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2019 Lore Tournament - Day 2: The Winterspike Road vs The Final Reign

LordRedStone Nr1·12/2/2019, 4:11:04 PM·12 votes·13,856 views

EDIT: Overtime! Usually I would have closed voting by now, but since the score is 21 to 21, the next vote decides!

EDIT (2): Finally! With 22 to 21 votes, The Winterspike Road wins!

#####~~ Welcome~~

Welcome back to the second day of the lore tournament. After yesterday's nailbiting competition, we set our eyes upon the reworked Mordekaiser and the empire he left behind.

I also wanted to clarify that stories from Realms of Runeterra will not be included in the contest.

(ROR Spoilers)

*Even though some stories mention existing characters like Vrynna or Cithria (<3), or are simply awesome like All Kindred's Eve or Water & Shade To You (personal opinions, but I'm sure we can all agree the book is super nice), I chose to exclude them from the tournament because they are not generally accessible through Universe. Also, I'd run out of days in December. *

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/365550473429909504/648237903100510229/WT7mmUN.png

Day     Story 1vs     Story 2
Day 1What Once Sailed FreevsAftermath
Day 2The Winterspike RoadvsThe Final Reign
Day 3The RecruitvsTrouble
Day 4Demacian HeartvsTurmoil
Day 5The Harder PathvsFit to Rule
Day 6Halfway Between the Stars and Earth     vsFor Those Who Have Fallen
Day 7The Echoes left BehindvsThe Whispering Doodad
Day 8AdaptationvsMessage on a Blade's Edge
Day 9In the Fires of JusticevsPrayer to a Crumbling Shrine
Day 10Canticle of the Winged SistersvsSnow Day
Day 11With the FlowersvsThorns of the Black Rose
Day 12HomecomingvsRoots of a Poisoned Tree
Day 13Silence for the Damnedvs?
Day 14The biggest CatchvsRemember Me
Day 15HomeboundvsThe Shackles of Belief
Day 16     The Voices of the Deadvs?

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/365550473429909504/648237903100510229/WT7mmUN.png

#####The strongest soldier

In the first story, we witness struggling soldiers on The Winterspike Road being inspired by the Hand of Noxus himself, General Darius. He built this road and he will not let the Winter's Claw have it. In the second story, the Iron Revenant reflects on his fall and Mitna Rachnun, before preparing for The Final Reign. The time has come to return to the world of the living. All the souls of Runeterra await.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/365550473429909504/648237903100510229/WT7mmUN.png

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/365550473429909504/640803439412248596/unknown.png

The Winterspike Road by Laura Michet

##vs

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/365550473429909504/640805148054126603/unknown.png

The Final Reign by Michael Yichao

8 Comments

dontspinbutwin12/2/2019, 7:30:12 PM6 votes

Yes, I'm a Darius main, so I have some bias. But i do like Darius' story a bit for fleshing reasons.

In game he seems like a dumbass. He just walks arounds grumbling, grunting, saying "If you weak, you die". Yet, in the story, you see that same "idiocy", but with reason behind it. Darius seems cold and harsh, and while he only wants the strong to live, its obvious he thinks ahead. He's planning the next move, what to do when someone dies, how to turn the tides, he never stops fighting, mentally and physically. Furthermore, hes surprisingly forgiving to the MC of the story. He understands the MC is a new soldier, and gives her (I think it was a she?) a second chance, harshly scolding her decision to try and save the old soldier/Minotaur (kinda like how Gorden Ramsey yells at adults for not understanding basics, yet calmly cares for kids and young chefs).

Darius went from bumbling thug to a calculating, strong, harsh general in one fell swoop with the story. I admire that.

....ahhh I love the Darius story

Falrein12/2/2019, 5:56:01 PM3 votes

Ngl I was very 'whatever' reading both stories... Not that they aren't good but they didn't leave a mark on me. I'm going with Darius on that one because... Idk, reasons?

HonestJohnTheCon12/2/2019, 8:26:28 PM3 votes

Both are very good, but I gotta go with Mordekaiser's simply because it reimagines his pre-VGU character in one of the best ways possible. He's a perfect example of how a lore rewrite should be handled.

NotaRobot100612/2/2019, 8:48:02 PM3 votes

I loved Final Reign, but a huge chunk of it just restated Morde's bio. Still, it at least gave us some new info about Morde.

Winterspike was good worldbuilding (Noxus in Freljord, minotaur soldiers, etc.) but it didn't have a whole lot of Darius for a Darius story.

So I'm going with Final Reign.

YDy2ZkRq0212/2/2019, 9:15:24 PM3 votes

I will be honest here, I really like Darius as a characther, but his color story was a let down for me, I think there could be better ways to show his charactherization and, at least to me, the story didnt show much of Darius as a characther.

Meanwhile with The Final Reign, the writing was very good to me, it had shown Mordekaiser characther and represented him very well. Well that was very basic and I dont think I properly explained my reasons, but yeah, my vote goes to Final Reign.

CaptainAntiHeroz12/3/2019, 12:02:18 PM2 votes

Idk if its just me but Mordekaiser isn't as interesting as a lot of the other undead characters..... So personally chose Winterspike just because I find Noxus in general (along with Darius) to be more interesting and Darius is increasingly more of an interesting character the more we learn about him