There is no heaven. (in the lore)

The Ecdysiast·6/1/2019, 1:29:41 AM·10 votes·7,913 views

Mordekaiser's new bio reveals that there is no heaven or hell. Just a shapeless afterlife akin to the way the afterlife was depicted by the earliest of ancient Greek myths (before stories were added that added a special place for other famous characters). No consciousness for the most part, just souls drifting in a void.

From the sounds of it, though, Mordekaiser's faith had him believing that there would be a place akin to Valhalla. Not exactly the "paradise" most monotheistic religions believe in, but a place where worthy warriors can enjoy the thrill of combat. But that was wrong, so he's basically making his own. Which is actually pretty nice of him. At least the souls can do something besides drifting lifelessly.

But there is one line that calls into question the afterlife he first encountered, "Mordekaiser hungered for all the forbidden knowledge of spirits and death, and a true understanding of the realm… or realms… beyond." The mention that there may actually be other realms besides the grey, empty one that he encountered is incredibly interesting. It may be that there are several different kinds of afterlife, and there's some magic component that determines which you end up in.

That aside, the fact Mordekaiser's creating a pseudo-Valhalla means if he kills Olaf, Olaf basically gets what he's always wanted.

7 Comments

KestrelGirl6/1/2019, 2:07:43 AM3 votes

This is still a theory, but there may or may not be multiple afterlives depending on belief system, region, innate magic/power, etc. Mordekaiser's Asphodel is just one of them.

Whyte Lyon6/1/2019, 2:43:03 AM3 votes

Im curious what the difference is meant to be between the Death Realm (that Sahn visited) and the Spirit Realm.

The Spirit Realm contains the 'essence' of abstract things like concepts, emotion, the environment/flora, and seemingly the source of magic. While it can create conscience beings of pure energy too, which can also materialize in the physical world. Probably among many other things.

While the Death Realm, as far as we know at this time, contains the life-force of the deceased specifically humans and (maybe) the things that aren't inherently magical. But also that life-force isnt infinite and eventually it either evaporates into oblivion or is reincarnated/repurposed.

I'm not sure what's going on, or what the writers are setting up, but my initial thought is the Death Realm is a (very depressing) sub-domain in the Spirit Realm. Like how Yordles and Bandle City are an extended branch of the Spirit Realm.

Otherwise, the whole ordeal is frustratingly confusing. At least the D&D cosmology is divide among realms with a concise structure; Order/Chaos and Good/Evil. While Runeterra's looks more like Environment/Emotion and Concept/Celestial. Or something like that, dont quote me on it.

Gold Light6/1/2019, 10:55:06 PM3 votes

Well, we did kind of actually know this before. Way back in during Azir's addition to the game, in the second trailer, Nasus narrates that Azir had been "called back from oblivion." This is, admittedly, somewhat different from the purgatory Mordekaiser describes, but yeah, seems there's not much to Runeterra's afterlife aside from darkness.

Stars Shaper6/1/2019, 6:18:03 AM2 votes

Olaf is screwed and I like it xD

NotaRobot10066/2/2019, 12:34:34 AM2 votes

There's an official tweet confirming multiple Runeterran afterlives. My guess is that Morde went to the (or a) Bad Place either because he ended up unworthy of the Hall of Bones specifically or because he was unworthy in general of a good afterlife on account of all the murder and tyranny.

Schoenberg6/1/2019, 5:59:07 AM1 votes

I like the thought of a nice, cold void after death. There's just something snug about it although I can't quite put my finger on it.