Now I would like to preface this by saying I am not the best at identifying subtle plot points or reading between the lines, but this is my take on it. Her old lore was minimal and can be summarized into three parts.
- Lissandra sells out for power and sacrifices her tribe for personal gain. From this we can see she is selfish and power hungry.
- The Watchers are defeated and she remains faithful. From this we can see she is a little fanatical.
- Lissandra enacts her plan to brainwash the Frostguard by replacing their leader each generation. From this we can see she is cunning and patient.
I'm not saying this is bad, it definitely paints a strong picture, however it isn't what I would call intricate. Also, telling me that she has plans within plans doesn't really convince me that they exist. He plan was honestly pretty straightforward: make people forget the Watchers so they are unprepared, then get a cult together to carry out the Watchers' will. Her character definitely seems capable, but due to the minimalist nature of this, plans within plans doesn't feel completely real to me.
New Lissandra lore is not exactly clear, and I think the Bio needs a touch up to make some things more explicit. She still sells out for power in the beginning, however now that the watchers are from the Void, the consequences of this are much higher, and so she betrays them. She then attempts to keep them sealed for centuries, quelling stories of them and eliminating reincarnations of her sisters. Realistically, the only aspect that was removed is the fanaticism. As many have pointed out, Malzahar already embodies that, so this does help distinguish between their characters.
The part that I think the weakest is, as with the old lore, her cunning is communicated to us by telling, not showing. I have only skimmed her new short story, however from what I saw there was no sign of these plans either. If we had some form of short story displaying her patience and intelligence, it would feel much more real. Once again, she is probably capable of a master plan of some form, it just isn't communicated.
Is the new bio worse than the old one? In my opinion yes, it drags Lissandra in so many different directions (serves the Watchers, betrays the Watchers, loves her sisters, betrays her sisters) she comes off as unsure of herself. It really doesn't help that it ends on her desperation at keeping secrets buried, as this tells us she is barely holding things together and makes her seem mildly incompetent. But is the new lore worse than the old lore?
Well, another post by WAAARGHbobo leads me to believe this isn't at all what they were trying to communicate. I feel they're trying to fit several short bio's into a single short bio. First Lissandra's origin during primal Runeterra, her discovery of the void and its implications, her emotional conflict with her sisters leading to her betrayal, and her cultivation of the Frostguard whilst manipulating and obscuring knowledge. Trying to do so much at once in such a short format just didn't work out and nothing is as particularly striking as her old bio.
So no, I don't think that her new lore is worse across the board. I believe there is a lot of potential, it is simply being hindered by trying to present far too much in too few words. I hope that they touch up the bio, cut out the unnecessary stuff and find another way to convey these things, because it really does not work in its current state.
On a side note, Vel'koz's new lore is very nice, and from what I have read of The Eye in the Abyss, Anthony Reynolds continues to write some fantastic stories. Nothing tops The Principles of Strength so far though (in my opinion), and I recommend reading if you really want a "plans within plans" style character/ story, as Swain is the first character who comes to mind when I think of that, mainly because of this story.
