The retcon, the struggle, explained.

I see retcon questions pop up time and time again. A few of them are repeated by fresh minds to the Story boards. Others are interrogative questions asking about the status of lore/their ability to revert the retcon. This board is to fulfill all about the retcon that I can, from a fan's viewpoint.

DISCLAIMER: As anyone who doesn't work at Riot, I don't have knowledge of everything. If something is slipped, someone please inform me. I created this thread with the intention of having all the information compiled into one source.

Without further ado, here we go...

-1) Battle for Freljord http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/game-updates/battle-freljord-begins Although the retcon was never announced, there have been champions whose lores pointed towards its coming; Lucian, Gnar, Jinx, Braum, even Lissandra. Speaking of Lissandra, is the Battle for Freljord event (around April 2013 I believe...over two years ago!). This is a major lore event that introduced one champion (Lissandra), remade a few (Gragas, Trundle), and was the start of a new game mode (ARAM). While the event was great and people were happy about the lores for the new champions, some problems arose: -Trundle's character was completely redone. Those who knew the old cursed troll lamented his change. -The result of the Battle for Frejlord was never brought to a conclusion, despite the number of winter skins made for champions, as well as another winter event (Snowdown). There has been little to no conversation of this.

1)Retcon is announced http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/creative-spotlight/dev-blog-exploring-runeterra

So about 7 months ago, the Development Blog announced it's retcon. Basically, a lot of the Narrative guys felt restricted to what they could do in terms of lore for the champions. This caused them to do a massive "do over", which initially received mixed reactions from the fanbase.

2)Shurima https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYyuH1Bp2ZI While the Battle for Frejlord event was made prior to the announcement, the Shurima event was the first official event made after the retcon announcement. This event has brought in the champions Azir and Rek'Sai, while affecting the lores of some Shurima-related champions; notable mentions are Amumu, Skarner, and Xerath. Many applauded the quality of animations provided for the champions, while others have argued that these champions have been limited severely. Grand example holds to the shortened lores of Amumu, Xerath, Cassiopeia, Rek'Sai, Ranmus, Skarner, etc.

3. Sion http://promo.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/reborn/ There have been overall positive feedback to some facets of the retcon; the most notable of all champions would be the retcon/rework of Sion. From design to lore, people enjoyed him (for the most part).

4. Kalista https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCR-tMpKtt8&feature=youtu.be Closer to the latest champ to have been released, her animation is quite good. However, the lore on her is lacking, similar to the situation of Rek'Sai and other retconned champions. Gameplay aside, this has been something of a problem for the lore community.

5. Narrative Speaks http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/jNiytgM9-lets-talk-about-lore-together-fans-riot-whoever?show=rundown About two months ago Riot Sweet and Jaredan visit this thread to give some words on communicating more about lore; Jaredan stated his interest in talking more about the retcon, along with some internal changes to the Narrative team (and the tech issue) that's been hindering developments. Reactions are positive, but still desiring of some content to put out.

6)Questions, and answers...sorta. http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/Qr1AicQh-suggestion-box-what-do-we-want-to-talk-about-with-narrative Also about two months ago, the Lore community compiles a list of questions to ask the Narrative team to discuss. Jaredan responds, but some things leave a sour taste in people's mouths:

(Question)Which parts of Runeterra and Valoran can we provide suggestions for? Is anything/nothing on the table for us to discuss with Narrative and/or Foundations?

(Jaredan) There are just certain things we can respond to and other things we can't. It's not as much the topic as it is the way we engage about it. I know Ant in Oz riled some folks when saying that we can't read fan-fiction. I can understand how that might appear, but it's just a truth of being a professional writer. It's partly due to the legality of it, but also because using other people's ideas, even accidentally, is stomach churning to a creative writer. Talking about already created stories and characters, talking about the essences of people and places of Runeterra, it's all good. Pitching an idea for a story you want us to tell? Not so much.

Many weren't happy with this.

7. Bioluminescence speaks http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/oTlyWZBu-any-and-all-rioters-how-important-do-you-think-lore-is-to-this-game-and-why About a month ago, a community member asked Riot at large for their thoughts on lore as a whole. What was received in response was Rioter Bioluminescence who, although isn't a direct member of the Narrative team, gave their two cents on the situation:

You asked for any and all Rioters - well, I don't work directly on League, but hopefully I can speak for one Rioter at least. I really believe that lore is super important to League - but I also think it's going through some awkward growing pains at the moment. I think there's probably a universe where League could exist as a game removed of almost all setting and lore and story - like chess. I absolutely do not think it should. Lore can raise a game from being an abstract mechanical experience to a rich and involving experience that includes you in the struggles of willful entities. It infuses everything from the color of the bricks in a building, to the style of animation of an attack, to the mechanical counters of two rival champs. Ideally, it ties everything together, and every new champ, every graphical update, every story, short, animation or whatever all feel part of a cohesive whole. Even better when the lore goes beyond the game (without invalidating it) and we can spread our wings and explore every corner of it. However, I believe that that is damn hard. Remember, I don't work on League directly, but I try to help when I can. As a side project, removed from my usual role, I designed the Shurima tablet map that popped up recently - I was so, so humbled when some of you picked up on some of my historical influences. I put a lot of thought into the culture that would make such an object - the creator, his patron, how the map had changed hands over the years, what world events had marked its surface and what was known of the world before its creation, during, and after. I really enjoyed doing that, even though it was the tiniest of things (and most players didn't give it a second glance, I'm sure). It's just history, as you said, however, but as a member of the 'any and all Rioters' group, that's all I personally can offer today.

This conversation came off rather fruitful, although it wasn't the full on discussion that many asked for.

8. Morello on lore http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/v3WIgVZJ-morello-speaks-about-lore-ret-con-pax-east-panel-on-champ-design While at Pax East, Morello has spoken a bit on the retcon. Namely, it's lack of timing in terms of content. It's a problem recognized by Riot, although no plans were detailed as to how/when it will be resolved.

9)Jaredan's words, revisited http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/L2nEKFGG-morello-puts-the-lore-situation-into-perspective-at-pax About a month ago, community members review morello's words, and Jaredan comes to clarify his earlier statement. Unfortunately, it does little to mitigate the frustration of the community.

10)Bard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX8iSobsKTY&feature=youtu.be Also a little over a month ago, the newest champion Bard has been released. An unorthodox champion in terms of playstyle, he differed greatly from the standard support. While his introduction video has been of high quality similar to previous champions, the issue that has rustled fans however, is in his lore; a mysterious cosmic being that works in mysterious ways to collect artifacts of extreme power, hopefully before it ends up destroying the world. A major complaint of this lore is that it has taken the role of an entire organization of the old lore and placed it into a new champion, who is so mysterious as to avoid explanations of his intentions.

11. Riot on Lore http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/4TK7oKqj-any-riotera-simple-yes-or-no-question-about-the-state-of-the-lore About 3 weeks ago, Bioluminescence and others come in to talk about lore: Many things are still under wraps, Narrative being tightly involved with the creation of champions, and the reasoning for the delays. There's a lot in this one thread that may help clear things up, so I suggest reading this one in particular.

With that all said, things should be caught up. If anything of this is AT ALL inaccurate, please inform me and I can get this straightened up. I don't wish to report anything wrong.

I hope this can avoid many questions in the future about the retcon, and what's going on with it.

EDIT: A small request, but if any Rioter would love to give their two cents on this, I would be honored.