Jaredan provides some fascinating insights into "celestial" magic

CupcakeTrap·3/6/2015, 8:02:54 PM·8 votes·8,422 views
Bard Q&A

I think Jaredan's response (toward the bottom of this sub-thread) is really quite intriguing, and one of the most substantive comments I've read from Narrative to date.

55 Comments

Sharjo3/6/2015, 10:34:42 PM6 votes

It's interesting, kinda brings to light how distinct and abstract the concept of divinity can truly be. All in all this kinda means that powers of Runeterra, at least some of them, all draw upon the same kinds of power with different effects and forms. So in a sense, Bard's probably one of the most powerful beings or perhaps knows some of the most powerful beings that have ever existed in the entire UNIVERSE. And they probably look something like Bard, but without his garments.

I'm gonna go back to this, because I can:

Xerath "I see the forces that hold the universe together."

The Shurimans didn't know just how close they were to that level of incomprehensible power. Makes me fear for Demacia and what they might end up drawing upon in their hour of need, or maybe they already have Kayle...

Xulsigae3/6/2015, 11:21:53 PM4 votes

Hrm. Makes me wonder just what Bard is doing then with all his power. At some point a being becomes so powerful or has such a big picture view that it doesn't really care what's happening to mortals and such. He's not omnipotent but still doesn't seem like he would care much about things on Runeterra like people. Just based on what I've seen him do so far, he's either rather callous or indifferent to people's sufferings.

If he's meant to be neutral or looks at the 'big picture,' there are ways to be so and not be indifferent to 'lesser' beings. I'm looking specifically at the 7 beings of Sandman. Dream and Death are both essentially immortal and immensely powerful and don't really care what people do day to day. However they are still not uncaring about people, doing their jobs with passion and not creating undue suffering by inaction, though Dream can be petulant at times. Death from Discworld does that too. He does his job to be there when things die, but he doesn't simply shove them into the afterlife. So far Bard sounds like he's supposed to be a 'nice' being, but I haven't seen it yet. Of course when the next videos come out (and they will...won't they?) and we find out more about him my view might be completely different.

Yeah I know that wasn't about Soraka, but felt it was relevant.

Motajo3/6/2015, 10:52:34 PM3 votes

Maybe you saw something I didn't, but his comment didn't seem particularly substantive. You mean this one, right?

Bard traverses all planes that can intersect with Runeterra, so he is certainly linked to that degree, but he's not restricted only to Soraka's plane of origin.

Runeterran magic has many different aspects, origins, and foci. Bard exists and journeys across many realms and planes, which is the difference in his concept of "celestial" as compared to the specific focus of each of your examples. It certainly makes sense to see things like Shurima's sun-disk as an attempt to tap into one part of a celestial power.

I guess we can speculate on the link(s) between Runeterran magics, but this reply doesn't seem all that special.

But speaking of magic speculation, the idea of an origin for the schools of magic won't leave my head. You have your holy, spooky, arcane, whatever-else-actually-applies-here-stuff being more evolved forms of magics branching from some primal ancestor, and together they form a psychedelic family tree with that unknown primordial wizard soup as the trunk.

Sydelle3/9/2015, 1:09:48 AM1 votes

It is funny to me that the conversation around why Bard is able to take certain actions and not others is the cause for so much debate.

Why are Rioters unable to discuss politics and religion in the forums? Rioters are bound by the rules of their company. Likewise, in an imaginary world, Bard would simply be bound by the rules of his celestial plane.

In our real world, believers of celestial beings know such beings are bound to respect our free will, and that means that we seek our own fate. So if we are all mortal, terrestrial beings looking at an imaginary world, it would make the most sense to look at that imaginary world through the terrestrial perspective that celestial beings are bound by rules of their own. This is why it is funny to me that there should be so much discussion as to why Bard would take an instrument that could destroy a world away from the hands of mis-users, and not save a village.

Just like Rioters are not allowed to discuss their religious and political beliefs with you, so can Bard not take certain actions towards the imaginary terrestrial plane without breaking a rule of his own plane.

Bard takes the instrument away because it makes it so that the world is unlikely to be the ground for future fateseekers and that's what the world is made for (or at least what we should understand the world is made for based on an Earthlike perspective), but he doesn't touch a single villager because they are bound to the fate determined by their actions.

On Earth, there is an action taken by our ancestors (simply depicted as eating an apple) through which we acquire free will (a free will that needs be respected by all players in the celestial realm), because we are made to understand that this is an attribute of God that allows us to become more LIKE him. A through understanding of the nature of love, however, acquired through your walk in this life, should make you understand that love binds you to a course of action in which there is no choice - only the right choice. Now many believe that God is love. If such a thing is true, then having free will does not make us more like him, because love always chooses love and has no choice but to be love-- in that case, we'd have to come to an understanding that we were deceived. Free will just gives us the choice to not be like Him.

Sydelle3/10/2015, 7:41:41 PM1 votes

Braum is personable and knowable. My point being that some people will not see personable and knowable if it stares them in the face. People see what they want to see, and it's not mean to call them out on it when, in the grand scheme of things, you are just being helpful.

So then, hate spawns in the unlikeliest of places (Bard is a jerk!) almost like magic! Set aside that Bard is trying to help in his context, that I try to help in my context, that the jungler tries to help in his context... at the merest hint of the realization that I fail, or that someone whom I strongly relate to in the video (villagers for example) fail, let's look to blame someone else and make ourselves completely blind to any evidence that points to the contrary.

"The villagers should've been educated in the use of the orb." "Well look for yourself, all signs point to that they were." "Oh well, that's not what I was thinking."

Humans DO have an orb of incredible power, in imaginary worlds and the real world. It is right there attached to those peripherals: eyes to see, ears to balance and hear, etc. Well then, where is the step by step guide on how to use it? .............................................school? parents? church? good friends? "random" people that touch your life whom you'd happily tell to fk off?

edit: or Riot Games Narrative..... right. There's that too. -.- God bless their minds.