Could Shen and Zed actually catch Jhin?

Young Houdini·Aug 4, 2019·8 votes·12,660 views

I've had this argument with a friend of mine since Jhin's release, and I'd really like to get some more "educated" opinions on the topic.

In Jhin's lore there is a story told about him escaping imprisonment from a prison he was taken to by Shen, Zed and their master. But before I continue let me give some context to those who aren't familiar with the story.

So, Shen, Zed, and their master(Shen's father) captured Jhin after he went on a killing spree with a traveling circus and was given mercy by Shen's father and put in prison rather than killing him. Zed eventually goes on to kill Shen's father and embrace the way of the shadow, ostracizing himself from Shen forever. Five years pass and Zed eventually visits Shen, both disguised, in a tavern, and obviously they both recognize each other immediately, and Zed tells Shen that Jhin has escaped imprisonment. Shen, then accepts Zed's help in finding Jhin. Now, this is important, because Shen denounced Zed from his life entirely, and swore that he would never be forgiven, for he represents an imbalance. But despite this Shen accepts help from Zed, the man who murdered his father. The only reason Shen would ever do this is if he knew, in his head, that Zed was the only person capable of helping him catch Jhin. But the question still remains: would Shen and Zed be able to capture Jhin? And I don't mean find Jhin, because it's stated that Jhin's goal is to lead Shen and Zed to his location so he can perform his 'final act'. I mean could the two of them capture Jhin in his own environment with setup time, with Shen now being a master of the twilight, and Zed now being a master of the shadows.

I'd love to hear a response from a Rioter, but idk how to get their attention >.<

30 Comments

RiotWAAARGHboboAug 8, 201910 votes

I was the narrative designer for Jhin, I wrote that story, I was his VO writer and director.... Aaand I’m the writer of the new marvel ZED comic.

So I can probably answer your question...

Buuuut i’m not gonna!!! (hah!)

The Zed comic is, not surprisingly, hyper-focused on Zed. But I will say Zed, Kayn, Akali, Shen, Jovn Tau, and Jhin are all on the cover...

And it’s coming soon.

I will say there’s a couple of big misdirections in that old Jhin story. I’m not gonna say what —but that story is gonna go down... and not in the way you might think.

P.S. Getting rito attention is usually pretty simple.

Post on the forums (or reddit but u need a lot more upvotes to rise above the noise there)
Be polite and concise. Few people are gonna take time out of their day to be ranted at or read ninety pages.
Get enough votes/views to get on the “hot”level so we notice the post. (its actually a pretty small number.)
Hope that somebody actually has an answer. (Sometimes things are in flight and we don’t know or can’t comment... kinda like now)

4 Step CadenceAug 8, 20192 votes

Face reveal for Jhin or not? Please, tell me it isn't so. That's all I'm worried about and have been worried about for months. I just want to know if I'll loose my favorite champion or not.

RiotWAAARGHboboAug 8, 20198 votes

If u see a face. Is that his real face?

4 Step CadenceAug 8, 20191 votes

That only made it 4 million times worse.

4 Step CadenceAug 8, 20193 votes

Look, Odin, I appreciate your work and all and I respect the whole "I can't tell you anything I'm sorry" thing, but I would really appreciate a straight answer, cause if its a yes, then there's a lot I have to do.

The appealing thing about Jhin is the mystery of him. What he looks like, what his background is, ect. That's what people love about him. That's what I love about him. A face reveal would ruin him for me, personally, and probably a lot of other people too.

I've always said that a face reveal for Jhin would be the thing that made me quit, because his character is the only reason why I started playing, and the only reason why I stay. I have a lot of stuff that I'd have to get rid of(fan art, his figures, ect), a lot of loose ends I'd have to tie up(I'm his official roleplayer here on the boards, so I'd have to finish all my interactions before giving up my role and deleting my thread), I'd have to cancel my short story which I really wanted to finish, uninstall the game(and say goodbye to the Jhin mains), ect. Then there's the most urgent thing of all, which would be the mask I ordered for a Jhin cosplay a few days ago. I'd have to cancel that order soon so I could get a refund(wait, no, I can't, RIP $120) I'd also like to leave as soon as possible if that's the case, because I'd want to avoid all the discussions about the comic and his face and just leave remembering Jhin the way I know and love him as.

I guess its my fault for loving a character that's beyond my control so much, but you have to realize that he's one of the more popular champions, and he means a lot to people. The mystery of Jhin means a lot to people. I hope you are able to understand that. Just know that if you did reveal Jhin's face, that I'm not mad at you, or the narrative team in general. I'm just... Tired, really, of all this, and I'd actually be a bit grateful if you did reveal his face because that would mean I could finally stop hanging around these toxic boards and playing this toxic game with its toxic community. I'll miss the better parts of the community, sure, but... I just want it to be over.

ArakadiaAug 9, 20195 votes

That seems like a very extreme reaction that you "have" to do. And its not like a face reveal would totally obliterate any remaining mystery in his character.

You do you but I don't see why you would have to stop writing about Jhin and throw out any fanart you saved or merch you bought.

4 Step CadenceAug 9, 20191 votes

Well that entirely depends on how much other crap they retcon/reveal about him. Remember how his eyes are blue, not red, and all his "mechanical" limbs are just armor? What if they change that? What if his face is no longer fully functional, like they said it is? There's so much more that could go wrong than just a face reveal.

There's also the fact that "my" writing spans back about 3 years. I wasn't the first Jhin roleplayer. That was my friend, and I took him when they left. I kept everything the same. Every headcanon they established, all his relationships with other characters, ect. I've expanded beyond what they wrote too. Such a drastic change would mean I'd have to go back and change 3+ years of work so that nothing contradicts the main canon. That's what the roleplay boards are about, after all. Portraying the champions in a way that is believable for them in the main canon. People should feel like they're interacting with the champion, not some crude mockery of the champion.

And why bother keeping anything? Why bother to continue? My art and writing are garbage anyway, and the figures are just pieces of plastic. Would just bring back terrible memories for me.

I'm so so tired and so sick of this shit constantly happening. The minute I find something new to enjoy, it gets ripped away from me. Every. Fucking. Time. I don't even know why I fucking bother anymore. I really fucking don't.

There's no fucking point anymore. It will never be solid. It will never be okay. It will always be the same suffering all day, every day, forever, because I deserve it. Climb to the top just to get kicked back down. Over. And over. And over again.

I'm done. I've had it.

It's over. I'm gone.

Goodbye.

tamayaAug 9, 20192 votes

I don't love Jhin because he's "mysterious". I love Jhin 'cause he's "Jhin". I love how the terrible demon that is Jhin was born from an average human being. But such a simple body is not fit for an artist of his caliber. (At least “he” thinks so.) That is why he became "Jhin". Jhin's not "a normal human with a horrifying mentality". What stands before us is the "The Golden Demon Jhin". If Jhin were to take off his mask and show his face, Jhin will disappear. Jhin'd be no more. All that would be left would be a simple human with a mask. Do you think Jhin believers want it? Just to be clear, it's not "mystery" we're looking for in Jhin, okay?

ArakadiaAug 9, 20193 votes

I didn't claim that people like the mystery in Jhin. 4 Step Cadence did and I was responding to their post, although I do think the mystery is important for this intrigue.

But if I understand you correctly, your saying that if they face reveal him then Jhin would lose the ability to be anyone? That the Golden Demon would no longer be a pseudo-mythological serial killer without human identity? Is that the issue because I can understand that.

While I see more value in keeping him without his canon face revealed, I can see why they would want to reveal his face too.

tamayaAug 10, 20191 votes

I know Jhin is human, but that doesn't mean I need that fact shoved into my face. It is plainly stated in his bio after all. But even then, I want him to stay "Jhin". Say for example, characters in Disneyland. Do you want to see the people underneath the costume? Would doing so expand our understanding of that character? No, it would just break the illusory reality of their existence. Stripping a character to their bones isn't always a good thing. It's better at times to leave things vague so the audience can dream.

ArakadiaAug 10, 20192 votes

How does a face reveal in a comic shove that in your face? Shoving it in your face would be putting the face reveal on the front page of the client and removing his mask on all skins in game.

Your example is flawed because Jhin does wear normal clothes frequently unlike Disney villains. We only see his theater wear in game. The fact is an important part of Jhin outside his theater wear is that its hard to catch him because he looks like a normal person. Revealing the legendary Golden Demon's face to be that of an average Ionian male would be pretty crazy for in-universe characters. This would go so far and push home that while not everyone is as deadly or cunning as Jhin, any average looking or normal person can be hiding disturbed and violent ideas.

tamayaAug 11, 20191 votes

If I don't read comics, it's not as if Jhin won't be destroyed. If i don't watch the news, it doesn't mean that the reported incident never happened.

I understand, and love, that the underside of Jhin's mask is just an ordinary person, as previously stated. But for us Jhin believers, it is also very important that he remains Jhin. He loses value if he takes off his mask in front of us and is no longer Jhin. ("Only to the audience do I show my true face.") Our action then is not to stop reading comics, but to stop worshipping him.

ArakadiaAug 11, 20192 votes

If I don't read comics, it's not as if Jhin won't be destroyed. If i don't watch the news, it doesn't mean that the reported incident never happened.

Except this is a poor analogy. An incident in the news like an election or disaster effects you whether or not you know about it. Jhin's character in your mind will only change however if you know about his face reveal or not.

But for us Jhin believers, it is also very important that he remains Jhin. He loses value if he takes off his mask in front of us and is no longer Jhin.

I don't see how seeing his face makes no longer himself.

("Only to the audience do I show my true face.")

We are literally his audience. We are his viewers. We are the reader and we can even take the perspective of his victims if the comic or a short story were to do so.

Our action then is not to stop reading comics, but to stop worshipping him.

Not that I understand worship in general, but why would you worship a League of Legends video game character?

some degenerateAug 12, 20192 votes

Maybe I'm just a bad Jhin main who doesn't really understand the champion, but I'm one of those weird fringe cases who's completely indifferent to a potential face reveal. It seems like such a touchy subject for so many mains and I can understand where they're coming from since a potential face reveal could undermine his theme as a masked psycho-killer.... but I also realize there's only so much Riot's lore department can do with a masked mystery man until his usual artsy murder schtick becomes repetitive and pushes him into one-dimensional, Saturday-morning cartoon villain-territory.

Eventually, they're going to have to reveal _something _ about him in the new comic. Something that touches more into his mysterious "human" side that he masks from the world. Whether that's through a face reveal, a glimpse into his past (like the deal about his father being a former dojo master) or deeper look into his weird theatrical psyche - I don't know, but I do know that they'll need to give us _something new _ to keep him interesting.

4 Step CadenceAug 12, 20192 votes

Its not just the face reveal. Its everything they could change about Jhin/do to Jhin + the face reveal.

They could make his eyes actually red-brown and not blue(they confirmed his eyes are supposed to be blue).
The could make his arm/legs mechanical and not just armor(they confirmed his arm/legs are supposed to be armor).
They could change literally anything and everything about him if they wanted to.
Fuck, they could even kill him, which would really such because then we'd never get anymore Jhin stuff in the lore.

Plus, all that shit would be canon, so we wouldn't be able to speculate anymore, which sucks ass. I love writing about Jhin's past. I love thinking about what he might look like. Does that mean I want to actually know any of that stuff, though? No! We know nothing about him. The speculation about Jhin is part of the fun of his character. Not knowing anything about him doesn't make him uninteresting, repetitive, or one-dimensional. There is literally so much Riot can do with him without revealing anything about him.

Also, I think you greatly underestimate how insane they could make Jhin if they weren't restricted with a T rating. His scrapped color story, as well as a few of his voice lines(still waiting for those 12 "they violated the game's rating" haiku, Odin), were so graphic that they needed to be toned down/cut completely. They had to fucking nerf Jhin so they didn't get in trouble for any graphic/disturbing content. That's how crazy he actually is.

Doesn't mean we have to hold back on the violence, though. I certainly didn't when I wrote A Lethal Masquerade and In The Shadow of Greatness, or when I just roleplayed as him in general. That's the fun of it all. I don't want all my work to be undone because Riot got a bad case of amnesia and forgot what they already established about Jhin and what makes Jhin, Jhin. Of course, I could always completely ignore everything Riot does past this point and write for myself, but that's not why I decided to do this. I want to share my work with the community, with the world, and I want my work to be a believable representation of the character I'm writing about, and I can't make that happen if I ignore what Riot does. However, if I don't want to lose my champion, my muse, I have no choice but to ignore it, because I don't want to know anything about him, nor do I want to have to rework everything to match whatever Riot retconned.

I won't deny that knowing about Jhin's past or seeing his face or stuff like that would be cool for some people, but for me, and a lot of other people, we'd really rather not know, because its the mystery that we love. The speculation. The personal conclusions that we came to. Knowing what is beneath the mask, or about Jhin's past, just wouldn't feel the same. You wouldn't look at him and wonder, you'd just know, and knowing is boring.

murasakiyukariAug 11, 20191 votes

No, no, don't take a mask from him. That's a boring attempt, but why do you want to ruin the charm you originally made? Then, the concept of creating a champion or running a VGU sounds very empty.You showed it first and agreed "I like it". When I tried to get on your bus, you suddenly looked back at me and put me on the ground. Absolutely terrible.

Penta PenguinAug 14, 20192 votes

Who is Jovn Tau?

Acquire, retain, monetize btw

6FlagsFunnelCakeAug 8, 20192 votes

{quoted} The Zed comic is, not surprisingly, hyper-focused on Zed. But I will say Zed, Kayn, Akali, Shen, Jovn Tau, and Jhin are all on the cover...

Jovn who now? Is this a new character or am I missing something.

RyzeTheSmurfMageAug 8, 20193 votes

{quoted}

I was the narrative designer for Jhin, I wrote that story, I was his VO writer and director.... Aaand I’m the writer of the new marvel ZED comic.

So I can probably answer your question...

Buuuut i’m not gonna!!! (hah!)

The Zed comic is, not surprisingly, hyper-focused on Zed. But I will say Zed, Kayn, Akali, Shen, Jovn Tau, and Jhin are all on the cover...

And it’s coming soon.

I will say there’s a couple of big misdirections in that old Jhin story. I’m not gonna say what —but that story is gonna go down... and not in the way you might think.

P.S. Getting rito attention is usually pretty simple.

Post on the forums (or reddit but u need a lot more upvotes to rise above the noise there)

Be polite and concise. Few people are gonna take time out of their day to be ranted at or read ninety pages.

Get enough votes/views to get on the “hot”level so we notice the post. (its actually a pretty small number.)

Hope that somebody actually has an answer. (Sometimes things are in flight and we don’t know or can’t comment... kinda like now)

Wait is Jovn Tau an already existing character in-lore or is it a new one?

SpideraxeAug 9, 20191 votes

Hey Odin could I ask if you’re gonna use any of the material Michael wrote for either Kayn or Akali for the comic

4 Step CadenceAug 4, 20199 votes

The plan isn't to catch him. The plan is to kill him, and Jhin knows that. The plan is for all of them to die. It would have been perfect, but Zed killed Kusho, making it 3 instead of 4. Jhin always kills in 4s, and for this piece, he(meaning Jhin) would have been the 4th victim. But, the show must go on.

A Rioter also confirmed that Jhin's story will be getting its 4th and final part eventually.

Young HoudiniAug 4, 20192 votes

[{quoted}](name=4 Step Cadence,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=XV5NT7wn,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2019-08-04T01:46:14.889+0000)

The plan isn't to catch him. The plan is to kill him, and Jhin knows that. The plan is for all of them to die. It would have been perfect, but Zed killed Kusho, making it 3 instead of 4. Jhin always kills in 4s, and for this piece, he would have been the 4th victim. But, the show must go on.

A Rioter also confirmed that Jhin's story will be getting its 4th and final part eventually.

I'm super excited to read that fourth part, I can't wait.

TheMan292Aug 4, 20191 votes

[{quoted}](name=4 Step Cadence,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=XV5NT7wn,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2019-08-04T01:46:14.889+0000)

The plan isn't to catch him. The plan is to kill him, and Jhin knows that. The plan is for all of them to die. It would have been perfect, but Zed killed Kusho, making it 3 instead of 4. Jhin always kills in 4s, and for this piece, he(meaning Jhin) would have been the 4th victim. But, the show must go on.

A Rioter also confirmed that Jhin's story will be getting its 4th and final part eventually.

what story? my memory is fuzzy, been FOREVER since I read his lore

4 Step CadenceAug 4, 20191 votes

His color story has an unwritten 4th part, which I assume would be the "end" of his story.

Also here's a screenshot pf the Rioter comment: https://i.imgur.com/wXcr4xq.png[]

TheMan292Aug 4, 20191 votes

[{quoted}](name=4 Step Cadence,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=XV5NT7wn,comment-id=000100010000,timestamp=2019-08-04T04:52:22.023+0000)

His color story has an unwritten 4th part, which I assume would be the "end" of his story.

Also here's a screenshot pf the Rioter comment: https://i.imgur.com/wXcr4xq.png[]

ahh thank you very much

RiotWAAARGHboboAug 8, 20195 votes

Yeah but also no. To clarify.

I didn't mean it would wrap up in one more chapter of prose.
Only that the story would be followed up on and that, that color story was intentionally left incomplete— because that kinda was the point of it. (Jhin is a psyco-killer on the loose.)

Damn, 4-step you’re an expert though. You find all these deep backgrounds quotes.

4 Step CadenceAug 8, 20191 votes

Ah, I see.

Also, yes, I suppose you could say that. At least, everyone seems to think I am, given their... Um... Constant dropping of my name in threads pertaining to Jhin, this one being the worst offender.

I'm not Jhin's writer guys I'm just a meme please stop treating me like a Rioter.

laststanding6Aug 8, 20192 votes

On a related note, are we ever gonna see story progression in league? Like events related to say "containing the void" or "the watchman make their move"? There are so many cool threads that haven't been expanded upon either like talons rivalry with quinn. I would personally love to see why that is.

KazekibaAug 8, 20191 votes

[{quoted}](name=4 Step Cadence,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=XV5NT7wn,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2019-08-04T01:46:14.889+0000)

The plan isn't to catch him. The plan is to kill him, and Jhin knows that. The plan is for all of them to die. It would have been perfect, but Zed killed Kusho, making it 3 instead of 4. Jhin always kills in 4s, and for this piece, he(meaning Jhin) would have been the 4th victim. But, the show must go on.

A Rioter also confirmed that Jhin's story will be getting its 4th and final part eventually.

Im assuming everyone else agrees, but youre sitting at 4 upvotes so I cant upvote you :) Sorry

KazekibaAug 4, 20193 votes

And ruin status quop? Of course not.

Its Marvel and riot, neither of which can write an even moderately decent plot