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What is the point of The Champions in the League of Legends?

majorminer08·8/9/2017, 11:28:36 PM·3 votes·736 views

Ok so its been bugging me a lot for some time now when it comes to the lore of League of Legends. Ever since Riot has started focusing more on the lore of the game I have grown to love the champions and the world more (It would be a bloody crime not to make it into an open world game like The Witcher something that wont get you sued!). But there is one piece of lore that makes no sense.

What is the point of Champions?

So TL;DR Rune Wars happened the planet was like "I'm going to F***ing die" and thus The Institute of War was created by powerful Summoners to stop another Rune War from happening. Summoners from City-States use The League of Legends as way to to fight opposing political rivals as it is less harmful to the world and also because The Institute of War is so powerful nobody dares to defy them. Summoners pick the Champion they will use in the battle at hand. (Want to read a more in depth version go here http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/The_League_of_Legends)

So now you get the jist of the entire crux of the lore. Buuut...why in the hell is the Shadow Isles inhabitants fighting in the League? Why are literal gods being used in these fights (Except Aurelion Sol he makes sense). Like why is Kindred? The literal embodiment of death fighting for political gain. Why is the Void fighting in the League? They want to destroy Runterra (Or at least corrupt it). Also the hell is going on with Nocturn?? A manifestation of the Nexus who preys on the Champion's nightmares? Why hasn't that awesome lore been expanded on? Is the Nexus inherently destructive? (Although I do believe he is getting a rework maybe? Hopefully they expand on that).

All in all the Lore is amazing but I would like if Riot gave more reason as to why certain Champions join the League of Legends. Are they just forced to by the Institute? Is there like some Hunger Games stuff going on where each City-State leaders just chooses random people to fight for their City-State?

You can put together some theories as to why some Champions joined. Elise joined because she needs victims to stay beautiful. Ornn has joined because the world is being meddled with by Gods. Sejuani, Ashe and Lissandra joined to fight for the Frejlord. (Also just a to mention something. IS BRAUM A GOD? He ripped off the door that Ornn has made that was supposed to be impossible to open. And just carries it around like Annie does Tibbers.)

I don't know what the point of this post was just felt like talking about the lore because why not I guess lol.

8 Comments

Ebonmaw Dragon8/9/2017, 11:31:25 PM4 votes

You are outdated with the lore, the "League of Legends" and the summoners are not canon. Nothing in game really happens in Runeterra.

LordHippoman8/9/2017, 11:53:27 PM4 votes

The League of Legends is no longer canon, because it did, in part, sorta require every champion to have a reason to be in this very public group and basically do spectator sports in front of enormous crowds. And while that makes a ton of sense for a showoff like Draven, or someone rallying patriotic pride like Garen, with the newer champions you can see that sorta break down.

Yasuo and Lissandra are two strong examples. Yasuo is on the run from hordes of people who think he's a murderer, so he stops and hangs out at the League? Lissandra is a master manipulator who keeps her identity as the Ice Witch a secret...by going in front of a crowd of thousands and turning into the Ice Witch.

Then you get into stuff like Kindred which really would have been extremely difficult to justify with the old setup. Whether or not the change is a good idea or champions should have been edited to preserve that Institute storyline is a big debate and probably one everyone's sick of having by now, but there are definitely valid points for either side.

The purpose of the League, while it was canon, though, was to provide a non-warfare based solution to international disputes. So that's why a lot of champions signed up. Some of them were doing it for favors, Zilean needed the summoners' help to cure his time-disease, Olaf needed them to help find his home, and others were basically just prisoners that couldn't be contained anywhere else (Brand, Nocturne, Cho'Gath).

Also Braum is probably some sort of superhuman, but that's never really been made clear.

Skelenth8/9/2017, 11:47:24 PM2 votes

Well, that's the entire point of the lore retcon. tl dr: The Institute of War and the League of Legends don't exist within Runeterra anymore, because they were inhibiting champion variety. You wouldn't have stuff like Aurelion Sol or Ornn in the League. If they wanted they could blast the entire League roster into orbit and back. So now it's more like Super Smash Bros. Snake never fought Kirby, but in the game he does. It's non-canonical.

Geauxx8/9/2017, 11:36:13 PM1 votes

Did you not read nocturnes lore? He's forced against his will. His punishment after being bound is that he is a champion. Then there are people like Elise who i presume just do it so they can live instead of having a random death no one cares about, as there are people there who just want to test themselves.

Until that you cant really follow the lore, because they are changing most peoples from what they started out with.... That and the summoners were cut from the lore.

Oh, and thresh is there to keep reminding lucian he's #1 wifey stealer.