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Why I'm not suspending my disbelief on Leona's lore

Linna Excel·2/27/2016, 3:13:53 AM·9 votes·1,654 views

There's a few things that bug me about Leona's new lore. The one problem I have with it is I don't see Leona trying to 1v1 anyone as she's a support and has been that way for so long, I don't see her fighting solo. Especially with that passive. I've tried jungling with her, it's pretty weak and your ganks depend on your teammates procing your passive. She's just not a dueler.

So that's one of the things bugging me about the thing.

Leona's Original Lore for reference

>On the upper slopes of Mount Targon, the warriors of the Rakkor live and breathe only for war. However, Targon's peak is reserved for a special group of Rakkoran who answer to a ''higher'' calling. Members of this group, called the Solari, retire their mantles of war, choosing instead to devote their lives to reverence of the sun. According to legend, the Solari were formed by a warrior who could call the raw might of the sun down upon his enemies in combat. He claimed Mount Targon's summit, the point on Valoran closest to the sun, for his solar devotion, a tradition which generations of Solari have preserved to this day. > >Leona's parents were traditional Rakkorans, both bred for the heat of battle. To them, Leona was a problem child. She was capable of fighting as fiercely as any other - including her childhood friend, Pantheon - but she did not share their zeal for killing. She believed that the true worth of a soldier lay in her ability to defend and protect. When it came time for her Rite of Kor, a ceremony in which two Rakkoran teens battle to the death for the right to bear a relic-weapon, Leona refused to fight. For this, the Rakkoran leaders ordered her execution, but when they tried to strike the fatal blow, sunlight burst forth, bathing Mount Targon in light. As it faded, Leona stood unharmed and her executioners lay unconscious around her. The Solari immediately claimed Leona, demanding that her sentence be repealed. She donned the golden armor of the Solari and they bestowed upon her the sword and shield passed down from the ancient sun-warriors of legend. The Solari helped Leona focus her abilities, so that she might bring light to even the darkest of battles.

That's pretty nice as far as old lore that riot made goes. It fits her and her gameplay style.

So some thoughts I have on her new lore:

>Her skin shimmers with starfire while her eyes burn with the power of the celestial Aspect within her. Armored in gold and bearing a terrible burden of ancient knowledge, Leona brings enlightenment to some, death to others.

Why does the opening paragraph make her sound like someone who's gotten too close to cthulhu? A flaming disciple of eldritch knowledge who may have been possessed by one of those things isn't really Leona.

>All manner of otherworldly things are left behind when it withdraws; radiant creatures that kill at random and muttering voices that whisper unspeakable secrets to drive mortals mad.

More lovecraftian horror. Did you guys even read the old lore? If this was vekkers or iloai , then lovecraftian horror would be great. Especially if it ending in horrific but consensual tentacle sex. That's not Leona though.

>Rakkor means Tribe of the Last Sun, and its people believe that many worlds have existed before this one, each of which has been destroyed by a great catastrophe. Its seers teach that when this sun is destroyed there will be no more

So basically they are an end of the world cult? That... doesn't sound like the old them at all. There's nothing about end of the world cults in her original lore. They were just sun worshippers. Maybe like apollo. Did you guys write this while watching This is the End?

> She was fascinated by the mists wreathing the summit and often wondered what might lie beyond them.

So she went from someone who wanted to protect others to a creepy goth girl who can't even get the colors right?

>She fought and killed them as she had been taught until one day when young Leona encountered a golden-skinned boy with horns and bat-like wings wandering on the mountainside.

Leona and her Demon pals! Here's a new idea that totally doesn't fit her old lore and back story.

You guys were watching This is the End while writing this weren't you?

>Leona and Atreus fought beneath the blazing sun, and though both bled freely from dozens of wounds, neither could land a deathblow.

Leona, she used to be a protector who refused to fight and now she just fails at it and tries to 1v1 a fed jungler as a support.

>the elder had been led to the Rakkor by dreams and an ancient Solari prophecy that spoke of a warrior whose fire burned brighter than the sun, a daughter of Targon who would bring unity to the celestial realm.

This is the closest thing to her original lore and it's still worse than the old one. The old thing was cool in that referenced her ult and made sense for them to take her. Now we've got another boring "I'm the chosen one" story. Bleh. At least you weren't taking inspiration from the star wars prequels.

>Leona brought Diana in under armed guard, for her warrior instinct sensed something awry in the girl’s demeanor. Presented to the elders, Diana spoke of the Lunari, an ancient and proscribed faith that venerated the moon, and how all the truths the jedi Solari clung to were incomplete. She described a realm beyond the mountaintop, a place where the sun and moon were not enemies, where new truths could show them fresh ways to look at the world. Leona felt her anger build with every word Diana spoke, and when the elders rejected her words and named her a blasphemer, Leona knew it would be her blade that ended the heretic’s life. > >Leona saw Diana’s incredulous fury at the elders’ denial, but before she could react, the old man white-haired girl hurled herself forward. Blinding lightning exploded from Diana’s outstretched hands, and orbs of silver fire burned the elders to dust in the blink of an eye.

So after watching this is the end, you started watching revenge of the sith... just great. Please watch Mr Plinkett's videos on youtube on why the prequels were bad at storytelling.

>White flames surged in a hurricane of cold lightning and blasted Leona from the chamber. When she regained consciousness, she found Diana gone and the Solari leaderless.

This technique really doesn't work well in writing. In doesn't work well in games or moves a lot of the time either. A convenient explosion that only slightly knocks out the hero is convenient. And obvious. And it lacks explosive impact in print. You know how I titled my post about not suspending disbelief? Well it's overused stuff like this which just stands out more and points to you guys taking something that's too often misused and putting it into the wrong media.

>A column of searing illumination stabbed down from the heavens and engulfed Leona.

Cthulhu encounters of the 3rd kind.

>She felt an awesome presence filling her limbs with terrifying power and forgotten knowledge from the earliest epochs of the world. Her armor and weapons burned to ash

Hold on... chosen one... fire... burning... where have I heard this before?

>in turn reborn as dark iron lung samurai ornate warplate, a shield of sunlight wrought in gold and a sword of red plasma chained dawnlight.

This sounds so familiar.

>She still had her memories and thoughts, was still master of her own flesh, but a sliver of something cold mechanical evil anger vast and inhuman had chosen her to be its mortal vessel.

Darth Leona? Really riot? The best you could come up with was Darth Leona? Couldn't you at least save this cheesy tripe for the Eclipse Leona skin everyone wants? At least that skin would make sense with the lore you posted.

>Now, more than ever, Leona knew she had to find Diana.

Okay, I see where this is going. At least now we are getting to the juicy slash fiction. The This is the End meets Revenge of the Sith meets stolen Lovecraftian nonsense kind of fits slash fiction.

>The Light Bringer > >The raiders attacked before dawn

So you weren't building towards a slash fiction encounter I take it.

Excuse me, I need to cry behind a face palm.

5 Comments

Valaran Nara2/27/2016, 6:39:41 AM9 votes

So, I'm going to say this before going into counter arguments (and my saying this could weaken my own, purely because I'm bringing this to light), you're taking small excerpts and making sarcastic jests at them without pulling out context of what's happening in the story. This makes it easy for someone to counter with information that may not even be factual or properly informed purely because the foundation of your arguments aren't too strong.

Now, on to the counter arguments.

1.) You mentioned that the Solari are now an end of the world cult because of their teachings. So is Christianity. Due to the sins of all humans, eventually the anti-christ will come and bring about judgement day, and that'll be the end of everything. There are plenty of religions that have "The End Days" written into it. And, for none- monotheistic reference, there's always the Norse Ragnorak.

It pretty much gives some foundational depth on their religion. More so than just saying "We worship the sun." This is part of the world-building process. Otherwise, the religion is 2D cause it is only "Worship sun" nothing to know about it but that, right?

2.) Leona and her demon pals, yeah! Here's the thing. The original lore stated that Leona prefers the "defensive style" of fighting. You know. She wouldn't kill people. She'll only protect them. Blah blah blah. A lot of people loved that about her. It identified her as seperate from the others. However, that DOES make her a Mary Sue. Yes. Mary Sue. How? Well, she refuses to fight and kill even though she's being trained as a warrior. Yes, she had a sense of mercy, but that did not change. The "Demon pal" is used to show Leona's judgement making when it comes to fighting. While she is willing to kill for survival, she could tell that the creature wouldn't put up a fight. Hell, to her, the creature best as well have been some random dog with a limp. If you had to fight rabid wolves all the time cause they naturally aggress you on a regular basis, but come across one, maybe a youth or pup with a broken paw, it doesn't try to bark at you or bare its fangs. The thing limps away scared and terrified. Are you going to go out of your way to KILL it, or are you going to let it be because it is no fret to you? Or will you have a sense of kindness and generosity that is bourne inside of you to actually help the wounded creature?

Leona helped the wounded creature. Mercy. If she does not need to fight or kill you, she will not, but she will if you leave her no choice. Which, in my opinion is better than just saying "No! DOn't kill each other" 24/7. Even Ashe understood that to unite her people, blood had to be shed, and she wants an end to the brutal warring of the Freljord.

3.) Cliches are cliches. They become cliches because they're either common story devices or plot points for usage, or because it can occur so naturally that you can compare it to anything. For example, yes, you can find MANY different stories where the main character gets knocked out. Then you have stories where the main character DOESN'T get knocked out. Great. That's wonderful. However, we aren't going to compare all the shows that doesn't portray a hero never getting knocked out by a sudden explosion. I mean, I totally don't have any acquaintances that seen military action and got in close proximity to an IED. Well, I do. And yes, it is very possible to get knocked out from that. It's not a cliche because it kills time. It's a cliche because it's so possible that it's a natural "yeah, of course it happen" whenever a proper trigger occurs. If you stand upright and completely conscious, either the event wasn't strong enough to cause people to get knocked down, or you're just that big of a badass to withstand it.

Also, side note. Some things are abound to run similarities to other works. We have the internet that has so much information and text that two people who have never met each other or saw each other could come up with startling similar characters without realizing it. Purely because a fan seen Person A's work first, they will of course believe Person's B work is a rip off of A. Even if B has been around and made their stuff 2-3 years before Person A.

Look up "Original Thought Theory". It can put things in perspective.

4.) With the Darth Vader part. I feel as though you're just feeling out for more things to bash the writing with. It's a moment of transformation from one point of the character's life to another. She is going through a similar transformation that Atreus and Diana went. The difference with Leona is that she gets to "bathe in the glow" (Ka ka!) This is the moment where Leona gets her celestial powers and become an actual aspect. And this happened AFTER Diana got hers. Not before. Would you rather Leona ran across her armor inside of some cave just like her counterpart? That would be League copying off themselves at that point. It's a way for them to express her transformation, plain and simple. And as I've mentioned before, in a previous part, cliches are cliches because it's a natural way of things happening. Not that a celestial transformation is natural, but how else would you define the transformation given the context of that Targonian mythos finds itself in?

5.) Well, at least the possibility of Leona not straight up killing Diana is alive. A lot of people theorize that Leona MIGHT be the only one to listen to Diana. Now, she most likely IS the only one two cause nobody but the Atreus has went through such a celestial transformation and well...Atreus is Pantheon now.

Slamurai Jack2/27/2016, 2:02:46 PM2 votes

Honestly Leona isn't that bad of a duelist if you actually have gold to fight with. Defnitely not top tier but she can hold her own.

La Bello2/27/2016, 4:53:19 AM1 votes

this is new Leona. get used to it kiddo ;]

http://imgur.com/8QxojuM

ElectroScalar2/27/2016, 1:34:56 PM1 votes

Great reference to the Suspended Disbelief trope, and why it doesn't work in the new lore!