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Legends of Runeterra: Freljord Lore

The Iceborn·10/19/2019, 3:39:57 PM·11 votes·17,125 views

####Intro So I was quite interested in how Legends of Runeterra plays into our current lore and then I did see Necrits video and it was absolutely fantastic so it inspired me to go even further and discuss with you guys, how you feel about the whole thematic of LoR being a part of Lore. Again these are just my ideas and they may or may not be canon. I think I will incorporate a poll too. Let me know what you guys think! #Discussions First I wanted to touch on this picture where Anivia is clearly on top of a certain building and that building just happens to be the Ruined Fortress of the Iceborn I made a thread about just a few weeks back. I was theorizing as to who the people were that seem to be on a pilgrimage to this Ruined Fortress and why they are going there... It appears as tho it can only be the Avarosan or the Notai as only they seem to be the big tribes who follow Anivia in their faith. Personally, I would say that it is the Notai bei they are known as the tribe who really moves across Freljord a lot plus in the picture I could not detect any True Ice weapons and we know that most of the Notai were warmblood. https://i.imgur.com/GncYG6s.jpg[] https://i.imgur.com/uXTVxGn.png[] While on the topic of Anivia, the cards sadden me as I believe that in one of them Anivia is fighting my dear frostguard. The frostguard warriors and priests tend to wear a T-shaped head piece as we have seen in the Ashe comics. While Anivia's lore is not yet updated we do know that she never favored the dark or Lissandra so her being opposed to the Frostguard is logical. I can assume that if the frostguard were to fight another tribe like the avarosan, Anivia would help the other tribe as the picture shows. Safe to say that Anivia and Lissandra are still not best friends. https://i.imgur.com/sZobNV8.jpg[] https://i.imgur.com/7QsnkYG.png[] https://i.imgur.com/uXTVxGn.png[] Remembering that the Frostguard do wear a spiky/T-shaped helmet, Tryndamere's art shows them in more detail. Since Tryndamere is Avarosan now and the frostguard do rival with them we can definitely conclude that it is truly frostguard warrios. Besides looking at the monsters behind Trynda, they seem to be Yeti's but now you may wonder how because they look so much different than Willump. Well the Yeti's went crazy after Lissandra used them like the fools they were. Basically the magical gems that the Yeti have, when stripped away from the (forcefully or by trickery I assume) they turn savage and crazy.

As the child began to cry, the guardian felt a kindred grief take shape around the gem. For centuries, he had looked into it and seen the end of his people—the threat they had buried, betrayal by the blind one

https://i.imgur.com/ed0Qtuz.jpg[] https://i.imgur.com/uXTVxGn.png[] Now another lovely topic is if some Shamans/ Priests can warg into animals, meaning if they can use their eyes to see for themselves? These two images made me think about this more in detail and Necrit did also mention it. If this is truly how some people can use animals sight for their own benefit, this gives a new perspective on how some tribes find their animal prey or use the animals vision in order to gain leverage over their enemies in wars or when raiding them. The eyes look like they are connected in some way, it literally looks like they are sharing vision and the hawk looks like his eyes are enchanted. (Also makes me question if Lissandra can use other peoples sight since she herself is blind). https://i.imgur.com/tySm10x.jpg[] https://i.imgur.com/uXTVxGn.png[] Something worth touching on is also this image. Simple spell in LoR but also a reference to Lissandra's quote "Flesh freezes so easily". Could this be a hint for how Lissandra uses that spell on people? Or is this simply the result of the true cold of the Freljord that can harm intruders and freljordians alike? https://i.imgur.com/OkauC20.jpg[] https://vocaroo.com/i/s19btLOlfu6V https://i.imgur.com/uXTVxGn.png[] Dark Ice is very good at healing however, the Catalyst of Aeons seems to surpass even the healing powers of True Ice. My first thought was who uses that stone and did Lissandra try to use it to heal her sight? https://i.imgur.com/anmCkyf.jpg[] https://i.imgur.com/uXTVxGn.png[] Now this may be a stretch however, could it be that Freljord has its own spirit of nature? Just like Ionia has the Spirit of Ionia the Freljord could have its own land- spirit so to speak. This is quite confusing as Anivia already acts like Freljords spirit and its protector, still I am not fully convinced that there is not a land- spirit, the Spirit of Freljord. Such phenomenons usually server a purpose. The spirit of Ionia is there to block intruders away from the Islands and keep the people safe in their territory, basically it acts as a natural barrier between Ionia and foreigners. I believe that the Spirit of Ionia also made it hard for Noxians to even reach shore. In Freljord such a spirit could be called "Warmother Winter". https://i.imgur.com/MtWKahL.jpg[] https://i.imgur.com/uXTVxGn.png[] And finally this one really threw me off. Who are "They Who Endure"? They seem to be frozen beings or just statues. Their look is similar to the old Watchers. It could be that Riot is paying homage to the old watchers design with this new art. Those creatures could be frozen and they could be some kind of voidborn but voidborn usually have a purple tone to them and these do not (and yes maybe because they are frozen). "She Who Wanders" makes me believe that these creatures are something else. Necrit mentioned they may be from the far north, even above Freljord. I think that these are not voidborn because if they truly were, Lissandra would know imho. What are your thoughts? This is the biggest mistery to me and for the sake of lore let us assume that the cards are canon. https://i.imgur.com/JVoREdq.png[] https://i.imgur.com/SgDsmM8.jpg[]

##Conclusion Well unsure of how many of these cards are canon and how many are not but I would still like to theorize as there is no doubt that some are definitely lore relevant. Feel free to let me know of your opinion by commenting or participating in the poll!

19 Comments

Johnny El Rojo10/19/2019, 6:30:24 PM8 votes

I take the lore in Legends of Runeterra like this: unless it directly contradicts something on LoL or in the universe page, is canon.

RiotWAAARGHbobo10/22/2019, 4:33:16 AM5 votes

Great post, as always, Iceborn.

(I havent' gotten around to watching all of Necrit or TBskyen's vids I need to get around to that-- only watched demacia)

Sadly can't answer the she who wander's question. But yep the Frostguard where T shaped helms. Well spotted.

(Also thanks for listening in on our little narrative podcast the other day. I totally assumed no one would watch it!)

-Odin

alekzu10/19/2019, 7:06:32 PM4 votes

I thought that Anivia, Voli and Ornn represent the Freljordian land? Anivia is the snow, Orn is the mountains and earth and Voli the storm and wind. Am I missing something?

Jaspers10/19/2019, 7:24:04 PM3 votes

The giant beings of 'She who Wanders' and 'They Who Endure' could easily just be giant ancient beats who roam the far reaches of Freljord and the continent above the known map. The fact we only have 1/6th of the planet in view means there is no doubt more to Runeterra overall (one thing I think would have been great is if Darkin were just from outside the known map). There is very little explanation or exploration of more than what we know yet we have 3 or 4 space beings as part of the game.

TzQGRUST3910/21/2019, 3:27:10 AM1 votes

I think they who endure and she who wanders are too big (heh) to not have been run by someone who overlooks what's supposed to be canon and what's not. It seems like pretty serious business and not super silly fun like Hex T-Rex. I say "they" and "she" exist and might be a big deal in the future.

Larriet10/22/2019, 2:41:59 PM1 votes

Could this be a hint for how Lissandra uses that spell on people? Or is this simply the result of the true cold of the Freljord that can harm intruders and freljordians alike?

I wanna point out that multiples of Champion cards turn into spells when you draw them--Ashe becomes "Ashe's Flash Freeze"! I'd like to think these spells have thematic reasons for existing, though certain ones (like this and "Heimerdinger's Progress Day") seem to just be generic spells that work well with their respective Champion's mechanics.