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Varus' new lore: The Good, the Bad, and What Could've Been

Vampire Jesus·11/30/2017, 6:15:03 PM·27 votes·4,119 views

I'm aware that a lot of people are already sharing their thoughts in other threads. I figured I would share mine, as I did agreed with the writers on Varus' lore that I would be sure to express how I felt about the new lore. I want to try to make it as constructive as possible, to share the things I liked, the things I didn't like, and ideas that could probably have made the whole thing more palatable.

So, let's get started with THE GOOD:

  • I appreciate and encourage Riot attempting to bring in characters who are LGBT. Just a few days ago, I worked to figure out the numbers for diversity in the League of Legends lore, and unsurprisingly found it discouraging how there were no plainly stated canonical LGBT characters. This is now changed, and I can appreciate that. It's a bold move to change a character like Varus who is very beloved by his players in this manner. Thank you!
  • Both the comic and the music video had gorgeous visuals. I did truly enjoy it.
  • I could definitely see that a lot of effort was made into trying to put together a tragic story.

THE BAD:

  • Regretfully, I had little to no feelings about Kai and Valmar. I had genuine difficulty in telling the two of them apart both physically and in terms of personality. It would have been nice to see maybe one of them being cheeky/snarky/temperamental, and the other being different enough in other ways, but they still compliment each other. In any case, I just didn't feel strongly about them, and their chemistry was bland, so I inevitably just didn't feel too charmed by them. This is unfortunate, considering their tragedy.
  • The end result of Varus being a combination of three entities (Kai, Valmar, and Varus himself) is incredibly messy. Watching the three of them fight against each other to keep control just feels like a big clown fiesta, and I didn't really enjoy it. I admit this could be personal taste, but I'll elaborate my thoughts in the next section below.

WHAT COULD'VE BEEN:

My thoughts on the end result of who Varus is now feels just odd, clumsy, and unappealing. I don't enjoy the concept of these three dudes fighting for control over one body. I guess the best way I can explain this is that it's like taking the name "Iron Man" and deciding that it's now "Tony Stark and his lover (male or female) are fighting for dominance over this super powered body against the Evil Iron Man" and it's weird? It's weird. I don't really dig it. I feel like if you wanted to have a similar impact with some notable differences, here are some ideas:

  • Kai could have end up saved by Valmar sacrificing himself. Valmar is no longer permitted in Pallas due to the Darkin's influence changing him, and they either much tragically separate until Valmar finds a way to separate himself from Varus, or maybe Kai goes with him to find a way to help him, leading up to Kai to becoming a new Champion or keeping him as a supporting character in the lore.
  • Kai is not saved, and Valmar takes in Varus to extract vengeance. Still fairly true to the old lore with a slight change on the original tragedy.

In any case, I think what my preference would be to see them not as three guys duking it out mentally, but maybe eventually allowing Varus to becoming just one entity again or at least make this less... I dunno, messy.

I hope my thoughts are clearly read. Overall, I didn't particularly enjoy the changes; more complicated does not mean better, necessarily, and that's what it feels like here. Varus' original story was simple, to the point, and easy to appreciate, and I admit even little things such as his character animation of him grasping his necklace and looking up forlornly really used to get to me to establish his loss. It was simple, and I liked that. We now have that much less so.

From what DyQuill had stated previously about the lore rolling up, this is about what I anticipated. I'm glad it's not an outright Pantheon situation, but it's still not very clean storytelling. I only hope that some of this feedback is helpful in some way.

Let me know what you guys think, good or bad or what you wish it could've been.

41 Comments

OurLestrade11/30/2017, 6:24:58 PM10 votes

Seems like a messier, less enjoyable version of Kayn/Rhaast basically.

Rebonack11/30/2017, 6:56:01 PM4 votes

I feel like the whole thing was a setup for a threesome joke that just never materialized.

redniwediS11/30/2017, 6:21:15 PM3 votes

As I've said on other threads canonically speaking there have been no officially stated gay or straight characters or champions. For all we know everyone on Runeterra is bisexual.

Definitely agree with your points though.

TyrekGoldenspear11/30/2017, 6:31:26 PM3 votes

Too messy, like you said.

It feels like it's a step up from Kayn in terms of the Darkin Human power dynamic.

Instead of 1 v 1, it's 1 v 2!

Feels uninspired.

Spizzle900011/30/2017, 9:21:45 PM3 votes

As a father, I honestly cannot say that there is anything in the world nearly as compelling as the love a father has for his son. Not even for his significant other, for his son is a hybrid of his beloved and himself, which in a way gives physical form to their love. I do not have anything against LGBT+ people, but the motives of Valmar and Kai seem less intense relative to the wrath of a father deprived of his son.

Darius Strada11/30/2017, 7:48:06 PM3 votes

Completly agree with you. I much prefer to have new LGBT champions than old ones and their fights is a mess. And yeah, it's very hard to tell Kai and Valmar apart. Only the hair tells them apart.

Rand0mH3r0X11/30/2017, 8:19:38 PM2 votes

If Kayn has Rhaast inside him, And Varus has Kai AND Valmur inside him at the same time,

Aatrox! Oh no! I should've seen it coming. (Ew.) I should've seen it at the overdramatic flight that gets interrupted by someone sneezing.

At least Darkin characters never have a problem going to the bath room.

thecowley11/30/2017, 7:59:40 PM2 votes

I thought Kayn/rhast was interesting in the idea that he was between Old Varus and Atroxx. Old Varus had conquered the darkin(for now at least) while Atroxx dominated his host. Now we have a second Darkin that is battling his hosts, and a fourth darkin on the horizon, New Varus sister.

I dont care one way or the other about the gay part. Doesnt mean anything to mean positive or negative. Given how quickly all of this is out, it doesnt matter what gender/orientation the relationship was/is for the combined humans. This just feels like a sloppier and cheap rip on Kayn's lore.

sarii fox11/30/2017, 9:03:09 PM1 votes

I really disliked the comic, I even hated it. In my opinion the art takes away from the story. It's mainly the bland expressions that bother me most. I mean just look:

http://grabilla.com/07b1e-d38130b5-8f08-415e-905e-f25986e70e92.png

Is that the kind of face someone makes when they see their lover shot?! He looks mildly disappointed more than anything. He doesn't even have his mouth open. And the second panel is just as sad, he shouldn't look angry, he should be a desperate emotional train-wreck. The choice of having a blue background also takes away from the mood and emotion of the story. I found these problems all throughout the comic as I read it...As an artist this is really bothering.

Part three is just a mess of the three beings (varus) arguing about the same thing over and over again...with the same color scheme throughout...it got boring fast for me, I couldn't even finish it.

I think I'll just make my own post about this

Stars Shaper11/30/2017, 6:49:47 PM1 votes

This is the thread I agree more with.

Darrosh Jewfist12/1/2017, 2:12:41 AM1 votes

It's a really valid point that Kai and Valmar are pretty much... identical. Before Varus was formed and one of them (Valmar?) got rage-fest-y and the other one (Kai?) got not-so-rage-hate-fest-y they were pretty much identical.

If they wanted to do a 3 souls in one body, they should have developed the 2 most relatable souls in that body so at least their personalities and pre-demon visuals stood out more. Right now, it's just 2 human souls + a darkin for the sake of it.

500000000000000012/1/2017, 4:49:28 AM1 votes

It was a good story on its own, but in the context of retconning old Varus, it kinda sucks.

E Man forever12/1/2017, 11:30:01 AM1 votes

Have any of you tried to sync the music video with an edgy rock song. In my case I do that with Linkin Park “Numb”. Pssst it’s awesome [galio-happy]

TresArboles12/1/2017, 2:29:47 PM1 votes

I agree w/ your post although perhaps we have different conclusions.

Let us compare the Darius comic to Varus'. I think they did a better job of developing the relationship b/w Darius and the lady over the years. There was decent foreshadowing that a split was going to pass. In some ways the ending was much better that Darius didn't hold the blade that struck her down and yet was responsible as the proponent of noxian might.

In Varus' story, we get some stupid twilight like "Heartstring" or whatever phrases. We get moma-varus pronouncing her blessing on their gay union which was breaking the 4th dimension. The foreshaddowing was heavy handed and silly (I sometimes get visions or hot flashes, you should run away or not). I had a tough time telling one hunter from the other; they were both pretty bland characters.

I felt the scene w/ the wounded hunter was a poorly executed copy of scenes from things like X-men Dark Phoenix saga. There's a moment where the X-men battle the Shiar imperial forces for Jean's freedom and they're whittled down one by one... till it's Summers and Jean left. They're running back defensively and for a moment she sets up a shield and they take a brief moment to kiss before going in for the final fight. And when Scott goes down, the Phoenix emerges...
Now what made the X-men work wasn't gay or straight but that you had good characters and story was more important than pandering!

So if one of the hunters was Varus and he became Daakin to save his lover... and his lover rejects him then or becomes afraid of him that would be more interesting? Or what if his lover became corrupted and Varus followed into corruption to have the power to end his mad lover's rampage?
I don't know why you have to be lazy writer to do write a gay story? I'm also surprised so many LGBT ppl are in support of this rework just because it has gay? If you're LGBT, you should support a good story not just gay!

PickIe12/3/2017, 2:55:25 PM1 votes

The old lore had this massive tragedy, but in this one we see two men dominated by a darkin who wants to kill people. Gay Varus? Neat. It adds diversity to the game. I think Riot should have kept Val and Kai as lovers, but made it more tragic rather than making it just a 3 way potata fusion of two very undeveloped characters and an angry demon guy who likes killing humans. What if Varus was an anomaly to other darkin?

What I think would’ve been better:

Kai is dying fast, Val is dying slowly, but Val hears Varus call out to him while Noxians are charging in, he accepts Varus into him, kills Noxians, and Kai dies from his wounds. As for Val-Varus, Varus could’ve had the potential to be a not-so-evil darkin. Varus and Val could have had a symbiotic relationship of helping one another (Varus is keeping Val alive), OR just a pure fusion where their personalities fused with one another, with some emphasis on Val (Val can see the memories of Varus perhaps?).

We would have a Noxian-hunting-darkin-empowered human (unlike Kayn who either kills or is killed by Rhaast, or Aatrox who dominated his vessel) who despises war, but fights to end them, unlike his darkin pal Aatrox. I don’t think making every darkin an ‘evil demon that wants to kill all humans’ is unique.