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New Syndra Lore: Conclusions

Overlord Forte·8/12/2018, 3:54:15 AM·13 votes·4,279 views

Hello,

After sometime of thinking, I've reached several conclusions. Three of the biggest ones can be FOUND HERE (link). For the sake of brevity in this post, I won't include that post's content, but I will presume it has been read.

Building on those points and my new musings, here is the following:

  • Syndra being locked out of time for [X] decades still makes little sense to me. Unlike a fresh character in something like Aang (Avatar: The Last Airbender), she has prior existence in the universe.

Notably however, even in her original lore, the writers then basically admitted she sat in her fortress doing nothing (no servants, no reading, zero involvement in the Noxian Invasion (despite wiping a legion out?), no interest in studies). Old lore was comprised of three parts: champion VO, champion bio, and developer posts on the boards. Syndra was the tipping point in where a lot of lore canon-viability was starting to stop exist, be retconned, or be marked for future change. She is, actually, especially notable for how she was the first major release that many people went "wait, whats with her story?". From her very launch day she was written out of the setting, a fact many regarded as moronic and looked past. I understand newer players may not have this exact historical context, but to me, it is hard to make her Time Prison lore not feel like a smack of the same irrelevancy.

Unlike Avatar Aang, who is a very well done execution of the Time Prison trope, it was assumed Syndra had more permanency and activity in Ionia. In many ways, persons like myself looked forward to her having something going on in Ionia concurrently to the likes of Irelia or Karma. The current lore paints her as someone cropping up new on the scene, even though her name is a legend of fear already? In-between lines context implies she was someone before being Deus Ex Machina'd by the Spirit of Ionia (who has some mysterious plan she's apart of against her will), but it is not used to build her relevancy directly. A Xerath-level build up threat would have more bang-for-show here, so it reads like there was indecision on where they wanted her to be.

  • The nature of Syndra's magic is vague and she herself has never understood "the origin of it" as a plot point, however the framing of it is too vague, and paints too different of a picture as a consequence.

In-between lines context implies a number of problems with how Syndra's power operates. As written it behaves like a secondary mana thievery/poison mechanic, where all magic around her is influenced at the fundamental level. Word of God context implies other attributes, like a potential 'irradiation' effect where magic in an area is semi-permanently destroyed. The ghost-willow dies due to a drain effect, Fae'lor becomes ruined due to ... something, I legitimately cannot tell if it's because of her or Noxians. It does sound like she has some kind of primordial power, but her abuse and current mindset has made it vastly more violent and destructive. Additional side details seem to imply but are too vague to be definitive that this is behavior is fundamental to her power, meaning any usage of it is a massive problem.

I'm pretty OK with Syndra's magic being highly influenced by how her life has gone and how she behaves. I'm also pretty OK with her magic being brought into the light more--if it's a primordial power or some pseudo-goddess ability, but she's early on her transcendent path to use it. We're not building a multi-novel series with grand revelations, and things like Aurelion Sol and his planet-destroying star farts already exist. If you wanted to do something like "here's a mage, she has no limitation to how much magical power she runs on", it can work. Successful novels like Overlord (light novel) show how absolutely powerful figures can still make a compelling story.

I'm not ok with her (and by proxy, her power) being more wildly out of control, inherently toxic/corruptive/objectively 'bad', thus forcing her story conflict to one of "gaining self-control". It looks and behaves in a very belittling way, and clogs up her story progression with a theme champions like Taliyah (and Annie?) already exemplify. Things like "she rots all magic in the land around her" and the like push her in a problematic direction. I think it's genuinely alright for her to be pretty in control of herself and capable, but lacking in sophisticated training or refinement. E.g, she can wipe out a small city but forget teleportation, that's too intricate for now. She's all talent and some work, but really has to push her work forward--especially when no one else in Runeterra can teach her her own brand of magic. Coming to terms with herself, Ionia, and the world, is a pretty personal and motivating theme.

Consider instead she willfully uses magic on such a destructive scale, others are just afraid of her there. You shift the primary story conflict from managing absurd power, to her personality and her conflict with everyone else. And, hey, we ultimately don't need to know the true nature of her power--the ongoing conflict around her and how she uses it is the real story.

  • The Dreaming Cave Pool is very confusing, because it looks like two different stories got spliced together in development forcefully.

I've spent some time re-engineering her biography and the Dreaming Cave. In the process, I've run across the fact TDP has two stories mixed together. One is something built around Syndra's presence, the other is a narrative show of post-war Ionia, its internal conflict, and some lore dump information.

When one considers Syndra's Time Prison as fundamentally unneeded, it affects how TDP works because of how needed the generic plot device is. As one user suggested to me, if you change Syndra to a World Rune in the story, it functions almost identically (Fae'lor Fortress might get obliterated instead of uplifted, but eh). This in turn exposes more of the other story, the Fae'lor Traitor Governor and the vastaya assassins.

If centered on them and their conflict, it starts to align closer to how the Principles of Strength worked (which I consider a very successful piece of blending world, NPCs, and Champions). The Governor even has some juicy tidbits dropped about him, such as being (a) the Traitor of the Placidium--which sounds fairly significant, but is used as a one-liner. I ponder if refocusing entirely on the conflict of the Governor and the assassins would strengthen the story overall beyond what it is now. That is, a conflict of Ionians turning against Ionia, and the remaining Ionians divided amongst themselves. More of the world can certainly be involved to fill in Syndra's (or generic plot device) gap in the writing.

Overall, I can't tell how much will just be "we're shoving our foot down and this is how it is" will come. They've put art assets and undoubtedly a fair chunk of writer $$$/hour in crafting TDP. Making the argument to their superiors (under the pie-in-the-sky dream of revision) is that much harder as a consequence. Not to mention how much other material will get pushed back by proxy. There's just a lot of business reasons to throw her under the bus and call it done, for better or worse.

I don't like it, but that's how the world works.

So, there's my position: much of her presented lore is problematic and sets untenable foundations in my mind. I can see where they want to go, but where they'll go will be radically shaped by this framing.

I have worked on trying to bridge the middleground, but I honestly don't know how possible it is. For instance, if Syndra got more setup before being imprisoned, then being imprisoned and freed matters more--but we're really, really stepping into Xerath's territory here. The working prototype I made was something like this,

>Syndra's life happens as per normal, up to her mentor's betrayal. She then leaves Fae'lor and instigates an uprising in Past Ionia. She's fought down and suppressed, perhaps even by prior incarnation of Karma. She gets imprisoned in Fae'lor (for some reason). The events of TDP happen, she is freed and goes off to start her uprising again--but this time, post-war Ionia is listening.

It leaves a sour taste in my mouth and I'm not sure about it, but logically it works well. To me, working around her Time Prison is just a sinkhole in "hey let's ignore her until a couple years before current time line". For her to do much of anything as a political figure, Ionia's timeframe will have to be moved forward at a breakneck speed, affecting more than just her. If she isn't thrown in Time Prison, then she can be doing things.

I sincerely don't understand the reluctance many have voiced to me about making her involved in the war. She isn't going to steal Irelia's thunder, or Karma. Or necessarily develop war PTSD, or Irelia's scathing racist hatred herself. Having a section of Ionia under her control, and rejecting all Noxian troops during the conflict, is completely valid. She has her corner and screws the rest of the nation that has never done anything for her. This has all sorts of intriguing political/sociological ramifications, especially if she wants to capitalize on post-war Ionia. Or maybe not, but people keep flocking under her banner anyway. She'd be a very potent yin counterpart to Karma's yang behavior.

I don't envision her to be something like Azir, but power of personality rulership is something history has aplenty.

I'm really suspicious of this Spirit of Ionia shenanigans around her, but it's so hard to pin down I can't tell if it'll be an issue or not.

I dunno. I sincerely doubt the writers have not considered issues like this and they don't have plans, but as an outsider, what is in front of my eyes and what behavior has been shown, it's very hard to have faith. Especially when, frankly, we can go very, very long times between lore advancement points, and perhaps the writers who would've released something no longer work at the company, so the work evaporates. That's why I care the most about good foundations. Good foundation can stride that waiting period no problem.

Here it is, I've said my piece. I won't make anymore topics on the matter.

Thank you for reading.

10 Comments

IllusionLord3338/12/2018, 5:43:52 AM6 votes

You have very valid points here, and I too was left a little off after I read her new lore. I don’t really like that she has been painted as a true villain, one of the things that drew me to her in the first place was her not so black and white struggle against oppression. I also like your take on what her lore could be, very interesting. Honestly her old lore felt more true to me, but some will not like it, others will.

Camille Ferrøs8/12/2018, 9:12:45 AM3 votes

I real reason why I got so excited when I saw the Dreaming Cave is that it sparked an Syndra lore update..A deeper exploration on her. And we got her rewritten for some reason and personally I'm really unsatisfied. She is now just another crazy villian with extra powers that wants more and more power....And the the whole draining thingy is just why is it there ¿

AbiwonKenabi8/13/2018, 2:55:42 AM3 votes

I always considered her younger, hence her involvement in the war wasn't necessary, she was too young or not born at the time. The Time Prison didn't seem out of place until you mentioned it, and I can definitely see where you're coming from.

That doesn't bother me as much however: my main issue is with the way her powers and motivations are handled. As you said, this subtle shift in her powers makes restricting her powers inherently the right thing to do, since it poses such a danger to literally every living thing, including Syndra herself. What I liked about Syndra was she was immensely powerful, but not inherently harmful. She's someone that's very naturally talented, and even very ambitious, but not very "coachable". No one attempts to help her improve infinitely, instead going by a "balance in all things" Ionian philosophy and viewing that limitless potential as in need of limit. She's very specifically an Ionian outcast; she doesn't fit in with Ionia's ideas of balance.

If I had to use really limited words to describe her theme and personality, I would say "unlimited power and desire to use it". Her bio and story, while entertaining, didn't capture that for me.

You do a great job of detailing the way I (and I think many others) really like Syndra's mindset and associated powers.

Psyrix8/12/2018, 12:41:04 PM1 votes

I agree largely with what u've said (to varying degrees), but the last point about involving her in the war, i don't. For me, at least, Almost every Ionians, except the Vastaya, have a vested interest and impact on the past wars with Noxus, I liked the idea of a completely new player in the interactions of Ionia (within itself as well) and Noxus. Isolated, with some connections. A wildcard if you will. Having Syndra active in the past wars, trying to cause an uprising, then being subdued in a weird way feels like it ages the character. Which could have some interesting implications..... hmm, now i think about it. :/ What if you had her active before the start of the Noxian war, perhaps have her lore more entrenched, and relatably, in the betrayal and failure of the Elders, not just on her, but the lands itself: A child that was shunned, sent to learn control and develop her gifts, only to have them suppressed and be threatened, as well as more fundamentally betrayed, something to suggest not all the Elders are as benevolently peaceful/passive as would be suggested (following the theme of all societies/governments are corrupt on some level). Something to hint at a darker backstory to lend more credence to her misunderstood nature. (making her more of a soft-chaotic neutral character)... ] Syndra totally losing control just "randomly" (lol, ik it wasn't really random, but it was def an overreaction considering the mentor was trying to calm her down) doesn't feel like Syndra. An event similar to the one proposed would prbly justify it more. Rather than having the lands perfom a Deus ex Machina on her, perhaps have the Elders imprison her (U'd have to prbly add in the fact that multiple Elders are nearby covertly or something :/) and seek to nullify/kill her, but the spirit of the lands somehow prevents this (could even be a byproduct of Syndra's power itself) so instead she's trapped in the Dreaming Cave/Pool. On that note, the nature of her power I'd say definitely needs some re-imagining, or at least rewording if it really isn't solely linked to "negativity" but is rather her emotions affecting it (and even then could be better explored)

Now, in terms of The Dreaming Pool, the general storyline could stay the same (Syndra being the object of the story, not the main perspective), minor things might need to change (such as how Sirik is aware of Syndra --so maybe tie her to the killed Elder(s)-- and the discussions held regarding and involving Syndra)... So the color story could largely remain the same imo.

Syndra has soooo much potential, both as a narrative point as to how Magic works (similarly to Ryze and Xerath, each representing their own poke of the wheel: Syndra's being the unique intimate, natural, relationship with magic), as well as a political-history narrative (in terms of Ionia at least).

KuroCaliber8/12/2018, 8:08:24 PM1 votes

I dunno, I never liked Syndra's old lore, in such that she was "The most powerful thing ever and it was only a matter of time before she got strong enough to destroy whatever she wanted." People who crave power for the sake of power, and who practice little to no restraint or have a "do what I say or I'll nuke you" motivation fall really flat for me. Syndra is defined by one thing only- how powerful she is at the time. It was the same problem as old varus lore in that it was a great explanation of motivation, but there was no potential for story. We know how it ends. In varus' case it was either he killed all the noxians or he died trying. In Syndra's case it was she either never interacted with the outside world, became powerful enough to destroy everything because of her lack of empathy or attachment to anything save her own power, or she got killed by something stronger. I don't really have high hopes for her as a character, and I know this is a very controversial opinion, but she just doesn't seem intriguing at all. She's a walking doomsday clock with nothing else going for her.