A treatise and discussion about Darkin lore and a new champion
(I also posted this on Reddit, but honestly, I was scared it would just sink in the mess that is the "New" page of League Reddit - I really want to hear other people's opinion about this, so I'm posting here too. Please do tell me if that's a problem.)
Greetings to you all, theorycrafters, lore geeks and curious people. This post is, as the title says, a mixture of my thoughts and theories about recent Darkin lore stuffs, and it's also a try to incite discussion, and listen to other people's ideas as well - League's lore is, in my opinion at least, really enjoyable, especially considering that it's just a background for a MOBA game, and could be absolutely ignored. I hope to hear from many more of you who think the same way - but let's not waste any more of your time, and get into it.
The Champion's identity
So by now I'm sure we're all aware how Riot is revisiting and updating the Darkin lore with Kayn and Varus. I personally find it really interesting and good, even though i do agree that Valmar and Kai probably would have been better used in a completely new Darkin champion's background, instead of making it feel a bit forced when replacing Varus' existing lore, as good as the new one might be. (I find comments like "I will miss the old Varus, his perfect lore and personality" really stupid - I wouldn't really consider "Me happy, baddie come, baddie kill family, me angery" a revolutionary, perfect story, but it was what we had for a long time, so i get the negativity when it's changed. Also, crying about "League of Liberals" when one of the 130+ champions has something homosexual in his background [he isn't even gay himself, if you think of it] is a bit backwards. Although if I think of it, they did say they love each other, and they did touch each others face, I mean that's just OUTRAGEOUS! /sarcasm off) Anyways, back to the matter at hand. Most of you reading this are probably aware by now that the current Darkin lore states that they are an alien race, who have invaded Runeterra long ago, only to be defeated. The portal to their world is destroyed, and the surviving 5 were imprisoned in their weapons, entombed in safe locations.
Five. 5 remaining of a race once worshipped/feared as demons, almost godlike in power compared to mortals - although very much killable. We know of 3 - Aatrox, Rhaast and Varus, each imprisoned into their sword, scythe and bow, respectively. They (or at least Varus) were imprisoned, and their race defeated by a "golden-armored" and "flame-haired" warrior queen - we'll get back to her later. What i want to speak about first is the (quite likely) identity of the new chamion, which is probably why most of you clicked on this post. This theory is quite simple, actually. If you read Varus' short story, Dark Kin(https://universe.leagueoflegends.com/en_GB/story/varus-color-story/) on the universe page, then you surely noticed how Varus enters an ancient Shuriman ruin, from which he senses the same magic that had until recently kept him bound too - the magic of the warrior queen. The final sentence, as he enters the tomb, comes from Varus, and is as follows: 'Varus sighed. “Where are you, sister?” he said.' Now, so far we only had male Darkins, but with the knowledge that they aren't the ancient, mysterious godlike/demonic entities we believed them to be, but an alien race, it does make perfect sense that they would have females as well. Now, to the actual champ. We recently had Xayah and Rakan on the botlane, then Kayn in the jungle, followed by Ornn on top, and Zoe on mid. So logic would dictate that the next champion is going to fill one of the botlane roles again. Now, when we look at Darkin champions, there is 5 of them, with the 3 known ones being a toplaner, a jungler, and a marksman. It is a great opportunity to bring in a Darkin support, and a Darkin mage - and with these recent lore changes and considering all the facts I listed so far, I firmly believe that the next champion will be a female Darkin support.
The Champion in the actual game
Now, the second part of the discussion. Mainly, if my theory were to turn out true, I can't help but wonder how a Darkin support would work. Let us take a look at the supports we had recently. "Recently". The last support we had was Rakan, an offensive, and somewhat, if not entirely squishy engager. He was preceded by Tahm Kench, a tank who focused on protecting his team as well as crowd controlling. Before him was Bard, a very squishy, offensive roaming support, and before that, Braum, the definition of a tank who's all about defending his carry. Now, the one element I find to be lacking from all of this is one of the first support archetypes - the very immobile and squishy heal/cc machine, like Janna, Soraka or Nami. In fact, Nami was the last support of this type (one could argue for Bard but I consider him to be a roamer and much more offensive even than Nami, who is the most agro of the aforementioned 3). The thing about this is that the Darkin's theme wouldn't really fit this archetype, or only with a stretch, like Bard does. However, Darkins aren't tanky beasts either. Varus, as a marksman, is obviously squishy, but even he has a little more for his survival than many other carries - he has the chance to slow and bind opponents with his E and R. Meanwhile, Aatrox and Rhaast are in the brawler category - not squishy, but not tanky enough to be able to take a lot of punishment. They also share the theme of sustaining themselves by dealing damage, which also fits the narrative of Darkins bringing Blood Magic to Runeterra, which the Noxians use to this day. So after all this, the way I imagine a Darkin support is a squishy (think of Soraka) or medium-toughness (think Rakan) caster, who would use Blood Magic to sustain and buff allies by expending some of her health, and regain that health by dealing damage to enemies. Sort of like Soraka and her heal and Starfall, but with a lot darker theme. This would in my book roughly put the support to around Nami's level of offensive/sustaining capabilities - some sort of buff and some sort of sustain, which take health (exclusively or in combination with mana) to use, and an offensive or crowd control spell, that gives some health back. The thing I can't really figure out is what weapon could this Darkin lady use - what would fit a bloodletting, murderous caster who uses her own lifeforce through Blood Magic to sustain her allies, and siphons the life out of her enemies to keep herself energized? The one thing I really managed to pair with this was a ritual knife, an Athame. Although seemingly a lot less imposing than a gigantic bow, scythe or sword, it would be just as deadly.
The Warrior Queen
The final thing I wanted to touch upon, and what is probably the least consequential and most "lore geek"-y thing is the identity of this ancient warrior queen.(You can probably skip this part if you only cared for champion discussion). Golden armored, flame haired, bane of the Darkin. My insight on these parts of the lore might be significantly weaker than desired, but still, 2 names immediately came to my mind upon hearing the words "Warrior Queen".
The lesser known would be Setaka, ancient Ascendant warrior queen of Shurima. She is merely mentioned in a loading screen tip, and basically the only thing we know of her is that she was the original owner of Chalicar, the crossblade nowadays seen in the hands of Sivir. Now, there are some signs that she could be the one we are looking for - even though I ultimately don't think she is. The first thing is that Varus looks for her sister in Shurima. "Days earlier, a crook-backed creature with a withered arm and birdlike features had told him this was Shurima, but that couldn’t be true. The Shurima Varus remembered had been a desolate wasteland." (Dark Kin) It would be convenient for her to bury the Darkin in lands she controls, not on the other end of the world. Golden armor would also be nothing unusal from a Shuriman Ascendant, and as far as we know, she could've had a fiery mane of red hair, although that's not a sight you would often see in the desert. But the thing that throws me off is actually the only solid fact we know about her - the Chalicar. It's really not likely that she would drop the all powerful magical crossblade for a corrupting Darkin weapon, and use it to great effect against its kind - and then take the entire thing to Ionia and bury it. So no, I don't believe Setaka will become anything more than a little tip - for now.
The other, and much more obvious candidate of "Warrior Queen" is none other than Avarosa, Iceborn Queen of the Freljord. Now there's a lady who knows how to handle a bow! The queen of the mighty Iceborn Empire could easily be wearing golden armor, and she could very well sport a fiery mane - it would be much more frequent in the frozen north. (Even though I always imagined she looks like Queen Ashe.) But I don't think she is the queen we're looking for either. She of course led the Iceborn in their revolt and eventual overthrow of the Frozen Watchers. She fought that war, and I really, really don't think it will turn out the Watchers are the Darkin, and the Darkin War and the war against the Watchers will stay separate entities. It would be a really, really dumb mistake from Riot to mash those together.
My theory is that this Warrior Queen is an entirely new character of the lore. I definitely hope she will be expanded on a bit more in the 2 remaining Darkins' lore, but who knows. So far, what we know of her is that she possessed magic strong enough to imprison Darkin into their weapons. She most definitely did imprison Varus - of the other 4, we don't know, but I would assume she trapped those too. Not only this, however, but she also had the power to take up Varus without succumbing to the corruption (in his now bow form), use him with great effect to slaughter many of the Darkin, and then collapse the gateway between Runeterra and their world - permanently. She sounds like an interesting character, if a tad bit OP. However, it is also stated, that the shot that collapsed the bridge between worlds was indeed her final shot, and then her last act was imprisoning Varus in an Ionian temple. I can only assume that her stature and personality were great enough to stave off the corruption for a great amount of time, but ultimately she had to seal it away, for she was about to succumb. Look at Varus' split personality right now. Valmar and Kai are resisting him, because their love is a bond of such strength that they can hold onto it - for now. But with every life Varus takes, they get that little bit closer to disappearing forever. "Sixteen dead, and he hadn’t even broken sweat. He felt the anguish of the mortal souls within him and grinned. Every death gnawed at them, weakened them and made them less able to fight him." (Dark Kin) Varus chips away at their resolve, slowly, but steadily, and I have no doubt that ultimately, there will be nothing left, only Varus. Such would be the case of Aatrox's host, of whom we know nothing, for he is already obliterated. The case of Kayn and Rhaast is different. Kayn's absolute and firm belief in himself being the ultimate assassin, his narcissism, his arrogance, his sheer ego makes him disregard Rhaast as just another tool, albeit a powerful one. This is another way of resistance, and it definitely makes it hard for Rhaast to take control - Kayn even cracks the occasional joke about the Darkin, suggesting he's not really despairing about his situation, if only for now. We also get a glimpse ingame at what would happen if he could completely banish the Darkin - I, however, think that to be completely impossible. Not even our Warrior Queen of old managed to do that, and for some reason i think that the one who defeated the Darkin invaders might have been a little more powerful than a "mere" Shadow Assassin. I think that Kayn's Rhaast form is what is coming, and is inevitable.
Our Warrior Queen managed to defy Varus for some time, but ultimately she felt the corruption taking over, and as her final act, had the bow sealed away, and she herself probably died. This of course was merely a demonstration of the incredible power she must have possessed. As of her identity - we do have a very vague idea of what she looked like, from Varus' memories. She was a warrior queen, a leader of a nation (in time, maybe the entire Runeterran resistance fighting the Darkin). I also believe that she hails from Ionia. As Varus' bio states: "Soon after Aatrox’s fall, Varus was cornered by vastayan moon-stalkers and human mages in service of a golden-armored warrior queen." We only know of one land where Vastaya and humans could have at least somewhat gotten along, and that is of course Ionia. It's also the place where she had the bow buried before dying, and it would make sense for her to want to die in her homeland. Her real identity, however, is yet to be seen. I, for one, really hope we get to know more about her.
Aaaand that's about it. I thank each and every one of you who took the time to read through all of this banter. I invite you to discuss, to share your own theories and concepts, or to tear my stupid theories apart for being silly. The new Darkin lore is looking great, in my opinion, and is very exciting, with 2 Darkins yet to come - I really hope Riot handles it well, and gives the already great background lore of League a fantastic new addition. Have a great day ya'll, and see you next time for another rant :D
