Defending Jhin

SpecterVonBaren·1/12/2016, 11:09:53 PM·82 votes·8,418 views

So Jhin has finally been revealed to us and so far it seems a lot of people are disappointed with him, saying that he's got no real artistic element to his kit or look, or that his kit is a generic Frankenstein abomination of other champions.

I'm not here to talk about the kit, I want to defend his visuals, theme and character.

I think the problem with Jhin in this respect isn't Jhin but whoever was in charge of advertising him. From what was teased at us by Rioters and Gypsy, it seems like Jhin is going to be a very unsettling psychopath kind of character, not like Jinx who's funny and looney, but like serial killer crazy. What this tells me is that there was a miscommunication between the champ creators and the advertisers on what a Virtuoso is and what Jhin sees as art.

Some of you may know of a movie called 'American Beauty', I won't go into too much detail about it but there's a character in the movie that sees beauty in very strange things, he takes pictures of dead birds and a video of a trashbag tumbling and swirling in the wind is one of the things he considers the most beautiful thing ever. At the end of the movie when the main character (Played by Kevin Spacey) dies (Not a spoiler, it's the first thing you learn when the movie starts) this character that sees beauty in death walks up to Spacey who died with a smile on his face, because he was looking at a photo of his family before he got killed, and he stares at him for a few seconds and smiles and then walks away because he sees the beauty in the expression on Spacey's face at thinking about his family and what they mean to him right as he died.

This is the problem with Jhin, the people that worked on those teasers either misunderstood what Jhin is supposed to be about or they thought the people that play this game aren't capable of understanding complex subjects. Instead of all of those pretty visuals with trees and glass and butterflies, they should have instead had teasers of different people dying, two lovers embracing each other on a park bench, a painter dead with a smile on his face before his greatest portrait, a man that fought against chains and had just broken free, only to be cut down.

They should have emphasized that Jhin is someone that sees beauty in death, not someone that makes fireworks from the corpses of people. Think of him as being like Aatrox, Aatrox sees battles as beautiful, he calls them his masterpieces, Jhin is the same except he sees a masterpiece in the death of someone.

87 Comments

Sylveon1/12/2016, 11:36:59 PM66 votes

I don't really think the advertisers did a bad job at showing what Jhin is all about. The teaser images and the video show artistic pieces, trees, flowers, smoke, butterflies, crystals, light. But all these things have been used as a metaphor, if you will. It shows us what Jhin sees when he kills. The beauty he sees when someone dies by his hand. A tree growing out of his target, light beaming, flaming roses scattering to the wind, its all in his mind, and we are shown all this through his eyes. In fact, the guys at Riot did a great job at making and advertising him, its just that everyone has a different view of things, that's all :P

Serevas1/12/2016, 11:21:44 PM21 votes

Apparently there's a problem where an extra piece of his passive didn't make it into the press release.

I assume it's real as it came from gypsylord.

Beauty in Death - Killing blows spawn a blooming flower on the corpse that reveals and slows enemies nearby before detonating for damage.

charcharmunro1/12/2016, 11:26:46 PM12 votes

For some reason when I saw the title I was expecting somebody defending Jhin in a "JHIN DID NOTHING WRONG" kinda way.

SrirachaLimes1/13/2016, 1:46:40 AM9 votes

I think this can be seen in Jhin's movements. Have you seen what he looks like before he casts an ability or his passive procs? He makes very theatrical movements. He really does consider it an art.

Add this to the fact that the passive on his E makes flowers blossom on the dead and his W creates a rose petal that falls to the ground, and I think the idea of a person who finds beauty in death quite convincing.

IxtaliKing1/13/2016, 4:13:55 AM6 votes

I just came here to say Jhin imo has the most appealing and attractive markman kit in the game. Fxck the haters.

Shrîke1/13/2016, 3:20:30 PM4 votes

Maybe because he's a psycho path and that's what he sees? The teaser literally says 'Mind of the Virtuoso'. People need to stop being so ignorant and look at things another way. I think riot hit the mark with great story telling elements in the cinematic teaser. And PSA: he isn't even on the PBE, yet people are crying all over the boards which is hilarious.

Fanny Forecast1/13/2016, 10:20:34 AM4 votes

coughs the one girl and her dad from Psycho Pass.

Spizzle90001/13/2016, 2:19:47 AM4 votes

I like Jhin. He is a tad like Vladimir and views his murders as art. I don't see why people don't get that. The teaser was clearly supposed to be from the mind of Jhin, which is twisted and perverse. I love it.

Honestly though, the kit seems like it will probably be harder than any champion released in the past year. I am pretty hyped though.

BLU Medic1/13/2016, 12:17:29 PM4 votes

I think the trailers did a great job of explaining what Jhin is supposed to be, but his abilities don't really show that that well (apart from death flower passive thing). This can so easily be fixed with something like Pyrovision - what the person playing Jhin sees is beautiful, what everyone else sees is horrific.

ZGM Dazzling1/13/2016, 2:18:39 AM3 votes

What your talking about sounds more like Karthus to me then what Jhin was supposed to be.

On a side not, I think Mind of the Virtuoso was fine because it was just trying to depict how Jihn saw all the death as "beauty" by showing US beauty because we wouldn't normally see those deaths as beautiful the way he would.

Caffeint1/13/2016, 9:24:58 AM3 votes

I think we actually really wanted a kit which reflects his personality more. His kit seems pretty plain and simple considering how much effort Riot had put into the teasers. And I think it might also mostly be because of how high expectations everyone had of him and the hype surrounding him lately.

Mecha KhaZix1/13/2016, 2:32:37 AM3 votes

The art is obviously in how you play him (i.e. how you kill people).

People don't get this, apparently.

TonyTonyMordecai1/13/2016, 4:51:31 AM3 votes

Good job explaining this! I enjoyed reading it

Jhin UItd JFK1/12/2016, 11:15:36 PM2 votes

yes

Lithium Rosa1/13/2016, 1:11:40 AM2 votes

I like Jhin's personality or background, I love that kind of , let's say, twisted virtuoso, that fits me perfectly. But I hate his skill kit, I agree that there is no art in it, and has nothing to do with Virtuoso.

SwoIedemort1/13/2016, 5:58:04 AM2 votes

league is amazing c: summoner 31

CitadelOfIce1/13/2016, 6:20:13 AM1 votes

He's just a Kindred cultist. Thats all he is. I know they are going to write some big epic trying to make him either spooky or tragic, but damn it all if they just made one freaked out mamajama. I was disappointed in the kit, not going to lie. After Illa, Kin, and Tom, they really dropped the ball on interesting kit concepts.

Seekêr1/13/2016, 3:24:12 PM1 votes

They left a passive out in the ability teaser. Gypsylord chimed in and said he has a passive that whenever he kills an enemy, they spawn flowers that explode after a few seconds.

Owatatsumi Kami1/14/2016, 6:57:19 AM1 votes

How unique he will be will depends a whole lot on how his passive actually plays out in game. On paper he seems like a modified Caitlyn. Kind of disappointing in all honesty but we'll see. His visuals are kind of meh. I like where they were going but I feel they could've gone farther.

dEAdbUs1/14/2016, 4:30:51 PM1 votes

Teaser was quite and wonderful, it was like everybody died while they were sleeping and they didn't feel bullets. His gameplay is different - it's full of loud guns and grenades, who could image that guy from teaser could use grenades?

I understood that "flowers and trees" is metaphoric, but guy from teaser is not the guy from splash/gameplay. And those Zed, Sona, Vi and Garen teasers? That was epic, but still meant nothing!

Mr Vulcanator1/14/2016, 4:34:29 PM1 votes

His problem is he's got weird cyborg limbs and a poncho for some reason.

Regey113/1/2016, 2:40:35 PM1 votes

So what your saying is New BroTP? Aatrox + Jhin