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Nautilus and Varus's new lores are terrible

SpecterVonBaren·11/22/2017, 11:11:59 PM·16 votes·1,389 views

A while back when a comic was released for Nami that revealed (Or changed) that the dark evil that was threatening her people was the Void entering Runeterra through the ocean, I made comments that I didn't like this kind of streamlining to stories and characters where instead of lots of different people with different backstories and problems, we end up with people with very similar problems.

Here's Nautilus and Varus's new lore.

Nautilus

All know the tales; all pay the Bilgewater tithe. Since time immemorial, Nautilus has roamed the dark waters off the coast of the Blue Flame Isles, dragging impious sailors to their doom. The armored goliath strikes without warning, his inexorable footfalls churning the waters, before swinging his enormous anchor upward to shatter mast and keel alike. He then pulls the flotsam beneath the waves to appease the wrath of the Bearded Lady.

Varus

One of the ancient race of darkin, Varus was a deadly killer who loved to torment his foes, driving them almost to insanity before delivering the killing arrow. He was imprisoned at the end of the Darkin War, but escaped centuries later in the remade flesh of two Ionian hunters—they had unwittingly released him, cursed to bear the bow containing his bound essence. Varus now seeks out those who trapped him in order to enact his brutal vengeance, but the mortals' souls within him still resist every step of the way.

Instead of being a tortured soul that had been left to die by his fellow crew only to come back for revenge only to find there was no one left to enact it on, Nautilus is now just a boogeyman, no character, no backstory, he's just a force of nature.

Varus's the worst though. No longer does he have a tragic backstory of his family dying and him being out for revenge at any cost, he's now just another generic Darkin and his host (hosts?) are just two nobody hunters.

Characters are being streamlined so they can fit into a few little boxes of, this person's a demon, this is a Void, this is a Demacian. This is what happens when people try to unify everything into one nice and simple box. What's the point of changing the lore of Varus if he's now just Thresh Lite? If the new lore destroys any kind of characterization he has then what's the point?

Riot needs to stop this new trend of trying to simplify all their champions to fit into specific little niches. Everything doesn't need to connect to everything else and even if it does, it doesn't need to hit the same notes as everything else.

20 Comments

Warlord Dienekes11/22/2017, 11:31:57 PM5 votes

Yeah, Varus' particularly seems kind of odd. Since it seems to completely shift the character from the man who is going to become corrupted by the darkin to the darkin itself.

Maybe they thought it was too close to Kayn? But that's still a pretty huge jump in character there.

Quepha11/22/2017, 11:35:36 PM4 votes

I don't understand the point of changing the lore of old characters.

I guess it's low risk because not many people really care about the old lore, but it's also low reward because not many people care about the lore period.

You dramatically change an old character that has a lot of fan fiction created about them and there are going to be a few people that you majorly piss off, and there's not much potential pay-off for it.

I don't really understand why Riot does it.

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO11/22/2017, 11:17:07 PM3 votes

I don’t really see a problem, this is after all the short form bio, longer lore will come and maybe some of the concerns will be addressed.

Varus will no doubt elaborate on the two hunters, and Nautilus’ old lore was just weird. It seemed as if Nautilus was a normal dude, but then the New Dawn cinematic made him gigantic.

Looking at short form bios, yah, everything will be a little streamlined because that’s the point of short form bios.

iLBGAMing11/23/2017, 1:27:47 AM3 votes

Tbh they should either do any of these 3 things in my opinion..

.

  • Revert back to the original lore, but shorten it. (so that it fits better in the champion bio section better)

.

  • Change the lore to something else that actually fits his character.

.

  • Or just rework him to make his new lore match the in game character, but I don't like the new lore to be honest as you mentioned "No longer does he have a tragic backstory of his family dying and him being out for revenge at any cost, he's now just another generic Darkin and his host (hosts?) are just two nobody hunters."
Falun11/24/2017, 9:01:24 AM2 votes

I've written a lot on Varus, my main character and am very attached to his story.

When Kayn emerged, I had my own theory about Varus/Darkin, without destroying his whole lore. The Darkin Aatrox was the winner against his human host, which doesn't exist anymore. The victor between Kayn and Rhaast is no determinated yet. And as the name let it suppose, Varus is still the human. He's quite the "shadow assassin" version for the darkin bow. For him, the human won, and let him with the power of the darkin. This theory is easily understandable and does'nt need to change the deep and strong Varus lore. This only gives a name to this ancien corruption as a darkin, not completely erases the character tragedy.

When I read that, I feel very sorry for this poor Guardian. He will soon no longer exist or have a name (replaced by random guys). Why Serious, why ?? Rito, I hope you read that because I'm angry you decide to destroy such a beautiful character to make another Thresh in mind. I hope too you can still change and do a better choice.

some degenerate11/23/2017, 12:09:57 AM2 votes

Sona's new lore is awful as well. She's no longer a mute Ionian adopted into a Demacian family that a mysterious and strong bond to a sentient instrument. Rather her instrument is just that - a regular instrument and she now shares Lux's narrative tropes about being a mage who's trying to keep her Power secret from Demacian soceity.

Hexs Fortune11/25/2017, 3:02:32 AM1 votes

Vaarus, Aatrox and Rhaast walk into a bar..

Chembaron Yamada11/23/2017, 11:15:20 AM1 votes

I understand Nautilus' lore a bit differently. Keep in mind that these are really short versions.

Nowhere is it stated that Nautilus being left to die by his crew is not canon anymore.

How I imagine his backstory: Nautilus still was once a sailor himself. A tragedy caused him to drown in that suit he is wearing, he was left to die in the depths by his crew.

What's new is that the bearded lady intervent here. She gave him a new life and a new purpose. He became her servant, dragging ships down into the depths and tributing the flotsam to her.

Nautilus pretty much became the Davy Jones of league of legends now. Once a man, died, but serves now a supernatural deity (Davy Jones -> Calipso/Ocean, Nautilus -> Bearded Lady).

ModAcademy Kayn11/23/2017, 3:54:05 PM1 votes

I mean, Naut's at least could still be left to die by his coworkers, it just could've been much longer ago, which would up the factor on just what that Black stuff did to him