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So lets talk about Kayle and Morgana

GreenLore··3 votes·9,318 views

So yeah with the removal of the IoW there are several champs whose lore doesn't make any sense now and who are in dire need of a retcon. Among these champs are almost all the "other-world"-champs,they already retconned Anivia ,Nasus &Renekton by putting them into a city state of Runeterra.

However in Morganas and kayles case it is a bit more difficult,because those 2 get defined not only by being angels,but also by the political conflict of their world.Sure it would be possible to simply change their background and create a completely new one,but I think that would be the wrong approach,because it is a rather popular conflict and a big part of their character,so if they bring Kayle and Morgana to Runeterra,then they'd need to bring their conflict to Runeterra too. So I wanted to post my ideas and hear yours about this.

http://th08.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2013/216/4/8/morgana___kayle_by_martaino-d6gl334.jpg

(not from me.done by http://martaino.deviantart.com/ )

** The Conflict and characterisation** So yeah what is core to the conflict between those 2?What makes it popular,what is good about it and what is bad?Well I believe that one of the best things about the conflict is how it subverts the classic "good angel vs evil angel" and rather makes it a rather grey-vs-gray-conflict. You can easily see Kayle either as a protector of the law or as a tyrant and Morgana either as an anarchical witch or a freedom fighter. We have 2 women in an (arguably) grey-vs-grey conflict,one of them is lawful good,protects the system and is wearing a golden armor,while the other one is full of hate and opposes the system....... Sadly,this sounds a lot like the conflict between Leona &Diana,too. As much as I like the conflict between the angels I think they are a bit too similar to the conflict between Leona and Diana,there are quite some parallels,so I think that it would be good if the 2 conflicts are made distinct from each other.

One way to achieve this could be through different characterisation.Leona is definetly on the lawful good side and while kayle was once said to be undoubtly good,her actions let her appear more like a lawful neutral character,which would in my opinion put her into a much more interesting position in this conflict. As for Morgana I think she needs to express more than just hatred for others,I mean currently her quotes are all about how she wants others to suffer as she did,but there could be more to her.I think emphasizing that she sees what she does as a necessary evil to better her home could be a good way to add to her character,sure there is the possibility that she also suffers from motive decay in that she started out with a noble goal but became more concerned with overtthrowing the current leadership than doing actually anything for her people,but that would put the conflict right back into "good(or at least not evil) vs evil" I could probably discuss even more possibilities,but I think I'll leave that for discussion

So how do we integrate these 2 into Runeterra? For this I'll discuss several possibilities,let me hear which one you like/dislike or what other ideas you might have.

  • Putting the angel race into an existing city state:So yeah the first option would be to put the 2 into already existing city states.The most obvious choices here would most likely be Demacia and Noxus since Kayle gets listed as a demacian champ and morgana as a noxian(justified in Morganas case as she actually lives there in the old lore).The upside here would be that it could add some shades of grey to these city states,but it could also cause the relation between morgana and kayle to become more of a black-vs-white thing considering that noxus is basically the defacto evil faction and even if it has its shades of grey it is in most cases worse than demacia(the only real upside here being that you can more easily rise to a high position even if you aren't a noble). Also it would basically introduce angels into these city states,which might feel out of place depending on how you see it.

  • Making the 2 transformed humans and put them then into existing city states:Well this would be very similar to the first option,it would solve the problem of angels living there,but it would also look a lot like a ripoff from the shuriman ascended,so I am not really a fan of this idea.

  • Leaving them as beings from another world:While riot tries to remove all these "other-world-champs",they don't seem to have a problem with the void champs.The reason for that is simple: the void is an established faction,with an established connection to runeterra. So there is nothing stopping them from simply doing the same with Kayle and Morgana.They could create a connection to their world and simply establish it as its own faction(Morgana being an exiled could still end up in noxus,so that doesn't even have to change).The question would be if they really want to add another world and how these worlds connect,like is the connection stable?Where comes this connection?It would need to adress some questions and the faction would need to be further established,but overall I'd consider it a solid possibility,especially since it would be the one who changes the least about the 2.

  • simply making their faction part of runeterra:Well they could also simply give the angels their own faction on runeterra,there are still regions there which are rather unexplored(or they could simply add a completely new region or island,its not like the map itself is immune to retcons).The only downside here to me is that it could make the angels look rather mundane and it would be important to differentiate the angel faction from demacia in some ways.However my personal favorite idea is giving them a floating island as their homeworld,that would still add some distance between the angels and the other factions and would make the angels look more mystic.

So what do you guys/girls think about the 2 angels?What should be done with their characters and how should they be connected to runeterra?

11 Comments

Orbv3 votes

Has anyone here every done a serious delve into Noxus? Everyone is saying how bad it is. It's actually not Noxus = Bad, Demacia = Good. Demacia contains elitests and works off of a Caste System where you cannot ascend what you are born as. Noxus is full of opportunists, seizing every opportunity which is legal within reason. The black rose is composed of Noxians who think that Noxus is not strict enough on the people.

I do agree that Morgana fits here, but it's not a deterrent to becoming Good vs Evil. Morgana wants the higher ups to be taken down to an ordinary level, which is something Noxus nods towards. Kayle is very much the head judge, maintaining the life which is considered "balanced" for all but the ones at the bottom. You can play off of both locations having severe negatives.

GreenLore2 votes

The thing is that while both citys have their shades of grey, demacia has an undoubtly lighter shade of grey than noxus. The only thing noxus has over demacia is how people are able to get into a high position regardless of birth(although the nobles do have an advantage because of their power),but therefore they basically nuked their own soldiers with chemical weapons and now swain lets sion run around on the battlefield despite sion killing his own comrades,not to mention how talon had to steal from others to not starve to death.

Personally I think that while the 2 angels definetly fit into these city states I think that the 2 city states aren't equal enough in terms of morality. (Although Morgana could still live in noxus even if the angels get their own faction since morgana would probably end up as an outcast anyway) (If i'm wrong on anything then correct me)

HexTechBomber2 votes

I would like to hear more of their background/lore honestly since they are both not of this realm, one a fallen Angel and another following her sister. I think it'd be great to hear more of where they came from, why they are here and see another champ from that place!

2nd Fiddle2 votes

As immortal beings we could go one step farther and say Morgana and Kayle founded the cities of Noxus and Demacia. Not necessarily the best direction, but certainly an interesting one.

GreenLore1 votes

That is actually a pretty interesting idea. I mean there aren't that many champs who lived at that time(or were present) and while we know some stuff about the time of the previous jarvans we don't know what happened before Jarvan the first and Boram darkwill took control over Demacia/Noxus respectively.

Starlighte2 votes

No, no, no, no and NO. (But really, if you must, keep them from the same world.)

You are missing the importance of the Kayle/Morg relationship which I am going to explain, and demonstrate why any form of retcon to their lore is not only the worst possible decision, but entirely destructive of any sort of interesting and duality-oriented relationship. (By the way, if any comparisons can be drawn between Kayle/Morg vrs. Leo/Diana, it is that Leo/Diana are too much like Kayle/Morg, not the other way around.)

Morgana and Kayle exist as a dichotomy or a duality, not just in the ways you've mentioned OP. Here are just a few of the ways that they are a duality:

Freedom vrs. Safety Strong vrs. Weak Evil vrs. Good Expression vrs. Conformity Law vrs. Chaos Tyranny vrs. Democracy

Are just amongst SOME of the dichotomies inherent in Morgana and Kayle. The best part of this fact though, is that these attributes can be associated with either Kayle OR Morgana. Like you commented, their relationship is grey-washed to the extreme. The intrinsic and intimate relationship that Kayle and Morgana have as sisters is only exponentially blown out of proportion because of their incredibly differing viewpoints.

The only way to keep both champions, not only unique, but true to their originally intended nature, is by retaining their current lores and EXPANDING on their future in the form of new stories. As it stands now, Kayle and Morgana have no point to being on Runeterra, which is (a problem with narrative's direction that I have but that aside) the direction they are being taken in. Currently they have no ties to Runeterra, which makes them susceptible to retcon.

This. Should. NOT. Be. The. Direction. They. Take.

I cannot possibly be clearer with that sentiment without using obnoxious formatting in this post. Retconning their relationship, their lore, ANYTHING about their established personalities, destroys the illusion of duality. Think of the swimsuit contests of the JoJ, or even Morgana's canon skin of Sinful Succulence. These subtle but poignant lore plots help establish the grey territory that is the schismatic nature of duality, especially between sisters. Both characters by themselves could not stand alone in today's lore. They are quite reliant on the other character to exist and to function as a creative and interesting character.

Because of this, their dualistic nature, and because of the previously established lore, Kayle and Morgana should NOT be retconned, but instead, their attachments to Runeterra should be explored through current and ongoing lores and stories, that do not take away from their past, but simply augment and push further their present and future.

Edit: +1 for the post OP. I may disagree with your suggestions and your view on the sisters, but the visibility and conversation of Kayle/Morg should be had LONG in advance of any plans Riot makes, because we know we won't have a chance to iterate on them after Riot finalizes and is no longer willing to take input.

GreenLore1 votes

The problem is that the league gets retconned and without the league their story doesn't make any sense now anymore. They never got to runeterra,yet morgana has a bakery in Noxus.... So yeah some sort of retcon needs to happen for the 2 to be canon at all and I wouldn't be opposed to connect their world a bit more with runeterra so that their home can interact with other city states.

The duality of the 2 is something I considered writing about how they are complete opposites,but didn't want the post to become too big. Although I would disagree that you can associate all of these dualities to either one(I mean I dunno how you could associate kayle with chaos or expression)

Also I think their characters need to be a bit more defined(that doesn't mean necessarily retconned).I like it how Morgana is portrayed in her lore or in the JoJ,but you wouldn't know that from playing her in the actual game,which is why I said that it should be made more clear that she is actively trying to make the world a better place. On the other hand Kayle was once described as one of the undoubtly good champs in the game...which again doesn't really get shown in her lore or character(severing her ties with morgana seems rather harsh and she even uses her helmet as a way to distance herself emotionally from what she does),which is why I suggested that they should keep her more in the "lawful-neutral zone"(another reason for that would be so that kayle doesn't turn into Leona 2.0). I am more afraid that Morgana gets turned into a full-out-villain and kayle into a goody-good-shoes.

Destínum2 votes

I'm not a fan of Kayle gameplay-wise, and I absolutely despise Morgana. Yet, I love everything about their lore and them as characters. I would honestly cry if Riot took that away by changing their origin or making them more steriotypical (by making then ex. good vs evil instead of ideal vs ideal).

ULTRAF0RCE1 votes

As long as the whole actual relative conflict where both seemingly detest eachother for personal reasons I don't care too much, but Riot has worked hard to help stop having Noxus be considered just the bad guys, with mention of corruption for both noxus and Demacia, as well as Katarina not talking about evil any more

Maple Crusader1 votes

Just let the Angel sisters keep their collective origin from another world. It does not work if they are actually native to Runeterra.

SchaakaKon1 votes

This is all subjective on what direction Riot wants their lore to take.

Keeping the angels as a race/faction is an idea I prefer but this implicates that Riot acknowledges other world beings (outside of the Void) and a judeo mythos and/or religions that may stem from that. I would love if Riot sat down and meditated on this alien world (the heaven/hell one). Define what it is, how it looks, what does it mean in the LoLverse and where it exists in the LoLverse. All this seems like it would be alot of work and have a minimal impact on the game overall but for the few of us that enjoy lore, it would make us too happy.

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