Like clearly he was made gay for a media grab. I hate when companies use characters which people grow attached to as a way to dig up some attention. Like clearly him being gay has nothing to do with Varus as a league champion and never has, but to make sure to hit it on the head with a hammer is cheap to me. Him being gay isn't going to break the internet nor do I care, but like I hate when they change characters so drastically. It's cheap.
YerroFever31 votesI would have been more impressed with a character that was originally designed as LGBT and released as LGBT, not a 5 year old character that was retconned... but that's just me.
Bultz10 votesI would have been more impressed with a character that was originally designed as LGBT and released as LGBT, not a 5 year old character that was retconned... but that's just me.
No I agree, because then that is who he is, to the game and the fans. This just feels cheap.
Heckin Support2 votesNo I agree, because then that is who he is, to the game and the fans. This just feels cheap.
I have to disagree here. It doesn't seem forced; but it would have been better if it was a new champ.
Jet Sett Radıo6 votesCant tell if we are looking at the same lore
BlakexEkalb2 votesI would have been more impressed with a character that was originally designed as LGBT and released as LGBT, not a 5 year old character that was retconned... but that's just me.
Or not having LGBT character overall, seems good to me [slayer-jinx-wink]
GenoXx17 votesExactly. This is nothing more than a company rivalry. They see blizzard reach out to LGBT community, and they try to imitate. Cept they did a horrible job.
Cavesloth7 votesExactly. This is nothing more than a company rivalry. They see blizzard reach out to LGBT community, and they try to imitate. Cept they did a horrible job.
From what I heard blizzard did just as shitty a job retconning a character to be gay, and Riot was dumb enough to copy it. #WINNING.
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO6 votesDidn't feel forced to me, it looked like a nice relationship and a powerful love story.
Tesla Effect6 votesVarus aint gay as far we know, but, Valmar and Kai are totally homo for each other.
RacoonHunter5 votesOk Roy moore.. Varus himself isn't gay nor is that a bad thing. Varus is the Darkin, he has two people inside of him who love each other dearly. Varus is a darkin, trapped inside of the bow, with these two people's love reminding him what he fought for when he was a darkin and how not all humans are bad.
Shnauz4 votes"Varus" isn't gay. "Varus" is three entities. The two humans, while both possibly purely supergay, could also have had heterosexual tendencies in the past. We don't know both of their entire backstories. We have a short comic. Chill.
We don't know the details of Darkin reproduction. Maybe Rus liked Darkin dudes? Maybe he liked Darkin chicks? Maybe he fucked em both? Who the fuck knows, it's a videogame. Use your imagination until something canon pops up.
All we really know is that this sick champ shoots arrows made of fuckn energy and is constantly fighting himself to avoid murdering every last living human. Pretty cool.
<Removed by Moderation -- do not insult others like this>
revliledpembroke12 votesDon't be fucking obtuse. Varus is the human who sacrificed his humanity for power (old lore). Thus, it is perfectly natural to say "Varus" is now gay (because Valmar was the human who sacrificed his humanity for power and Valmar is gay) despite "Varus" technically referring to the being that was imprisoned.
It's probably the same as all other sexual reproduction in nature. Unless they reproduce asexually...
No. It isn't. It's lame. It's edgy for the sake of being edgy and it's very similar to Kayn's lore already. Would it have been so difficult to keep his old lore the same, just change the "Mysterious Pit of Darkness" in that temple into a "Mysterious Pit of Darkness That Hold A Darkin" and left everything else the same? No, it wouldn't. Instead, they pull the same crap that Marvel/DC are doing about changing established characters to placate a very vocal minority. Just create a new character, don't change an already existing one.
Hell, George Takei spoke out against them making Sulu gay in the most recent Star Trek movie for exactly that reason, and they thought they were doing that to honor him!
Shnauz1 votesA) Varus was a human in his old lore. His old, boring, cliched lore. "Oh shit my people are dying! Too bad, I gotta watch this pit. Oh shit my family died... Time to kill the bad guys. HaHAA
If my being "fucking obtuse" means insensitive to your need for this fictional character to have a wife, then yes, I literally couldn't care less. Get over it. This argument isn't even worth the time. Varus is no longer human, and the two men whose flesh and bones he recycled don't mean he suddenly loves penis. Your argument is vapid.
B) Still wasting my time with garbage.
C) The problem with creating a new "gay character" is that the same bitching occurs only it's directed at Riot for pandering to a vocal minority and trying to compete with Blizzard. See the Problem? It's a catch 22. "Riot isn't allowed to create or revamp a gay character simply because I'm offended." Once again, get over it.
Finally, It's creating parallels with Kayn's lore on purpose. Here's a snippet from a different thread that explains it pretty well:
I don't think you can say that Kayn and Varus are exploring the same themes and concepts. Remember Kayn willingly took up the Darkin scythe for his own power and ambition, you have to wonder who the worse of the two is. Varus explores "what is the strongest of emotions and drives? Is the desire for revenge stronger than the power of love and conviction?"
Human tragedy definitely exists, Valmar and Kai are bound to the body of a demon as they watch it kill, doing their best to find a cure.
I like the idea of five Darkin coming together, it puts the world of Runeterra that much more on the edge.
Really nice concise analysis.
Finally, "Hikaru Sulu" is a character created more than 50 years ago, with a huge span of content related to and branching from his character. Varus was released 5 years ago, May 1st, 2012, in a game with the most questionable Lore department I've ever seen. Nothing made sense. Nothing was connected. We're all summoners, summoner, so Summon me, baby. This is Riot's attempt at creating a fluid and cohesive World for their incredibly successful game to take place in, why don't you just let it soak in a bit.
revliledpembroke6 votesThe fuck you say? Did I say anything about Varus needing to have a wife? I just said that it was natural to say that Varus is gay. I didn't give any opinion one way or the other.
Well then stop speaking garbage. You said that we didn't know how Darkin reproduction worked, so I gave the natural response: probably like everything else in nature. And then a joke at the end. 'Cause I'm a funny guy.
Not a single protestor on these boards (that I've seen, and I've checked out at least 10 posts on this topic, though who knows what might have been on that 6th page of comments) has said they have a problem with a character being gay. They had a problem with a character who was already established to have a wife and son being made gay. One guy even listed characters that could have been made gay, which was basically everyone but Trynd, Ashe, Darius, Varus, Kass, Lucian, GP, and Illaoi. Trynd and Ashe are married, Darius met an old flame in a comic (it was a woman), Varus was married (to a woman), Lucian was/is married (to a woman and it's complicated), Kassadin had a daughter... I think(?), and GP and Illaoi were together.
Ahri and Evelynn are both probably omnisexual (borrowing the TFS term) given their natures as seductresses who feed on all of humanity. Taric already had years of jokes about him being gay. Cassiopeia was a seductress who slept around to secure her family's fortunes (at one point, before the Shurima/Azir update). Mundo is the king of office romance. Diana/Leona have had years of jokes about them being gay, as have Caitlyn and Vi. I'm sure there are others I could name. Regardless, the point isn't that "OH NO! THERE'S A GAY GUY!" It's more like "WHY THE HELL DID YOU MAKE HIM GAY AND NOT ANYONE ELSE? LITERALLY ANYONE ELSE WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE SUITABLE!"
Shnauz1 votesAlright I can't do big rants anymore here we go lads
**1. Varus had a shit background. Absolute fact. Nondetailed, no names, etc. **
**2. Varus's background was "while in the line of duty, man's family is murdered so he gives into his dark side and plots to shoot everyone who was connected to the murders". **
I can understand why some people resonate with this. It's a common theme among the military. Revenge is a common theme among humans. Do you fuck with the war? I fuck with the war.
**3. They changed it because **
a) They need Darkins, baby. b) It was copypasted shit. c) They wanted to create something new.
That's literally it. Could they have stuck with the old lore, just fleshed it out similar to the way they did new one? absolutely. Did they? No. Unfortunate. If you want some epic soldier revenge plots, I hear Candy Crush has a killer campaign mode. i can't read your fanfic lore historian mumbo jumbo. You're just bitching over them making varus gay again lol. Have a great day, friend.
The Oasis1 votesI'm pretty sure that rather than Retconning Varus to pander, they're trying to shore up all the Darkin lore to create a consistent theme for the race. They just happened to find a convenient excuse to make the people begging for LGBT representation happy. The lore seems kind of boring to me (then again i find most lore boring), but if his VU/VO update is done well to go with it I'll be happy enough.
Also he's not even gay.
CatSith1 votesVarus as an entity was made into a Dark kin in the new lore. He isn't gay.... The couple who awoken him is, read the lore before you post because this misconception is getting out of hand.
Bumblebeady1 votesThe thing is, whenever new representation is added to any franchise or series, many of the people who aren't represented by the new character/iteration ALWAYS say that it's just pandering. But it might mean a lot to many of people who are now more included. Look at the new Doctor. Fanboys say that BBC is just kissing SJW ass, but how many female whovians LOVE that there's finally a female doctor? Doesn't their fan-hood count too? I, for one, can totally understand that many people who loved Varus's old lore feel upset that core parts of his story were changed. But the part about the two male heartlights? That means a lot to me and I'm glad riot did it. And I know I'm not alone. Doesn't that count for something beyond just pandering?
INoble KnightI5 votesIn that regard why not just make Taric officially gay and everyone can be happy? Or make a NEW gay champion? It's like the whole hispanic spiderman thing or female thor, or that god awful line of sjw comics. Don't change an accepted character into someone completely different for no damn reason.
hhaavviikk1 votesbut riot has been removing the lore of champions for years, why is it suddenly a huge ass problem?
Silver BoIt1 votesAlmost no characters in league hs a clear sexuallity, but Riot chooses one of the few, probably the only confirmed straight character, to retcon and make gay. It's painfully obvious it's a cheap attention grab.
Like Riot said, they have very few lore based cinematics, and this cinematic along with the Xayah and Rakan cinematic, are the only ones that show an actual relationship, albeit Xayah and Rakan's relationship didn't play too big of a role, they could have just been some fighting buddies, they put minimal effort in the cinematic to show their afdection for each other, whereas the Varus one it was all "No please don't seperate us" Sob sob.
The idiots can go and say "But muh representation" or "But mah pretty pretty cinematic", but the people that see every opportunity to validate their existance to others are idiotic beyond comprehension.
Finally, can you imagine how a high quality animation with Varus's old lore would be? Seeing an elite soldier having to leave his family because of his loyalty, just to find his family slaughtered after he kicked so much ass, and turning to corrupt himself with the Darkin weapon he swore to protect to get revenge on the people that played a part in the murder of his family. Hell they could have even snuck in Singed, Swain, and Darius. That with so much moral abiguity would have been truly epic and lore based, but no, we get this cheap excuse to basically "Insert surprise LGBTQ character here"-Never seen that one before...
Really though. This was cheap and disgusting. Make a new gay champ? Fine, that's completely fine, but, completely change the lore for one of the oldest and arguably the coolest lore-wise? That's sick.