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Shen and Zed's interactions in Jhin's color text seem... off

Eye of Twilight·3/19/2016, 5:23:21 PM·8 votes·2,795 views

When I was first reading the text, I was trembling with excitement. Shen, Zed, and Jhin are my all time favorite characters and all of them getting their lore harmonized and progressed put me near bliss. It wasn't until a few hours after I'd read it that it really began to sink in that the way Shen and Zed acted towards each other felt entirely wrong.

In the text when Zed confronts Shen, Shen has to remind himself of his duty as Eye of Twilight and realise that the distance between them was too great for Shen to land a killing blow before he can convince himself not to dash at him on sight. He holds himself back in the name of the Eye of Twilight and claims instead that he wants to kill Zed because he's an affront to the balance, which, while probably true, is almost definitely not his primary reason for wanting to kill Zed here. Shen claims that his father's murder wasn't his reason for wanting to kill Zed, but he only says this after it's previously stated that "every part of him wanted to dash at his foe. To avenge his father."

I feel like that's where the sense of wrongness is coming from. I've always had my doubts about Shen wanting to kill Zed. Allow me to explain:

Referencing Zed's lore, we know that Shen was there the day Zed killed his father. We can assume that Shen was outside the temple when Kusho led Zed inside (presumably under peaceful terms) and that Shen, along with Zed's amassed army, heard Zed yell out in pain only to reemerge from the temple with the master's head in his hand. This means that Shen knows that there was something that happened inside that temple between Kusho and Zed and that whatever that "something" was, drove Zed to kill Kusho.

Now, of course Shen's going to be more than just a little upset about that, but, honestly, I don't think that he would commit to killing Zed before he knew what went on in there. I know I'm not the only one that thinks along these lines, because in the Zed Q&A, Riot Runaan said:

https://gyazo.com/c5c62bf7fef58a755a69c7b6da4fca11 and https://gyazo.com/a2c7738005243558f1b27f1b28c5db05

Indicating that while Shen probably wouldn't be opposed to putting Zed down, it's not really his goal either. So why would Shen be prepared to kill Zed in a second, even going as far to say that he'd kill Zed even if it were just his ghost driving his blade that extra inch? So much for "dispassionate judgement," right?

I'm not saying that Shen shouldn't display any emotion at all- definitely not saying that! But what he's showing is just too much to be considered within his established character. It really feels like Shen's emotions were played up a lot in order to make the scene more dramatic, intense, high-stakes, and probably because it was simpler that way.

I guess I don't really know for sure. Perhaps it was because Zed had caught Shen off guard by appearing so suddenly in the inn, maybe it was the presence of Zed's students as well as Zed himself that put Shen into battle mode. There's definitely more to the story that we're missing, that's for sure, but I'm not sure that the missing parts would be enough to cover Shen's out-of-character actions here.

Of course Riot is completely at liberty to change their stance, opinions, and characterization of their champions, but that doesn't change the fact that the Shen we see in Jhin's color text is certainly at odds with the Shen we knew before.

As for Zed, the only thing that seemed out of place was the fact that he was walking about unmasked. Also from Zed's Q&A: https://gyazo.com/8b35fa66bbd467be47c428c9e03fca20 Runaan did say "might be," and a lot of the Q&A was very much left open to interpretation, but even so. Seeing Zed going about without it was a little off-putting to me.

At first, I thought that some of his other actions were out of place, but they don't really seem to be after some thought. I, much like Shen, had expected Zed to have a snarky grin on his face when we saw him in the inn. When they described him as sallow and with baggy eyes, my mind immediately set into motion. Was he ill? Injured? Was ruling the Order of the Shadows putting too much strain on him? Was the power from the ancient box overwhelming him? Were the shadows consuming him? Or maybe he had exhausted himself already in his search for the Golden Demon, which is why he was turning to Shen in the first place. Zed knew of Jhin's escape before Shen did, so perhaps he and his acolytes had already attempted to track the man down, but to no avail, and it had worn him thin.

This wasn't the cocky Zed we've seen in game, and his actions don't at all meet up to what Runaan was saying on his Q&A. Something's going on with him, that's for sure.

Honestly, I feel like we've even gotten a bit of character development from Zed in this one. In Zed's lore, it directly states that he would kill any ninja that denied the way of the shadow, but here we see him partly trying to convince Shen of his actions, while at the same time admitting that he knew Shen would never see it his way. He even goes as far as to give Shen a chance at vengeance! Not exactly the actions we would expect of a man who is facing his rival, the person who we all were lead to believe held the complete opposite beliefs as him. However, it seems that Zed doesn't think that at all, "Your path is closer to mine," he said. It wasn't Shen that was Zed's opposite, it was their master.

I mean, I can appreciate characterization, but it happens to be the reverse of the roles I had mentally assigned the two - that Shen would be the one trying to convince Zed of balance and Zed being unyielding in his views, rather than the other way around. It's a plot twist for me, to be honest, and not one I'm sure I'm happy with at the moment because, as I said near the top, it feels like Shen is being portrayed as someone other than who we've come to know him as. I certainly enjoy a good a plot twist and role reversal, but this one really just leaves me with an itching sense of wrongness.

Zed's change in character can be easily attributed to whatever stress he's going through at the moment to make him seem as drained as he did. But Shen's change has no readily available reasoning. I hope that we'll see more about it, possibly to explain this jarring inconsistency. Or even if it doesn't lay the issue to rest, I still can't wait to read more. I can't even describe the giddy feeling it gives me just thinking about the potential Zed lore update!

Does anyone else have thoughts or insight on this matter?

12 Comments

Valaran Nara3/19/2016, 5:39:28 PM6 votes

I don't think Shen is void of emotions.

Remember, he's looking at the man who betrayed him, killed his father, and pretty much went "Git gud, scrub. lol get recked".

Shen must make dispassionate decisions. Zed threw off the order of things and caused a betrayal that is very personal to Shen, but Shen had to force himself to shut it down. This is Shen's internal struggle with being the Eye of Twilight. Even when he has the opportunity to kill the man who took his father, he had to force himself to think about the entire situation. He is surrounded. His arch rival appears before, just out of reach of pre-emptive lunge attack due to the possible ambush. Suddenly, he talks to you of an old enemy who ruined both of your lives, and said rival KNOWINGLY puts himself into your attack range. He just offered you his neck.

You have to make the call. Do I kill this man now and fight off his students? Do I join forces with him to stop an older enemy? If I were to die now to retrieve my revenge, how will Jhin be stopped? If I say no to Zed, will we ever get to the Golden Demon? Choose the right choice. The one dispassionately. No emotions. No feelings to cloud your judgement on the matter. What is the greater evil? ...Dammit Zed.

As much as Shen is reluctant to admit it, Jhin is a way worse threat than Zed. If not for any other reason than the fact that Zed allowed Shen a chance. This means, Zed was purposefully taunting Shen to ACT OUT emotionally, so Dr. Twilight had to slow down and make sure he didn't do anything rash. Top that with the fact that he's surrounded, he's better off going along with what Zed requested. Especially since it appeared that he went through fatigue concerning Khada Jhin as well.

So, with that being said "Dammit, Zed."

Ralanr3/19/2016, 5:29:15 PM1 votes

For Shen, it could be that he has doubts between what is his own desire and what is his duty.

For Zed, his cocky attitude could be an act. He wants his enemies to fear him, so he acts high and mighty to emphasize that you can't stop him. Hence the laughter in his ultimate.

Wolf2Lamb3/20/2016, 2:23:29 PM1 votes

No idea what's going on with Shen, but maybe Zed looks so tired and ill because knowing that Jhin has escaped has made him remember all the murder scenes he witnessed way back when with Shen and Kusho? Maybe he's had really bad nightmares about them? From the way Jhin's 'masterpieces' are vaguely described, I doubt anyone could walk away from seeing them without nightmares!

GreenLore3/21/2016, 3:57:52 PM1 votes

I think they simply wanted to show that these 2 aren't that one-dimensional,that Zed can sometimes be the more reasonable of the 2.

It is also possible that the 2 will go through character development over time,with Shen getting over his emotional feelings and Zed actually becoming more extreme.

Desiderium3/24/2016, 3:41:07 PM1 votes

You are wrong in many, many different ways.

  1. The disparity between Shen's thoughts and what he says to Zed is INTENTIONAL. It is meant to highlight the fact that there is a conflict within him.

  2. Zed gave Shen a "chance at vengeance" knowing that Shen wasn't going to take it, because he only leaned closer to him AFTER stating that Jhin had escaped. He wanted Shen to realize that they have to work together to beat Jhin.

  3. Runaan said there MIGHT BE something he's hiding with his mask. Not that there is. There could be millions of reasons why ANY character in the game is wearing a mask. And she stated only one, and even then, she only said maybe. Zed is clearly human, and always has been human, and the shadow magic did not change him over time at all, because it was many years before Zed returned to the temple as a fully grown adult, and he wasn't wearing his mask until some time after he killed Kusho, and obviously he was still recognizable by Kusho and Shen. The only part of him that changed physically was his eyes. And according to the new lore, they only glow red when he has his magic activated. That's why he was able to stealth as a merchant in the soup shop to meet Shen. Additionally, Mecha Zero Sion has special taunts for "Human" characters, which includes Zed.

  4. Zed is NOT cocky in game. In fact, that's one of the reasons why I love playing him. He's quiet. Silent and determined. He doesn't talk shit like Ekko, and doesn't scream annoyingly like Lissandra. He just laughs with his ult and that's it. The thing is, he IS sure of himself, he IS confident, but he IS NOT an asshole. That's why I love him so much.

  5. What makes you say Zed isn't being unyielding in his views? He told Shen why he did what he did because he wants Shen to understand him because he has never had anything personal against Shen. He never had problems with Shen. He only had problems with Kusho. Zed only opened the shadow box because he wanted to please the two people he looked up towards, Shen and Kusho, by beating Shen in a duel. It was Kusho's shitty parenting that made him want to outcast Zed. Zed has absolutely nothing against Shen. It's SHEN who has internal problems with Zed. So Shen harboring anger is completely understandable.

Yeah, sorry for the essay, but I love Zed and ninjas in general, I love Jhin, and I love the story that Zed/Jhin/Shen have going on, so I had to correct you in all the many ways you were wrong.