Lets all cooperate to give Riot our opinions and Ideas for the direction of League's new lore.

Kadavik·Jun 30, 2015·7 votes·2,629 views

I started playing league around a year ago and I explicitly remember the first piece of news I read on the client. It was a huge article written by the then narrative lead of riot stating the elimination of summoners and the institute of war. Now as a new player this didn't have that huge of an impact on me since I was mostly worried about getting enough IP to buy my first champion . Now, the reason I wanted to buy him other than the fact that we shared the same name was that his lore appealed to me more than that of any other champion. I really loved his story and enjoyed my rise to lvl 30 getting absolutely obliterated by and mains. Good times. Anyway, Viktor's Lore got me hooked on the universe of Runeterra (Is it just Valoran now? I don't know) and I spent most of my time reading through the journal of justice, the league judgements and even the factions story arks (hey cupcake trap awesome work). Nowadays I spend a lot of my time reading the Story and Art section of the boards and wondering what awaits us in the future. I am not part of those that enjoyed the lore before the retcon, but maybe you guys and us newbies could cooperate by giving Jaredan and the narrative guys our Ideas for the direction of Leagues new lore to make it the best it can be at such a critical time as now. Cheers guys, lets make this world feel alive.

32 Comments

333lomJun 30, 20153 votes

You know, I came here to tell you that I completely agree, and that I was about to create a thread with the same proposal. Then I saw that you've written Champion 112, and I thought, no way, that couldn't be Viktor, nobody besides me bought Viktor as technically their first champion; I remember playing like insane to gather enough ip for him! Still, out of all games I've played, I played him in 95% of them. Anyway, our situation is exactly the same, except that I don't share that name, and I couldn't. I stayed because of Viktor's lore, and that's how I learned to care about the lore back at the end of 2012. Now, before I start blabbing about how he and his lore are incredible, I think it is really important for us fans to get through to Riot, to ask them not to change the characters. I'm afraid they might try one day to retcon him into an evil cyborg overlord/Saturday cartoon villain. We are the consumers, and Riot should, in theory, take our requests into consideration. They did that at least once, with Jayce's old lore. What bothers me the most is that, all of the pieces of the new lore, were very cliché and hollow, feeling more like a big budget Hollywood film without a soul, than parts of a live world. The Institute of War not only provided the necessary plot device to explain the interactions between all these different characters (because in the end, that connection between characters from different genres is what makes lol unique), it provided the backbone for their universe. It was identifiable as a world. Now, it's as good as any other generic fantasy land with warriors, demons and steampunk elements.

I wish Riot would understand that players have gotten attached to characters. Old Trundle's removal was very stressful for people whose favourite character he was. You being new, you can find all the old lore stored on the LoL Wiki. I wish Riot would admit they made a mistake with the Great Retcon, and just Retcon the Retcon. I liked the IoW and the role Summoners had very much. And if only Riot could develop their world not just by adding random overpowered characters, but by letting characters interact as well. That could in fact, allow Runeterra to move away from cliché stories for masses, and onto the area where it begins to feel original, alive, and flow naturally. Just like in Factions! CCT showed that it's possible. I'd like to hear what the Narrative guys think about that kind of storytelling.

So, here are my points:

I hope they stop retconning champions, and return the ones they already did
I hope they could return IoW and Summoners, but if they absolutely refuse to do that,
I hope they could look up to Factions, and develop the world with interactions.

And thanks for making this thread!

KadavikJul 1, 20153 votes

First of all you've got some very good points, but I think Jaredan stated that having way too many champion interactions would make valoran feel small. I think he does have a point but we still do need some champion interactions as long as they're connected in some way.

Second, Holy crap! Holy crap! are you seriously 333lom The augmented techno summoner? Dude nice work in factions! I never thought this thread would get any attention at all, its the first time I've written anything on the boards. From one acolyte to another I salute you. Viktor

333lomJul 2, 20152 votes

Haha, wow, I never thought someone would recognize me from Factions! Yes, it is indeed me, the mysterious Summoner who is supposedly connected to the Evolution in some way, but it is not clear in what way exactly. I can't wait for more development in Factions, though.

Yep, of course having a huge amount of interactions between Champions in a world without the IoW would make the world feel small. But only if it is badly written. It would be ridiculous for everyone to interact with everyone in a very short period of time, but a world without interactions does not only show how big it is, it shows how empty and unconnected it is. There's nothing to differentiate it from other fantasy worlds. Someone also mentioned, the most powerful individuals of the world often know themselves among each other. However, I believe the Narrative team has been doing something in this time, and that they will indeed release stories of Champion interactions starting from next month. But I also have a feeling those interactions might be lame, as in, cliché.

That's the main reason I don't like the new lore, besides the fact that they removed the most integral part of the game, the IoW and the Summoners. I would hate to wake up one day and find out Riot retconned Viktor into an utter evil cyborg just for the sake of telling a cliché story, so they needed a one-dimensional villain to go along with it.

KadavikJul 3, 20152 votes

I completely agree. The worst thing is that this has already happened before with Trundle and Xerath at the Freiljord and Shurima events.

Speaking of which, we should keep an eye out with the upcoming bilge-water event. With the release of Tahm and the new Bilgewater ARAM map on the PBE things are looking pretty good. However, we do need to keep a close eye for the Gangplank rework and new Bilgewater champion bios. I think there might be some changes to Miss Fortune as well as Twisted Fate and Graves.

Nameless HeroJul 1, 20153 votes

Hey dude, just taking 5 minutes to tell you that I like your attitude. League of Legends is a game and the reason we have lore is to extend the story beyond the game and have FUN!

That being said, you will have a better chance of getting respected by Riot AND by the community if you respect the rules, don't post fanfiction, hold a reasoned open minded discussion and respect the copyrights. But whatever happens : DONT FEED THE TROLLS!! No, not even the whiny ones.

Some posters have multiple accounts just for downvoting stuff and some dummy accouts are created just to troll and post racist, toxic stuff without fear of getting banned. Don't fall into that trap and keep smiling.

I love Lore and I love League but it's just not worth it to ruin your day and to get in a heated discussion with people who rant about why Riot didn't them specifically for their permission before changing the lore.

Stay classy and it will be fine. But keep your eyes peeled 'cause a shitstorm is coming

KadavikJul 1, 20151 votes

Like I said before this is my first post so im not that familiar with this stuff. Thanks a bunch for the advice. You truly live up to your summoner name. ;)

Dextix LTJun 30, 20152 votes

Whats the point? Narrative did not listen before, they wont listen now.

KadavikJun 30, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Dextix LT,realm=EUNE,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=vPHEBpwB,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2015-06-30T05:02:54.249+0000)

Whats the point? Narrative did not listen before, they wont listen now.

The point my friend is that right now there are some pretty big changes coming over the next couple of months. This is what we were waiting for all along. Giving narrative our ideas and opinions on what should be done will only help. It'll do nothing at worst. But we can manage that. We've faced worse odds. Share whatever is on your mind that could make Valoran a world that feels alive again. Say whatever you think will make champions have more depth as characters. Come on friend, im sure you still have one in ya. Share it.

Dextix LTJul 1, 20151 votes

I have already shared all i cared about with Narrative. All my opinions and grievances with those "high and mighty" feeling assholes. They did not listen to any of us before, they wont listen now.

Those "big changes" are NOTHING, until we see what those changes are. We will see if those changes will bring back old lore changed or will they destroy something else AGAIN.

Narrative doesnt listen to us. How many more YEARS will some of you need to understand that? Trundles retcon was negatively received narrative didnt care. Retcon of all lore happened, narrative did not even ask us. They said they would communicate, my ass only 1 is coming here semi regulary and says nothing.

What i want?

FIRE EVERYONE IN THE NARRATIVE WHICH AGREED TO RETCON THE LORE. Just fire them, instantly. It is cruel, but they deserve nothing more. If you retcon the lore at least be instantly ready with the new one, not just promise that "after a few years you will get lore" , be already ready for that.
Fire every idiot which says things like "The only way a character's story would finish would be if they die." because it shows how unable they are to work in such departments.
Bring back the original lore.
IF you cant bring it back, make up a story about how IOW was destroyed not just retcon the whole thing.
Start creating lore which you destroyed.

KadavikJul 1, 20151 votes

I know I cannot feel your pain. It must be rough for something you were so invested in to suddenly disappear and for you to be left with nothing and no one to atone for it. But hey, for once, things are starting to look better. These changes are not NOTHING they’re hope. And even though Narrative may not listen to what you will say WE THE PLAYERS will.

I wanted to add something to your ideas so here it goes.

I think a couple of people have had to leave riot because of the retcon. Tom Abernathy is no longer the lead of the narrative team and I think he left riot. Also Runaan hasn’t been heard of for a while. The bad thing about this is that the narrative team has been left leaderless, out of touch with the community, separated into different branches of development and with no clue what to do after the the failiure of the Freiljord and Shurima events for the past couple of months.
I think what he meant to say here was that League’s champions will continue to have stories dedicated to them well past their original lore across the years to come. I’ll take what I can get.
Yeah I don’t think that is a possibility anymore. It might happen who knows?
Well I don’t think explaining the retcon via storytelling is going to make it better in any way. Creating a new concept and reconstructing the lore from there could be a better solution.
Riot recently hired a famous writer from Warhammer 40K, a franchise known for its lore. He might be working with narrative as we are discussing right now to unify, reform and rebuild leagues lore, with the help of Jaredan, the new narrative lead of course.

Also please link to your other threads. I would love to read more about your opinions on whats going on with narrative. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us.

Dextix LTJul 1, 20151 votes

Sorry if it sounds offenseive, it isnt meant that way, but there is a saying "Hope is the mother of all idiots" . I was one of her sons not too long ago.

They said SOON(tm) and again everyone is talking about hope. Yes, they said when this time. But after all this time the first thought that comes into my mind after seeing those messages is "Yep, its gonna be delayed" . For me this transaltes into another SOON(tm).

Also, you are "hoping" for changes you do not know shit about. Forgive me for an analogy which might seem cruel but i will use it.

RIght now you are like jews in concentration camps, "hoping for something" when you have next to 0 knowledge about what is coming because that knowledge was not given.

Not enough heads flew off. Again, this will sound cruel, but all the team should have been disposed of. A new fresh one should have been hired. Also again, Riot is in charge of narrative, they should take some responsibility for it. IF they sack the idiot leaders, they should put some new, smart ones in place.
No from the context of the conversation it was simply said. This wasnt only about league, this was about writing as an art. And that stupidity was said. Any kind of writer would spin in his grave if he heard shit like that.
Some part of that "hope" still rests in me. That narrative will admit their fck ups and go back. But in my hbrain i know that they wont, since they act all high and mighty and think everything they do is perfect.
It would. You see, if IOW would be destroyed, not retconned. All champs would still keep their stories and identities before the destruction. Right now we have some champs still in limbo, which somehow exist yet with the retcon of IOW they shouldnt. If you want to destroy something, then do it in a story telling way.
Many film directors have hired Multibillion dollar actors, and their movies still sucked. The same is here. Having 1 good writer will not replace a team, writing a story for a big piece of content like LOL requires a team that coordinates and thinks. IF you have 9 dumbasses (which they do) and only 1 good writer the lore will still turn out to be shit.

The horse, is only as good as its master.

Sneak DogJun 30, 20152 votes

My opinion is out there, but regardless.

Retconning the world is acceptable by me. I wasn't invested in the world, I was invested in the characters. Retconning the characters shouldn't be done in my opinion. Right now, Riot basically told me they'll happily retcon characters for no good reason. This means I'm not willing to get invested in the characters. I don't think Riots stories will be very engaging when this is the case. I don't see why this wouldn't be the case for others on these forums too, but not many seem too bothered..

I liked the games immersion, how the entire game was explained and named appropriately. Runepages, influence points, mastery pages. A games story can only be 'good' without integrating the game, it won't become 'amazing'. I can settle for good if that's the best Riot can do.

If Riot doesn't change its ways, then the story won't work for me anymore. Already I play pretty much because of mechanics and friends. When a better moba comes along, I'll happily abandon League. I owe no loyalty to Riot, not after they betrayed my trust two years ago with Trundle (rework? That was a blatant replacement of a champion). I'm sad Dawngate didn't work out, so now I remain on these boards and hope Jaredan listens.

The narrative team has acted so much out of character for Riot that I'm uncertain of what to expect. They've given false reasons for retconning the IoW. They removed a champion for reasons they now no longer agree with. They're behind closed curtains and do not seem to take feedback well (hard to tell though -,-). Compare this to other parts of Riot: Gameplay, where they are very open to explain their reasonings. Art and skins, where they make use of the pbe to gather feedback. Player behavior. Also a closed box, but with Lyte popping up irregularly to explain what he is doing, taking criticism. There's the forums showing the results.

There's hope, but if Riot continues with their disregard for characters, I won't be wasting my time and emotions on their stories. If Trundle remains as an example of the new lore direction, I'll just be gone once they started up their lore-machine properly.

KadavikJun 30, 20151 votes

Like you said there is hope. Around a month ago I remember a red comment I found on one of the many posts complaining on the current state of lore. The rioter pleaded us to hang on. To stay hopeful. He told us that they were listening. It wasn't your usual Red response, those are always incredibly neutral, lack emotion and feel like they were thought out for hours. This one seemed like it was written in a hurry, it was incredibly full of emotion and inspiration. This guy sounded like he actually cared about lore and wanted us to hang on just for a little while more. If there is anything I know for sure is that us lore fans are real diehards as cupcake trap put it. It would really suck for us to leave the community just a month before everything we worked for finally gives back a positive result. Like you said in your thread not only was the League retconned but the champions are starting to get retconned as well. If this is what will continue to happen then lets do it right. Hell, lets help riot make lore even better than the old one. We always talk about how perfect the old lore was. While it was certainly better than what we have now who says we cant better it? The truth is that if Narrative is going through such a huge change right now then us diehard lore fans have to step up and give them every single idea we can to help them do it right. That is the purpose of this thread. Go ahead comment, share your ideas, upvote this thread so that a Red will eventually see this. We have spent so much time complaining. Its time to act. Thanks for commenting dude. It means a lot

Sneak DogJun 30, 20153 votes

You seem optimistic, daang. I'm pessimistic. Odds are I'll abandon Riots lore. The hope I have feels futile, pointless. Stubborness. That's kind of what happens when it's already been two years since one of your favorite characters simply got retconned away for bad reasons.

I've stated my opinions. I've little more to say at this point.

But if you feel you've reason to be optimistic, go right ahead.

We always talk about how perfect the old lore was.

The JoJ was an awful medium. The filler was silly and detracted from the serious stories told within the very same medium. The judgements were amazing, as well as the integration of game and world. But that's just subjective.

If there is anything I know for sure is that us lore fans are real diehards as cupcake trap put it.

Looks like it'll take somewhere between two and three years for Riot to properly rid themselves of me if they continue down this path. Mainly due to the mess lore has been the past two years (lack of content, communications).

333lomJun 30, 20153 votes

If they did to Viktor what they did to Trundle, I would feel exactly the same. Heck, I think I might have even quit League instantly. And that moment might still be out there. And even though you are pessimistic, and I'm afraid you might be right, I am glad there's a voice like yours on these Boards. We might be stirring up something in the minds of the guys in Narrative, we might not. Who knows. But the sooner the die-hards die, the sooner LoL starts to dilapidate. OP might be right, there might be still a chance, while the new lore is still being created. But if they cement bad lore and continue to ignore us, they will be sealing their own fate. I'd give it two or three years as well.

DamienSoltaJul 1, 20152 votes

It seems unlikely that there will be an retcon on the retcon. I'd like for them to just reboot (not as in reset, but instead as in bring everything in line and consistent all at once, and in a major way. In The Game preferably and clearly) the whole world at this point, or at least implement all the new lore/character stuff all at once in a consistent way. I want to know who is a yordle again! And what the world looks like (even if they add in a ton of here be dragons type blank space).

If they have been spending this much time on it, like, the longer the wait, the better it has to be. So something big. Fxing all the technology limitations isn't as easy as it is to say, sure, but y'all aren't the scrappy little indie company operation on dreams/passion but no budget so you kinda loose a little of that forgiveness that I'd offer to a smaller outfit. I honestly have no idea about anything in the world since the retcon was so poorly handled and implemented. I'm not invested in the old lore, and I don't even know what the new lore is. Full stop. I don't even know, since its so confusingly distributed.

I believe that some rioter previously said there was a lot of in house stuff that we as players never see, and I'd like to see that stuff because the development and concept side of stuff interests me, but as for the "real" stuff I guess we should expect something pretty impressive at this point. I'd be impressed if it was just "we've fixed the technical issues, made it all pretty and easy to access, and fixed the inconsistencies within the old lore". Something that, in the abstract seeems reasonable but seems to be more difficult for Riot to implement. More trouble than it's worth perhaps? I'd like to know if anyone else has a similar mindset?

Tl:dr Make lore more consistent, clear, and accessible plz.

Edit: gosh my formatting is terrible on a mobile phone. Tried to fix it a little.

KadavikJul 1, 20151 votes

I agree that consistency is definitely something the Lore needs desperately. I think they might be trying to do this by changing the champion bios one region at a time as they have done with the Freiljord and Shurima events. I think the one coming up right now is Bilgewater. But at this rate the lore will be unified at around 2-3 years minimum. I wish they would just take some time after the Bilgewater event to fix the lack of consistency in all the champion bios or at least those of the champions whose lore is intrinsically tied to the institute of war. Jax

GorgannanJul 2, 20152 votes

If you haven't, go read the Journal of Justice. It was all of the written canon lore, and It was great.

Then make an opinion.

333lomJul 2, 20152 votes

I think he did read the JoJ.

KadavikJul 3, 20151 votes

I have read it, even mentioned it on the post. It gave me a new perspective on how derpy, upolished, and incredibly exhilarating the old Lore was. Very different from narrative nowadays. In a good way.

Nameless HeroJul 6, 20152 votes

First of all, I'm sorry if I take a lot of time to answer, I'm very busy, so I don't really have the time to monitor the dicussion. I will post three debates on the future of the lore when I have the time, so if you have an answer to a debate, reply to it only. No flaming please, just because you're an old lore fiend doesn't mean that your opinion is better than the newbies and just because you're a newb doesn't mean that you can disrespect the veterans.

So let's get started: the **FIRST **thing that we know about the Future Lore is that:

**1) THE ACTUAL LEAGUE COMPETITION IS GONE. ** I.e Champions are no longer tied to the League arena and what we play every evening is a giant What-if deathbattle between summoners who invoke the spirits of legendary champions to see what if such or such thing happened. Such as... What if Tryndamere had joined the ranks of Sejuani instead of Ashe in the war of the Freljord? Who would have won in a death battle?

THE IMPLICATIONS:

First of all, it means that for good or for bad, the league judgements will be completely irrelevant.

Secondly, it means that the events in the Journal of Justice may or may not be relevent.

Thirdly and most importantly, it completely changes the identity of many champions such as: Orianna Taric Sivir Sona Jax Alistar MonkeyKing LeeSin Fiddlesticks : who no longer have any justification to fight. They need a complete identity revamp

Finally, the absence of the league will create a big problem for other champions who otherwise had no other connection to the world of Runeterra: Kayle Morgana Ryze

This change alone is massive and fans are right to be afraid that their favourite champion will change for the worse. Ex Victor used to be JUST a genius generic inventor, with the change he became an amoral genius inventor villain! While his lore is certainly more fleshed out and he has now developped a rivalry with Jayce, he is now a FUCKING VILLAIN! If I was a Victor main, I would have flipped my shit.

But it's also an opportunity for your favourite champion to get some much needed characterisation. Ex Sion was just an undead generic monster, with the change he became a tough as shit die hard zombie general!

So guys, what do you think?

Which champion did I miss? Who else will be affected when Riot Retcons the League?
Is there a trend in the above champions that I missed? A pattern, a shared characteristic among the above champions?
Do you think that the champions that I mentioned above will suck or is it finally time for them to get some love in the lore department?
And perhaps the most useful question for RIOT: what would you like the above champion to be? Or rather.. what is absolutely Vital for each champ? And what can be sacrificed in order to advance the story line?

GreenLoreJun 30, 20151 votes

The problem for this that I see is that some people lost already hope in the new lore and won't be ready to give the new lore a chance anyway. If I start reading a story already with "this is gonna suck" in mind,then there is little chance that I'm going to enjoy the story,simply because you can badmout anything.

KadavikJul 1, 20153 votes

{quoted}

The problem for this that I see is that some people lost already hope in the new lore and won't be ready to give the new lore a chance anyway. If I start reading a story already with "this is gonna suck" in mind,then there is little chance that I'm going to enjoy the story,simply because you can badmout anything.

I think its actually the mindset with which lores are written that makes us subconsciously dislike them. Take Amumu for example. The first two words in his lore are "Amumu is". Right from the start the subcontext of the text is telling us "this is a game character, I am telling you what this game character is supposed to be". It tells us what the champion IS. It doesn't tell a story, it doesn't add depth to him. Here let me give it a shot. "Rising from his tomb Amumu feels a sadness deep inside of him. It creeps from the inside of his heart to his tattered and bandaged exterior. He exits the pyramid alone and afraid. There might be some friends around here, who knew? Wandering alone he crosses the desert and reaches a lush forest. Everything turns black and withers as he touches it. The sadness in his heart curses his exterior and seeps into whatever he goes near. Would he ever find someone who could be his friend?" Anyway thanks for commenting man.

IcyPepperJul 1, 20151 votes

Sometimes I wish they could do what Magic the Gathering did and write novels about the world and our champions.

Sure, it would be merch and cost $$$, but it would be something substantial. I'd rather pay for a book than only get a skeleton paragraph for free.

KadavikJul 1, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Sometimes I wish they could do what Magic the Gathering did and write novels about the world and our champions.

Sure, it would be merch and cost $$$, but it would be something substantial. I'd rather pay for a book than only get a skeleton paragraph for free.

I think they talked about something like that in one of the other threads. Short stories that expanded upon a champions lore. Sort of like what concept sketches are for the art team. Heres the link . Check it out and tell me what you think.

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/story-art/0iFIEGH8-publicize-story-sketches

NorthernDruidJul 1, 20151 votes

I wish they'd either just stop claiming they're doing lore, or unannounce the retcon.

Not that they've really done any of the serious retconning yet. They've mostly just cut out stuff from character bios.

I'm adamant in my stance that claiming stuff is gonna be different isn't enough. Until they present their new setting and somehow tie it to the events happening in the game they haven't retconned the lore.

Heck, as long as there's so many referencs to the old (well, current really) lore in the game they can't claim they've retconned it all away.

Really, I'm fine with their decision to make stories in an Alternate Universe unrelated to the game, but don't try to pass it off as lore.

As long as it's unrelated to the game, it's not lore for the game.

If they're not willing to admit that they're not doing lore, then maybe they should build on the lore they have instead of rip it out and leave nothing in there for almost a year.

Again, I'm still waiting for this retcon they announced so long ago. But nothing's really come of it yet, and if they wanna leave it at that and release unrelated shorts then that's fine.

They also ought to give Factions a community spotlight for fans of the actual lore.

Y'know, Lore as in the story elements about the game that didn't have a natural place for exposition in the game itself.

Not "lore" as in this collection of short stories and videos unrelated to the actual game these characters are derived from.

Mughi of RuckusJul 2, 20151 votes

Please don't throw in gratuitous death/rape/sudden horrible atrocity from previously noble characters in an attempt to pull at our heartstrings or make the story dark or mature. It does none of those things and is usually just bad writing. Please avoid dramatic twists. Virtually the same applies. Please don't neglect aspects of character lore players love because you're convinced you have a better idea.

Please do have champions interact regularly. Please do your best to have the places in league be real places and not simply representations of themes or ideologies. Please give both "villains" and heroes strong stories. Please have the champions who are currently dependent on the league for a reason to be a strong motivations and identities of their own, and don't just tie them to another organization. Please give us at least one LGBTQIA character. Before people start going on about that sort of thing's place in a story and not making a character about their preference, remember that there are plenty of offhand mentions of heterosexual characters and romances:

Ahri specifically seduced men to steal energy for her transformation. Garen had in game quotes indicating his attraction to Katarina. Amoline and Gergor Hastur, Annie's heterosexual parents, are the focus of her lore. Ezreal, in canon League content, has shown indications of being in a relationship with or having a strong attraction to Lux. Ashe and Tryndamere were engaged.

So please, it can be background references. I'm not asking for it to be core the character(s)' identity. I'm just saying it's 2015 already. There should already be one by now explicitly in the lore.

Please do put in romance in with the adventure and intrigue that you're planning.

DamienSoltaJul 2, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Mughi of Ruckus,realm=NA,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=vPHEBpwB,comment-id=0009,timestamp=2015-07-02T04:37:01.241+0000)

Please give us at least one LGBTQIA character. Before people start going on about that sort of thing's place in a story and not making a character about their preference, remember that there are plenty of offhand mentions of heterosexual characters and romances:

Ahri specifically seduced men to steal energy for her transformation. Garen had in game quotes indicating his attraction to Katarina. Amoline and Gergor Hastur, Annie's heterosexual parents, are the focus of her lore. Ezreal, in canon League content, has shown indications of being in a relationship with or having a strong attraction to Lux. Ashe and Tryndamere were engaged.

So please, it can be background references. I'm not asking for it to be core the character(s)' identity. I'm just saying it's 2015 already. There should already be one by now explicitly in the lore.

Please do put in romance in with the adventure and intrigue that you're planning.

Taric, while a bit over the top if they go that route, could actually be homosexual. It just seems forced to have LGBT characters just to have them (just as it seems forced to have straight characters express their straightness just to have them). Also the possible Diana Leona stuff seems noteworthy (I don't think it is LGBT but that Riot tweet made me wonder). So don't force any kind of sexual orientation (straight included) unless the tension of that the orientation (and possible relationship) is going to be worth the trouble. If you are gonna write romantic relationships into your stories, it seems like you definitely should keep the options for those relationships open... And I think Taric, Ezreal, Lux could make an interesting triangle (but I doubt that is in their future).

Example of it being handled awkwardly: Garen and Kat. So I'm gonna harp on clarity and unambiguousness here. Is there something? Should there be something? I'm not sure. Offhandedly mentioning that say, that a champ had two dads, for example might be interesting. Even then, that's the sort of thing that would get cut on the editing block unless it was pivotal right?

Mughi of RuckusJul 4, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Taric, while a bit over the top if they go that route, could actually be homosexual. It just seems forced to have LGBT characters just to have them (just as it seems forced to have straight characters express their straightness just to have them). Also the possible Diana Leona stuff seems noteworthy (I don't think it is LGBT but that Riot tweet made me wonder). So don't force any kind of sexual orientation (straight included) unless the tension of that the orientation (and possible relationship) is going to be worth the trouble. If you are gonna write romantic relationships into your stories, it seems like you definitely should keep the options for those relationships open... And I think Taric, Ezreal, Lux could make an interesting triangle (but I doubt that is in their future).

Example of it being handled awkwardly: Garen and Kat. So I'm gonna harp on clarity and unambiguousness here. Is there something? Should there be something? I'm not sure. Offhandedly mentioning that say, that a champ had two dads, for example might be interesting. Even then, that's the sort of thing that would get cut on the editing block unless it was pivotal right?

I agree that there shouldn't be a character whose identity and/or lore revolves around them being gay. That's not what I'm asking for, ans as long as it's not that, there's no reason it would be forced any more that mentioning a reference to a character's heterosexual romance. There's doesn't have to be a reason for someone to be gay in their story. No one's asking for the next champion to the The Gay Champion or their lore to hinge upon them being gay. It's something as simple as tweaking Ahri's lore to say she seduced whoever she could, men or women, to steal their life force. Just like that, you have bi or pansexual representation, and you didn't really change anything about the lore or shoehorn anything in. It doesn't have to be any more pivotal than her only seducing men was.

You could make something pivotal if you wanted, too, though. For example, run with the popular fan lore that Diana used to be lovers with Leona. It could be after Leona was sent to the League (in old lore) where Diana suddenly felt more alone than before and gave the elders the leeway they felt they needed to execute her, heightening the tragedy between her and Leona. It changes nothing as regards the state things are in now, but it's still pivotal in the lore and can add to the story.

Taric , though, I think is precisely the sort of thing that should be avoided, honestly. He's not gay in present lore, but many in the fandom consider him to be mostly because he was turned into one big gay joke by the community and Riot. Neither have done really anything with the idea except to slap one big sticker that says "gay" on him and make fun of him and Ezreal with it. That's exactly the sort of I agree is not a positive contribution. His lore doesn't suggest he's gay or mention him having any sort of personal or factional relationship with anyone other than his father. His lore frames him instead as a healer and renown defender of those in need from his land. Basically he was a paladin without a connection to a god. If Riot had taken that and decided he happened to be gay that would be one thing, but they would still have trouble figuring out where they could show it without just adding, "Oh, and he's gay" onto his lore. As near as I can tell, what actually happened was the player base took the gems, his clean cut appearance and, mostly, his being a male support as effeminate things and decided he was gay because of them. They paired him with Ez because Ez was also considered to be effeminate by many in the community. And then, of course, there's the Pink Taric skin with it's fuzzy shin guards. Yeah, it's called Armor of the Fifth Age, but given the old notion of pink being girly and the few changes to the elements in the armor design, it seems unlikely that it wasn't considered at least a little as a joke based on the fan perception of him. That is heavy-handed and kind of insulting, and it seems Riot's realized this since they've mentioned difficulties with reworking him.