Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

Animal Significance in Lore

Gold Light·5/25/2018, 3:00:25 PM·5 votes·7,346 views

So this is topic that came about while looking back over all the animal-themed champions in the game recently. A lot of them have been retconned to fall under the blanket term of 'vastayan,' however there are still a lot of champs in League that have heavy animal themes/traits despite not being related to the vastaya at all. Probably the biggest examples are the Ascended, who (with the exception of Xerath) take on the forms of anthropomorphic animals when absorbing the power of the Sun Disc. There's also the demigods of the Freljord, who, despite being primordial embodiments of the elements, take on the forms of a ram, a bear, and a bird. Lastly, there are the champions who have connections to animal-themed spirits/demons, like Udyr, Swain, and Janna.

I guess the discussion I want to spark is why all these demons/spirits/demi-gods manifest as animals in the first place. Is it meant to signify that animals in League have some kind of higher connection to magic/the universe, or is it really just a cosmetic choice on Riot's part?

5 Comments

FilDaFunk5/25/2018, 6:27:30 PM3 votes

Ask the same for Egyptian and Hindu mythology. This is likely the origin of this design choice.

DerMangoJoghurt5/25/2018, 3:37:21 PM2 votes

It's probably because any being that doesn't resemble an animal will most likely look like an alien monster. Additionally, by using existing animals as reference, known traits of that animal can be used to convey their character.

Lore-wise, maybe the magical beings of Runeterra somehow influenced the physical form of animals. Basically, the magic behind the sun disk and demigods existed first and the animal equivalents look like them because magic does weird things.

We know demons and spirits can manipulate their form, so they might just choose to resemble already existing animals.

GreenLore5/25/2018, 6:17:55 PM2 votes

One thing they've mentioned about aurelion sol is that he is technically not a dragon,but the regular dragons evolved in a way that mimics Aurelion Sol.

So it is possible that all kinds of animals evolved in a way that mimics some higher entity,in which case it wouldn't be odd for other beings to do the same.

Jerry SeinfeId5/25/2018, 10:33:56 PM2 votes

Afaik the ursine are still a race, and voli is their "god" so they probably took after him. Or voli might have actually been an ursine, idk how their demi gods come to be. mby some god smashed a goat to make ornn, idk man.

Udyr connects to actual animal spirits.

The ascended most likely receive animal traits that fit the original person. and egypt, shurima reasons.

overall most animal like champs were added to the vastaya for consistency, like meglings.

Swain is in some way related to vastaya, according to rakan. and i mean the crows are just there for thematic reasons.

Janna, she became a bird because her old lore had the ingame bird be her pet. They got rid of the pet (idk why tbh, a wind spirit can have a magical bird), so something had to happen. if you want a connection, she's a wind spirit near the sea and fish don't fly (usually).

and then there's "mutants" Twitch Warwick

remakoro5/25/2018, 9:10:43 PM1 votes

Monkey is the most significant and signature league animal. Right now summoners went on long journey into oblivion.

But champions keep fighting in this ritual fight on summoners rift. They doing it by allowing spirits of FUCKING MONKEYS to possess them. For the next hour 10 monkeys will throw massive tantrum on the rift until one nexus will randomly explode.