Why was Janna's lore changed so much?

ForgottenStone·Feb 25, 2017·5 votes·2,201 views

Janna - Champions - Universe of League of Legends

I know this is pretty late, but I just wanted to know why was she changed from an orphan living in the streets of Zaun who through her wits managed to survive and through her studies became a powerful sorceress who fights for change in Zaun's condition to now she is some sort of Shuriman air goddess powered by prayers, who now resides in Zaun blowing gusts of wind to help people not suffocate from the pollution.

Janna's Old Lore

The lore change is just a total rework of her original lore making her a completely different character with the same abilities.

16 Comments

GreenLoreFeb 25, 20178 votes

Likely because her old lore didn't fit very well into the new one. Magic is rather rare in the new lore,so Janna can't just learn wind magic without some innate talent and even then,she likely wouldn't find anyone in Zaun who could help her with her magic

Then there is the fact that Jannas outfit doesn't fit Zaun in any way,but thats rather excuseable if she is an actual spirit.

ForgottenStoneFeb 25, 20172 votes

Well in her old lore she did have some innate talent for magic, air magic in particular. Plus while Zaun may have few mages there are still quite a few mages in Runeterra.

She mastered her studies of air magic in a matter of months, almost as if she was born of it. Janna went from a street vagrant to an avatar of the air virtually overnight,

As for her outfit...idk.

Wrathof300Feb 25, 20171 votes

Actually in all of piltover and zaun she is the only one we know actually classifies as a real mage now. Others being: Ryze - disconnected from society Annie Lux and Taliyah - children/ teens Syndra - zaun is on bad terms with Ionia So yeah, there really wasn't anyone to teach her IF they kept her old lore.

ForgottenStoneFeb 25, 20171 votes

She could get training from a Noxian, Noxus has many mages in their employ and as citizens, and also has strong ties with Zaun as well.

GreenLoreFeb 25, 20175 votes

But do you really think that a person like janna would have trained in Noxus?The noxians would have likely trained her how to use her magic in a destructive manner to help themselves and would have likely stopped teaching her,when they realize that janna is more concerned about saving people.

Wrathof300Feb 25, 20171 votes

Similar to what they tried to do with Taliyah.

LanceworksFeb 25, 20173 votes

The Noxians didn't even train Taliyah at all. They just told her to kill a sleeping village and she refused. Yasuo taught her way more.

Wrathof300Feb 25, 20171 votes

Keyword - tried

ForgottenStoneFeb 25, 20171 votes

The thing is if Janna like her in old lore was so naturally gifted the only thing they would have to do is teach her how to use her power to summon wind, and the rest she could take care herself.

Besides summoning a tornado is a destructive act the difference between using it for killing and saving people is just where you aim it at.

Another way they could have approached this is to combine both lores together, Janna could be a poor orphan in Zaun who becomes a devoted follower of some wind goddess/god/spirit and through her dedication and hardwork it teaches her wind magic which she now uses to fight for change in Zaun. That way she is still recognizable with her old lore and more relatable as a character.

Wrathof300Feb 25, 20172 votes

Her story would have been redundant to Zaun, the city is littered with orphans, criminals and poor people. The fact that she is a spirit does not make her character unrelatable. Also this adds something new and different to Zaun, and sets her apart from other mages in runeterra, Taliyah - earth mage, Annie -fire mage, Lux - light mage. Really, that would have become redundant really quickly, she still is a wind mage but now her story brings something more to how she uses her powers and where she gets them from.

GreenLoreFeb 25, 20172 votes

The problem I have with that is that Jannas aesthetic would have still clashed greatly with that of Zaun.

If she was a human,then it'd be expected for her to wear clothes that are from her home. Her elf ears were also kinda inconsistent with the rest of the lore,as they were said to be a result of her magical power,yet no other champion has ears like that even when they are mages.

Wrathof300Feb 25, 20173 votes

The entire concept behind her made no sense for a zaunite so it was either move her some place else, or make it so that she created devices to create wind magic, this was probably riot's thought process atm. The latter obviously being completely different from her original self.

ForgottenStoneFeb 25, 20172 votes

One main issue I had was also the implementation of the concept of Janna being some sort of wind goddess.

Her new lore doesn't really make her sound godlike she inhabits Zaun arguably one of the worst cities in Runeterra in terms of living quality considering crime goes unchecked, Piltover treats Zaun like trash, Chem Barons/Drug lords rule the place, lethal levels of pollution, and people like Singed doing whatever he wants, Warwick eating people alive, etc. and yet has an actual goddess living in the city and this doesn't seem to change the politics of Zaun and Piltover nor does it effect the quality of life of the citizens.

Janna kind of just occasionally shows up blows away some of the pollution to more manageable levels and may randomly hug someone and tell them it will be okay without really doing or even implying she's trying to solve the real issues. This would be alright if she was still some human who just learned wind magic but it just doesn't seem godlike, especially when you compare her to all the other non-god and yet still powerful champions in Runeterra.

Despite this Janna is for some reason worshiped as a goddess, people even pray to her. I just find that odd. What would they think of someone like Lux who can bend light, disintegrate people with laser beams , and copy any magic she sees at will?

PlacentasFeb 25, 20176 votes

Well she's more of a "spirit" than a "god". Fairy-like in some ways too; how she gains power from people believing in her similar to Tinkerbell.

I didn't see the author of the lore trying to portray her as a god in any way. Your examples even show how she is more in toe with being a spirit.

But then again, if all of Runeterra or Valoran were believing and giving Janna love power she could probably achieve wind goddess status. But that's more of my own guess than an actual thing.

ForgottenStoneFeb 25, 20171 votes

It's not her power that makes her godlike it's the fact people worship her like one.

People constantly pray to Janna in her lore and she is fueled by their prayers, she's just not incredibly strong and has a limited sphere of influence.

Like in Warwick's story we have a girl warwick is chasing to be used as bait, the girl praysfor Janna to save her, before Warwick suddenly just loses control and eats her along with everyone else in the area. While Janna never did answer her prayer, it did illustrate that people revere Janna like a diety and call upon her in times of dire need.

Janna's other story Deep Breath also has a boy whose mother before her death was a devout believer in Janna and the boy himself claims he prays to Janna constantly, and even has a special pendant with some sort of bird symbol to represent Janna, so Janna even has a symbol for the Janna faith.

Wrathof300Feb 25, 20171 votes

She gains her power from the prayers of the people that believe in her, and if their prayers mainly consist of blowing away the gray, so be it.

When half of Zuan was blow up and being drowned the people prayer so hard, in a time when she was powerless she was able to summon and gale powerful enough to blow away smog and ash on Pompeii's (my comparison) in and instant, this would have likely been a couple hundred people at most if not less.

Imagine if it were a couple hundred thousand, she could easily been on nagakabouros level, but she would likely lose the capability to interact with mortals without affecting them after becoming to omnipotent, and as we can see, she enjoys being in contact and helping when she can.

Thus she doesn't demand anything like a religion, but if the gray is thick at your door step, one pray is enough for her.