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On Leona's new Character Bio and the negativity sorrounding it.

Kadavik·2/29/2016, 7:07:57 AM·30 votes·3,615 views

Like her new motivations and personality or not she is definitely more fleshed out than she used to be.

Leona's personality other than what little we were told about her was heavily molded by the community through constant fan comics fanart and fanfics. As time progressed everyone had the same head cannon about said characters.

"Leo is an all caring protector who would never harm anyone."

While one of Leo's most defining character traits was refusing to attack those she cared about and protecting them in no version of her old lore does she actively refuse to kill someone whom if not stopped would harm her people. You cannot say that "old" Leona would never rain fire on retreating murderers were she given the chance, because she never got the chance to do so in her previous lore.

But as time progressed we made assumptions, filled the gaps ourselves and collectively decided on this lovey dovey view of Leona. Now that our own head cannons are being shattered by this fleshing out of their personality we are lashing back. Think about how mad you are about how Leona's personality has changed. Now think to yourself how much of this "personality" is your own view of Leona and how YOU think she would act, not what we actually know from her old lore.

I personally like her much more now, she isn't as one dimensional as she used to be. Heck this "new" Leona even fits her in game personality much more. Leona is a heavy engage champion and is extremely aggressive in lane. She brings protection to her friends (Peel) and Death (Engage) to her enemies.

On the topic of Pantheon and Leo disliking each other I do admit it is a complete deviation from previous lore. However, I do believe this opens up way more possibilities story wise and adds a much needed internal conflict between the Rakkor and Solari which demonstrates their differing views. Overall I think these changes to Targon make it a much more interesting place overall and I'm willing to sacrifice "Old" Leona for that.

60 Comments

HowPlayGAEM2/29/2016, 12:02:37 PM13 votes

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Gapybo2/29/2016, 12:41:20 PM12 votes

I like the new lore. I think it give the characters more depth in every way. Old Leona never made much sense to me and her abilities and VO are definitely more fitting now.

GreenLore2/29/2016, 8:32:29 AM11 votes

Yeah the problem is that we got only a very small amount of characterisation,which people started to interpret in their own way or which is pretty much everything the people clung onto.

I mean the friendship between and Leona never really made that much sense,after all Pantheon is someone who enjoyed battle,who enjoyed war,which kinda went against Leonas whole character.It looked more like they were childhood friends merely because they were from the same tribe.

Nahara2/29/2016, 8:09:33 PM9 votes

I don't really get how people saw her as someone who would "never harm anyone". I mean...

Leona "Stand and fight." Leona "I will break their line." Leona "They will be sundered."

She sounds pretty willing to wreck someone to me.

Trylobyte2/29/2016, 12:49:58 PM9 votes

My simple take on the old lore vs. new lore was always, if Leona is solely a protector who would never hurt anyone, then why does she have a sword? Agreed that her new characterization gives her more depth and makes more sense. She's less of a soft, fluffy pile of loving joy like people used to see her and more of a hardass paladin like she is ingame.

Embertine2/29/2016, 4:01:08 PM9 votes

To me, it seemed like Riot was changing Leona to be more like how she is in both the game and how we meme her.

In game she's a force to be reckoned with, hunting down foes and locking them in place for her team, and ensuring that her team mates can escape by either stalling, or sacrificing herself to stop the enemy, often times their whole team.

As for the memes, she's always been depicted as both a caring individual and a true zealot in every sense of the word.

To me Riot has remade her lore to reflect what myself, and many others saw Leona as. A strong woman whom had a caring heart, but also dedicated to her religion and fully willing to cleave a man in two.

To me she simply coincides with how I've always seen her.

Shac Norris2/29/2016, 7:24:24 AM7 votes

Nobody that disliked this post actually read it. Typical boards users.

ADepressedLeona2/29/2016, 6:23:09 PM7 votes

A while ago I made a thread depicting my own opinion. Leona has always been my favorite and most played champion since her release. I loved her caring nature and her personality. At first, the new lore rubbed me the wrong way. It was jarring to see my absolutely favorite character be changed in such a way. But the more I read it, the more I enjoyed it. The more I understood what the writers were going for. I like it a lot more and it really does add a layer of depth to Leona that I really enjoy

Star Guardían3/1/2016, 6:33:35 AM5 votes

I couldn't have said it better. 100% agree.

JacctheInsomniac2/29/2016, 8:09:17 PM3 votes

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Jeddy0172/29/2016, 9:07:48 PM3 votes

Eh,I came to terms with new Leona because of what they said in the lore podcast. The new bios are meant to be the foundations of the champs.They're meant to set up futures stories & developments.They're not "End all,Be all" ,set in stone biographies that tell us the whole life,or in some case existence (Kindred),of these champions.Leona may very well develop INTO a character more similar with her old self.

Narsicus3/1/2016, 7:19:55 AM3 votes

So......

Your argument against people who say "This new lore changes the characters into things I do not like" is "Well I like the changes so you are wrong"

The fact of the matter is that every character you have ever read or seen is created by yourself, you were prompted along the way sure but in the end you are the one who gave them the personality. Where one person saw a defender who uses force only if absolutely necessary another can see an aggressive warrior who is only protective toward her people.

In the end this new Leona and the other champions offer neither significantly more nor less in the way of development than they had previously, it just makes them different. And to many it would seem that these differences are in what were considered their core values.

You may be willing to sacrifice old Leona or Pantheon for the new but others don't seem to feel the same way, and calling them out as being 'wrong' because their thoughts went beyond what lore was given only ensures that everyone is wrong whenever they attempt to understand how these characters will act.

KING OF MASKS2/29/2016, 8:53:27 PM2 votes

I like how the new lore pushes her firmly into the ballpark of zealous, vengeful crusader, as opposed to having her be some kind of vague sun paladin.