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Ionia and the Kinkou ideal of balance

TheMan292·6/25/2019, 4:24:37 AM·12 votes·12,294 views

as we all know, balance of good an evil, in all its forms, is a big part of Ionia. the Kinkou order takes this to heart by essentially being the middle of this balance, with the original trio being to tip the scales of judgement.

However, with the war, we see Ionia becoming more aggressive so it can fight back against invaders. Irelia is a hero and leader of the war, being praised for taking initiative. Zed and his followers have found success in their dark ways (whether to the benefit of Ionia or not). Karma herself has taken to a more aggressive stance (only if necessary albeit). Akali herself left the Kinkou order to become an assassin against future threats. Finally, Jhin has been unleashed to spread terror to Noxus.

so what does this mean for the ideal of balance? throughout the new Ionia lore, Shen and Kennen remain the only 2 champs that fight for this ideal. even worse is that, while of course it should be biased in their own view, all these other champs seem to be clearly in the right tweaking, if not completely eschewing the ideal of balance in favor of being aggressive. will we see more ionian champs who still favor the old way, and more importantly, see these reasons justified?

also side question. Xayah wants all the magic of ionia to be free, and in her and Rakan's trailer targets a node guarded by a Zed shadow clone that's suppressing said magic. is it clear that letting all this magic free would also be bad?

EDIT: I know I have no comments, but thanks for the upvotes guys. nice to know people have similar sentiments and are kind to my hastily typed post

15 Comments

RiotWAAARGHbobo6/26/2019, 3:29:00 AM8 votes

"balance of good an evil" .

Actually this is not exactly the balance they/we are talking about now. (It might have been in old lore). There is an acceptance of duality and that good and evil are codependent on each other. But generally these characters are talking about: the Balance of elements; the Balance of emotions; And esp the Balance between the magical and physical.

Ionia is a land blessed, and cursed by an abundance of spirit magic. Often we describe this as the borders between the material realm and spirit realm are weak here-- esp in the forests and highlands. And magic is a dangerous thing. In moderation it can make your village's life better. More food, less disease, longer lives, better ping speeds (okay maybe not that one). But it also can be fickle and deadly. And overusing or allowing to it to overrun an area, or having it interact with your emotions, invites unwanted guests, consequences, and changes. And in its pure form or when very strong it is lethal to us. (or so changing as to transform us into something we wouldn't recognize (see Ivern, brand, that odd shaped owl which screams outside my window, etc..)). Some magic is good. But you have to be careful.

Now The Vastaya (Like Rakan and Xayah) and other magical creatures need magic to survive-- in way like we need oxygen or water. It's naturally a part of them-- they are made in part of it. So the restriction of it, harvesting of it, damning (as in holding back) of it-- restricts them. Imagine if an alien race appeared on our planet and set up cities around the globe and fields and farms... and in those large swathes of land they greatly restricted the amount of oxygen or began claiming and storing large areas of the fresh water we needed. We might attack them... and we have nukes.

So these magical creatures, places, and stranger things can be helpful or dangerous-- but you have to be careful not to over restrict magic or overuse magic-- to avoid attracting dangerous creatures and unwanted magical effects.

Falrein6/26/2019, 8:09:52 AM3 votes

One of the things I find interesting about all this Ionian balance thingy is Syndra's place in all this. Her very existence endangers the spiritual balance of Ionia, her magic is definitely not 'balanced', her emotions aren't either, except that in her case, it's not just a kid's problem, it's incredibly disruptive. There's probably a link to all this 'magic must be balanced' thing, I wonder what it is tho. Is she the price to pay for all these years of calm and relative peace (shout out to Taco who inspired that theory btw)?

I do wonder what Shen would think of her in relation to that, actually. I'll probably never know, but it would love to. I know his nemesis is supposed to be Zed but well, I can't help but think he'd be very interested (or worried) by Syndra. He may know more about the nature of her powers? Who knows...

zounet6/26/2019, 7:06:40 AM1 votes

please riot, I have a question. shen can go to the spiritual realm. "Towards the end of the Rune Wars, desperate for victory, cabals of warrior-mages sought any advantage they could find over their foes. Although no record names the first of them to cast off their flesh and enter the spirit realm" from nocturne bio so shen uses shadow magic no? I am a little lost...