Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

Demacia and Noxus are Greece and Persia

Kitts·10/19/2017, 1:25:19 AM·7 votes·5,591 views

Okay so that sounds pretty silly. "Demacia and Noxus are Greece and Persia" is kind of a bold statement and sounds like the conjecture of some kid who just got into a history class, however i promise its more. Demacia and Noxus are representative or at least highly based upon Greece and Persia. So lets dig into the evidence, beginning with what first led me to the connection: Architecture. Greece and Demacia have some architectural similarities that are far from simple coincidence. Here is High Silvermere, a prominent Demacian city https://universe-meeps.leagueoflegends.com/v1/assets/images/factions/image-gallery/demacia-silvermere.jpg and here is the Greek island of Santorini https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Ffoundtheworld.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F11%2FSantorini-Greece.jpg&f=1)] Note the domes, octagonal shape, blue & white color scheme and the mountainous environment.

Noxus also has some similar architecture to Persia, albeit much less than Demacia and Greece. Here is the Noxoraa, a gateway constructed over roads to cities conquered by Noxus https://i.imgur.com/KaYYVQf.jpg] and here is the "Gate of all Nations" in Persopolis, capitol of Persia. https://i.imgur.com/Q4XufMd.jpg]

So wow that's great and all, but Demacia could easily have just taken inspiration from Greece and Persia certainly wasn't the only society to build gateways, but I've got much more than just architecture.

Have you guys ever heard of Darius? Darius? The dunkmaster himself? The hand of Noxus? Yeah. So anyone browsing the story boards knows exactly who Darius is, a heartbroken, hard-bitten general of Noxus, but he's more than that. His very namesake is Persian. King Darius I. Here he is: :https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fs-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2F736x%2F7d%2F5f%2F93%2F7d5f93f9f597ea2209c0cd4b5857b3f7.jpg&f=1] This guy tore through nations like a hot knife through butter. He was also a super nice guy. So that first part is very much so like the Darius we know in League, second part, not so much. But here's the thing: The Noxus region page on the nexus says > "As Noxus expands and defeats neighboring cultures and cities, it offers the conquered people a choice; swear loyalty to Noxus and be judged solely on your worth, or be destroyed."

This Noxian philosophy fits pretty close with Persia, especially under King Darius. King Darius was known to go to the temple of the conquered people and pay his respects to their gods. They were also inclusive of the people, but if they did not accept Persian rule, they were crushed, no exceptions. Demacia is known to be a proud, militaristic nation with a high value of duty. Just like the military and philosophy of Greece.

On the topic of militaries, Demacia has a very specific military formation in the new Legends Never Die music video we see scenes of Demacian soldiers training hard cough greece cough cough and soon we see them charging against an army bearing red flags. This army is Noxus, we even see their soldiers later which confirms this, though red flags are Noxian, always. When they approach they use a specific formation; they use the chelone or testudo. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Testudo_formation.jpg/310px-Testudo_formation.jpg] The Testudo is more well known as a Roman formation, but the Greeks used it as well. The Greeks definitely did not utilize it as much as Rome, but to say Rome was not influenced by Greece is to not fully assess history. Greece used the Phalanx before Rome was a true empire, so it is likely that Rome simply improved on the design of the tactic. https://i.imgur.com/19LDnGs.png] Garen himself is standing at the front of the form, another Greek parallel. Alexander the Great, one of the Kings of Macedon (a part of Greece) led his military at the front and boosted their morale by charging at the front of the form, something Garen is known for.

Noxus also has military parallels, Noxus is known for being brutal, and so too was Persia. They would rule peacefully if you accepted their rule, but if you didn't, they would destroy their enemy. https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fs-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2F736x%2F98%2F8c%2F1b%2F988c1bb298b550fc3879a52e9bb74161.jpg&f=1] Noxus can be seen doing the same thing in the bard cinematic, killing innocents for their goals.

Thanks for reading my little history lesson here, I'd like to do more things like this eventually but i suppose only time will tell. Cheers, Kitts.

14 Comments

Warlord Dienekes10/19/2017, 6:12:59 AM10 votes

Few notes.

There is no evidence that dome architecture existed in the Hellenistic world until Alexander conquered Persia and adopted some of their style. Even then triangle or flat tops were far more prevalent in surviving Greek architecture.

Demacia is known to be a proud, militaristic nation with a high value of duty. Just like the military and philosophy of Greece.

Military and philosophy of where in Greece? The various city-states never had a unifying cohesive philosophy or military code. In fact the two most prominent city-states in modern minds only focused on one or the other. The Athenians focused on philosophy and the Spartans on military (though this is a ridiculous oversimplification, Spartans had their share of philosophers and poets, and Athens had a few damn good military minds and soldiers, but both styles were incredibly different). But more to the point, there were other city-states like Megara known for the economic institutions rather than anything philosophical or militaristic.

The Demacians are very explicitly not using a phalanx. They're using a Testudo formation possibly developed by (but unarguably made famous by) the Romans, not the Greeks.

Macedon was definitely not considered a part of Greece by the Greeks. The Macedonians may have disagreed with that assessment, but that was the justification for the numerous revolts by various Greek city-states while Alexander was on campaign, they were trying to break the foreign power that had gained control of the peninsulas.

It's odd that you pick out Alexander in the comparison with Garen. Since Alexander was pretty much the opposite of him in personality. Garen clearly takes from a mixture of knightly chivalric virtue and Roman honor and duty virtues. Neither of which were really exemplified by Alexander -murder your best friend over a minor disagreement and start a massive war to assuage your own narcissistic ego-the Great.

Honestly, I think that Riot just drew parallels from history and other games. Demacia takes some inspiration from Sparta, and Rome, and the Holy Roman Empire, and Warcraft, and Dragon Age. Noxus draws from Persia, and also Rome, and some odd hodge-podge of vaguely "barbaric" attire.

But the idea of the big empire coming down on the smaller but highly trained military is an old one. And it's hard not to draw comparisons between the two with Greece and Persia, because that example is pretty heavy in our cultural conscience.

Digielf10/19/2017, 6:15:21 AM2 votes

You can't really compare them like that because its another universe, it always turns bad when people are trying to identify things from another world with stuff from ours. It's normal to find similarities but in the end its not the same.

SickAnto10/19/2017, 3:01:24 PM2 votes

Demacia is known to be a proud, militaristic nation with a high value of duty. Just like the military and philosophy of Greece.

On the topic of militaries, Demacia has a very specific military formation in the new Legends Never Die music video we see scenes of Demacian soldiers training hard cough greece cough cough and soon we see them charging against an army bearing red flags. This army is Noxus, we even see their soldiers later which confirms this, though red flags are Noxian, always. When they approach they use a very specific formation; they use the Phalanx. https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fdeadliestblogpage.files.wordpress.com%2F2014%2F03%2F1-a-phalanx.jpg&f=1] The phalanx is a Greek military tactic which allowed them to dominate the battlefield. It was called a "living tank" and was comprised of rows of soldiers with shields which provided maximum protection. Guess who is seen using a Phalanx. https://i.imgur.com/19LDnGs.png] Garen himself is standing at the front of the form, another Greek parallel. Alexander the Great, one of the Kings of Macedon (a part of Greece) led his military at the front and boosted their morale by charging at the front of the form, something Garen is known for.

In the video i think the demacians are using the Testudo, a classic roman tattic and not the phalanx. https://camo.githubusercontent.com/dc93841f774c13e0e82f6b4b98b538177ab821ff/687474703a2f2f67622e666f746f6c696272612e636f6d2f696d616765732f70726576696577732f35303033372d726f6d616e2d736f6c64696572732d696e2d7465737475646f2d666f726d6174696f6e2d696c6c757374726174696f6e2e6a706567

Xano50110/19/2017, 4:08:10 PM1 votes

First we saw Federation (Demacia) vs Zeon (Noxus) in Gundam Demacia not look good more than and Noxus not badly at all.

Now we seeing Greece vs Persia instead. It's just good vs evil..

tamaya10/20/2017, 1:37:05 AM1 votes

I thought that these two countries are modern French and German.

Kuzja110/22/2017, 4:07:44 AM1 votes

[zombie-brand-mindblown] [sg-zephyr]

Mystery Ghost1/13/2018, 10:50:25 AM1 votes

[deleted]