A theory on the Darkin, Icathia and of Varus
Foreword: A lot of what I suggest here will be primarily conjectured in nature. I hope to expand on this theory more. My goal in this theory is to present a legitimate reasoning as to how the three mentioned in my title all link together.
EDIT: Expect some formatting work to be going on. This post is way longer than I expected it to be. I'll try not to burden everyone's eyes so much.
As many followers of the lore know, the Darkin is still currently one of the biggest mysteries that is yet to be solved. Originally perceived to be humanoid entities that wield massive power, such as the champion Aatrox. It has recently been revealed that the Darkin are not humanoid in nature, but are in fact weapons / objects of great power. Aatrox, as it turns out is just a symbiotic host for the Darkin, which is in fact the blade he wields. The power of the other Darkin are yet to be revealed to us, but the power of the Blade is one that incites immeasurable bloodlust in the minds of mortal warriors, turning them into living weapons that fight with a ferocity that never sates as long as they are in battle. The Darkin Blade is probably the most known in Runeterra, championing into battle and massively changing the tides of history within RuneTerra several times over. It is thanks to the Darkin Blade, speaking through Aatrox, that gave rise to Tryndamere's triumph over his own death. The same rage that inspired mortals many times over made it's most recent incursion in the Freljord. One of the most peculiar things about the Blade is that has a constant thirst to be sated in blood, as if absorbing and feeding off of it and using it as its power source. As if it's very own way of sustaining itself is to shed blood and absorb spilled blood to amplify it's potency.
#Origins of the Weapons
If the Darkin Blade has been travelling Runeterra for ages throughout it's history, what of the other Darkin? And what happened to them, and what was the meaning to their creation? Who would have had the power to bind a living entity to a mere weapon? What civilization could have been old and most importantly, powerful enough to be the source of the Darkin, and to possibly control them?
Icathia. The lost, ruined city of Southern Valoran. A forgotten ruin that had been destroyed by Ryze's master with the world runes, due to Icathia's own usage of them. A city that has been collectively concluded to be known as a source of Voidborn incursions into Runeterra.
I propose the theory that the Darkin living weapons are a creation of the Ichatian war machine after the Icathians foolishly established contact with the Void realm. With the power of the World Runes, it'd be unsurprising that they would have misused them in this fashion, breaking through a protective barrier that perhaps the creators of the world runes established against the Voidborn. It is an established fact that Icathia is the focal point for Void incursions, so it stands to reason that the native Icathians plausibly breached and weakened the barrier. In Jax's short story, he's currently holding post outside of Demacia, waiting for a worthy fighter to become something bigger. It's apparent that he remembers the ancient city, and also is fully aware of the Voidborn threat so it stands to reason that he was alive and around at the time of it's destruction. But let's tone back a bit. If Voidborn had begun breaching into Runeterra via Icathia and the reagions around it, it'd stand to reason that the only plausible way to defend against these alien monsters would be to create monsters of their own. Perhaps during early incursions, the Icathians captured live Voidborn and experimented on them. If it was capable that they could have extracted the 'essence' of lower Voidborn beings, which is to constantly hunger and consume everything, it's plausible that they could have applied these elements to their weapons. It's also possible that they bio-engineered living hosts to serve as a symbiotic pairing between weapon and wielder. The Voidborn's eternal hunger to consume everything correlates pretty well with Aatrox's desire for bloodshed and war.
I believe Aatrox was perhaps the first of the Darkin weapons created. His mere presence and battle-fury alone would be more than enough to spur the normal men and women of Ichatia to take up and fight against the relentless forces of the Void. Thus in turn allowing further opportunities for more experimentation, and a result of even more Darkin. With all of these powerful weapons now running rampant through Icathia, obviously there must have been a way to control and seal them, holding them in an inert state of being, waiting to be unleashed for the next 'war'.
#A lost purpose
Fast forward to the point of Icathia's destruction. At this present time, there are 5 remaining Darkin in the world that are most likely still active. Perhaps after the alleged destruction of their masters, many of them perished but the Darkin that survived went separate ways, travelling and exploring the world that they had been created to defend. Aatrox is the easiest to track, as his eternal campaign of war and bloodshed is splattered throughout history. Firstly appearing during the decisive battle between the ancient Protectorates and Magelords, travelling all throughout the world. recorded in the annals of time and being praised as a hero for many before finally happening upon the Freljord, resulting in his by-product of war, Tryndamere.
It is alleged that at most, three of the Darkin are known to us, the players and readers.
Aatrox, as I stated, can be easily seen and tracked throughout history. The other two however, may be slightly less revealing.
Which brings me to my last point. Varus, the defender of the Pit of Pallus, now a corrupted shell of a man hellbent on destroying those responsible for all of his loss. This is pretty much the biggest hole in my theory in all honesty, and should be noted that it is the weakest sounding part of it.
Perchance the opportunity that not all of the Darkin masters were lost in the destruction of Ichatia. Or perhaps the ways to seal them were carried with survivors. One optimal place for the survivors to flock to would be the continent of Ionia, a land that is the closest to magic. It would serve as a comfort for those who had lost their homes in the disaster of Icathia. Perhaps not only the mages and people came to Ionia, but something else as well. Something that twists and consumes everything that it touches, using its vessel to travel to a land that held boundless magical power. I propose that this entity is also a Darkin, and given the name of the location it was eventually sealed in, I will call it Pallus.
#The Pit, the Owl & the Archer
Symbolysm in Icathia has been noted in descriptions of the region. Statues with descriptions of vast, twisted and horrifying gods still litter the ruined landscape of of it's tormented land. Would it be wrong to assume that a symbol of an owl would be one with significant meaning to it? What if this Darkin that had traveled to Ionia had been captured and removed from play, as it would be too dangerous to leave to it's own endings?Stripped of it's host, and sealed into a pit where it would forever burn with longing and fury, biding it's time over ages and vast generations guarded by the owl, waiting for a moment to free itself in the most desperate times. This also brings another interesting theory on Darkin. Perhaps they cannot bind with their host until they willingly allow it? Varus was a man who was desperate to avenge what had happened to his village and family. The Darkin Pallas offered a resolution, and the power to enact such a vengeance. Varus hasn't been overtaken by Pallas for two reasons; the respect Pallus holds towards his sealers, the Owls, and the sheer willpower of Varus raging for nothing but utter retribution. If not for these two, then Varus' would have disappeared entirely a long time ago, and it won't be long before he eventually would be taken over by the Darkin.
Conclusion / TL;DR
- The Darkin are symbiotic weapons, featuring a wielder, and the weapon itself.
- The Darkin take shapes and appearances, differentiating on their original purpose. Aatrox is to bleed war forever, Pallus is to corrupt and rot.
- The Darkin were created by the Ichatians as an answer to their meddling with the Void and inviting chaos into Runeterra. They alone would have the power to bind life essence to immaterial and / or magical artifacts due to their unquestionable possibility of being in possession of World Runes before the region was destroyed.
- The wielder must willingly allow a pairing between the Darkin and theirself. Until Varus thrust himself into the flames of Pallus, he gained no superhuman powers and abilities. While Varus was a formidable archer in his own right, killing scores of Noxians in his defense of the pit, the power of Pallus magnified these abilities a thousand-fold, allowing him to easily shred battalions of Noxian soldiers with ease.
- Varus is not a Darkin. Not yet at least. While he has indeed paired with Pallus, it's not a fully symbiotic relationship. To fully be considered Darkin, I beleive Varus must willingly accept, body and soul that he will never return to what he once was. For now, he is resisting the influence of the Darkin weapon due to sheer willpower and his obsession for vengeance.
I hope I've intrigued other lore hounds with this theory, and I'd love to hear your opinions of it.
