Aatrox's Celestial Concept Theory
When
was released, Rhaast says the line "Death and war, this will be delicious." to
.
At the time, the Shuriman lore of the Darkin had not been revealed however, its been said that Rhaast was written with this lore in mind. So at the time Aatrox and Rhaast were considered the Darkin of War and Death respectively, but in actually they are the Sunborn representation of War and Death in Shuriman culture.
WAAARGHbobo's elaboration on how this works.
It has also been confirmed that the 'godhood' of Targonian Aspects and Shuriman Ascended originate from the same well of power. So can 2 representations (one Targonian and one Shuriman) of the same concept exist at the same time? If we believe Aatrox was the Ascended representation of War then it has already happen.
From
's lore:
Fearing that these fallen Ascended were as dangerous to Runeterra’s survival as the Void incursions had been, the Targonians intervened. It is said that the Aspect of Twilight gave mortals the knowledge to trap the darkin, and the newly reborn Aspect of War united many in fighting back against them. Never fearing any foe, Aatrox and his armies were ready, and he realized only too late that they had been deceived. A force greater than a thousand dead suns pulled him inside the sword he had carried into battle countless times, and forever bound his immortal essence to it.
However, it has been stated that Aatrox's celestial ideal no longer exists after his entrapment, WAAARGHbobo's comment:
I think it's possible Illaoi's god could free/kill Aatrox's human soul and allow that soul to return to the cosmos. But it's complicated because the celestial concept Aatrox merged with and gained his ascended power from -- has been trapped/deleted. Literally the ideal/idea he represented ceased to exist when he was trapped. Human's no longer could even have the thought/idea he was the avatar of.
However, I believe Aatrox was in fact the Ascended representation of War, notice in his lore they are referred to as, just "the Aspect of Twilight" and "the newly reborn Aspect of War". In his quotes Aatrox calls Pantheon "betrayer" and "fiend", however, his lore does not give proper clarification on what happened, wouldn't "coward" or "deceiver" be more accurate insults based on his lore?
Unless Aatrox truly represented 'whatever War used to be' and Pantheon represents the new concept of War as we perceive it to be. Like getting replaced at your job because the new guy is more 'modernized' than you.
When Targon sealed Aatrox they made sure to replace his celestial concept so that the order of the universe would not be thrown out of balance.
A follow up question would be, did this also apply for Varus and Rhaast, who should respectively be Vengeance and Death?
"Things totally change so they can be the same but also totally different!"