Taric's rework and my thoughts about it from two years ago.

When I read the new lore and story about Taric, a lot of chords struck me as very familiar. TOO familiar. I had to hunt years of post history (pre-League retcon!) to find Riot's old thread about this that I commented on a few years ago.

> I think this is a legitimately difficult question, almost on the same level as Sion pre-relaunch. Most other old champions have their personalities pretty well defined, and even those that don't (Karthus) have their obsessions defined well enough that you can easily see the relation to the new character (Karthus is obsessed with death? Why not make him a priest?) > > Taric, though, is a difficult case largely because of how the community views him (soft-spoken, possibly gay guy). Earlier this year, I tried my hand at making a short story about his years during the Rune Wars (he'd have been in his late teens) where he was a Demacian medic (though born in Shurima because of his Arabic namesake) who ended up aiding the wounded on both sides of the conflict. I find these exercises help me flesh out the personality of the character, and the Taric that resulted from this exercise was someone who is above faction, patriotism and (I think most importantly) jingoism. Be they Demacian or Noxian, Taric is obligated as a doctor to heal all of them, and even though he makes a smashing frontliner, he doesn't take pleasure in combat. That isn't to say that he should be a pacifist, however. Where Braum sees it as a joyous brawl or an opportunity to discipline hooligans, Taric sees his role in combat as a means to expedite its end. > > Taric would see his skills (and the way he possibly invented them) as a form of nuclear deterrence. From an in-universe standpoint, where health bars don't exist and armor protects the less agile from a mortal wound, Shatter is actually a pretty terrifying power. Stripping an entire platoon of their armor is pretty scary, and unlike the gameplay mechanics, it doesn't come back. On top of that, his ult Radiance gives him and his allies an enormous boost in power. The ultimate idea is to force the enemy to surrender based on the huge disparity in power that he alone can create, and trying to focus him is a fool's errand because of all the armor, shielding and healing he possesses. In essence, he's the Peace Walker of the League of Legends. > > Tying in with the words he has for gems and his established history as a healer (possibly doctor), Taric probably has an eye for aesthetics. He sees beauty in architecture, nature, art, people, you name it. You could assume this is how he coped with seeing Urgot-level brutality during the Rune Wars. His demeanor is mostly positive, but unlike Braum's warm heart, it's tempered by his experience in war. He speaks softly, but his will is harder than diamonds. His taunts would be along the lines of "Come at me, bro!", because he's aware of just how tanky he is compared to his teammates ("I'm the immovable object, Xin Zhao. Let's dance!"). The darkest he'll get is Lucian stage of tranquil fury, but only to very specific champions (Namely the death heralds from the Shadow Isles, like Lucian, but only because they represent death, who as a healer, he is in constant struggle with by default). He might look fondly on Ezreal as part of the meme, but mostly because Ezreal is very young, full of potential and much less durable than he is rather than any romantic or sexual undertones. > > Those are just some of my thoughts on the matter.

It's not 100% accurate, but I predicted almost perfectly his fondness for art and future protector of life. Did Riot read my post and it resonated with them? Is it just a massive coincidence? Am I from the future? I posted the link to my original comment up there, so you can see for yourself that this is the genuine article.