How common is magic on Runeterra?

Chromatic Eagle·5/22/2015, 1:52:03 PM·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

insaiyanbacca5/22/2015, 10:56:41 PM4 votes

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

SEKAI5/22/2015, 2:59:57 PM3 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.

Tesla Effect5/22/2015, 1:55:41 PM3 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.

Jungle Lux God5/23/2015, 12:23:07 AM2 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.

kneel on Ice5/22/2015, 9:01:07 PM2 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

lolipopevelynn5/22/2015, 2:30:01 PM2 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.

Chaotic Reks5/23/2015, 2:15:15 AM1 votes

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

Clouded Magi5/23/2015, 5:13:55 AM1 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

Xulsigae5/24/2015, 2:37:16 AM1 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.

pinwheelviper5/26/2015, 3:58:24 AM1 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.

Ebonmaw Dragon5/22/2015, 3:25:41 PM1 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

Mori Please5/28/2015, 6:25:22 PM1 votes

Galio but hes magic and demacian too QQ

The Loveless5/22/2015, 7:54:04 PM1 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 mommy5/22/2015, 10:44:02 PM1 votes

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