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Lore Investigation: The Wonder Above

GenoXx··16 votes·6,188 views

http://www.newsoflegends.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Teaser-1.jpg So we got a new champ coming guys, as well as new LORE. So I thought I should investigate to get a better meaning of it and maybe reveal ome things before the champ comes out.

So it starts out as group of folk surrounding a fire. But if u look in the background, they are in the mountains. Not only just the mountains, mountain peaks. At first i though: Mount Targon. But then I look at the clothing of the group, and it seems to be Ionian. Well, it is very simular to how karma and Yasuo dress. So I gonna make a possible deduction that there are in Ionia.

http://news.cdn.leagueoflegends.com/public/images/pages/2015/bard/img/Promo_Bard_TeaserSite_Constellation_Watcher.jpg

Now thats my input on where they are. FINALLY, we get to see what a Watcher Looks like. It IS a cyclopian creature, and also has six arms. Weird. But at least we get to see what threatened or is threatening the Freljord. I am very surprised that others other than the Freljord know about the Watchers. This also means other people know how important the battle against the Frozen Watchers. They even have a constellation for it.

http://news.cdn.leagueoflegends.com/public/images/pages/2015/bard/img/Promo_Bard_TeaserSite_Constellation_Shurima.jpg

I would guess a lot of people in Runeterra would know about the Great Ancient Society of Shurima. But it seems the folk llok at th different constellations often. I suppose that some one or people in their mentioned tribe is capable of Clairvoyance of some sort. To know about what actually happened. The story is past down. Or it could be the survivor of Azir's family who had passed down this story. who knows?

http://news.cdn.leagueoflegends.com/public/images/pages/2015/bard/img/Promo_Bard_TeaserSite_Constellation_Crown.jpg

Next is my favorite topic. There is a constellation that tells the story of the Shadow Isle's king. So people do know what happened there other then the inhabitants them selvesKalista The Broken Crown was it? That also sounds like it could be a future item, maybe. Either way its cool that Runeterra have people who is capable of recording History by reading constellations.

http://news.cdn.leagueoflegends.com/public/images/pages/2015/bard/img/Promo_Bard_TeaserSite_Constellation_Mask.jpg

The Mountain shrines or the Great Caretaker huh. Hm, not too much to actually deduce from that. But theres few places we can think of, when we hear "Floating Villages". Something like that would only be in Ionia. OR could be some where near the Jungles- I doubt the latter seeing how theres a lot of mysterious dangers in the jungles. But I think the surrounding character's name is Bard. Either that or the constellation.

TD:LR- People can record what happens around Runterra or Find out via constellations. Maybe some people similar to Soraka? How was it possible for Warwick to talk to Soraka is she was deity of some sort? I think he found her in the same location these folk are; Mountains of Ionia.

Whats everone else's take on this?

50 Comments

Dotintheparadox14 votes

Until otherwise, I will assume Bard will be the "narrative" team's attempt to replace the IOW narrative with that of a singular entity, or just moving it to "Oh you guys are technically astral beings now, so we're attempting at placating the people who disagree with our decisions by giving them an illusion of connection to the world again, just in a much less satisfying manner."

With what showed up on the new SR map, that's probably going to be what happens, League is being made into literally just a game for gods that have no real influence over the world, we're being made into passive observers, not active instigators.

::Edit:: I just realized, http://news.cdn.leagueoflegends.com/public/images/pages/2015/bard/img/Promo_Bard_TeaserSite_Constellation_Mask.jpg is very close to Pantheon's shield, and three points on it are meant to represent Diana, Leona and Pantheon, which as I have said represent the moon, sun, and earth. Targon takes inspiration from Greek myth, wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that Bard is related to Targon. (Constellations guys, what do we use their names from?)

Those three previous parts were just referring to past storylines by the way, because that's just how they've been laid down time wise. The narrative team is not smart or creative enough to come up with something better.

Kingsgrave6 votes

{quoted}

Until otherwise, I will assume Bard will be the "narrative" team's attempt to replace the IOW narrative with that of a singular entity, or just moving it to "Oh you guys are technically astral beings now, so we're attempting at placating the people who disagree with our decisions by giving them an illusion of connection to the world again, just in a much less satisfying manner."

With what showed up on the new SR map, that's probably going to be what happens, League is being made into literally just a game for gods that have no real influence over the world, we're being made into passive observers, not active instigators.

Bard could be the reason we know about every character's motivations and whatnot.

Valaran Nara4 votes

{quoted}

Bard could be the reason we know about every character's motivations and whatnot.

See, I made a thread as a joke about it, but all people did was downvote cause they hate me.

B1naryB0t1 votes

Don't worry, I can say with total honesty that I truly hate you. From the bottom of me heart.

Thuban1 votes

{quoted}

Don't worry, I can say with total honesty that I truly hate you. From the bottom of me heart.

Who? Can you please elaborate?

B1naryB0t2 votes

Go into discussion mode for the boards, it helps a lot with knowing who addresses who.

Thuban1 votes

[deleted]

Edbwn3 votes

Not you...he's talking to someone else. You'd know if you set it to discussion mode

Thuban1 votes

Hate discussion mode, and it shown his reply, replying to my post when I did. Wups, and it still does so I dunno.

Dotintheparadox3 votes

That wouldn't be entertaining though, as a person whose actually read through standard "Bardic" writing, it's actually very dry and boring. . . which seems to be the preferred direction of the "narrative" team.

GenoXx2 votes

No. Bard isnt the people who can read the stars. He's a legend obviously. The he probably lives in the mountains. People are just mentioning bard, he has his on constellation so...

Dotintheparadox3 votes

That's not what I was saying, what I'm trying to say is that Bard will become the "narrative" team's undesired substitute for the IoW in the post removal continuity.

A Superb Villain10 votes

What if we are the bards?

And then Darius buried his axe into Garen's stupid face

An ally has been slain.

Wait, that's not how it happened.

Garen respawns.

Dotintheparadox1 votes

But I always go monk myself. These DM's aren't very good if I can't spec my favorite class.

MidEvilKnight3k6 votes

Bashing riot based on speculation. That's new.

Dotintheparadox4 votes

With how they've treated the community at large so far, they deserve it.

Also, it's getting rather annoying having a bunch of you guys who can't admit the new stuff isn't actually all that good, or at the very least, league-like, finding my posts and down-voting them, so that they can't get any traction whatsoever.

MidEvilKnight3k1 votes

I did not down vote your post.

Also, maybe I like the way riot is taking the game (OMG, someone with a different opinion than you)

And... until otherwise, you are probably going to reply to me saying that it is scientifically provable that riot is making the game less fun for everyone. And that you are looking to hire a team of scientist to do just that. Once you get the government to fund $1,000,000 for a team of 20 scientists to work on it, it should be done in no time.

To which I say. You are an idiot, you can't prove something is fun or not for someone else. It is subjective not objective.

See how poorly that works?

P.S. I understand you don't like what they are doing with a lot of things, but you should limit your criticism to things they have actually done. The fact that you criticize them for stuff you think they will do shows that you are just looking for ways to insult riot at this point. I expect that it does not matter what riot does (for example, take every suggestion you make), you will still find a way to bash them because you have already decided they are a terrible company.

Dotintheparadox6 votes

Sorry I assumed that.

Riot at large is not making the game less enjoyable to me, personally I find faults in the narrative team. As for a study, I don't need one, because the narrative team started an actual poll about the entire retcon shit, before the move to the boards. A majority (Around 60%) said they did not want the changes, that objectively means a large part of the community disagreed with them.

However, the new-lore supporters are far more active on the boards, because they are not as annoyed by the move to the boards, also the narrative team will respond only to those who feed into their new continuity apparently. They even ignore Cupcaketrap, who has been very polite with their requests for more community interaction. So that's discouraged a lot of old lore fans.

Riot is a very disorganized company overall, that's what I will criticize it with, but otherwise, I like them, the development team is great, art is great, hell I'm not even a fan, but their e-sports are great. The lore is not, it's being forced into a very bland hole at this point. Yes you could say the events associated with the lore were nice, but what if they didn't have the art team helping with the presentation? The amazing art team is carrying a very weak lore, and that's just so wrong, on so many levels.

Riot's not the problem, only their lore team is.

MidEvilKnight3k1 votes

Perhaps I assumed too much about you because your insult was taken to a new level I had not seen before.

I, personally, am not a huge connoisseur of lore. I will read the lore pieces when they come out and they can be interesting, but other than that I don't try to keep up with that. From my point of view, the lore they have produced since the retcon has been of a better quality. That does not mean the retcon was necessary for that change though.

I can also see that for lore connoisseurs, having so many broken pieces that don't fit together can be frustrating. I can also see that some lore connoisseurs want to make since of what happens in the game. I personally don't care that it doesn't make since that these characters can repeatedly kill each other without dying. The whole summoner thing did give some reasons for why this was possible, however it was pretty flawed on its own too. For example, why can Sivir (a mere human) kill Nasus (a god) just because Nasus hasn't killed enough mindless bags money.

TL,DR: Perhaps riot is catering to the people who just enjoy random bits of lore when they come out rather than those who enjoy figuring out what is going on in Runetera.

Dotintheparadox2 votes

{quoted}

I, personally, am not a huge connoisseur of lore. I will read the lore pieces when they come out and they can be interesting, but other than that I don't try to keep up with that. From my point of view, the lore they have produced since the retcon has been of a better quality. That does not mean the retcon was necessary for that change though.

I need to ask, what if the lore now didn't have the presentation as of late? What if it was the old "Walls of text" like before? The old lore was corny, but that was a part of what made League special to me, it didn't try to take itself too seriously. Also, I enjoyed the written tones of "Reborn" and Vel'Koz's bio story, but both of those were written while Abernathy was in charge, after those, it's been a big downgrade. I would like to point out this is way too overboard for a retcon, it's a complete reversal of important themes present in the world. Even when DC went through with infinity Crisis, nearly 90% of their old stories stayed canon. Members of the current narrative team have said that they just couldn't think of ways to connect things, so they threw it all out. If the employed writers can't do something, that the fanon already has, that means something is wrong with why they were hired. The current narrative team writes like book authors, and that is not a healthy strategy to take in this case. http://youtu.be/22HoViH4vOU They removed a narrative, that although needed some tweaking, that already connected gameplay, and story. http://youtu.be/qZ-EY9gTsgU They removed the player connection to the world, leaving only "Muh E-sports" to matter. This is just not right.

I can also see that for lore connoisseurs, having so many broken pieces that don't fit together can be frustrating. I can also see that some lore connoisseurs want to make since of what happens in the game. I personally don't care that it doesn't make since that these characters can repeatedly kill each other without dying. The whole summoner thing did give some reasons for why this was possible, however it was pretty flawed on its own too. For example, why can Sivir (a mere human) kill Nasus (a god) just because Nasus hasn't killed enough mindless bags money.

My opinion was that for a champion to actually participate in the League, as in gameplay, they'd only ever have to play one match on one of the fields of justice, after that they could legitimately die in the story. Not doing that is just refusing to take a risk and very timid-minded of a writer. The whole reason Sivir could do that supposedly, is because every champion has a mental and physical reset of sorts when they entered a match, they have the tools, they just need to remember how to fully utilize them.

TL,DR: Perhaps riot is catering to the people who just enjoy random bits of lore when they come out rather than those who enjoy figuring out what is going on in Runetera.

That's just lazy writing then, we used to have the JoJ which was just random bits of lore (Rammus x Cactus OTP), it gave a lot to the characters, and the narrative team ripped nearly all of it out, and now new players who want to read up on lore can't because the JoJ is only on the Wiki at the moment. Also, random bits of lore only make people theorize further?

MidEvilKnight3k1 votes

Not going to dispute any of your points (all valid). however I have one comment on why your first post created such a fuss. So much of the boards are just complaint threads that when I see a thread that isn't about Lee Sin, Zed, or that Riot only cares about e$ports, I don't want to see more complaints with nothing to actually complain about. Making a thread and presenting your points is one thing, but flooding the boards with all caps threads and letting the complaints spill into other threads is annoying.

Trumpet6 votes

My take on it is the Four Seasons (Shurima is Summer, Freljord is Winter, Shadow Isles are Fall, and Ionia is Spring). The floating villages is a really strong allusion to Ionia as most of their villages are high in the mountains.

Which leaves one last clue that a lot of people seem to be missing about the Bard constellation that it "disappeared recently and now resurfaced" which is almost a direct parallel to how Ao Shin's design went. The constellation also looks kind of similar to his tail (from the concept leaked years ago).

The new champ is going to be Ionian and hopefully be Ao Shin as he has been working his way into the background of a lot of things in the game recently.

Just a wishful theory.

Asdeft2 votes

{quoted}

The new champ is going to be Ionian and hopefully be Ao Shin as he has been working his way into the background of a lot of things in the game recently.

Just a wishful theory.

What do you mean? As in he hasnt been talked about much or is literally showing up on the backgrounds of the game's art/lore/map etc?

Trumpet2 votes

When Riot leaked his early design stage to us a while back they had a fairly long and productive discussion with the community. Everyone was super hyped for weeks and then Riot just stopped mentioning him saying "he will be after Jinx and Yasuo but we don't know how far" so he disappeared from the discussions as Riot never posted any more on him after that. However he has shown in the background of Spirit Gaurd udyr's comic and other things (can't find it off the top of my head) so he effectively was hidden and then IF this is his teaser then the "constellation" shows again.

That is why the constellation disappearing and reappearing is similar to his design process.

BakedLotion5 votes

What is Lore??? Is it that thing that no longer exists?

Stars Shaper4 votes

My reading of the matter is that there is this sort of gypsy story tellers group which are the ones telling of the legendary tales of Runeterra.

What they have learned is to read those stories in the sky because books, manuscripts and scrolls are to be either lost or destroyed and, of course, less comfortable to bring in the journeys.

They got their name of Bards from their "Master". An oracle like entithy of which we still know nothing but he could either discern the past in the stars or have the ability to even write those in the night sky.

GenoXx1 votes

Yes, im leaning toward this theory

Stars Shaper1 votes

Adding to this, the constellation reappeared. That could be either an omen or the act of will from a really powerful being.

SpecterVonBaren2 votes

You guys do realize that constellations just have the shapes we give to them right? All you need to do to make a constellation is make a shape out of the stars you see in the sky. This is why Ursa Major is also the Big Dipper.

Stars Shaper2 votes

Constellation were named after mythological beings and characters. In a Fantasy enviroment is not uncommon to have beings capable of reading stories (real stories) into them. Star scrying for omens about the future is used in fantasy and real world.

So there is nothing wrong in thinking that said being could be able to change the stars in order to fit certain events. Also an entire constellation that comes back from the blue I guess is a strange fact able alone to justify my thoughts.

Desmond Law2 votes

The Ruined King attempted to "enslave" the cycle of life and death. Mordekaiser Morde=death, kaiser=king Ultimate enslaves your champion

Stars Shaper1 votes

Morde comes from the german word for "murder".

And in his more recent lore he is described as the first undead ever and probably an undead even before the fall of the SI

JJ H0G2 votes

New champ is probably gonna be Soraka 2 Electric Boogaloo: It Has A Dick Edition.

On the lore side of things, it's probably a roaming oracle kinda thing that likes to tell stories. Since that's basically what bards do, minus the oracle part.

The setting of the picture doesn't matter to me, as the storyteller is a bard himself, telling these things to the people around him.

Lanayurian2 votes

Alright, so in Spirit Guard Udyr promo page (http://promo.leagueoflegends.com/en/spirit-guard-udyr/comic/), it looks like Udyr is in Ionia. Near the end of the promo page, we see Ao Shin.

http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=775911&d=1378622870

Now you said the setting looks like it's in Ionia. And Ao Shin in the Spirit Guard Udyr promo page was in Ionia, by the look of the setting. So, Ao Shin confirmed?

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xIpQYxnEtWE/maxresdefault.jpg

-::EDIT::- Okay, I just realized that you said

So I gonna make a possible deduction that there are in Ionia.

So what if they're just Ionians traveling and they just set camp on Mt. Targon? Just using this to support my claim ._.

-:=EDIT 2=:-

Welp. It wasn't friggin Ao Shin.

LANWhale1 votes

Actually funny enough, me and other Summoner where discussing about the meaning behind the strange markings on the rift. At the time that's all we had to go by and well what we came up with is, amazing.

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/summoners-rift/nM9WIH3l-strange-symbol-near-blue-buff

It is a bit lengthy but well I would really like to hear what others have to offer to the theory. But to see how close we might have called it..... amazing is all I can say really.

KAAAAAAAYN DO1 votes

Champions from Ionia that might have a connection in my opinion. Varus had his temple he guarded that had to pit of corruption that made him into the arrow of retribution. Syndra was a student in a temple in Ionia that she used her power to remove from the ground and float away... hmmm, floating villages... look at Syndra's splash art. mentioning a king of the shadow isle, and Kalista's interaction when buying item 3153 makes me feel like this champion will be some sort of historian. Think if Zilean's knowledge was focused on folk lore and local history... maybe the new champ was a vizier to the "ruined king" Who knows, but I'm psyched for lore... call me a lore nerd :P

Thuban1 votes

Could be something similar to the Tuatha Dé Danann story.

Too far outside the box?

Bard is the name they took for their kind, Tuatha Dé Danann is a mystical story that was often told by Irish bards.

Wouldn't be the first time Riot used other mythologies as a reference in their lore.

Kaipop1 votes

Talisman of Ascension = Shurima Frost Queen's Claim = Freljord Face of the Mountain = Mt Targon??? They are on top of a mountain in this Champion Preview.

Scorpoison1 votes

item 3097 I would have to agree that face of the mountain, which builds out of Targon's Brace, probably has something to do with Mt. Targon

freeformline1 votes

The Face of the Mountain builds out of Relic Shield and Targon's Brace, so it is pretty clearly aligned with Mount Targon. That said, I agree with most other assessments that Targon is not involved in the lore of the upcoming champion. I expect an Ionian story out of this one.

Slushi Simcambi1 votes

The Crown seems to be referring to the Ruined King obviously.

And there is some hinting that they may get around to explaining what made the Shadow Isles like they are.

LordVeral1 votes

i personally hope (and think) that it's Ao Shin. First off i believe the name of the constellation is "bard" my number one reason is we never know the teased champions name right off the bat. Secondly when i think of "the mountain shrines" or "the great caretaker" i think back to that comic when spirit guard udyr was released since i believe ao shin was in a page or two there.

Also the way theyre talking about the watchers, the fall of shurima and the shadow isles' broken king, the narrator should be relatively old in order to know in depth about these 3 events.

My take is that Ao Shin was once human sometime before the events with the watchers and that and had eventually ascended into a sort of "godhood" (some people that mention ao shin is ionian and would descend from the skies when Ionia is in trouble or something along those lines) and perhaps if "Bard" is a name it could pertain to the danger Ionia might face?.

One last thing is that Ao Shin looks like a character that would come from a "floating village" being a chinese dragon and having (last time i saw his art it looked like he had a few clouds near his feet). This floating village could also be above the clouds that no one knows it really exists but possibly the ionians themselves (since its part of hteir culture/lore or w/e)

This is my 2 cents and maybe i'm completely wrong because i really want Ao Shin but either way...im pretty excited to see this new champ

A Superb Villain4 votes

Riot more or less declared Ao Shin to be exceedingly complex mechanically for a 2015 release, so I doubt the possibility. It is nice to dream about, but I would not recommend holding your breath.

LordVeral1 votes

last time iheard he was pushed back to a early 2015...i mean, im not going to get my hopes up...since..he's been pushed back..what...like twce now? but you think you could find the post/mention on the fact he wont come out this year?

A Superb Villain1 votes

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/BK1jt7bU-so-was-ao-shin-scrapped

LordVeral1 votes

thanks a bunch...sad that this probably wont turn out to be Ao Shin...Crossing my fingers that he'll be released sometime this year since it doesnt say anything about him not being released this year...meh

GenoXx1 votes

Hippoman?

IreScal1 votes

The blade of the ruined king is all I saw when I read the "king who defied death" thing.

Overall I see an over-arching try at giving each Runeterra nation-state a starting point in the game's contemporary history, with noted exceptions of Noxus and Demacia, here. Ionia, Shurima, Freljold and possibly the Shadow Isles.

Other than that, what I consider the "newer" states just by their feel - Piltover, Zaun, Bilgewater and the Plague Jungles if that counts - could be a whole other arch.

Then of course we have creatures and characters that are not from anywhere well defined, like Malphite, Taric, Kayle and Morgana, and so on. I look forward to these as well.

NOW, as for the symbol of the "bard" itself. Something with sound? eh. We have Sona, and stepping on her toes would be a bit weird. Something to do with song vocally is something not done yet. It seems to be a protector, with temples to it, and seems still to be revered. It must be powerful and mythical, then. So, probably not some "ordinary" champs like Sivir, Ashe, or Darius, who are mortal-mortal. Maybe something semi-divine Ionian style.

It has three dots and symmetrical three ways. It seems very 'designed' or man-made. Since it seems overwhelmingly from Ionia, it probably has something to do with spiritual, mental, and physical discipline. I would count on all three for a cool kit, but that's far fetched. Balance and all that, or more sense than one.

Of course, for all we know, this could be an entirely new area of Runeterra. Doubt it, as it's a bit soon into a total rewrite of the history and lore, but who knows?

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