Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

[POLL] Do you prefer Varus' old lore, or new lore?

Electro522··72 votes·4,119 views

Simple question with a simple answer.

I ask this, because I am seeing plenty of debate on his new lore right now, and, as usual, those who oppose it seem louder than those who approve of it. I would like to see if the majority of people actually do not like his lore, or, if it is just another case of those who oppose are the loud ones.

While I do realize that this is frowned upon, I would like to ask for upvotes in order for more people to see this thread, and vote on it. A poll's results are more refined the more people it has to vote on it.

Thank you in advance!

EDIT: Apparently, there are a good number of people that are either torn between the 2, or have no preference whatsoever. So, me putting such straightforward answers is somewhat detrimental. Since I cannot change the poll itself, especially since it already has votes on it, I am going to suggest something unique.

If you are of the party that is torn between the old lore, and the new lore, please scroll down and upvote Blood Magicks' comment.

If you are of the party that does not have a preference, please scroll down and upvote Ralanr's comment.

Hopefully, this works as a suitable alternative.

50 Comments

feeding time38 votes

I think they took something away from him when they re-did his lore.

Harnessing the power of a force that he was supposed to be guarding was just a really cool aspect, now he's kinda.. meh.

Meichrob74 votes

I also really liked the whole "Had to choose between his duty and family" aspect.

72729128DEL11 votes

I feel his lore would've been a hell of a lot better if they just died to the darkin and permanently dissapeared.. (no offense Val and Kai) but he honesltly doesn't seem to have a clear goal or like anything, I mean his kit doesn't show any presence of multiple souls either, I wish they reworked him with this or did something else to justify this, I loved the way they used a comic and then put a music video in the middle though, HUGE fan of that, so much so that I also fall in the ''can't choose between the two'' category, I also liked the gay romance between them, I guess it was fresh and it seemed like a fun cool concept I hadn't thought of before, I tend to also like that kind of stuff but I am in no way homosexual or even slightly bi, I just find it entertaining and fun to watch guys bro it out and have fun together as well as work well together, also something about a man losing a woman just seems dull now and way too repetitive, it feels weak as well like ok he's strong and independent, she needs help, another unique turn around would be a woman losing a man but that just doesn't seem to feel as original as it sounds, however a man losing a man or woman losing a woman sounds really intriguing as it kind of opens up new space to kind of jump into and makes it able to stray away from current champion concepts that have their arms extended in huge directions.

Thefrostyviking2 votes

Right, this has been bugging me so much too.

His kit and personality doesn't reflect on there being a 3 in 1 at all, it's ....really boring in fact that the story team created such a elaborate story for such a.....well pretty straightforward champion.

Like they mixed a great and powerful darkin spirit, a guy adept at swords and a master archer and the end result is essentially a mutant with a magic bow. Pretty much the male monster version of Ashe, that is his appearance and skills in a nutshell.

Then we have this huge struggle between the two guys and the darkin, a huge part of the new varus, but there is absolutely nothing about that in his kit or VO.

Not a single sign of super powerful darkin or sword guy, just this immobile slow fellow that walks around and shots arrows perfectly averagely, except unlike Ashe he does crit so he does have that going for him.

So sad that he has all this well written new lore that is just so extremely dissonant towards his kit and old lore :(

Blood Magicks37 votes

I wish there was an undecided option.

On one hand I really feel for the people who loved old Varus for who he was. They lost a dear friend today (or for some girls a husbando). I saw roleplay blogs shut down.

On the other this has so much flesh, lore, nuance... really well done. All the connections from the rest of the world adding to the flavor, it feels exquisite. And that's not to mention how well it's told with their characters shattering and with the different types of media intertwined.

I definitely do not feel for the people crying about the SJW boogeyman or crying against gay people.

Wish I could see the vote without voting.

RastaBrotha1 votes

Rogut now its old 240 new 160

Kloqdq1 votes

My biggest issue with the old and new lore is they both has a clear issue that I really wish they could fix.

I need to care about the characters. Right now in both old and new, there is not much reason to care other than, something tragic happened so you should feel bad. I need a connection to these people to these characters, to get attached to them.

If Varus can't care to know which is Val and which is Kai, why should I? Why should I care about Varus's family when I don't know 1 thing about them? There is more little issues like this that carry in both stories. The biggest plus to the new story is the connections to the lore overall but both are suffering from similar issues that Riot suffers from a lot.

There just isn't enough content to develop everything.

Jet Sett2 votes

They did make a good fleshed out story here, but there's no reason they couldn't have put that effort and creativity into his old lore with a good update to clean it up.

Quepha27 votes

It's nice lore, but it's not Varus.

If Riot wanted to write a new character, then make a new character.

NewGuy1014 votes

My thought exactly.

Lore: not bad, but not Varus.

NeekoTrap23 votes

Who cares the lore will be retconned in a year or two anyways tbh.

I was a big fan of old Varus because he had basically terminal bow-cancer and was using his time left alive to wreak vengeance on Noxians who killed him.

Now he's an even gayer version of Kayn and Rhaast. Literally and figuratively speaking. Kayn and Rhaast had an interesting dynamic where they both hated and needed each-other, and their banter, though mild, could certainly be read into having homoerotic subtext. Varus being a melding of 3 dudes, each wresting for control, diminishes the uniqueness of Kayn's character and imposes on his design space, making his character in turn weaker.

I am also of the opinion that Varus' new character is much weaker, with a less clear narrative hook, and a less clear goal. Varus the Bow wants to enact revenge for an ambiguous reason. Val and Kai want to live and love again, but seeing as they now exist in "the abyss between oblivions", I really don't see how they're going to do that, unless we're to believe the power of love will triumph, but I don't see a star guardian Varus skin.

Note that I don't have a problem with homosexual content in my games, and I don't have a problem with Varus' two heartlight dudes being gay. I'm somewhat relieved that they're not treated as a token gay either, in that they have real character, but it's unclear how this fits into Varus' existing lore and voice lines, that people have come to love.

I got upset in season 2 or 3 when they changed Sona's eye colour. I can only imagine how upsetting it can be to have a character who you've come to know be completely retconned in the retcon bingo that is League of Legends lore. It only cements how fickle the lore is, and is further reason not to attach to any piece of lore or character - the opposite intended effect of creating an in-depth lore.

EDIT:

Went into a game as Varus to see if they changed his lines. First voice line was "My Purpose Was Clear" which... is 100% unlike the Varus in lore, further cementing a new disconnect between Varus' voice lines, his classic lore, and his new lore.

Electro5226 votes

Why do you think it will all be retconned again in the future?

Riot has yet to retcon a champ twice.

NeekoTrap12 votes

Ryze actually. In addition to several other mini-retcons and the massive blank-slate retcon of the institute of war.

Remember when Ryze got tattood by his hot girlfriend?

Blennnnnnn2 votes

remember how cass used to be kat's sister?

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO4 votes

She still is

Rinký Dinky6 votes

Mordekaiser has been retconned to hell and back

He was originally a noxian battlemage lmfao

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO1 votes

He means since the great retcon thing that happened

OurLestrade21 votes

It's sort of like what happened with new Yorick to me. It's an okay lore, but it's a different character and they're murdering the original character recklessly. I've never cared for the Darkin thing to begin with, just slapping that onto him is like the whole Vastayan thing - How can I get invested in the lore when everything keeps changing? There's a reason people have headcanons even after all this work over the last four years.

jama6551 votes

I liked old yorick lore to lol he was just a grave digger and it was such a funny and cool niche to have. Now hes a monk and im just like... why?

Ralanr20 votes

Can I suggest a third poll?

“I don’t really mind.”

Electro5223 votes

Well......I would add that, but I can only edit the text of the post......not the poll itself.

Spizzle90009 votes

They removed pretty much everything that made Varus himself. What defined him was that he was a father but chose duty over his people and family. And, after seeing what the Noxians did to his people, he could think only of revenge for his family and he took up the corruption which he guarded. He sacrificed everything to guard the corruption, even the most important thing of all: his family. He was essentially a dead man walking who has made a deal with the devil so that he may avenge his kin. And, in order to take vengeance, he had to throw away all he had left: his duty and very life. It was only a matter of time before he would be totally consumed by the corruption.

How easy would that be to rework? Instead of corruption, there is Varus trapped within his bow, and instead of a guy trying to save the man he loves using the power of the pit, you have a man taking the risk of freeing a Darkin so that revenge might be his. It's simple, barely changes his old lore, and doesn't fundamentally change Varus as a character.

Valeckserai9 votes

If Varus had NEVER existed in this world and this was a new champion coming out, the lore would be fine. However, what makes this bad, is that they took a character with established lore that worked just fine with literally one minor adjustment, and completely ripped him out of the world to create this new thing. The only real reason people are defending it is because of the token LGBTQ character that he's now become for literally no reason. Changing his wife/child dying to his gay lover serves NO PURPOSE WHATSOEVER. If you want to make gay characters, fine, Taric already exists, it isn't going to cause a huge uproar. However, changing established characters to serve a political purpose is in my opinion, disgusting. Change a straight man to a gay one in lore, why? What purpose dose it serve? How does this make them a better character? Change a gay man to a straight man in lore, why? Change black to white, why? Change white to black, WHY? And don't claim that it makes him more interesting, if a character's orientation is the only thing that makes them interesting, they are a shit written character. Taric exists well beyond his sexual preference in the lore, he has a well done backstory and NOTHING in it revolves around his orientation, it just so happens that he's also gay. And that's how characters should be, one way or the other because that's who they are, not because someone has a political statement. Don't force this shit on old characters, make new ones if this is what you want to see in League Champions.

Kairoptra3 votes

Now, you see, that's where you're wrong. I personally am not actively for or against the changes; I just don't mind them. However, I have been around the boards enough today to see that literally no one (that I have seen) is defending him (or them, i guess) with that kind of reasoning. The common themes I am seeing is that this new lore is far richer/more interesting than the old or they just love them as a story, rather than as a replacement. I could be totally wrong saying that that's what people are saying, but that's what I've gathered. Again, I have seen no one defending the new story on the basis of 2/3 of Varus being gay. Besides, there is a lot more than Val and Kai being gay in this story. You're the one who's flanderizing Varus, not the community or Riot.

Rebonack7 votes

I have no particular preference regarding the old or new lore.

However, I'm strongly opposed to Riot completely changing who a champion is. This goes FAR beyond simply filling in blanks in the old lore. This is throwing out established elements that defined who Varus was.

HalfTangible6 votes

Eh... honestly, it's like asking Kirk or Picard: They're both understandable answers. There are things about the new lore I prefer, and things about the old one I prefer. Overall, though, I gotta say the old. (Also, for simplicity's sake I'm just gonna call them Varus)

Some things I prefer about the old lore: -Varus had no real possibility for redemption; he was too consumed by the hatred. -He chose duty over family, and had to live with the consequences of it. -He had a much stronger motive for killing Noxians: they murdered his family, of course he wants revenge for that. I'm not too clear on what the Noxians did here to warrant Val/Kai's hatred? -It was unlikely he'd ever be able to go home. -Varus was a guardian of the temple, as opposed to someone who was there by chance when Noxus invaded. -There was no stitching together of two different people to make Varus' body.

Some things I prefer about the new lore: -What gets Varus to stop his initial rampage is the fact that one of his potential victims is an artist. -Having the corrupting influence be a darkin gives him stronger ties to the rest of the world's lore. -We actually see the family that he left behind. -The new details on the darkin race and their war with Runeterra. (perhaps these led into the rune wars, hrmmmmmm?)

ZURELL6 votes

it doesnt matter. like the bs be system. the new lore is here to stay

just like be is a sorry excuse for a reward.

new lore varus is a sorry excuse for lgbt representation

YerroFever3 votes

There are parts I like and parts I don't like... where's the option for that?

ModAcademy Kayn3 votes

That's a real close poll.

Illâoi Evê Siôn3 votes

Old + The bow is Darkin with no other changes.

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO2 votes

Then the Darkin instantly corrupts Varus

Feindbild1 votes

Not really, all he has to be is strong willed and it would be the same result as he's in now, like with Kayn and Rhaast.

AirKingNeo2 votes

I actually cannot see how the new Varus lore is good at all. Varus has no motive anymore. His hosts aren't interesting. The worse, yet unrelated to how good it is, is that it's just a marketing ploy.

Kairoptra2 votes

One question about your last statement: How?

AirKingNeo2 votes

All the promotion as far as lore revamps was put into this one. This very shitty story is the one that got the music video and all. Why? Because it's gay.

Kairoptra2 votes

Um... the only way lore makes them money is by giving players one more reason to stay engaged. Even if lore wasn't super deep, they'd probably still have right about the same number of players since, ultimately, the game itself is kicker as to what keeps people trying it out and coming back for more. You're acting like they're selling it like books when relatively little to no money is being directly made from it.

PaffWasTaken2 votes

New lore is good, but the fact that it erase an even better one is just sad... That lore should've been used to create a whole new champion... how about a support darkin?

Slave Knight2 votes

His new lore is aiight but I liked his old lore more and I reckon they coulda kept the same backstory but like one of the posts right on the boards, tune it so that it goes well with the whole 'retribution through darkin' thing.

RastaBrotha2 votes

In my biased opinion, Old lore: he has lost his wife and his child....now he jumped into the mysterious well of evil to take his revenge -Every other action movie basically. not too bad

New lore: he's about to lose his bf....now he jumped into the well where Ionia's SATAN is trapped. Ya dun fucked up boys -fan fucking tastic. a tragedy

ªTeemo2 votes

Old was kinda generic, but you know what? I really like simple stuff

Blåbæret2 votes

They should revert the changes tbh.

Jhin Mørrison2 votes

As a Varus main I feel like shit after that "Rework" to his lore. I loved to think about him as a man who lost everything except for vengeance and hate, but still a good guy. Now Varus is just the Darkin mixed with two other guys. They've completely killed the character. I like both stories honestly but the old one is waaaaay better and more tragic. The new one they made it just looks like a forced thing to let us see they've put two gay characters and the power of love always win...I could accept that for another character but not my Varus, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that! Varus

Kaolla1 votes

i feel like, as a player of the game the lore has almost zero effect on the game. so as a player if it's affecting you just choose YOURSELF to accept whichever lore resonates better for you and ignore the other one

if you like the old lore, then keep that one in mind and have THAT lore be the character you are playing

The Space Cowboy1 votes

inb4 they give him three voices in game.

Eskimoprime31 votes

Not to say I don't like the new story, I just think they wasted an opportunity to use it for a new champion, possibly the fourth Drakin. Not to bash on the video either, that was amazing! But still a wasted opportunity imo.

Xano5011 votes

Clicked Old Lore by without thinking. Old Lore with revenge for his family cool that New Lore with GAY.

FPS P1 xSolusGod1 votes

I don't get how this new lore connects with the old varus, the only reason he ever gave his life is because of his vengeance for his family, which was kinda a core aspect to varus, you know, he gave every single piece of his breathing life to an evil force to avenge his everything (family), but now, he's like someone said "a walking threesome". It's like a watered-down version of kayn's lore which is kinda sad...

Tadgetica1 votes

Arclight Varus had meaning to it, Now it's just another skin with yellow particles.....

statelesskiller1 votes

i dont even care, i only had a basic understanding of varus lore (guy decides to commit uber heresy to get revenge on the death of his wife and family that he could have prevented if he didnt have a stick up his rump) and i thought "hey thats pretty neat" and now i get "2 gay men become one and not in that way because ones about to die and also theres a darkin now"

which someone will say "hey thats just boiling it down to its base element, you cant do that without explaining the similarity" and then my response is, IF THE BASE ELEMENT IS SO DIFFERENT THEN NO AMOUNT OF EXPLANATION WORKS.

im gonna say i prefer the old lore NOT because i think the current one is less good but because it shouldn't have been changed so radically to begin with

i honestly LOVE the idea of someone doing something INCREDIBLY stupid and short sighted to save someones life.

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