As a HUGE fan of Swain, I think they could have ruined all what made him original.

LunSeiSleidee·10/18/2017, 8:31:08 AM·1 votes·738 views

No more sixeyed bird.
No more bald-ish head.
No more Beatrice.
No more crippled walk (a developer just asked us players if Swain was ever crippled.......)
Can I also add, probably, no more old age?

Dear Riot, not every character needs to be young, fit, perfect and boringly standardized. Swain's old age, weird hairstyle, crippled walk and six-eyed crow were all things that made him deeply stand out. Remove those things and what do you get? A far more generical mage.

EDIT: Ok fine downvote me to oblivion, it looks like Riot knows their audience and are correct in removing elements of originality from Swain.

31 Comments

Catastrop10/18/2017, 2:04:47 PM5 votes

We literally only saw him in one picture from behind, yet you somehow managed to extrapolate all this? It was a champion roadmap of all things too, so Riot obviously isn't going to give much in terms of details. [sg-lux-2] Yeah, at this point you're just bitter and trigger happy to bash anything.

WestTiger10/18/2017, 8:48:13 AM4 votes

You literally can only see his back, in a static splash art, from an indeterminate point in time or place. How exactly did you even get points 1-3? You literally can't see his face! And just barely the top of his head to the point we can't even tell if he's wearing a helmet!

And just because Beatrice hasn't been seen yet, doesn't mean she doesn't exist or that the six-eyes thing isn't part of his raven form or something. This isn't film theory, things outside a frame can still exist!

His Tyrant Swain skin already has no crippled walk already, with the in-universe reason being he healed himself or whatever once he became the ruler. And judging by the last issues of the Journal of Justice, that IS his last known canon look.

And the 'old age' thing is part of the design debate. Reav3 even mentions that Swain was always around 35-40ish, not 55+ that everyone ended up thinking he was. Probably cos of the facemask making no real way to determine his age, his 5-packs-a-day voice, and the crippled walk (which was because of injury and not old age but it added to the 'crippled old man' image).

Basically, Riot didn't see any reason to correct the old-man image, until now because of the redesign and they have to resolve whether they follow their own internal 'canon', or follow public perception. I'm fine either way, personally.

Wrathof30010/18/2017, 2:58:08 PM3 votes

Cripple: (of a person) unable to walk or move properly; disabled.

Likely they were playing with your words, he needs a walking cane but he isn't 'crippled' per say.

No more sixeyed bird. No more bald-ish head. No more Beatrice. Can I also add, probably, no more old age?

You can't confirm any of this from the art work, aside from Beatrice not being present but that. It could even be that she is there but no more six eyes, you can't say for sure. From a creative standpoint, I think all of those ravens are Beatrice, possibly she is able to burst into a storm of ravens opposed to Swain just having an army of Ravens following him everywhere he goes.

Fasmodey10/18/2017, 8:47:08 AM1 votes

Beatrice is probably just not shown, I really dont think she is something they would remove.

Ralanr10/18/2017, 2:35:55 PM1 votes

Swain being crippled is actually something Riot plays around with as his Tyrant skin removes his crippled walk. So if the developer asks, it’s more of an in joke because Swain is a mastermind who pretends to look physically inept.