"Who taught you that?" -Yasuo

Dreamspitter··15 votes·4,433 views

#When an enemy Riven uses Broken Wings

  • "Wait, that technique... huh." -Yasuo
  • "Huh, three swift strikes..." -Yasuo

#When an enemy Riven Riven uses Wind Slash

  • "Another wind blade?" -Yasuo
  • "Who taught you that?" -Yasuo

Let's look at Riven's background.

So exceptional was her passion that the High Command recognized her with a black stone rune sword forged and enchanted with Noxian sorcery. The weapon was heavier than a kite shield and nearly as broad - perfectly suited to her tastes. Soon after, she was deployed to Ionia as part of the Noxian invasion.

And

During one bitter engagement, Riven's unit became surrounded by Ionian forces. They called for support as the enemy closed in around them. What they received instead was a barrage of biochemical terror launched by Singed. Riven watched as around her Ionian and Noxian alike fell victim to an unspeakably gruesome fate. She managed to escape the bombardment, though she could not erase the memory. Counted dead by Noxus, she saw an opportunity to start anew. She shattered her sword, severing ties with the past, and wandered in self-imposed exile - on a quest to seek atonement and a way to save the pure Noxian vision in which she believed.

Now the question is, what powers does the rune blade have?

The Runic Blade Passive, Ki Burst, and and possibly Shield are all tied to the runic energy by description.

  • Who created this runic sword, or stole it?
  • Are all of Riven's abilities tied into the sword, or were they taught by someone else (if so likely in her exile)?
  • Some suspect that Riven killed Yasuo's master, but if this is true was it during the war, or was it in her exile and WHY?

30 Comments

Ebonmaw Dragon9 votes

Well here is my list of : "Stupid Possibilities"

Kennen Killed the elder because the elder was actually evil, and breaking the Balance. He says "I'm the WIND" and Yasuo hates him... so Its possible. Also tempests, have wind and water aside from Thunders... and he is the "Heart of the Tempest" not "the heart of the thunders" or something like that.

Janna was a Zaunite, Zaunites supported Noxus during the war against Ionia.... so... she maybe... went to the war and killed the elder with her wind magic... after that, she realized that Zaun was wrong and went to Piltover

Yasuo likes to drink sake... Sake is an alcoholic beverage. So, he drank so much sake that he got drunk... and then he killed the elder while was drunk... so, he doesn't remember. or maybe someone controlled his mind or who knows.

Ao Shin killed the elder, because he is an Ionian dragon of wind.

No one killed the elder, he committed suicide using a wind technique.

A common air breeze killed the elder by accident.

The elder is not dead, people just hates Yasuo... so, they said that the elder was dead as a pretext to kill him.

Boohya1 votes

for the comment on yasuo and drinking i do believe i remember a rioter saying that he actually drinks milk out of his sake jug

GenoXx4 votes

If you think about it, Riven and Yasuo we're in two different Locations in Ionia. Riven was on the Battlefield while Yasuo was guarding his master. Yasuo left to join the battle field so riven wasn't anywhere near Yasuo's master.

The Sypnosis of the Noxian Invasion: Riven and Yasuo -Riven is sent to Ionia to invade along with Noxian Forces -Noxus Attacks Yasuo's Village -Yasuo left his master Alone and No one else was near. -Riven call's for help, but instead is almost killed. This is where Riven stops killing Ionians.

  • Yasuo returns to his master after fighting, finds out that he was killed. He is ready to take the consequences of abandoning his post. -Instead he find's out he's blames for it. Reason why, the master was killed by wind technique.

Now if you go back to where Yasuo's clan was out defending, this only mean that there wasn't any Noxian soldiers near his master. I doubt Riven would sneak past a group of people fighting in a village just to kill one guy. And this one guy was probably an elder. Noxians didn't know anything about the Eldership of Ionian. Riven isn't even the assassin type. If she were to use her ult, i'm sure it would be on a group of people.

The person who killed Yasuo's Master is not Riven. His suspicions is based on her fighting style, but he was killed by a wind Technique, not from a magic rune blade skill. It had to be another wind samurai. This also leads to another assassin champion.

warpenguin5554 votes

It was Janna . she killed Yasuo's master. She...ummm...blew him away

Dreamspitter2 votes

{quoted}

It was Janna . she killed Yasuo's master. She...ummm...blew him away

I want Janna to blow me away too.

Hell of a way to die.

Rozzeta2 votes

For only $2.95 a minute

Blitzidious3 votes

Now, I'm definitely not the person to respond to this, as I don't know much about Yasuo or Riven, but i'll up vote in hope that more people with more knowledge than me will show up, in which you could bounce ideas off of.

EvilRabbitt1 votes

I'll upvote the upvote's cause.

Ebonmaw Dragon3 votes

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110903022222/leagueoflegends/images/8/8d/Exile_teaser_thumb.jpg

Apparently it was given by Noxus... and the only skill that has direct connection with the runic power is her passive and Ultimate.

Togekiss243 votes

I thought it was confirmed or at least implied that Riven was the one who murdered Yasuo's master. As far as the other details on how she got it, though, that remains a mystery.

What Is Smite3 votes

I think the whole wind technique murder is tied up like this: Riven learned her Wind Slash from the person who Killed the elder Yasuo was suppose to protect, meanwhile this is all after the Noxian invasion is over so Yasuo has been searching for the murderer for a while and Riven is harnessing her new-found abilities. I doubt that Riven's in-game abilities (Q and W) were something she knew about before her exile since each one of her abilities is based on martial arts hence the ability Ki Burst. I think that before her exile Riven did not know how to invoke the runic energy inside her Blade and rather used it as a plain 2Hander (but only one handed). This all my opinion but if someone feels that I might be mistaken somewhere please feel free to reply and also I know the wikia and in-game it states that the energy attacks from her blade are runic energy but I believe it's an Ionian blade that utilizes a persons Ki to generate Physical Energy

ScreamPaste1 votes

[{quoted}](name=What Is Smite,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=sEANX8ZF,comment-id=0006,timestamp=2015-03-31T05:51:50.701+0000)

I doubt that Riven's in-game abilities (Q and W) were something she knew about before her exile since each one of her abilities is based on martial arts hence the ability Ki Burst. I think that before her exile Riven did not know how to invoke the runic energy inside her Blade and rather used it as a plain 2Hander (but only one handed).

Noxus would have to have martial arts of their own, lol. Katarina and Riven are both noted in the lore specifically for their skill with their chosen weapons. A sword is not a baseball bat you do not practice with.

It's likely Riven learned all of this back in Noxus.

I agree however it's possible the one who taught her is the killer.

usul12022 votes

Riven is listed as a rival on yas's lore. The sword is a gift from noxus, but if nothing else, Yas believes that Riven killed his master. confirmed in what i guess is now ret-conned lore since none of it matters.

The sacking of Yas's village happened through a noxus group, so it would have been while she was a soldier.

Rozzeta2 votes

Yasuo killed his master in order to join the fray. Then killed his own brother. That's public knowledge...

libraryseraph 4 votes

no. no it isn't. Yasuo was falsely accused of killing his master after abandoning his post. that's the corner stone of his lore

Rozzeta1 votes

And who tells you that? I'll tell you who. Yasuo. That lying bastard.

libraryseraph 1 votes

Uh, no. Yasuo's lore is written from a third-person omniscient perspective. the narrator tells us that Yasuo was horrified to hear of his master's death and that he was framed for it. there's no unreliable narrator in it

Rozzeta1 votes

Little did you know that the narrator is actually ... YASUO! Trying to convince us with his lies and deception. It's like an AD Leblank

Tesla Effect1 votes

Someone already made a thread about this theory :T

Scrimshäw1 votes

TL;DR: Yasuo is Noxian ;)

ScreamPaste1 votes

I honestly don't think Riven actually did it, and frankly, I'd rather she have as little to do with Yasuo as possible, I feel like his lore retroactively made her lore worse.

GreenLore3 votes

In what way?Riven fought in the war and killed or rather massacred the ionians. The elder would be just one of the many victims and she wouldn't even know about yasuo getting punished for it(because why should she?)

It also picks up a plot point that got ignored unitl now: That we don't know where rivens sword comes from and why it actually looks more like something that would come out of ionia than noxus.

GenoXx3 votes

The runic blade was created by noxian necromancers. It was suited to fit her style.

GreenLore3 votes

uhm its noxian sorcery,not necromancy(necromancy would mean the sword would have some sort of power over the dead).

However the thing is that we don't really know much about the origin of the sword or the sorcery that enchanted it itself. I mean if noxian sorcerors are able to enchant weapons,why don't they do it with all of them?Where does this magic come from?With Yasuo showing off similar techniques(shield,3-strike combo with knockup,dash,air slashes),could there be a connection between the 2 fighting styles?

It is possible that riot never thought about this really themselves(or not originally),but with yasuo even commenting on this himself,its quite likely that there might be more to it.

ScreamPaste1 votes

We know exactly where her sword came from, lol. Noxus made it for her, it's right there in her lore.

Yes, Riven participated in the extermination in Ionia, and it's what led up to her losing faith in Noxus, one person walking alone into the monastery or whatever Yasuo was protecting to assassinate a specific person is a little different.

GreenLore1 votes

Yasuo even comments on rivens fighting style,so its quite likely that there is some connection between rivens fighting style/sword and yasuos wind techniques.

And no one ever said that the elder was assassinated,he didn't have any other known protection and even then no one said that his guards weren't killed.It is possible that riven and her unit just rushed into the building and killed everyone who was in it.

ScreamPaste1 votes

I suppose there's some link between the bullets Miss Fortune uses and the weird gears Caitlyn shoots as well. Riven's sword is magic and she's a trained Noxian soldier, he may've seen some similar things, but there's no real link to be had there that isn't extremely forced and convoluted.

The less they have to do with each other the better, anyway, imho.

NorthernDruid1 votes

In a world forgotten and scorned by those who should nourish it, there was once a champion who used trickery and illusion, rather than pure raw strength.

Primarily dubbed an assassin, and only secondarily a mage. It was known to us that this deciever could copy not only another champion's physical form with her illusions, but even duplicate even their most ultimate techniques.

But alas, in the new Lore, LeBlanc never took Jarvan IV's form, and never pretended to face Swain with it using the signature Cataclysm technique.

As depicted here

(too late at night/early morning to figure out how to directly insert image, plus, zoom in to see the reflection in Swain's breastplate better)


But yeah, Leblanc making it look like a wind technique was used is one distinct possibility.

If only we knew whether or not she can still copy ultimates or whether she can't because it wouldn't fit her new Bilgewater origins.

2000boxes1 votes

it can't be riven the elder was killed by a wind technique not wind magic and riven's ult is magic not technique so that means the elder was killed by someone who mastered the wind technique in an earlier generation this mysterious person could A) remain mysterious for the rest of this game's lifespan B) be released as a new champion later on or C) be revealed later on in the lore because riot games said they wanted the lore to show the conflicts of the champions when they weren't fighting on the rift

More from Story, Art, & Sound

More by Dreamspitter