Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

The Obsession With Possession

DonatellaVersace·4/3/2018, 1:25:39 AM·11 votes·848 views

With Karma's new lore released, and having been heavily disappointed by it, I realized something about some of our most recent champions as well as ones who have received updates.

What do all of these champions have in common? Well it is quite simple. They all have some external force acting as their internal conscience or weapon

Swain has his demon-spirit, Varus is a darkin inhabiting two lovers, Zoe is inhabited by the Aspect of Twilight, Karma is now the Last Ai- an Avatar carrying the past incarnations of some priest, Kai'Sa has a voidling attached to her acting as a adaptive suit, and Kayn has Rhaast haunting his existence.

While these champions all have some pretty well-built stories (save Karma), it seems that as of recent, some of our most beloved champions need to be inhabited or possessed by some greater force in order to be great themselves. This trend started with Kayn, and has continued for a bit too long in my opinion. Not to mention that Irelia credits 'the spirit' with allowing her to manipulate her blades.

My question to Riot's lore team, is why have you allowed for so many champions, both new and old, to now have to rely on external forces in order to be powerful? Why has this trend been going on for so long? And why can't we have a new champion that's great for the sake of experience or challenge?

9 Comments

Quiet Dude4/3/2018, 1:34:44 AM3 votes

Many stories and myths in human culture have elements of external supernatural forces being representations of the strength inside us. They all have their purpose and allow humans to understand themselves and the world around him. There are plenty of champions that rely on their own strengths in comparison to those who wield the strength of others, but at some point the line blurs between what is ours and what isn't, or if it's all a reflection of human nature that have manifested into something tangible. At what point can we truly say it wasn't our strength to begin with?

Tattersall4/3/2018, 2:39:01 AM3 votes

I mean, this hasn't just been a recent thing. Udyr, Diana, Leona, Taric, and Illaoi use magical forces that inhabit them as weapons, and Pantheon is straight up a flesh-suit for an external force. Oh, and saying Swain's power comes from an external force is like saying Caitlyn's power comes from an external force, it's just that Swain subdued a demon and Caitlyn trained with a rifle. Actually, this can be said with a lot of champions.

GreenLore4/3/2018, 1:01:46 PM2 votes

Honestly its not really something new for a champion to get their special powers from an outside source. Ashe Sejuani Braum Irelia Trundle Riven all get their powers from their weapon

Azir Nasus Renekton Cassiopeia Xerath Hecarim Elise Lissandra Nautilus Sion Thresh Karthus Yorick all got their powers through another source of magic(granted Xerath&Yorick had powers before their transformation)

And in general Riot simply likes to play with different fantasy archetypes and there are simply a lot of different ones about gaining power through some other being.

Swain is essentially a warlock,a mage who made a pact with a demon(or other supernatural force).

Varus was always focused around corruption and in his original lore,he was slowly getting consumed himself

Zoe and the aspects in general are essentially avatars of gods/godlike beings.

Karma is someone who reincarnates over and over again(kinda like the avatar from the last airbender/legend of korra)

Kayn represents demonic posession

Kai'Sa is all about symbiotism/parasitism.