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What is Viktor's Niche?

A Superb Villain·10/23/2017, 1:31:00 AM·9 votes·1,131 views

Something I have experienced difficulty in understanding is where exactly does Viktor fit within lore. There is an unfortunate disconnect from his character presented in-game to the character described in text, the most significant being his status as an augmented human. Prior to the great lore revision, Viktor was the first example of extensive hex-tech augmentation, a status that was something of a novelty in League at the time, and exceeded the imagination of Runeterra's inhabitants when the Institution of War was still a thing. This made Viktor different, it made him unique, it was enough to sell a character on. That was Viktor's niche.

Presently, his role is no longer clear because it is not unique. Viktor the Machine Herald was stripped of his significance apart from being a rival to Jayce, which is an incredibly flimsy reason for existing. Augmentations are no longer strange or new to the lore. In fact, they are so banal that augmentations are treated as fashion statements in Piltover, whereas before Viktor was practically ostracized for how invasive his designs were. Contrary to his own statements, Viktor is no longer the first of many since the procedure of modifying flesh with technology existed well before his birth as evidenced by Camille's lore. He is not the first to fully transition from flesh to metal since that space is now occupied by Orianna. What is left that makes Viktor interesting as a character and a champion?

Is he a mad visionary? Jhin is the epitome of this archetype. Is he a mad scientist? Mundo is built around this concept. Is he an amoral inventor? Singed is a war profiteer and performs human experimentation without consent. League is not lacking in champions that could fulfill Viktor's potential niches better. All he has left is an interesting design. Viktor, as he is, has no role in League as a character or a theme that makes him distinct from anyone else. How do we move forward with someone who provides more backstory for the world and other characters than himself?

25 Comments

Beyond Legends10/23/2017, 1:57:32 AM6 votes

I think Viktor fit in the role of a radical revolutionair that believe that human should undergone augmentation. He's different from camille who see her augmentation as a sacrafice made for her family, Viktor preachs about people evolving to a high life form.

Current Viktor has shifted his idenetity as the herald. Personally I feel Viktor lore a bit unsatifying because I felt that neither tHe glorious evolution was expanded upon.

Meep Man10/23/2017, 1:34:18 PM2 votes

Cyborg Revolutionary

He is the prophet of a new age.

The Anagram King10/23/2017, 9:15:43 PM2 votes

Oh yeah, totally. He's lame now. Just 'another guy.'

From herald to a new age, to awkward guy in a lab that children avoid because their parents tell them stories. It's a shame. I'd always considered him a contrast to - and eventual (coincidental) foil of - Malzahar. A man who transcended humanity and utterly befuddled his peers. A new stage of human evolution, completely and utterly incomparable to anything, any man had seen before.

And still evolving.

The void invades, Viktor reacts. Headcanon justification for the battlecast universe, right there.

But now he's a guy in a lab. Not even his backstory is as fun as it used to be. :P

Whyte Lyon10/23/2017, 10:17:07 PM2 votes

I would just encourage Riot to push for a VO updated above all else. I mean out of most of the champs who arguably need one, I think Viktor is definitely an unsung hero who requires it as much as MF and Blitzcrank do.

It could at least answer a few of the curiosities we have here.

DWT1234510/24/2017, 12:18:46 AM1 votes

Viktors augmentations are waay different than anybody elses. Everyone else has augmentations that are simple hextech advancements; Viktor is a full-on robotic cyborg. He can use his technology to actually alter the way the body works, not just tack on a prosthetic hand. Basically everybody else is using steampunk technology, while Viktor is way ahead of them with actual robotics and circuitry. His technology is on a whole other level, one most artificers cant even begin to understand.

Besides the technology, there's the purpose. The person with the most advanced augments besides Viktor is Camille. She got those augments because she needed a way to enforce her clan's agenda on Piltover. Viktor on the other hand is obsessed with perfecting the human race. Viktor still has ample combat abilities based on the fact that he's in the game, but what really makes him a special character is his motivation, which is to eliminate things that have cost thousands of lives in the past, such as fear or greed.

GreenLore10/23/2017, 7:10:51 AM1 votes

Honestly I can kinda understand why they made augmentations not limited to Viktor,as they open up the possibilities for a lot of characters and honestly Viktor never really filled the cyborg-archetype since he barely used his augmentations.

Now he is the one who wants to go further than others,body modifications may be the norm,but Viktor wants to modify the human brain to make it more efficient.

Also Mundo might call himself a doctor,but he isn't a doctor in the new lore anymore(he only thinsk he is). Singed is more like our mad scientist(he barely uses his "inventions" anyway).

Wrathof30010/23/2017, 2:20:43 AM1 votes

Beyond Legends is correct. The augmentations ppl in Piltover undergo are necessities to life, although some imitate it for a fashion display. Like Beyond said, Viktor wants huminty to evolve into a perfect species, void of error, and as a scientist he seeks to do so through technology.

Orianna did not choose to give up her flesh, although she may be an example of a stepping stone of what Viktor wishes to achieve for all of humanity. Even Camille and Urgot who choose to be augmented, didn't do so to achieve perfection, but for power (more so Urgot than Camille).

Just because he has no followers doesn't mean he will go no where, every cults/ organization starts with little to no following. Its even enitrely possible we get a champion dedicated to the Glorius Evolution, int he future, this was the purpose of Viktor's short story, its ppl like that little boy, who will come back to join his cause, even if Viktor himself shuns the religious order that took claim to the title of the Glorious Evolved.