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[Spoilers!] Zed Issue Nr 2. Discussion

Lady Faceless·12/18/2019, 4:21:19 PM·21 votes·18,140 views
https://universe.leagueoflegends.com/en_US/comic/zed/issue-2/0/

Hey everyone, finally the second Issue of the Zed comic is available! In this thread I will discuss it, if you want to read my thoughts about the first issue, you can read it here.

So less intro, more comic related talk.

Symmary

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/656896999160807436/Zed3.png

While Zed and his Yanlei inspect the corpses, Jhin starts his attack. He kills 4 of Zed’s follow, including Jovn Tau. Zed tries to catch Jhin, which leads him to the local Blossom Festival of the region and Jhin manages to escape while the sabotaged firework kills the festival visitor in the background. Bitterly, Zed realizes he is unable to catch Khada Jhin on his own. This all brings back an old memory from Zed how they managed to catch Khada Jhin during a Blossom Festival by using him as bait back then. Jhin, which was aware he was hunted by the Kinkou, had everything set up to kill Yevnai, Shen’s betrothed, for which Zed also had some romantic feelings. Shen and Kusho managed to capture Jhin, Zed is ready to kill Jhin but Kusho intervenes. Shen and Akali arrived at the Kwol Tavern but Zed is already gone. Since Shen refuses to go for revenge, he parts his way with Akali which is still after Zed. 3 weeks after the attack, Zed visits Yevnai which got married to another man. Zed managed to get the information about Shen’s location reluctant from her. He also offers Yevnai protection from Jhin which she refuses to take. In the last page, Jhin starts a puppet play with figures which look like Shen and Zed with the words “Shall I beginn?”.

Characters

~~ Zed~~

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/656908320291946526/Zed8.png Overall, this comic showed us a little bit more information about Zed but nothing mind breaking like last time. Zed had (and it is hinted still has) romantic feelings for Yevnai, Shen’s former betrothed. Also, it seems that he is able to see someone “energy” since he is able to see how much magic the Yevnai’s children have and that one isn’t a fully human (half-vastaya). Another thing, it seems like Zed birthplace was mention since he introduced himself as Usan of Kéthé. Also interesting is that it seems that he left the Kinkou on a really bad note, noting that he kissed Yevnai with the thought behind that he wanted to be exiled from his former home.

Jhin

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/656908522755194888/Zed7.png

So, we can see why in the hell it is so difficult to catch Jhin – he always plans out his performance. He also could read Zed perfectly, setting everything up to remind him of last time. I do disagree with Zed, I think Yevnai will be one of his targets but probably he will use her own children to get to her similar to on accident published german color story.

Yevnai

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/656908625498865694/Unbenannt5.png

So far we know that she seems to be a lady from a noble family and both Shen and Zed had some romantic feelings for her, mostly still have. Her engagement with Shen got called off then Shen become the Eye of Twilight and married Lord Qenjo. She is not really a loyal wife as Zed mentioned that one of her children comes from an affair. Also Zed mentioned that she had a “gift” which seems to be strong magical abilities. Yevnai is compassed and don’t show any hint of fear to Zed, she even that refuse to tell him where Shen is until he treats to tell her husband about her affair. She also condemns Zed action, doesn’t believe and refuse to take his help. Maybe because of her affair and the way she acts (“If you had kissed me because you wanted me… I might even have liked that.” ”Yes, I have nice life… with just enough drama to keep it interesting.”) makes her seems like the kind of pretty girl which always had everything in her life and breaks men heart because she has nothing better to do. Maybe she actually loved Shen, but I’m not sure if she would have been loyal to him either.

Shen

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/656908745049112577/Zed6.png

Another issue with too little spotlight for him. More interesting is Yevnai is comment that he still writes her (so he still has persons he cares about) and that according to her, he never wanted to become the Eye of Twilight. Let’s hope the next issue will have more Shen.

Kayn

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/656908981339553803/Zed4.png

He was lucky and survived the attack. Interesting detail, it seems his left shoulder got hit by Jhin’s magic so we can assume that Rhaast actually probably either used the tumult to infest Kayn more or actually saved Kayn’s left arm this way. Anyway, he is seems to be alive for now.

Akali

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/656909058988834856/Zed5.png “Akali, please don’t go in this path, you will lose yourself.” “Ok, boomer.” She may listen to Shen’s advice but she really doesn’t even consider his words.

Errors on the Map

It seems that the map in comic is off in the Universe version AND the Marvel version. The Universe one has only the old location from the first issue, the Marvel one has location of places which haven’t been mentioned yet. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/656892427818369054/Zed.png https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/656892551881818122/Zed2.png

Physical Edition

For lore nerds and/or lover of physical things, you can now preorder the physical edition of Zed on Amazon or your trusted comic/book store of your choice! This edition will be available on the 16th Juny 2020.

Off Topic: About the digital Marvel release of Zed Issues

(This is a topic I actually will discuss in a different thread about marketing of lore but I still want to mention some thoughts here)

As you may noticed, this issue has been released earlier than the last one and Riot Astryx shared the reasons via Twitter.

https://twitter.com/RiotAstryx/status/1202701384270745600?s=20 https://twitter.com/RiotAstryx/status/1202701562587443200?s=20

As someone who purchases all digital issue and owns all physical book/comic release, this really stings with me. The argumentation is already off – you pay 4 USD (not including taxes) so you can read the comic a little bit earlier and have the cover of the next issue. In contrast to Warmother, there you got some really nice bonus content for 6 USD including the early reading. “[…]it was always meant more to have it in your digital comics library and be able to read it in on a more robust comic reader.”

First of this digital reader is not hosted by Riot. Which means if there are problems on Marvel sides they have no way to help us. For example I was not able to log in on my PC on the Marvel page for the majority of the last few months, which made able to read my comic ONLY on my mobile phone.

Second, the advantage which we as buyers had was simply a few hours. An advantage that becomes useless the SAME day. This is not like the next comic which will actually put people who can pay in an actual advantage while the non-buyers have to wait 6 months. The changes feel like “oh we already put no bonus content and now we also take away the only remaining reason to actually support us.” If you give us the ability to buy it, you have to give us an ACTUAL reason to do so. Saying “Marvel has a better comic reader” is not actually a strong argument, especially since the website itself has their bugs as well. Also, various comics on the Universe page use a similar reading experience like Marvel, see the Poppy comic or the Kai’sa one.

Third, it also feels bad because I want to support the narrative team DIRECTLY. I don’t care about Marvel. I don’t want to hear that the comic won’t continue or similar because the sales didn’t meet intern goals while REFUSING us to give content which would make us actually support you, even if there is a free alternative. This an important topic which I will discuss more in-depth early next year then I’m back home from my vacation. Okay, I stop ranting and back to the comic.

The upcoming Issue

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/656944329125920789/Unbenannt3.png

(Will be released on the 15th January)

Questions:

  1. So Yanlei is used instead of Order of Shadow. Does the name still exist or who an when is Order of the Shadow used instead?
  2. What is the difference between ingesting Yanlei or getting a tattoo with it? What is more commonly used in the Order?
  3. “But I have fewer people I can trust than my master did.” Okay, how paranoid is Zed really? Because Kusho trusted two person and Zed seems to trust nobody, not even Kayn.
  4. “Akali, all my father ever wanted was for me to serve the Kinkou as the Eye of Twilight… as he has been.” Does Shen even know that Kusho actually wanted to pick Zed as Eye of Twilight?
  5. “Your engagement with Shen-“ “Was called off then you killed Master Kusho. […] But Shen – he was forced to become the Eye of Twilight. A duty and title he never wanted.” So we can assume as long someone is not the Eye of Twilight yet, they can marry and have a family? It would explain why Kusho had a son then.
  6. Is Zed aware that Kayn is alive? We have no evidence that he checked after Kayn after his chase.
  7. How many common people are aware of the Order of the Shadows and Kinkou? Since the people didn't recognize Zed on the Blossom Festival.
  8. How painful is it for someone to become an "artwork" of Jhin? One the hand I can imagine that this kind of "metamorphosis" should be painful (he literally turns flesh into something else) but Jhin's shots are aimed for the heart, which usual should result in almost instant loss of consciousness because of the lack of oxygen (and with it a death in a few minutes at max).

57 Comments

LordRedStone Nr112/18/2019, 5:31:12 PM11 votes

Really liked it, it was a lot more dense than what we saw before. How it seamlessly jumped between present and past was great!

Jobriq12/18/2019, 8:50:07 PM8 votes

I love the way Zed's shadow magic is portrayed, like how he dove into the shadow of the trees to warp to Jhin.

Although it felt like Zed said "it's too far for a shadow dash" like a dozen times lol

BoringLittleF12/18/2019, 7:35:53 PM6 votes

So, the only reason for not killing Jhin back there was "he is a man not a demon" and "muh balance". Fuck you Kusho, seriously.

It's also sad that people give Zed shit for killing his sensei but nobody says anything about Kusho's choice. Even though the consequences are catastrophic.

Also, Zed almost died back there if it wasn't for Shen. And then not only the bastard got it easy in prison but also Zed was left thinking that even if he died, Kusho would have stepped over his corpse and still sent Jhin to that grand deluxe establishment.

4 Step Cadence12/18/2019, 11:40:02 PM5 votes

I knew it. Jovn was Jhin fodder and the next issue is probably Jhin's color story. I'm too good at this. Though what would you expect from me?

Seriously, though. I'm loving this so far. I'm so happy Jhin is being portrayed so well.

Raven Redeemed12/18/2019, 7:22:46 PM5 votes

I enjoyed it. I like the fact that they didn't go with "the betrothed was tragically murdered" route. It was cool to see some of Jhin's "art" this time.

However, Jhin's escape seems to be born of pure coincidence for the story's sake which kind of bothered me. Zed has a limited dash range? Zed has to be not tired to dash? Jhin knew both these facts? Jhin can match Zed's sprinting speed? There was no way to chase down/keep track of a little dinghy on still waters?

The Iceborn12/18/2019, 4:49:01 PM4 votes

Lovely thread! I also have a question, the kids of used some weird magic, looked like smoke? I wonder what it was :/

Captain Pet Rock12/18/2019, 6:27:07 PM4 votes

So 100% cannon that Jhin is The Fast... look how far he ran in the time it took for zed to shadow dash ontop of him and fall to the ground

MamaCarrotCake12/18/2019, 10:12:07 PM2 votes

So Akali being put in Jhins cross hairs because of her blood lust for Zed is going to be what makes Shen act and is the catalyst for him changing and accepting who he is.

Right?

RyzeRework12/19/2019, 5:30:12 PM2 votes

Idc about the comic but god damn shen and zed look sexy af. When can I get unmasked ninja skins

ArezuAfar12/20/2019, 9:30:20 AM2 votes

I really enjoyed this issue more than the last one. Jhin specially really shined and we came to understand more about both him and Zed. I was not really comfortable with Zed and Shen's face reveals in the last issue and even though I'm still not really used to Shen's, Zed's face doesn't bother me anymore. Now I'm looking forward to the the inevitable encounter between Zed and Shen and the possible one between Zed and Akali.

The only thing that kind of bothers me up until this point in the comic is how Akali is portrayed. We don't get to see why she is the way she is and that makes her look like an angry teenager who comes off as cocky and over confident. As someone who really likes this character I hope the story gives us some insight on her thoughts and actions. For me, all characters are important, even Kayn who I disliked before is starting to become a likable character after I saw that he is not just an edgy, arrogant killer brat.

PerchancetoGame12/18/2019, 11:15:23 PM1 votes

Ah, Zed's disciples. Aside from Kayn, picked off by Jhin. They will not be missed.

No seriously - especially the one from the bar. I kind of smiled when he got taken out.

Like other people here though, I'm wondering about Rhaast - what's he thinking about all this? Probably watching it all and laughing while making sarcastic quips to Kayn. My suspicion is the true nature of Kayn's weapon will come out when Akali inevitably catches up with them.

The "corruption" from the Darkin weapon might be something he can marginally control, emerging when Kayn gives in, so to speak. That or it hasn't been...awakened yet.

Forhonor32112/18/2019, 7:19:08 PM1 votes

Here's my overview:

  • I like how we get to see the actual event of Jhin's capture. It isn't just "oh, and the lore of these three characters just interact with one another. Imagine how you think it went down." I just like seeing the lore actually be told as how it happened and just just random theories as to what the actual event was.
  • I feel there was more character development with Zed in this. We got to see he had a love interest, he's a bit paranoid about who to trust, he knows he needs to work with Shen even though he'll probably kill him and almost accepts that fact. It makes him more interesting than just "edgy, shadow ninja champ who wants to kill good."
  • I do feel like the whole introduction of Zed's party last issue is just wasted now since they're all dead (except for Kayn who we all knew was going to survive). It could of been interesting to keep them around for a bit longer but I guess characters who aren't champs in-game are going to drop like those in Game of Thrones.
  • While we're at it, how prepared/skilled is Jhin suppose to be? I mean, 4 shots dead on all of those followers, traps laid out across the festival where he was escaping, this guy I almost want to say is "OP". He's a deadeye marksman, a genius tactican, can just blend in with disguises apparently, all on top of being a psychopath. It really makes me wonder who exactly in Ionia wanted him loose again (let alone how people don't know about him more).
  • I'm still not that big of a fan of the art style still. I don't hate it, I just don't fits well in showing the characters (I mean Kayn still looks like he's in his 40s-60s)
  • Lastly, Shen and Akali I feel could use more room in this. Obviously Shen will because from what I saw of the next issue cover there's going to be some confrontation. Maybe it could/will go in-depth as to why Zed killed his father, maybe have some conversation as to why things had to be the way they are now, the info that Zed was going to be the next Eye of Twilight revealed (if Shen doesn't know yet), some interesting stuff. Akali though, I still fucking hate. I really don't get how she's this fucking cocky with Shen. It's been a while since I last read her lore, so I'm a bit fuzzy on her details on leaving the order or wanting to kill Zed, but they for some reason make her such a bratty bitch in this series so far. I just don't like her on any perspective.
Camille Ferrøs12/19/2019, 6:09:07 PM1 votes

Wasn't Jhin supposed to have blue eyes? Also on the last page, he has 2 of his eyes...