Varus and Kassadin literally have the same lore but Varus was ''cliche'' and changed????????????
Ok? Both want to avenge their family and they harnessed some power to do it. That kinda bothers me seriously .
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I guess if you compare the lords by squinting at them from really far away on a rainy day they do look similar.
No one ever said that Varus' old lore was "too cliche", nor was it the reason for them to change it.
Varus needed an update for his lore anyway, since he became a Darkin. In context with that update, they had to figure out what is the essence of Varus they should keep. The answer was that his base theme is to protect a loved one.
But now they had to decide, is it really important for that story hook that he is a straight family father? Obviously, this wasn't the case for them. You can showcase the theme of protecting a loved one without that requirement and that's what his story now is. That one guy sacrificed his and his loved ones humanity to save him from death. And now they are fighting to get it back.
Which, honestly, at least has room for development. Old Varus didn't have any progression in his story. It was just about a guy who had nothing left in life and is mindlessly killing people until he dies himself.
There was no hope, no development, no tension. That story stagnated. The new story at least leaves options for the future. Maybe the Darkin will win and take over the body. Or maybe the couple is able to defeat him and stay together.
And you mentioned it, the loving father losing his family is already in the game with Kassadin. So why not take the chance to investigate another route, if you got the opportunity?
Well I mean:
- Varus had no character relations beyond the nebulous concept of wanting to destroy Noxus. Kassadin had and still has a rivalry with Malzahar.
- Varus's goal involved killing everyone in Noxus no matter what. Kassadin's goal is to kill Malzahar and destroy the Void, but the "how" isn't exactly clear, so there's the entire story of "how does he actually accomplish his goal" where as with Varus it was pretty cut and dry
- Varus's family were dead where as it's HEAVILY implied that Kai'Sa is Kassadin's daughter, which means his quest for vengeance is compounded by having his child still alive and potentially working together with. There exists a character in the scope of Kassadin's story who can pull him out of his vengeful path, or at least steer it away from oblivion. Even considering the slight chance Kai'Sa isn't Kassadin's daughter, there were no bodies and as such it's still possible Kassadin's family are alive.
TL;DR old Varus's story was fairly linear given there was unlikely to be any reasonable narrative justification to get him off of his track. Kassadin isn't like that. His story's more open.
The thing is that Kassadins battle against the void can go further than the desire for revenge.
Also I'm pretty sure that part of the reason why the lore of Varus was changed was to differentiate him from Kassadin.
Varus' story wasn't "too cliche," it was over. It made for a great short story, not telling longer epics.
Kassasdin is still in active combat with Void. Varus already got his revenge.
Kassadin wouldn't have a daughter then and Riot wouldn't be able to release Kai'Sa. That's all that happened. Varus was the perfect SJ sacrifice.
I mentioned in another thread it would have been great to have Kassadin doing all he can to survive the Void thinking his daughter (family) is alive trying to save her and becoming like he is because of it, all the while in despair that she was gone. The sad truth being that she wasn't dead and mostly 'fine', depending on your interpretation.
He is a mess, he went through horrors and she's alive and sane.
Instead, we have a guy who's our for vengeance against The Prophet.... for some reason.
The Void Walker according to this little bit of lore has only just or even never walked the Void but not actually the Void.