Let's Talk about Yorick - Lore

Now that Riot has confirmed they will be working on a full visual and gameplay update for the Gravedigger, I'd like to discuss something that some of you may or may not care about: his lore. Recent updates such as Poppy and Sion give me hope that Yorick will remain strongly themed, but what makes him so different from other Shadow Isles champions? In short, he is both a sympathetic and misunderstood figure from the viewpoint of other characters in game. All Shadow Isles champs have some sort of ideal or connection with death, Yorick offers a whole new perspective when compared to the rest. Lets take a look at the others first.

-Karthus embraces and worships death. He sees it as an ultimate truth and represents the most extreme view of it -Meanwhile champs like Mordekaiser and Elise see death as a tool for their own personal benefit (power and eternal life... or unlife?) -Kalista is bound by death and seeks revenge on betrayers because of what happened to her, while Thresh uses death to fulfill his desires of torture -Maokai and Hecarim were twisted by death in different ways, one seeks to preserve the balance of life/death while the other goes to conquer in it's name -Eve has a dank and mysterious past

All of these characters are very much the same in a lot of ways but their intentions and origins with death are what make them unique. Cue Yorick. True to his lore, Riot seems to have... forgotten him until recently. Yorick's original lore paints a very sad picture of his life before death, he was just a dude working in the family business and died without an heir. Whoops. Yet he wakes up an undead being whose purpose is to help others achieve some unstated higher form of death. So he does just that and continues his endless work of digging graves. This is what makes him a sympathetic character, he had a presumably awful life only to die and do it all over again. His sole purpose for doing this may be for the redemption of his family name but at least he has a motivation that isn't "POWER IN THE NAME OF DEATH NYE HE HE", his themes are much more subtle than that. His past mistakes turn into his ultimate regret which is the driving force in his narrative. It may not be mentioned explicitly but Yorick seems to possess a quiet respect for the finality of death. Couple all of this with the fact that he is ugly as sin and has some of the creepiest (some of my favorite) quotes in the game, you've got a recipe for a great champ. I also like the fact that he is ugly and seems to have lost friends as time went on, he definitely had Thresh, Karthus, and Morde on his "friends" list on the LoL site. Now it's just Hecarim and I like to think he still blows him off when Yorick calls to hangout on weekends. He seems to be an outcast among his own kind!

If Riot can keep these similar lore elements in his update I'm sure you would make a lot of Yorick fans happy. He fills the niche storytelling role unseen in other Shadow Isles characters.

You will remember Yorick Mori.

tl;dr Yorick should remain a beefy, ugly necromancer type champion whose lore focuses on his quiet respect and appreciation for death as well as his family name redemption arc. He offers a more subtle view on death compared to the other Shadow Isles champs which makes him unique and not "just another undead".