#twisted fate legends of runeterra

[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).

[aurelion-solar]

Tales of Runeterra: Bilgewater Concept Art - Ihor Pasternak

[analligatorr]

next time.. maybe

[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.)

[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:

[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

[momhwa117]

League of legends fandom listen up!!...I need to know...

If there are other ships....let me know ...

[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)

[rexcat]

From Serpents Ch. 3: Twisting Streams of Fate:

In response to Tobias’s foray into the gambler’s den, phurra Ceija expressed her disappointment through a cautionary tale of the gambler and the demon Rūhi Ketzch, who was said to take the form of a catfish.

The tale goes that the gambler, fleeing his debts, made a deal with the gluttonous demon, only to be eaten along with his family. Or something like that. “You are lucky to make a mistake like this in Paretha, javi. The folk of Mudtown are not those that you would wish to mix with.”

Tobias furrowed his brow as if listening to her words seriously, but his mind was elsewhere. He didn’t really believe in demons. Or luck.

I have always interpreted this story as sort of an allegory for gambling addiction, but also there happens to be a literal demon lol. My idea is that TF's grandmother tells him this story to try and give him advice, but it sort of goes over his head.

[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

[aurelion-solar]

Artist Spotlight: Maisie Yang

Roles: Concept Artist, Art Director, Visual Development

Website - Twitter

In light of Riot Games laying off 11% of their staff globally, I want to make a series of posts highlighting the portfolios of those affected, so that we can appreciate their contributions to the world of Runeterra and continue to support them. You can find a full list of those known to be affected here.

Mount Targon - The Peak (sources 1, 2)

Zilean & Icathia - LoR Visdev (source)

"Double-Double Cross" Tales of Runeterra Cinematic - Twisted Fate Card Concept Art (source)

Demacian Wilderness (source)

Noxus - Universe Illustrations (sources 1, 2)

The Rakkor, The Solari & Targon Animal Species - Universe Illustrations (sources 1, 2, 3)

[analligatorr]

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

my fav interaction from LoR~

[ohnoitstbskyen]

I was watching your Udyr video, and it's fantastic. I really love the section about Udyr and Lee. I went to check out the skin spotlight video with all his new voicelines, and made the cardinal sin of looking in the comments for other excited queer people.

They were there, but there were so many people screaming about how they are Just Good Pals™, which was made doubly funny when I saw tons of people talking about how Udyr and Illaoi would make such a good couple and no one was busting out the dissertation on Platonic Heterosexuality on that one. We're stretching on "my spirit" but yeah, this woman he's never met would be PERFECT for him.

Anyway, I know you must see this stuff a lot in your videos, but I really appreciate you being so vocal about queerness in video games. It's really great to see

I mean, it really does sometimes feel like I am going insane when I point out the glaringly, WILDLY obvious queer subtext-- or, no, you know what, not even subtext: text -- in League of Legends characters' stories and relationship and a thousand of the most obtuse motherfuckers on the planet instantly materialize in my comments section to complain about how "why can't characters just be friends anymore?????"

I have never, not even once, had anyone post shit like that in my comments when I discuss a straight romance in anything, weirdly. It's very strange. They seemed so concerned about the sanctity of friendship. Maybe they just missed those videos.

Also, I have it on extremely good authority that Udyr and Lee Sin's relationship is romantic, it's meant to be understood as romantic, and they love each other in explicitly romantic ways. Like, Udyr's voice lines compare him to Kalkia very, very much on purpose. It is text, not subtext.

Additionally:

Lux's story is a metaphor for queerness

Neeko is lesbian

Nidalee is not straight

Taliyah is trans

Miss Fortune is turbo-sapphic, but too busy with vengeance to do anything about it

Graves is a disaster bisexual and Twisted Fate is his non-married husband

Taric is pan

Ekko and Ezreal are not straight and have a bromantic romantic on-again off-again disaster relationship in the Pulsefire universe

Caitlyn and Vi are deeply in lesbians

Draven is aro/ace but will make an exception for Draven

Diana and Leona are not sisters (please for the love of god stop believing this) and they are extremely bitter, toxic exes

Fiora is not interested in dating men, take a wild guess why

Varus is aro/ace, and he's got two wolves inside of him who are both gay

Irelia has at least one girlfriend

Seraphine and Zaun Diva, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i... well, actually they're probably singing a distressingly beautiful romantic duet of some kind

Vladimir is the queerest Dorian Gray motherfucker who ever walked on Runeterra's green grass. I can't justify this with lore, it is just obviously true

[funnyscienceman]

so recently i found this tier list someone made categorizing the source of each champion's powerset — tech, magic, they're a god, etc — and someone in the comments i think started getting specific about *where* magic came from, and came up with three categories: spritual, elemental, and celestial

(though come to think of it idk where rune magic factors into that]

and that got me thinking — where the fuck does TF's magic come from? In lore he can legit read his cards for information, the faces on the cards change, since he was a kid he'd been able to 'cheat' in card games because he just KNEW what the cards were and couldnt even explain how that happened. He has true sight, he can teleport over long distances, he can teleport Graves as long as he has the card, like what the heck is happening here?

Then earlier i was thinking… his three signature cards kinda fit each of the earlier categories, right?

Blue card always has smth to do with mana. In LoR it refills 1 spell mana and draws one, factoring into his lvl2 condition. In League i think it discounts mana? Either way it's something that directly benefits him. This could be spiritual, right?

Red card is direct damage. Idk what it is in League but in LoR it deals 1 to all enemies and the enemy nexus. It's the most physical of the three, it's an AoE, it's literally depicted with fire, so that ought to be elemental

Gold card is a stun. Again, idk what it is in League but in LoR it deals 2 and stuns the strongest enemy. It's associated with chains, and afaik the only other champs associated with chains are Sylas and Morgana. Sylas' chains are just a prison motif, but morgana? She's half-Aspect, and i know both hers' and TF's chain things stun or root the target, so… celestial?

But that still doesn't give any solid answers. I guess he's just a jack of all trades or smth??? But like with magic?????? Idk it just really makes me scratch my head, his powerset and its implications and what that means for how powerful he is, how powerful he could get. The eye motif he's got going on certainly doesn't help, they're kinda spooky…

…anyway all that and he uses it to scam people and commit crimes

[myprincero]

i love him i love him i love him thank you legends of runeterra 🥺