My biggest lore-based fear.

Firstly, props to Mr. McNeil for his grand writing talent, and to the teams and persons responsible for the new long-form bios of our Shadow Isles friends. I think you guys have done incredible work, and have served to "flesh out" these spooky specters in new and interesting ways. However, as others have noted, there seems to be a trend I'm seeing that is worrying me somewhat.

Now, I understand that the most recent lore events, namely Bilgewater and now the Shadow Isles, are places that exude a grim sort of atmosphere. And while I loved Fiora's new long-form Bio, it also had a similar sense of uneasiness and darkness running through it. I'm all for Demacia having some darker stains on it's white tablecloth, don't get me wrong, but there's been a tone shift recently toward darker stories. I suppose the easiest way to say it is that things seem more "grimdark" than they were before.

Mr. McNeil is well known for his writing in the Warhammer IP. I have friends who swear by his work and hail him as a king among lore writers for that world. I wouldn't know, as I've never really read anything from it, and it isn't my style, particularly. That universe is a very grimdark universe, incredibly brutal in its telling. And with the last few developments in narrative, I'm seeing a trend toward these sorts of stories and little else.

That scares me.

I love the Runeterra universe. I love the characters, the world, and just about everything about it. I liked the removal of the Institute to open it up for more dramatic stories. And I liked how Shurima and Freljord were opened up for more conflict and storytelling there as well. But the thing that has seemed to escape me recently is the lighthearted side of things. And yes, I read the joke about the sea monster "shitting out" Olaf, but that's not what I mean.

We used to have stories, admittedly small ones, of things that were jovial and funny, not so grimdark serious. Like Veigar trying to steal the Mothership, only to be thwarted by a flock of birds popping his balloons. Anyone remember the time Sivir got drunk and crashed a car in Demacia? That wouldn't fit into the new world, admittedly, but the nature of these stories had a different sort of tone. The universe didn't take itself so dangerously seriously, and while I DO HONESTLY LIKE the more "realistic" and "serious" nature of the characters and stories being told, (like Miss Fortune FINALLY being seen as more of a badass, and not some redheaded bimbo or floozy), I just hope that as time goes on, the writers remember that part of what made Runeterra fun and interesting was that it had a lighter side too.

A single poop joke isn't the same thing, and neither are skins since they aren't canon for the most part.

The world itself has room for more stories that aren't as gory, aren't as brutal, and aren't as serious. Even our world, with how "real" and terrible it can sometimes be, with wars, disasters, political tensions, and everything else, can still have events and stories that remind people to laugh, and that life isn't always a grim existence. There's a quiet wonderment and enjoyment that can come from things like that, that inject more realism and humanity into a world than just splayed entrails and detailed descriptions of gore.

There is a time and place for such things in fiction, most definitely, and I'm not trying to say that such details or stories are somehow invalid. War and strife is part of that. But a writer should be able to balance the grimdark with something else. Perhaps a sense of hope and pride, or a feeling of laughter at the absurdity of the reality of your situation, something to remind people that life isn't always a serious black abyss of suffering and dystopian ideals and then you die.

I'm terrible at ending these sorts of things, so I'll simply say that, as Riot goes forward with their beloved universe, and one that I love just as much as they do, that they keep these things in mind. I hope the thing I love doesn't turn into just "in the grim darkness of Runeterra", and that it still has room for fossilized cupcakes, robotic groin-shots, and the forbidden love story of a cactus and a sentient armadillo.