I think Narrative is cowardly, afraid of RetCons and Breaking the Status Quo

One thing that drives me insane with any media (lit/movies/anime) is the idea of 'status quo'.

In that idea, nothing changes for the character (except maybe a girlfriend) but the world is not a better place from this experience, just the same. Now, this can be used for thematic effect (like in Kingdom of Heaven which is a great movie, in my opinion, if you ignore Orlando Bloom's acting) which cool or it can be used rather horribly (like RWBY vol. 2).

The thing about the return to status quo is that oftentimes, it makes us feel the journey didn't make them better people. And this is strongly apparent when the status quo is viciously enforced. This is most often seen in harem anime (where if the protag actually picks a girl - the entire anime premise would end) and thus nothing is ever done. This can be seen in Nisekoi which is a prime example of status quo being enforced every, single, goddamn, episode.

But it can be used well.

An example of Status Quo being used well is in Back to the Future. Marty basically returns the world to the way it was but instead of a cocky arrogant kid who easily gets goaded into street races he's more mature and controlled + the girl.

But status quo is not being used well in Riot's case.

It just seems like Riot Narrative is VICIOUSLY attempting to protect the status quo. So much so that these champions don't interact with each other and have no consequences on the world. Kalista, Bard, Rek'Sai, Tahm, Ekko... these champions do affect other characters AT ALL. They are just status quo - constant, unchanging variables - in a Runeterra that we understand to dynamic, fluid, and sometimes honest-to-dirt messy. Everything that has happened so far recently has just simply not made an impact on the world.

kills a few inconsequential side characters. No effect on the world 's very purpose to maintain the status quo is not doing anything different - he's just one less friend than before slaughtered a caravan and she'll probably keep doing it again and again eats people - but does he grow from that experience? Have we heard of anyone growing from an experience with Tahm?

So far, we've just been given the main set-up, but no real conflict. There's a lot of potential lying around but no one actually lighting the match and saying GO! They set up a vague as hell Shuriman civil war with Azir and posse on one side with Xer'ath and Renekton on the other but we have no idea how this conflict will play out. There's no armies for either side and there's no real place for Xer'ath and Renekton to go so... what?

I think the reason why Riot is so terrified of breaking status quo is because it means commitment. Riot Narrative has a huge fear of commitment right now because it doesn't want another Retcon debacle. If they actually said "well Noxian armies led by Darius launch a war into the resurrected Shuriman Empire" then that means they produced a story line they actually have to follow up with. And if they fail to follow it up - or worse, end up deciding that's not a storyline they want to pursue - it means retcon.

And as you can tell, there's an adverse taste in many people's mouths for the retcon.

But man, you can't tell a story if you're a coward. You're going to have to make these champions bleed and suffer and sometimes maimed or seriously harmed either emotionally or physically. You can't keep up this Japanese harem manga level of story-teases where it's like 'maaaybeeee something will happen! Stay tune to find out ;)' because that's just painful on waiting fans. You can't viciously force a return to status quo with every champion teaser - nothing changes, nothing happens, it's all static.

Runeterra used to be a living breathing world - now it's a stagnant puddle full of messy ideas and no direction.