I mean, the new story of Varus is fine, but...

I feel like it's a damn good story, with its own merits to tell.

Maybe I just have a bit of shock, but.

TL;DR: It's a great story, it just doesn't seem to match a story you'd expect Varus to have after looking at his original lore. Some reworks were destined and you could feel the age in the words. But, some lore was fine, and it just needed to be expanded upon or updated. end of tl;dr

My reactions lead up a to lot of confusion.

I remember it was about 'two hunters.' I was kind of confused, but I assumed this is one of the stories that begins with a protagonist to build up to a champion's purpose or show what they do. I was fine with that. I was hyped as hell to see what magic that Riot could do with Varus's tale of vengeance and badassery alongside the unnamed bow darkin.

This started to go on for a while with these two protagonists, Val and Kai.

This was a pretty intimate story that went on for a while - then I saw the temple. They were the only ones going there. Confusion ensues.

There's a priestess there, not Varus. "Wait."

They fall into a pit mistaking it for healing water. "Oh no."

The actual new Varus was a ghostly ghouly boi, and melded with the two hunters. I was... very confused. Darkin don't seem to be the type to leave people alive, much less humans - though, I do know that it's meant to be a plot device to give it a tug-o-war of morals and ethics, good and evil, the balance of justice.

Don't get me wrong, there's still a lot of the same details and core themes that the new Varus had that old Varus did. But there's a big difference still.

Old Varus had lost everything, but he was put to a duty - to guard this dark artifact. He tried to resist, but he ended up using that accursed weapon to slay the invaders that laid waste to Ionia. The themes within the new story seem of a different fiber, they seem more 'warm' with less loss and a 'safer' edged story. He shares parallels with Lucian which may cause conflict, but they fight two different things. Lucian seems more revenge and to destroy a dark evil. Varus is a man who had no more to lose, so he violated his duty to save what little he could; but Varus is slowly being consumed by hatred and the darkin/creeping darkness within the bow. Old Varus would not - could not fight the darkin, but he was, "on borrowed time."

New Varus is still about loss, but Varus himself is a hateful being and it kind of hurts me to use his name for a Darkin now; but he still carried over the theme of murder for murder, just on a more radical level. If the topic of Val and Kai being homosexual seems neglected, it's because I'm totally fine with that - I just thought it would've ended up with Kai dying and Val becoming Varus or something.

The story here is great, but it just seems kind of wrong to me to change a lot of the themes like this. It just doesn't feel the same as some other reworks I'm fine with - I just felt immersed when playing as Varus, even if it was just a few lines, you could just feel the apathy, dread, anger, and inevitability.

But then again, this is me, the same guy who read the league judgement on Urgot and though that could be a compelling story.

Riot could always retcon the new story if it actually brings a lot of trouble (which the forums have been full of varus threads for the past couple of days so...) I'd love to see a future champion with these elements though.

I just had to get all this off my chest even if it sounds stupid.