Fixing One Of Riot's Errors

Oh boy, I’ve had a lot of thoughts about this one. Where do I even start?

The RunDown

In case you aren’t familiar, League Of Legends is a MOBA (a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) released in 2009. Its primary game mode is a PvP which pits two teams of five players against one another in an arena known as ‘Summoner’s Rift.’

Though there wasn’t much lore at the start of the game, over time, and with more champions being released, Riot put more effort into the goings-on of Runeterra. The initial lore of Summoner’s Rift being a cannon place in this fantastical world was scrubbed out and replaced by an expansive universe inhabited by Celestial beings and Yordles alike.

There is lore for every champion in the game (some more than others), and this is where our first problem arises. In 2020, the fictional International Pop Group called K/DA (its members champions from the game) was hinted at having a comeback, and I was actually looking forward to it. I liked their song POP/STARS, and the skins for the champions in-game were pretty solid. When hearing that they would be coming back with new songs, I was genuinely excited to see what Riot would do as their music team never disappoints.

At around the same time, it was found that there would be a new champion release alongside the K/DA event. That champion’s name was ‘Seraphine.’

It didn’t take too long for people to figure this out as her name was in files and such, and a month or so later, searching her name on Twitter yielded a result. An account for the character. It was a first for Riot to do this for a champion, and rightfully so, it started a lot of buzz about her release. And then she started posting.

Her posts were that of an average person starting out on Twitter: she introduced herself and her interests, one of those interests being K/DA. Hopefully, you can see where this is going.

As time went on, she got “scouted” by the K/DA members to feature on their newest song, which would debut later in the year closer to Worlds. The song and its corresponding music video were released and were very hype. A lot of other people and I liked it.

On the surface, there is nothing wrong with the above. It was good marketing from Riot to promote a champion and create excitement about her before her release, but some issues began to shine through. All of the above character building was for a skin. A £25 skin. In the game, this type of skin is known as an ‘Ultimate Skin’ and is the most expensive type in the game. This was a massive gamble for Riot. Releasing a champion with an Ultimate Skin had never happened before and posed a lot of risks.

Another reason why this was a risk was that many people took issue with the Twitter account. This account would interact with fans, which is fine, but what many people had a problem with was that this account talked about mental health issues, specifically Imposter Syndrome. As this entire page was for an expensive skin, it could be interpreted as Riot exploiting real-life issues for a profit.

That’s just the first real issue too, there are a couple more things about her that were unfortunately botched by Riot, her real lore being one of them. Seraphine’s actual lore is no way near as expanded upon, which left people frustrated, myself included. In the world of Runeterra, Seraphine is a girl who can hear other people’s thoughts, and her parents saved up all of their money to buy a special crystal to ‘dampen’ it. Over time, she heard a voice within the crystal and discovered it to be a member of the Bracken race. They become fast friends, and Seraphine decides to dismantle the dampener into a stage that she rides and performs on to unite the people of Piltover and Zaun.

In her actual lore from the world of mythical creatures and demons, Seraphine is a Pop Star.

Her glitz and glamour appearance has no place in a fantasy world, and the fact that she is a Pop Star is just so out of place. Many people have concluded that she is everything wrong with modern League Of Legends, and I have to agree with them.

As it stands, Seraphine is just another pretty face that Riot continuously pumps out, and the goal of this piece is to share with you my fixes for her most significant issues. When I read her lore, I already had other ideas in mind because it just didn’t sit well with me as someone who plays this game for the lore. From this moment on, I’ll be outlining the three ideas I had that would’ve taken her in a different direction than some people may have appreciated more.

No1: Targonian Aspect :

From the moment I knew she was some sort of singer within the Runeterra Universe and without knowing anything else about her, my first thought was that she’d be a Targonian Aspect: The Aspect Of The Muse.

It would’ve been a perfect fit, especially as the last Aspect Riot released was back in 2017. Her lore would be focused quite heavily on her isolation about being at the top of Mount Targon by herself. Her sole purpose in life is to soothe the more irate celestial beings via singing. There is then a second layer to her misery. Though calming to higher beings, her voice seemingly enchants any mortals into climbing the mountain to get to her, never making the journey as the treacherous conditions of Mount Targon kill them before they reach the top. Sadly, she is aware of this fact but knows that if she were never to sing again, the celestials would become angry and destroy Runeterra. Are the lives of a handful of mortals worth the lives of all those in the world? It breaks her heart to be why they climb the mountain, but she keeps singing to ensure the world’s safety below, guilty for the lives she feels she has taken.

Not to mention that it actually fits her name quite well. A “Seraph” is an angelic being, one of the highest order of angels. As her voice carries through the valleys of Mount Targon, it would layer into that akin to a choir, and any mortal unfortunate to hear such a heavenly sound would be drawn to her like a pirate to a siren.

No2: Ionian :

For this reimagining of Seraphine, she would be born to a noble family in Ionia. During her early years, they discovered her talent for singing and its magical qualities for healing. They train her to hone these skills, but she asks if it’s possible to do more than just heal the injured one day. They rebuff her inquiry and inform her that in this village, the only fighters are the men.

As she matures into a young adult, the Noxian Invasion of Ionia begins, her village being one of many which is attacked. Before her eyes, she sees her village and its inhabitants being destroyed, but her emotions all come to climax when she sees someone she is close to being killed right in front of her. With all the rage and sadness in her heart, she lets loose a scream which not only blows the attacker away but drives off the invading forces due to her ferocity. From this moment on, she vows to fight for her land, with or without her family’s support.

No3: Piltovan :

For the sake of argument, let’s keep Seraphine as a Piltovan, though perhaps not as much of a singer. In terms of appearance, her sparkly outfit will be overhauled into something more suited for her setting, maybe something more steampunk, as it will also then fit in with the repairs shop which her parents own.

There are then two paths that could be taken.

Path 1: Make her crazy. I like the idea of her being able to hear other people’s thoughts, so much so that it makes her go crazy, much like another character in the game which comes from Piltover’s Underground, Zaun. Or maybe make her similar to now but tone down the positivity and increase how anxious and paranoid she is. As of right now, Seraphine is a very happy character which personally makes her come across as relatively flat. Adding this layer of mental health not just for her skin but for her base character will make her a more intriguing character on the whole.

Path 2: She becomes a protest singer. Keeping with her current lore, Seraphine gets her dampener but realizes there’s a Bracken inside. Instead of putting it in a stage, she learns the horrific truth that most of the power sources in Piltover come from the Bracken Race, which was harvested in the deserts of Shurima. She heads protests all over the city to try and inform the public of what’s happening, but she learns the cold truth that most people don’t actually care.

I have this image in my head that she steals some crystals from a shop to showcase how serious she is for the cause, naturally getting into trouble with law enforcement. Perhaps she takes these newly ‘acquired’ crystals on a trek through the Shuriman deserts, collapsing before the last surviving Bracken, Skarner. She offers the crystal back to him as a sign of good faith, promising to do whatever she can to help.

So, they were my ideas for what I think are more engaging pieces of lore for Seraphine. My favorite right now is the Targonian Aspect, and I think a nice story could be made for unrelated characters with this same concept, which I might do in the future because that’s how solid I think the idea is.

Thanks for reading to the very end; it means a lot.

Stay Safe,

Alice

Thank you for reading; it really means a lot to me that you’ve gotten through to the end, and while I have you here, consider dropping me a like to let me know if you’ve enjoyed my writing. Any tips are welcome too, as it’ll help me to keep producing the content I enjoy making, and you hopefully enjoy reading~