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The reason I'm super pissed about Varus lore rewrite.

Rivuo·12/1/2017, 4:10:56 PM·88 votes·2,051 views

Varus picks up his locket necklace and looks at the sky as his idle animation.

This has to be one of the most tear inducing things to see.

Varus old lore was cliche you say? Oh so putting a new lore of how a fight for somebodys body is happening? Wow that's not cliche? We didn't see this already with Kayn recently?

I was telling my best friend for 12 years I've known him, how fucking cool Varus story is. He fucking sacrificed everything, to protect what he swore to.

You say the video is bad ass? Yeah I agree,

A video of two guys going deep and waking up Varus and Varus taking over their body is cool. The animations were well done

You know what would be cooler? A video of Varus defending a temple from Noxus forces and him then seeing his family slain, putting himself in the pit filled with hatred.

That would've been fuckin way cooler.

oh cliche you say again? Naruto lost his whole family, and got super strong blah blah went on to become the number 1 anime because they built off it. Cliche has nothing to do with success its the direction you take with it.
"The pit of corruption would consume him wholly, as a flame devours a wick, but its abominable power would burn within him until he was lost"

HELLO, THAT'S ONE OF THE COOLEST DESCRIPTIONS OF WHAT HAPPENED. THAT'S VARUS OLD LORE WHEN HE WAS GOING TO GO IN THE PIT

WHY WAS THAT CHANGED. GO CHANGE SOMEONE ELSES

i know, we aren't going to get his old lore back but please don't go around fucking champions lore. Because I've been so annoyed at this shit for a few days now and I'd hate to see other people's champions get affected.

You didn't create just a game you created something greater. You guys have people cosplaying your game, writing fan fiction, extremely famous people quoting league, playing league and acknowledging league. Major companies sponsoring teams.. People overcoming depression from this game, meeting amazing people (and assholes), people spending days drawing art for this game. People flying out to see the tournaments.. You gave us something great.. And that's why we're mad..

This is coming from my heart, just like how I felt you guys wrote Varus old lore. With the heart..

If that's cliche then I'm sorry. But maybe cliche is what feels the best.

17 Comments

AbiwonKenabi12/1/2017, 6:16:06 PM34 votes

I think what people seem to forget that there is a subtle difference a trope and a cliche. A trope is a tool, an idea that yeah, you might have seen before, but serves the narrative in some important way. When a trope is misused or used in the most predictable way possible, it becomes a cliche. Tropes are tools not rules, and if you write it badly, then of course it sucks. But there is no possible way to completely avoid them.

So yeah, we've had plenty of "guy lost his family" tropes play out in media and we will have a ton more in the future. Because it's a storytelling format that resonates with people. But fleshing out this idea and the way you use it is how it becomes good and not a cliche.

There was something about Varus' old backstory that resonated with people, they liked the way the trope was being used. They liked the theme of duty vs family, they appreciated the tragedy of his loss and his ticking clock situation. No one is denying that it needed fleshing out, but people are disappointed at how Riot handled it. Fans saw a trope to be used and fleshed out. Riot didn't see that, so they decided to go in an entirely different direction (ironically, they just fell into a different trope instead, one that, as OP mentions, they JUST explored). This is the essence of why people don't like the changes.

I don't know if Riot like has no confidence in their writing ability or if they just want to make radical changes because it seems cool or what, because it seems more often than not, instead of taking the skeleton of the old story and building upon that, they'd rather just throw it out entirely. Instead of working with the good qualities of what is there and making something good, they just write a brand new story. Which is admittedly easier, but also lazy. You can do it Riot, don't be afraid to flex your writing muscles and develop an old work into something wonderful.

Moooose212/1/2017, 5:51:51 PM23 votes

It just pisses me off that Riot did this for what seems to be PR purposes. His lore was way cooler before this change, and putting 2 gay guys in him did absolutely nothing to help his character in my opinion. If you're going to change somebody to gay, not meaning craeting a new champion who happens to be gay, it should damn well help his lore in some way and improve his character. To me, this just seemed like a shitty attempt to put a gay champ in the game because they wanted to seem diverse. If you're gonna make a gay champ, fine. Just make a new one. If you're gonna change a champ to gay, it should help his lore along and if it doesn't then it just seems like a shitty PR stunt to me.

NekoniClaws12/2/2017, 12:28:27 AM12 votes

What I got from Varus' original lore wasn't WHAT he lost, but that his over-dedication to supressing an evil had cost him what he was fighting to protect in the first place- so now he turned to it and suffered from it in a quest for revenge.

New lore? One day a Darkin ate some humans, and now they complain at him.

TheBentOn312/2/2017, 5:54:25 AM4 votes

and its not like "dude desperate to save/bring back his dead/dieing love does something stupid with forces beyond his control and it turns out poorly." Is any less cliche.

SanKakU12/1/2017, 8:17:49 PM3 votes

I get where you're coming from and I even agree with it all, but where was your anger when Sejuani got deleted earlier this year when it comes to game play rather than lore?

If the community was consistent with their disapproval of crazy actions on Riot's part, maybe they'd actually stop making such crazy decisions so often.

Varus' lore is gone. FTR he was always my favorite marksman. I'm a fill main. I play him AP support sometimes. If I'm playing ADC and having trouble with the new meta at the moment, he's always my go to for getting some wins under my belt. He's tied with Veigar for best voice lines in the game IMO.

But to me, compared to the kick in the balls that the Sejuani game play update was, this Varus lore replacement is just a mild slap on the cheek. Oh and by the way, I have a beard.

IDarkIFire12/2/2017, 4:59:21 PM2 votes

Cliche, and a universal topic and motive are two very different things. I can only feel sad for the narrow-minded souls who would pull out that argument.

WiccanBKaplan12/2/2017, 12:58:02 AM2 votes

Quick Little Note: The thing around his neck is a necklace not a locket. It may have importance towards his old lore but just a necklace.

Arakadia12/3/2017, 8:16:30 AM1 votes

I think old Varus was a lot more like Kayn then new Varus.

Talos of Altmora12/2/2017, 1:28:46 AM1 votes

Agreed. You get my upvote.

I Main Swain12/2/2017, 4:44:21 AM1 votes

basically sums up my feelings

Ahri Baka12/2/2017, 4:08:26 PM1 votes

They can just keep the family part , Varus is a a deadly killer who loved to torment his foes , why is he a deadly killer And likes tormenting people ? because his family was killed while he was defending the shrine and " not sure if Noxians existed centuries ago in the lore " and then he wanted to revenge and later on his whole race was obliterated , and then this whole homo thing started , I wouldn't mind if Riot just makes it this way , no one would complain , not us , nor Riot . they can keep the locket thing somehow.

Vekkna12/2/2017, 4:45:24 PM1 votes

[slayer-pantheon-popcorn]

Kaladin Davar12/3/2017, 1:16:56 AM1 votes

Riot isn't changing the lore, cry more children.