A lot of League's lore is unfinished, with many unanswered questions. (Examples included)

Ink Rose··18 votes·2,565 views

I am in love with much of League's lore, but I can't help but notice that there is a lot of holes in it. There are many, many stories here that are unfinished and leave questions that seem like they will never be answered.

Here are a few of the many examples of this:

~Why in the world did the Solari kill off the Lunari? This still has not been addressed with a specific reason, all we have is speculation. Who is really in the right here? Leona or Diana ? It's too hard to tell when we know hardly anything about the conflict.

~Jinx and Vi 's backstories. These two are heavily shrouded in mystery, mostly Jinx. We know hardly anything about her, and still have not gotten confirmation whether they are related or not. Is C part of this in some way?

~Kalista , Hecarim , and the Shadow Isles in general. How was Kalista killed? To be honest that should have been her lore. Like, why in the world ISN'T that what her lore is about? Nothing at all is known about Hecarim, which is even more of a crime than Kalista's lore. Not to mention the Shadow Isles. What's the full backstory of that place? What's with the fallen king?

There are many more examples of this in tons of other lore stories, these are only the ones that stand out to me. The sad thing is it seems like the answers to these mysteries will never be solved. That they were meant to stay mysteries forever. And yeah, I can understand as a writer leaving some things to speculation to keep things exciting... but the problem is there are SO many intentional mysteries in the lore it gets a little grating, leaving you feeling like not much is actually known about Runeterra.

I do not mean to bash on the Lore Team at all. They can put out some great work. However, I think this is the main root of why people are having trouble and complaining about the lore. Because we still don't know much about Runeterra, ESPECIALLY after the huge lore change. After all this time we still don't know how the world works after the Institute was taken out of the picture. What's preventing all out war against the factions?

The short stories that have been given to us thus far are really, really great, especially the Azir and Xerath ones. We really need more of these explaining backstory, not leaving even more questions then when we started.

The point I'm trying to make is there are way to many unanswered questions in the lore that have never been addressed in the years League has been running. I think it's time to at least answer some of them, perhaps through the short stories.

(One more thing to note, why does it take so long for each short story to be released? Writing and editing small stuff like that can be done within a day. I think it would be nice to give us one short story a week, but those are just my thoughts.)

21 Comments

LordHippoman12 votes

League's Lore has always had this issue. It's hard to finish a character arc when that character has to have a reason to stay, has to live, and has to not have any huge changes (Well, I guess you could do a VU to reflect that, but that's a lot of work for a game that has Lore low on the priority list).

The whole "Revenge Against Another Champion" angle that a lot of champs have (Graves Morgana Rengar ) is, by definition, almost impossible to resolve, because if either of them dies, that creates a gaping plot hole. There's also the whole "mystery is their whole backstory" issue with a lot of champs (Evelynn Fiddlesticks Shaco ) that is great for giving writers room to work, but very empty in actual substance until that void is filled.

That's why I think champions like Swain get so much spotlight in the lore. It's easy to do things with Swain because he doesn't have a set final goal, or at least not one he's revealed, but a lot of little ones we can see him work towards. He manipulated Boram and took power in Noxus, but that's not necessarily the end of his role. More stuff could happen with Swain. He has some mystery (What's with the bird?), but enough actual story and relationships that he's interesting, but not just a giant question mark.

Ink Rose1 votes

Definitely agree when it comes to Swain. Excellent character there when it comes to a perfect balance of knowledge and mystery. I also think you are correct about Evelynn Fiddlesticks Shaco . They are absolutely empty and in need of development. When it comes to revenge plots, I know and understand why those need to be left alone as they are. It makes sense, and you are correct.

Thank you for continuing the discussion!

Narasimha2 votes

I wouldn't consider Rengar vs Khazix really a revenge motivated thing. Ren wants to hunt Kha because he's the greatest trophy he could get, and Kha wants to get Ren because he thinks it'll give him an unstoppable evolution.

Hello I am Bird1 votes

Well. Kha'zix did steal Rengar's eye...

Narasimha3 votes

Thats...not really the point. Thats part of why Ren wants to kill Kha, but only because the loss of the eye signified how great a prey Kha was. He doesn't really want vengeance for his missing body part.

Athenes Lulu8 votes

No, Rito refuses to expand on any kind of lore, leaving (almost) everything unfinished just so they can be lazy on "storytelling" and keep us guessing.

"We want to make everyone happy so we leave questions unanswered! It's fun to keep people guessing anyways :))))"

Anything that seemed like an "almost finished" story are reworked. Come on, that's the MAIN REASON that they reworked Trundle's lore, because it "has an end". And also wondered why the IoW was retconned? Simply because they don't want progression in which that leads to endings.

So, bottom line, they probably never will. Unless the game itself declined, then the "lore" is just gonna be like another stereotypical MOBA.

EDIT: Looks y'all took this a bit too literally. Rito actually has been making great introductions to characters, but with fairly empty backstories that they never seemed to finish. In the past, champions have almost complete backstories with possible stories to tell in the future. The problem with the new champs is that they don't even have enough to tell who he/she is, but instead we have cinematics and scenes to tell their first impressions, in which doesn't really explain much either. Not only that, ever since the discontinuation of the JoJ, we see no signs of progression of storylines or "chapter twos" at all, or any form of expansion on some character relations (Come on, how are Sona and Taric "friends"? Why would someone like me even want to be friends with that "tiny master of evil"?).

Nieios3 votes

That, and the pointlessly short 'updated' lore on champs like Renekton, Nasus, Rammus, and all the rest of the Shurima group, Kalista, Xerath, and every other champion dragged into the half-assed Azir story seem like they were written by a drunk person in a basement 8 hours before they went live. Absolutely unexcusable from a storyline standpoint.

Velivolo3 votes

[{quoted}](name=Sadistic Lulu,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=mPpVHwt8,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2014-12-31T00:20:50.430+0000)

No, Rito refuses to expand on any kind of lore, leaving (almost) everything unfinished just so they can be lazy on "storytelling" and keep us guessing.

"We want to make everyone happy so we leave questions unanswered! It's fun to keep people guessing anyways :))))"

Anything that seemed like an "almost finished" story are reworked. Come on, that's the MAIN REASON that they reworked Trundle's lore, because it "has an end". And also wondered why the IoW was retconned? Simply because they don't want progression in which that leads to endings.

So, bottom line, they probably never will. Unless the game itself declined, then the "lore" is just gonna be like another stereotypical MOBA.

This was just addressed. League's story needs to be continuing because the game is continuing, it isn't lazy storytelling. How much more boring would everything be if the lore were finished? Say Riot put out a storyline tomorrow that had Demacia just take over everything and rule with a just hand, story ended, no more lore updates ever. That would be awful.

Franchises have the same issues. Nothing will ever be 100% finished in the Assassin's Creed universe because that company wants to keep making games and keep making money.

Athenes Lulu4 votes

The main problem is we see no forms of progression, only the openings of stories.

Velivolo3 votes

[{quoted}](name=Sadistic Lulu,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=mPpVHwt8,comment-id=000200010000,timestamp=2015-01-02T23:35:05.124+0000)

The main problem is we see no forms of progression, only the openings of stories.

Or a cinematic, "short story", and written "lore" that all represent the same thing Kalista

I think all of Kalista's stuff was awesome and excellent.

I'm in agreement that there is a bit too much mystery behind many champions, but this is one case where it actually makes a lot of sense. I'm of the opinion that who Kalista was before her betrayal is not important to who she is. Her betrayal was the catalyst, the IMPORTANT turning point in her life. We are shown her as she is NOW. Who she was in the past isn't important because that person literally doesn't exist. Kalista has amalgated too many souls and forgotten much of her past. Now she's this spectral terror that will avenge you for a terrible price, and that's how she was given to us. I get that the Shadow Isles could use some fleshing out. I do. And we've been given that, in bits and pieces. But Kalista's lore is just fine. Her media allows us to connect with her on a level that an actual Runterran citizen might, which I think is really cool.

TL;DR Who Kalista was before she was betrayed/the events surrounding said betrayal are important and integral to Shadow Isles dealings, and NOT Kalista's.

Sneak Dog3 votes

Who she is now isn't interesting though. She is now an embodiment of vengeance, vengeance for betrayal specifically. It's entirely one-dimensional. I don't care one little bit about her. The Shadow Isles however, are interesting. Therefore I'd much rather hear about who Kalista was than who she is now.

I'm not saying that Kalistas lore wasn't rightly focused on her current form. I'm saying that her current lore is boring. I get it, she is an embodiment of vengeance taking peoples souls to enact vengeance for them. That's all there is to her and there can't be more to her due to her very nature. Champions are strong enough to take their own vengeance, they wouldn't be suicidal enough to give their soul to Kalista and hope she can take vengeance for them. She seems nothing more than a background character to me.

I should keep my distance anyway, this all might get retconned again in a year with Riots current stance on retconning. Kalista might become a void monster obsessed with collecting Runeterran souls. I miss Trundle.

ShakySurgeon3 votes

Bump.

DWT123453 votes

agreed. They keep on starting too many story arcs without continuing. Imagine if the lore was an old-fashioned drama show.

"Will Jinx and Vi ever reach amends? WIll shurima reach its former glory? Will xerath ascend again? Will Viktor turn everybody into cyborgs? WIll the void invade runeterra? Will Lissandra conquer the freljord? Will Sion ever regain full memories of his past life? Will Skarner awaken his kind? Find nothing out and more, next time on... LEAGUE OF LEGENDS!"

I also hate how riot only focuses on some giant overall lore sstory. Cant we just get a story with one or two pre-existing champs rather than making a new one? Give us more backstory on Orianna! Yorick! No? Ok.

Mori Please2 votes

i feel like they are leaving loose ends for us to imagine but they leave too many like theres probably millions of fanmade things revolving around those loose ends

Velivolo2 votes

I think it's really a matter of opinion. I think Kalista's lore right now is absolutely fascinating, and you clearly differ. There are a lot of interesting tidbits that have been told about her current state, and aren't one-dimensional. For example, how does one summon Kalista? The sword-wife in her lore entry uses a sort of ritual to call her, while in her animatic she doesn't seem to require one at all. How would one summon her in Shurima? Noxus? Does she appear the same to all of them? For example, if she's summoned in Ionia, does she resemble her bloodmoon skin? What is her connection to the harrowing, the most recent in particular?

I highly disagree with this statement. She can be so much. How does she relate to those she's enacting vengance for? Does she immediately amalgate their souls? Do they retain consciousness, and can they know their vengance is complete? On that note, do any of the souls she's amalgated besides her own have any shreds of memory or self-awareness? HOW does she enact her vengance? Is it always as simple as hunting them down and spearing them to death?

Kalista avenging champions in-game isn't cannon, so I don't care about that.

You're being overly dramatic and you know it.

Seriously, Kalista is fascinating. You just have to look deeper than some superficial backstory.

Sneak Dog1 votes

Imagine a book written entirely from the perspective of Kalista. Five hundred pages all from her perspective. I think I'd be bored eighty pages in. Someone like Azir or Yorick would make great perspectives though. On the flip side. Kalista is an amazing character for a main character to encounter. Suddenly our protagonist meets this spirit of vengeance. Then because we like our protagonist or because we like Runeterra, we want to know the answers to all Kalistas mysteries. Not because Kalista is interesting. She'd just have interesting mysteries connected to her.

Imagine Kalista without all the mysteries, the questions. Without what she does and how she does it. Just consider who she is. Then consider what she is. To me, she is a character that wants vengeance. I don't know of any other real character traits she has, she just wants vengeance. What she is, is an embodiment of vengeance, vengeance for betrayal to be specific.

Dreamspitter1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Ink Rose,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=mPpVHwt8,comment-id=,timestamp=2014-12-30T21:21:41.419+0000)

I am in love with much of League's lore, but I can't help but notice that there is a lot of holes in it. There are many, many stories here that are unfinished and leave questions that seem like they will never be answered.

Here are a few of the many examples of this:

~Why in the world did the Solari kill off the Lunari? This still has not been addressed with a specific reason, all we have is speculation. Who is really in the right here? Leona or Diana ? It's too hard to tell when we know hardly anything about the conflict.

#REMEMBER

Diana had to uncover the ruins that revealed the Lunari even EXISTED. They experienced a "damnatio memoriae" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnatio_memoriae

And of course the Solari were in the right, because history is written by the victors and hey....it was Heresy.

http://i.imgur.com/p14kUEC.jpg

~Kalista , Hecarim , and the Shadow Isles in general. How was Kalista killed? To be honest that should have been her lore. Like, why in the world ISN'T that what her lore is about? Nothing at all is known about Hecarim, which is even more of a crime than Kalista's lore. Not to mention the Shadow Isles. What's the full backstory of that place? What's with the fallen king?

Shadow isles is explained in Maokai's lore Maokai

Diana x Me4 votes

{quoted}

#REMEMBER

Diana had to uncover the ruins that revealed the Lunari even EXISTED. They experienced a "damnatio memoriae" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnatio_memoriae

And of course the Solari were in the right, because history is written by the victors and hey....it was Heresy.

http://i.imgur.com/p14kUEC.jpg

Shadow isles is explained in Maokai's lore Maokai

Interesting theory but, i disagree.

She uncovered documentation that hinted to the existence of the Lunari. The temple is hidden away in a valley and left untouched.

It was a religious cleansing. (remove all traces of a religions existence while killing or converting all of its followers in order to have religious homogeneity ) ex. Spanish Inquisition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Inquisition

They coexisted for awhile and I am betting that someone new came into power among the Solari who started promoting the idea that the Sun is superior, being the one and only true religion.

Through deductive reasoning you can pretty much assume that the Lunari were not evil because they had a connection that benefited the Marai which ensured Nami's people's survival. Notice how Nami's title is the Tidecaller. The Moon is essential to the planets ecosystems, especially its oceans/bodies of water because it controls the tides and helps regulate temperatures etc. The Marai require a **Moonstone **because its light protects them from the terror of the depths. They need a new one every century until its light begins to fade and a Moonstone can only be found "in the towering reaches of the surface world" which would be Mt Targon / Mt Gargantuan the highest mountain on Runeterra. ( it makes sense that the Solari and Lunari would live there because it is the closest place to the Sun and Moon).

The Tidecaller would retrieve an Abyssal pearl from the dark depths and would meet up with the bearer of the moonstone on the night of the winter solstice ( The shortest day of a year) on the 100th year. When Nami came to the meeting place for the ceremonial exchange the bearer never showed up. Obviously because no Lunari existed to complete the trade.

( Pearls are normally white but, they can be a variety of different colors and are made from calcium carbonate. Naturally occurring pearls are very rare/valuable) ( I am unsure as to why the Lunari take the abyssal pearl tho, as it may just be a simple gift or maybe has religious semblance to the Moon but, it's also possible that it has some other purpose.)

So not only did the Solari complete their version of "The Nazi Final Solution" but, they may or may not have knowingly damned the Marai to extinction.

The Solari may have won and rewritten everything to their liking but, it is not yet deemed right if the truth / other side of the story still has a chance to be revealed by the opposition.

GreenLore1 votes

Overall they seem to want to leave some room for exploration.

I mean this way we can speculate a lot about stories and create our own theories,but that goes basically away once the story resolves.

This does not mean that they should never resolve the stories though and I think that riot has been lacking in that regard(since basically ever).

I've noticed that in the earlier days they didn't seem to put that much thought into the characters,some simply had "mystery" as their backstory and be done with(Shaco Evelynn Hecarim Mordekaiser Swain ) and in some cases it became appearant that they never had an answer for these mysteries(the interview with shaco didn't reveal anything about him). Nowadays they seem to plan these things in advance a bit more(for example we learn nearly nothing about gnar in his lore,but from additional sources and riot comments it is known that he was frozen and that he was attacked by the watchers,even if it wasn't directly said until now),but sadly they withhold these things and save them for later,while also adding new mysteries and being more busy with retconning than actually adding which leads to our current situation.

Diana x Me1 votes

Did i really just get downvoted for making an educated guess? I never said it was confirmed or fact. I am simply piecing things together as logically as i can. I have looked at and thought upon alternative theories but this one makes the most sense. What did i say that was offtopic or offensive to merit negative feedback? Its not like i go around downvoting people because i disagree with them as It is their opinion and i respect that.

Anyway, yeah a lot things have not been reiterated upon or given much explanation on. Its possible they purposely left off things so that it would be open ended and leaves people to make their own assumptions and interpretations. Although, some back stories did not really give you anything to work with or think about.

The Soulforged1 votes

If I wanted a book, I would choose anivia as the point of perspective, just because she is an ancient creature who has lived through every event that we know of on runeterra I'm guessing.

More from Story, Art, & Sound

More by Ink Rose