Reminder That Nobody is 100% Pragmatic

A common complaint I've been seeing tossed around is about Swain's hair being long. While I am mostly indifferent to his haircut (although I do think he would rock a beard), the main reason I see given for why long hair is bad for him is that a pragmatic person wouldn't have long hair, because it makes unnecessary extra work. This is true, long flowing hair is a lot of work to maintain, which is far from pragmatic, but does it matter? Yes, Swain is supposed to be a pragmatic and focused dictator, but nobody is 100% pragmatic. Everybody does things that are unnecessary for the sake of aesthetics or personal enjoyment, or even for tradition or cultural reasons.

And Swain visibly does a few things that aren't pragmatic in his outfit alone. He wears a coat for seemingly no reason, he wears his hair long, he even put those metal feathers and the raven emblem on his back. All of those are probably just Noxian traditions he is adhering to. What use does a powerful warlock have for armor, yet he wears it because he is a Noxian military official. His coat is pointless from a pragmatic standpoint, if he wore it properly, it would be ripped to shreds when his wings came out, and even draping it over his shoulders is probably annoying and cumbersome. He could cut his hair short, it would certainly be easier to manage, but he's a powerful figure in Noxus, he can't be seen with a common soldier's haircut.

Keep in mind I'm not saying Swain should have long hair, I was a bit bummed when I first saw it too, I'm just saying it does make sense from a character and lore standpoint. Sadly, he probably can't have a beard either for the same reasons.

Also, fun drinking game: take a shot every time the word "pragmatic" comes up