Bard's Influence in Shurima

Sharjo··20 votes·2,675 views

So I've been thinking about this for a while, and I wanted to talk about a theory I had concerning Bard and Shurima's fall. As Jaredan stated in the Bard Q&A, Bard was at the very least a witness to Shurima's fall:

Although those events certainly were catastrophic, especially in a localized sense, Bard's intervention, from his point of view, was not required in the specific way you may be thinking of. I don't want to include spoilers, I'll just say Bard was witness to those events.

(Here's a link for those who wanna revisit the Q&A http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/Ev3qQR4G-bard-qa)

So he was there, but why? Xerath that's why. When the elder used the stone to protect himself in Bard:Mountain, Bard immediately felt it and was pretty much like "Oh shit.". The same thing happened here. Xerath pushes Azir aside to claim ascension for himself and immediately Bard can feel it. Another "Oh shit." moment for him. He now has a very small amount of time to do something, and he has an exact goal in mind right from the get go.

His immediate goal is concerning future events and things of grand importance on a cosmic scale. The emperor's dynasty is of great importance, and so his goal is simple; ensure its survival for the sake of the future that will need it. Azir was killed instantly, so now there are three other candidates. Azir's wife, son and daughter. However as Azir witnessed for himself in the story arisen, all three were killed, so Bard obviously didn't save them. Who did he save then?

Well turns out there was a fourth member of the family! Azir's wife was pregnant at the time, and this child is the key. Using his cosmic powers Bard whisks the unborn child from harms way. The child, as Azir himself stated, was very close to being born. He describes his wife as heavily pregnant, and thinking about it further, it'd make sense timing wise for Azir to ascend on the advent of his 3rd child's birth right? The child would be born in to a revolutionized Shurima, devoid of slavery, where every man was free.

Or atleast, it would have been.

The child was likely only days away from being born, and this allowed Bard to swoop in and save the day. Even if this wasn't the case I imagine the whole cosmic reality warping powers Bard has could have protected the child until they were ready to be "born" so to speak, or Bard would've saved another one of Azir's progeny.

Now to paint a scene. Nasus has just sealed Renekton away with Xerath, and walks towards the Dais of Acension, where the whole thing started. In his hands he is carrying the key to the tomb, empowered with ancient Shuriman magic. There, atop the fallen Sun Disc he finds Bard, holding a newly born child. Whatever Bard and Nasus discussed that day was a mystery, but considering the knowledge and age of the two, Nasus likely understood what Bard's intentions were and what was needed of him in the grand scheme of things. The ascended man took the child and the key with him and found for them safe haven, entrusting the emperor's progeny with the key to Shurima's legacy. From then on he retreated in to solitude and Bard returned to his duties, with the child growing and having children of their own. For a thousand years this continued until Sivir was born.

To summarise, When Xerath blew Shurima to hell, Bard stepped in and rescued Azir's soon to be born third child. This child is the reason why Sivir even exists, and by extension why Azir could be reborn in the modern era.

So whatcha guys think? This make any logical sense at all or is it all bollocks? You guys have any ideas as to what else Bard may or may not have done in the world?

23 Comments

Ebonmaw Dragon17 votes

Bard Has a strong connection with the cosmos, the ritual of item 3069 Ascension requires energy from the Sun. The Sun is a star of the cosmos.

So, if Xerath someone tries to corrupt the ritual, Bard Bard would go there and see what is going on.

After noticing that Xerath was not actually a threat for the structure of the universe, he said -insertweirdsoundhere- (Translated as: "Lol, i dont care") and flew away.

Or at least, that is what i think.

GreenLore6 votes

I think Bard might have warned Nasus &Renekton about Xerath. I mean in Xeraths lore he says that he made sure those 2 aren't around during the ritual,yet they appear almost immediatly after xerath transforms and they even have a magical sarcophagus ready to prevent xeraths power from growing.

That sure sounds a bit too convenient to me,its like the 2 were warned beforehand and simply didn't manage to arrive there before xeraths transformation.

Penta Penguin2 votes

that is a good theory, a game theory

Penta Penguin3 votes

Riot doesn't know or care about any content release follow-up. Remember Frozen Watchers? Remember the Darkin? Jinx's sister? Zaun? Mt. Targon? Lucian's Mission? Yasuo's dilemma?

What you wrote here might as well be the official canon, because who the hell knows if Riot has even plotted it out internally yet. Bard and the Shurima retcon are next in line and will be waiting years for any follow up. I imagine if Zaun and Mt. Targon are retconned or reintroduced, they will just have even more loose ends and waiting-games like Shurima.

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Sharjo7 votes

I don't get the point of the censers.

I also don't get why you bothered to say this. I was looking for discussion.

Penta Penguin1 votes

There is no point to the censors (hint)

whatever makes you happy

Penta Penguin1 votes

i don't give a god damn

Bard's storyline teased previous loose-ends for nothing, it was just some stupid fluff to frame a cosmic champion, who for whatever reason has zero relation to soraka despite them practically being the same character

Narasimha7 votes

who for whatever reason has zero relation to soraka despite them practically being the same character

Soraka - A former celestial being who gave up her powers and spirituality because of her love for humans. Bard - A cosmic entity that by all indications, does not give a damn about humans. Humanity as a whole, maybe, but not humans.

You're right, exactly the same. How could I have missed it?

Penta Penguin1 votes

they're both cosmic / celestial / star elemental, how did we miss this opportunity

if a star god lost their powers that seems like a big deal, maybe Bard would investigate instead of this shallow "look at this war video with no context other than noxus attack"

Narasimha7 votes

You're really not a lore buff, huh? Its kind of shows.

Anyway, as has been specifically stated, Bard only intervenes in the most dire of circumstances, when an event that has the potential to wreck the world occurs. Soraka's fall was nothing of the sort. It was a choice she made. Also, she's not a star god. Nothing close. She was a celestial, a being blessed by the stars. She was not a god herself.

And because I'm on a roll, the Noxus video was pretty far from shallow. It gave us quite a few insights

  1. Why Noxus invaded Ionia in the new lore
  2. What Bard is capable of
  3. How Bard operates
  4. How Bard's constellation popped up
  5. Kind of related, but how he got his name.
Stars Shaper2 votes

Graves and Garen are both humans, how come they don't have relationships?

Penta Penguin1 votes

because there are billions of them and nobody cares about humans

Fasmodey1 votes

{quoted}

because there are billions of them and nobody cares about humans

Soraka cares.

Aradehk2 votes

Holy crap

JumbaJoopleakley2 votes

What really happened is that Bard had worms and butt-scooted around Shurima as it fell. Beyond that it's just coincidence.

StellarPrime1 votes

I think Ebonmaw's scenario is just as possible as Sharjo's. Both of them make sense in every way imo :)

Reilock1 votes

I think this would be the best theory of how Azir 's family survived. The biggest plot-hole, for me, is how did his family survived the sand-cysm, and that Sivir is the only descendant(maybe there are more around, if Post-retcon Valoran is now continent, everything is possible). However, if Riot wanted to go that rout, they should've hinted it story-wise.

Sharjo1 votes

Well Shurima was a desert when Azir was still emperor, so they survived by the virtue of being born in to that time to begin with, if that makes sense.

BLU Medic1 votes

Sounds great and definitely fills the plot hole of if-everyone-died-then-how-was-sivir-born, but it seems a tad far fetched that Sivir is the only remaining descendant of Azir. Although that does give more interesting possibilities, that there are other people around with a bit of Azir's blood who will try and use their family tree to claim Shurima for themselves or whatever.

Stars Shaper1 votes

I agree with most of it though I don't believe that what Bard cared about was the Emperor bloodline but rather how terribly powerful could Xerath be if left unbound and how the Ascension ritual was changed into something able to affect the cosmic order. I had been thinking about that and since both Bard and Xerath are of my utmost liking I've wondered a lot of what it could have happened and I tried to hint it in a fanfic (short story attempt) I wrote:http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/fancreations/TMhJJPPU-short-stories-attempt-xerath-a-different-light

For those who don't want/care to read it (sadface ._.) it describes how Xerath comes into a way to change the Ascension Ritual to make it becaon a more powerful result and what brings him a vital intuition is the appearance in the night sky of the Great Caretaker constellation. So what I wanted to say is that Bard was already coming to Shurima because he sensed something that might go wrong but his presence ALSO caused Xerath to understand how to do it.

Following my thoughts I can agree on what you described about the newborn child. Yet the cause of Bard saving him might be because he sensed that Azir wasn't completely eradicated and could still be revived and ascend thus making a him a worthy opponent of the magus who would otherwise go rampant.

Fasmodey1 votes

Bard probably doesn't care about Shurima but Xerath was an another story. Because he would be dangerous without being unbound, so may be he helped to ascended brothers for locking him down. I dont think Nasus and Renekton have a exteremely powerful sarcophagus even Nasus has some magical powers (Renekton has too but it's weaker than Nasus and in my opinion it's not enough to make or have a magical sarcophagus that can lock the most powerful ascended).

Also other thing is, if Bard didn't help them about locking Xerath in sarcophagus and it was just ascended brother fighting style, why would they have a sarcophagus for an another ascended? A sun ritual probably for only the chosen ones that will not lose their will to getting power and they didn't think they will have a '' bad guy '' ascended in the future. So why they have that? Why would they ready for this fail ritual for Azir? In this way i think it was Bard. Probably not a big deal about universe but it was a important event for Runeterra. It was probably not a imperceptible event. So he saw this tragedy and as he did in all events, he didn't save the world directly. He helped to brothers to locking Xerath down. And like our friend's theory, he may be saved Azir's child. He probably did a lot of things about Shurima's fall.

I used so much probably word yeah i know but it's because i can't be sure anything while rioters dont deal with lore. I expected from them revealing some things.

Sharjo1 votes

On the sarcophagus thing specifically; it was probably never meant for Xerath. It was likely designed as, you know, a coffin for dead people, specifically shuriman emperors, who conveiently had a tomb located right smack bang in the middle of the capital. These coffins would be magically enchanted so as to prevent their dead emperors from being disturbed, defiled, or stolen from (assuming shruimans buried their dead with treasure and other mummified stuff like egyptians did) in the event of a break in.

Essentially the sarcophagus was probably Nasus and Renekton scrambling for some way to beat Xerath, and they gambled on the magic of the sarcophagus being enough. It was just barely enough, as evidenced by the fact Xerath still hasn't shaken the damn thing off after a millennia!

Fasmodey1 votes

{quoted}

On the sarcophagus thing specifically; it was probably never meant for Xerath. It was likely designed as, you know, a coffin for dead people, specifically shuriman emperors, who conveiently had a tomb located right smack bang in the middle of the capital. These coffins would be magically enchanted so as to prevent their dead emperors from being disturbed, defiled, or stolen from (assuming shruimans buried their dead with treasure and other mummified stuff like egyptians did) in the event of a break in.

Essentially the sarcophagus was probably Nasus and Renekton scrambling for some way to beat Xerath, and they gambled on the magic of the sarcophagus being enough. It was just barely enough, as evidenced by the fact Xerath still hasn't shaken the damn thing off after a millennia!

That's why i think it was not Renekton and Nasus. Xerath is like a super ascended, while he is in sarcophagus he didn't even lose in 1vs2. They have to do locking him in another thing. For this, Renekton imprisoned himself with Xerath.

Also, if you look close to pictures of revealed Fall of Shurima, you will see Xerath is bigger than Renekton and Nasus. And as I know Renekton and Nasus are bigger than an actual human. So in my opinion this sarcophagus was not for a human emperor.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b33MRpndqZc/VA28sP87ySI/AAAAAAAAXrM/k8N3AtRQ9a4/s1600/10688275_10154704929310556_6177128467653466325_o.jpg

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