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An Attempt at Explaining Yordles. Bear with me.

Sharjo·8/21/2016, 3:21:04 PM·65 votes·18,123 views

Right so Kled’s lore came out, and we were all like “sodding hell what’s even happening with yordles?!” But it’s been a couple of weeks, things are a tad calmer and now is the time to analyze what we have learned, but Kled’s not the only champion to look at here, since we also have Poppy and even Tahm Kench to look at and extrapolate from when considering where yordles fit in the lore now. So now I’m going to take a shot at explaining, based on the limited information we have, how I’ve come to understand how yordles work.

Oh god if there was ever a time where I worried about screwing up the lore while trying to figure it, this is the time! Well let’s give it a crack regardless. Mandatory "THIS IS SPECULATION ON MY PART BASED ON NEW AND EXISTING LORE" disclaimer here.

http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Kled_0.jpg

So first off, Yordles are ageless, but they aren’t spirits. They’re living beings of flesh and blood. They’re difficult to come by, but that’s not because they’re incorporeal beings like Bard, Kindred and Tahm Kench, but because they are a magical people who are difficult for humans to perceive.

Yordles aren’t easily visible to humans at a first glance, by which I mean if you tried to find one you’d probably never do so without magic to help you. Humans have problems in perceiving yordles fully, and as such it’s often down to the yordle to make themselves known, by way of them manifesting in a visible way. Yordles are drawn to human cultures and societies (why? We dunno yet), and can manifest themselves in such a way as to embody the ideals of said culture. The most evident examples we have of this are Kled and Poppy, and this is what makes yordles appear for humans, but magic makes things a tad tricky here. A human’s own personal perception comes in to play here, not only from a magical stand point where by humans with magic can see yordles more easily, but also because a person’s own ideology affects how they see the yordle. Let’s look at Kled’s lore as an example:

In the colour text that came with Kled’s lore, he confronts a battalion of Noxian soldiers who’re tresspassin’ and shit. The one who directly talks to Kled and Skaarl describes them as an old man and a pony. This is that perception thing coming in to play; this soldier is seeing Kled, but not for what he truly is; his ideas about the concepts Kled embodies differ to Kled’s own, leading to a flawed perception on the soldier's part. I’d wager a guess that the Noxian thought that the things that our redneck yordle liked are concepts that are old, outdated and a detriment to the empire as a whole. Because of this he sees Kled as just that; old and annoying. Nothing really to concern himself about. If a Noxian like Sion or Riven, who embody the concepts Kled really likes, saw him they’d see a being much closer to what we see; his actual appearance, but even then those two wouldn’t see Kled the same way as each other, or even 100% correctly.

http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Poppy_0.jpg

Let’s also take a look at two instances of Poppy being perceived by humans. Firstly from her colour text, towards the end a young girl points Poppy out as being the hero depicted in a statue dedicated to a monster slayer. This is actually true; she was the slayer, but no one recalled what the hero looked like, and as such they made a statue of an idealized Demacian hero. The girl’s father then essentially says “Nah she’s too short” and they move on. So here we see multiple instances of people not perceiving Poppy as what she truly is, and also not even seeing her as a yordle, considering that the father, and everyone else around, agreed that Poppy looked enough like the statue to be understandably mixed up by the girl, but they didn’t seem to be the least bit concerned that the statue depicted a HUMAN and the girl pointed out a YORDLE, considering that the entirety of the town's populace would have never seen a yordle in their entire lives.

This also seems to occur more subversively in her comic “A Hero’s Calling”. In it she walks in to town with no worries, walking among the people. As I've said, yordles are hard to perceive for humans, so the likelihood is that most people will never have seen a yordle in the flesh before. Despite this the ENTIRE TOWN basically ignores a live yordle right before their very eyes, even before the chaos sets in. Later she’s seen observing the action, and despite being armed no one calls for her to stand and fight. The only time anyone’s seen reacting to her is when the knight asks for a weapon and Poppy tosses him the Hammer of Orlon. After that we see children looking upon her as she leaves, enamored by her appearance, but do they see a yordle, or something else?

I want to reiterate this for emphasis: multiple times, dozens of Demacians completely ignored the fact that Poppy was a yordle despite probably having never seen a yordle in their lives. When she appeared before Orlon this didn’t happen; he was immediately was taken aback because he’d never seen a yordle before, and coulld see that she was one. For those common Demacians they didn’t see her properly because of their perception. They didn’t see the heroic yordle, they instead saw whatever kind of person they imagined as symbolic of the ideals that Poppy holds dear. Meanwhile Orlon saw her pretty much in her entirety because the ideals she embody are ideals that Orlon effectively inspired, so he sees her for what she truly is since she’s a yordle cut from the same cloth as him. The difference comes down to an individual's views and values.

So to summarise that section, yordles are very much physical beings, but how people see them depends on one: their own magic and two: how they view the concepts that yordle embodies.

http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Heimerdinger_0.jpg

So yeah that’s all fine and dandy but what about Bandle City? What about yordle society and culture? Well you see yordles can manifest around specific ideals and philosophies, but they don’t have too. Like I said the reasons why yordles are drawn to human cultures isn’t clear, though given Poppy’s admiration of Orlon and his soldiers doing such amazing things without magic, and Kled’s ideology about the “Noxian Dream” so to speak, it seems very much like them wanting to become a part of something that they themselves have come to like and identify with, though that’s more my speculation. Yordles have their own culture, their own society, and their own city: Bandle City. But where is it?

Well the question’s probably irrelevant to most because it’s inaccessible to just about everyone unless you’ve got a few magic tricks up your sleeves. Like yordles, Bandle City, and likely anywhere claimed by yordles, is hard to perceive for humans, even harder than before because this shit wouldn’t be embodied around anything except yordle ideology and culture. The where isn’t important here, but how it exists is, so I’m gonna use Harry Potter as an example to explain how I’ve come to understand it.

Gonna restate for emphasis too: how I’ve come to understand it. I could be totally wrong. Like the title says, bear with me.

So you know Platform Nine and Three Quarters? For those who don’t it’s basically a train platform that is hidden via magic, and is only accessed by using magic to effectively warp through a stone pillar to reach it. I’m assuming right now that Bandle City is the same; existing in a part of the world that’s only accessible with magic, but it’s 100% there. You could walk around and be right next to Bandle City, but without the insight to see the way in, you’d never even know you missed it. It’s been stated in the new loading screen “Did you know” sections that yordles traverse pathways that aren’t perceivable by other beings. This is exactly what I’m talking about with the Harry Potter analogy; Bandle City and the ways too it aren’t accessible or perceivable to the average person, but still exist fully and physically. It’s a strange thing to think about; you could be right next to the entryway to Bandle City, with a bunch of yordles right next to you, watching you, but you’d never know.

Dunno if that’s creepy or mystifying. Guess it can be both.

http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Rumble_0.jpg

But what about the yordles who live in Bandle City? What about them? Have they manifested or what? Well no. Like I said, they can manifest if they want, but they don’t have to. Case in point, Rumble.

Rumble’s always been anti-human to the core, as he believed that yordle scientists were “selling out” to humans. If we extrapolate that yordles can embody human concepts so wholly, then Rumble in the new lore might not just have a beef about science, but about yordle culture as a whole. He might look at Poppy and Kled and examples of yordles who abandoned their home and people, forsaking their own culture and society for the allure of humans and their ways of living. This might’ve put a sour taste in his mouth due to his own adoration for his homeland and people, and spurred him on to create Tristy, specifically so that he could one day go to humans and show what yordles are capable of by their own merits. He’d prove that yordles can make it on their own, and aren’t just little creatures who follow humans around looking for approval. That might all be bollocks as well, but I feel that’s at least a sort of decent explanation as to why Rumble might have disdain for humans now, and given this, sod even given Rumble’s original lore he’s almost certainly a yordle who hasn’t manifested and lives very much within the bounds of yordle territory. He fights for Bandle City and Bandle City alone. But what about the other yordle champions?

  • Given Rumble’s admiration for** Tristana** this implies that she herself is also likely an un-manifested yordle, as I couldn’t really see Rumble getting behind a super pro-human yordle, even if he has a crush on them. It also helps that she’s part of the whole “Bandle Gunners” brigade thingy-ma-bobby, so I’m almost certain she’s gonna be a Bandle City yordle like Rumble.

  • Teemo I can also see as being Bandle through and through, simply because he doesn’t look like he’s really about any human cultures. He’s the quintessential yordle after all and what we all immediately think of when yordles come to mind.

  • **Veigar **I don’t see being embodied around a specific culture, but I can see him having manifested specifically to learn human sorcery, and then going mad after the fact to become as he is now. He’s weird though and might add an entirely new dynamic to how yordles work considering how distinctly different to every other yordle he is; he’s the evil yordle, but with yordles embodying human ideologies that are at least positive on the surface, how does a yordle become like Veigar? Like in the old lore from straight up isolation or is there something more to it? Dunno yet.

  • Heimerdinger and Ziggs are in an odd spot, and I can see them being either both manifested around Piltover, having never manifested at all, or a combination of the two. Yordles live for a long time, so perhaps Heimerdinger and Ziggs came to embody the ideals of a budding nation called Piltover and its drive for progress, influencing the growth of Hextech via the demonstration and application of their own technology that is fueled by their own innate magic, but later left because Piltover changed in ways that they didn’t like. I dunno just speculating on this one. Hard to be concrete here. I suppose Corki can be involved in this too, though I see him as a Bandle City yordle more than anything.

  • Kennen seems like an easy fit for being manifested around Ionian culture. I feel like he’s probably one of the easiest yordles to apply the new lore to in that regard.

  • Many have been concerned about Lulu and her lore but everything can still work depending on a specific detail; whether yordles can only embody the ideology of human cultures. If not then I can see Lulu finding the Fae and the glade, being enamored by their way of life and embodying around that, becoming the more unorthodox mage we know today. The disappearing for centuries bit probably wouldn’t mean much to yordles, being timeless in all.

  • I dunno what the sod to think about Gnar anymore. If any of you read my giant timeline thingy you’ll know that I’m right now speculating that Gnar is from pre-historic Runeterra, back when yordles were still developing as a species. This would put him in the tens of thousands to potentially millions of years old, depending on how long that process took. I’m gonna leave the speculating of what time period Gnar’s from for another day, but either way he’s a Freljord yordle (I was skeptical but it’s confirmed now) from ancient times and likely originates from an era where yordles began to grasp magic considering his transforming powers that come straight from his genes. Magically empowered genes. How he ends up in the jungles of Runeterra from the Freljord after having been frozen in true ice is anyone’s guess.

And before anyone asks, I don’t know how **Fizz **fits in to this, if at all. I’m going to wait on Fizz’s lore to be updated before I even attempt to figure him out properly. In any regard. Including potential yordle connections.

One final point; the reason Tahm Kench hates yordles; the most likely reason is diametric opposition. Demons embody the sins of humans where as yordles embody their ideals. It’s almost a vices versus virtues kind of deal. They work in opposite and opposing ways since yordles inspire humans by effectively being the things that they aspire to be, while demons use the weaknesses of men to bring them down and sustain themselves.

And I think I covered everything I wanted to cover. If I missed something I’ll come back to this. Hopefully it made some kind of sense to somebody. I’ll do my best to answer questions and queries you folks might have but do remember; this is all based on my own observations and conclusions; what I’ve said is my own thoughts on the subject, and could be entirely wrong, though some things like being ageless and not spirits are actually confirmed.

Also if you’re still worried about yordles, apparently there’ll be more yordle lore to come “soon”, so be prepared for that stuff!

Anyway, this has been amateur lore chronicler Sharjo, signing out!

P.S. Rinidinger, if you’re reading this, hopefully this explained things a tad clearly than my gigantic twitter shpiel!

90 Comments

RiotBioluminescence8/21/2016, 3:49:36 PM23 votes

What's your position on the Amumu is a boy/yordle/myth question?

RiotKindlejack8/22/2016, 5:31:35 AM10 votes

My theory: https://youtu.be/ZWeQbMOIJz4

DragonIgnis8/21/2016, 8:08:44 PM7 votes

I don't believe in the appearance-obscuring theory. The culture embodiment theory is the core of the post but there are many assumptions that make it.

The soldier was using a metaphor when describing Kled. Kled is visibly old looking with his white hair, scars, and old manner of speech. Even if a Yordle had magic that obscures them to the human eye, it wouldn't cause a lizard mount to appear as a pony. The words used by the soldier were meant to be insults that are based on Kled and Skarl's diminutive stature.

When discussing Poppy, a lot of assumptions were made.

Orlon is not presented as surprised at Poppy's existence but, rather, curious about her as she was something new and he had little information on. Poppy is displayed as relatively unnoticeable in her comic because of her short stature. She was quiet and below people's line of sight while surround by a crowd.

A person doesn't need to be surprised, in a land of magic, when they see something rare. The Yordles themselves are known by, presumably, most people in some way as they aren't considered myth.

Also, the assumption of Yordles being drawn to human culture is ill-based as there are a handful of Yordles outside of Bandle City whereas the rest of the entire population, presumably, resides in Bandle City. The Yordles outside of Bandle City can then be considered irregular as they represent a minority of the Yordle population.

TL;DR - I think(as in personal opinion) the post has too much extrapolating and I don't agree with anything Riot hadn't already confirmed.

RiotWAAARGHbobo9/10/2016, 7:55:03 PM4 votes

Sharjo , Not gonna speak to the other yordles, but your understanding of Kled and the Noxian officer is 100%.

( It seems somewhat apropos that it took everyone longer to figure that out than Tahm's hidden stuff.)

And you're right, Riven, living Sion, and Darius would see him quite differently than that jerk.

Daszkal8/21/2016, 9:01:46 PM4 votes

When I got to the Bandle City part, I was remined of this https://fogsmoviereviews.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/the-smurfs.jpg

Tahm Kench is the Gargamel of Runeterra.

Hemulen Magi8/22/2016, 1:59:39 AM4 votes

Concerning Yordles: Yordles are an unobtrusive but very ancient people, more numerous formerly than they are today; for they love peace and quiet and good tilled earth: a well-ordered and well-farmed countryside was their favourite haunt. Even in ancient days they were, as a rule, shy of 'the Big Folk', as they call us, and now they avoid us with dismay and are becoming hard to find. They are quick of hearing and sharp-eyed, and though they are inclined to be fat and do not hurry unnecessarily, they are nonetheless nimble and deft in their movements. They possessed from the first the art of disappearing swiftly and silently, when large folk whom they do not wish to meet come blundering by; and this an they have developed until to Men it may seem magical. But Yordles have never, in fact, studied magic of any kind, and their elusiveness is due solely to a professional skill that heredity and practice, and a close friendship with the earth, have rendered inimitable by bigger and clumsier races. For they are a little people, not much larger than Minions: less stout and stocky, that is, even though they are hardly much taller. Their height is variable, ranging between two and four feet of our measure. They seldom now reach three feet; but they have dwindled, they say, and in ancient days they were taller. According to the Scouts’ Code, Kled Canker, son of Cleg the Second, was four foot five and able to ride a wind lizard. He was surpassed in all Yordle records only by two famous characters of old; but that curious matter is dealt with in this book. As for the Yordles of Bandle City, with whom these tales are concerned, in the days of their peace and prosperity they were a merry folk. They dressed in bright colours, being notably fond of yellow and green; but they seldom wore shoes, since their feet had tough leathery soles and were clad in a thick shaggy fur, much like the fur of their heads, which was commonly brown. Thus, the only craft little practised among them was shoe-making; but they had long and skilful fingers and could make many other useful and comely things. Their faces were as a rule good-natured rather than beautiful, broad, bright-eyed, whisker-cheeked, with mouths apt to laughter, and to eating and drinking. And laugh they did, and eat, and drink, often and heartily, being fond of simple jests at all times, and of six meals a day (when they could get them). They were hospitable and delighted in parties, and in presents, which they gave away freely and eagerly accepted. It is plain indeed that in spite of later estrangement Yordles are relatives of ours: far nearer to us than the Shadow-Islanders, or even than Minions. Of old they spoke the languages of Men, after their own fashion, and liked and disliked much the same things as Men did. But what exactly our relationship is can no longer be discovered. The beginning of Yordles lies far back in the Elder Days that are now lost and forgotten. Only the Shadow-Islanders still preserve any records of that vanished time, and their traditions are concerned almost entirely with their own history, in which Men appear seldom and Yordles are not mentioned at all. Yet it is clear that Yordles had, in fact, lived quietly in Valoran for many long years before other folk became even aware of them. And the world being after all full of strange creatures beyond count, these little people seemed of very little importance. But in the days of Veigar, and of Teemo his heir, they suddenly became, by no wish of their own, both important and renowned, and troubled the counsels of the Wise and the Great. Those days, the Third Age of Valoran, are now long past, and the shape of all lands has been changed; but the regions in which Yordles then lived were doubtless the same as those in which they still linger: the North-East of the Old World, west of the Sea. Of their original home the Yordles in Veigar's time preserved no knowledge. A love of learning (other than hextech tinkering) was far from general among them, but there remained still a few in the older families who studied their own books, and even gathered reports of old times and distant lands from Shadow-Islanders, Minions, and Men. Their own records began only after the settlement of Bandle City, and their most ancient legends hardly looked further back than their Wandering Days. It is clear, nonetheless, from these legends, and from the evidence of their peculiar words and customs, that like many other folk Yordles had in the distant past moved eastward. Their earliest tales seem to glimpse a time when they dwelt in the upper vales of Kumungu, between the Southern Shore and the Great Targon Mountains. Why they later undertook the hard and perilous crossing of the Ironspike mountains into Piltover is no longer certain. Their own accounts speak of the multiplying of Men in the land, and of a shadow that fell on the forest, so that it became darkened and its new name was The Plague Jungle. Before the crossing of the mountains the Yordles had already become divided into three somewhat different breeds: Meglings, Fyrons, and Kumungani. The Meglings were bluer of skin, smaller, and shorter, and they were furless and bootless; their hands and feet were neat and nimble; and they preferred highlands and hillsides. The Fyrons were broader, heavier in build; their feet and hands were larger, and they preferred flat lands and desert. The Kumungani were fairer of skin and thicker of hair, and they were taller and slimmer than the others; they were lovers of trees and of woodlands. The Meglings had much to do with Minions in ancient times, and long lived in the foothills of the mountains. They moved eastward early, and roamed over Valoran as far as the Guardian's Sea while the others were still in the Voodoland. They were the most normal and representative variety of Yordle, and far the most numerous. They were the most inclined to settle in one place, and longest preserved their ancestral habit of living in tunnels and holes. The Fyrons lingered long by the banks of the Great River Kumungu, and were less shy of Men. They came east after the Meglings and followed the course of the Targonian streams southwards; and there many of them long dwelt between Zaun and the borders of Noxus before they moved north again. The Kumungani, the least numerous, were a northerly branch. They were more friendly with the forebears of Shadow-Islanders than the other Yordles were, and had more skill in language and song than in handicrafts; and of old they preferred hunting to tilling. They crossed the mountains north of Noxus and came down the River Serpentine. In the borderlands of Demacia they soon mingled with the other kinds that had preceded them, but being somewhat bolder and more adventurous, they were often found as leaders or chieftains among clans of Meglings or Fyrons. Even in Veigar's time the strong Kumungani strain could still be noted among the greater families, such as the Cankers and the Masters of Bandle. In the eastlands of Kumungu, between the Sablestone Mountains and the Mountains of Shurima, the Yordles found both Men and Shadow-Islanders. Indeed, a remnant still dwelt there of the Demacians, the kings of Men that came over the Conqueror’s Sea out of Western Isles; but they were dwindling fast and the lands of their Avarosans were falling far and wide into waste. There was room and to spare for incomers, and ere long the Yordles began to settle in ordered communities. Most of their earlier settlements had long disappeared and been forgotten in Veigar's time; but one of the first to become important still endured, though reduced in size; this was at Zaun and in the Howling Marsh that lay round about, some forty miles west of Bandle City. It was in these early days, doubtless, that the Yordles learned their letters and began to write after the manner of the Demacians, who had in their turn long before learned the art from the ancient Shadow-Islanders. And in those days also they forgot whatever languages they had used before, and spoke ever after the Common Speech, the Valoranon as it was named, that was current through all the lands of the kings from Freljord to Demacia, and about all the coasts of the Sea from Noxus to Ionia. Yet they kept a few words of their own, as well as their own names of months and days, and a great store of personal names out of the past. About this time legend among the Yordles first becomes history with a reckoning of years. For it was in the one thousand six hundred and first year of the Third Age that the Kumungani brothers, Marcho and Blanco, set out from Zaun; and having obtained permission from the high king at Demacia, they crossed the brown river Serpentine with a great following of Yordles. They passed over the Bridge of The Howling Abyss, that had been built in the days of the power of the Avarosans, and they took the land beyond to dwell in, between the river and the Guardian’s Sea. All that was demanded of them was that they should keep the Great Bridge in repair, and all other bridges and roads, speed the king's messengers, and acknowledge his lordship. Thus began Piltover-reckoning, for the year of the crossing of the Serpentine (as the Yordles turned the name) became Year One of Piltover City, and all later dates were reckoned from it. At once the eastern Yordles fell in love with their new land, and they remained there, and soon passed once more out of the history of Men and of Shadow-Islanders. While there was still a king they were in name his subjects, but they were, in fact, ruled by their own chieftains and meddled not at all with events in the world outside. To the last battle at Demacia with the Ice-Witch, Lissandra, they sent some dart-shooters to the aid of the king, or so they maintained, though no tales of Men record it. But in that war the Avarosans ended; and then the Yordles took the land for their own, and they chose from their own chiefs a Thain to hold the authority of the king that was gone. There for a thousand years they were little troubled by wars, and they prospered and multiplied after the Dark Plague (S.R. 37) until the disaster of the Long Winter and the famine that followed it.

DeathBot6668/22/2016, 3:49:14 PM3 votes

My opinion on yordles

Veigar Teemo Kled Gnar Rumble Heimerdinger

Whenever riot makes a champ who they think will be annoying and trollish, they make them a yordle.

AlistarMilking8/21/2016, 9:20:15 PM3 votes

Thoughts on whether Ziggs could be a Zaunite yordle in the new lore? His love of reckless experimentation and chaos seems more reminiscent of Zaunite champions like DrMundo Singed Jinx Twitch than the orderly Piltover to me.

xScarfy8/22/2016, 1:04:04 PM3 votes

Really interesting and thought-out thread! But there is one thing I am curious about...if Bandle City is so hard to find for everyone but yordles, than why do they need an "army" like the Bandle Gunners?

Rintam8/21/2016, 9:47:07 PM3 votes

Lu lu's family died of old age when she left for the glade.

Dextix LT8/21/2016, 7:23:40 PM2 votes

Fizz is not a yordle as far as we know.

There is an off chance that fizz and his people came to be from yordles due to possible evolution or other changes.

But at least for now, i don't think you need to adress him since he is not one, or at least confirmed to be one.

exiledFromBadmen8/21/2016, 3:47:47 PM2 votes

Another beautiful thread, Nice job!

Hige8/21/2016, 4:17:15 PM2 votes

I'm heavily TRIGGERED!!!!!!!!!! WHERE'S CORKI IN THIS?! XD Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki Corki

Evewynn8/21/2016, 7:47:24 PM2 votes

I pretty much assume anything sharjo says is cannon unless lore specifically says otherwise.

theArtifacts8/21/2016, 8:15:19 PM1 votes

Loved reading this but afterwards I read Veigars profile (I main him and love him) and feel like you based your opinions without reading what Riot has currently said about him. As he grew up be became enthralled with Valoran and hoped to learn more of Valoran culture but was captured and essentially tortured by Noxians. That's what drove him mad. Then he came across black magic and would have only then taken the form we perceive as Veigar now.