Noxus and the new lore information.

Over Innsmouth··9 votes·2,003 views

It's fantastic that as of Taliyah's story we have somewhere to root ourselves in lore-wise, a focal point that chronologically binds three factions (Ionia, Noxus, and Shurima).

We now have a relative idea of Shuriman events in the timeline (helps that the only two real ones are the fall of Shurima, and the Resurrection of Azir), and a good chunk of Ionian events (since a fair few Ionian champs lore is "everything was fine until the fire nation Noxians attacked, read;

Irelia : Almost died in battle but survived thanks to Soraka, gained some telekinetic blades. Jhin : Didnt suffer from the war, but I believe he was released from prison because of it. LeeSin : Prior self-exile, Noxian invasion made him blind (via self-immolation). Riven : Self-exile thanks to Singed. MasterYi : Last remaining Wuju practitioner thanks to Singed. Yasuo : We know that he was exiled during the Invasion, probably thanks to Riven.

If I've missed any or gotten some wrong, don't hesitate to correct me.

So we have all that.

But what about Noxus? Since the Ionian Invasion is kinda independent of Noxian events (I'm not sure if it's established that Swain is Grand General or not by this point), it doesnt tell us a great deal about Noxus.

Chronologically, where do:

  • Boram Darkwill's (and his son Keiran) fall to Swain, and Swain's rise?
  • Sion's resurrection?
  • Vladimir's return to Noxus?
  • General Du Couteau's disappearance?
  • Talon's "adoption" into Katarina's family?
  • Darius and Draven's childhood and military rise?

...fit in?

Of course, we do get to assume one thing. By this point in Taliyah's story, Cassiopeia is a snake, since that is the curse that she suffers upon opening the tomb in Shurima with Sivir's crossblade.

Just hoping for some Noxian clarity, whether in a comment or in the promise of future stories.

EDIT: We can assume that Draven (and possibly Darius) were not part of the Ionian Invasion thanks to one of Jhin's taunts towards the former.

Jhin : "Clearly you've never performed in Ionia."

31 Comments

Ralanr2 votes

I wonder if Swain ever utilized Sion in the invasion.

Over Innsmouth5 votes

That's the thing. Some Noxian champions appear (lore-wise) to be head-and-shoulders over their League counterparts.

Vladimir is the strongest haemomancer to ever exist (on the basis that the most recent one possesses the accumulation of all those before him), and Sion is a resurrected warrior of unparalleled reknown powered by said haemomancy.

I can't imagine any Ionian's being able to stand up to Sion, lore-wise, or someone who can control the very essence of their bodies like Vladimir.

We also don't know if the Noxian invasion was Swain's doing or Boram's (or we do and I'm ignorant).

ModWulf Helhammer1 votes

I don't think Vlad is 100% Noxian, so he probably wasn't in the Ionian invasion

Over Innsmouth3 votes

There's nothing to suggest that he wouldnt be, other than common Noxian's seem to be olive-toned with dark hair (see; Darius and Draven, and the Noxian's from Bard: Mountain).

Granted, there's an explanation I personally have headcanon towards.

It's also entirely possible that he wasnt part of the Invasion because he hadnt returned from his Haemomancy training yet.

Ralanr1 votes

I've always thought he was an albino.

Over Innsmouth1 votes

Entirely possible.

Similarly, me and VxV's canon suggests that he's the result of Noxian noble incest as a possible explanation.

Or he simply underwent a physical transformation that drained him of colour as part of mastering Haemomancy.

ModWulf Helhammer1 votes

I don't mean heritage-wise Noxian, but affiliation. Why would a nobleman who turned himself into what is basically a vampire go to war on an island across the globe? What does he have to gain for that?

He doesn't seem to be the guy who does stuff out of national pride, and especially not the guy who goes to war.

Thanks for the random downvotes people.

Ralanr1 votes

I like to think that Ionia would have some profound effect on Sion's mind and soul. Which could lead to Noxus requiring to pull him out before they lost him.

Over Innsmouth3 votes

By that do you mean there's too many champions with dashes and it would tilt him into oblivion?

Ralanr1 votes

That and Ionia is a place where spirits are very common. Sion is a mockery of the natural world, an abomination.

Considering how his soul furnace works, who's to say that it wouldn't absorb spirits? Who is to say that those spirits couldn't effect his mental state?

I feel if Sion stayed too long in Ionia, then his mind could become more clear and human. That's not something Swain would want, since he'd lose control of his strongest war machine.

Noxus already lost Riven. Can you imagine if Sion went rogue?

Over Innsmouth1 votes

I'm sure that if Vlad was within a few hundred metres, he could keep Sion in check no matter the situation. Then again, I may be overstating the bond between the two.

GreenLore1 votes

We know that Sion was resurrected a long time ago,likely in during the reign of Jarvan II. How do we know this?

Sion died,killing the current king,Jarvan I,which caused noxus to get the upper hand against demacia. After that Sion was resurrected,was seen as useless and got imprisoned in his own grave until swain and vladimir got him out and "reprogrammed" him.

Given the fact that appearantly barely anyone knew sion even existed it is safe to say that sion was imprisoned in his grave for decades.

MavenSong1 votes

Actually didnt they use J4's blood as part of the ritual? Swore that was a thing.

Sharjo1 votes

The second time around they did, which is partially why Sion's back.

GreenLore1 votes

They didn't use it to revive him only to reprogram him. Sion was revived rather shortly after his death,then he was deemed to be more harmful than helpful(as he slaughtered his allies as well and decreased the noxian morale) and was locked away in his grave.

When Swain became the grand general,he found out about sion and then he used jarvans blood(and vladimirs help) to reprogram sion,so that he would see swain as his master.

Beast Brawler1 votes

You forgot the Freljord OP, didn't Yasuo tell Taliyah to go there at the end for some training?

Over Innsmouth1 votes

Didnt seem relevant to a discussion about Noxus's place in the timeline, and Noxian events'.

arrowhead21k1 votes

Taliyah goes to Freljord for passage into Shurima not training.

PraetorAmalthus1 votes

Dear OP, Irelia never died in battle. Her lore states that she was about to die due to noxian necromancy, yet it was a last attempt of soraka to anchor her Soul (which worked perfect), so it was more like: Noxians tried to pull her Soul out of her, Raka-Laka put it back in and BladeBitch was fine, killed the invaders and boom.

Over Innsmouth1 votes

Thanks~ More reason to hate Soraka.

Also your name completely tears me. On the one hand Jhin is one of my favourite champions, on the other hand Tryndamere is a scumwhoring shitlord pile of garbage and is the #1 candidate in my book for "If you could remove one champion from League of Legends...".

Solidair31 votes

Eventually, they'll have to tell us why Noxus invaded Ionia in the first place. Jaredan says it's for a good reason, but can't tell us till that story is ready to be told. I'm very interested.

Over Innsmouth1 votes

Oh, is there a source on Jaredan saying that?

Solidair31 votes

sure, it's on his ask.fm. there's lots of good info there, though a lot of "I can't tell you, sorry"

Which is understandable. If he could just spoil it all what would we need lore for in the first place. http://ask.fm/RiotJaredan

I don't know how to link individual answers, so that will have to do, sorry.

Over Innsmouth1 votes

Thanks~

Darius Strada1 votes
  • Sion's resurrection?
  • Vladimir's return to Noxus?

How could Vladimir's return after Sion's ressurections if he was the one who revived him?

JVP151 votes

Well, I can answer a few of them, but I cannot answer them very well.

Talon was adopted by Du Couteau before Du Couteau vanished (of course).

Swain was crowned Grand General after Talon was adopted (we can see both him and Katarina during Swain's coronation).

Sion was truly resurrected by Swain after he became grand general because LeBlanc referred to him as the grand general. However, the old Darkwill basically used him like Singed's weapons before hand, meaning that he was unleashed and anything that got in his way died.

We know that Vladimir returned to Noxus before Sion was resurrected, and before he was used solely as a weapon, but we can't know much else.

I know that Darius was around before Swain rose to power, but the childhood remains a mystery.

ALSO! After going through Swain's background (from his wiki page), I found this quote:

His rise to power seemed unceasing until he was suddenly relegated to inactive status prior to the Ionian Invasion... When Demacia escalated its presence in the League, Swain was immediately returned to active duty.

This suggests to me that the Ionian invasion happened before Swain was crowned grand general, because I know that neither Swain nor Darius would put up with such a thing if Swain was Grand General. The words, "active duty" also seems to imply that he was a one commander, but not the leader of Noxus.

Now, going into LeBlanc's lore, we can in fact see that Darkwill had originally resurrected Sion, but he was completely out of control. This means that Vlad came back while Boram Darkwill was originally in charge, and that Sion was potentially usable during the Noxian invasion. However, it is unlikely because Sion wasn't truly back from the dead until Swain rose to power when he finalized Sion with the help of Leblanc.

This leaves some questions, like how did Du Couteau disappear, and what is the deal with Darius and Draven.

My personal headcannon for Du Couteau is that HE was the one who killed the elder Yasuo was supposed to protect. We don't know when he left, and we don't know what he could do. Since Riven has some sort of wind power (even if it is magical) who is to say that Du Couteau, one of the most powerful general's in Noxus, didn't know that technique as well. I mean, he did hand Talon his ass, which is by no means a small feat. We know he had the capability, and he definitely could have had the motive.

Unfortunately, this is as far as my research and knowledge goes.

Over Innsmouth1 votes

So Swain was definitely inactive during the Invasion? Explains why they lost.

(Yes I do know that the actual decider was a League match between Ionian and Noxian delegates.)

Also, isn't Riven's wind power unique to her given that it's part of her sword and not her? Granted, Du Couteau could have wielded something similar, but given that Kat and Talon specialize in small arms, I imagine Du Couteau would take a similar, subtle approach with his blades rather than the gigantic weapon Riven uses.

The other thing is, I want to know where this fits in to the new canon, since Swain's rise is directly linked to the IoW (Kalamanda incident), and the IoW no longer exists.

I'm inclined to believe that Darius rose to his rank before Swain, and watched as Swain surpassed him, though there's nothing to suggest this.

You did cover a lot, but again, where does this all fit in with the new canon - and as you said it yourself, Riot hasnt done a great job of detailing Noxian events that arent covered in the Sion rerelease.

JVP151 votes

Yes. Swain wasn't in the invasion, and Boram Darkwill was pretty hesitant to use Sion in his super stable state. So that rules out a few questions like, "Did Noxus use Sion in the Ionian Invasion?"

You are right in the fact that Riven's sword was filled with magical wind powers, and I suppose Du Couteau would go for a more subtle approach (maybe he would dual wield like Katarina) but he was a high ranking general with some badass skills and he probably had a few connections to get a bit of wind magic. I know that I am stretching things here a bit, and Du Couteau probably DIDN'T kill the elder, but honestly, it is the closest thing we have aside from Riven, but Riven was in the wrong place at the wrong time and she didn't have the Noxian spirit.

I didn't know that Swain rose to power during the Kalamanda incident, but after reading the wiki, it says Boram Darkwill was assassinated. Swain was already taking control of battles.

I feel like you are right, and that Darius got his rank before Swain. However, Darius was helping Swain long before the battles at Kalamanda. He pretty much executed anyone who got in Swains way, but since Darkwill died during the battle (do to a master assassin), it must have been after the battle when Swain returned to Noxus and started taking his claim.

AAAAAAAAAALLLLLSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I just re-read Sivir's lore. It says:

Their partnership proved to be a profitable one until the Ionian conflict broke out. She chose to take no part in the messy invasion and severed her ties.

It was no surprise to Sivir when the Noxians next paid her a visit, but where she expected assassins, she instead received an offer. Cassiopeia ...

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS????

IT MEANS THAT NOXUS INVADED IONIA BEFORE SHURIMA ROSE AGAIN!

ahem

I have been doing this for quite some time now, so I have to take a break. I might be back to dissect it later.

Over Innsmouth1 votes

If it's not Riven, the only other suspect for the Elders killer is...Janna . Knew that shifty bitch was up to something.

Hold up.

So, Noxus invaded Ionia BEFORE Shurima rose from its own ashes, right. Then that would mean that the invasion has gone on long enough for Azir to rise, for people to return to the Shuriman Desert to reignite the trade and commerce economy, for that information to become rumour about him enslaving people, for that rumour to reach Ionia and subsequently for Taliyah to travel through Freljord back to Shurima.

Noxian Invasion has been going on for AAAGES then.

Which puts the whole place of Noxian champs in question.

So if Swain was put into inactive duty during the invasion, he must've been high enough rank that he could've controlled enough of the Invasion for it to matter, which means that (according to our assumptions) Darius and Draven have already been part of the establishment for some time (it's possibly that by this point Draven has left the military and become the Glorious Executioner).

Yet there's nothing in Darius's lore about Ionia. Could it be a) an oversight by Riot, b) he was also put into inactive status due to his ties with Swain or c) he was still active, but delegated to focus on Anti-Demacian efforts.

Decrit1 votes

I really hope they totally rewrite Irelia' s lore. It makes me mad for how much it' s bad :x

"Yo, my fadar is gud so i have to be gud OMGIGOTANEARDEATHEXPERIENCE but now i am k woo look at ma blades" Plus the random Soraka that jesuses in and jesuses out in a blink just because.

the judgement too talks more about her father than anything. And swordplay, which is cool but does not really add depth to her.

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