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What if: The Black Mist is tied to the Ruined King?

A Superb Villain·2/21/2015, 6:16:06 PM·11 votes·3,743 views

Last year we received a substantial amount of information about the Harrowing, a previously popular and relatively harmless holiday. What was once a time for superstition and dressing up became a terrifying outbreak of undead horrors that travel under the cover of a black mist.

http://images.grab-media.com/ign/2014/10/27/3f771e55bf8c2558e809c132ef8054775ce2714b_preview.jpg

But why does the Shadow Isles only emerge to haunt the world with the presence of the Black Mist, and why does the Black Mist spread at all? There are no explanations for this phenomenon, it simply happens. When the time is right, for reasons unknown to Runeterra's greatest minds, the Black Mist spills over and twisted specters who call the Shadow Isles home claim the lives of unfortunate souls who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There's no coming back once you're claimed by the Harrowing. You're cursed, condemned to haunt the Black Mist forevermore...

And what is worse, the Harrowing is becoming more frequent as time marches on.

http://am.leagueoflegends.com/image?f=http://news.cdn.leagueoflegends.com/public/images/articles/2014/november_2014/eoh/maps/HarrowingMap05_Text.jpg&resize=1152:

Where the Harrowing once occurred with decades between manifestations, it recently grew into an annual event. If the pattern continues, the Harrowing may reach a point where it simply never ends, and the boundary between life and death is finally broken forever.

This is where the question of "what if" comes into play. What if the Black Mist is connected to the Ruined King? He is, after all, the source of the Shadow Isles ruin. By his command sorcerers shattered the barrier that divides life from death, defying the natural order of the world, and plunging his kingdom into chaos. The Ruined King wanted to join the dead with the living, he willingly violated the cycle all beings must abide, and even with the destruction of his kingdom, he continues to force open the gap that threatens to consume the entirety of Runeterra.

Once, he was a noble king, until grief overcame his reason.

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/diablo/images/f/f7/Leoric_Portrait.png/revision/latest?cb=20140917044905 Pain is a powerful tool for motivation, and his suffering in life blinds him to the horror he inflicts in death.

Much like Xerath and Azir, I would not be surprised if the Ruined King was at the epicenter of disaster when his wish was finally granted, if only for a moment. Such powerful magic must have impacted him in some way, and since it ties so strongly to necromancy, it is quite unlikely he simply died. Even so, sorcery of that magnitude is too much for one soul to manage, and the Ruined King fell into dormancy as his soul worked to consolidate the power that had been thrust upon him.

What if the Black Mist grows in strength as the king does? What if the Harrowing never ends once his body and mind are whole? What if the Ruined King has been a prisoner within his own skull all this time, and the moment of his return is close at hand?

Every moment that passes, the Ruined King works harder to bridge the gap he so desperately longed to cross, and each attempt grows easier. As years pass, the Black Mist becomes more frequent, more expansive, and more violent at the whims of a mad king consumed by sorrow. The realm of death pours over into the lands of the living, and with the unholy rebirth of the Ruined King, it may never stop.

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/diablo/images/f/fc/Skeleton_King.png/revision/latest?cb=20120612155118

The king is dead, long live the king.

13 Comments

Wrathful Chicken11/18/2017, 9:56:55 AM2 votes

I've am making an epic--in the literal sense--for The Ruined king. It's called Legends of a Fallen King: Zara. I already have all the ideas for what's going to go down so I'll elaborate on the non-canon stuff that I probably wouldn't even explicitly explain in the epic.

Zara was born and raised in a shoddy village near the Ironspike Mountains. He lived in the era when Mordekaiser Mordekaiser fell from power. During the split of Mordekaiser's vast kingdom, he heard of great struggles from a division nearby. Struggles over things he found quite pitiful to be struggling over at all. So he spent his efforts leading people in this faction to efficiently solve their issues. Through this magnanimous zeal, he earned an enormous reputation and was offered the throne to officially split off with the old kingdom.

When Zara fell, he was known as the Ruined King. His name was shamed due to fear spread by Jarvan the First, a knight who served under a Knight Commander, named Demacia, within Zara's old kingdom. Demacia was the Knight Commander that Hecarim Hecarim abandoned. Zara's old kingdom was located in where Ryze Ryze's home village was located. In fact, his village was a result of the mass emigration of the people swayed by Jarvan to seek non magical lands to avoid the calamity he bore witness to in The Blessed Isles.

Mostly magicians remained as they knew that everyday magic is not as absurd as what Jarvan the First described. The chieftain that Zara, The Ruined King, left in charge before he left was given a cryptic book by Zara to help him lead the kingdom somehow. Upon reading this book, the new chieftain found connections to the calamity described by Jarvan in this book. So, the chieftain spent his lifetime scouring this book to decipher it for information, leading generations he would call Rune Sages to figure out what happened.

While Tyrus and Ryze Ryze were in the phase of passing down the title of Rune Sage, the Magic Council that was established to handle the storage and security of World Runes was betrayed by the warlocks of the council in order to use World Runes as weaponry. Tyrus and Ryze found out too late and had to abandon the village to witness the galactic nova that desecrated even a massive portion of the Ironspike Mountains. Tyrus was fueled with burning rage at his misplaced trust which would then result to his demise by Ryze due to his own intention of using World Runes as exemplars to people who did not respect his warnings of the cataclysm wrought by World Runes. Which in turn would lead him to be resurrected by the power of the World Runes to become Brand Brand.

Those who did believe in Tyrus's warning went on an expedition to the explosion site to see the carnage. However, they did not find carnage. Rather they found a luscious crystalline oasis of gems filled with mana. So researchers made camp here to study this phenomenon. Through excessive growth, this camp eventually became an entire town, to a city due to normal people moving in to use inventions made by these researches, and eventually to the metropolis known as Piltover and Zaun. Zaun would focus on the more fundamental research by being closer to the crystals on the ground within canyons while Piltover would focus on applications of the magic to allow the average citizen to utilize.

During the warlocks' abuse of the World Runes, many normal citizens who didn't use magic fled by boat to escape war. They eventually immigrated to Bilgewater and due to the massive influx of population, the docks became a kingdom of its own that grew to accommodate these people while also surviving fishing in the dangerous seas. The harsh conditions gave rise to a lot of mischief and foul play, thus the massive rise in piracy.

Zara was resurrected by The Queen, his wife. The Queen never died after being resurrected by Zara as an amalgamation. The calamity that Zara caused, was in fact the force that The Queen was given by The World Rune of The Sacred Tree which resurrected her. So the Queen spent ages mastering The Black Mist and magic in general to recover her beauty. Through much trials and tribulation, she eventually became one of the most powerful witches known in history as she traveled across Runeterra for millennia. However, her power grew too powerful that she was losing her grip on her sanity. Thus, she had the idea of giving back this excess power to the now empty Sacred Tree to revive the Blessed Isles while also maintaining her sanity. However, when she got to the tree, she was spoken to by the tree and offered a recollection of the day that Zara resurrected her. Remembering the extent of Zara's tribulation to save her life while she was poisoned, now knowing that Zara sacrificed everything to bring her back gave her tremendous guilt to her very existence. So, instead of using merely leaking her magic into an item 3040 Angelic staff with the full force of her World Rune to enshrine all her magical prowess into a crown jewel to resurrect Zara wherever he may be. The Queen placed full trust in Zara knowing that with his devotion, he would surely come back to find her. So, the Queen sacrificed nearly all of her magic to protect and revive Zara as she wanders The Shadow Isles creating ghouls to alert her of his return.

Thus begins the expedition of Zara's second life from the bottom of the ocean which will be explained in the story. Zara will come to cause many great events to occur. He causes great calamity at Zaun which led to the destruction of most bridges except Bridgewaltz while also deepening the canyons. He causes the rebirth of the Oasis of the Dawn which allows Azir Azir to be brought back to life. He saves Nautilus Nautilus from the jaws of the abyss and inspires him to protect sailors from the monsters from the bottom by anchoring them down. He kills Evelynn, Thresh, and Hecarim--who will be resurrected by Mordekaiser after Zara destroys his kingdom for the third time. Zara leaves his World Rune of a monumental three-story high sword near The Sacred Tree to offer an effect of reviving The Blessed Isles in a radius around the sword which can temporarily bring life to the undead.

This is a portion of the grand story I'm currently writing for my concept of The Cryptic King. My concept depicts him as someone who has suffered a great burden of infamy, but has redeemed himself through pure merit as he is summoned without even a head or his right arm, while also being crippled to a crippling injury to his hips, yet still wielding mountain shattering force to overcome tremendous challenges. He travels through dimensions of World Runes and has the Queen's protection as major life support. I take The Ruined King's lore very seriously due to these very questions. I feel that with the scope of my story, I have answered all these burning questions of The Ruined King. Now, I'm trying to express his story in a way fit for a King.

GreenLore2/21/2015, 11:21:32 PM2 votes

I think that the new shadow isles crest(the one that represents the shadow isles on the harrowing-map) might actually depict the ruined king.

If that would be true,then it'd create a big question: What is going on with his head?There is this weird flame thing on the head,so what is that?Is the necromancy actually affecting his mind?Or is it directly connected to his mind(so that the shadow isles themselves reflect the current state of the king),or could he even be posessed/controlled by something?

Then there is the fact that the first we saw that symbol when elise was released and it looked a lot more evil than the current version. http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140525012635/leagueoflegends/images/6/6d/Shadow_Isles_crest.png

It could be that they simply changed their design choice,but maybe it reflects a different side of the king?Or maybe the king actually has a split personality,I mean on the newer versions the king(if it really depicts the king) looks really calm,almost as if he is sleeping,so maybe the old one shows the king when he is awake? http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20141103210243/leagueoflegends/images/e/ef/Shadow_Isles_Crest_Black_Mist.jpg

Also there seems to be a big eye on his head,so obviously he is connected to the watchers,vel'koz and the illuminati!

Kapparoth2/21/2015, 6:56:40 PM2 votes

Interesting concept. Very interesting. I would actually love to see Leoric The Ruined King as a champion some day.

aaronconlin2/21/2015, 11:10:33 PM1 votes

With the Shattered Crown constellation in the new teaser I'm hoping we will get more lore for the Ruined King and the Shattered Isles. Also, I think when Nautilus gets his inevitable lore update, the black liquid will probably be replaced by the black mist

Kingsgrave2/23/2015, 8:32:30 PM1 votes

Imagine how OP the Ruined King would be just based on his weapon item 3153

Arby0992/22/2015, 2:19:40 AM1 votes

What if... at the heart of the Black Mist is nothing but more colorless fog. The Shadow Isles are Boletaria.

GenoXx2/21/2015, 7:12:13 PM1 votes

I want to know more about whats he currently doing. He's dead yes. Thats a given. But is he still in charge? What horror has he become? What about his loved one he tried to bring back? Has she been twisted like Kalista?

Matezoide2/21/2015, 7:17:02 PM1 votes

Cool concept.

Too bad Riot will never expand their lore.