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Why do I get the feeling that Riot has completly forgotten the Darkin?

SaltyToplaneGoat·10/17/2015, 11:48:24 PM·14 votes·1,597 views

Because since Aatrox's rather underwhelming release we haven't heard anything of them. And that was quite some time ago... Wasn't 2015 supposed to be the year of "mythical and legendary champs"? Well, we got a lot of them, even freaking death himself, but still no news on the Darkin.

And the two darkin candidates we have? Jax is essentially lore-less. He might as well not exist at this point as his lore is 100% centred around the IoW. And the other candidates...

Well, but what do we even know about Darkin? All we know that Aatrox, "the darkin blade" probably refers to a sentinent sword and the body is some kind of blood-powered golem. Or some posessed dude who doesn't seem to age, who knows? So, if Darkins are non-human-things that take on a humanoid form. But what are these "non-human-things"? I'd go as far and say that they are "concepts" (or more specific, "Jungian Archetypes") of certain things - it wouldn't be wrong to call Aatrox the material manifestation of "War" (or rather "Bloodlusty carnage"). And what is his form? A blood-drinking sword. Seems to be pretty fitting here if you had to find one thing that shows "war" or "slaughter".

Going from the fact that Aatrox is war and that Riot Designers are PROBABLY influenced by western history and culture, they might have been going for that "four horsemen of the apocalypse" theme a little. That 4-man group is a bit varying in it's members depending on from what cultural context you take them, but usually two are always present: "War" and "Hunger".

While there might be as well Darkin that might represent other themes apart from the 4-spirits-on-horses group, but I doubt that there is not a "hungry" Darkin already in league.

Let's thing a bit, what is a symbol that really is affiliated with "Hunger" in our culture and history? You can't really pin it down on an object like with war/slaughter. So maybe it's not an object, but an animal? Pigs are usually seen as symbol for gluttony, which is not hunger. Goats eat pretty much everything, but are not really brought into context with it either. But there is one: it is: the black bird. Crows or Ravens in that case

Usually this would apply to any bird that would eat the meat of corpses, but in medival/post-medival europe (which seems to resemble runeterra in some ways) crows/ravens were the most common.

Wait, we don't really have a black bird-champion in league, do we...? Oh wait. He might just get a new splash art...

But how is Swain hungry? "MY BIRD IS HUNGRY!" "LET'S JUST MORPH AND EAT THEM!"

Ok, wrong question, how does his actions and his rise to power fit along with the "hungry" theme?

Well, you can be hungry for other things than food. Honor, Stenght, Political Power... and since in Noxus strengh (in all of its forms) = Political Power & Honor, one shouldn't be surprised to find the literal manifestation of hunger somewhere in there.

I have seen one interpretation of Swain of him being a magician that made a pact with some kind of crow demon (in that case the Darkin), but that's not really it. The human body might as well be a "fake", the real Swain being the bird. Might explain why he needs a crane to walk. Birds can't normally use that walking pattern, they usually usually "hop" more than they "walk". He's not injuried on one leg. His mind is just too "birdy" to let him walk without one.

That doesn't exclude the fact that "Beatrix" (the bird on his shoulder) is not an existence of her own. They could have some kind of mental/existencial link and still be two seperate beings. One forming the more intelectual aspect, the other the more natural of the Darkin of Hunger.

Tl, dr: Swain is Aatrox smarter big bro.

Ah btw, I'm not forgetting Varus here. When the theory of Darkin "posessing" people is true, then the manifestation of "Corruption" might be quite thing that Varus has sold his life to. I mean, look at his kit. Corruption is usually seen as something "weird, unnatural and harmful that expands" - let's compare that to the ult... or the fact that he defiles the very ground he shoots his arrows on...

I wonder if we will ever get any updates on this... Well, maybe Swains gets some expanded lore... he would deserve it.

36 Comments

Núll10/18/2015, 6:14:45 PM2 votes

[deleted]

Rebonack10/22/2015, 4:25:22 PM2 votes

I would argue that the Darkin are forgotten because they're fundamentally forgettable.

Even the name makes me cringe. It's like something a 13 year old would come up with on their lunch recess.

Sharjo10/17/2015, 11:57:53 PM2 votes

I remember from the Tahm Q&A someone asked about the relationship between Tahm and Aatrox, and I believe it was WAAARGHboo who said that Tahm has a history quite similar to Aatrox, but he's too much of a gentleman to make a fuss over it.

There's a lot of stuff in League but I doubt any one thing is forgotten, at least not entirely. They might not be making a huge Darkin event but they still know that's something to go back to someday, but then you've gotta try and discern where the other four Darkin fit. Two of them are unknowns and the other two have had some effect on human history, so two are easy and two are difficult to place in the world. It's a good thing there's a lot of world building going on at the moment, because that'll give them room to add this where it's appropriate. If they already put down where the other four Darkin go in the world when Aatrox was actually released, then Riot gets bonus points for way in advance planning!

But just finding a place for them in the world isn't the only thing to consider; it's in game representation. Now of course, the five Darkin don't all need to be playable, but if three are known to history and are sorta immortal warriors of immense power, they'd probably make for cool champions, but where do you put them in terms of role? Gameplay? You basically ask the same questions as to when you make any new champion, but with an added caveat; this new Darkin can't step on Aatrox's toes, both visually and gameplay wise. It's kinda like Master Yi and Yasuo; they spent A LOT of time with Yasuo to make sure he was incredibly distinct from Yi, so as to give them both their space in the game and not step on each other's toes considering they're effectively the same archetype of Samurai. From a story stand point, I'd say look to the less defined lands in Runeterra for Darkin influence. I personally look at Ionia and Mount Targon, but you could really look anywhere. From a gameplay standpoint a new Darkin would need to fill a gameplay niche and archetype that Aatrox doesn't already fill.

tl;dr: Riot probably hasn't forgotten the Darkin, but it's likely not a precedent to bring them to the forefront of the lore right now.

kJs10/18/2015, 6:22:43 PM1 votes

Which Death? Kindred or the Lord of Death; Mordekaiser? Karthus likes death too, so does Thresh.

MeDicenWera10/18/2015, 11:30:51 PM1 votes

I think it might be too much to try and identify darkin attributes where RIOT hasn't made a mention of them, tough the Swain theory is pretty interesting. I think honestly, HONESTLY, this game's lore is pretty deficient, unorganized and messy, BUT that's a result of an attempt of having a big champion variety which is AMAZING for LoL in particular.

Of course with some champion releases and reworks we've had some champs tied by lore over the years, recently for example with Azir and Sivir. Who was Sivir before Azir's release? A Chakram throwing bounty hunter. Now she's the last descendant in the imperial line of Shurima.

We also had the ahh... Bilgewater event with GP, MF, TF and Graves that tied again some of that Lore AND translated it into some interesting gameplay chinges.

However I think that we have to live with the fact that most champs histories or backgrounds on the lore, exist independently with each other and only merge when RITO adds the line: So what was the next obvious step for "insert champion name"? Join the League of Legends to achieve their goals, YEEEEEEEEAH.

Remember that when PROJECT came out we had a teaser website, the skins, the icons, the bundles, the skins, the event in game, the cinematic called First Strike and then that's the end of it. We're most likely never gonna know what happenned to that "world/timeline" specifically, gonna have a Second Strike or something, but it keeps people speculating and talking about it, which keeps the game interesting, gives people things to talk about, until the next thing comes, which is great cause these events are really fun and almost always rewarding.

For the Darkin, if anything, we might or might not see an event or cinematic (?) probably involving Ezreal, maybe Tryndamere but that's really it.

Scilot10/19/2015, 1:20:50 AM1 votes

Ive seen some theories and concepts on what the Darkin could be and what they've done, and the one that seems to stick out to me is that the 3 known Darkin could be gods that try to change the course of history in Runeterra for the better (Yes, even Aatrox). I could explain it all if you wanted.

Also, around the time of Aatrox's reveal it was confirmed that all darkin have wings and are able to fly, so that eliminates your idea saying that Aatrox is actually his sword, and Varus also couldn't be one either as much as I would like him to be one :( Those would make really neat additions to lore. Jax could have wings underneath his clothing though and Swain could be one.

Stephenizgod10/19/2015, 1:27:32 AM1 votes

"Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"

...Yorick...

always forgotten

TyroneWatermelon10/22/2015, 4:59:25 AM1 votes

I long ago waited for more Darkins,as an Aatrox main In Aatrox's AMA a rioter gave a "future spoiler"5 Darkins exist,but only 3 of them ever mentioned,while the other 2 are completely unknown to the rest of the world. Maybe even the other Darkins don't know of them,they don't speak much" 2013-end of 2015 still no new content. Even though Aatrox's body looks like a corrupted human,I still don't support the theory of Aatrox being the blade

Kamiroo Wolf10/29/2015, 3:38:24 AM1 votes

Sigh Everyone has seemed to forget that Beatrice is the REAL dark force behind League =_=

Swain Just look at the face of the one man army...true evil Swain

TurquoiseYoshi10/17/2015, 11:58:55 PM1 votes

Some people consider TK a Darkin, saying that he is friends with Aatrox in his bio.

KING OF MASKS10/18/2015, 6:20:13 PM1 votes

Narrative really doesn't have the time to develop something as tertiary as the Darkin when they have huge swathes of uncovered ground. So yeah, they're probably forgotten for the moment.

By the way, Swain's raven is Beatrice, not Beatrix. And I would be severely disappointed if he/she turned out to be something as boring as a Darkin.