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@WAAARGHbobo, "I am not your enemy. I am the enemy."

Terozu·6/13/2018, 3:07:21 PM·2 votes·2,829 views

Is that a biblical reference?

It seems to me that the 5 darkin reference the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Aatrox being war, He loves and thrives on battle and wields a sword like the horseman of war is depicted to.

Rhaast is Death, He has a skeletal face and wields a scythe, he takes joy in slaughter and killing more than the fight itself.

Varus is plague, He wears a crown, a bow, and is inhumanly beautiful. The plague horseman is depicted with a crown a bow, and occasionally as beautiful and princly due to being occasionally depicted as the anti christ.

Then i would presume the next two are Famine and God's Lamb which is said to break their seals in the days of the Apocalypse.

The quote from Aatrox, "I am not your enemy. I am the enemy." Seems to drive this home for me.

In the bible Heylel, or the roman translation Lucifer, was an angel of light. Upon rebelling against god and being cast out of Heaven he bacame known instead as Satan, or Ha Satan, which means "the enemy".

Am I just seeing things that aren't there or is this your intended direction with the Darkin?

9 Comments

ModKnightsKemplar6/13/2018, 3:39:01 PM4 votes

I think a story can be "inspired" by other stories without resorting to calling it faux symbolism. That page that you linked seems to specifically talk about overtly abusing religious figures and themes without understanding them.

Riot does not appear to be doing that to me. I don't honestly see a strong connection to the four horsemen; I think the Darkin are inspired by other media like Darksiders, for sure; the "lost brothers" vibe between those two stories is certainly present with the Darkin.

But I think a full accusation of faux symbolism is too far as there is nothing overtly religious about the Darkin. They are supposed to be similar to each other, but represent different levels of transformation and possibly different types of threat to Runeterra. Aatrox is a physical threat, Rhaast embodies temptation of power and corruption by it, Varus is more nuanced, demonstrating that even good intentions can lead to awful consequences. There are symbolic undertones to their theme, but I don't think it's intended to be a direct comparison. Even their backstory is about the misuse of power, and how "desperate measures" strategies don't always work out in the long run. That theme is fundamentally different from most stories about the Four Horseman, and especially different from any biblical depiction of them.

Warlord Rhinark6/13/2018, 3:28:59 PM1 votes

Hey fellas anyone want to join my 5th crusade and reclaim the holy land?

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO6/13/2018, 3:30:00 PM1 votes

There doesn’t have to be explicit authorial intent to present symbolism. Good find.