The question of Ahri's ethnicity has been brought up in a stream chat, and I'd love to hear some official response to this question! Some people are saying she's Japanese because of the kitsune thing, while others are saying she's Korean, because the multi-tailed fox legend exists in Korean mythology. She also has multiple Korean skins!
Can we get some light shed on this? :D
Poptart Evelynn6 votesShe is Korean Version based but the legend it self is Asian based.
SEKAI5 votesNine tail fox is a mythical being that exists in a few Asian countries' legends.
The Chinese, Japanese and Korean, I am not sure if these are all though.
Ahri was made basing on the Korean's interpretation/version of Nine tail fox.
The Korean nine tail fox seems to be called "Kumiho".
EDIT: You can read from LoLwiki, her 6 drafting names were all Korean. But I am a little pissed at this line though, "myths about nine-tailed foxes exist in both Korean and Japanese culture", where is Chinese's fox spirit Huli jing or Jiuweihu?
GreenLore1 votesIts because Ahri is specifically based on the Kumiho and not on the other fox-myths.
The Kumiho(or Gumiho) is a fox spirit who takes on the appearance of a beautiful woman to seduce men and who was able to gain a human soul by consuming a certain amount of human hearts/souls. That is pretty much what Ahri is,though she feels guilty about seducing innocents.
EDIT: Ok i just realized this thread is over 2 years old and was simply necroed...
Beyond Legends1 votesFeel bad man China gets ignored by Riot ,for some bizzare reason. Its almost ironic people have this hard on for japanese or korean and forget one of the originator of many part of east asiam culture. It's a crime how much Riot and the west neglect Chinese folklore. So much for our tencent overlords.
Seriously though the chinese base champion feels super lazy and tact on. Wukong lore felt like it was written by fanfic writer and don't even get me on master yi and wuju.
edit; lol this two years old. Never recent again.
Ebonmaw Dragon5 votesShe is actually Ionian, but is more based on the Korean myth (she was released when that server was released and the Koreans choose the name of Ahri in a pool)
GreenLore2 votesShe is based on a korean myth,so I'd say that if anything she would be korean.
But in universe there is no korea,only ionia,which mixes many asian countries(china,japan,india,korea and maybe some more),so it wouldn't be off if she was ethnically something else from other countries,maybe even something like half-korean half something else.
1UPxSal19792 votesHello, there. The idea of Ahri is from an imaged creature 九尾狐(nine-tail-fox) or 白面金毛九尾妖狐(nine tail fox with white face and golden fur).
The story of nine-tail-fox can be found in a Chinese mythology called 山海經(Classic of Mountain and Sea). It is not a fantastic story and the record just say there are some creatures look like... you can find one around.... This scripture is more like a illustration stuff. Scholars believe Classic of Mountain and Sea was complete around A.D.221.
On the other hand, the golden hair one is more famous. If you ask an Asian about nine-tail-fox, most of the answers will relate to this one. In the story, originally in China, a powerful vile monstrous fox which could reincarnate used its power to become a beautiful lady who finally became a queen and corrupted the Emperors in two different Chinese dynasties in B.C.1046 and B.C.256. The fox was believed gone to India and did similar thing around B.C.800. During the 8th century, the fox followed a Japanese monk who was sent to China to learn during Tang Dynasty. It was also believed that the fox got one more tail every one hundred year it lived or every time it was killed incompletely(I know there are some paradoxes). The fox was finally slain after it attempt to do the same thing again to a Japanese Emperor. However, the evil energy of the fox became 殺生石(killing stone) instead of scattering away. It had blighted its surrounding environment and biodiversity until another monk destroyed/pacified it in later 14th century. It broke into thousands of pieces and splashed to whole Japan. 
This story was written in 18th century. The idea of fox spirit in Japan is affected by Buddhism and 神道(Shindo: here means the Japanese religion that means the way of god However, it is adapted from Chinese culture). If you have watched a Japanese animation, Inuyasha, you will find out it adapted lots of ideas from this story. It looks like Japanese people are good at making expansions and DLCs*[slayer-jinx-catface]*
I have no idea about classic Korean culture and I never heard any Asian fox tales more famous than Tamamo-no-mae(the golden fur one). But I guarantee most of popular long stories in Japan and Korea are influenced by Chinese except their real mythology(like Genesis that level or that kind).
In conclusion, Ahri is from an well-known Asian story which is written by Japanese but this story is developed from a Chinese imaging creature. This is my opinion only. I will not debate just like when I heard Korean said they found the Olympic Games.[slayer-jinx-wink]
Mystery Ghost2 votesThe Nine Tailed Fox originated from China not Korea
Arkara731 votesI'm going with Korean
DG Ashabel1 votesShe is whatever sells Riot the most skins at the time.
Criomhthann1 votesShe's Ionian, but built from Korean, her name is even derived from a Korean word.
Feed To Win 1061 votesyes, she's korean.
kaser14201 votes
Digielf1 votesLeague of Legends is its own universe and has nothing to do with Earth so our countries here don't exist there, Ahri is a Vastayan from the Ionian region
