The Varus problem, a possible solution.

Hello and welcome to the thread.

Today we'll be discussing Varus, his new lore, and if the changes were good or bad.

Let's start with the old lore for context.

Varus was a man chillin' in ionia. He was a bow+arrow user who guarded a well in a temple that held(we know it was a darkin but Varus only knew it was a power of some sort). He had a family and was chillin' with them. Loving his wife, his Kid, etc.

Then some Noxians attacked, killed the two best parts of his like(wife+kid) and ruined everything he cared about.

Varus was filled with emotions of grief, hate, disgust, and left with a thirst for vengeance.

Varus knew he couldn't stop the Noxians and decided that the only way he would get revenge while also stopping the attack was to take it upon himself to jump in the well to use whatever power slept inside for the sake of avenging his wife and child.

Varus was a man who wanted to get his revenge and then let the (now known by Varus) Darkin bow that was in the well.

He could be seen as a "ghost rider" of sorts. Varus wants revenge to such a DEGREE that he's willing to risk all of the human race for his revenge Varus lore is best summed up in his quote " Beware a man who has nothing to lose"

Now let's take a look at the new lore.

_Varus was a Darkin _ that was hating his life in the well. There was this Kai and Valmar, who were two fairly skilled hunters whom had done the following accomplishments: --Killed noxian scouts --Hunted large monsters(roughly the size of the New-York, New years dog balloon.) --end list

The two make quite a duo but their on-page chemistry isn't there.

There are too few references to specific events that might have happened between the two. There was no "funny" embarrasing moment that either of the two talked about or shared that WE the reader would have no context of. That's what real-life couples do. League of legends couples aren't a good place to compare to real-life, but considering both Kai and Valmar don't have enough of a good "back and forth" talk, this leaves them feeling as bland as old lore Varus.

So after Kai and Valmar finish a hunt, Kai tells Valmar to stop being reckless, this is good foreshadowing for later in the story.

After Kai and Valmar are at thier camp chillin, we get a travel sequence to thier(presumed) hometown where they meet Valmar's mother.

She isn't meant to be important(given how the writing immediately dismisses her after she is introduced on-panel) which is a gripe I have with the story.

Instead of Valmar's recently introduced mother(who we will most likely never see again in any other lore) being killed off as a plotpoint that marked the tipping of Valmar's Recklessness into Reckless hate and giving Valmar a thirst for revenge while Kai would want something like to take not revenge to avoid provokiong the Noxians into leading a larger/better fleet over.

Instead of any of that, we get Valmar was praying at an Ionian temple while it is attacked. Kai is in the thick of the fight and ends up with Mortal wounds that will surely kill him unless there is some way to magic his way to health.

A grief struck Valmar falls into the well with Kai on his shoulder. This causes _Varus _to have absorbed the other two's physical bodies(because Kayn can just fight off Rhaast EzPz no struggle rite?) while keeping the minds of the two lovers whom were absorbed.

Valmar seeks revenge NOW of all times, and Varus decides with the info given to him(that there are 50-somethin noxians that Valmar wants to kill and they are close by) that he won't kill the Ionians JUST yet because he knows the other two can overpower him(somehow even though it's inferred that Varus hasn't absorbed two humans at the same time before).

Varus ends up killing all the Noxians and one Artist whom was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Valmar ends up not feeling satisfied and regrets his decision to kill the Noxians WAY too fast. Valmar is asked directly by Varus"wasn't that satisfying" and Valmar replies "no, it wasn't".

That was such a short transition that it's poor, even for a comic.

There should have been 2-3 panels of Varus's body staring at a reflection in the ice to signify the "this is the monster I've become" moment that OLD Varus lore had.

In the end, the three end up seeing Valmar's mom and she says "go out until you can figure out how to stop the [Darkin] you are inside of".

The last panel is by far the biggest kick in the balls for anyone who liked the old lore:

"we are the three in one, the one of three, we are the arrow of retribution"

"we are Varus"

This panel shows that Riot put in effort to attempt to keep what made Varus special originally to the players(lore-wise).

That's very respectable for what Riot's lore team decided to do.

There are just so many disparities between new_Varus_ and old Varus that truely make the fans of Old varus dissapointed in the lore changes.

It's similar to how "Batman V superman" went for DC comics. "Batman V superman" was majorly just a "setup" movie for the rest of the DC comics movie franchise.

That's what happened to this comic. It became more of a "setup" comic for more lore to come.

It's hard to make Setup movies/comics and stories exciting, so I must ask in the future that Riot refrain from them until you've sent out a sneak-peak and HEAVILY hinted at what the story might be in order to keep your amazing consistency and high quality of work!!!

Anyways, post in the comments your thoughts.

Have a nice day.