A theory about the Darkin
So, I’m pretty sure this is my first extensive post about the lore in the game. I’d like to apologize in advance for any typo’s or misunderstandings which may come up throughout. I welcome any and all comments.
First I’d like to begin by describing what we do know.
- There are 5 Darkin. This has been pointed out in the lore of all 3 current Darkin.
- One of the Darkin is female, as pointed out by Varus.
- Each of the Darkin was bound within a weapon and so far each of them has used that same weapon.
- Each of the Darkin so far seem to represent the horsemen of the apocolypse.
The Darkin that we know: Aatrox: Uses a sword, similar to the horseman called War. Seems to be the most important of the Darkin since the war turned when he was defeated. He’s also the first to have been freed from what I can tell. Kayn: The last Darkin so far to be freed. He was trapped in a scythe and he has parallel’s to how Death is represented. Varus: He was trapped inside a bow and he has parallel’s to Conquest. Edit: Varus fits Conquest. Why? Well, both of them carry a bow as their weapon, and Varus also tells his enemy to bow to him, much like a conqueror would. Bow to me, submit to me, let me rule and kill you all. Vengeance isn’t a horseman, but vengeance is his driving force now that he’s free.
Now that we know what we have, we can talk about what we do not have. We do not have the fourth horsemen, Famine. Out of the four Famine is the only one who seems to be ‘good’ since Famine represents justice, and his weapon is a scale. Now, something a lot of people don’t realize is that one of these horseman has another name, a vastly different name, Pestilence. And I believe this last one complete’s what we know of the Darkin and aligns with there being five of them.
Let’s assume that I’m correct on this, where does it lead us? The first champions who pop up to mind would be Kayle and Morgana.
Kayle would be Famine, the Darkin of justice. This aligns with Kayle’s nature and ‘divine’ appearance. And it explains Morgana being a Darkin and her sister.
Morgana would be Pestilance. For one, Morgana is depicted as being corrupt, one of her abilities is “tormented soil”, and both she and Kayle don’t have a place in current lore and her being a Darkin gives them a nice neat place to be in.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, Morgana doesn’t have a weapon while the others do. Well, I was looking at her splash art, and from what I could see a lot of her power comes from her hands, and on her hands she has a pair of gauntlets. What if these gauntlets are her weapon? It’s not unheard of for metal gauntlets to be used as weapons, for example, claw like tips.
Ok, so let’s assume I’m wrong and neither of them becomes a Darkin, then let’s look at the current female champions in league. For me, and a few other people, the most likely female champion who would fit the role would be Irelia. She’s slated for a rework, and she uses a magical weapon. And this leaves a slot open for another champion.
Another female champion whom I feel may be a Darkin or wields a Darkin, would be Riven. Riven is a potent warrior who uses a sword (Pestilence is another name for War who uses a sword). Furthermore, Riven’s blade is said to be an ancient and legendary weapon in her lore, and one of her abilities is said to be “broken wings”, and her passive used to be called “Art of War” which seems to be a neat little tie in to Aatrox being War and War being the other name. And her blade being broken might explain why the Darkin hasn’t corrupted her.
Maybe both of the next champions will be new champions to the game. After all, the sister was supposed to be sealed in Shurima, so maybe another Shuriman champion?
Now, let’s look at a few very interesting things which came up.
1) The ancient Queen who sealed away the Darkin
2) The statues Varus saw
1) The ancient Queen who defeated the Darkin wore golden armor and she had hair like fire. To me this could be Kayle, she wears golden armor, and when she’s using her ability she looks to be on fire hence the fire hair. And Morgana could be her sister who became attacked by the Darkin and corrupted by them forcing Kayle to not destroy them but bind them in the hopes of saving Morgana one day. The Queen could also be seen as nothing significant, like the ‘ruined king’ who never appeared as a champion. The queen also used old magic, so old that by the time the Darkin came there it was already ancient. So, what if this Queen used World Runes, the same thing Ryze tracks down. These runes would be old enough, and powerful enough to trap the Darkin who were going through the world easily.
2) The statues Varus saw at the temple where his sister was bound included a Jackal like, and crocodilian statues. But, what interests me is the third statue, the broken one, which was serpantine. Is this a teaser of another shuriman champion like Renek and Nasus? Whoever this god was, it was higher than Nasus and Renek since it was the center piece and the others seemed to be guards.
Another point I want to discuss is this:
League seems to be leading up to some catastrophic event occurring, and numerous aspects of Targeron are returning. People theorize it may be Void related, but what if it’s Darkin related? Already we see the Darkin come to attack in two waves. Something which has been bothering me is how the two waves were invasions, so how did their whole race become near extinct? I don’t believe it has. So, what if there’s a third wave coming? The first two nearly conquered the whole world, and what if the third wave finishes the job with the help of the survivors of the first two waves, who now know what was done to defeat them and can offer their experiences to achieve victory. And it works with the whole theme of the Darkin heralding the apocalypse.
