League of Legends’ lore is getting rewritten

Facing creative stagnation as a result of being shoehorned into lore that was conceptualized in the early days of League of Legends, developer Riot Games has decided it is time for a rewrite.

“After a while, these early choices began to create unexpected problems. Every new champion needed a reason to join and remain in the League, and as their number grew, the net result was that over time the world started to feel, well, small, and eventually less interesting,” explained Riot’s Tommy Gnox in a recent blog post. “The institutions we’d designed fostered creative stagnation, limiting the ways that champions, factions and Runeterra itself could grow and change. Furthermore, the very idea of all-powerful Summoners made Champions little more than puppets manipulated by godlike powers. The background we’d created to explain in-game action was ultimately restricting the potential narrative development of the game’s defining characters.”

Although the argument can be made that most play League of Legends for the addictive, competitive gameplay, there’s still a large number of fans who enjoy the narrative aspect of it. In their first attempt, lore was used merely to explain the in-game action. Now, they are looking to push League’s story beyond its original focus.

“From champion interactions to bios to events (and beyond), we aim to expand the scope of League’s story and pursue a more dynamic and wide-ranging world fit for the outsized capabilities and personalities of our champions,” Gnox continued.

So what happens to the older story efforts like the Journal of Justice and League Judgments? Well, according to Gnox, they will still exist, but “in the same way that we can go back and enjoy old books, shows, films, art, and comics that have been superseded by more recent interpretations of the same material, League’s original lore remains a cherished part of its history.”

“Runeterra is a big place, with lots of room to be explored in different ways by different people – including players,” he added.

Gnox didn’t exactly detail what the future narrative of League would consist of, but did say one focus is on ensuring that champion identities remain consistent. “For example, Darius should always feel the same regardless of whether he’s administering an axe in a story piece, the game, or a cinematic.”

“Exploring champions’ backstories and motivations beyond what you see in the game doesn’t mean they’ll suddenly start feeling like different characters; what it does do is offer a huge spectrum of options for fleshing out personalities and deepening connections,” Gnox concluded.

“The point is simply that League of Legends constantly evolves, and, as it does, its narrative needs to evolve as well. We couldn’t be more thrilled to share this process with you and to hear what you have to say about it. More than anything, we want to rekindle the conversation with you.”

What do you think of a lore change in League of Legends?