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I just realized: Narrative's Great Retcon left Doran, the brain-damaged child inventor, homeless.

CupcakeTrap·12/12/2014, 2:44:36 AM·38 votes·4,309 views

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100917003131/leagueoflegends/images/9/98/Institute_of_War.jpg

First, for those unversed in the story of Doran, let me introduce you to one of the most, uh, striking bits of lore in the entire Riot catalogue. (That set of lore, which I call the "Wow, really, Riot?" collection, also includes Lux being a broken wreck with an ever-cheerful facade and Teemo being a sociopathic murderer who sheds no tears for the enemies of his glorious yordle home.)

I present to you: the story of Doran, from the Journal of Justice.

“What is the story of Doran and his trinkets that the League so frequently uses? Who was Doran? When did he live? Why did he create these items? I've always been curious as to the origins of these items I use so frequently in my matches.” – Summoner Afrasabi of Noxus

The story of Doran tugs at the heartstrings. They say Effrem E. Doran was born with a hammer in his hands and a forge in his heart. Every object he touched, he found ways to improve, and he knew that he was destined to be a brilliant artificer. At the age of 15, he was invited to the League with an offer to assume the role of Master Artificer, a dream come true and an unprecedented honor for one so young. However, fate had other plans. En route, his carriage broke an axle. When he leaned down to inspect it, he was kicked in the head by his donkey, a stern blow. He stumbled back onto the wagon, but when he arrived at the Institute of War he was a different boy. The kick had rendered his mind soft, but it hadn’t robbed him of his passion. He still wanted nothing other than to craft, but where once he may have created singular masterpieces, he now crafted…somewhat simpler items, and many of them. He is a kind, goofy, good-hearted soul, and he takes pride in the work he does. His items are daily selected by champions on the Fields of Justice, and he has a permanent home at the Institute.

("Hey, you know what our fantasy newspaper needs more of? Traumatic brain injury. Like, with kids.")

item 1055 item 1056 item 1054

That's right. Your gold-efficient, non-upgradable starting items are made by a mentally handicapped child inventor. He lives at the Institute, where he probably gets a lot of thumbs-up encouragement and a steady, slightly uncomfortable stream of "Good work, buddy" reassurances from Summoners and Champions.

Or at least, so it used to be.

I've long opposed the Great Retcon, but only today did its most tragic consequence occur to me: by retconning the League of Legends from League of Legends, Narrative has simultaneously rendered poor little Doran homeless. Wow, Narrative. Show some heart.

(Don't worry, he's not really homeless. He still has a safe, warm place to stay at the Institute in Factions lore. We'll take care of him. Happy Snowdown, little guy.)

36 Comments

Lumus Avatar12/12/2014, 2:54:02 AM14 votes

I just read the journal on Lux for the first time the other day. Whoa. Now that's depth you would never guess from just in-game interactions. It made me want to draw. I want to draw Lux during this interview, at the moment she breaks down and tells the illusion that she has "nothing else."

Nveriyoth12/12/2014, 2:53:02 AM9 votes

What?

Lux is a wreck with a façade?

All I remember from her lore is that she can copy magic and do magic with light and is military and stuff…

Edit: Just read her judgement.

Well, that was … traumatic.

LordHippoman12/12/2014, 4:32:54 AM9 votes

At least his items are still around. R.I.P. Wriggle and Atma. I don't know who you were. But I liked your stuff.

Diahane12/12/2014, 3:28:48 PM8 votes

We should start a philanthropic foundation, Summoners Cross, which brings help to all the victims of the retcon, providing them a hot meal and psychological assistance to let them understand what it means the IoW never existed.

The Soulforged12/12/2014, 6:28:54 AM7 votes

What if the great retcon means that dorans was never on his way to the institute, and never got brain dmg?

LANWhale12/12/2014, 3:22:34 AM6 votes

Doran will not be forgotten, RIP Doran, raise your Dorans

Pryotra12/12/2014, 6:13:42 PM5 votes

Relevent quote.

{quoted} As far as Doran being cannon, it's pretty weak to say that just because he is tied to wukong's staff still, that means doran still exists. Wukong's staff may very well be something he found, and considering they have all but retconned the plague jungles entirely, he very well may be retconned out of that champions lore entirely.

Keep in mind, the plague jungles only exist right now because Wukong hasn't received his lore update. The only other reason they existed was to found the League, as the plague jungles were the scar on the world from the rune wars. Every other champion has been retconned away from that place, so saying that Wukong proves dorans existance is effectively saying Warwick is still chemist due to Singed's lore because they haven't changed it yet.

While it may be possible Doran still exists, everything about him was for the league. He made wukong's staff so he could fight as a champion. He had his accident on his way to become articifer of the league. He made those basic tools to try and prove his worth. He became an articifer to make weapons for champions. There is no part of Doran that isn't for the league. Wukong's staff is literally the last thing that ties him to cannon, and that is going to get "updated" at some point. I don't feel Doran needs to exist, and highly doubt he will continue to after the new lore is fully established.

Honestly, I feel he got offed in the great retcon. He isn't a champion, and it has been repeated that the game no longer accurately reflects the lore. Wukongs Bio has yet to be updated, and as it mentions the league it will have to happen eventually. If doran no longer makes his staff, he loses the last reason that remains for him to even exist.

It's sad, as I liked the little guy, but apparantly Rito has "better" plans for lore that just don't need him anymore.

junglerboy1612/13/2014, 3:29:24 AM4 votes

DORAN INVENTED CHILDREN?!? —reaction to reading the title. Anyway, I have to agree with a lot of other people on this thread, he either doesn't exist, or is being retconned into some ancient inventor who has zero relevance and is super bland.

Mogarl12/13/2014, 10:05:03 AM4 votes

So I'm sure someone else has mentioned this but

"At the age of 15, he was invited to the League with an offer to assume the role of Master Artificer, a dream come true and an unprecedented honor for one so young. However, fate had other plans. En route, his carriage broke an axle. When he leaned down to inspect it, he was kicked in the head by his donkey"

He was never invited to the institute and so he was never kicked. Taking this into consideration the great retcon is probably the best thing that has happened to Doran, in fact he may profit more from it's absence more than anyone else in the Valoran universe.

Tal992212/13/2014, 1:20:49 PM3 votes

Well, actually, the retcon just means he was never invited to the League, meaning he never would have gotten injured in the first place (assuming he still even exists post-retcon)

Earl Eulrich12/12/2014, 2:49:55 AM3 votes

That just adds to the list of crimes against human rights n the western hemisphere that got revealed this week!

OuttaControl5612/14/2014, 4:28:54 AM2 votes

This is such a worthless, jerking dig at Riot narrative.

God.

The entire lore hasn't been crafted yet and your crying waterfalls already. It's a bloody guilt trip. Doran's story might be retconned, or remade as a Rakkor/Bandle/Freljordian smith of sorts, mental handicap still remained, of course, for your convenience. But of course you throw a fit prematurely. You could have made this post asking Riot to consider keeping Doran's story relatively I hanged, but no, it's just some sob post of how sad and horrendous it is to see Doran thrown out along with the rest of the institute.

And at the end, plug your website/fandom. Not that I hate factions, but god every bloody post of yours plugs it.

Worst off, you make me log in when I have someone's post I have to respond to 2 weeks back. I'm freaking working on it, jeez.

Come on man, seriously.

Chromatic Eagle12/12/2014, 10:11:30 PM2 votes

He probably doesn't exist anymore.

KwangoTango12/12/2014, 5:58:51 PM1 votes

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