I'm not sold on the new Leona

Eeyore·2/25/2016, 8:23:59 PM·19 votes·2,316 views

As a Rakkorian Warrior and as a Celestial, Leona is shown as someone who does what her gut tells her is right above what is expected of her - meaning her moral compass is above her duty, which is the same as her old lore. But her new lore has a section in middle where Leona seems to be having a mid-life crisis (i.e. when she's a Solari) and it feels really out of character to me. When confronted by the excitable and seemingly peaceful Diana - who came before the court as a literal god-incarnate - Leona was practically foaming at the mouth over the prospect of getting to kill her. Where did this sudden blind obedience for the Solari come from? Being indoctrinated seems so out of Leona's character, to me, particularly since the story gave no impression that the Solari was intentionally doing this (Leona literally educated herself).

Solutions to this, for me, would be to either give some impression that Leona was a Solari-at-heart BEFORE they recruited her - perhaps seeing the Golden Man as an aspect of the Sun and it was her belief that the Sun's light is pure that stopped her killing it; or for Leona to show signs of remorse or hesitation over the fact she believes she'll be Diana's executioner. For example, "Leona knew how the elders would react before Diana even opened her mouth; steeling herself at the prospect of being ordered to attack an emissary of the Mountain, who entered the court in good faith. But to worship False Light... Diana was wasting her breath here. Suddenly Diana struck out..." Like, it's fine for Leona to be overcome with shock or grief, or even outrage so long as the outrage is over senseless murder (rather than someone speaking with different beliefs).

Don't get me wrong, I love fictions where The Sun is the villain. Something so big and important is just ripe for a vain and arrogant character, that blinds and burns out of malice... but Leona isn't that character. To me always seemed like the character who would oppose even the Sun if it meant sparing an innocent (and Diana was innocent at the time Leona passed judgment on her; although at least in her old lore Diana acted in self-defense). And I know that Leona was "shown the truth" when she became the Radiant Dawn - but it should have been how she thought as her own person. (Although this does raise the question... was Leona only Chosen because she spared the Golden Man, does he not know the venom that was on her tongue when they met for the second time? I thought the Mountain only chose the worthy...)

30 Comments

Ralanr2/25/2016, 8:25:25 PM9 votes

Killing a bunch of people in front of you tends to do that. Plus she's not as hateful now since she knows the truth. The problem is that Diana doesn't know that Leona knows.

ThatAutofillSupp2/25/2016, 9:12:18 PM4 votes

as someone who loves leona as a character and her old lore i completely agree..she just seems like a different person now

GreenLore2/25/2016, 11:48:36 PM3 votes

Overall I think its to make her less of a goody-two-shoes.

Yes she is quite a bit darker now,but in the end she still seems to see it as more important to protect than to kill. However sometimes you have to kill in order to protect and she is aware of that(thats why she kills the barbarians,she knows they would only come back and cause even more deaths)

Regardless at the end she seems to realize that she and the elders were in the wrong,which is why she seeks diana now,not to kill her,but for answers.

Also it looks like both the sun and the moon powers are rather evil.Leonas color text describes something evil within her wanting to cause death and destruction,while dianas bio makes it clear that diana had a blackout when she killed the elders.

Spitemaster2/26/2016, 2:08:17 AM2 votes

Thing is, none of that moral compass actually appears in the story. It's equally reasonable to consider her encounter with the golden boy as a case of enchantment, not mercy (and I think even moreso). There's no point in the story where she protects someone because they couldn't protect themself, which was so much of her old character. I agree with a lot of what you've said, but it seems like you're considering Leona's personality in the new lore as essentially the same as her personality in the old lore. If you don't know the old lore, there are two almost entirely different people.

Gapybo2/25/2016, 10:27:43 PM2 votes

Leona is not evil now. Please reread the lore. She is basically the same person. The conflict with Diana happened before Leona became the aspect of the sun. She doesn't hate Diana after.

TallyZrg2/25/2016, 9:56:48 PM2 votes
Celio Hogane HD2/25/2016, 10:05:03 PM2 votes

Leona is exactly how i knew she was actually, she was hiding a dark motive, her story shows it.

Dian? Diana is exaclty the same as before, so.

Trading Aces2/26/2016, 1:18:03 AM1 votes

[{quoted}](name=The Empty Lord,realm=EUW,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=WjI6h12L,comment-id=,timestamp=2016-02-25T20:23:59.548+0000)

why is Leona, the character who would spare a monster and is driven by a thirst for enlightenment, so hateful toward Diana?

Think of it like Christianity (may I not be flamed and/or damned for the comparison) back in the day. Suppose you are a former soldier that's discovered religion cause you have this awesome moral compass that cause you to abstain from killing and become priest or something. You thirst for knowledge and learn from fellow priests and become a cardinal or something. Then you escort some abbot from where ever - also supposedly Christian mind you - and he goes about spouting to the Pope on how Satan and God are both necessary and are yin yang like and require one another theologically. That abbot would inspire rage and scorn from even the most well tempered priest of an older era and would probably receive a swift execution.

ArbiterOfTruth2/26/2016, 2:26:58 AM1 votes

I think that the reason Leona got angry was because Diana reacted rashly. She could have run away, but instead she entered a rage and killed the elders. After Leona becomes the Aspect of the Sun she knows that she has to work with Diana.

Oysteroth2/26/2016, 6:59:41 AM1 votes

No it doesn't. Leona is strong because she is willing to look back at what her people have done and then make amends for them. She's lived the lives of everyone on the mountain. She grew up as a trainee. She fought against the alien beings from the mountain along with everyone else. She lived the terrible life of the common folk, and she rose above it by sparing the boy and passing the cosmic sun god's test. Then she was swooped away by the high priests and what not, and she learned what she thought was her true purpose as a holy guard, but she would later rise above it again after her fall into anger and vengeance.

Once she sees the truth, that the Solari and the Lunari fought, and her people won and wiped them from history, she realizes how terrible her people have acted. She leaves not to finish the job her ancestors started, but because she's risen yet again above her peers who would continue being blind to the truth. It didn't pick her to make her see the truth. It picked her because she was able to see it. She now wants to make amends for the wrongdoings committed in the past and hopefully to ally with Diana against whatever was foreshadowed in Pantheon's lore.