Is there and afterlife on Runeterra

Mandalorian 117·12/20/2017, 7:52:18 PM·5 votes·1,182 views

Runeterra is full of gods, goddesses, demigods, and aspects, but do any of them, or any other god we don't know yet have a type of afterlife? I might be wrong on this, but it seems like there isn't any kind of deity of afterlife like the biblical God and Satan, the Greek god Hades, Nordic goddess Hel and so on and so forth.

What made me think if this is when I started playing Yorick Yorick and he questions if there is anything beyond in his dialogue. He also spoke with the dead since he was a child, and tried to lay them to rest. Now he tries to raise the dead to bring justice to the blessed isles. Does he bring them back from an afterlife, or are they not at rest and he uses them? In Greek mythology, if someone has not received a proper burial, they are forced to roam the earth, not going to Tartarus or Elysium. Does this work in a similar way, where he takes advantage of these ghosts?

Another is Illoui Illaoi when she kills someone in the name of her god, does the person just die, or do they go to a realm of censored Japanese tentacles?

One more thing is that if a person dies, and are brought to rest, are they just gone? No afterlife, nothing happens, they just go. This is possible, but somewhat anti-climactic (I guess it wouldn't, matter but still). Plus Illoui's E rips the soul out of enemies and beats the crap out of it. This might be something made for the sake of gameplay, but at the same time it could mean there is such thing as a soul in the universe. If there is a soul, wouldn't that mean it goes somewhere?

There are other questions I have about certain champions that are undead Amumu Sion or possessed Pantheon but that's pretty much the gist of it.

31 Comments

Ebonmaw Dragon12/20/2017, 8:06:30 PM4 votes

Considering that actual ghosts exist (not undead creatures), yeah.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/leagueoflegends/images/c/c5/Howling_Abyss_Shop1.png/revision/latest?cb=20130522203027

And Rafen mentioned the "seven hells" in the lore... so we know that the word "hell" is a thing in Runeterra. So, the concept exist... It is real? no idea.

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO12/20/2017, 8:11:03 PM3 votes

There’s likely a multitude of understandings of life and death in Runeterra. We do have ghosts and the spirit realm, and Illaoi claims to be capable of destroying souls.

It’s likely that in ionia there’s a strong belief in reincarnation or some other cycle. Demacia and Noxus would likely have more western views on the concept (Noxus maybe)

The Kindred seem to be only involved in the process of death itself, they don’t ferry souls to some afterlife or anything.

Penyü12/20/2017, 8:38:36 PM3 votes

I feel like Yorick believes (or hopes) there is an afterlife at least

one example

I've gone through every scrap of lore I can on Yorick as I love this champion so much, but his champion update page says "morphed the Blessed Isles into the Shadow Isles—a place where the dead find no resting place" so I'm assuming because they were cursed they cannot move on, he uses the souls in his cape (that have basically mixed and each 'soul' isn't from one specific person anymore) to give some sort of sentients to his mistwalkers (and the recently deceased sailor in his short story) to help him.

JustMonika1312/20/2017, 8:41:55 PM3 votes

There seems to be a cycle of Reincarnation in the Runeterran universe. Both Illaoi and the Targon aspects seem to hint at it in their lore and some quotes.

Rayjay Redfang12/20/2017, 9:19:40 PM3 votes

There are souls, and the shadow isles is proof of this. mordekaiser imprisons souls as well so spiritual bodies exist. Where do they go, that is unknown. The only souls we see are trapped or willingly staying like karthus.

With Yorick, a lot of lower level creatures are one or more soul stuffed into corrupted flesh that are trapped there. They have no free will. They never went to the beyond, he just summons them. I Ilike to think of it as the soul is just powering the body, but something else dictates it's actions. For people like hecarim, their soul was strong enough to maintain who they are personality wise.

If we look at Sion, his life was brought back to him and his mind was imprisoned. He has the memories and body of Sion, but does he have the sould of Sion or is he more zombie related? We don't know that either, but personally I'd like to believe it is sion's soul.

The aspects are Gods that inhabit a host.

amumu just won't die. I need to reread his lore to see if he is wrapped up because of an illness or if he was buried or just sealed away.

The league after life seems to be disorganized unlike other religions where there is a permanent resident for souls. Since souls exist, they have to go somewhere, and following up on this, it is only logical that something is governing where they go and maintaining order.

We may get a better explanation of the after life with the kayle/Morgana updates

Warlord Dienekes12/20/2017, 9:57:01 PM1 votes

Waarghobo has said that reincarnation is a thing, in our discussions on Illaoi.

But the Pantheon’s lore explicitly says that Atreus joined the celestial afterlife. Which would mean there is an afterlife, if we take the lore at face value. Which with Targon is problematic at several points.

Souls or spirit energy or whatever you want to call it must exist for the Shadow Isle’s lore to make sense.

Robert Smith12/20/2017, 11:53:35 PM1 votes

Kindred :Grim Reaper usually is the guide to the afterlife