#twisted fate legends of runeterra

[aurelion-solar]

Sett, Twisted Fate, Jhin & Akshan - Rogues of Runeterra Event Promo Art

[thomas-jefferson-miku-binder]

Queer League of Legends Champions (with explanations) - Part II

Check out Part I

Confirmed Pansexuals – Twisted Fate

Twisted Fate was always speculated to be part of the LGBTQ+ community due to his, uh, flamboyancy. The sentiment that he felt something more for Graves was always there, portrayed in their stories through regret, friendship, and loyalty. The Boys and Bombolini color story officially confirmed him as queer, making TFGraves the faces of Pride 2022. This year, he was also seen with the pansexual flag in official pride art, with Riot finally labeling him. It's worth noticing a cute detail (that I doubt was intentional) where his card deck's colors form the colors of his flag!

Confirmed Queers – Ahri, Ekko, Evelynn, Ezreal, Kayn, Nidalee, Renata Glasc, Samira, Taric, Udyr

Ok, this is a long category. Here we have every champion we know for sure is queer, either through external confirmation (Ekko, Ezreal, Kayn, Renata Glasc, Taric), in-game dialogue (Nidalee, Samira, Udyr), or basic lore (Ahri, Evelynn). Let's start with the first group.

Throughout the first half of 2020, Riot released multiple chapters of a Pulsifire color story focused on Ezreal. It explored his relationships with numerous champions of the universe, but especially Ekko. The subtext was strong in this one, and the writer later took to Twitter to talk about how tough it was to have queer stories be censored when working for IPs, not so subtly mentioning Ezreal and Ekko after doing so. Even though Riot might not have agreed with making the Ezko relationship undeniably romantic, their love for one another is still an important part of the story, not to mention that it was the creator's intended vision to begin with. 

Renata Glasc was confirmed as sapphic by one of her creators when sharing concept art of her design. Checking the link to the original post, they seem to have deleted the excerpt that mentions it, but people took screenshots before they edited it, most likely because of Riot. Taric, on the other hand, has been speculated to be queer since forever, although the motives are not that pure. Many people saw this hairless, beautiful man that likes jewels and was like, "Huh, that sounds kinda gay," which was the common dudebro mentality of the fandom at the time of his release that caused a lot of homophobia within the player base (more than usual). They weren't wrong, seeing as Riot did include Taric in official 2023 pride art, but he was not seen wearing or holding any flags. After all, it would make sense that he likes everything—and everyone—beautiful. But either way, both Taric and Renata are non-specified queers.

Shieda Kayn is a weirder case. I thought a lot about whether I should even include him in this category at all. There are many accounts of people affirming one of Kayn's writers pictured him as having fluid sexuality, but since then, wherever it was posted, it's gone now. I do believe it since we can still find Reddit threads on the subject, but the original source is nowhere to be found. I still decided to put him here, but take it with a grain of salt.

Moving on to our next category, we have Nidalee, Samira, and Udyr. Samira flirts more than once with Elegant Edge in Legends of Runeterra, and her attraction for her is not subtle. As far as I'm aware, she's never expressed interest in men, but we can't say for sure whether she's bi, pan, or gay. Nidalee and Udyr have had speculated romantic interests in other champions for a while now. Nidalee with Neeko, Udyr with Lee Sin. Nidalee and Neeko's story was first portrayed as one-sided, with Neeko rejected by her friend, prompting them to part ways. On the other hand, the addition of both champions to Legends of Runeterra explored their relationship once again, with the two reuniting and Nidalee finally realizing she did love Neeko and simply didn't know how to deal with it all those years ago. A love song, Shine On, even accompanied the update, which narrates their story beautifully. They have many romantic voice lines now, both in LoR and League.

With Udyr's rework, people started realizing he digs Lee Sin through voice lines expressing how he misses his "old friend" and that he's "loved twice, left twice" (which applies to his relationship with Lee Sin). Besides, his design includes memorabilia he exchanged with Lee Sin when they parted ways. It is also important to mention he's had a wife before, so he swings both ways. I think the context gives more than enough clues for us to safely say Udyr is queer. 

Ahri and Evelynn are spirits/demons that prey on their victims (regardless of gender) through charm and seduction. Ahri is essentially a succubus, and Evelynn is the Demon of Agony, with desire and lust being important parts of their characters. It is also worth noting that Evelynn is genderfluid/agender, taking the form of anyone (or anything) that might lure her victims. So their lore essentially confirms them as not straight and not cis (on Evelynn's case, at least).

[analligatorr]

next time.. maybe

[funnyscienceman]

i miss this fucking game man

[flarree]

I don't know what I'm on but I just imagined after Arcanes done, they make an adventure-comedy treasure hunting show around these champions.

(I should stay on my meds.)

[violue]

making sure Arcane fans know about these two Actual Queers (gay, pan) who are quite married despite not being a couple

(although to be fair, these videos were made before they "came out")

[souvelitas]

love them

[myprincero]

"fate." "fortune."

alternate captions: "hahaha how are you so small" "nice pauldrons, which shipwreck did you drag them out of?" "we're just one graves short of a full house"

[fellafell-anthony]

Absolutely love these two but I struggle drawing big burly men

Graves is def one I will try to learn more to draw tho haha he still looks weird to me when I draw him TTvTT

[olwrat]

How Twisted Fate manages to breath two seconds without a bounty hunter trynna slash his throat, is beyond my understanding... Plus Graves, who probably has an even higher reward since he broke out of The Locker

These two are two ambulant gold mines... Even if somehow they manage to be eternally out of money

(on the right side, you can see his bounty reward)

[aurelion-solar]

Tales of Runeterra: Bilgewater Concept Art - Ihor Pasternak

[thomas-jefferson-miku-binder]

Queer League of Legends Champions (with explanations) – Part I

Confirmed Lesbians – Neeko, Leona, Diana, Caitlyn, Vi

Starting off with probably the most known LGBTQ+ characters of Riot, we have Neeko, Leona, Diana, Caitlyn, and Vi, all canon lesbians. Neeko's sexuality was a big deal when first announced, not only because she was the first canon queer champion of League but also because her sexuality is explicitly portrayed through her voice lines, as she often flirts with female champions and shows a disinterest in the Shoo'ma of men she shapeshifts into. 

A number of different Rioters have confirmed that Leona and Diana were always meant to be lovers, but someone at Riot Management decided against it, and so they were portrayed as almost sisterly in the old lore. Fast-forward to the present day, they are gay and LOUD about it! The Rise With Me short story officially canonized the couple, and official pride art showed both of them with the lesbian flag. 

Caitlyn and Vi were already a popular ship before their romantic interest in one another became explicit, as shown in Arcane, Legends of Runeterra, and more subtly in the Warriors cinematic. They have also been shown in official pride art holding or wearing the lesbian flag, and they even share a Valentine's Day skin. It's worth adding that Vi also shares another romance-themed skin line with Fiora, and they seem to be very good friends there, but we'll get into that later.

Confirmed Gays – K'Sante, Graves, Aphelios

K'Sante's sexuality, like Neeko's, has been an important part of his character since release. His cinematic and color story both mention Tope, his past male lover, and he was the face of League Pride 2023 alongside Vi.

Graves and Twisted Fate were reportedly, like Diana and Leona, meant to be lovers from day one, but Riot didn't like that (how novel) and scratched that part of their story, simply leaving them as crime partners, nothing else. Burning Tides and Destiny and Fate have been amazing at developing their relationship, but the real confirmation comes with The Boys and Bombolini, which officially confirmed Graves as gay and T.F. as being attracted to him. 

Lastly, we have Aphelios. He and Sett have been a popular ship since the Spirit Blossom release, a skin line that makes them boyfriends, which already confirms him as queer. Throughout this year, Riot has been reposting and sharing Settphel art, which doesn't necessarily mean anything, but what really grabs attention is that they also shared fanart of Aphelios with the toothpaste gay flag, leading me to classify him as such.

Confirmed Bisexuals – Nami, Rell, Sett

Nami surprised pretty much everyone when her addition to Legends of Runeterra confirmed her as polyamorous, being in a relationship with Loto and Tama, other Marai of her tribe. One of the people who worked on her character explicitly highlighted the relationship and affirmed that Nami was pansexual. Since then, Riot has promoted her (through official pride art and LoR emotes) as bisexual. It's a bit unclear how she should be labeled, but one thing is sure: she's queer.

Rell is another champion whose queerness was stated on her debut. Rell had flirtatious lines with both men and women in League and was explicitly labeled as bisexual by her creators, also being confirmed through official pride art.

Finally, there's Sett. People have been speculating on his sexuality for a while, but things changed when Spirit Blossom came along, and he was portrayed as Aphelios' boyfriend. Since then, Sett has been seen in reposted League fanart with the bi flag.

Check out Part II

[analligatorr]

Yes, Legends of Runeterra, where is his better half??🤨

my fav interaction from LoR~

[funnyscienceman]

TF decks except they're all unplayable because i'm bad at deck building it's just champions TF has even the slightest relation to because graves still isn't in LoR

bonus:

[brightm8]

(Some spoilers for Arcane Season 2)

Ok so I've been developing a bit of a theory surrounding the lore of League of Legends and Arcane, and at first I was pretty invested in it but it's getting to the point now where I'm getting upset.

The thing is, Riot wants to take the incredible lore from Arcane and combine it with the fragmented but still cool lore from the games, mainly League of Legends, but also Wild Rift and Legends of Runeterra. And there's a really straightforward way to do this.

All of the characters in League of Legends are legends. These are the heroes and monsters that appear in the stories that inhabitants of Runeterra tell each other. Darius' conquests are described in detail across Ionia and Noxus. Azir's name forms the foundations of Shuriman history books. Fiora is idolized, Bard is worshiped. Mothers tell their children of Fiddlesticks to keep them from sneaking out at night, and their spouses of Evelynn for the same reason.

I tried to look for exceptions to this pattern, but each time I thought I was onto something, the wiki went out of its way to prove their status as a legend. Quinn, for instance:

[Text: She and her legendary eagle, Valor]

Or Gragus:

[Text: he is legendary for the brawls he starts]

Kog'maw, Graves, and Twisted Fate were the closest I could find to "dudes minding their own business," so you can make of that what you will. But I remain convinced that the characters incorporated into the game League of Legends must, clearly, be Legends.

Thus, all that fragmented lore about these characters we gather from the wiki, and the voicelines, and the character models and skins, is simply the version of these characters that people tell each other about. Everyone knows Vi as the punchy, girly enforcer with hot pink hair and an attitude. The other enforcers can't get enough of her gutsy stories about invading Zaun. So that's the version we see. We see the rumors, the tales, and the myths.

Meanwhile, I perceive the longer form media like Arcane (and likely the novel Ruination, too, but I haven't read it yet) to be a more accurate retelling of what actually happened to these people. Vi's hair isn't that bubblegum pink everyone says it is; it's closer to red than anything. Jinx is truly lonely, Heimerdinger wise, and Singed... well... "sane" may be too strong a word.

But the point is, the versions of these characters from the games aren't any less canon, because the stories about them, around which these perceptions are formed, are just as integrated into the world of Runeterra as the people themselves.

We see this with Janna, whose legends line the walls of Zaun's alleyways. The iconography of her, portrayed in Arcane, is faithful to her character in game. In game, we play as the wind goddess who Zaunites say swept away the toxic Gray, and whose statues are still maintained and worshiped. But for all we know, there never really was a real Janna. For all we know, she was a myth passed down and molded for generations.

And this is beautiful. And it very conveniently explains why these characters are all fighting each other on some kind of oddly shaped battlefield. It's the equivalent of two 8-year-olds with action figures, using their imaginations with the characters they know from fairytales and horror stories. And the real people that these characters are modeled after could just.. sit there and watch.

So this is where I get a little upset. Because Riot, I believe, is attempting to combine the lores of Arcane, League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra, etc. using some kind of Multiverse theory. And I couldn't tolerate that. I'm done with multiverses. I'm only tolerating the Spider-verse because it's well-written and I want them to take their time. But manufacturing some magical reason that there are two Caitlyns, one who is deep and tragic and one who is flat and haughty, will only pit these versions of the characters against each other. And ALL they need to do to avoid this is confirm that the version of Caitlyn we play as in League of Legends is the person that Piltover children perceive her to be.

Anyway, this scares me because, as of now, only three episodes of Arcane season two have been released, and there is a real threat that they will use the "Arcane" to explain some kind of multiverse theory. Jayce, for example (Spoilers!!) saw infinite versions of himself when he touched the big weird orb. If my guess is correct, I still trust the writers to handle this "wild runes interact with other dimensions" premise properly, because they are god-like (legendary, even). But it doesn't bode well for the rest of the lore once that doorway has been opened.

But I mean. No matter what, I love to play the game and hear these characters interact and feel like I'm not just hearing their voice, but also the voices of thousands and millions of Runeterran people each telling their stories through their cherished Legends.

[thehigherthetide]

lgbtq+ league of legends characters before pride month ends

aphelios has only ever been depicted in an mlm relationship (with sett)

blitzcrank is referred to using they/them pronouns. occasionally it/its. in one instance, he/him in the bees skinline

caitlyn smooches women

cho’gath doesn’t exist or something but is referred to using it/its

diana smooches leona (league of legends instagram promised me that leona and diana live happily ever after)

ekko is probably bi. he’s had a crush on jinx. in pulsefire, he and ezreal were romantically involved in some way. i believe a rioter said that they want to keep sexualities consistent across universes (ie across skinlines) though i’m not sure how recently this statement was made

evelynn changes her form (and gender) to best seduce her victims (whose genders do not matter)

ezreal is probably bi. several voice lines imply he has a crush on lux. see pulsefire ekko

fiddlesticks is referred to as it/they and is a corrupt magical girl in star guardians

fiora is implied to not be attracted to men even though she likes master yi in immortal journey

graves = gay

irelia probably smooches women and should be smooching me

kayn was once described to have a fluid preference in partners

k’sante gay

lee sin maybe had a romantic relationship with udyr but i don’t really care for either of them tbh

leona - see diana

lux makes rainbows and is forced to hide her true self. she might not be gay but some might find her story relatable in that way

miss fortune has suggestive interactions with vi in legends of runeterra

nami has a gf and a bf and they all hold hands and love each other and they both support her and riot games retconned nami and the marai being from targon even though i wrote a ten page fanfic of her journey to ionia to search for diana

neeko is a lesbian

nidalee reciprocates neeko’s feelings for her i think

nocturne is referred to using he/it pronouns. idc what anyone says i love u nocturne

rell is bi

samira once had a non-binary lover

seraphine might smooch girls

sett is bisexual

taliyah is trans

taric was made to be a gay stereotype though i’m not sure where he stands now. also is it troll to play q max taric bc porofessor recommends e max but i only play him in aram

twisted fate is pan and does gay crimes with graves

udyr - see lee sin

varus has two gay men inside him so ya

vel’koz was also confirmed to be non-binary in the instagram post i previously mentioned. this is not reflected in their bio. tbh all void creatures are kinda meant to be genderless but idk

vi smooches caitlyn