Child soldiers, what the hell?

FantasySniper·Jul 3, 2017·4 votes·978 views

It just doesn't make a lick of sense.

Noxian by birth, Kayn and others like him were conscripted as child soldiers, a cruel practice employed by only the most devious commanders of the empire. Ionian compassion was a weakness to be exploited—their warriors would hesitate before striking down a supposed innocent. Thus, barely able to lift the blade he had been given, Kayn’s first day in battle was also expected to be his last.

What part of this is an effective strategy? Send cowardly cannon fodder for the split second reaction time that they haven't even been trained to use? At least in modern war, they use a stupid-simple suicide-bomber method or point and shoot a universally powerful firearm. This... was just bad writing to make Kayn seem unreasonably talented.

19 Comments

SolideusJul 3, 201714 votes

Keep in mind that they were sent out-in-nowhere to fight villagers, not army soldiers. And it wasn't a military goal, it was to terrorize the Ionians.

AzteryzJul 3, 20172 votes

yea the op should stop questioning this as an "effective" strategy towards soldiers

when in reality its supposed to be a Cruel strategy to Ionians in general

RalanrJul 3, 20172 votes

Though he has a point on the training thing.

If I was going to use child soldiers, I'd brainwash them and train them to at least know how to use a weapon or so that they won't run away at a moments notice.

Hell why didn't more kids just run away? Plus if he's Noxian born and drafted as a child soldier, what's that say for their military?

SolideusJul 3, 20172 votes

I imagine Noxian children are quite ferocious to begin with. If they were expected to die right away training them would be a waste, I guess. The story said many ran away. And to my understanding, the military isn't monolithic in the sense that different generals can kinda do things their own way; I imagine the child soldier thing isn't THAT widespread.

Overlord ForteJul 3, 20178 votes

It's effective against Ionians because of their moral values giving them pause. This same tactic may be effective against Demacians for the same reasons. It does, however, ruin your future crop of soldiers and cause massive logistical problems over the long term. Whatever 'devious' commander elected for it here was going more for moral shock value than anything strategic probably. Zed's observations affirm this just as much.

Versions of this tactic, both with literal children and otherwise, is prevalent in our own history. Cats were wielded against the Egyptians, who wouldn't fight on the chance they'd hurt something so very sacred. The brutality of war quickly mandated they change their views on that matter, though.

FantasySniperJul 3, 20172 votes

The example of cats is a poor one. They're easily reproducible and difficult to train for combat purposes. There's no loss if it didn't work.

MelledoneusJul 3, 20172 votes

Sounds to me you either don't like cats or you've never seen the cat with a machine gun.

FantasySniperJul 3, 20171 votes

I actually very much like cats, but what does my feelings towards them have to do with anything?

Umbral RegentJul 4, 20171 votes

Children are also fairly easy to reproduce - even though it takes somewhere in the range of 9-10 months. That being said, you take an entire nation, and you'll probably not be worse off for using a small platoon of children for shock tactics.

But then, there's the second part; difficulty in training. This, I have to half-agree, half-disagree - I used to train youths in taekwando, and we ran a "termite" class of kids younger than 12, I think it was. Whatever the case, there are two things to be said about training children in combat;

They are indeed malleable and most effective training sticks with them.
They are also young and training them effectively requires dedication and patience.

Training children in martial arts for self-defence is a long-term thing, and while it's not difficult, I wouldn't say it's entirely easy or reliably quick. Use of untrained child soldiers is likely for quick, effective shock tactics to screw with Ionians more than it is an actual military strategy - refer to Solideus' point in his comment string.

But, going back to the example of cats - how is it a poor example? It's people using a type of tactic involving preying on someone else's apprehension to attack something to keep them off-guard.

For Ionians, it's children, because they're considerably innocent. For Egyptians, its cats, because they're sacred creatures.

They're similar tactics, so how is the one a bad example? (and you can't say that it's because they're easily reproducible or difficult to train - the former is a poor comparison to children, and the latter is debatable.)

FantasySniperJul 4, 20171 votes

Cats can reach sexual maturity within a year, and they have around 3 to 5 kittens per litter. They're also somewhat self-sufficient if given the opportunity to hunt. Unlike dogs, which have a very long history of military functionality, I don't think a single record of cats being used effectively in warfare (or espionage) exists. To put it simply: Using them as cannon fodder is cheap and alternative uses are nonexistent.

It should go without saying that human children require significantly more effort, but are still much, much more capable in war than cats.

I would get it if Noxus was using this "battle" as an excuse to banish them for whatever reason, but you can't rightly call them "child soldiers" when they aren't anywhere close to being soldiers in the first place.

KoKobotoJul 3, 20172 votes

Also note that Noxus is a huge place. I feel that having a bunch of soldiers isn't too ridiculous for them logistically. The children could be from outside of Noxus, children taken from other countries. Or just orphans who are being used. I don't think it would hurt Noxus army too much because they have a huge army and have been going to wars all over Runeterra.

HellioningJul 3, 20173 votes

Because Noxians killed the lore team's family and they swore revenge.

SolarisCorvusJul 3, 20172 votes

I think its supposed to use the enemies morality against them because for some people no matter what the circumstances they would never go all out against a child and would be reluctant to kill them. Also the amount of time the suprise would give noxians enough time to attack the enemy unprepared.

CraxsianJul 3, 20172 votes

If this were with another story, it would be interesting, but in Kayn's case... It seems that is only made in order to earn more badass-ism level.

Wrathof300Jul 3, 20172 votes

The objective wasn't to use the children to kill the Ionians, the children were merely a distraction for the main troops to slaughter the Ionians in the confusion.

Warlord DienekesJul 3, 20172 votes

Medieval armies regularly recruited 11-12 year old peasants to stand in the spear line, and mercenary bands regularly highered them. Youngest I have heard was 6, for the mercenary band thing.

I haven't read the lore but there are a few reasons for this:

-An infantry formation is more about getting people to stand in a block. Anyone can do it provided they can survive the marching, pair them with a veteran who won't run away. It's a legitimate way to boost your numbers

-the enemy will probably feel terrible about fighting a child

-easily exploited for cheap labor

OurLestradeJul 3, 20171 votes

I'm pretty sure that in Riven's old champion insight thing it was the other way around, with Ionians using kids against the Noxians. That's the funny thing :P I suppose there was Taliyah as another child soldier thing, but that's a pretty corny trope.

FantasySniperJul 3, 20171 votes

The difference with Taliyah is that she's a uniquely gifted mage. They try to invest time into her being an effective soldier.

DecritJul 3, 20171 votes

Remember, ISIS is doing this right now