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Aphelios should have expanded on Syndra's story, not been a Lunari

LeafyGreen·12/19/2019, 4:59:02 AM·1 votes·3,598 views

I have been reading a lot of discussion about whether or not Aphelios should have been made a targon champion, specifically a Lunari priest.

Something that I thought of which I haven't seen anyone else point out is Alune vs Syndra's situation. They are both in some magical floating fortress. (Syndra "gives" the fortress her power, and the other fortress gives Alune power)

Syndra has a very interesting story that could be continued, like a lot of other loose threads in Runeterra but that's besides the point, and this was a perfect opportunity considering the GREAT LENGTHS they went at to establish Aphelios as someone who breaks a mold nobody asked to be broken. Sure we wanted the Lunari to be expanded, but wouldn't it make more sense to make someone converted by Diana or someone old and wise to have seemed like the Lunari have been in hiding for ages as that expansion?

What I am really trying to say here is that what if Syndra's story continued. She planted her fortress down somewhere maybe or someone was like "hey look up there" and decided to venture in. Good moment to make Syndra more human and less maniacal evil villain. Syndra is power hungry and all but she is still human and this is a perfect time for her to take a break orrr find out whats going on in Ionia considering she is now _ just a fairy tale_ to the public...time for her to meet someone. One way or another she gains a disciple --> now she is the master (albeit not a good position for her) who is willing to let her take control. It has been shown she can quite literally take control of whats around her with her dark powers so why not expand that to inbuing it within others as she sees fit.

Thus "Aphelios" or whatever his new name would be is instead Syndra's foot soldier, gaining information, and just doing whatever while she chills in her castle. You could even say "theres a mystical Ionian flower that the monks brewed into tea to resist Syndra's power so that they maintained conscious thought when she tried to project her power onto them, negative side affects include squeezing the throat or whatever" so this new Aphelios can keep his gimmick as a method to stop Syndra's magic from destroying his body. Heck, you honestly wouldn't even have to replace most of Aphelios's looks and aesthetic.

In summary, there is too much of a need for each and every league champ to have an impact or start an entirely new storyline. I think Aphelios felt more shoehorned in rather than naturally expanding the faction of Lunari. I will admit that with the release of Sett maybe that will change because of how he serves as the represenation of the culture clash and mix of Ionia and Noxus. He can be an interesting character in new stories and doesn't seem to be created for the sake of trying to make a new plot thread but rather flesh out older ones.

12 Comments

Falrein12/19/2019, 8:05:12 AM6 votes

Ok, ok... Let's talk about all that.

They are both in some magical floating fortress. (Syndra "gives" the fortress her power, and the other fortress gives Alune power)

Not quite sure what's the point? I mean the resemblance ends here. Syndra has cataclysmic powers who can destroy magical energies around. Alune... Can create weapons .-.

Good moment to make Syndra more human and less maniacal evil villain. Syndra is power hungry and all

I wanna clear this as well. Xerath is powerhungry. He killed and deceived and brought the fall of an entire Empire to get power. And apparently he wants more. Syndra has only ever tried to control her own power. Her new lore in particular reinforced that. She already has power, she wants to develop it like you would develop your drawing skills. She's not actively looking to gain more power.

She killed Konigen because he had betrayed her. Do remember that Syndra was an abused child. So when she got those OP powers she finally had something to make her special. And that one man, to her, tried to take it away.

And she's far away from "maniacal evil villain". She hasn't done anything that could be described as "evil". Questionable? Sure. But she didn't do it out of malice and without reason. If anything most of it was self-defense.

One way or another she gains a disciple --> now she is the master (albeit not a good position for her) who is willing to let her take control. It has been shown she can quite literally take control of whats around her with her dark powers so why not expand that to inbuing it within others as she sees fit.

That wouldn't be a good idea. Syndra doesn't seem to know a lot about her powers as she was seemingly never taught much. And you'd make her a master? There are many ways to continue Syndra's story but I believe this wouldn't do it.

Thus "Aphelios" or whatever his new name would be is instead Syndra's foot soldier, gaining information, and just doing whatever while she chills in her castle.

So you're saying you'd rather Syndra do nothing in her fortress? I am sorry love but that won't do. Syndra's a character with amazing potential. The last thing she should do is "chilling in her castle"...

You could even say "theres a mystical Ionian flower that the monks brewed into tea to resist Syndra's power so that they maintained conscious thought when she tried to project her power onto them, negative side affects include squeezing the throat or whatever" so this new Aphelios can keep his gimmick as a method to stop Syndra's magic from destroying his body.

So... Syndra, who is said to be incredibly powerful, whose powers can poison magical energies... Could be stopped... By a flower? I think a great part of her story will be to learn not to fck up spiritual energies. Which would be more interesting than it being stopped by a mere flower? She's threatening. As such, she shouldn't be countered by a flower of all things...

All in all I wholeheartedly disagree with your post. Which is fine, not everyone has the same opinion. But as someone who loves Syndra, this would be a huge restraint to her character imo!

Sorry if this answer ever comes off as rude, it's morning and I just woke up so I may be missing some tact.

Sergej56112/19/2019, 9:34:29 AM5 votes

Something that I thought of which I haven't seen anyone else point out is Alune vs Syndra's situation. They are both in some magical floating fortress. (Syndra "gives" the fortress her power, and the other fortress gives Alune power)

Outside of "white haired girl in temple" there really is little to no similarity between Syndra and Alune. While the temple Syndra lifted up has significance to her, all in all it's a pretty generic temple. Also she in no way "empowered" the temple, she only lifted it telepathically. You don't empower or change objects' properties with telepathy, you just lift em up with your mind. Also, Syndra could've easily snatch a house or something and she can leave her temple if she wants to. This is in no way similar to Alune's situation. For one, Alune's temple isn't "floating", it's in the spirit realm, normal physics don't apply there so to say something can fly or float in the spirit realm would be completely inaccurate. Secondly, Alune can't leave the temple. She's in the spirit realm, if she left god knows where she end up, and that's assuming she has the option to leave anyways.

What I am really trying to say here is that what if Syndra's story continued. She planted her fortress down somewhere maybe or someone was like "hey look up there" and decided to venture in. Good moment to make Syndra more human and less maniacal evil villain. Syndra is power hungry and all but she is still human and this is a perfect time for her to take a break orrr find out whats going on in Ionia considering she is now just a fairy tale to the public...time for her to meet someone. One way or another she gains a disciple --> now she is the master (albeit not a good position for her) who is willing to let her take control. It has been shown she can quite literally take control of whats around her with her dark powers so why not expand that to inbuing it within others as she sees fit.

Yeah no, I want Syndra's story to continue as much as any other Syndra fan but this ain't the way to do it. As Falrein mentioned, her being a master makes no sense since she herself barely understands her powers, she wouldn't be able to explain what and how she's doing what she's doing. Her powers also seem extremely unique to her, it's clearly not normal magic and it's clearly super powerful, I really doubt she could find someone in the world that has similar powers to her. Also, she can't imbue anyone with power, her powers seem 100% destructive, other than her telepathy of course.

Thus "Aphelios" or whatever his new name would be is instead Syndra's foot soldier, gaining information, and just doing whatever while she chills in her castle.

What would be the benefit of this exactly? Aphelios would have his entire personality, his entire existence, dependent on Syndra? I'm sorry, but that's what you call a side character, not a champion. Look at what they did to Senna, before her release she was just "Lucian's wifeTM" but now she's an actual character with her own personality and her own goals. While Senna is teaming up with Lucian, she still isn't completely dependent on him to work as a character and certainly doesn't depend on him being strong. "Syndra's henchman" isn't exactly a compelling character, even if you give him a backstory and personality outside of that, he still won't have his own goals and his powers will still entirely depend on Syndra (assuming you want Syndra to replace Alune). Aphelios and Alune have a much better dynamic, they're both individually strong, but together they work great as a team. Syndra and "Syndra's henchman" would be really pointless since Syndra herself is so ridiculously OP that she would just completely overshadow her henchman.

You could even say "theres a mystical Ionian flower that the monks brewed into tea to resist Syndra's power so that they maintained conscious thought when she tried to project her power onto them, negative side affects include squeezing the throat or whatever" so this new Aphelios can keep his gimmick as a method to stop Syndra's magic from destroying his body.

I don't think you understood the point of the flower in Aphelios' story. He's not drinking poison to "protect himself from Alune's power", he's doing it so that he's so numb that Alune can use the poison as a catalyst to interact with him i.e talking to him and giving him weapons. The poison in Aphelios' story is meant to represent his devotion to both his faith and his sister, he's completely willing to drink extremely painful poison with no hesitation just so he can get stronger to fight for the Lunari AND so that he can talk to his sister again. It just being an anti Alune drug so he isn't destroyed by it takes away from the whole point, in a way it kinda comes off as him rejecting Alune. So no, just keeping the "he drink poison flower" thing isn't enough for his story, the flower itself is meaningless out of context, but it's significant in his lore.

I think Aphelios felt more shoehorned in rather than naturally expanding the faction of Lunari

As a somewhat fan of Aphelios, I disagree. Aphelios did expand the culture of the Lunari. Before Aphelios the most we knew about the Lunari was that they were outcasted (based on Diana's lore) and that they had teachers (Zoe's lore). Outside of a few cameos (like Zoe's teachers, they might've even been the only Lunari we saw pre Aphelios) we never really had any true Lunari. Diana never met Lunari, she just saw the ruins of one of their temples. Aphelios definitely expanded on the culture of the Lunari. They seem completely willing to enforce and raising child assassins and mages, they seem to blend spirituality with their celestial beliefs, with them having a spirit moon and a physical moon. And the most important part, it's implied that the power dynamic in Targon is once again shifting. Aphelios also being the first non aspect human in Targon was a nice change, the Aspects are fun and all but it was about time for some regular humans (or well, as regular as you can get being a league champ).

GreenLore12/19/2019, 12:15:47 PM1 votes

Overall your points seem to just look at some very superficial details of Aphelios and try to set up parallels between Syndra and Alune.

I mean come on, the only real similarity here is that Alune and Syndra both have white hair and are sitting in castles.

However Syndra doesn't seem like she can empower others, if anything the opposite might be true as Syndras magic drained the magic around her.

Also we already knew from the universe page that the lunari still exist on Targon, so it made sense that we'd a champ of these lunari instead of a converted solari.

Ironically I disagree with you on Sett too. Sett introduces a whole new subfaction to Ionia, the underground ring, instead of establishing already existing subfactions. So while his story does play into the noxus-ionia interaction, I do feel like he creates a new plot thread, while Aphelios merely fleshes out an already existing one.