A look at Varus' new lore from someone who honestly didn't pay much attention to the old lore.

So let me preface this by saying, I honestly didn't pay much attention to Varus and his old lore when he came out years ago. I looked at his stuff when he came out, and that's about it. So, I'm not personally attached to Varus in any shape or form. However, I can see why the loyal fans of this champion are more than a little outraged by this. I'll just go over a few short key points i picked up on.

The Gay Couple Thing So I don't care that Kai and Val are gay, hell props to Riot for finally dropping that ball. But my issue with these two is, why should i care about them? I had this problem when i watched "Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy 15" which, without going into spoilers, has you more or less dropped off into this plot with characters you have no idea who they are, and you're supposed to sympathize with them, even though you have no time to really get to know them. I have this issue with Kai and Val. They're more or less two completely new characters that are a couple. Okay cool, but why should i care when one gets shot and they have to fuse with an alien to live? I just don't care about these two enough to provoke an emotional response. So honestly, they're not very well written because everything about them is already established. We can't connect to them.

And this honestly really sucks cause there are plenty of champions that could be suitable gay couples already. Like, and or the popular, and . Instead we got two new characters who can't progress any sooner.

OH! Before i forget, having them call each other "Heartlight" is stupid. Just say, "my love" or "my heart." My "Heartlight" sounds like a children's show trying to explain relationships without breaking their rating.

The comics and video So the video's cool. Not my kind of music, but great visuals and all that. Again i must bring up my point that i don't really care about these two characters, so seeing them fight for control is cool visually, but thematically and story wise, i'm just sorta...bored. So it's a very good looking video, that i honestly wouldn't watch again because there's nothing t really keep me interested after it's over.

Moving on to the comics, my point of not caring about the two comes into play again. Sure it's cool to see them flirt and do that, "Meeting the Parent(s)" trope, but their relationship is already established. I don't know how they met, why they decided to get together, or anything really. So I don't care why should one be concerned about meeting the other's parents.

Now I must comment on the art style a bit. I normally don't like to bash artists because i know it's VERY difficult to make comics. But the epilogue comic had a lot of dramatic colors and white "flashes". But seeing the two fight for control while Varus goes on a rampage is honestly not very well portrayed. The motion and "smear" technique that i personally see is just not my style. There's also far too much dialogue that repeats itself almost every page. "No don't kill This person" or "Fight it!" By the end, we're not very far off from where we started. And that is again, quite boring, at least to me.

The Old Lore Hoo boy, I know this is where most of the fire is from. Again I must say, I didn't really follow Varus' lore that much back then. I honestly left LEague for a year myself when the Institute of War and such was retconned. I've come back now, obviously, to enjoy a lot of the lore that they've written (The Bilgewater and Piltover/Zaun events for sure, and Shurima too). But I do feel the ache of losing the more simpler lore. I digress.

From what I've read, the main argument is that Varus is completely different. Which is true, no doubt about that. And, that his original archetype of, Vengeful Archer, is more or less shattered. And I agree, to an extent.

This Varus is a completely new character, that is the amalgamation of two new characters and a new Darkin. (Technically, it's been hinted that Varus was related to the Darkin ever since Aatrox, now it is just an official confirmation.) So the old Varus, the family man who willing let himself be corrupted in order to gain vengeance, is gone. And that does indeed suck.

Overall, the dramatic change in character is more than a little alarming and is bitter to the fans of Varus who loved his original character. I merely wanted to point out the observations that I, a more or less Neutral party, have noticed myself. I'm not defending Riot or the fans of the old lore, just pointing out some things i saw myself that I didn't like about the whole update.

Also the Heartlight thing is still really stupid.