My problem with Lissandra's new story (no, I don't think the story itself is a problem)
Let me preface this by saying that Lissandra's new story makes sense. Given that the Watchers were changed to be the masters of the Void earlier this year (when Kai'Sa came out) and since Lissandra is not some insane cultists that wants reality to be destroyed (since that's the goal of the Void) it's perfectly reasonable for her new lore to be her gaining power by the hands of the Watchers but not wanting them to be free to wreck havoc in Runeterra.
My issue with Lissandra's new lore is also not with the fact that many of her in game quotes no longer match her at all, that's more of a pet peeve really. (As a side note: I'm only somewhat ok with it because many champions still have a voice over that is completely out of line with their new lore, such as Varus, and Riot is not in a rush to update them either).
For me, the real problem is the changing of established characters that result in other pieces of lore that were written with those character in mind being stuck in a limbo of ''no longer canon until further notice''. Specially aggravated when said pieces exist in game and can't be removed.
For instance, Lissandra's new lore makes other character's stories no longer reasonable (such as Udyr). Now this is not that big of a deal since those stories can be easily changed (and will likely be soon). And lucky for her, there are no champions that directly reference her previous lore (such is not the case with Illaoi's taunt to Aatrox for example). But what about her VO on the Howling Abyss? Well that's certanly no longer canon. What of Gregor and Lyte? Are those 2 characters in the ARAM map no longer a thing? At the very least many of Gregor's lines are untrue now, such as the one where he says that it was a great honor to be killed by Avarosa to become the eternal guardian of that place. (This was brought to my atention because of this thread: https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/XcM5htsH-perhaps-the-biggest-question-raised-from-the-new-story )
An argument I read, was that her previous lore (and all the Freljord lore that was written in 2013 by extension) was ''pre retcon''. https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/cKr2v5E8-freljord-unclarified-lore-questions-collected?show=flat&comment=000b But at what point is something considered ''pre retcon''? The answer seems pretty obvious but let's look at some examples that make it less so:
Swain and LeBlanc's new lore (from 2018) state Boram Darkwill was a human, yet in Sion's short story (from late 2014) it's implied they were friends (in the previous lore it made sense given that Darkwill extended his life-spawn considerably trough necromancy), which is impossible given how Sion died long ago. As a side note, it also resulted in the Reborn mini website being taken down, which was one of my favorite pieces of league story content since I started in 2010, but that's of course just my preference.
In the ''Where Icathia Once Stood'' story (from 2018), Setaka dies the moment the void is unleashed, and yet in the ''Bloodline'' story (from 2016) Nasus said he ''held her as her light dimmed and I sent her to her slumber far below the sands with her weapon upon her breast.'', which is also curious given that Nasus couldn't have been in that battle as all the Ascended that were there died.
And the latest one where Yi's lore (from 2018) states that for centuries no one knew of the swordsmanship secrets of the Wuju clan until he showed up in the war against the Noxians, and yet in Jhin's lore (from 2016) it is stated that Wuju swordsmen were tasked with patroling the area where ''The Golden Demon'' was causing trouble and that they also held some significant political influence (though this one could arguably be solved by changing some lines of Jhin's lore). This in particular sticks out to me because in Jhin's QnA it was stated that Jhin was interested in killing Yi because of the Wuju school surpassing that of Jhin's father (something I took notice because it hinted at his past):
It's almost as if whenever a witter is tasked with creating a new story for a character, he doesn't bother to consult what already exists or at most just does a light reading to make sure there isn't too much of a mismatch.
(Warning: Rant) If I wanted to be subjective, I would give examples that of changes that I din't enjoy recently, such as my belief that Shen's new lore no longer referencing any of his feats was a downgrade (sure, we can all assume that they still happened until indication that they didn't, but the argument can also be made that since there's no official source mentioning them, they no longer are true).
Or about how I am upset that Irelia's new lore removed both the previous narrative of her father being one of the greatest swordsman who ever lived (managing to stay dry in a rainstorm by deflecting all the water is pretty damn cool if you ask me) and the potential return of Zelos as a character in a single stroke.
Or even how I think that Nautilus' change from someone trying to find the ones who betrayed him to effectively be changed into a sea monster that trundles along the waters, sinking boats who don't believe in his superstition almost by instinct only so that you could create Pyke was a cheap move.
I could even speak about how I believe that trying to tie everything up (such as making every animal human hybrid champion a Vastaya, or changing the Darkin from a group of 5 creatures who influenced mankind since it's earliest moments to alien invaders and later to fallen Ascended, or even making the Void the only major antagonist in the story) makes the world seem much smaller and limited, as an example: I wouldn't be surprised that Kayle and Morgana's new story no longer involves them being people from another plane who were locked in war for millennia, and instead are now Ascended who took the form of angels because they don't associate directly with the Shuriman ideals, such as Nasus taking the form of a jackal due to the animal's association with knowledge within Shurima. (End Rant)
Instead I want to be clear that I'm not talking about the quality of the pieces put out, I'm speaking about something else: I believe these changes make the people that work with the lore aspects of the game (such as text, comics, cinematics, etc) look like they are either:
A) More focused with changing some of the old stuff to explain new content (for instance changing Lissandra's lore so that you could tell the ''the Eye in the Abyss'' story) instead of building upon it.
B) Not interested in preserving essential aspects of the previous characters (for example, how Varus' new story has no mention of a willing sacrifice of self for revenge).
C) Having some serious internal communication issues.
D) All of the above
In fact here's some evidence that I'm not the only who's bothered by the inconsistency of the new lore: https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/98woju/what_the_hell_is_going_on_with_the_lore/ While I was the one who made this thread it's evident by the majority of the comments that other people too are not pleased.
I enjoy the League of Legends lore and many people who I play are always interested in knowing about any developments in it, to the point where I managed to successfully convince a handful to actually experience it firsthand. But the way 2018 has been going I am dreading that the story is going to start to suffer from small retcons whenever Riot wishes to release new content that conflicts with what was established. And I can't recommend anyone to read something that is constantly in a volatile state.
And it hurts me because I have enjoyed most of the new stories, but having a narrative that has demonstrated willingness to change at the whim of the writers because they can't find a way to integrate what already exists is very discouraging of things to come.
https://twitter.com/LaurieGoulding/status/1011650303756677120
The point is, there's a clear issue with being ok with changing a character for the sake of a new story: What guarantees now that at some point in time these stories are no longer going to be considered canon anyways?
