minute... RekSai do not wear a helmet... that is her face ...

Xanini2/24/2015, 9:05:50 PM1 votes

Joined the DS Sona Q&A to get some answers on helmet choice that is relative to this discussion.

Q: "I personally love the type of helmet/gear she has on. -Was that an aesthetic choice to look more like daft punk or were there more reasons behind it, since concussive is a full helmet? -Why that type of helm/visor? Most characters that use those types of helmets are normally Followers and zealots, design wise like . Interesting choice because she doesn't look like a follower." -Xanini

A: "Hey Xanini,

as one of the concept artists who worked on her I'll field this one.

It was definately a conscious decision. We knew early on we wanted to go in a more sci-fi direction with this skin as opposed to modern day DJ. We looked to tron, daft punk, and EDM culture to provide inspiration for the final look. We loved the idea of Sona wearing a helmet to get into her onstage persona. Another reason behind the helmet decision was to allow more real estate to show a visual representation of each different form of music: the sound bars for kinetic, heartbeat wave for Concussive, and calming streaks for ethereal." -PAULEWOG

A:"I really wanted Sona to have a display helmet Daft Punk style for a similar reason that they do. Sona doesn't speak, so how does she communicate with her fans during a show? I designed a number of different helmets with various displays, each of which could display every alphanumeric character so she could spell things out for her fans, as well as keep an eye on equalisers for cool-factor. Also it seems like my 'thing' is fast becoming covering pretty faces - just look at my eclipse Leona fan concept >:D

There were plenty of designs without the helmet too, or just with huge headphones, but ultimately the helmet was a direction we all felt was going to be the strongest for the skin design." -KINDLEJACK

TL;DR - She uses it to enter a specific persona for her stage, (edit) and uses the helm to communicate with fans during the show, which makes for a refreshing use of this type of helm.

Edit: I got two answers apparently, awesome.

The Iceborn9/30/2019, 4:21:16 PM1 votes

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