Lore being "Grimdark"

GenoXx·Oct 27, 2015·43 votes·3,182 views

Everyone who is thinking that the ore for the Shadow Isles and Bilgewater is "Grimdark." Like I said in another thread: It is the HARROWING what are you expecting??? Stop complaining that it's too scary and dark. This is what the Harrowing is suppose to be. Omg, I have seen like 20 ppl already referencing "grimdark." Grow up. Undead isn't suppose to comfort you. This lore thats in Shadow and Fortunes?It is exactly how it should be. It gives you the sense of Terror and suspense. I don;t know how you guys honestly expect this to be a children's story. No Rioter ever confirmed all of League's lore will be told the same way. Because why would they for Demacia or Targon?

Please stop complaining "It's too dark." That's like ordering a cheeseburger from McDonalds and saying "It's too greasy" or "It's too fatty." This is not a pg-13 game.

45 Comments

SharjoOct 27, 201510 votes

One thing that baffles me is that people make this conclusion after seeing the two main stories of "Burning Tides: Reckoning" and "Shadows and Fortune", which in currently included a grand total of eleven champions and one soon to be champion.

Out of 128 including Illaoi.

We have yet to see what the Yordles are like or what half of the world looks like. Chill guys; this isn't an indication that all of a sudden League is grimdark as sod. It's just that the two main stories we've had have both been set in a seedy underbelly of pirates and criminals, with the second also including lots of undead.

Take a minute to chill, and remember how many yordles are cheerful and bright. Remember Braum. Remember Tristana. Remember Zac.

GenoXxOct 27, 20151 votes

This exactly.

Chromatic EagleOct 27, 20157 votes

MF and GP were originally more comical, so it's not like people aren't complaining without reason. Riot gets into a habit of sticking to one theme for a while before moving to something else, so it's easy to see why people are concerned with the idea of a grimdark universe. Already with Tahm Kench I can see some darkness for the Yordles.

PNCKanonOct 28, 20151 votes

Veigar already has a dark lore, so it might not be that big of a theme change.

Chromatic EagleOct 28, 20153 votes

Eh depends on your interpretation. I see people look at his lore as not getting enough snuggles.

Earl EulrichOct 28, 20151 votes

yea, the old lore had a lot of ambiguity between darkness and "snuggles" (meaining more lighthearted elements that are somewhat quirky/weird) - sth. the newer lore seems to lack in order to achieve a more serious tone/setting - which is sth. i don´t really like to see all that much.

Vincent LuciusOct 29, 2015

Whether it was not enough snuggles or psychological torture for a species that requires social interaction doesn't change the fact that he laughs while blowing you into unrecognizable particles with sheer magical power. Gotta love that laugh.

kile147Oct 28, 201515 votes

I mean half the Yordles are already basically a guide to what mental disorders look like. Ziggs ADHD, pyromania Tristana Pyromania(ish? she likes explosions a lot) and megalomania Teemo PTSD Veigar There's a lot going on there... I'll go with Psychopathy, megalomania, but definitely some PTSD as well Amumu Depression Lulu Another difficult one to classify, but she's definitely not all there and doesn't really seem aware of how damaging her actions are Gnar Multiple personality disorder characterized by fits of violent rage with his alter ego. He may be a child but I don't see that getting any better as he gets older.

I'm certainly no psychologist so my classifications may be somewhat off but these guys have some serious issues going on. By the looks of it they are lacking a good mental health treatment system. Also he's not a yordle but if I don't mention narcissus himself Draven in a list of mental disorders I'm pretty sure it's completely invalid

IcyPepperOct 29, 20151 votes

I think Lulu has some form of anti-social personality disorder.

To her she's having "fun," not quite as psychotic as say Jinx but she just plain doesn't understand that she's causing harm when she plays.

WolfeurOct 28, 20151 votes

What does Tahm have anything to do with Yordles?

Chromatic EagleOct 28, 20153 votes

Yordles are apparently very vulnerable to his manipulations given their social culture and how they react to isolation.

WolfeurOct 28, 20151 votes

Oh ok.

HayRossOct 28, 20151 votes

I thought it was just because they're easy to eat

MerxamersOct 28, 20151 votes

Absolutely; i mean, look at that mouth! He can fit like six of them in there

HeresyUntoFedexOct 28, 20151 votes

Actually it's the other way around, they don't want any of the crap Tahm has to offer because almost all of them are cheerful and pure-hearted little fur balls, and Tahm despises them because of it.

Chromatic EagleOct 28, 20155 votes

Also adding onto it, it's been a while since we've had a "heroic" champion, like Garen, or yes Zac. There's also a lack of unironic comedic champions like Gragas. A grimdark setting in some/most parts of the world is fine, almost great even. But Riot does need to balance it with the types of champions that made people enjoy the old lore too: the comedic, the adventurous, and the occasional romantic.

Vincent LuciusOct 29, 2015

Are you suggesting that TF and Evelynn get back together? Because I support this if you are.

Chromatic EagleOct 29, 20151 votes

I'm more curious as to how they got together in the first place in the new lore.

Vincent LuciusOct 29, 2015

They're back? I was talking about the journal of justice thing.

KING OF MASKSOct 28, 20157 votes

THAT'S NOT WHAT GRIMDARK MEANS

"Grimdark" implies a setting of intense nihilism and/or casual violence, where civilization is Hobbesian and life is nasty, brutish, and short. That did not describe League of Legends in the past, that doesn't describe League of Legends now and will almost certainly never describe League of Legends in the future. Stop exaggerating by misusing words.

SulghunterOct 28, 20154 votes

WH40K = Grimdark

DeathToHereticsOct 28, 20153 votes

Did somebody say heresy? http://33.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1rxiuPtsM1r3nq2v.jpg

MerxamersOct 28, 20151 votes

"Grimdark" implies a setting of intense nihilism and/or casual violence, where civilization is Hobbesian and life is nasty, brutish, and short.

so Zaun, then?

KING OF MASKSOct 28, 20153 votes

Zaun does seem to have an element of grimdark to it, but we haven't really had a comprehensive look at the city so I don't know. The contradiction I see is that as brutal as Zaun can be, there's also a lot of optimism associated with it; there's Viktor and his vision of a better, augmented future, and then there's Ekko's more "human" and idealistic version of that (with less cybernetics). I don't think an environment where that kind of attitude can survive is very grimdark, personally.

Ethereal311Oct 28, 20151 votes

Looking at the most recent batches of lore writings, I highly believe that LoL is now Grimdark as shit.

KING OF MASKSOct 28, 20151 votes

It's a poor sampling though, since the most recent lore stuff has been from Bilgewater and the Shadow Isles, areas that are very dark in tone.

~~Once~~ If we get to Piltover/Bandle City/etc. things will almost certainly get brighter.

Ethereal311Oct 29, 20151 votes

But that's a possibility for the future. And we can't trust the future. And I'm also talking about the Fiora lore story too. She kills 30 DAMN NOBLES and says so in such a casual manner that you can imply that 30 kills is nothing to her. That's so edgy that it hurts. Besides, Bilgewater and Shadow Isles are THE lore pieces that have really come out since Riot declared their philosophies in that horrible 'Retcon' blog post.

terkmcOct 28, 20155 votes

Undead isn't suppose to comfort you

Karthus neat.

BeatinWarDrumzOct 27, 20153 votes

Grimdark is good

In a game where they can't permanently kill off characters, some sense of dread is a plus.

MerxamersOct 28, 20153 votes

Over the last two years, Riot has done everything they can to replace anything lighthearted or fun with Hot Topic-esque 'grimdark' content.

Trundle Once the funniest and most loved VO, now the most bland, anti-funny, and personality-less champ not named Kalista Gangplank Once a fun pirate, now sociopathic ganglord who skins people alive MissFortune Once a shallow 'dock wench' cliche, now a revenge-obsessed femme fatale cliche (who also acts like the wench cliche sometimes) Graves Blasts dozens of people in half with his shotgun, in graphic detail (can't have him smoke, though) Bard Lets villages die to save a trinket Ekko Friend is murdered for no reason DrMundo Riot has been quoted saying they want to remake him into a serious serial killer Kalista Steals an ally's soul as her passive; has no personality beyond VENGENZZZ Kindred Is literally death. Literally. Sion Once a campy mess, now a SUPER SERIAL zombie who never shuts up about how he CAN"T FEEL PAIN!!!! TahmKench Is literally the devil. Thresh Good lord, just read the lore and listen to his VO Velkoz Determines gender by dissecting people

My point isn't that all of these changes are bad, per se. It makes perfect sense for the Shadow Isles champs to have grim lores; Sion's VU was an overall improvement; Tahm has a great VO; Thresh got me interested in playing support. The problem is that there is nothing BUT the joyless grimdark content anymore.

Throw Braum and Gnar at me if you like as counterexamples, but finding only 2 examples of recent champs that aren't monsters or joyless personalities is pretty damning. Each of the above examples are fine in a vacuum, but they have been the exclusive pattern. Nothing is allowed to be happy, joyful, or fun anymore. Everything has to be super serious and violent. In this, Riot reminds me of a 12 year old who dyes his hair black, starts to wear Slipknot t-shirts, and uses all the swear words he knows to show he's "not a kid anymore". It comes off as trying WAY too hard, and kind of pathetic, especially when we see things like Gangplank tattooing his name on a living person's skinned leg bone.

As well written as the new lore has been (and after two years of waiting, good thing they are), seeing yet another tale of people being hanged by their jawbones, bisected by the ostensible good guy, etc. just adds to the joyless tedium this game's story has become. Riot has claimed that they don't want yordles to be the only 'fun' personalities in the game, but who exactly CAN be now? Certainly not racist and fascist (don't throw that 'meritocracy' junk at me, in practice they are the 'evil empire' trope) Noxus, the equally fascist Demacia, the horrid death filled slum of Zaun, the psychopath infested Piltover, or the constantly invaded Ionia. Maybe the Freljord because you have a chance of seeing Braum once in a while, but that's it.

Maybe the Taric and Poppy reworks will help things, but i'm not optimistic based on past results. This game is turning into a joyless mess of grimdark 'personalities' and infinitely kiting, super-mobile assassin/carries. Some people like that, I guess, for some reason, but it just makes me feel depressed.

GenoXxOct 28, 20151 votes

No, this is just the long way of u wanting this game to be a dora the explora game at all times. Not everthing about a game that revolves around legends has to fun. Darker parts add's life and reality to the world. You can't have one with out the other...

MerxamersOct 28, 20154 votes

I'd say that the point of a video game is to be fun to play, or else why would anyone play it? My point was that NONE of the new content is fun anymore; we are getting all of one without any of the other.

Star GuardíanOct 28, 20153 votes

Just because we've only seen the dark stories of these champions so far, doesn't mean they don't have tones of levity to them. Bard was saving the world on a grander scale of the universe. For example if you have a bonfire that's going out of control and is about to set your house on fire, you're not going to worry about moths flying into the fire and dying. You're worried about prevent a house fire. Bard know's that egg could destroy all of Runeterra. He was taking a gun out of a child's hand.

Ekko I'm almost certain we'll see some light hearted stuff from him. He seems like a really fun guy.

Graves & TwistedFate They probably have some fun adventures together.

MerxamersOct 28, 20152 votes

Fair enough; though kinda sucks for the children burning alive to see Bard pop in, grab an old flute, then pop right out. "Sorry kids! ByE!...." XD

I honestly didn't mind Ekko's backstory that much (though i think his kit in game is cancer; another topic for another time), though the murderous Piltoveran felt forced. I'd love to see something done with Ekko in the lore, as i agree there's potential for good personality there.

I would also love to see fun adventurers with G & TF! Just not sure we'll get them anytime soon :P

HellioningOct 28, 20153 votes

This game is rated T.

So yeah, it kinda is a PG-13 game.

BoomerangbroOct 27, 20152 votes

We very well may get different story Arcs. They may not even happen at the same time of the Harrowing.

Right now we are dealing with Bilgewater and it's connection with the Harrowing.

Next we could get Zaun or Piltover set a couple years in the future, or a couple years back with it's own story and plot.

Also, Bandle City. Nami and the Moonstone. Mount Targon. Shurima. Demacia and Noxus Arc. Celestial Arc. We may get an arc that deals with the stories of Taric and newer champions to be released such as Ao Shin.

Also, there are still the stories of the Freljord, Ionia, the jungles, the Voodoo lands, Icathia. The Rune Wars and Urtistan....etc...etc.

We still have a long ways to go.

KangtheKnightOct 27, 20152 votes

Grimdark? No, this isn't Grimdark. This is wonderfully dark, but it's not close to what could come.

Earl EulrichOct 27, 20151 votes

really depends on the context...

i think complains that the old lore had a good mix of darkness and somewhat lighthearted humour while the new one is maybe a tad too serious are pretty legitimate. complaining that the harrowing story is more on the darkside though is a little silly (also, it´s really not grimdark - just serious).

MetalGearTeemuOct 28, 20151 votes

Success boys! The Lore tastes just like Dota!

MerxamersOct 28, 20151 votes

Dota: the game where you can literally play as satan and also have a team comp of burning skeleton people XD

Star GuardíanOct 28, 20151 votes

"This is not a pg-13"

Technically it is rated T for 13 and up. So it is technically rated PG-13. Having said that, the lore i feel shouldn't feel restricted cause of the game's rating.

Ethereal311Oct 28, 20151 votes

Grimdark can be good, but not when it's being stupidly edgy and just a matter of fanservicing. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarkerAndEdgier?from=Main.GrimDark If you actually know what the term 'Grimdark' means, then Shadow and Fortunes is exactly that. I think it's being super lazy about only wanting the fights and is just desperately trying to get from fight to fight with unnecessary comments from the characters.

NublordOct 29, 20151 votes

So the Bilgwater event was grimdark, cause well... you know - pirates stuff, new bad GP hurr durr. Fine. But Harrowing? Shouldn't that be focused on being SCARY and not just being plain gore?

Sorry, but I am not impressed by such shamefur display.

GenoXxOct 29, 20151 votes

In what way is the current story not scary?....I'll wait.