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The truth about Shaco

SaltyToplaneGoat··44 votes·21,902 views

Ok we all know that our lovely murderclown is a bit of a mysterious figure. Then something got me thinking. In that Music of Legends thing there was a piece called "Shaco's and Lulu's quicky encounter"... but why should there be an connection in between the sorceress and the jester? I thought about this a little bit and then it hit me: Shaco is a human that has entered the Glade and got his powers there (or maybe he's a full creature of that realm, who knows?).

But why would the Glade produce an totally insane murderer with bad humor? Let me dig out a redpost from some time ago...

[{quoted}](name=Carnival Knights,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=6VfqaXvJ,comment-id=000e,timestamp=2014-10-27T18:32:11.819+0000)

When looking at Lulu it's important to consider English fairy tales, particularly those involving the fae realms and things like elves, gnomes, and dwarves. These creatures are not particularly violent or cruel* within the expectations and boundaries of their own society*, but have little understanding or empathy for humans and/or human culture. This isn't because they're evil, it's because they're far removed from humanity as whole.

Lulu is very much the same way. She doesn't understand that to many, her magic isn't a game - she grew up among the fey, where changing forms and wild magic are extremely common, and where things like audio/visual perception and the concept of death don't necessarily mean the same thing they do to the rest of Runeterra.

She's not a sociopath. She's a child who never grew up.

Isn't Shaco somehow... the twisted counterpart of that? He's carefree, crazy and just does whatever he wants to have his fun. The only difference to Lulu is that his "games" involve psychological torture and murder - something he seems to view as completly normal. But why is there no visible connection to the fae? My guess is that the glade is home to more than just the fae... or that some of them are just really fucked up xD

Lulu is the example of a child yordle falling into the glade - what would happen if a human grown-up would end up there? (implying that Shaco is actually human and grown-up).

I know it kinda sounds weird but... what do you guys think about this possibility?

34 Comments

Zarxis17 votes

It's a remote possibility that I hope isn't the case. I prefer that Shaco's lore remains as it is-- Shaco is a murderous, mischievous, humor-driven enigma that is vaguely implied to have demonic\otherworldly origins. The mystery is more fascinating than "Shaco is a happy murder demon" or "Shaco is a killer fairy man." I hope that Riot's new "lore" team never gets its claws on Shaco, along with the balance team.

SaltyToplaneGoat13 votes

You mean... you want him to have no lore at all? Like this you have a character who's story can be stuffed into two lines of text. He suffers from the same problem as Evelynn: they tried to make the champ mysterious, but ended up giving them zero actual lore.

Last time I checked Riot doesn't even HAVE a lore team... or do you see any lore floating around? ^^

Zarxis13 votes

[{quoted}](name=Kyoki Shinkuro,realm=EUW,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=c4EWf2lW,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2015-03-15T23:51:07.267+0000)

You mean... you want him to have no lore at all? Like this you have a character who's story can be stuffed into two lines of text. He suffers from the same problem as Evelynn: they tried to make the champ mysterious, but ended up giving them zero actual lore.

Last time I checked Riot doesn't even HAVE a lore team... or do you see any lore floating around? ^^

He already has lore, and it's better than what Riot currently shells out for its new and "re-lored" champions. They've already shown that even champions with a large amount of lore behind them (original multi-paragraph lore, League Judgements, and Journal of Justice articles— speaking of which, you should read Shaco's JoJ article; it's great) can be simplified into pitiful, two-line excuses for character backstories. Evelynn's problem is that her lore is vague, and her kit doesn't seem thematic at all, other than her passive (not to mention that she's intentionally kept weak by Riot, while Shaco is more viable if mastered). She's a mysterious assassin-for-hire... but why? What is the point of her possible connection to the Shadow Isles? She doesn't seem undead, though she could be a sort of vampire. Why was she trying to curry favor with the Summoners? She doesn't seem motivated by anything but the joy she finds in killing people (according to her in-game dialogue), but that doesn't really explain her lore more. Shaco might be mysterious in that no one knows exactly what he is, but, at the same time, everyone knows exactly what he does and why he does it. He thinks killing people is funny, and he's good at killing people in ways that could be thought of as funny (boxes, clones, etc.). He revels in the fact that mankind (and other races) don't have any factual explanation for him, his methods (invisibility, teleportation, self-multiplication, an endless supply of deadly traps... There's a reason for him being called the Demon Jester), and his motivations while continuing on his merry, murderous way.

Even if you don't believe me and lump him together with Evelynn as a lore-less "mysterious murderer," I hope you can agree that he's better off with a full page of vague lore than two lines of crap.

Awoof5 votes

{quoted}

speaking of which, you should read Shaco's JoJ article; it's great

Shaco "I'm an equal opportunity killer. You could say I swing both ways." That interview got me more than any retconnning lore addition since I joined season 2.

not to mention that she's intentionally kept weak by Riot, while Shaco is more viable if mastered

Eh, I'm pretty sure Shaco is kept weak intentionally too, just his kit still allows mastering and pulling something off. That's kinda disgressing though, and like I said, I agree, an improvement of his lore when they get to it is unlikely.

SpecterVonBaren5 votes

I think the difference between Evelynn and Shaco is that Shaco is meant to be an expy of the Joker, who's also meant to not have a past and is supposed to just be a force of nature.

The issue with this kind of character though, is that they are entirely defined by their actions, and since we have no actions for them to perform to keep the mystery going, all they are is this giant question mark.

junglerboy161 votes

The Joker actually has a very intriguing backstory where he was a comedian/hired laborer (backstory has been revised a few times) who made extra cash through petty crime. Batman hunted him down to stop his thieving, but in the process accidentally knocked him into a vat of chemicals that bleached his skin and drove him insane, fusing his comedic life with his inner criminal, forging the mastermind we know as the joker.

HeadHonchkrow1 votes

Indeed.

TheTragicomical16 votes

Fairy politics are... weird. I honestly hope this could be a back-story. It would make so much sense. Perhaps Shaco was an infant spirited away by the fae? Raised to be a court jester by the fae to survive and keep them entertained, hence his obsession and morbid sense of humor. Shaco "Why so serious?"

SaltyToplaneGoat4 votes

The fea spiriting away infants... yeah, that would be fitting to them. If the Glade is really inspired by english mythology and fairy tales this would be the most logical possibility.

How about being a harlequin for some crazy Fae King? Maybe they are even watching him murdering all these people as some kind of entertaiment? Could also be possible. Not all fae have to be as nice as the ones Lulu met...

TheTragicomical20 votes

Fae are bastards. Not all of them, but it's universally known that fae are legit the most toxic fantasy creature in variety. If anyone's familiar with World of Darkness and changlings, it's the same exact concept. People are whisked away into the fairy world and are forced to become things they're not to survive, in this case, Shaco had to learn how to become a killer clown, as Fae are fucking sadistic assholes.

RiotBioluminescence26 votes

{quoted}

Fae are bastards. Not all of them, but it's universally known that fae are legit the most toxic fantasy creature in variety. If anyone's familiar with World of Darkness and changlings, it's the same exact concept. People are whisked away into the fairy world and are forced to become things they're not to survive, in this case, Shaco had to learn how to become a killer clown, as Fae are fucking sadistic assholes.

I agree so hard with your first sentence. Old school fae aren't for lying schoolgirls to take photographs of - they're all about dying their clothes in their victim's blood, and whipping people's eyes out from on horseback.

Can't comment on Shaco myself (not my department) but old European fairy stories weren't messing around.

TheTragicomical3 votes

Yeah. If those fae were legit, that poor girl would be in five degrees of slavery and 10 accounts of having to give her children away to make sure she didn't have to dance for the poor things for all eternity. #justfairythings

DayOfReckoning471 votes

Ya, don't mess with fae mang.

DG Ashabel3 votes

Hey, they're still not messing around. It's been only what, a hundred years since Sweden stopped with the Year Walking? While the rest of the world underwent industrial revolution, Sweden teenagers walked into the dark woods on Christmas midnight, alone and having not eaten for the whole day, in hopes of meeting the clairvoyant spirit of a dead animal who lives under the church and getting it to tell them about the future.

And before someone tells me that my continent is full of crazy people, I'd like to remind everyone of Iceland and the Yule Lads (those words are separate links). At least our Christmas doesn't involve twelve deranged thieves and a psychopathic cat.

SaltyToplaneGoat4 votes

Old european fairy tales ARE kinda fucked up - if you read the original version and not the child-friendly ones of course. It doesn't even have to include fairies. Murder, torment, rape... the stories all got it. Or very extreme forms of punishment in the end. Hacked off feet, a witch getting stuffed into a barrel with spikes and getting rolled down the hill, getteing showered in boiling asphalt, and so on and so on.

Medival folks were crazy...

Klatn Yelox1 votes

Just look at the Pied Piper.

"Hey I got magic to get rid of your rat problem. I'll need payment."

(He can't really do it, but we'll let him try.) "Go ahead. We'll pay you when you're done."

Plays a fancy tune and leads the rats off a cliff. "I'll take my money now."

"Oh, well, uh, we are actually very poor, and have no money for you."

Plays a fancy tune and leads the village children off the cliff. "Good bye!"

SaltyToplaneGoat1 votes

Or look at the one with the wolf and the seven goats (sry if my english isn't always accurate with them):

Wolf tricks goats kids to open door

He eats them all.

Mother comes home, finds wolf sleeping nearby.

SLICES HIS BELLY OPEN TO GET HER KIDS OUT (who have miraculously survived that)

But wait that's not all:

She fills him up with stones.

Then sews the wound and pours salt in his mouth.

Wolf wakes up, is thirsty, goes to the nearest well and gets pushed in. Can't swim because of the stones and drowns.

//Honestly, and that was supposed to be a children's story at some point... For some reason I understand how the Glade would fuck up Shaco so hard...

TonyTonyMordecai4 votes

This is an awesome theory... I never thought about it that way, along with having some curiosity with why the one piece was called "Lulu and Shaco's Quirky Encounter" Nice Job!

Xx420n0sc0p3sxX4 votes

Shaco is 5 letters, Lulu is 4. 5-4=1 Shaco and Lulu are 2 champions. 1+2=3 # sides in a triangle. Illuminati is triangle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQoRXhS7vlU

Shaco is Illuminati confirmed.

EDIT: Bet Illuminati downvoted cause I'm uncovering them.

The Soulforged2 votes

Ever heard of Illuminati Shaco?

Xx420n0sc0p3sxX1 votes

I actually have lel.

A Miss Fortune3 votes

Lulu is Shaco

revliledpembroke3 votes

Given the way Jim Butcher portrays the Fae in his Dresden Files novels ("he's not evil, just hyper-violent and easily bored" is a perfect quote or paraphrase that comes to mind), this 10000000000000000%.

Chaotic Reks3 votes

holy shit. Shaco is spring-heeled jack

Klax002saur2 votes

I don't see how sociopaths disassociated from reality means they're from the Faye. There are plenty of killers in our world who have 0 reason other than it's fun. There are also plenty that make a theme for themselves, or leave certain clues repeatedly.

That being said it would still be somewhat cool if he was from the faye

SaltyToplaneGoat1 votes

Being a murderous comic alone wouldn't make the connection. Being a murderous comic with magical powers no one can seem to understand - that's something else. Because IF Shaco was using a magic that was known to Runeterra they would have caught him ages ago. Fae magic on the other hand...

junglerboy162 votes

I personally would find it more believable if Shaco were a human (could have been a child or adult) who was trapped in the glade, but instead of just never growing up, is actually possessed by a malicious Fae spirit (hence "The Demon Jester). everything he does is a distorted perversion of something that would be considered funny or magical. He is all about "practical jokes" and sneaking around going "BOO!" at people, but for him it needs to include a malicious/lethal jack in the box prank, or a stab in the back kind of scare to be funny. his lore used to just call him a mysterious assassin-for-hire, but he is so much more than that. I think your idea is interesting, but I would prefer it if Riot expanded on the "demonic" aspects of his identity. That could certainly include the Fae, but that shouldn't be the main focal point.

Peridition2 votes

I would love if they departed Shaco's character from a goofy Joker rip-off to a something like a darker version of the Skull Kid and Majora's Mask.

darkdill1 votes

Definitely. If the mask itself were Shaco, and he just had some common thug as its host, that'd be AWESOME.

GenoXx1 votes

LOL Shaco is the mad hatter of RuneTerra. He's from the Glade--except he's the murderous version xD

Shaco is one of my favorite champs

Awoof1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Kyoki Shinkuro,realm=EUW,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=c4EWf2lW,comment-id=,timestamp=2015-03-15T22:52:26.859+0000) But why would the Glade produce an totally insane murderer with bad humor?

Shaco I think someone missed the punch line.

I like your theory though. I can see why some wouldn't, but there would be still a lot of room for what Shaco was before he entered the Glade. For all that matters he could still be simply a god-knows-where-it-came-from demon that just discovered humor at the Glade. Also I wouldn't mind Shaco's & Lulu's Glade Adventures.

Curling Veigar1 votes

It might just be the kookoo minds they have that made them have a "quirky" encounter o_O

Ark Angel HFB1 votes

You people stay the hell away from my main... >_> I'm watching you!

SaltyToplaneGoat1 votes

Why so serious? ^^ We are not planning anything bad with him... or do you expect us to strap some pink fairy wings to his back now that he could be from the glade? xD

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