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[Lore Theory] Darkin: Who is Aatrox/age of the Darkin/connection to Icathia and Jax

Emperor Kayn·1/8/2017, 10:05:47 PM·2 votes·7,492 views
http://imgur.com/YxexFeC

Little is known about the race of the Darkin. We know that only 5 of them are still alive and only 3 of those made some kind of appearance in the history of Runeterra. The only Darkin we know about is Aatrox. Aatrox is known to appear when battles seem lost just to turn them around. The warriors who fight alongside him become brutal and seek more bloodshed. We do not know what Aatrox gains from this and we do not know his motivation behind this. But we know that his goal is to spawn anger inside of mankind. This is proven by his interactions with Tryndamere where he calls Tryndamere his "Masterpiece" . But what does Aatrox gain from all of this? Is it just for his entertainment? This is where I'll have to go into a bit of speculations because of how little is confirmed about the Darkin. I think Aatrox needs war to continue because he can not exist without it . Aatrox has never appeared anywhere but on the battlefield and his only motivation is to "Sow the seeds of strive". My thought was that Aatrox is the incarnation of war. This thesis can be supported with his quote "I am as timeless as war". This would also explain why all of his quotes have something to do with battles or war. Now that I established my thought of who Aatrox is, we can try to find out how old he is. Obviously the oldest being we know of is Aurelion Sol. And if we asume that Aatrox is the incarnation of war that would mean that Aatrox is older than the first people Aurelion encountered since they already knew about conflict and wanted to use Aurelion as their weapon. So how do you find out how old Aatrox and the Darkin really are? Aatrox himself does indicate something with his quote "Peace is the greatest lie of all". Basically saying that there was never a time without war. Which makes sense for him to say, because he as the incarnation of war can obviously not remember a time without war. But now we need to clear up how old the Void actually is. The Voidborn were wrought to win a ancient war. So if this was the first ever recorded war then Aatrox would have existed before the Voidborn since the war was ended with the creation of the Voidborn. But this theory goes even further. I always asked myself one thing: If 5 Darkin were able to survive through the centuries and if all Darkin were even half as powerful as Aatrox, how did they go extinct? Since they don't seem to age someone must have killed them. But who would be this powerful? The Voidborn they are some of the most powerful creatures in the whole lore with even Aurelion Sol being scared of the Void. I think that the Voidborn were created to defeat the way to powerful Darkin. I would also say that the place where those Darkin were killed would have a strong connection to the Void since it would be the first place the Voidborn ever appeared. This leads me to the city were Malzahar gained his powers and where Kog'Maw entered Runeterra, Icathia the home of Jax. We know that Icathia is one of the most ancient cities and we also got a little description by Malzahar "consists of an alien geometry of a ruined city adorned with bizarre crumbling obelisks and the giant decaying idols of dark and horrific gods" maybe those horrific gods where no gods but Darkin heros like Aatrox. We also know that Jax has a connection to the darkin with his splashart being updated when Aatrox was released and just last year being updated to add another dark figure with red eyes. http://imgur.com/YxexFeC So on this picture we have 3 characters of which one is extremely likely to be Aatrox, another looking very similar looking Shadow and Jax. These 3 are the darkins known to history.

In short: The Darkin used to live in Icathia until they were killed off by the created Voidborn at the end of the first ever war. There are 5 remaining Darkins with 3 appearing in history Aatrox and Jax being two of them

Please let me know what you think about this theory. Questions are appreciated since they will help to further this theory. I really hope that we will get new info on the Darkin with the upcoming Aatrox rework.

20 Comments

XIII Vanitas1/8/2017, 11:03:37 PM2 votes

Jax can't be a Darkin, unless you can be turned into one of them. Read his color text on the Universe site and you'll find out why.

UomoAfide1/9/2017, 11:35:10 AM1 votes

Personally i think the whole 5 darkin thing is not ""canon"" anymore since it looks like the subject was never brought up again since Aatrox arrival in the game. So much change has been made to the lore in the last few years that i honestly wouldn't be surprised if the 5 darkins idea was dropped completely.

Berserknurple1/9/2017, 12:29:29 PM1 votes

I think that it's unlikely Aatrox is a literal embodiment of war, specifically because he is a member of a mortal race, that presumably was killed off. He seems like a physical entity by all accounts, and if he was the manifestation of war he would be a unique being.

As far as what killed off the Darkin, I think we have a few contenders. I really like your Void theory. I think that the Frozen Watchers or the Rune Wars themselves might work too.

Cosmic Star1/9/2017, 11:15:26 PM1 votes

I don't believe the Darkin have any relation with the Void since Mount Targon is already in charge of that giving Diana, Leona, Pantheon and Taric. Also Kassadin fight's avoid (but not along with the other's).

The Darkin race could be anything like: -»A village that was known to have villagers that had the ability to see what consequences that battles would have. The village was later cursed with black magic to bound them to the weapon they would control better (swords, shields, wild magic, staffs, bows, anything) in a try of transforming them into living killing machines, the curse went wrong and the one that made the curse died trying to control them. When they were transformed the ''living weapons'' would try to control their minds driving them crazy and only 5 were able to control this curse and use it has their own will. The others fade and died. Now the remaining 5 keep this as a secret to the 5 and together with their mighty power of predicting the impacts of the battles would have + the power of them, they will be like this small organization that keeps the balance of the world.

There is an Aatrox quote that would fit this ''stupid'' theory: ''No one understands me, they call my work a hack job.''. Also Aatrox is deft but he can speak so he once was able to ear and then got deft because something happened.

Why I don't think Jax is a Darking, he just doesn't fit the role, and maybe Aatrox could be in the Splash Art because he is planing to give powers akin to Tryndamere but this time to Jax. Giving power to Tryndamere would give Freljord (Ashe's Clan) power to protect themselves next time (Maybe from Lissandra Plan).

Like this Aatrox could also interfere in the battle of Void VS Runeterra avoiding the destruction of either of the realms. Maybe they are even trying to save both the Void real and the World's Realm to keep the balance in the Universe (?).

Why did Aatrox never revealed his true intentions? To avoid battle's for his god like power both wanted from both of the realms.

Also giving power to Tryndamere and Jax would make this two almost unstoppable in battle which would serve the great battle between the Realms.

-»We could also say they were cursed with Spirits of War that would chose their body's, with the age the power overcame the body's and the War Spirits revealed their true from, every one of the Darkin Spirits of War would be able to give power to those that chose be worth and each one of the Darkins gives a different abilities. For example Aatrox gives near immortality with the rage of battle of Tryndamere, which means that he could give a Royal War Blood maximizing and keeping your flesh alive and ready to continue to fight.

Just thought of it...don't take this too serious...