Bard's Influence in Shurima

Sharjo·4/18/2015, 6:02:20 PM·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 Dragon4/18/2015, 6:40:54 PM17 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.

GreenLore4/18/2015, 10:47:46 PM6 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 Penguin4/18/2015, 9:54:13 PM3 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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Aradehk4/18/2015, 7:15:40 PM2 votes

Holy crap

JumbaJoopleakley4/18/2015, 7:56:01 PM2 votes

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

Reilock4/18/2015, 7:00:41 PM1 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.

StellarPrime4/18/2015, 6:53:12 PM1 votes

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

BLU Medic4/20/2015, 9:15:38 AM1 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 Shaper4/20/2015, 9:37:17 AM1 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.

Fasmodey4/20/2015, 8:04:10 PM1 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.