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Riot - The Aspects and the Aspects... Can we get some clairty?

Oleandervine·7/27/2018, 1:41:49 PM·2 votes·2,518 views

So discussing Targon, we know that there exists celestial, otherworldly beings that live beyond the summit. The ones we know are the Aspects of Twilight, the Sun, the Moon, the Protector, and War.

These beings select avatars from the population of Runeterra, most of whom scale the mountain and reach them at the peak. Only the Aspect of Twilight used an unorthodox method of host selection. Once these people are selected, they become the Aspects of Twilight, the Sun, the Moon, the Protector, and War.

This is where the confusion occurs. The celestial beings are called Aspects. Their avatars in Targon are called Aspects. Talking about these characters and their divine counterparts gets hella confusing, because they're all called the same thing, despite being very different things. Can we maybe have some language to better differentiate the celestial Aspects from their same-named terrestrial Aspects?

6 Comments

Jaspers7/27/2018, 2:38:09 PM2 votes

Aren't they one and the same though? It seems evident that when an Aspect finds a host who mirrors their ambitions and inhabit them the Aspect then loses some form of sense as well and it's the hosts desire that takes hold mixed with the the Aspect's intention.

In Marvel, Symbiotes aren't inherantly evil (or were at first but you know, retcon) but binding with their host can affect them, a Symbiote will lose their 'ambition' in exchange for the hosts desires instead. It's the reason why Carnage is well horrific and Venom is more of an anti-hero nowadays.

Aspect of the Sun is Leona, The Aspect is in Leona, Leona is the Aspect. Diana's story seems to hint she stayed herself after the possession and wasn't single mindly following The Moon's desires.... if it has any.

Quiksilvur7/27/2018, 2:11:21 PM1 votes

I think for the most part, the divine aspects and the physical avatars merge pretty completely; Diana IS the Aspect of Twilight after ascending, rather than sharing a body with a separate presence. The exception is Pantheon, who explicitly overrides the person and uses his body like a host.

Robertsmash7/27/2018, 4:36:03 PM1 votes

This confused me on Zoe's release. Taric, Pantheon, Diana, and Leona all have titles that aren't "Aspect of ____". It's clear that in the cases of Diana, Leona, and Taric that the Targonian can choose to leave the host's mind intact. Before Zoe's release, I thought the Aspect was the Targonian, and the human was just themselves. I guess I sort of still think of it that way, and just make a mental exception for Zoe.

Pantheon is obviously a special case in which the Targonian chooses to erase the human. His title should be Aspect of War.

Wrathof3007/27/2018, 8:40:26 PM1 votes

I think the reason the hosts Diana Leona Taric Zoe & Pantheon are also referred to as the Aspects, are because the Aspects from Targon prime now reside within their bodies.

The clearest example is Pantheon upon entering Atreus body it is stated that Atreus' persona was erased effectively leaving Pantheon in control. A parasitic/ commensalistic relationship. This is also the case with Diana Leona Taric & Zoe, their respective Aspect's reside within their bodies granting them their powers, knowledge and memories. However they have left the original souls of the hosts intact and are (depending on the Aspect) in a mutualistic/ commensalistic relationship. Therefore 'their entity' as a whole (both Aspect and host as one being) could be referred to as an Aspect.

From Leona's short: "She flexed her fingers on the leather-wound grip of her sword, feeling the surge-tide of power within her. A coiled fire that ached to be released. Leona held it within her, letting it ease into her flesh. Embers flecked her eyes and her heart pounded in her chest. The being she had joined with atop the mountain longed to burn these men with its cleansing fire."

From Diana's short story: "A memory, yes, but not her own. This was something else, something drawn from the fractured recollections of the celestial essence that shared her flesh." "The essence within Diana surged. It filled her thoughts with undying hatred from a distant epoch. She glimpsed ancient battles so terrible that entire worlds had been lost in the fires of their waging; a war that had almost unmade this very world and still might."

Order of decreasing mutualistic relationship (imo) would be: Taric Leona Diana - Taric is the only one without specific lines of 'fusing' rather using the term 'imbued', but I'm assuming said fusion is the basis of how the Aspects work for consistency. Zoe - The Aspect of Twilight can hinder Zoe's use of portals, I'm assuming this is a special case since it's role is the 'messenger of Targon' and 'Herald of change', holds significance to the Aspect. Pantheon