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Does Rakan have ADHD/ADD?

masIow·7/10/2018, 12:57:26 PM·29 votes·19,739 views

Whilst reading Rakan and Xayah's joint story, I couldn't help but notice that Rakan shows traits that make me believe he has ADHD or at least ADD. As someone who has ADHD, seeing my own traits put into words with a character that I heavily relate to, it's interesting to see how other people view characters who are "spontaneous" or "uncontrollable".

Right at the beginning of Rakan's half of the story, we can already see that his mind is racing with totally different thoughts, one leading to another in a string.

https://i.imgur.com/TmgPLvA.png https://i.imgur.com/zBix0hM.png

Very often, people with ADHD or ADD will notice that they've lost focus, but aren't fully capable of controlling it without practice or therapy first, a very common "mind over matter" situation.

But what strikes me the most is this paragraph.

https://i.imgur.com/i1dCzzK.png

In someone's mind, particularly when they're younger, and if they deal with ADHD, you will almost always be thinking about multiple different things with no resemblance to one another, no links at all. Your mind works very quickly with your hyperactivity because you cant stop to think about just one thing. It can be considerably difficult, because your mind is just too fast for you to keep up with. It's hard to keep track of what you do or what you need to do, and even the most simple tasks can take ages because you're busy thinking about other things.

I think it's pretty neat if they did add such a thing to Rakan, even if it's out of game. Would be nice to see other people's opinions on it too.

EDIT: A comment from 4 Step Cadence jogged my memory! I totally forgot about voice lines.

Upon looking at Rakan's current voice lines, there are a few which specifically state that he's forgotten something.

https://i.imgur.com/kQQXKFw.png https://i.imgur.com/NyYmvUl.png https://i.imgur.com/Yt9hQLM.png https://i.imgur.com/TrFZvAN.png https://i.imgur.com/mSfzHDx.png

If you've got ADHD, you remember things a lot less than other people do. This is because your mind works too fast to store important information, and rather it will store information which is appealing to you, such as a favourite smell or taste. Rakan here shows that he is interested in the "plan" quite often, but just cant remember it.

40 Comments

RiotWAAARGHbobo7/13/2018, 1:34:23 AM14 votes

No... but also yes. (Crap, I seem to be saying that a lot recently.)

So I was the narrative design / writer for Rakan's character, VO, bio and color text.

Creating a character's voice isn't really a science it's alchemy at best. I can't speak for writers in general but for me it's an odd blend of, historic research, mythological research (including doing a Jungian breakdown of the archetype), psychological research; taking parts from my own--somewhat bizarre checkered--past; using my family; my friends, and sometimes TV/Film character vocal performances (strangely never games).

I begin mix these all together in my head, and begin writing story sketches. These short stories try and find the character's voice and often take many tries and are refined as the game kit changes. I compared these with the archetypes the team was looking at with a variety of media figures (which display current versions of the archetype).

At the same time, I begin monologuing --literally wandering around and trying to talk in the character's voice-- (trying different accents, tones, rhythms etc...) Basically trying to figure out how the character thinks and what they want/need.

Eventually, I can "do the voice". --which I am frequently called upon to do while pitching/and performing it in riot. Doing the voice helps gain alignment and buy-in on the VO personality. And only after I can "do the voice" do I write the VO. The color text-- is sometimes a modified version of the last "story sketch" i used to find the voice or a whole new short story displaying that psychological state now that I can perform it. (then it's directing/working with an actor and other steps...)

Soooo... that means...

Rakan contains a lot of me in my late teens early twenties, combined with several of my friends (2 women and 2 men), and a member of my extended family. Several of the people on that list had ADD and Manic- or manic depressive behaviors. And I did research those behaviors but only because certain people I knew were prone to that sort of thing... "and when they were drunk that one time in philly it was perfect for Rakan..."

So creating a ADHD character wasn't a goal --it was something I arrived at backwards but then realized it was a part of him and wanted to make sure the character was psychologically accurate (i.e. A bit larger than life but still kinda realistic).

That said-- I think part of what is important about Rakan (and makes him an unique hero) is he certainly is somewhat ADHD but he's also extremely emotionally intuitive, empathetic, and amazingly present. So although Rakan find's making plans boring and focusing hard, simultaneously he is alive in the moment and hyper-aware of what everyone around him is truly feeling.

4 Step Cadence7/10/2018, 3:06:07 PM13 votes

I... Totally forgot why I'm here.

PerchancetoGame7/10/2018, 1:23:59 PM6 votes

You know, I think you’re right. I agree it’s cool they’re diversifying their characters in different ways like this.

Spideraxe7/10/2018, 2:17:35 PM6 votes

I think he would as well, I head canon a lot of champions with things like this for example I am certain part of the demons Swain is dealing with includes the PTSD he brought back from the war

Nanuk Pihoqahiak7/10/2018, 4:45:15 PM4 votes

I've also made correlations like this. A lot, if not all of the Yordles, exhibit mental disorders.

Agent Corgi7/10/2018, 5:47:20 PM3 votes

"You're only given one spark of madness...You mustn't lose it."

Honestly one of my favorite Rakan quotes.

YuGiHo7/10/2018, 11:20:13 PM2 votes

sure why not?

ˉˉˉˉˉˉ7/10/2018, 11:45:25 PM2 votes

Can confirm

Source: I have ADD

ZackTheWaffleMan7/10/2018, 2:14:05 PM2 votes

As someone with ADHD, this seems pretty accurate.

Strigina7/16/2018, 2:17:53 PM1 votes

Looking at your text, I think I actually have ADHD too.