Summoners no longer exist...?

SorasMemories·Sep 23, 2014·18 votes·4,119 views

If I am incorrect, I apologize... However, I heard that Riot is planning on redoing LOL lore entirely and making it so that the whole "Summoner's Rift" and these powerful champions being controlled by "Summoner's" is going to be removed. Personally, I find this to be a huge mistake. I thought it was a unique feature. I loved the concept of champions knowing a summoner was battling with them. In fact, I love the little things champions say to their summoners.

"Your bidding master." "You and I think alike, summoner." "You cannot contain me, summoner."

To me, LOL's story was unique. It was something I had never heard before and I fell in love with it... For me, they would be taking away something that is precious to their lore. Do you agree or disagree?

14 Comments

Excalibur4Sep 23, 201413 votes

"Welcome to <censored> Rift!"

CupcakeTrapSep 23, 201412 votes

Sona Only you can hear me, BLUE TEAM PLAYER #5.

Legacy of XionSep 23, 20148 votes

They retconned it.

Check the old Forum's Lore Discussion page. You'll find the mounds and mounds of threads, some replied to by the likes of Runaan himself.

There is no "they aren't called summoners blah blah blah."

There are no Summoners. The Institute is no more. None of that exists. You are now just pointing and clicking and having these random heroes from all over Runeterra beat the everliving shit out of each other for little more reason than it's a game. The lore is separate from the game.

This entire retcon is under the pretext that the Institute blocked stories, when in fact the institute didn't block anything they wanted to do so far...

CupcakeTrapSep 23, 201412 votes

This entire retcon is under the pretext that the Institute blocked stories, when in fact the institute didn't block anything they wanted to do so far...

This does bother me, a lot. They're willing to completely overhaul so many Champions' stories. Why not rework the League?

Here's a cheat sheet:

The League isn't all-powerful. It doesn't maintain control through brute force, but through political consensus: for the time being, Demacia, Noxus, and the other great powers have decided they want it around.
War happens. The League just makes sure it doesn't get out of control. Many within the League urge peace for its own sake, and will try to get the two sides talking, but they'll only put their foot down to the extent necessary to prevent conflicts from blowing up the planet.
Summoners aren't creepy puppet-masters. They guide and assist Champions on the Fields, like they do in actual battles. (We're basically Supports.) Some Champions are captives, like Cho'gath, but most Champions have fought hard for the right to represent their nation in the League. Others just want combat practice, or access to the League's archives, or whatever else. The point is, they show up willingly.

Why is this cool?

It puts the players into the story. Even if only in a token way, it makes us part of this world. Riot could expand upon that, of course, e.g. by holding polls that represent the League deciding how to handle a situation.
It adds some originality. LoL is, let's face it, mostly made of standard tropes. (This is actually good, for various reasons; mostly, it makes it easy to understand a character at a glance. Tropes aren't inherently bad.) The most original concept in LoL is that you're bringing all these different characters and settings together. It's also rather unusual to have a UN-style entity in a fantasy universe; it makes it a bit of a fantasy Babylon 5.
It brings characters together. Without the League, what we really have are a bunch of sub-universes. The League provides a place where all these nations can plausibly come together.
It gives the game a backstory. The most basic task of any game's backstory is to add context to what's going on when you play. Now, maybe we can't really explain every single solo queue match. Still, it provides some way to understand why there's a big magical arena and we're called Summoners. And hey, maybe the average solo queue match is just combat training or something.

Summon KnightSep 23, 20145 votes

summoners dont exist but we still have summoners rift, summoner spells and so on. nicely done

Puerto RicanSep 23, 20143 votes

I truly hope they do not remove that beautiful thing that makes this game what it is. The Lore even if you like it or not is what truly helps shape our views towards the virtual reality of the world of Valoran. I also fell in love with League when I started involving myself with the Lore. Think with summoner 13 please Riot.

ImpetualSep 25, 20143 votes

I would like to think that most players would agree with you.

For some reason, Riot seems to have decided to ignore the part of it's player base that wants it to stay true to its own lore.

PhoenixSlayer13Sep 23, 20142 votes

We're the summoners, like we always have been. Summoners just aren't part of Runeterra anymore.

Ark Angel HFBOct 9, 20142 votes

If the lore does have the IoW to tie the champs together... and summoners to give the players adjacency in the world... then I'm not interested.

I want to read a book... I'll do that. This is a game. Players need to be in the game world.

Further more anything about the champs is void since without the IoW there is no reason many of these champs would fight each other...

It doesn't mater if the new lore for garen is awesome... if the garen I'm playing is killing lux. that probably isn't the garen the new lore is painting.

The NeverworldSep 23, 20141 votes

Summoners will exist further, but they won't be named or said in the Lore or in explanations. Like for example: Lee Sin Lore will probably stay that he's a Summoner. But when League of Legends explains how the League works, they won't explain that you are a Summoner and that you control the Champions.

Further examples: "If you destroy the enemy nexus, the enemy summoner's won't be able to control the Champions and then the match is won"
What might come "If you destroy the enemy nexus, the enemy team loses the right to respawn after their death, thus will withdraw and the match is won"

AbiwonKenabiSep 23, 20141 votes

They already fixed Skarner's lore and his references to the League of Legends, summoners, Rune Wars, etc. Its only a matter of time before they get to Lee Sin.

The NeverworldSep 23, 20141 votes

They didn't "fixed", they changed it to fit more into the world of Runeterra. However, Summoners won't be deleted, but just not named like I said. The Rune Wars probably gets a new story, as the whole reason of League of Legends is that a new war would throw Runeterra in its armaggedon, but Riot thinks that this world where we play doesn't change at all or atleast has no in-depth. I mean we are playing 3 years, 3 years after Noxus VS Ionia war, and yet all we have are open holes to the lore. I don't want either Skarner or anything else to be changed, but I also dislike the lack of a "living world".

AbiwonKenabiSep 23, 20143 votes

I say "fixed" you say "changed" but we both meant the same thing: Skarner's lore was retconned to reflect their decisions. A world where we play doesn't change at all, and yet, the Noxus/Ionia event proves it can happen. Why can't they have a living world and the Institute of War? Does the UN prevent events from occurring in the real world? (If you answer yes to that, you're either lying or living in a bubble.)

My dislike of the retcon aside, my point was that all of these references--including summoners--are being removed. Skarner is just the first.

First Red reply to the top comment on this dev blog:

No, Summoners, the Fields of Justice and the Institute are not canon within the fictional world of Runeterra. In-game, players are still referred to as summoners - but summoners won't be part of the story.

Its downvoted, but it states clearly, without a doubt, the retcon of the Summoners.

The NeverworldSep 23, 20142 votes

Why the hell do I get downvoted for the truth? This is what Riot said, how toxic are you people?