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How Every Champion In League Could Fit Into the New Magic System

mrmeddyman·6/10/2019, 2:14:38 AM·15 votes·9,603 views

So now with the launch into Ixtal and the definition of Elemental magic being set in stone, our very own Scathelocke dropped this interesting Tweet defining some kinds of magic which you can check out here https://twitter.com/LaurieGoulding/status/1137415463535693824. This is undoubtedly some of the first we are seeing of the lores' upcoming magic update and even though it isn't canon yet or set in stone there is enough here to speculate. I would guess that based on the tweet how the magic system works is such that for each realm of existence there is a respective "magic type" that goes with it. Elemental magic in the physical realm of Runeterra, Spiritual in the spirit realm and Celestial for the Cosmos. All other specific magic are made of these "Big Three" derivatives from a larger source. Even though nothing here is canon and these are "his take" on the magic system I thought it would be fun to look at all the champions in the game and try to fit them neatly within this framework. To test if this hypothetical magic system can accommodate them all.

As a quick reference: Most magical humans = Elemental Vastaya/Necromancy/Spirits/Demons/Yordles = Spiritual Aspects/Celestials = Celestial Ascended = Elemental + Celestial

Elemental - Annie Ashe Sejuani Lux Nunu (Just Willump Not Nunu)Shyvana Taliyah Yasuo Zilean Qiyana

Spiritual - Ahri Elise Evelynn Fizz Gnar Hecarim Illaoi Irelia Jhin Kalista Karma Karthus Kled Lulu MasterYi Nautilus Neeko Nidalee Nocturne Poppy Rakan Rengar Rumble Shen Swain TahmKench Teemo Thresh Tristana Udyr MonkeyKing Xayah Yorick Yuumi ZedSenna Sett

Celestial - AurelionSol Diana Leona Pantheon Soraka Taric Zoe

Elemental + Spiritual - Anivia Volibear Ornn Ivern Janna Kennen LeeSin Lissandra Maokai Mordekaiser Nami Pyke Skarner Syndra Vladimir

Elemental + Celestial - Aatrox Azir Brand Ezreal KayleMorgana Nasus Renekton Ryze Varus Xerath

Spiritual + Celestial - Bard Kayn Veigar Aphelios

Mundane (No Magic to Speak of) - Akali Alistar Darius DrMundo Draven Fiora Gangplank Garen Gragas JarvanIV MissFortune Quinn Singed Twitch Urgot Vayne Warwick XinZhao Zac

Hextech - Blitzcrank Caitlyn Camille Corki Ekko Graves Heimerdinger Jayce Jinx Orianna Vi Viktor Ziggs

Void (not magic, but functions kind of like it) - Chogath Kaisa Kassadin Khazix KogMaw Malzahar Velkoz

Undeterminable Champions

Amumu His curse isn't defined well within these parameters, but if he's truly a Yordle (which I find likely) than he falls under Spiritual Braum If Braum is a spirit rumors hold any wait he is both Elemental and Spiritual, otherwise just an Elemental mage or Mundane with an enchanted door Cassiopeia Cassiopeia was not a mage before being transformed. I'm tempted to stick her in as Celestial+Elemental with the rest of the Ascended but maybe not Fiddlesticks Spiritual? Help me out here Galio Where does petricite fall in all of this? Anti-magic is hard to place. Jax 95% sure he is Mundane badass, but there is potential for some Void interference so I wont touch this one Katarina Always confused on this one.... i mean she can straight up blink to targets right? Not just in game, but in her latest story as well. That's magic isn't it? Kindred Even touching this one is going to derail this whole thread into a Kindred is a spirit vs an entity argument. Not. Touching. This Leblanc Is Illusion magic Elemental or Spiritual? Both? Please discuss this one I find fascinating Lucian I would have called him mundane with magic weapons, but his story gives his weapon a very magical firing mechanism that could be interpreted as magical Malphite Bio incoming soon. My money is on Element+Spirit. Olaf Is his undeath tied to Spirit magic. Is he an Elemental mage based on his electricity affinity possibly associated with Volibear https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/irTEY275-olaf-vgu Who knows? Rammus Like Amumu we don't entirely know what he is. If he's just an armordillo with Earth powers than Elemental, if he is truly ascended Elemental+Celestial Riven Riven herself is mundane, yet wields a Runic Blade. Runic magic = Elemental + Celestial. Having a magic weapon and being magical are two different things and unlike Hextech users their aren't enough champs like Riven to get their own category so she can languish down here. Shaco Beats me dude. Sivir Ordinary human with a Celestial bloodline wielding a very powerful Celestial weapon. Essentially another Riven as far as classification goes. Sona Two schools of thought here: A.) Sound is an element and Sona wields it B.) The ethwahl is a spiriual instrument that Sona uses to manipulate the emotions of others so Spirit! i lean towards the second Sylas Sensory magic, Absorption magic and Petricite manipulation. i don't know which way to lean on this one. Elemental right? Trundle Had a bit of a debacle with the True Ice users. Their weapon gives them their powers, but Ashe quote "taps into the ancestral magics of her lineage to wield a bow of True Ice" should I make a True Ice category for Ashe, Sej and Trundle or just let them be Elemental? Let me know. Tryndamere Aatrox gave Tryndamere some kind of unconsious death evading power either hemomancy-based (Element+Spirit) or ascended celestial power... TwistedFate "was taught the MAGIC of the cards at an early age" one of the few bios that gives no indication whether its elemental, celestial or spiritual in nature. I would lean spirit because tarot cards or celestial because of the association with fate and all, but there is no way to be sure Zyra Finally, Zyra seems to be mostly elemental but some of the wording in her bio indicates that she is transferring the consioussness of her victims into her plants and that she herself was created in the same fashion. Hallmarks of spirit magic.

40 Comments

The Trent6/10/2019, 3:53:49 AM2 votes

I'm pretty sure this has a problem with it. Wether or not you can use elemental magic already depends on your spirit. Elemental magic itself sometimes is nothing but a spirit (lulu and trist new story for ex). Most magic is dependant on what kind of spirit you have (for example Veigar's magic which was shaped into how dark it is by morde destroying his spirit). All magic pretty much comes from spirit for the champions in league. Spirit also goes as far to probably give people super human strength without it necesarily being magic (garen, darius, the yordles who don't really use any magic but have good reflexes). Most of the magic used in the frejlord is pretty much based around spiritual stuff, not elemental stuff. If you read their lore, they're constantly talking about spirits and magic together, not seperatley. I'd say ALL of the magic in League is spiritual related as even elemental things are given spirits (trees, an entire grove as a whole). The creatures of the void are probably using a mix of magic and physical features. The void creatures (the watchers) are literally considered magical and I'm pretty sure they helped lissandra get so powerful with her magic. If there are other types of magic, I still expect them to be spirit based from the core. Like using a god's magic, but that god still has a spirit, and that god is just lending down the magic. I think you've mostly heard about most of the lore in league and not read it yourself. Galio doesn't use anti magic. He's made out of stuff that absorbs magic, like demacian steel. It was also made pretty clear in sylas's story that his magic is spirtual. Elemental magic is literally just a type of spirtual magic. The celestials are basically pure spirit creatures, their magic is spirtual, it's not their own type of magic. Unless L J plans on literally going back and rewriting a ton of lore... his own words have plot holes. How are you going to call the watchers not magical...? L J's job title isn't even really a job title of someone who writes the lore... it's the person who oversees it and makes sure it doesn't have things like... idk plot holes. Here he is making them I guess though.

AbiwonKenabi6/10/2019, 2:18:12 PM2 votes

Jhin Jhin uses magic? Even if he does, I'm pretty sure his guns are hextech, I have to double check. Lulu Also, just to note, Pix is probably spiritual magic too. Rumble Is in a giant mech, so definitely uses hextech. I'd argue any Yordle that uses tech probably belongs in both spiritual (they all have natural magic) AND hextech Kayn Kayn probably belongs both in Spiritual AND Elemental/Celestial, which sounds dumb but hear me out. Kayn is a student of Zed, so abilities like his ult, his wall phase, the clone is shadow magic; Meanwhile, Rhaast is a Darkin, so any abilities stemming from him are of the Ascended/Darkin variety, which we know is Elemental/Celestial. Its probably more accurate to say Kayn belongs in one and Rhaast the other, but since they retain the abilities of the other if they "win" I guess its technically both. LeeSin Not saying you are wrong, just curious, what is the reasoning for Lee also being Elemental? Mordekaiser Same with Mordekaiser; isn't he using pretty much exclusively necromancy? So he'd be spiritual? Syndra Feel like we don't know enough about her magic to know whether its Spiritual, Elemental or both. I might need to reread her most recent stuff. Definitely agree her magic is NOT Celestial, so this category is fine for her. Brand Kegan Rhode was probably just Elemental, as he seemed to have only power over fire. Obviously Brand is a different story.

Mundane: I have a feeling some of these will change categories; Garen for example is implied to be using magic without knowing it, and Urgot, Warwick or Singed could be using a form of hextech. With the information we have now, though, this is fine. Corki Heimerdinger Ziggs Again, any Yordle technically also has their own inherent Spiritual magic. Velkoz My boi Vel'Koz is missing from Void Amumu Seems like he might be undead, too, which would also put him in Spiritual? He just needs more lore, right now there's nothing but questions with him. Cassiopeia I don't think she is supposed to be Ascended, but then again, I'm not sure what she is supposed to be. I guess her magic DOES stem from Shurima, but there's nothing to indicate that ALL of Shurima's magic was Ascended-based. I would personally put her in Elemental (poison/snek powers) pending more info. Fiddlesticks He's about to be reworked, so I'm sure we'll have a clearer picture then. For now, not sure. Galio Thanks to Sylas' lore, we've had a revelation that Petricite, while an effective anti-magic tool, can also channel magic as well. So his magic is potentially any magic his petricite absorbs, I guess. That said, I'd say he's technically Mundane, since he doesn't really use magic. All of his abilities are technically just using physical parts of himself and his bio/stories don't indicate he uses anything more than his massive size, punches, wings, etc. But it IS hard to place him. Kindred Is this really a contentious thing? I thought Kindred were pretty obviously Spiritual in nature. They are essentially the "Grim Reaper" of this world, taking souls when their time has come. Even if Kindred are "an entity", they are still Spiritual in nature since death itself has Spiritual connotations when it comes to magic using these rules. Leblanc I think it would depend how her Illusions are produced. If she's bending light to produce false images, that sounds like Elemental (like Lux). If she's conjuring some kind of intangible spirit or copy, that sounds Spiritual (like Neeko or Wukong). Since she can also teleport instantly, I would say Spiritual, but we really don't know enough on how exactly her magic works. And LeBlanc probably wants to keep it that way. Olaf My interpretation is that he is just an insanely strong dude with amazing instincts that keep him alive whether he wants to or not. And I don't think they are magical in nature. That said, any new revelations on this may change my mind. For now, I'm saying Mundane. Riven Sivir I feel like anyone who wields a magic weapon probably has some inherent magic, but that's just my interpretation. I'm willing to believe only the weapon is magic if new information comes to light. Shaco Will probably turn out to be a demon, he desperately needs some lore though. Sona I like your second interpretation the best, but this is definitely another "needs more info". Sona doesn't really have a lot of lore. Sylas Seems like most natural-born magic users (Like Annie, Lux, Taliyah) tend to be Elemental, so that's probably a safe bet. He's a bit of an oddball though, in that he can theoretically absorb and use other kinds of magic, too, like Karma's Spiritual magic for example. Trundle Tapping "into the ancestral magics of her lineage" just sounds like a fancy or unknowledgable way of saying they inherited magical ability. So I think its safe to slot most True Ice users into Elemental. That said, do Trolls also inherit True Ice powers? Maybe they have a bit of natural magic, like the Yetis? Nunu I know Willump is already on this list, but its worth noting that Nunu wasn't. Just thought it was worth mentioning for completion's sake. Nunu is probably just Mundane, maybe a little Elemental with Willump's borrowed magic. Ezreal Was just thinking about it, I think Ezreal's gauntlet is potentially using a Rune, but we don't know for sure and this is just speculation.

Whew, that turned out way longer than I intended. Thanks for making a post like this. I love discussing lore stuff like this [sg-ahri-2]

Neamean6/10/2019, 10:52:58 AM2 votes

I would consider Rammus the same as the freljord demigods and Lucian gun as runic based.

Jaspers6/10/2019, 11:20:29 AM2 votes

{quoted}

Fiddlesticks Spiritual? Help me out here Shaco Beats me dude.

I think these 2 are basically demons. Same class as Evelynn, Nocturne and Tahm but with less obvious origins.

Leblanc Is Illusion magic Elemental or Spiritual? Both? Please discuss this one I find fascinating

Elemental, as light would be classed as an elemental thing in a world of Magic.

Jaspers6/10/2019, 10:43:18 AM1 votes

Hextech is magic? Caitlyn's gun is magic? oooookay. And it's spirit magic?

Why can't technology be just that?

EdgeLady6/10/2019, 2:04:10 PM1 votes

Some things to note:

Nunu is also noted as having some sort of power; his bio makes it vague, but it seems that his and Willump's powers complement each other and both make up their kit's abilities. It's implied that he has powers combining snow and hope, like Anivia, whom his Notai tribe worships. So he would probably fall under elemental, plus possibly a bit of spiritual. But again, since his story is told from the dual points of view of an innocent child and a Yeti so wise we don't even know everything he knows, it's all very vague.

Don't forget Vel'Koz and Rek'Sai under Void powers! Especially Vel'Koz, who has the purest of Voidborn powers.

Akali is implied to have some sort of spiritual magic (particularly shown in her passive in game, and to a lesser extent, her E), but she doesn't use it nearly as much as Shen, who has the very job of going between the spirit and material worlds, and Kennen, who is literally a Yordle from the spirit realm. Xin Zhao possibly falls into this category too, although he leaves a bigger question mark since he's an Ionian living in Demacia; if he uses magic, he'd have to hide it at all costs, because I don't think too many Demacians would care that he comes from a land teeming with magic.

Garen is another question mark; we know the powers in his kit come from Kayle, but is it just in the weapon or is some of it in him too? Is it related to Lux's light at all? Since all forms of light seem to be considered celestial in origin.

Gragas is confirmed to have power, particularly super strength, based on him constantly drinking True Ice-infused brew. We don't have much info on his power though, since he has no bio or even a color story to speak of.

I would say Riven is a bigger question mark; she is implied to have some sort of internal power to be able to wield her blade at all.

I'd also put some more question marks by any Chemtech champions, or else put them into their own category besides Hextech. Because if the workings of Hextech have been neglected (press F for our poor neglected Skarner and his crystals), then Chemtech is ten times worse in this regard. We don't know its true workings or if chemtech users can interact with their work and be fluent in it in the same way that hextech users can.

And generally, I'd still probably put a question mark, though smaller, by all "mundane" champions. We know that magic is literally everywhere in the world, it's even called Runeterra, and all champions stand out from the crowd in some way or other. Especially by our own standards from the world we know, they might not be what we consider mundane at all.

EDIT: Amumu is likely a Yordle, so part of his magic is almost certainly spiritual, but his actual curse is 99% certainly Shuriman in origin and may very well be celestial too.

And yeah, I haven't mentioned my main man TF because I'm actually not sure where to place him in this either. I would imagine his family and people have more minimal amounts of magic, "low" magic if you will, that probably corresponds to the level of power of a hextech user, just channeled through cards instead of other technology. Origin? Probably spiritual, I would guess.

Larriet6/10/2019, 3:41:53 PM1 votes

Katarina's daggers are magical. Her splash art shows her warping; you are correct that she blinks to targets in the lore.

4 Step Cadence6/10/2019, 2:34:59 AM1 votes

Wouldn't Jhin technically be elemental + spiritual/Hextech?

Not only does he use Hextech(the thing on his shoulder is called the Hextech Mass Accelerator, after all), but he also has his own innate magical abilities(he makes Whisper's bullets and infuses them with his own magic). Whisper is also magical on its own. He also uses his Ki techniques, which I believe are more of a martial art than magic(though they probably help him channel his magic better).

There's also the fact that effects of Jhin's magic are more or less elemental, if you count "life" or "nature" as an element. Twisting people's flesh into into flowers, turning them into trees, making flocks of butterflies appear in the smoke, ect.

TheMan2926/10/2019, 4:21:56 PM1 votes

I actually like this better as it seemed ridiculous that all this magic was completely separate at one point

KestrelGirl6/10/2019, 2:44:35 AM1 votes

Garen has some magic. He doesn't realize it, but he does. It's not clear whether he just got a little bit of the long-dormant elemental magic genes from his sister, or wound up with something like spiritual magic instead.

CasterGilgamesh6/10/2019, 3:35:09 AM1 votes

Braum is ice born so most likely where ever you put ice born like Lissandra

theminiom6/10/2019, 10:19:20 AM1 votes

Nautilus along with maybe Pyke seem to be afflicted by a non-void eldritch entity, although both definetly have shades of Necromancy, Pyke is an animated corpse that doesn't require the presence of the black mists to remain animated and from what I rememberNautilus is a similar case, there's a chance that he actually died (we don't really know) but has been able to resist the controlling and maddening influences of the abyss that brought them back. Which Pyke is likely afflicted by, Either way it manipulated Nautilus's body to BE the suit and i'm hesitant to call that part of it blood magic.

also wouldn't Veigar go under Celestial if AurelionSol 's there? if celestial translates to star magic, what AurelionSol does, then Veigar 's magic would probably go there too, albeit with the spiritual magic his yordle bretheren have.

just wondering, where would Lucian's guns go? Hextech + Spiritual?