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Why did Atreus become Pantheon? (Not a troll post I promise, legit question)

Grand Viper·3/5/2016, 2:26:23 AM·17 votes·4,337 views

Pantheon before the rewrite was known as Pantheon for the same reason my mother's name is Athena, a name's a name. For mortal matters, it doesn't really matter, it's more the implication of certain traits your parents wanted to be present in you if they choose a specific name for said qualities, like Michael with the thought of loyalty and strength ala St. Michael the Archangel, or Sarah in honor of your grandmother or so on.

The rules change when you apply them to gods and pseudo-godlike beings.

If his name was Achilles, it'd be random but okay, sure. Pantheon means "all the gods of a people or religion collectively," and Atreus ascended and became "Pantheon". Does that mean he is another Legion, an entire pantheon of Rakkor's war gods embodied in a single vessel ala Kalista, Udyr or whoever hosts more than one soul within themselves? Is Pantheon a single entity, a singular god-like being who is the aspect of war? If he is the latter, why is his name Pantheon outside of recognition then, as it doesn't make sense when you give the context that gods and the divine work in specific way. Ares is the God of War, singular. The Furies are multiple beings and are collectively known as "The Furies", plural.

If it's the former, will we expect to see a VO representing Pantheon's multiple war-like facets now?

19 Comments

Evewynn3/5/2016, 3:03:35 AM11 votes

in Runeterra, the word "pantheon" may hold a completely different meaning than it does in real life, or at least slightly different.

In this case, "pantheon" may refer to the collectivist nature of pantheon, who is a amalgamation of heroic souls infused with the aspect of war to create this character. Riot probably used the word as a nod to his Greek inspiration, and should not be taken so literally.

A Superb Villain3/5/2016, 4:21:24 AM9 votes

Your mother has the best name of any living thing on this world.

wishbone253/5/2016, 4:03:34 AM3 votes

hes a baker

Narasimha3/5/2016, 3:59:11 AM3 votes

Is Pantheon a single entity, a singular god-like being who is the aspect of war?

Probably this. From what we've seen so far anyway, he doesn't appear to be a collection of souls.

Do note that 'Pantheon' is more likely a name given to him rather than what he named himself. It would make sense for those who've heard his legacy and know what the cost of bringing him down to Runeterra is, to consider him a 'pantheon' of their warrior's souls, even if he is not.

Sharjo3/5/2016, 4:51:03 PM2 votes

Well in this case lore wise "Pantheon" is a collection of stars known as the warrior constellation, kinda like how Taurus is the bull constellation and how Saggitarius is the Archer. Given naming conventions Pantheon as a word might mean "warrior" in the native Rakkoran tongue, so when speaking of Pantheon it might just be in the context of that old language, similar to how we use names like Saggitarius and Scorpius, which just translate more or less to Archer and Scorpion respectively.

In that way the name Pantheon likely doesn't tie in with our earth based languages and simply has a different meaning for the folks on Mount Targon. Pantheon refers to the constellation and the mysterious being tied with it that now inhabits the body of Atreus, but Pantheon in itself is not so wholly different from the beings inhabiting Leona and Diana, just that it has a different approach to the whole being an Aspect thing. Course this is me just drawing conclusions and hypothesis but y'know, sometimes making sense of the little details is nice.

Also your mother's name is awesome. Hope you're getting her something good for mother's day!

Jorick3/6/2016, 12:59:03 AM1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Grand Viper,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=k9An0jZ8,comment-id=,timestamp=2016-03-05T02:26:23.757+0000)

Pantheon before the rewrite was known as Pantheon for the same reason my mother's name is Athena, a name's a name.

Actually this is probably still the reason. The constellation/aspect/god/whatever was just named Pantheon by people, or people were told that this was its name. The simplest explanation is that in the Rakkor language (and/or whatever language the name comes from) Pantheon does not translate to "all the gods of a people or religion collectively," it translates to something like "the war god." The common language of the world of Runeterra is English, but that doesn't mean that all words used in the world are going to hew to English meanings.

This is a thing that happens in real life too. The German language has a few good examples: "bad" in German means bathroom, "kind" in German means child, and "gift" in German means poison. "Pantheon" in the language it comes from means the war god, that's all, no need for any additional lore shenanigans to explain it.

Baron of Bread3/5/2016, 8:09:56 AM1 votes

Pantheon is the name of the warrior constellation for the Rakkor. This is the constellation that is linked to the Aspect of War, and as such shares its name with the Aspect.

Dengeden3/5/2016, 9:10:03 AM1 votes

"All the gods of [...]" is a very broad term. If Atreus and his predecessors all become gods by the Rakkors' definition, we've got ourselves an explanation, don't we?