Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

Kai'Sa, the Mary Sue

JustCallMeSPED·2/21/2018, 5:00:18 PM·11 votes·1,555 views

(I originally posted this as a comment to a different thread, but I thought it was worth making a separate post for. Original link: https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/dgAb3YEk-im-not-saying-dont-complain-about-kaisa-but-keep-in-mind-something?comment=0007)

I know people are already complaining about a number of different things, from looks to kit, but I think (outside of people being terrified of her kit prematurely) that there are two chief complaints that at least I find valid:

  1. Less importantly, she looks way too much like a hybridization of several other champs we already have: Ahri's facial marks, Vayne's guns, and just an overall safe, easy design. This was someone who was in the Void, and yet she looks like she just took a jaunt through Jumanji instead of someone who battled the unknowable insanity-scapes of LoLs Lovecraftian plane. Maybe her voice-over and stories will show her to basically just be a monster on the inside with great modified vocals and a thirst for death and revenge, but nothing about her splash indicates that this is where it would be going. I'd love to be proven wrong in the end though.

  2. "Kai'Sa" apparently translates to "Mary Sue". Every other creature who has had any contact with the Void is massively changed by it, coming out insane, dying, or being transformed into something horrific. Unless this woman managed to kill and symbiotically fuse with a voidspawn in her first MINUTES of being transported there, she should have already seen some harrowing side effects just from her initial transport to that realm. To say her "sheer force of will" is what kept her sane isn't so much a "oh, look how weak Kass and Malz were to have been so easily corrupted" as it is to completely dilute the horror that the Void itself is supposed to represent. If someone can just hop on in, skin something, wear its skin, and come out totally fine, then this harrowing plane of existence suddenly just another area of Runeterra that just happens to produce monsters sometimes. Her very existence this way dumbs down what is supposed to be the most mysterious and terrifying place in the entire LoL universe, or simply flies in the face of all the lore we have been given up to this point on it. And I really thing THIS is what has been bugging people most about her.

The Voidspawn are some of my favorite LoL champions, so I can understand why Kai'Sa is more than a bit divisive on the board right now. I'm sure there is no stopping her release at this point, but I'm really hoping the character and world building teams at least understand why so many people think this was a step in the wrong direction for the (totally-objectively) coolest faction in Runeterra.

28 Comments

Toppien2/21/2018, 5:29:46 PM5 votes

sometimes you get fused with a void creature by just entering the void, cuz i dont think those void portals are stable, like in the movie the fly?

[sg-lulu]

or maybe the void suit took away the corruption to acomodate its host?

in a symbiotic relationship, both creatures protect eachother, the suits protects her from void corruption, and she gives it a host.

how do you know shes not corrupted on the inside?

maybe she just look pretty on the outside and on the inside theres not even her own organs anymore, maybe she no longer has a torso or legs, probably in her effort to fusing herself with the void creature?

thats the whole thing about this champ, she did what no one else could, thats what makes her unique

shes not a mary sue, shes more like a superhero

[sg-ahri-2]

Zombie Slayer2/21/2018, 6:58:30 PM5 votes

Hopefully we get some better explanation to her surviving in the void other than this terrible "sheer force of will" shit because its such a terrible way for a character to overcome something. We already have champs who use their "will" to overcome something or prevent something Kayn is a example of that he has nothing going for him except his will to overcome Rhaast. I already didn't like her as a champion looking genuinely boring and sure shes cute but if the designer actually made her corrupt like someone in the Void should would've been alot better and she could still be attractive while being corrupted. Instead they chose to make her some hot girl wearing a skin tight suit who happens to be apart of the Void. I bet she will have edgy voice lines too which will make me dislike the character more.

AbiwonKenabi2/21/2018, 9:50:36 PM4 votes

{quoted}

  1. "Kai'Sa" apparently translates to "Mary Sue". Every other creature who has had any contact with the Void is massively changed by it, coming out insane, dying, or being transformed into something horrific. Unless this woman managed to kill and symbiotically fuse with a voidspawn in her first MINUTES of being transported there, she should have already seen some harrowing side effects just from her initial transport to that realm. To say her "sheer force of will" is what kept her sane isn't so much a "oh, look how weak Kass and Malz were to have been so easily corrupted" as it is to completely dilute the horror that the Void itself is supposed to represent. If someone can just hop on in, skin something, wear its skin, and come out totally fine, then this harrowing plane of existence suddenly just another area of Runeterra that just happens to produce monsters sometimes. Her very existence this way dumbs down what is supposed to be the most mysterious and terrifying place in the entire LoL universe, or simply flies in the face of all the lore we have been given up to this point on it. And I really thing THIS is what has been bugging people most about her.

I remember your post in the other thread, and I think this really sums up my primary problem. Riot has presented us with information about the Void--not much, but some--that indicates it is a highly corruptible. They then present us with a character that has spent the most time and comes out relatively unscathed. It's not that having exceptions to the rule is inherently bad. It's more that it feels cheap, like they've presented all this information that it should be very unlikely.

It's also the epitome of a missed opportunity to show us just what a terrible fate Runeterra could potentially face. Seeing a twisted human being come out of the Void has way more narrative impact than someone who essentially adapted perfectly.

Ralanr2/21/2018, 5:11:52 PM2 votes

Vayne doesn’t have guns...

Ebonmaw Dragon2/21/2018, 7:56:55 PM1 votes

Kassadin is just became purple... How does that translates to "massively changed"? Sure, he wears a mask to protect him from the corruption... but that is it. The suit of KaiSa protects her whole body (yes, including the face and chest).

You are assuming that she killed a voidspawn, when is not true, the passive clearly says that the thing is alive... it woudnt be a symbiotic relationship if the symbiote is dead.

midnight oil242/21/2018, 8:57:52 PM1 votes

I mean, we're likely to get a Void LU with her release since Riot talked about a Void Lore update recently, so it's possible that some things have changed with the Void. Kassadin's short lore entry at the moment also says that he's slowly succumbing to the corruption because he was using void artifacts without caring about the negative effect it could have on him. So that right there is an example of someone who wasn't exactly working against Void corruption, but rather embracing it to find his daughter. People do dumb things in bad situations, we should wait for the full story instead of getting angry before Riot has a chance to explain.

JhonTeemon2/21/2018, 10:32:52 PM1 votes

is she fight for the void? Or against?