I'm a little sad that Beatrice/Demon of Secrets and characters like it aren't explored more fully
So I've been pretty hyped for the Swain update, he's always been a character I thought had a lot of potential and Riot really pulled it off in my opinion. A couple days after the reveal a Rioter said that Swain had tricked the demon into a Faustian bargain, only reversed and basically had control over the demon and its powers. Unfortunately this event wasn't really explained in Swain's lore, which sadly means it will basically never be explained in any great detail in a story. For those of you who haven't read the Swain bio yet, I'll give you this short little passage about how Swain captured the demon:
"Though his meticulous preparations took many years, Swain and his remaining allies seized control of Noxus in a single night. Physically restored by the demon, he crushed Darkwill in full view of his followers, leaving the throne shattered and empty."
It's not even horrible storytelling, it's just so vague and leaves so much to be desired. Don't get me wrong, Swain is the main character and any character whose power stems from something else SHOULD be the main focus of their own story, but I feel like even a couple sentences to a paragraph could have made the Demon's little piece of the story infinitely better. It doesn't have to be the most in depth thing ever, but you also can't deny that having Swain see a "darkness" after every battle and realizing the ravens are eating secrets only to then explain what he did about this fact in two sentences that don't even explain what the demon is, how it was tricked into the bargain, what powers this even gives Swain, etc. just feels super unsatisfying. That passage basically just reads like "Swain noticed the demon and then he captured the demon and then something something cool he's superpowered now and he has the throne and the end."
Again, Riot hit it out of the park with the Swain update and basically everything in the Noxian lore update besides this little rant about the Demon was amazing. I love Darius, I can't wait to learn more about LeBlanc, the Faceless is super cool (and is probably LeBlanc), and I love the fact that Noxus isn't just a bunch of evil dudes who literally live inside a skull mountain anymore. There's a lot of depth and room to explore for future stories, and that's an awesome thing. I'm a little sad we didn't get Riven and more backstory for Sion, but hopefully we'll see Riven in Ionia when Irelia or Akali reworks come out.
That being said, I can't shake the feeling that Riot needs to give a little more explanation for side characters who are integral to champion kits. I had the same problem when Kayn came out, Rhaast is literally half of Kayn's kit but we know basically nothing about him other than that he's particularly bloodthirsty and one of the five darkin. I do believe he is the Well of Death mentioned in LeBlanc's lore and hopefully we get more story for him when Aatrox or a new darkin comes out, but at the same time it seems like the best time to go in-depth on a side character's story is when the main character of said story releases. Elise and the Spider God is another painfully vague example that comes to mind.
Anyways, that's just a small rant from a lore nerd. I only rant about small stuff like this because I really want to see the fantastical elements behind lots of champions explored more, as a general rule though Riot's lore department is amazing and I really appreciate that Riot lets you go above and beyond what essentially any other online game with so many characters is allowed to do from a storytelling department. Other than my desire for Beatrice to be explained more this lore drop was great and I'm looking forward to more. Other than the lack of Riven, Sion, and Talon, what did everybody else think of the Noxus lore drop?