You can't just say that they were Ascended, mention 9 others who specifically have animal traits, and that the current forms of the Darkin are in any way similar to their previous forms. You need to tell us what they actually were. Aatrox's story only mentions he had wings.
A toad, a weasel and a hamster.
hashtag-canon
We all know Varus was a bear.
Varus was a unicorn, duh.
[slayer-pantheon-rainbows]
Your animals from SoloQ
Rhaast was probably a deer or a hammerhead shark(I'd say a shark would fit him pretty well)
Aatrox might have been a bird or a bat,I think they described him with shining golden wings,in which case a bat might link him to the sun aspect(who appeared in the form of a golden boy with bat wings).
Varus might have been flat out human.I mean after all humans are animals as well.
Aatrox could be some sort of bird, or even a bat, considering the pointy things on his face. Rhaast might have been a deer or a hammerhead shark, something that resembles horns.
Make them all boosted bonobos
Aatrox is already described to have been an angelic, golden winged creature of sorts. Rhaast may be a ram perhaps? Mind you he has huge horns, and he even has goat-like feet. Varus is the weirdest of the bunch. My guess is maybe he was some kind of satyr because of how his legs were mostly effected?
xerath turned into lightning and aatrox's backstory mentioned him looking more celestial than animalistic so honestly i think ascention goes any way it pleases.
or what thresh and other champions looked like before the shadow isles
I think they explain that they weren’t the same as the other ascended because they FITB in with the god warriors. I think there’s were ascended ascended like Renekton/Nasus/Azir, and they had the god warriors who had great power but were more like foot soldiers. Kind of like the ascended were gods and the god warriors are like angels.
