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Just who is Vladimir? An attempt to characterize the Hemomancer.

Blood Magicks·1/24/2016, 8:19:45 PM·4 votes·1,424 views

With a rework of Vladimir 's gameplay appraching, maybe we should consider his lore as well. It is no secret that being one of the early champs, Vlad is not amazingly characterized. When you read his wiki page, several questions come to mind:

1. Is Vladimir a noble? He certainly looks it. But why doesn't he have a surname? Noxian champions are either part of some great house (Du Coteau) have more than one name (Swain , Leblanc ) or are orphans and bastards like Draven , Darius and Talon . So we have an orphan/bastard carrying himself like a count or marquis. Why?

2. Why does he want to be a nobleman? Folks like Riven were satisfied with leading simple lives outside of their role. This guy for some reason wasn't. He actively pursues the glamor of the Noxian upper class. There is also a hint in his name that other than a homicidal maniac, he is a power-hungry mage - Vladimir means "he who rules the world".

3. Was the League his sole reason to return to Noxus? I'm inclined to say no. He came for the pursuit of power and soon enough made a meteoric rise through the ranks of Noxus, landing himself a place in the Black rose. (A secret and ultra-important cabal, lead by Leblanc)

4. So we have a guy who: 1. Miserably failed to adjust to society(killed 2 people for no reason) and hence left Noxus . 2. Spent the last several years communicating only with a deranged old man on a mountain (his master, Dmitri). 3. Suddenly pulled out the social savviness to navigate through Noxian politics and become an important government official. Doesn't make sense. There's some serious character development tucked in here, apart from the fact that he used his perfect command of blood magic as a bargaining chip. It also implies that Hemomancy is very rare and unique, otherwise they would have tried to replace him with someone with a cleaner past.

5. Ingame Vladimir is nothing like the person described above. Why? You can see most characters confess aspect of their lore and backstory ingame. Vlad firmly refuses to do so and is also uncannily cheerful for the miserable life he's lead prior to joining the League. He acts more like a battle comedian, a clown, and his bad-guy-laugh sounds horribly forced and artificial. If I had to go full armchair psychologist, I'd say this guy is severely histrionic/psychopathic, a.k.a. a massive cluster B drama queen, and his ingame persona is a mask hiding something far more sinister.

Of course I've developed a further theory which strays too far from the canon at this stage. I believe he was disinherited for being sickly and an albino (white hair, red eyes, sickly) and seen as unfit to be part of a strong Noxian family because of his mutation (which I further attribute to possible incest, but this is too GoT). Noxians occasionally get away with murder provided they are important enough, which implies he was already disinherited when he committed the crime. Further, the boys were probably as important as him, maybe one of them was related to Darius, hence why the wiki lists Vladimir and Darius as rivals. Hence I don't believe he's quite shaken off the scorn and social stigma towards himself at any stage of his life (Noxus can be notoriously discriminating). Despite being the irreplaceable blood mage, at present he is still somewhat of a black sheep. This does not bother him at all - his aim is to rise to power by any means, which makes him fit quite well in the ruthless reality of Noxus.

Thank you for reading and I would appreciate discussion!

6 Comments

Krizalid1/24/2016, 8:44:08 PM4 votes

Why does he want to be a nobleman?

Because he's Dio Brando of LoL. "First the riches, then the bitc..", oh, nevermind. I feel like he's one of those people who would ruin everyone's life in his favour. The reason why he is so cocky might be because he is too sure of his powers. And I can easily imagine him turning mad and angry if some events don't meet his expectations. His ego and ambitions are always way up high, thus he is obsessed with the ideas of becoming more powerful and respected than he already is. Be it envy or the lack of love from his parents, he lives for the sake of revenge against the whole world. And you can clearly see that his Legendary skin pushes that theme even further, showing Vladimir many years later at the highest point of his mission. "How long must I search to find a real challenge?" - his obsession eventually becomes meaningless. There are no throats left to cut, no stones left unturned. You can also hear him being worn out, tired of routine that he exists in, yet his immense pride won't let him turn back.

GreenLore1/24/2016, 9:02:59 PM1 votes

1.It is rather likely that he is a noble man. I mean he's not only dressed like on,but Darius(who has a dislike for the noxian nobles that don't prove themselves in the military) lists him as an enemy,which would make sense if he is a noble(though it could have other reasons as well). As for his surname:We don't know if he has one,it is possible that we simply never heard of it.

2.Well life is most likely a lot easier if you are a noble man.He most likely has lots of money and some privileges as a noble.

3.&4.Well for now it is not confirmed if he really is a member or if his old lore is still canon. Also if he is one of the 2 unknown members from the sion promo,then he might be immortal and part of the black rose already for several decades(since sions resurrection and reawakening had enough time between them for the people to forget about sion)

5.I think the drama-queen part is likely true.

Overall what I wonder is: If we assume that Vlad is a noble man,then why does he seem to support swain? Given the goal of Darius,it is implied that Swain would actually weaken the power of the noble houses,which would be bad for Vlad. Maybe Vlad himself isn't really that interested in being a noble?Or he hopes to get a special treatment if he supports swain.Or maybe he has an ulterior motif?

Dreamspitter1/24/2016, 11:36:08 PM1 votes

I think he was a street kid, and a serial killer.