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Pantheon biography is still terrible writing - ROUND 2.

Abandon·7/31/2019, 2:26:33 PM·7 votes·2,816 views

I could not live with my own failure to convince you guys, where did that bring me? Back to you.

The Pantheon biography leaves me with a lot to be desired. Not only is it inconsistent writing but it inaccurately portrayals other characters and trivialises their strengths, motivations and personalities. I'll start from the beginning...

Atreus starts off as your typical shounen MC, he ticks all the right boxes. His story is "about growing up, making friends, overcoming rivals, getting acknowledged for winning, being determined enough to work through your failings, and generally being a good person." (Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StockShonenHero)

To elaborate, he's one of the protagonists who's never really the best of his bunch but his willpower and determination to pick himself up after repeated failure earns him admiration from his peers. In this case, it's his rival Pylas. In training, the two become accustomed to one another and after many battles in the training circle, they become sworn brothers. (So far the story is fine).

In an unspecified amount of time (random time skip), the two find themselves in an ambush that leaves the rest of their patrol dead. Unsurprisingly, the two are the only survivors and so (it is implied) they haul their asses back to confront with the Aspect of the Sun in order for him/her to smite their enemies. They are refused by this higher power and so, they decide to take it upon themselves TO NOT TRAIN AND BETTER THEMSELVES (Atreus even knew he 'was destined for battle haha') but immediately seek out a known legend that if they reach the summit Mount Targon, they'd receive a free power up from the very generous Mr Pantheon himself (because why prove yourself in battle and please the aspect of WAR when you can climb a mountain and please him, he should just change his title to the Aspect of Hiking amiright?).

So as you'd expect, the climb was perilous and Pylas died. He didn't even get a proper burial, he just kind of... died. Okay moving on, as we know it our main character has to be able to endure hardships so after that arduous journey to the top he finally reached it. The skies opened up and lo and behold he was gifted POWAAAAA! Except at the cost of the Aspect of War taking over his body (haha is he an Aspect or a Darkin?), I guess he didn't really care about all that hiking stuff in the first place.

Alright this is when it starts to just get real bad, I hope you guys are still with me here.

"Judging Atreus unworthy, a warrior who had known only defeat, it had taken control of his body to pursue its own ends—a task it considered too great for mortal men." So instead of taking hold of a powerful warrior by other means, he set up this test to find a host by having them climb a mountain only to deem hin unworthy and consider his task too great for mortal men... even though he convinced mortal men to rise up to fight the Darkins in the first place.

So, to make sure to stroke his ego, Pantheon sought out to face the enemies in which he had a part in creating, the Darkins. Conveniently, Aatrox one of said Darkins and a previously noble warrior who participated in every grand battle against the Void (he has fought more wars against the voids than pantheon has ever been listed to have), just happened to be in the area and wanted to duke it out with Pantheon. They fought in the most epic of battles, with the most epic of conclusions! It had lasted a whole 1 sentence... "Their fight raged into the skies, and swept through the armies of men beneath… until the impossible occurred." What's this, the impossible occurred I wonder what happened? Well one of them lost and it was... Pantheon! So much for Aspect of War, he literally lost in the only battle we know he participated in recently. So uh what happened, he got stabbed in the chest and it was "a blow that carved the constellation of War from the heavens" whatever the hell that means.

Okay and that's how the story ends. Except it doesn't because SHIA SUPRISE, Atreus is still alive! So Atreus does what all smart men do after somehow surviving being stabbed with the most humongous of blades and spits on Aatrox's face who's still a giant... from wherever he is on the ground (I forget how tall ascended are but judging by Aatrox splash AND ASSUMING that Aatrox and Pantheon fought in big boy forms as they 'took to the skies and swept through the armies of men beneath'). Now what does out grand god killing darkin do? He sneers and leaves... wait what.

Here are two personal quotes Aatrox has for Pantheon in game. "Pantheon, I see you! Like a lamprey you attach yourself to a host! I will carve you from this mortal's form, and eviscerate you both!" "Pantheon! I will crush your godhood, I will eviscerate your ideals, even your memory... I will trample!" (Source: https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Aatrox/Quotes)

Aatrox, one of the most prideful of the Darkin, a prisoner of his own ideals, "searching desperately, endlessly, for a way return to his previous Ascended form…" leaves one of the main culprits breathing and able to spit on him with an intact body. First of all, the wound on Pantheon doesn't even make sense because Aatrox's blade looks like this: https://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/LOL_CMS_199_Article_03_q9ktvokvfm3yh9gp0tqc.gif So either Aatrox was very gentle with the way he 'drove the blade into pantheon's chest' making sure not to hit I don't know, the intestines, the lungs, the ribs, his heart or... Riot did an oopsie here.

Okay continuing on with the story, Pantheon (who either has his entire torso cut open from stomach to shoulder or a very gentle cut that swings up all the way) manages to bring himself back home to get nursed and realises that he indeed, is a mortal (a mortal who just won't fking die ironically). So, he rests for a few months, you know like mortals do after receiving a MORTAL WOUND that would leave your average dude dead and then picks up his spear to deal with the rowdy barbarians. Not Aatrox who killed him, no no, he's a mortal now remember? Let's just deal with the mortal problems first...

So he gets there and finds out he's late to the party, who does he find there before him? "IT IS I, ATRIX". Atreus realises mortals are mortals and godly beings don't care about mortals and that him very anger, BIG ANGERY. So as all typical shounen protags do, they charge in knowing they should die but hold up SUDDEN PLOT ARMOR ACTIVATES and "Atreus’ own will reignited the Aspect’s spear, upon hearing the cries of the people around him… and with a mighty leap, he struck a blow that severed the Darkin’s sword arm". First of all, that was definitely an ass-pull on the levels of Fairy Tale https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N59Qp7BHink. Secondly did Pantheon seriously just sever Aatrox's arm with a spear? Did he poke thousands of holes through it, or did he slash it like all SMART spear users would do? I'm assuming Aatrox was meant to be in a more humanoid/smaller form to mock Pantheon? Otherwise how did he even reach Aatrox's blade or rather, how did he Aatrox's blows only "cast him to his knees" whereas before when he was fighting with Pantheon "they swept through armies beneath"?

Finally, the conclusion. He chops of Aatrox's arm and Aatrox falls over like the big oompa loompa he is... even though Darkins are known for "many forbidden forms of primal magic, crafting their own flesh and armor with equal ease, until they were completely unrecognizable as the noble warriors they had once been" (Source: https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Ascended/Darkin). So what does our noble hero do after he finally defeats this PRIME EVIL BAD GUY? Nothing. He just leaves him LOL. One of the greatest threats to mankind right there, and there is no mention about what happens to him. Atreus was nice enough to just leave him there to recover and go about his destructive ways. Atreus instead looks to the stars and poses like a cool main character and changes his name to Pantheon because "War must be reborn in man". Beautiful. Marvellous.

THE END.

So, if that didn't convince you the Pantheon Biography was utterly trash well then I'm sorry I have failed. I cannot save you.

17 Comments

AbiwonKenabi7/31/2019, 4:35:23 PM6 votes

is story is "about growing up, making friends, overcoming rivals, getting acknowledged for winning, being determined enough to work through your failings, and generally being a good person."

Its not. The story has zero themes of "growing up", he makes literally one friend who dies, he never overcomes his rival, as far as we know no one acknowledges him for winning, and we don't really know how good of a person Atreus actually is. The only common theme with Shonen is that his thing is "persevering" but that's in a lot of stories. Honestly, the whole perseverance thing plus his friendship with Pylas comes off more "Greek myth" to me, which I think is fitting.

They are refused by this higher power and so, they decide to take it upon themselves TO NOT TRAIN AND BETTER THEMSELVES (Atreus even knew he 'was destined for battle haha') but immediately seek out a known legend that if they reach the summit Mount Targon, they'd receive a free power up from the very generous Mr Pantheon himself (because why prove yourself in battle and please the aspect of WAR when you can climb a mountain and please him, he should just change his title to the Aspect of Hiking amiright?).

Oh, but I thought this was generic shonen garbage? Shouldn't the story have launched into a training arc? No? Hmm.

They go to the top of Mt Targon because the Rakkor worship Targon. Going to the top of Mt Targon is basically like going over the Aspect of the Sun's head and going straight to the gods for help. And this is how most (Zoe is an oddball in pretty much every case) vessels for Aspects are selected, so this isn't like a huge shock that they would do this. Again, this feels like the beginning of a Greek myth. And its not like climbing the dang mountain is easy.

So instead of taking hold of a powerful warrior by other means, he set up this test to find a host by having them climb a mountain only to deem hin unworthy and consider his task too great for mortal men... even though he convinced mortal men to rise up to fight the Darkins in the first place.

We don't know why, but Aspects only obtain hosts from the people who climb Targon. Even Zoe, an exception in most cases who didn't have to climb the mountain, had to go through a portal to the top of Mt Targon in order to receive the power of the Aspect of Twilight. For whatever reason, Targon can only give power through vessels and they can only give their power to vessels at the top of Mt Targon.

Further, we know that the Targonians come off as relatively uncaring about mortals outside of their usefulness. There are some exceptions (Soraka being the big one) but for the most part, they use them as tools, and Pantheon is the pinnacle of this. Unlike say Taric or Zoe, who's Aspects seems to care somewhat about their hosts to at least give them a great deal of autonomy, Pantheon doesn't. That's Atreus's whole deal, he realizes these Celestial beings are just using mortals and is sick of it.

So, to make sure to stroke his ego, Pantheon sought out to face the enemies in which he had a part in creating, the Darkins. Conveniently, Aatrox one of said Darkins and a previously noble warrior who participated in every grand battle against the Void (he has fought more wars against the voids than pantheon has ever been listed to have), just happened to be in the area and wanted to duke it out with Pantheon.

Did you miss this part?

Atreus endured only vague visions as the Aspect scoured the world for Darkin

I guess scouring the world is convenient. And its likely that Aatrox was looking for him too, since he hates Targon for what they did to him and the other Darkin. We also don't know how many battles Aatrox was in against the Void, but it definitely wasn't "every grand battle". Targon is actively working against the Void as well, in fact, in Aurelion Sol's color story, an incarnation of Pantheon calls him to deal with a huge Void rift. Taric's bio also flatly states that he will be helping in the fight against the Void. That tells us that battling the Void is definitely something Aspects are doing, including Pantheon.

They fought in the most epic of battles, with the most epic of conclusions! It had lasted a whole 1 sentence...

This bio is already pretty long, and it decided to focus more on Atreus, the true main character. This is unfortunately the limitation of a bio like this and obviously a longer form story is preferable. Just like how the details of the climb and Pylas's death were prominent in Pantheon's old bio, but in this one were cut short since there was a lot more to go over.

"a blow that carved the constellation of War from the heavens" whatever the hell that means.

Oh you know what it means. He killed Pantheon. For real this time. Targon is an empire of the stars, so killing their Pantheon of stars means he ded.

Okay and that's how the story ends. Except it doesn't because SHIA SUPRISE, Atreus is still alive! So Atreus does what all smart men do after somehow surviving being stabbed with the most humongous of blades and spits on Aatrox's face who's still a giant... from wherever he is on the ground (I forget how tall ascended are but judging by Aatrox splash AND ASSUMING that Aatrox and Pantheon fought in big boy forms as they 'took to the skies and swept through the armies of men beneath'). Now what does out grand god killing darkin do? He sneers and leaves... wait what.

We have zero indication that they "fought in their big boy forms". First of all, Pantheon doesn't have a large form that we know of. Aatrox is at the mercy of his hosts' size as well, so while he was quite large as an Ascended, we have no reason to believe he retains that large size. He COULD, he obviously shapes the form of his hosts, but we know that when Rhaast "wins" takes over Kayn's body, he's still roughly the same size as Kayn.

New Pantheon has a big ole scar to indicate where he got wounded by Aatrox, which goes from his left shoulder all the way down to his right hip:

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kNfbsmpqUMI/XUCbOEO4YrI/AAAAAAABWaQ/MLwGYvbpxfk_lRIBaYg2cpZoReN2UvMeQCLcBGAs/s1600/maxresdefault%2B%25281%2529.jpg

We don't know the exact nature of the hit--was it a stab? a slash?--I'd say it is big enough for a stab from Aatrox. As far as him surviving...that's another one of those "Greek myth" things. Its what makes Atreus a "Legend" worthy of this roster. Most of the things in this bio have explanations, I am ok with some things not having explanations. He is larger than life, he's a "mere mortal" but this is what makes him so much more than that, thus he's a "Legend".

There was no reason for Aatrox to believe that Atreus was alive. Hell, maybe he slumped over dead, and Aatrox thought "not worth my time". Again, the unfortunate part of a bio is that there is limited room and limited details, especially for a story of this magnitude. We don't get any details.

So he gets there and finds out he's late to the party, who does he find there before him? "IT IS I, ATRIX". Atreus realises mortals are mortals and godly beings don't care about mortals and that him very anger, BIG ANGERY. So as all typical shounen protags do, they charge in knowing they should die but hold up SUDDEN PLOT ARMOR ACTIVATES and "Atreus’ own will reignited the Aspect’s spear, upon hearing the cries of the people around him… and with a mighty leap, he struck a blow that severed the Darkin’s sword arm". First of all, that was definitely an ass-pull on the levels of Fairy Tale

I think you've actually found the theme. Yes, Aatrox doesn't care about mortals, and neither did Pantheon. Most of Atreus's life has been yanked around by beings such as these. And he's fed up. Yes, what a typical shonen theme, realizing the gods you served your whole life don't care about you and are using you as tools, so he gets a power-up. Oh wait, that doesn't seem right. The most generic "I'm angry, so I get power" cause is a friend dying or appearing dead, and yet, Atreus gets angry over bandits that he HATES. Yet, he didn't get this power up when Pylas died. Hmmmmmm.

Secondly did Pantheon seriously just sever Aatrox's arm with a spear? Did he poke thousands of holes through it, or did he slash it like all SMART spear users would do? I'm assuming Aatrox was meant to be in a more humanoid/smaller form to mock Pantheon? Otherwise how did he even reach Aatrox's blade or rather, how did he Aatrox's blows only "cast him to his knees" whereas before when he was fighting with Pantheon "they swept through armies beneath"?

Yet another weakness of these bios, we don't know exactly how Atreus used his spear. But have you seen his spear? Its humongous. "Did he poke thousands of holes through it?" Yeah, maybe? That's one of his moves in-game. Again, we don't know Aatrox's exact relative size, but its probably safe to say he is limited somewhat by the size of his host. Aatrox hates the way he looks, the way he has to twist these mortals to try and look like how he used to, but obviously it is not his same magnificence.

So what does our noble hero do after he finally defeats this PRIME EVIL BAD GUY? Nothing. He just leaves him LOL. One of the greatest threats to mankind right there, and there is no mention about what happens to him. Atreus was nice enough to just leave him there to recover and go about his destructive ways.

Yeah, did you forget that there is no currently known way to kill Darkin? If there was, Aatrox would have killed himself long ago. Did you also forget that Aatrox isn't the humanoid body, he's the sword? Cutting off the sword from the host effectively makes him an inanimate object. It would have been nice if the bio specified what Atreus did with the sword afterwards, but it didn't sadly.

Sorry you didn't like the new bio. That's really all it comes down to.

TheMan2927/31/2019, 3:10:11 PM5 votes

you do realise Atreus has ALWAYS been this way right?

and look at taric and zoe. having an aspect in you change your physique a lot. that's likely why he was not cut in half

Wrathof3007/31/2019, 9:21:28 PM4 votes

Why did Pantheon survive Aatrox's assault?

His body was empowered by the celestial powers within him, this would have resulted in him healing from his mortal wounds post battle.

Aatrox likely left Atreus alive intentionally. It is possible, in slaying Pantheon, this required an approach that ripped Pantheon's soul from Atreus' body, hence the damage was more spiritual than physical, otherwise just as Atreus recovered, so would have Pantheon. Upon Pantheon's death, and Atreus' re-emergence, Aatrox could have sympathized with Atreus. He saw another man wronged by the gods. It is not the first time Aatrox has left a victim of his on death's door either... Tryndamere.

Aatrox wants to die, so potential enemies are also another way to ensure, if he cannot kill himself, someone will look for a way.

After defeating Aatrox, Atreus still runs the risk of having to battle Aatrox for his body upon picking up his blade, so there is not much he could have done after defeating him. Hence Pantheon's reasoning "Mortals not being capable of dealing with the remaining Darkin."

The new lore may not be perfect but it is not unbelievable.

4 Step Cadence7/31/2019, 3:32:51 PM3 votes

Its entirely possible that Aatrox "died" at the end and just went back into his sword. I'm not even sure if Atreus would know what a Darkin is/how to deal with one anyway. Pantheon might, but Atreus? I don't think a normal Targonian would know about the Darkin, so how was Atreus supposed to know that he wasn't supposed to just leave him there?

SuicidePlank7/31/2019, 2:57:32 PM3 votes

Shouldn't Pantheon be severed in half? Like look at the gigantic size of Aatrox and his fucking Sword. Now mix that together with the strenght of an Ascendend/Darkin and ye...how does one only get such a small cut? I have bigger cuts than that, Pantheon should have been sliced in half.

Also, Aatrox could easily reforge his Arm out of the people around him, hell he already forged his entire body himself.

Camille Ferrøs7/31/2019, 4:15:38 PM1 votes

With the recent additions, I think it's safe to say that Riot are willing to throw logic out of the window for the sake of telling a cool story.

CaptainAntiHeroz8/1/2019, 2:24:55 AM1 votes

its simple Pantheon sacrificed himself for the Mantheon to live on but the Mantheon (Atreus) don't even know that on his death bed the aspect of wars heart grew three sizes that day