Can we get some context on Bard?

Arakadia··3 votes·522 views

We don't have a color text (from my knowledge) and the excuse is that he is mysterious and people don't really know about him.

His lack of words is cool but it creates a lack of character and sentience. It doesn't feel like a person. It'd be cool to know how Bard acts or thinks.

He doesnt have much interaction, if any, and due to all these facts we don't know much about Bard. I think Bard is real awesome and his lore just needs some attention in order for him to become an interesting, mysterious guy that we actually understand and can think about.

6 Comments

Sharjo3 votes

The point of Bard is that he isn't understandable in terms of how he thinks or goes about things; he works with intent and purpose, but it's not something you can easily glean just by seeing him. I feel like that's the appeal of Bard.

Even then though you can see there's character to him in the way he behaves, be it in the game or in his main lore appearance, Bard: Mountain. Big things like the way he moves, how he physically reacts when laughing, even the tiny things like him spinning his horn when he went to port the shrines on the mountains away, shows there's more to him than you can really see. There are things to Bard we can gravitate towards and say "yeah he's like this", but at the same time those things are just our interpretation of how he operates.

Bard's strength of character comes from him being wholly inhuman and incomprehensible. I mean to many people Bard seemed like an arse for ignoring the Bards on the mountain in his cinematic, but Bard works with purpose, and our human interpretations are just that, interpretations.

For that reason I feel like we already know what Bard's colour text and full bio will be like; references to times he's appeared in history and cultural interpretations of him, but not a true origin. Like Kindred's bio, essentially. Bard's a character who's cool not because of where he came from and what his personality is like, but because of what he is, the concepts he represents, and where he's going.

Really that's a long winded way of me saying is that your desire to have Bard be "understandable" is kinda missing the point of Bard. Understanding Bard isn't the main focus, it's what he does and where he's going. The mystery behind how he thinks, acts and behaves is part of his charm and a core part of his character.

Arakadia1 votes

Im hoping for some more information atleast/a color text so, as you say, I can see more of the concepts he represents and where he is going. I'd like to see an event besides Bard: Mountain.

I just wish we knew more about celestials and bard. I love him to peices and wish there was just more... more Bard to go around I guess.

For example someone a while ago said the reason we can't understand Bard might not be because he is speaking another language. Maybe he is speaking whatever common-toung Runterra has, but the fates deny it as it would reveal something where not to know. I wish we could read these type of cool things.

Thanks for the comment, I'm looking through a different scope now.

Valor Bot1 votes

I disagree; I do think that Bard's thoughts and actions are comprehensible at least in some sense -- whether he's some sort of cosmic beast acting solely on instinct, or a sentient being behaving of his own accord, there must be some method to the madness -- some underlying structure that Riot composed for Bard to flesh out who or what he really is beyond appearances (is Bard even a 'he?').

At the very least, I think it's important for us to know what Bard really is, how he came to be, and/or where he comes from. Knowing these things wouldn't necessarily take away the enigmatic and inhuman charm of Bard (as we would still be unaware of his modus operandi), but it would at the bare minimum give us an idea of what he is beyond this 'Big, floating cosmic entity who protects all of reality.'

Arakadia1 votes

You just brought up a great point lol. Theres points to both, but being a Bard fan... I like yours because I wanna know more about the balloon.

Whyte Lyon2 votes

Well I also agree with Sharjo. Bard being inhuman is very cool for the representation of his personality, trying to comprehend him could add to much context to his character. If Riot keeps Bard to a concept (which at this point alot of champs are tho) then we as a community can carry on having Bard do amazing/strange things, hence wider and more open story telling for him.

Maybe you should look at Bard like a magic trick, if you learn its secrets you lose its charm.

Valor Bot1 votes

Yeah, there are pros and cons to both revealing more about Bard and simply preserving him as this enigmatic being -- on one hand, if you reveal too much he's no longer the mysterious character he once was; on the other, if you reveal too little he will remain a stagnant concept. Whether there is a happy middle ground there remains to be seen, but personally I don't think fleshing out his character some more would take away too much of his charm.

More from Story, Art, & Sound

More by Arakadia