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Forgotten Icathia: Details, theories and observations about its history (+bonus details)

Cookiehime·10/19/2014, 1:29:31 PM·8 votes·1,916 views

Greetings Summoners,

As a huge Void lore enthusiast, I came up with a few theories concerning Icathia and its past as well as some theories about the characters based on the tidbits of information I could collect from Void-related champions's bios. I've also sought a few external sources (mostly pre-existing stories) to support my theories. I believe that Void lore could have been inspired from these sources.

First off, I noticed a few striking parallels between Icathia and Lovecraft's "The Nameless City", which itself was inspired from the location known as "Iram, the City of Pillars." I believe that what happened to Icathia and how it was destroyed is more closely related to the story of "Iram, the City of Pillars" itself. Void lore is like a really cool spin on those two stories.

In short, the story of the City of Pillars (from the Qu'Ran) narrates how a prophet once warned the king and the citizens of Iram, known as the people of Ad, that a great Calamity would befall them if they kept worshipping idols instead of the One True God. The people were already powerful and wealthy, living ostentatiously in tall, beautiful edifices, and lofty pillars could be found around the city. Because of all the blessings they had received and the power they possessed, the citizens of Iram became arrogant and filled with pride and thought that nothing could endanger them. They refused to heed the prophet's words and dismissed him as a madman, believing that he had been cursed by the gods they worshipped because he insulted their deities. Eventually, the prophet, knowing that the people of Ad would still refuse to listen to him, left the city along with a very small number of followers who believed him. The majority of the citizens were left to face the Calamity which they believed would never come. But they were proven wrong as the prophecy fulfilled itself and the city fell into ruins. All those who remained were swept along in the Calamity.

Of course, in that story, the calamity was a natural disaster that the people of Iram never saw coming because they never believed in the prophecy. But if we were to make a parallel of that story with Void lore, we can imagine that there was once a prophet who foresaw the events that led to Icathia's destruction and who tried to warn the Icathian king and his people that worshipping idols (aka the Voidborn-- Malzahar's bio does mention idols) would only bring catastrophe. But no one would believe him. Icathians were arrogant and prideful, thinking that nothing could stop them, just like the people of Ad. So, they kept worshipping their gods and on one fateful day the Voidborn were summoned to Runeterra. The whole city and its people were eventually destroyed under unknown circumstances.

But why were the Voidborn summoned? Who drove the creatures away? What happened to the prophet? What really happened to the Icathian King and his people?

No one knows. But anyways, centuries later, Malzahar is born. According to his bio, he was actually meant to be a prophet. But due to unfortunate circumstances, he was corrupted by the Void when he went to Icathia after witnessing the horrors that his powers allowed him to see. He could technically be a descendant of the [theoretical] prophet who tried to warn the people of Icathia centuries ago. But an interesting detail about Malzahar is that he possesses a khanjar, a dagger that men of royal families traditionally wore (Hey, another secret Disney princess!). So, yeah, he's probably of royal lineage. But I don't think he's from Shurima. I'm more inclined to think that he is of Urtistani descent and that the [hypothetical] ancient prophet was also from there because time magic and divination. Could Zilean be the prophet who warned the Icathians? Or was he more of an advisor/scholar/researcher/what-have-you who manipulated and experimented with time magic so that it could be of use to the Urtistani king? Maybe that's how the [hypothetical] king became a prophet. That could be why Malzahar seems to have inherited prophetic powers as well as the khanjar.

So, the [hypothetical] ancient prophet from Urtistan tried to warn the king and the people of Icathia that a great catastrophe would befall them if they kept worshipping the idols. They did not listen and eventually summoned the Voidborn. But another interesting detail in Zilean's lore mentions that Urtistan was destroyed by 'dark summoner-knights.' I guess that those were Icathian soldiers who destroyed the city out of spite and cruelty using 'dark' magic/powers. I wonder if they summoned the Voidborn to destroy Urtistan and safely left Zilean meditating in his tower to mock him. Who was the prophet? Was it Zilean or was there an actual Urtistani king he served? If Zilean stayed and lamented in his tower, what happened to Icathia? Who drew the creatures of the Void away if Zilean never acted? I don't think Zil could be the prophet/king since he's described as a sorceror/scholar--unless retcon. But if Zil was not the prophet/king, what happened to the latter? In the story "Iram, City of Pillars", the prophet stayed alive along with those who believed him because he left the city before the calamity happened, and I think that he was from the same city as the people of Ad... So, the parallels between the two stories stop here.

Bonus detail

I think the ancient texts that contained some scarce forbidden knowledge about Icathia that Kassadin found are similar to Necronomicons. I wonder where he found them and how he got his hands on those rare texts which would eventually help him find Icathia. I also think he went there after Malzahar tore open a small portal to the other dimension when he summoned Kog'Maw, which would explain why Kassadin was morphologically changed by the Void. He may have stepped through the portal out of curiosity... or perhaps something grabbed him and dragged him into the Void when he got too close to the fissure. Anyway, his bio is a bit unclear about the events that led to his transformation. I think all those who came before him were simply driven insane like Malzahar, except that they probably killed themselves (like how the JoJ described how some cultists would turn their weapons against themselves after losing their sanity) and could not have been dragged into the Void since the portal was still non-existant until Malzahar summoned Kog'Maw. Also, very few ever found Icathia. Kassadin seems to be the only person to have survived the Void and successfully escaped from its clutches without losing his sanity. Gotta have some deep respect for Kass.

Another minor detail about Malzahar

I think that he fulfills the exact same role as Nyarlathotep except that the 'real' Malzahar is actually human unlike Nyarlathotep, who pretends to be human. I think it's a different spin on that Lovecraftian character in the sense that Malz got possessed by an entity that acts exactly like it-- gathering worshippers, driving them insane (malefic visions) and using them to summon the Eldritch abominations. He's also kinda dressed in flamboyant clothes like how some accounts describe Nyarlathotep (stylish) but that could be a mere coincidence.

Those are purely theories but I wonder if I got some old lore stuff right.

8 Comments

Diahane10/19/2014, 5:56:28 PM3 votes

Thanks for the thought-of elaboration of known facts and for the parallels with Lovecraft's work, of which I am a fan. I think you hit the mark on the probable inspiration source they originally drew things from, though now it's all up in the air with the retcon.

I'd like to add a thing: maybe it's a meaningful thing that Vel'Koz is implied to have found the place where Zilean dwelled. Why was, in the new canon, Vel'Koz among the ruins of Urtistan? My bet: they'll retcon the dark summoner knights thing and maybe Urtistan will fall because of the Void.

OuttaControl5610/19/2014, 7:29:31 PM2 votes

VOID LORE.

I consider Icathia a city that was not done in by a calamity but most certainly done in by its practices. The people of Icathia were slowly driven mad to the point of insanity by whatever forces or beings they worshiped, and as a result they performed something that bent the barrier between Icathia and the Void. Zilean and others may have warned it, but by that point people were so enchanted by the promises of the Void and its magic that they paid no mind. Icathia was once a powerful empire, so this madness was less severe farther from the epicenter as its people spread out. As a result, when Icathia disappears social order breaks down and splits into a number of wandering tribes practicing the arcane and void powers, but too far removed from Icathia to actually succumb to madness. Thats where we get Malzahar and Kassadin, nomads.

Malzahar and Kassadin are both from the same background, looking at Kassadin's skin and Malzahar's default, they both have a desert centric gear, most notably by the clothing covering the mouth to stop the sand. Therefore we can infer Icathia's true origins are closely related to an arid environment, either Shurima or Voodoo Flats.

Kassadin was a scholar who was arrogant enough to want to discover his heritage, the lost city of Icathia people of his tribe always spoke tales of, with their almost eden-like magicians and amazing monuments. Obviously, nobody of his time realized that the magic and amazing monuments were all ultimately the source of Icathia's downfall.

Kassadin is stupid enough to actually go off on his lonesome, and that is how he is drawn to Icathia and exposed to the city. In headcanon, the city itself is an agent of the void through all of the strange magic that had been etched upon it by its delirious and demented citizens. Obviously this exposure subdues him, and instead of resisting, Kassadin decides to completely cross the threshold. Turns out that it relieved him on the strain upon his mind, but it contorted his body into that of a Voidborn.

Not the same with Malzahar, I'm afraid. He was being drawn mad by the echoes and his own foresight, and when he stumbled upon a monolith of Icathia, its twisted magic broke him completely, since unlike Kassadin, he did not have the will to cross the threshold, or did not have the means to. So he went bonkers instead.

Its one of those choices, either let the void mess with your mind, or your body. Both suck, as we can see. Kassadin needs a respirator to breath (H20 might be toxic to him for all we know), and Malazahar is just not a cool dude.

SchaakaKon10/19/2014, 8:45:16 PM2 votes

All the pre-Kha'Zix Icathia/Void lore was all incredibly interesting to me. I loved all the Lovecraftian references.

But unfortunately, there was a great gap of time since the release of Kog to Kha and in these later two Void beings there is nothing that relates them to the older Void lore.

In my ever growing fears for LoL lore, it is my belief that the Void will become nothing more than a world of purple-insect-themed monsters that act like intelligent dinosaurs and that is suppose to drive men mad because the world is full of purple - PUURRRRPPPLLLEEEEEE

Any new lore for the Void/Icathia does not get me excited. The LoL lore team can only give lore that is straight forward and simple and trying to capture a Lovecraftian style means you must throw logic out the window to create that sense of chaos and psychological horror. I would rather the current lore team not touch Icathia than for them to generic it up.

GenoXx10/19/2014, 3:48:37 PM1 votes

I wonder how Malzahar got hold of kassadins daughter. If this is true, I would believe that his daughter have the same strong will like her father. Maybe she didn't kill herself, and is now a user of void magic. Overall, this is pretty good speculation about the void. I am no void fan myself, but the story you compared this to does seem to have of similarities to Incanthia. I suppose in time that city will have light shed on it like Shurima. Wonder what the people of shurima thought of that place.

Solideus10/23/2014, 9:06:28 AM1 votes

Here's another tidbit. "THE SUN DISC WAS ANCIENT EVEN THEN. WE KNEW OF ITS POWER, MY BROTHER AND I, AND SHURIMA FACED A DIRE THREAT, FROM MYSTERIOUS BEINGS UNLIKE ANY WE HAD EVER KNOWN". Possibly Icathia and/or Void related? Who knows.