I hope the new Demacian lore is more than "Demacia hates magic"

CleverCactus·12/4/2018, 5:33:32 AM·27 votes·14,078 views

I feel like some fans try way too hard to portray Demacia as "the actual evil people". Any time I see anyone talking about Demacias lore I see them saying how Demacia and Garen are actually bad and that they want to kill everyone who knows magic.

It's great that Demacia and Noxus are no longer generic "Good vs Evil", but I feel like if the bad sides of Demacia keep getting emphasized in lore it will just devolve into the same generic cliche again, but with Demacia being evil.

The hidden dark side to a good person/nation trope only works if they are actually portrayed as good people. When I see "Did you know Demacia hates magic?" In every piece of the nations lore, it loses its edge.

90 Comments

Whyte Lyon12/4/2018, 7:12:05 AM21 votes

Demacia was always more than their strong trepidation towards magic. People just grossly fixated on that and built very cynical and pretty superficial impressions. I've been saying that in one form or another since Galio's re-release.

Honestly, the Demaican culture gets more of a bad rep from this community than ancient Shurima ever did for having slaves and other atrocities.

The Trent12/4/2018, 8:59:43 AM9 votes

Imo if magic existed, I would be scared and kinda want it to stop too. Like yeah if you can wield that magic it's cool, but if you can't... Not everyone is as lucky as Zoe, getting chosen as an aspect. Not everyone get's a master that teaches them wind magic sword stuff like Yasuo. So when you're one of these people and you come face to face with something as horrifying as Karthus, Evelyn or even just hearing the tales of rune wars, you wouldn't be scared? I would definitley be on the side that wants to stop magic, even if I had magical powers. Like the magic on runeterra has really shown just how catastrophic it can be and it's horrifying. You could be mind controlled, you could be tortured to death, you could be tortured even after you're dead, etc etc. Like I understand non magic living has it's horrors too, like just murders with knives, but those are easier to control than a murderer that can send 10000 floating knives at you. Tell me that if you heard of Irelia you wouldn't be spooked as hell. She can slice you in half in the blink of an eye and there goes your life. You no longer get to go home to your family, no longer get to watch your favorite show, no longer get to eat or read books. You're just dead and it wasn't even close to a fair fight. And as your decapitated head is on the ground, still allowing you to view what's happening, you see everyone near you also getting murdered in the blink of an eye by magic flying swords. Your last moments on runetera were filled with horror, and who even knows what's going to happen to your soul. It could become part of the harrowing or Thresh's play things. Tortured forever and ever, no stop. Magic pretty scurry if u ask me I wud stand behind a big strong anti magic (but secretly kinda magical) man like garen. Even healing magic has it's horrors.

TL;DR: magic is scary and I would hate it too, so I don't think that the leaders of Demacia just hating magic would be that bad.

Warlord Rhinark12/4/2018, 7:41:01 AM8 votes

Cries in Targon

Seriously, everyone hates Targon for some reason.

I don't get it.

mrmeddyman12/4/2018, 10:27:55 PM6 votes

To me Demacia is more about the positive aspects of people that support each other and a society that holds everyone accountable regardless of social status. The magic hatred is supposed to be the smudge that holds this "utopia" back but people and their cortisol addictions like to blow up the negatives.

Jeddy01712/4/2018, 10:22:42 AM5 votes

I feel like some fans try way too hard to portray Demacia as "the actual evil people". Any time I see anyone talking about Demacias lore I see them saying how Demacia and Garen are actually bad and that they want to kill everyone who knows magic.

Anyone who says that is completely ignorant of the reasons why Demacia has a strong anti-magic mentality in the 1st place. That or purposely ignoring it in the 1st place.

It's the combination of catastrophic experiences with magic (Rune Wars), the rarity at which they experience magic & many generations of a society where an anti-magic mentality only increase and outside influences are rare. The fears of the real dangers of magic & not knowing the good magic can bring is why Demacia is anti-magic. It's like the mutants from X-men. You have individuals with these crazy powers that can cause massive chaos, it's only natural for society to fear them.

Demacia isn't evil, just ignorant. Yes, Demacia should change & learn that magic isn't inherently evil. Honestly, I think we're all 100% certain that Lux will show Demacia the Lig........truth of magic & plant the seeds of change in Demacian society (magic wise).

Nylisa12/4/2018, 4:32:56 PM5 votes

Wait people call Demacia, Evil? o.O why tho! all nations and cultures resent something or another in different ways. more often than not they might take extreme measures to fight it off as well. i guess people could call it evil if they want but that doesn't make it true.

One thing that makes Demacia interesting to me is how traditional and old school people seem to be. for example when people talk about Sona they often point out how she might struggle as a mage in an anti-mage culture (related to your topic). but i'm more fixated to know how she is treated among people as an outsider, who is daughter of one of the leading families as well. do they openly accept her?or give her a hard time? in my view it's sort of a country that people might look at you weird and judge you because you are not from Demacian blood.your private life might not be yours at all and following rules and traditions stands above everything else. but to me this doesn't make Demacia evil or bad either.i see a lot of positive things in that region. like how they hold every life accountable and stand by each other. Demacia isn't a "keep up or die" country.

This is just my personal take on Demacia though. i'm not stating them as proven fact. i could be wrong i could be mistaken. but this is how i see it from what i read. it's not an ideal/perfect country, but then again which country is? fiction or otherwise.

SSmotzer12/4/2018, 9:20:57 AM2 votes

The church is all about magic. If we assume that Lux and Lucian are both part of the same religious order, then the Demacian church is all amount hording magic, like the Brotherhood of Steel from Fallout. Lux isn't allowed to use magic in the walls of Demacia, but the church was more than happy to force her into their army. Lucian is using magical artifacts fashioned into guns, and he was given those artifacts by his order.

That chain champion is most likely another magical person, like Lux, that the church is keeping as a weapon, as oppose to a prisoner. Hell, they probably found the Darkin that was sealed beneath Demacia ages ago and are keeping it to learn how to wield it without freeing the Darkin.