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Worried by a recent trend in storytelling

Mechakaiser·8/18/2017, 9:11:38 PM·3 votes·1,379 views
Darius: Blood of Noxus - Comics - Universe of League of Legends

First of all, this is not the first time I feel the same way, and every time Riot has proven that they know their champions and their players, I still feel amazed at how well they handled Victor's character. But I cant get this thought out of my head. I am probably worrying for nothing, but... but...

Apparently all characters need to be grey now.

It's not that I dont enjoy these stories, in fact I liked how they used Darius's relationships with others (his lover, his brother) to show the strength on his faith on the Noxian Way, and all the risk and sacrife it implies.

But not every character needs to be like that, there are characters that people can like despite having no redeeming qualities, or being pure and perfect. The most extreme examples of recent characters would be Kled and Poppy, but the first genuinely cares about Skaarl, and would do anything to be together with his cowardly companion. And Poppy has the whole "not realizing her own potential" thing going on. Perhaps Hecarim, but he is the only one. I liked that Riot decided to make him into a man that was given every oportunity to be just and knightly, but went all the way into evilness road and started to mass murder people just because it felt good to do so.

I think players could like a Kayle that is perfect, or a Nunu, or a 100% evil Vladimir, or Mordekaiser. People who hurt others, just because they enjoy doing so, or that want to have power at any cost.

Again, this is probably just in my head, and Riot will do a fantastic job. But... AAARGH!

Edit: So I received many responses proving that I am wrong and that Riot has recently releashed some black or white characters recently. Thanks guys. I really apreciate that everyone was reasonable and how this lead to a nice debate with some interesting thoughts. stares at Gameplay Boards

42 Comments

Fasmodey8/18/2017, 9:22:39 PM9 votes

I think having more grey characters is better than having pure white and black characters as majority. Does it mean we shouldn't have them? Not even close. They are necessary, and I 100% want pure good and evil characters, but I think for a more realistic story, grey champions should be majority. Because in our world, vast majority of people are shades of grey.

Some champions are close to light grey, some others are to dark grey. Garen and Darius are example.

Garen fights to protect his country and family, Darius does that for power and conquering, even though undirectly also protecting his country.

Garen is light grey, Darius is dark grey. But none of them are pure good and evil.

Then we have Ivern, Braum, Thresh and Mordekaiser. These champions are showing extreme sides of alignments. Braum and Ivern are pure good IMO. Imagining more lighthearted character than them is hard. Thresh and Mordekaiser is evil for being evil. They are cartoonish villains. They are freaking evil and people who deny are either retarded or trolling.

Grey characters are also more relatable and it is eaiser to descript their actions. They show much more emotions than white and black. A good character would avoid to kill for whatever reason, but a grey character would fucking burn alive murderer of his/her family. This is something relatable by most of people and it is highly shown interested.

Stars Shaper8/18/2017, 9:15:57 PM5 votes

Darius was bound to have a sort-of grey side.

He was always depicted as an honorable fighter who stood for a nation that had a "code of honor" but since the war against Ionia forfeited it by a huge margin. Darius rivalry against the current leader of Noxus and his will to carry on the "values" of Noxus had him in the grey zone for a long time.

I just don't like how he got a cute blonde girlfriend >.>

Raxistaicho8/18/2017, 9:22:25 PM2 votes

I think players could like a Kayle that is perfect, or a Nunu, or a 100% evil Vladimir, or Mordekaiser. People who hurt others, just because they enjoy doing so, or that want to have power at any cost.

Again, this is probably just in my head, and Riot will do a fantastic job. But... AAARGH!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPaP6bptny4

Alarak is proof of this :p It's absolutely possible to adore an unredeemable bastard so long as they're amusing or badass enough and the writing doesn't expect us to think of them as anything but a monster.

Ralanr8/18/2017, 9:32:10 PM2 votes

Mordekaiser, Thresh, Hecarim, most if not all of the void, Braum, Galio, Janna.

These are characters who aren't grey. They have flaws, but they aren't confused morally.

Sir Fuzzi8/18/2017, 10:00:35 PM1 votes

Here's the thing about grey zones... they share an interesting parallel. In art, you always want to be wary of the idea of 'realism.' Watching Harry smack into a platform wall is great; watching Harry zoom through to Hogwarts is why we're reading the book. You get me? You make a book that's too parallel to real life, and you end up making something nobody actually wants to sit through.

Now, how would grey zones differ? For instance, nobody's going to really be able to sympathize with losing an arm to malicious alchymist (neat spelling!) poisons, and people aren't likely going to understand having to kill to get by. On the other hand, you can create dilemmas through these such as facing down your lover or having the control taken from you by your past (the last page is pretty much full circle, which is super cool). These create the grey zones where you know nobody's necessarily more or less right than the other-- it's just that circumstance being what it is, it's put two separate people on two opposite sides of an issue. And that's it at its base: understanding both sides of the issue, equally enough that it makes a single kind of sense.

All of a sudden, it's something virtually everyone can relate to. Even if it's in a rather facetious way, the feeling is familiar and the author can invoke that by using elements from the creative universe to ask what are essentially non-creative questions to get the creative answer. (CREATIVE) Now, before we go on I'd like to invoke simple characters like Karthus and Jayce, who have personalities and even unique reactions but are ultimately very basic. Before this, so were Darius and Draven. This adds depth not because it expands, but because it asks questions in the face of their characters. It asks if that simplicity belies events like Darius' loss of love and Quill's death. It asks if that is indeed simplicity, or perhaps all that remains-- and are those not two concepts with worlds of difference?

There are over one-hundred and thirty champions in League. To ask important questions about key humans and humanoids is a good trick in storytelling; I think for some reason, Gragas will always just be a happy drunk in League. Plenty of characters will retain their exact natures, they might just undergo art updates.

Wrathof3008/18/2017, 10:11:17 PM1 votes

It's not about them being grey or having redeeming qualities, its about allowing the community to connect to them as 'persons', I like that you pointed out Hecarim which is certainly a morally black champ, but he feels like a 'person' because he's not just evil for kix, he is a some what extreme, of greedy person/ individual gain/ greed. So I supposed you really are just over thinking it.

AFilthyCaitMain8/18/2017, 10:15:56 PM1 votes

Kayle and Morg should still have 'The other sister is wrong' story telling. It just feels like a way more interesting story than kayle is perfect and Morg is evil. Black and white story telling isnt all that interesting. Giving characters some flaws make for way better stories.

Wet Dryman8/18/2017, 11:37:44 PM1 votes

Grey characters are the most interesting ones and universes based mostly on grey characters tend to be the more unique, deeper, more complex and attract much more debate in playerbase (Metal Gear Solid saga, The Witcher series to name a few) than another Tolkien alike copies with simple, cliche characters. There is a place for these simple characters, of course but they bring nothing but a cool factor which grey character can provide anyway (from lore perspective, roleplaying as or playing that character is another story).

Zero Drive8/19/2017, 10:00:15 AM1 votes

Ekko Pretty sure he is a canonly good character. He's like a rebel with a cause. He has a lot of hometown pride and wants to contribute to the future of Zaun. He rejects the evil Viktor Singed of his city. Even in his comic chose to do the right thing rather than pursue revenge. I favor grey characters personally because I do not believe anyone is pure. We all have our faults, and as they say "The road to hell is paved with good intentions".

DariusDemiurge8/18/2017, 9:20:46 PM1 votes

Kayle is evil (at least until her and Morgana get vu'd in the not so distant future.) If they make her "perfect good" I'll be very disappointed with riot for going the lazy route.

Nunu is perfect, hence why wilump the yeti protects him.

Variks the Loyal8/18/2017, 9:50:31 PM1 votes

Most characters will be grey, but not all of them have been depicted as such.

Xerath - While he has a sympathetic backstory, his current actions and depictions in 'current' lore heavily solidify him as a villain.

Mordekaiser Hecarim - Pure, undead malevolence.

Swain - Depicted as manipulative and selfish, only using people to his own ends.

Axzarious8/18/2017, 9:51:03 PM1 votes

You forgot Jhin, who's basically a serial killer.

But yes, I do understand where you are coming from, and Riot has been trashing the lore of older champions and making no effort to keep what made those characters unique, either dumbing it down, or trashing it entirely for some generic crap. Riot not only trashed what was interesting about Karthus and Xerath, but also Nasus, Renekton, and Trundle. Even with the Reworks, Riot could have EASILY carried over the story beats of those characters, keeping the intricacies of their backstories to fit the new lore and the new world.