If there’s something gamers love in the fantasy genre, it’s when ancient beings are sealed inside cool swords, from which they can only whisper and beguile mortal beings. League of Legends takes this concept even further with the Darkin by creating a whole arsenal of evil weapons containing ancient evils.
The Darkin had a rough start in the lore, but the constant cycle of Riot revising and retconning its previous works have led to them becoming one of the most fascinating groups in all of Runeterra. Recent lore revelations suggest that they’re about to become important in the ongoing storyline spun up by the conclusion to Arcane.
Wait, what’s up with Noxus?
Riot revamped the way seasons work in League of Legends to feel more like narrative events that take the time to explore factions. The first region to benefit from this was Noxus, where we learned more about LeBlanc and Vladimir, the Black Rose, and their ongoing schemes. At the end of the season start cinematic, “Bite Marks,” we see LeBlanc and Vladimir scheming in a direct follow-up to the Arcane finale.
“Every new path seems to lead us closer to chaos. Perhaps we should focus on the opportunity that’s washed up on our shores,” says Vladimir, the hemomancer (or blood mage, for the uninitated) with a dark past. The two look at a mysterious rune formed on LeBlanc’s wall of mist and shadows, and Vladimir reacts with anger: “Darling, that is a step too far. Even for us.”
We weren’t fully sure what “that” meant until LeBlanc’s new in-game update, which includes new voice lines. If she kills a Darkin in-game, she muses: “Almost too easy. Perhaps you’re not the weapon I seek after all.”
On Wednesday, Riot released a new cinematic that follows up “Bite Marks” and the Demon’s Hand in-client card game from March, and it gives us more clarity on the Black Rose’s plans. A Darkin is seemingly hidden in Ionia, the first lands and another hugely popular region in League lore.
What’s a Darkin, and why does LeBlanc care about them?
The current Darkin canon that we have now is stitched together from a series of retcons and rewrites. Aatrox, who was originally released in 2013, had a vague backstory about being one of an ancient race, of which there were only five remaining. In the current lore, they are fallen god-warriors of a long-dead empire, twisted by trauma and an incredibly destructive force.
Shurima is a setting of ruins, the remains of an ancient empire built around a celestial Sun Disc. The Sun Disc is millennia old, and it originally helped Shurima expand into a vast empire. One specific honor for the Shurimans was the ritual of Ascension. Noble figures and mighty warriors could be presented to the Sun Disc, and if found worthy, reincarnated into a massive combination of both man and beast.
These would become the fabled god-warriors, the Ascended of Shurima, who inspired awe in any who beheld them. Eventually, the empire would fall in two terrible strokes. First, the emperor’s attempt at Ascension was sabotaged, cracking the Sun Disc and causing a catastrophic shockwave that devastated everything around it. Second, the people of Icathia rose up against the tyrannical emperor, and pulled upon the malignant powers of the Void. They failed, and now Icathia is a festering, extraplanar pit that threatens anyone who settles in southern Shurima.
Those who had fought the Void called themselves the Sunborn, and they viciously fought to fill the power vacuum left by the emperor. Their conflict lasted for hundreds of years and threatened all of Runeterra. Even distant Camavor was so threatened that they sent Vladimir, their noble son, off to be a slave to one of these warlords — who are now known as the Darkin. The Darkin were petty and cruel, using war crimes and forbidden arts like blood magic to expand their reach.
Image: Riot Games
Ultimately, celestial mages schemed to murder a mass of the remaining Darkin, and then hunted down the survivors, trapping them in weapons. These weapons are prisons that keep their minds conscious and aware but with no physical form. The only chance for escape is a mortal host (or hosts, in the case of Varus and Naafiri) to seize the weapon out of ignorance or desperation. Vladimir killed his own Darkin captor, learned the secrets of blood magic, and escaped to the plains that would later become Noxus. This explains why he’s so hesitant to pursue the Darkin — he had one for a boss, and it didn’t work out well for anyone.
For the moment, we can assume that the Darkin storyline will be continued in season two. This suggests that Ionia will be the most likely destination for the next season of League of Legends, and we may see a Darkin champion emerge. It’s still early days, and Riot has yet to confirm anything about the next season, so all we can do is speculate. However, the latest cinematic seems to foreshadow that the deadly Darkin will return sooner rather than later.
Why It MattersLike many League players, I have a love-hate relationship with the game and my fellow League players, but I’ve spent a decade happily playing it on an almost daily basis. League provides a constant challenge for my competitive side, as well as a fun outlet for cooperative gaming with friends.
— Pete Volk, Senior Curation Editor
