How common is magic on Runeterra?

Chromatic Eagle··15 votes·2,346 views

Never gave it much thought before, but with the retcon, it's important to establish this.

Most of these regions seem to treat it like it's a rarity.

Janna is the only Zaun to know magic.

Piltover combines it with tech, but we haven't seen anyone use magic by itself.

Veigar and Lulu are the only Yordles who use it.

Lux is the only Demacian to use it from what we've seen, and where did Garen get the ability to summon a giant light sword?

Katarina and Talon have limited teleportation magic, but where did they learn it? I assume Swain and LeBlanc learned their craft from the Black Rose, while Vladimir learned his from a hidden master.

Those that use magic in Freljord are either talking animals, like Anivia and Volibear, using a true ice weapon, or have some ties to the Watchers. Olaf just seems to be a badass, while Tryndamere was enhanced by Aatrox.

Magic seems exclusive to those connected with Ascendants in Shurima.

Ionia and the Shadow Isles appear to be the only places that freely practice magic.

35 Comments

insaiyanbacca4 votes

i dont mean to be that guy but its janna not jaina :P

Chromatic Eagle1 votes

Huh. You're right. Must've been thinking of WoW at the time.

Tesla Effect3 votes

Techmaturgy is a blend between technology and magic, so magic is pretty common in Piltover and Zaun. Also where runes and crystals are, there be a lot of magic.

And magic in people is pretty common in Valoran to have numerous Colleges of Magic in various nations.

Puri Puri Taric1 votes

hue hue git gud. Gems geeems.

Tesla Effect2 votes

{quoted}

hue hue git gud. Gems geeems.

Yes. Gems, gems everywhere make the magic go around, to be very simplistic about it.

Chromatic Eagle1 votes

I mentioned Techmaturgy as magic and tech blended together, but I'm saying we haven't seen anyone purely cast magic in Piltover, like we do Janna and Zaun. I thought Techmaturgy was exclusive to Piltover?

The parts about runes, crystals, and colleges of magic, that's the old lore. I imagine crystals and runes to be common, but we don't know if colleges of magic are still a thing. Demacia seems likely, but we've only seen Lux use magic so far.

Sharjo6 votes

To clarify, techmaturgy is the same as hextech, so it's utilised by both Piltover and Zaun extensively, just their approached to it are mostly different.

What I'd assume is that magic in general, since is comes from Bard's home, just works differently depending on how you access it. The Shurimans were able to grasp unimaginable power through the Sun Disc and this likely involved far more than giving individuals ascension. It was probably the focal point for their sorcery and any kind of magic they had.

Gems and crystals exist probably as one of the earliest means of drawing forth magic, probably due to the way crystals are made in general or how they can capture light and refract it, which could lend to how they work with magic. Gems have seen a wide variety of uses such as enhancing the capabilities of armour and weapons (item 3801 item 3800 item 3116 ) to conjuring tangible objects (item 2045) to empowering living organisms Skarner.

Notice that very few people in Runeterra just have magical powers. They got them from somewhere or by some means. Humans and Yordles aren't inherently magical creatures; they need mediums to actually obtain that power, with a few notable exceptions such as Janna who has that power naturally. Everyone else is either magically empowered in some way like the Ascended, the Iceborn, Ryze and Leona, or they have some kind of magical tool like everyone with a True Ice weapon or hextech equipment. Even some of the people you'd associate with being natural born mages have wands, staves or something similar to channel that power through.

Even looking at the non-human races we see that magic is still difficult to come by; Trundle's powers come from his club Boneshiver, (although he seems to use its power way better than anyone else with a true ice weapon), Volibear was empowered by a magical storm, Nami's power likely comes from her equipment, particularly her staff, and Skarner is magically empowered through crystals.

Given the fact that living organisms just seem to far away from magical naturally, I'd have to say that magic isn't all that easy to come by in Runeterra. It fills the air and infuses the land but actually using it? That's way beyond the capacity of the world's current inhabitants without some serious aid. In fact there are very few champions in League that we know for sure are actually magical by nature and didn't get it from somewhere else. Anivia Bard Soraka and maybe the Void champions (if void power is actually magic) are the only ones that spring to mind, everyone else either has a caviet attached or we don't know enough about.

Chromatic Eagle1 votes

We don't know how common magic was for ancient Shurimans. It could've been reserved for royalty, and I doubt most slaves would've used it.

The rest of your post I agree with.

Sharjo3 votes

Oh yeah, but from an outlooker's perspective, if you have a giant magical thing in the sky that turns people in to demi-gods, chances are you're gonna try and see what else you can garner from the thing. I feel like it'd be weird if Shuriman sorcery wasn't a more well established thing even if it was reserved for the higher echelons of Shuriman society.

God damn that felt wordy.

luna is my mommy1 votes

Ezreal had that magic normally.

Sharjo1 votes

He had a natural talent for it, but still uses the amulet of an Ascended as the medium to use it. Essentially he'd have an easier time using magic but he's not inherently magical.

I think. I admit Ezreal's someone I don't give much of a fuck about, so I may have messed up.

luna is my mommy1 votes

he was born with the magic in his veins at least according to his old lore said something about magic and wonder lust. so he had the magic but the gauntlet just helps him use it because he has no real training to using his magic.

luna is my mommy1 votes

ezreal teleports and makes a magic bow.

SEKAI3 votes

The natural law is just vague and not so clear cut in LoL's universe.

Since you know, apparently Shen's global teleport, Yasuo's wind control, Yi's light speed movements + self healing (even though he uses mana as a resource) and Gnar's transformation have nothing to do with magic at all.

So yer.

There are things on Runeterra which you learn to do with the so called magic power, others you simply learn to do like every skill, even though their level of accomplishments may appear similar.

And there are steampunk and sci-fi level of technology in the mix too.

I'd say "magic" is everywhere in LoL, people just learn to use the energy around them with all sorts of different means they have access to. Imaging it like how we use tools to do and manipulate things as we see fit, on Runterra it's just that the concept of "tools" is more abstract that's all.

In short, I would say there is no difference between the magic, technologies and other mystic arts on Runeterra, they are all the same thing just different orientation. Hence you could say either magic is everywhere there, or there is simply no magic and it's just the physics of that world, both would be correct.

IcyPepper1 votes

To be fair, Shen is a ninja.

And ninjas are effin' ninjas.

lolipopevelynn2 votes

you left out Ahri Akali Annie Brand Fiddlesticks Sona Syndra Soraka Zyra Velkoz Xerath Morgana Fizz Anivia id say its pretty common.

as for garens ult, its a execution. basically the damcian version of darius's execute. they added the giant sword for visual eye candy when they visual updated him. no magic involved.

Ebonmaw Dragon5 votes

[{quoted}](name=Hallows Evelynn,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=ZewpbT7g,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2015-05-22T14:30:01.155+0000)

as for garens ult, its a execution. basically the damcian version of darius's execute. they added the giant sword for visual eye candy when they visual updated him. no magic involved.

"Garen** calls upon the might of Demacia to attempt to execute an enemy champion, dealing magic damage **plus additional damage based on his target's missing health."

If summoning a magical force to kill someone its not magic, then i dont know what it is.

qetzel2 votes

The game and the story aren't that closely linked. For recent evidence, see Ekko. His ultimate in game is far from his lore.

BlackSunNocturne1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Ebonmaw Dragon,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=ZewpbT7g,comment-id=00010000,timestamp=2015-05-22T15:31:46.907+0000)

"Garen** calls upon the might of Demacia to attempt to execute an enemy champion, dealing magic damage **plus additional damage based on his target's missing health."

If summoning a magical force to kill someone its not magic, then i dont know what it is.

Simple: Garen's SWORD is Magic. Magical Swords are not uncommon in fantasy settings at all either.

Chromatic Eagle1 votes

Most of them are Ionian, where I included that. We don't know what Fiddlesticks is now. Annie is fair enough, but how common are witches from Noxus who escaped to the Voodoo Lands? Assuming that's still canon. Zyra is fair enough, Morgana is confirmed to be other-worldly so I'm not sure she counts for magic being common along with the Voidborn and Soraka. You might be right about Fizz, and I mentioned talking animals regarding Anivia (I know that's not exactly what she is, but I wasn't going into details about her and Volibear).

Do we know that for sure regarding Garen? I never considered "Curse of the Sad Mummy" or Amumu's ult to be canon until the retcon. Who knows what they might make canon now. Maybe Garen has a magic sword.

The Soulforged2 votes

You literally forgot Ryze in that list...

kneel on Ice2 votes

Ashe Lissandra Sejuani Have the same kind of magic cause both Ashe and Sejuani are the descandants of Avarosa and Serylda the 2 sisters of Lissandra who got their power from the watchers

Jungle Lux God2 votes

Every place on Runeterra that exists has some degree of magic.

We may have only a few champs from each of the different city-states that actually know magic, but keep in mind that the champs that know magic are not the only beings in each city-state that know magic.

For example, Lux is currently the only champion from Demacia that uses magic in the League of Legends, but that doesn't mean that she's the only person in Demacia that uses it. According to her lore, there is a whole college dedicated to magic, although her lore is likely outdated because the League of Legends is still represented in her lore, but it still suggests that there are quite a few Demacians that know magic.

Ebonmaw Dragon1 votes

Well... saying "X champion" is the ONLY in Z place that uses magic is wrong.... Just because we have 1 or 2 champions that use magic in that place does not mean that other persons do not use magic...

There are schools of magic at Demacia and Zaun mentioned in the lore (its safe to assume that other cities have as well), magical creatures are common, Veigar trained with a lot of dark wizzards around the world, lizzards (ex red buff and the others) can use fire magic. A lot of AP items where owned by powerfull wizards (item 3089 for example), all the hextech artifacts use magic, the true ice weapons are magical weapons, Summoners (not "THE" summoners of the old lore, normal summoners) can use magic, The Magelords where a civilization that used a lot of magic according to their name. etc

Chromatic Eagle1 votes

Well that's sort of the question, how common is magic in Zaun for example? Janna is the only one to have used it from what we've seen. Is it easy to learn there? Cheap? Can a chemical spill give you magic?

Well not all cities are the same. I mentioned how Zaun and Piltover seem to prefer tech to magic, or even a mix of the two instead of pure magic. We don't know how accessible magic schools are. Say in Demacia, how common is it to be a mage there? Lux is regarded as a prodigy I think.

Veigar's lore is old, so for all we know, he could've learnt it by himself.

We don't know how common LoL items are in the lore anymore. Some of them might be references to things, while others like BotRK are canon presumably. Even then, are these items hard to find?

The Loveless1 votes

Are you kidding? Of course piltover uses magic. Rumble has a mech that shoots flames and torpedoes and...it's somehow magical, cuz itemization >_>

Ananand Corki uses rockets that are also magical. I'm sure if we ever got hit by them in real life, we'd feel all tingly in our soul. Nothing physical at all bout them rockets.

luna is my mommy1 votes

Ezreal uses magic by itself i mean he has gauntlet help but he was born with magic in his veins

Chaotic Reks1 votes

whatever you do, don't ask Taric... he misses his home

Clouded Magi1 votes

DrMundo randomly conjures fire around himself at will, how can you explain that?

also Evelynn , yea none of her spells make any sense, she just appears and random spikes come out of nowhere

Xulsigae1 votes

Would be interesting to have a lore reason for why some champions use mana or energy and some don't. Not sure if that would approach too far into the dreaded 'Gameplay and Lore are connected' area.

pinwheelviper1 votes

You name a valid point but champion not all people with magic become champions and there are probably people with only a small amount of magic (healing paper cuts?) and plus if I were a sorcerer in Zaun I wouldn't want to tell anyone because they'd probably experiment on me.

Mori Please1 votes

Galio but hes magic and demacian too QQ

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