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thebossveigar · 5 years

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Return to Bandle City pt. 2

Later that night, Veigar was preparing for the journey ahead. He wasn’t sure how long finding a gateway would take, but he had a feeling that he’d be traveling alongside Lulu for much longer than he would like.

Before setting out to the Silent Forest to meet up with Lulu, Veigar was going to steal some food from some Boleham farmers, and from their small bakeshop. It was late at night, so Veigar knew everyone was asleep. He grabbed an empty potato sack from the back of a villager’s house, and blasted down the fence that was around the fields with a bit of magic, then he headed into the fields.

The villager had been growing mostly vegetables in their small fields, with some fruit trees past the fields. Not too much of the produce was ripe, either due to the bad season or due to Veigar throwing some small Baleful Strikes into the fields in the past, just to mess with them.

‘What a sorry farmer this guy is.” Veigar thought to himself, ignoring the fact he’s likely the reason half the field is in ruin. He managed to get some tomatoes and some small melons from the fields, and some apples and apricots from the trees. Veigar left through the fence he knocked down, and was heading towards the small bakeshop.

The bakeshop was a bit harder to steal from. Veigar didn’t find it worth the effort to risk getting caught trying to break a window, so he went around back. Going inside would get him the freshly baked stuff that was made earlier in the day, but there was some stale stuff that was always left out for animals. Veigar went behind the shop, and there was a crate on the ground that had slightly stale goods in it. Muffins, half a loaf of bread and some biscuits. Veigar took all of it and was ready to go now. He started heading back to the Silent Forest while the villagers were still asleep.

Veigar had made his way to the forest, around where Lulu was supposed to meet up with him. He sat down on the ground, and pulled out one of the muffins from the potato sack to eat while he waited for her. He was getting impatient and irritable.

“Lulu? Where the hell are you?” Veigar groaned to himself, looking around for the yordle girl. Lulu overheard his complaining, and came out from the bushes, with Pix fluttering by her. “I’m here, sorry.” she said to him, while dusting some leaves off of her dress. Veigar looked up at her. She had leaves and twigs all throughout her hair. “What the hell were you doing?” he asked her, while putting the sack of food in front of her.

Lulu sat down, and opened the sack. She picked out a muffin and some strawberries to eat. “I was looking for Pix.” she says. “He likes to run off. I found him just a bit before you started groaning. Where did you get this food by the way?”

“Stole it from some villagers.” Veigar responded, pulling an apple out of the bag.

Lulu choked on her muffin. “Stole?!” she exclaimed. “Why would you steal?” she asked Veigar this with wide eyes.

Veigar shook his head. “Lulu, I told you I have nothing, didn’t I? How else do you expect us to eat? You can’t possibly think we’ll be able to go without food for long” he explained this to her in a stern, slightly angry tone. “I can handle getting food. I’ve lived my whole life stealing.”

Lulu was a bit disheartened she had to live off stolen food, but she knew Veigar was right. Neither of them have any money, and they do have to eat.

Veigar finished his apple, flinging the core of it into the bushes. “Now” he says “let’s start looking for the gateway, shall we? It’s what we’re here to do, not sit around and chat about life.”

“Right.” Lulu says, while opening her bag. She pulled out the map and handed it to Veigar. Veigar took the map from her, and unraveled it.

“We can start either here in Noxus, or go to Demacia in the west. Either work fine for me.” Veigar says, pointing to their location on the map. “Do you know what one would be closest?” he asks Lulu.

Lulu pulled some twigs out of her hair while thinking. “I know where one is in Demacia. Right down here.” she pointed to a cliffside south of the capital city. It was on a ledge overseeing the Conqueror’s Sea.

Veigar looked at the spot. “This will do nicely.” he says “It’s not too far, a day or two walk for us. We just have to be careful and travel off-road. We don’t want to be caught by mageseekers.” he explained to her.

Lulu was confused, and curious. “Veigar, what’s a mageseeker?” she asked him this with curiosity in her eyes.

Veigar was frustrated that she knew nothing. “Demacia is an anti-magic kingdom. Mageseekers find mages, mainly in the capital city, and execute them.” he snapped at her. Lulu jumped back, partially due to Veigar going off on her so suddenly, and partially hearing about mageseekers.

Lulu looked like she was about to cry. “Mageseekers sound scary. When I was in Demacia, I never saw them, so I didn’t know they existed.” she said somberly.

Veigar was surprised to hear she had been to Demacia. He wanted to ask her why, but it would have to wait until later. “We should get going. While we’re travelling, I want you to explain gateways to me, how they work and what they look like, alright?” he said this to her while tying up the sack up, to hopefully keep things fresh.

Lulu nodded. She picked her staff off the ground and was ready to head off. The two yordles started their travels towards Demacia.

‘Hopefully, this gateway will be active and we can go our separate ways.’ Veigar thought to himself.

Veigar and Lulu had been travelling all the next day, and it was getting late into the night. While Veigar could keep going all night, Lulu was slogging behind him. She looked ready to collapse, and Pix had already fallen asleep on her hat.

Veigar looked on the map for their location, they were still a bit of a ways from the gateway. It would take at least another day or two of walking to get there, and they needed to rest.

Veigar sat down by the mountainside. Veigar assumed they’d be alright here. They were shielded by some tall mountains, and it’s unlikely anyone would be out at such a remote place.

“Alright, Lulu. You’ve seen gateways before, tell me what they look like.” Veigar said, while looking at her.

Lulu let out a yawn, and sat down next to Veigar. “Well… they’re these big, yellow portals that have the crest of Bandle City on them. I think I have a picture of one in my book here.” Lulu reached into her bag take out her photo book and opened it, she turned to a page and handed the book to Veigar.

Veigar looked at the gateway. Seeing the gateway, even in just a photograph, made Veigar’s heart race. The gateway gave him a weird feeling of hope inside of him, but he didn’t want to show Lulu that.

Veigar turned his head to the right to see that Lulu had fallen asleep. He was going to give the book back to her. Since she was asleep, he thought there was no harm in looking at more of the book.

Veigar flipped to the next page and saw a picture of a bustling town full of yordles. Some of the yordles were children playing by a river, some of them were adults that were trading materials and fruits Veigar had never seen before, and some were just going about their daily lives. The picture gave him a feeling of safety, and deep down, a feeling of happiness. He wasn’t used to these feelings, but he welcomed them.

While Veigar didn’t want to admit it, he did appreciate Lulu helping him find Bandle. Despite his hostility towards her, she still helped him. ‘I wonder why’ he thought.

‘Why would she help me? I was incredibly rude and mean to her. Maybe it’s because she has nowhere else to go. She did tell me she was exiled from Bandle City after all. I never did ask her why she got exiled anyway.’ these thoughts stayed on Veigar’s mind. He could ask her why she got exiled in the morning, but it’s none of his business anyway.

Veigar looked in their sack of food - it was getting low on food. Just a bit of bread and a biscuit left. He looked at his map for any nearby towns to smuggle some food from.

There was a town not super far from them called Old Bargate. Veigar raveled up the map and put it back in Lulu’s bag, along with her photo book. He grabbed the sack and swung it over his back, and snuck away from where Lulu was resting, and headed to Old Bargate.

Upon arriving at Old Bargate, Veigar scanned over the town quickly. With his quick glance, he noticed a bakeshop, bigger than the one back in Boleham, but still not big, a field with honey melons growing and some berry bushes.

Veigar walked over towards the bakeshop and noticed this one leaves their baked goods out overnight. Veigar let out a small chuckle. “It’s almost like they want to be robbed.” he said under his breath.

Veigar grabbed everything they left out. Bread, muffins, cookies, brownies, and some biscuits. The owners of the bakeshop even left out some plastic bags, so Veigar could wrap everything up. “Demacian villagers are as dumb as Noxian ones.” Veigar said to himself.

Next Veigar went towards the berry bushes. He picked off every berry on one of the bushes, and put them in a plastic bag in the sack. He started picking off more from another bush. One of the villagers was still awake and had seen Veigar outside in her berries.

The villager opened her door, and Veigar’s ears perked under his hat. “Fuck.” he whispered. Veigar had bolted towards the gate of the town before the villager could get catch sight of him. Veigar was nearly out of breath from running so fast. He didn’t have to run far, just fast. While he wish he had gotten more, he didn’t have a choice but to leave with what he had.

On his way back, Veigar saw a large white building in the distance. ‘That must be the capital city.’ he thought. ‘We’re too far up, we need to head south more or we’ll both be caught.’’ Veigar was out of breath from running. No one saw him, or at least that’s what Veigar hopes. He could see their spot up ahead, and Lulu was already awake.

“Up so soon?” he asked her, completely out of breath. He put the sack of food down. “Here, I got us more food.” Veigar opened the sack and took out a muffin and some berries for himself, then handed the sack to Lulu.

Lulu’s eyes lit up when she saw all the food Veigar had brought. She got herself a muffin, broke off a piece of bread and took the rest of the berries Veigar didn’t take. “You know, I thought you left me.” Lulu said quietly.

Veigar looked at Lulu with a brow raised. “Why would I abandon you?” he asked, still tired from running from the villagers. “I still need your help. You have my map, and you know more about Bandle City than I do.” he explained this to her in a nice tone, nice for Veigar at least.

Lulu smiled when he said this. “You say you’re evil, and act all mean and tough, so I thought you wouldn’t care if you left me here or not.” she giggled, she was happy to hear Veigar wouldn’t abandon her randomly.

Veigar just ignored her and finished eating. He still wanted to ask her why she got exiled from Bandle, but he’d worry about that later. Right now he wanted to get moving before the silverwings woke up and found them.

Veigar stood up. He tied the sack and put it over his back. “Alright Lulu” he says “Let’s get going.” he was already walking in the direction they needed to head. “We need to be a bit more south. When I was out stealing food for us, I saw a building from the capital.”

Lulu stood up to follow him. She was twirling her hair and asked him “Can I see the capital? When I was here last time, my friend Tristana didn’t let me see it.”

Veigar thought about it for a minute. “You should be able to see it while we’re heading towards the gateway. You’ll be able to see it for a bit before we head off.”

Lulu’s ears perked. “R-really?” she said happily, “Thank you, Veigar!”

Veigar just rolled his eyes, and had a faint smile under his hat. He found her to be annoying as hell, but did enjoy her company. ‘Maybe’ he thought, ‘Maybe having a friend won’t be so bad after all.’

The two yordles travelled most of the next day. They were so close to their destination - Veigar could feel it. They were on the Evenmoor mountains, and Demacia’s capital was in the distance.

Veigar nudged Lulu. “There it is.” he says with his finger pointed to the north. “The ‘great’ city of Demacia.”

Lulu’s eyes had a sparkle in them. “Wow! They use a pretty white stone for all their buildings, it looks nice. I wish we could visit it.” she said excitedly.

Veigar kept moving. He wasn’t interested in looking at the capital like Lulu was - he was interested in getting to the cliffside. “Come on Lulu.” he shouted, as he was already heading down the mountains while she was looking at Demacia.

“Coming!” she eagerly responded, taking one last glance at the city before following Veigar down the mountains. “I like Demacia. It looks so pretty.” she said to him.

“You like everything.” he mumbled. “If we keep moving at this pace, we should be at the cliffside tonight.” Veigar was getting tired, but he didn’t want to rest until they at least got there.

The mountains weren’t the most fun way to travel, but it was that or risk being seen by mageseekers roaming around the capital. At least on the mountains they were safe from Demacians.

“We should probably move a little faster.” Veigar said to Lulu. “These mountains are silverwing territory. We shouldn’t stick around, they’re rather territorial and aggressive.”

“Silverwing?” Lulu asked.

“Silverwing raptors. They’re sort of gryphon-like creatures that live on mountainsides in Demacia.” Veigar responded.

Veigar looked around, he saw a full grown silverwing sleeping on a rock in the distance. Veigar whispered, trying to not wake the silverwing up. “I don’t know if we could take on a group of silverwings. Maybe we could take on one or two, but if we got found by more we’re as good as dead.” he started heading in a different direction, just in case that silverwing had friends. “Let’s move down south.” he whispered.

Lulu saw the same silverwing Veigar had saw. “It looks really pretty.” she whispered to Veigar. “It’s like a big bird.”

“Yeah.” Veigar responded. “And if we don’t move we may end up as its lunch.”

Veigar was joking with that last comment about being its lunch. He was getting comfortable around Lulu so he felt fine about joking, though Lulu took the remark seriously and didn’t say anything. She kept following Veigar down the mountainside silently.

It took the two almost three hours to get down the mountains. Lulu almost tripped down the mountains, so Pix ended up flying instead of resting on Lulu’s hat the whole time. To Veigar’s surprise, they didn’t attract any silverwings to their attention.

‘Perhaps what I read was false, or maybe we just got really lucky.’ he thought. Veigar turned to Lulu. She tore her pants and scraped her knee on the way down.

“Are you okay Lulu?” Veigar asked, sounding concerned.

“You care?” Lulu giggled. “I’m fine. I get cuts and scrapes often, don’t worry about it. I didn’t realize you cared.”

Veigar blinked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” he snapped. “I just had to make sure you wouldn’t slow me down. Now, hand me the map. I want to see how close we are.

Lulu had a smile on her face. ‘Veigar does see me as a friend.’ she thought. She pulled out the map from her bag. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” he grumbled. He looked at the map, they were almost there. “Let’s have a short rest. I’m hungry, I’m tired. I’m going to go down to the river for a drink after. You can come to if you want.” he sat down under a nearby tree and Lulu sat next to him.

Veigar was mad at himself. He accidentally showed he cared for her, even though he didn’t want to admit it. ‘I could’ve just been honest.’ he thought. ‘I can’t let my stupid feelings get in my way. I’ll tell her I’d like to be friends later.’

He did have one thing to ask Lulu, before they set off again - and that was why Lulu got exiled from Bandle.

“Hey, Lulu. There’s something I’ve wanted to ask since you first brought it up.”

Lulu looked up at him. “Oh? What is it?” she replied.

“You said you got exiled from Bandle, how did that happen?” he asked.

Veigar saw Lulu hang her head down in shame. “My magic.” she answered somberly.

Veigar was confused by this answer. “Your magic? Why did that get you exiled?” he asked.

“My magic is different from everyone elses. I was gifted fae magic from Pix,and I tried to show it to everyone in Bandle. I turned some kids my age into squirrels and flowers for a few seconds, and all the adults freaked out.” she explained, with tears in her eyes. “They considered me a threat and exiled me. I never saw my parents before I got exiled since they were on a trip.”

Veigar was disheartened listening to this, though he made sure to hide it this time. ‘She really doesn’t have anyone. No wonder she clung to me so fast.’ he thought to himself.

“Sorry that happened.” Veigar said to her, giving her a small pat on the back. “Let’s get something to drink, and rest up a bit. I’m tired from climbing down the mountain, I need a nap.”

Veigar was back to his normal passive aggressive tone, even though he did want to open up to her a bit. He didn’t feel quite ready to accept Lulu as a friend.

Lulu wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up. “Alright. I could use a bit of sleep after all of that, too.” she said somberly.

Veigar stretched and went towards the river. ‘If Lulu got exiled for doing something like that, I wonder if I’d even be accepted in Bandle.’ his mind was racing with these thoughts, and would be plaguing him for the night.

‘I guess there’s only one way to find out.’

#veigar #veigar league of legends #League of Legends #Bandle City #yordle

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rebelmagic · 4 years

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If you could drain Garen's Demacian Steel sword, shouldn't you be able to drain Lux and Galio too? Big guy is just scary upgrade package delivered for free.

“I’m flattered that you think me that capable, but this is all so much easier said than done.” He chuckles, but at least it’s in good faith.

“Sure I’m fast, but am I faster than light itself? Not sure... Along that vein of thought, I’d rather not risk getting crushed by the mere thumb of the colossus for a chance to take what raw magics that oaf has been hoarding for centuries.”

“I’m not saying it will never happen— because it will— but it’s better to consolidate your losses and live to fight another day, than to risk everything over one battle in the midst of a war.”

#yordleassault

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thenoxiangrandgeneral · 5 years

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ALL the fear themed questions >:)

| Fear-Themed HCs | @shensheng-aoman |

//Cas lemme start this off by saying I hate you and I deserved this for what I made you write back then :^)

Spiders: Does your muse squish bugs or put them outside? //Every creepy-crawly gets the “You get to live” - pass from Swain. They haven’t done any harm to him, so why bother them when they don’t bother you?

The Dark: Did your muse sleep with a nightlight as a child? //Yes, Yes he did. In secret since Swain’s parents were tough to him and they expected a lot of things from him even at a very young age. At the end they found out and he didn’t sleep with a light after that.

Snakes: Would your muse ever keep an unusual/exotic pet? //He would and he already has one. Drake-Hound given to him by an anonymous person. He wouldn’t take another one, since it was a real pain to train the first one. But the one he has seen up close and personal is a Silverwing Raptor. That beast fascinated him from the moment he saw it - He has yet to find a way to obtain one.

Blood: What’s the worst injury your muse has ever had? //He’s worst one definitely the whole Ionia incident, but if we don’t count that, then there was one time he got speared quite badly in a battle.

Clowns: Does your muse prefer comedy? Or horror? //Horror, he’s not really a comedy type of person.

Mirrors: What is your muse’s least favorite thing about their appearance? //Swain really dislikes the fact that he is missing an eye. He covers that eye whenever he goes out in public, but only to those close to him will he feel comfortable enough to show it.

Tight Space: Does your muse ever feel that they’re not living up to their own potential? //Sometimes, but Swain has asserted his dominance in many occasions already, but the fact that other members from The Black Rose plot behind his back, makes him feel like he isn’t doing enough.

Closet Monsters: Does your muse hide any aspects of their personality/life from others? //His chronic pains have gotten worse over the year, which has made him more aggressive by default, but he hides this by a harsh training section from time to time.

Crowds: What does your muse think of big cities? //Being stationed in the capital of Noxus? He doesn’t mind big cities. Actually Swain really enjoys the city atmosphere, especially when it comes to Piltover.

Death: Name one thing your muse has lost that they wish they could get back. //His parents, Even though they were strict, unloving and cold towards them, Swain secretly loved and respected them deeply. Yes.. even when he looked them in the eye one last time, before killing them both.

Ghosts: Has your muse ever seen something they couldn’t explain? //Many things, but to be fair, nothing surprises him. Neither then, nor now.

Needles: Does your muse have a strong stomach? //Of course. You need to have a strong stomach to with stand the carnage of the battle field.

Curses: Does your muse believe in good/bad luck? How about karma? //There is no such thing as good or bad luck to Swain. But karma is something he strongly believes in.

Heights: Is your muse a risk-taker? //Like Swain says: “A calculated risk is no risk at all.” So yes in a way, if he has calculated every possible out come, before he does anything.

Solitude: Name 3 things your muse couldn’t live without. //To be honest with you.. The Demon is one thing, at this point in time, that Swain couldn’t live without anymore accompanied by his current state of power and well Noxus itself.

Fire: Would your muse rather be very cold, or very hot? //Swain would rather be very hot, he thinks it’s easier to take off clothes, rather than put more on.

Failure: Has your muse ever given up on an important dream? //No, Ruling Noxus was his biggest, most important dream and he accomplished it.

Abandonment: How would your muse win back someone who left them? //I don’t really believe he would try.. If they left him for any sort of reason, it was their choice and why would he run after people when there is more important matters to attend to?

The Unknown: Is your muse a philosophical person? //No, not really. He’s rather a man of doing and focusing on the present, than to over think the past, future and meaning of everything.

Boogeyman: What position does your muse sleep in? //Depends really, but there are two main positions: First is if he has just had a feast. He sleeps on his side, hugging a huge pillow against himself. Second is his normal way of sleeping. Face buried in pillows, laying on his stomach, just snoring away~

Falling: What does your muse think about falling in love or commitment? //Swain believes strongly that falling in love is something that everyone feels at least once in their life.

Change: What was a turning point in your muse’s life? //I’m gonna sound like a broken record, but: The Battle of Placidium. The near death experience made him realize that there is more potential in him than he originally thought.

Disease: What does your muse do on a sick day? //Swain, if he’s really sick, will still do work to some extend until he runs out of energy. When he is really sick, he stays in bed, cursing the sickness for making him bedridden and not being able to work. He may ask Darius to take care of him, if the other is not too busy with anything at the time.

Number 13: Does your muse believe any superstitions? //Of course he does, there is nothing on Valoran that he doesn’t believe in.

Noise: Name one sound your muse finds absolutely unbearable. //High pitched noises. Swain himself doesn’t understand why he can’t stand them, but it’s the Demon who can’t bare those kind of noises.

Insects: Name something your muse finds gross or annoying. //Other than the mind set of Demacians towards mages? Maybe people who aren’t true to themselves. He has been like that and oh how much it annoyed him..

Dolls: Has your muse ever collected something? //No, but if he would he would collect old coins from all over Valoran.

Getting Old: Would your muse rather live 50 years loved, or 200 years alone? //“It’s better to be feared than loved.” I guess that answers it, Swain really wants to be a man feared. And being loved by everyone is not a thing he would be too keen on.

Social Phobia: Does your muse consider themselves an outgoing person? //When it’s necessary, yes. But Swain rather locks himself in his office and does some paper work.

#It is just as the spies described. A pity I had them executed. [Headcanons]#shensheng-aoman #//Ugh! DONE!#//I hate you so much >:C

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fatebreaking-a · 5 years

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on the musician and magic and the crown and all of it

One of the major things to pay attention to is the simple fact that no one ever calls out the musician. Not in lore, not in voice lines, the closest thing we get is morg’s voice line to her (which again doesn’t talk about her magic, but her existence, her being, her soul sings for a forgotten world or whatnot)

So you consider that okay she’s at least not in the public eye for magic. We would have heard something about it, right? Something? So she’s not on the magic people registry and isn’t confirmed to be a mage and somehow the mageseekers haven’t noticed either. Somehow. So she’s either weak enough to pass by without notice or strong enough to hide her magic or make people look the other way.

And there’s an argument for her being strong, not just in the implication that she can manipulate people’s feelings in her bio, but in the Call of Power short w/ the Rune Mage. She’s strong enough to help him, at least. To lift people up in the air with one chord.

So she’s strong. And she’s willing to go out of her way to help Ryze, a mage, deal with world-threatening problems. Which means she’s not against mages in general, and she’s got a global perspective at least. She sees beyond Demacia (which makes sense, as the Ionia-Noxus conflict should strongly affect her perception - one may make a case that Morg’s quote to her is referencing her old home which is burned and forgotten but it’s all conjecture at this point).

So what does a fairly strong magician who sees that there are problems globally to be worried about do when faced with a home city that would rebuke her, throw her in chains, or exile her? She doesn’t join the Mage Rebellion, clearly. She also doesn’t join the Crown. These are statements based on a lack of evidence. She’s not hunting mages (and it wouldn’t make sense to, because she’s okay with other mages). But she’s not in rebellion, or we would have heard something about it. Right now, Sylas is pretty solitary in the cast in his rebellion.

So. She’s somehow existing in Demacia out of notice or she’s still out handling world problems and probably taking notes from Ryze. Both these things would make sense. But her perspective gives her a very clear understanding of this fact:

Magic is an unavoidable force in the world.

Demacians can deny it all they like, but the World Runes don’t care about petricite. Lux and Sylas don’t care about petricite. There are bigger, larger problems to be dealt with. For instance, the Void (arguably the true big bad of Runeterra). Ignoring all of that seems petty. Feels petty. And as she is expressed to be a highly empathetic individual (Morg’s quote, her biography all imply she is a very soulful, sympathetic character), she also can’t ignore the pain that is being caused to her people.

So if you ask me, okay how does Sona feel...

She feels out of place.

She feels like she’s being dragged into the petty conflicts of the world, hurting as her people hurt, forced to watch the crown make stupid decisions and for the mage rebellion to make stupid decisions and for everyone to get hurt. She blames Jarvan, who she feels is charismatic but afraid to really bring about the change she believes he could. She knows he’s trying his best, and has sympathy towards him, but at the same time doesn’t understand how he can ignore a significant portion of his people’s plight for this long.

She feels the fearmongering about mages, that’s what got Garen and Vayne started on their paths. Lucian too. That all this hatred and fear and lack of proper understanding, it clumps everyone together.

She thinks that people are afraid of bad mages, but are unable to differentiate between a good and a bad mage. Like someone who is afraid to go outside in the morning because they were mugged once, Demacia appears to her as a collection of people that think “one’s rotten, they’re all rotten.”

That there are laws of stone, petricite clasps, any of those things. It’s a hypocritical admission that magic exists and needs to be branded, while denying it in the same sentence. But the unlawful, the ‘bad ones’, they won’t care about the laws of anti-magic. They won’t bother, they won’t care. So this fear mongering, who it hurts most... Are people who are afraid of their own power and don’t want to hurt anyone.

People like Lux. People like Sona. People like Sylas - who he once was.

She feels Demacia is making bad decisions at every turn and she feels powerless to stop it, but also worried at how involved she’s getting in what seems like an unwinnable fight. If she can help on a grander scale, shouldn’t she? If she can actually make a difference in other places, shouldn’t she? Cruelty begets suffering, suffering begets cruelty (and violence).

But she’s incapable of pulling herself away from the suffering of her people. This is what makes her so stuck. She can’t pull away. She can’t dive deeper. And there are always eyes on her, suspicious of her but unable to confirm her magic.

So if she’s in Demacia, she’s kept quiet about her magic. If she’s not, then she’s trying to help the world in her own way. But she can’t be out in the open about the world runes, about other threats, about the void - because that would require an explanation that would put her at risk of being thrown in jail.

All of this is a big reason why I see her kind of aligned with Morgana so much, but also caught between the position of those two sisters. At some point this walked away from ‘canon’ and into ‘conjecture’, but I just don’t know how to place Sona.

She’s someone who’s clearly capable of doing great things, but doesn’t. One of the questions that needs answering is why. What is it that’s keeping her from going out and doing more amazing things? Personal attachment? Love for her people? Because in Call of Power, she’s the most out of the way. Unlike Nasus in Shurima or MF on a ship (probably in Bilgewater) or Trundle in the Freljord, she’s clear across the world - Demacia and Ionia are on opposite edges. And make no mistake, Demacia is her home. Ionia may be her birthplace and she may be Ionian in terms of ethnicity, but she is a Demacian.

Too many questions, not enough answers.

I do miss when Sona could simply be a ‘hidden mage’ and still run around Demacia hugging everyone. When that was a reasonable, possible thing. But lore updates have made that very, very improbable and that makes her much harder to write in a clean, wholesome way. Any time anyone learns about her magic, it’s under context A: Demacian so there’s a lot of pain and secrecy and suffering or B: outside Demacia and she needs to make sure to keep herself covert and not incite too many questions or else she might not be able to go home.

Because Demacia is her home. Despite everything. It’s where she comes from. Where she grew up. And she has to balance ‘doing the right thing’ and ‘losing the one place in the world she has left’.

Because she doesn’t have Ionia. She doesn’t have her biological family. She doesn’t have wherever she comes from (see Morg’s quote). She doesn’t have her adoptive parents (implied but not confirmed Lestara’s dead from IoW/JoJ days, this could go either way). All she has left is this one place on all of Runeterra, her tiny little home. And it hates her, but she loves it.

#long post tw #//kind of word vomit idk.#//I really do miss being able to have her just run around and be coy and meme with everyone #//tease fiora whenever she wanted run around and chat with garen or jarvan #//but the current clime... it's different. It's really really different.#//curfew and mages in jail for existing and all of that... one misstep has consequences that are extremely serious #//and she's no lux to be 100% positive all the time #//she feels for these people. all these people. the bystanders especially.#//b/c she distinctly understands what it means to be ignored and forgotten and passed over. hmmm.

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askdragonbladetalon · 6 years

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[FIC] a city divided

The Spirit of Noxus is dying. For Riven, this is not an abstract. For Katarina, this is not acceptable. Katarina/Riven, rated PG for violence. Commissioned by @askriven-theexile as a continuation of an AU scenario from this post.

The Spirit of Noxus, they call her, and at first Katarina is too young to understand. She thinks Riven is strong, she thinks Riven is everything she wants to be when she grows up. She asks Riven for the stories behind her scars and listens raptly to the tales of Noxus’ past, forgetting what she asked about. Riven has white hair and a scarred face. It’s not until Katarina turns thirty, and Riven still looks as she did when Katarina was six that Katarina understands Riven’s title is more than a courtesy. The Spirit of Noxus stands before her in the flesh. How can Katarina help but love her?

Each time Katarina sees Riven, Riven looks weaker. Her skin is marred by bruises, purpling masses that resemble sections of Ionia, and there are new wounds weeping blood through the bandages that have started to cover more and more of her arms. “Is the war in Ionia not going well?” Katarina finally plucks up her courage to ask. Riven looks at her oddly for a moment, then laughs. The sound sputters out into coughing too quickly and she reaches a hand up to the bruise that runs around her throat like a collar. “Ionia is not the problem. Noxus is.” Riven’s words are wry and her smile is sad. Her glow of her runed sword is usually matched by her eyes but today, her gaze is dim and distant. “What do you mean, Noxus? Were we attacked on a different front?” Katarina asks. Riven always know the status of the city state better than any of the intel that the Noxian High Council receives. “No.” Riven is quiet then, scrutinizing Katarina. Within her amber eyes, cities burn and Katarina feels herself stripped bare by the weight of ages within Riven’s gaze. She is so young compared to Riven, so raw and so short-lived; Riven’s full attention makes her knees want to buckle, makes her want to kneel and pledge her allegiance to the Spirit of Noxus, again and again. Riven has had her heart since before they ever met and Katarina knows it is only too evident whenever Riven looks at her. “It’s Noxus,” Riven says finally, touching the raw split in her lip. “Noxus is rejecting me.” Riven’s words leave Katarina staring at her blankly. How can Noxus reject Riven? Riven has been there since the inception of Noxus. Without her, there would be no Noxus - only a collection of buildings and soldiers.

“You are Noxus--” Katarina starts to say. The shake of Riven’s head silences her as surely as a knife to her throat. “Noxus is changing and I cannot,” Riven says, her voice rough as she ghosts her fingers over the bruises on her throat. “I am your Noxus. I am courage, I am honor, I am loyalty, I am strength and I am sacrifice. But the people of Noxus want quicker victories. They choose the chemical weapons of Zaun. They attack civilians and soldiers alike.” Her voice quietens and she looks over Katarina’s shoulder at the sparring soldiers whose skin is marked with chemical burns. “They turn away from the foundations of Noxus and in doing so, they turn away from me.” The truth of Riven’s words stings Katarina. The weapons that Zaun makes for them are a coward’s weapons; they drop from on high and Noxus suffers no risk when they’re used. Soldiers who are caught in the infection radius are written off as casualties, calculated losses compared to how many they’d lose in a conventional battle. Noxus risks nothing but loses everything, if Riven is to be believed. “I’ll talk to my father,” Katarina promises. “He has a voice on the Noxian High Council. He can steer them away--” Riven reaches up and very lightly, lets her fingertips graze over the scar that runs over Katarina’s face and eyelid. She doesn’t say anything; she doesn’t need to. They both know that General Du Couteau no longer trusts his oldest daughter.

“I’ll find a way,” Katarina says instead. Her tone makes it a sacred vow, a promise unbreakable. “I will, Riven. You are the best of us. Whatever Noxus becomes without you, it will be worse.”

Riven smiles but there is no faith in her eyes. The light touch of her hand against Katarina’s face becomes a caress and Katarina leans into it, her eyes closing. She’ll find a way, she vows to herself, because there is no god at whose altar she worships. There is only the Spirit of Noxus and Katarina will not lose her.

---------------

Katarina slashes to the left and her dagger hits Riven’s arm - then passes through it. “Is that a new ability? Because it’s cheating if --” Katarina asks, flipping backwards to get away from a counter attack that never comes. Riven is standing frozen on the spot, staring at her arm, and the stricken look on her face makes Katarina’s words die in her throat before they ever reach her mouth. This is no trick. This is a symptom. “I have to leave Noxus,” Riven says, deathly bleak, and her words are coffin lids slamming shut. “No.” The first time, the word never makes it out. It’s just air that puffs past Katarina’s lips before she shakes her head and insists audibly, “No! You are Noxus. You can’t leave us.” “Noxus is more than the city. Noxus is the countryside and the soldiers. If I leave the city, perhaps the belief of those outside the city will sustain me,” Riven reminds Katarina even as she continues to stare at her arm. It looks so solid but when Katarina reaches out, her fingertips drift through it as if Riven were nothing but a Zaunite illusion. “And if it doesn’t?” Katarina asks, hating the hopelessness in her own voice, hating she has to even suggest that the people don’t believe in Riven the way that she does. “Then I will fade.” Riven’s words are calm but her eyes hold a fatal sorrow. It slays Katarina’s heart. “I have been here since the start of Noxus and I had thought to remain until its fall, but if I no longer represent the true Spirit of Noxus--” “You will always be the Spirit of Noxus to me,” Katarina interrupts fiercely, flicking a dagger up into her hand, “And I will kill anyone who says otherwise.” ‘Blood for Noxus’ was her old cry but she will change it if she must, she will cry ‘BLOOD FOR RIVEN!’ and plunge into the thick of battle fearlessly if it will return Riven to her once more. “Riven,” she says when Riven does not respond to her vow, and Riven smiles, sudden and brilliant as a polished weapon drawn from its scabbard. It lasts for only a second but it fills Katarina with fire from the soles of her feet to the ends of her hair. She would live and die for this woman; she would live and die for the Noxus that Riven embodies. “When you say my name, you say it the same way you say Noxus,” Riven says, and her hand is light as a cloud’s caress against Katarina’s cheek but her lips feel warm and real against Katarina’s mouth.

The Spirit of Noxus is kissing her and it is everything good in Katarina’s life. It is the yielding resistance of a blade surging into flesh, it is the adrenaline rush in the aftermath of a successful battle, it is the meeting of an opponent’s eyes, it is the warmth of the Noxian sunshine and the crisp kiss of the Noxian winter winds. It is courage and strength and loyalty, it is the Spirit of Noxus, and Katarina has never felt so devoted.

---------------

There is a monster lumbering around the barracks and the soldiers say this is the true Spirit of Noxus. This is a soldier, renowned and praised, whose hatred of the Demacians is so strong that he has risen once more to lead them into battle. Even death cannot stop Sion and after all, is that not the meaning of Noxus? To push onwards against all odds, to be strong? Katarina looks at him and sees a dead man walking, one who is incapable of hurt or death. What sacrifice is there in such a thing taking to the battlefield? ‘Blood for Noxus’ has ever been her cry but it works both ways. The soldiers of Noxus must be willing to spill their own blood and Sion has none to spill. If he charges onto the battlefield and eats the Demacian attacks, then he makes cowards of the legions behind him.

He needs violence; death and war are all his corpse can consume. There is no honor in him, no humanity, and Katarina will not pledge herself to him. (She has known the touch of the Spirit of Noxus. This pretender will not take that title from Riven.)

--------------- Her father was a General and before he left, he taught Katarina about the art of war, about the deployment of soldiers, about the importance of strategy. Battles are not won by men clashing on the field, he told her, but by the generals in their tents who plan the battles before hand. So Katarina plans and sends out her troops. Cassiopeia, beautiful once and monstrous now, still holds sway with the nobles of Noxus. They remember a time before the Trifarix, before upstart nobodies like Darius could rise to sit in control of Noxus. Darius isn’t even Noxian, Cassiopeia reminds them, and hisses poison into their ears until their minds reel and all they can do is repeat, repeat, repeat the words she wants spread. Every noble on their side is one less private army that will answer Swain’s call once the rioting spreads. Talon, sharp-tongued and violent, is feared in the Underground from where he rose. He speaks to the poorer people of Noxus, sits in bars and buys drinks while mentioning the armies of children, the way that the foot soldiers are always the poor people while Swain sets his favorites as generals where they’ll be well out of the way of battle. He talks about the Grand General’s demon arm, dredges up again the rumors of human sacrifice and what exactly the demon demands in exchange for the power it gave Swain. Nobody’s ever seen the Faceless. It’s easy to make them believe the Faceless is the demon and what Swain traded in exchange for power is Noxus itself. It’s easy to make them believe that Swain is ruining Noxus because it is true.

---------------

There is rioting in the streets and blood in the gutters. Katarina has not heard from Talon in hours but she has seen enough sightless corpses with bubbling green skin to track her sister’s passing. They’re winning. She thinks they’re winning, at least. They have to be winning because if not -- if not-- An enraged bellow comes down from the far end of the street. She jerks her head up, soot-streaked hair flying back, and sees Sion barreling down towards her, looking as unstoppable as death itself. She crouches, ready to leap out of the way and then a figure jumps down from a rooftop and Sion stops as if stunned.

Noxus is burning and Riven’s skin is beset by black holes edged with flame. There is fire in her eyes and banked embers in the back of her mouth when she speaks. Fire licks out from the ends of her short hair and flares from the tips of her fingers. It edges her broken sword, glowing from her runes, and Katarina feels the same blaze hot in her heart as she looks at Riven. “FOR NOXUS!” Riven shouts and Katarina echoes. As Riven jumps towards Sion, sword whipping back high above her own shoulder, Katarina runs towards them. Fire frames them, fire and darkness. Every second of the fight burns itself into her eyes as she tears down the street at top speed, leaping over the corpses and jumping, at last, from a table onto Sion’s back. He’s facing two opponents now, one stabbing daggers into him and clinging on to dear life, one slicing with a jagged-tip sword, and they move in perfect sync. For a second, Katarina feels what it is like to be Noxus, feels the glory and the greatness, feels the weight of Noxian hopes and heroism -- “You are beyond redemption,” Riven says and drives her blade through Sion’s heart. Sion collapses forward and Riven jumps back. Katarina, still kneeling on Sion’s back, ends up bowed before Riven. “Rise,” Riven says and holds out her burning hand for Katarina to take. Katarina’s fingers close around hers and she feels no pain, no more than when their lips meet and Riven’s flame engulfs her so that Katarina, too, blazes with the phoenix-fire of new beginnings. Noxus burns itself clean of infection and the Spirit of Noxus heals.

#katarina #riven #katariven #katriven #drabble #fic #commission

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sheriff-caitlyn · 3 years

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Vinculum Juris

There is work to be done for the Harrowing. Yes, there is great importance in consecrating and burying the silver, in enacting the ancient rites and traditions of Piltover’s different folk beliefs, and making sure all the Commissary and volunteer defenders practice their sharpshooting and have all necessary powder and bullets in storage.

But there is also the paperwork, most of which it is perhaps for the best that Caitlyn handle alone.

She has a reputation of being uncompromising, and for the most part that is true. But the Commissary would not stand today if she wasn’t aware of how to balance the rules with what is right. Piltover is a nation that relies on trade; Runeterra is a world which relies on Piltover. Many people around the world had starved when Piltover had closed their borders; a valid political decision had become unconscionable in the wake of its effects. So she must tread carefully.

She calls herself a civil servant and claims she does not involve herself in the business of ‘ruling’, but she knows how many people look to her. She has written so many of the rules that people follow, and has lived as an example of how to do things right. She knows how many lives she has saved.

It falls on her shoulders to protect Piltover. Not just from criminals and terrorists, but also from the effects that Piltover, the economy and the laws and the people and everything. Everything.

Every application for a travel visa crosses her desk. She has a dedicated department of the Commissary that focuses on border security, but at this time of year she needs to look over everything personally. She looks over every detail of every passport, every application file, every photograph or etching. She needs to be aware of every risk that crosses into her home, especially at this time of year. It is a dangerous time of year, a time when Piltover revels.

And, as Piltover has its revels, there are unwanted guests... and there are guests that are unwanted but are still allowed in.

Piltover’s democratic government leaves it weaker than Demacian monarchy or Noxian republica. It doesn’t have the army to resist. It has too much of a conscience to allow people to suffer. It has borne the weight of so many of the sins and crimes of others. There are some compromises it has to make with its allies, its friends... and its neighbours.

It’s the applications from Zaun that she spends the most time on. Jaw set, eyes hard. She cannot afford to turn them all away; those with titles in Zaun have a great hunger for Piltovian luxuries, for raw materials, clothing, alcohol, food and water, and even air and the sight of the sky. They will pay so much for such things. They pay so much for their visas. Not all of them want to come, of course, because national pride is strong on both sides of Bluewind Bay. But enough do that there is a tall pile on Sheriff Huxley’s desk.

There are some names that she can blacklist, people too dangerous or criminal or who have previously been too much of a nuisance or a menace to allow over the border. But the names with money and power behind them can claim it would be in Piltover’s best interest to allow them to visit for the festivities. Sometimes this seems jocular, but many times it is a threat spoken through a smile.

Chairperson and Executives, the true powers in Zaun, have enough power and wealth to come to Piltover to visit for the festivities. They cannot be refused... not safely, anyway.

A stamp - Permitted, in green ink - is pressed with grim displeasure into the frontispiece of one such Chairperson’s visa. It will be sent back to him, along with a temporary one-use passport and all the information they need: this is when you will cross the border, here is where you will stay, this is how you will travel, these are the places you are permitted to travel, and this is the time that you will be across the border again. Piltover is hospitable to her neighbours, even if grudgingly; the neighbours, then, will be expected to follow the rules, and enjoy all the luxuries they wish, or else they face expulsion. Which would be embarrassing, wouldn’t it? And politically risky?

Caitlyn picks up the next folder of application paperwork, and a light frown creases her brow as she opens it and sees the smug, direct stare of the familiar face. Kovachev. So, the Shark is still swimming? She had heard he was unwell. For all the man vexed her, she is relieved to hear he’s still in power. If the man who controlled all of Zaun’s bay area, from Karelia to Solovki, had passed, that could spell disaster for the citizens of Zaun, to say nothing of the businessfolk and corporations. It would also be something of a personal loss. She knew him well.

Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t, as they say.

She will let him through, because she must. But she will scour the papers for anything untoward or inaccurate, and she will make sure that Kovachev’s schedule is just as strict as any other Zaunite who is allowed to cross into Piltover. At least she can trust this Zaunite won’t be causing undue headaches for her. Mikkie is the type to tell her to her face if he was planning anything, after all. Caitlyn sighs through her nose, and then turns the page.

There are rules, and there is right, and she knows how to play the two accordingly.

#piltover #zaun #politics #harrowing #with brief cameo from #freshprinceofzaun

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theexemplarofdemacia · 6 years

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Jarvan’s thoughts on everyone in Demacia

Garen

Jarvan’s oldest friend. Jarvan knows a lot of Garen’s personal fears and worries and, most importantly, his denials. Garen is a staunch supporter of the old traditions, and, while he respects Jarvan and knows that he only wants the best for Demacia, he disagrees with many of Jarvan’s ideas. Jarvan fears that this may one day bring the two of them into conflict with one another.

Lux

Garen’s, and, by extension, Jarvan’s little sister. Jarvan knows that Lux can take care of herself, and has long since figured out that Lux is a mage, but woe betide anyone who successfully hurts her. Lux is aware that Jarvan pretty much knows her secret, but both are too polite to talk about it with one another. Lux hopes that Jarvan will be elected the next king, and Jarvan is glad of her support.

Vayne

Jarvan does not care for Vayne. More to the point, he feels sorry for her. Shauna Vayne is stuck in a never ending moment unable, and unwilling, to move on. After the death of her parents Vayne has become a barely stable wreck of a human, and, the wrong kind of stimulus Jarvan knows, can turn her to be just as deadly as the monster she hunts.

Fiora

Jarvan and the noblewoman are quick to exchange snide remarks at one another, with sincerity and severity varying from barb to barb, but they never stray into the possibility of duels. Fiora is someone who Jarvan respects, she’s had a rough lot in recent years and has only flourished under it. His biggest problem with her, though, is that she is short sighted. Fiora is concerned, mostly, with her personal and family honor and rarely, if ever, indulges in life outside of that.

Quinn

Quinn has shown time and time again what Jarvan has been saying for years. Just because someone is not noble, does not mean that they cannot be extraordinary. Jarvan has spoken with the scout several times and she is someone he respects greatly, even if her companion, Valor, is too sassy than any bird has any right to be.

Xin Zhao

Xin is a mentor figure, almost everything Jarvan ever learned about fighting he learned from Xin. Xin does not care much for politics, Demacian or otherwise, and is staunchly loyal to the Lightshield house. When Jarvan is confused or stumped on something, Jarvan’s first inclination is to go to Xin for advice. He trusts Xin with his life.

Sona

Sona is a puzzle to Jarvan. He knows that there is more to her than she admits, and believes that rumors of her having magic have merit, but those are just pieces of it. He knows some of her personal history, how she was an Ionian orphan, gifted with the natural ability to play a wholly unique instrument, but some things just aren’t adding up. It’s a casual mystery for him to solve on the side, though, and not one that presses his mind.

Shyvana

Jarvan is the only person, in Demacia, who is privy to Shyvana being a Dragon. The two are loyal friends and carry a mutual respect for one another, and the trust that is born of risking their lives together. While she is not as close to him as Garen is, in some ways the two can talk about more together than he can with his best friend. While many are wary of her, the unshakable faith that Jarvan has shown to Shyvana in public has made many discard most of their doubts.

Galio

The Guardian of Demacia, still mostly a big hunk of rock unless magical warfare is involved.

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lightshielded · 5 years

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spoilers and very VERY long, so below cut.

tl;dr - jarv is a character going through a lot of emotional turmoil caused by the lose of trust in close friends, lose of his family to the very magic they were working to promote ( suggesting to him it was the wrong idea to promote it ), having little healthy support network, and around him is a game of politics where those older and more experienced on the council are influencing him heavily in his altered state of mind. however, he is still a character who cares for his people, wanting to protect his people from future catastrophes cause by magic but also knowing they aren’t all bad so is also shown tentatively reaching out to foreign advisers of allied nations which have advised his father in the past on the subject of magic and is trying to do his best despite being king far younger than anyone should and thrown into the position in a truly horrific way.

important - all is subject to change as we are provided more info, this is just a pouring out of my first impressions and my attempt to understand and rationalise everything under the current state and info provided. also important to note, this includes mentions of suicidal tendencies, depression, ptsd and other like matters. please read with caution.

so as you may know ( or don’t and do not care about spoilers ) our dear prince, or rather king now, has had a very bad day. like he was almost made to eat a rat, and marvel didn’t want to draw him in his actual armour and did in the ceremonial / ig armour instead so i got big cucked out of my hopes and dreams, he got hit with a morg ult when trying to gank mid lane . . . oh and the mid laner killed his dad. what a wonderful day for our dear prince, i mean king.

so a couple things that are unrelated to what i am about to talk about but things that are true in my mind. riot removed jarv’s capture and torture by noxus just so they could have sy/las say he has no idea what he has experienced. just saying. 8 years of basically the exact same lore only to have one of his key points removed at the addition of the character? who then mocks him for it? just saying it’s true. tho i personally still go by that he was capture on my own blog and all, but i have cracked riot’s code.

also like where was shy? i think jarv kinda mentions her but like she is his bodyguard. that’s her whole thing. where is she? i get she tries to lay low but she is meant to be on jarv’s personal guard, but she wasn’t there. now i have a short theory on this. for those who don’t know, shyv is genetically a dragon, her real magic is the fire rune inside her. but otherwise she is a dragon that some how fucked up and became a human ( prior to sy/las it was caused by magic so the magic is technically making her human not a human becoming a dragon and after sy/las the shitty lore we don’t like is that it is the weather ).

so my theory is, since her dragon - ness isn’t magic but is like genetics, she would just eat him and he actually can’t use it against her so they had to remove her. some how. cause plot. and jarv is mopey that she isn’t around, for a reason they wont say :///// that or riot doesn’t care about her or forgot she existed :)))))))

so the actual things i wanted to talk about, jarv’s very harsh language and actions in the comic and short story. they seem so violent from what we know of the prince of the past. and while that might be true i would like to point out a couple things about jarv as a whole before we begin:

jarv was never brought up to fear or dislike mages - ( though would have heard stories i imagine ) which is evident in his father’s own opinions and his lore. this makes his point of view here seem obscure, he seems to hate very strongly despite not doing so before. this is true, but i believe i can provide some enlightenment on this. something similar to this has happened in his lore before. his first conflict with noxus he was introduced the harshest realities of war, it is the innocents that die first. in both new canon lores ( prior and post syl/as changes ) it is stated there were only a handful of survivors out of dozens of towns. it is said what he saw deeply affected him. the carnage there so deeply troubled him and he could not forget the faces of the dead. the atrocities he witnessed were far greater than he had anticipated and it left him very shaken and unable to correctly reason. this caused him to ignore all rational plotting and sense, pushing away all his advisers’ ideas, wanting nothing more the avenge those who died. and this ends badly for him. like jarv really, really loves his people and would do anything to keep them safe. in fact, it is known from other stories jarv doesn’t ask of his soldiers to do anything dangerous he himself isn’t doing. if they must face the risk of death he will do so too. and he has earned himself a lot of respect for that. so we know, jarv is deeply affected by his people’s deaths and is not unknown to react mindlessly out of rage when they are hurt, and thinking the ‘villain’ need to be punished.

our now king is younger than you all probably think - if you take demacia’s lore and the dates / ages we are given, he is quite young. low 20s with a max of about 25 but even that is generous. it is noted he doesn’t know what to do, his mood fluctuating like rising and falling flames, his lore says he needs to be ready but not that he is. this is not to say he is incompetent or emotional because of he age, but with age comes experience that he has not had the chance to garner yet. he is not ready yet in his own opinion and i would agree as well.

jarv loves his family, a lot - and his only family was his father and xin. i think it is important to note, jarv has a lot of love for his family for they are the only people that really see him as a person. his closest friend even had to be reminded to call him by name. so to lose the closest people to you hurts man. his dad just died. okay.

jarv’s part in turmoil - there is actually a story which occurs after the time frame of the lu/x comic ( unless they are going to say the events of the last volume cover a full month? ) which has some interesting links and i’ll summarise all that with my conclusions at the end.

so. onto the main part. why has our fair king turned from someone who sees ‘ the true strength of the Demacian people—standing together as one in defense of their homeland, no matter their differences or misgivings. ’ to ‘ Mages? . . . We should have executed them all. ’ it is shocking. even xin is shocked by how much he has seemingly flipped noting, ‘ Indeed, he knew the prince had always been troubled by Demacia’s treatment of its mages. But that was before. ’ note, xin is saying he was troubled once and these anti - magic outbursts are new. though, i will like to point out, i don’t think the outbursts in the short story or the comic are particularly anti - magic as they are anti - syl/as and anti - murderous rebellion. so from now on, i am going to work through the sections of the comic and then the short story and kind of evaluate jarv’s thoughts and feelings and what i think is happening with him. wow, i hope you like your posts long. ( oh, and i recommend turning the pages along with me since i will not be posting pictures unless it is very important to save on length )

so to begin, we first see jarv at a meeting with a mage - seeker, some council members and his father, reacting to what happened several hours ago. honestly here he is as normal, he is thinking first and foremost for the people and with a very strategical focus to his thoughts. he is trying to both reassure his own father while working to capture the murderers. truly nothing remarkable other than him being a little taken aback by his father chiding him. i can talk a long time how jarv was brought up with very zealot ideas despite the king’s best intentions but that is not for now.

next page is mostly focused on the riots outside but does show jarv’s priorities. protect my father, fight for my people. heck this is even brought up in his ( now very outdated ) voice lines ‘ for my father, the king. ’ ‘ protect the faithful. ’ also cue me getting excited they would show jarv’s actual combat armour since they have the guards all in that good shit but nah they didn’t and i am big sad. i get they set all the demacian champs to their in game stuff ( and for jarv that’s the for show / ceremonial armour ) rather than their lore stuff for accessibility but still i am sad.

and now we get to the fun stuff. wow look at jarv straight beating the shit out of people. legit knocking several people down, making someone into a kebab. the come at me stance. that face he makes when sy/las calls him princeling. so many people call him that in lore. is it even a unique insult at this point? get new material you chain gremlin you.

in the next page we do see him angry tho, at first he is controlled and stoic with his speak, not too many emotions showing on his face. but it is when he puts a threat on his father do we see his brows furrow and leave him quite angry in the last panel of this page. tho, while obvious mad at the threat on the king he is actually keeping his cool. rational thought based on what he knows of the magic syl/as has. but he is a bit ticked off. ( OH ALSO THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART DON’T @ ME BUT JARV IS TALLER THAN SY/LAS WHILE BENDING DOWN AND IN A FIGHTING STANCE AND SY/LAS IS UPRIGHT BY LIKE AN INCH. HE IS PROBABLY SEVERAL INCHES TALLER UPRIGHT. I STAN THIS TALL MAN. )

so the next page is very interesting, we see syl/as talk of ancient and powerful struggles then conjure fire from the pillars. so as far as i am aware this is meant to be a reference to our favourite angels but i am trying to work out when this would have been. i thought they fought in a small town which was all but destroyed and not in the capital city. it is possible that the petricite keystones were at the town and those keystones moved to where the capital would be considering their reverence of kay/le and stuff but idk. super cool tho! it might be explained in the future, or not but i think what i have there is the most rational ( or maybe they mean like various conflicts involving them but not them against each other ??). anyway, we also see jarv getting madder obvious from the last page and then the language he uses, gone from the neutral ‘ mage ‘ to negative terms such as ‘ thugs ’. so the fire heavily wounds or kills the guards and jarv jumps head long into the flames.

the next page continues with their fight which is frankly brutal but they really skimped on detail here. it is shown that jarv cut syl/as in the chest and stuff but 1) no blood and 2) it is no where to be seen later in the comic which is unfortunate. would have been cool. other things which is cool, jarv pinwheeling kay/le’s fire away. i love the dumb ways jarv is shown to use his lance in various media, just spectacular. but yeah, syl/as going for blows in calling him ignorant about the heritage he loves. cause we know how much our man loves demacia. but i think he is trying to goad him. like i said before, jarv wears his heart on his sleeve a lot. he is an emotional man, but emotions can make you sloppy.

so on the next page, we see morg’s magic and again i love this touch but who really knows how it is there. so jarv is taken down by that which is interesting because it affected him a lot more than kay/le’s? i have theories about the magics and how they affect people based on their judgements but again that’s for discussion for another post. so with the guards taken down and then their prince, syl/as finds himself victorious.

so skipping through gar/en’s bit, we next see jarv tied up and being walked ahead of some of the mages. notably he isn’t wearing his crown helm. but also, he is very calm. jarv doesn’t really fear his own death much, he has faced dying before and to him it is simply a risk a soldier faces. so he is rather calm on the walk while syl/as threatens him. though, likely also subdued by the magic from before. but he is also talking a lot of sense, this does end badly, really sy/las doesn’t get what he wants out of this venture, not really. sylas however thinks this funny and mocks him about eating rats ( which honestly i question what he actually ate because 1) idk about you but i didn’t see rats in these panels of his cell and 2) he looks very fit and healthy for a man who eats rats. personally i think they feed the prisoners but since their magic is being sapped constantly by the petricite that they likely get hungrier faster, like they are constantly exercising, and so he ate rats. but also again, lets be real, they removed jarv being tortured so he couldn’t reply ‘ well no, but i survived being tortured by noxus. i have eaten much worse. ’ ( also syl/as uses incorrect style of address here which is either an accident or an interesting hint to the next page - majesty is for kings, highness for princes ) anyway, he drags the prone jarv to the door and...

surprise. the king is already dead by the time they get there. now jarv is obviously shocked and horrified and sy/las is too but i think that is because someone is stealing his thunder and hello his plans aren’t going to plan. this is when things start going down hill for jarv’s mental state. before he was mad but controlled, jarv’s expression on this page are wild eyed. and very much lacking of any confidence he had prior. for once, the prince looks as young as he actually is, rather than acting a stoic faced prince.

now the next page is actually the one i think the artists drew the best for jarv. i really love his eyes in the first panel. jarv’s hunched posture, the looking over his shoulder and upwards, got to say i love the composition. also i didn’t mention it yet but jarv and syl/as’hair almost look the same and idk if that is intentional but i like the idea that it might have been cause it makes our fair prince look very rugged and references his position as a prisoner. anyway. but just jarv’s silence in the last panel, before he was confident and speaking and now his words are trailing off and he has nothing to say. he lost his family and the idea of mages being monsters comes to his mind here. ( also note, while i have cut this out of the image, when syl/as is asking about who killed the king the mages say it wasn’t them but possibly another mage that came with them. this is probably true since it is anarchy at the moment but also there is no blood so unlikely to have been caused by a weapon and poison doesn’t make sense since the guards were dead too. )

but that isn’t the end of it, that is for sure. syl/as lost the king to his own anarchy so he needs a new star of his show. and so jarv continues to have a bad time. he is dragged from his grieving and through the citadel ( and past some really fucked up and burnt bodies wow trying to give jarv flash backs are you? ) and here jarv is starting to have doubts about his father and his own views. ‘ my father was wrong about your kind. he thought he could make peace with you. and you murdered him. ’ jarv puts the barrier between his people and mages at this point, condemning any thought which would have allowed this as wrong. now syl/as then insists that the king could have changed this at any time but we also know the council of demacia is quite powerful itself and the king leaves it to a more democratic style of coming to decisions together and actually regrets letting them have so much power. and jarv is marched outside to be made an example of and executed.

passing over ‘lu/x being a bad ass part one’, we return to jarv being cuffed to this really fancy chair. i like it, but also how extra can you be sy/las. anyway, as this page goes on we can really see the prince’s loss of confidence and despairing states. he starts strong when syl/as claims he has been complacent on things ( finally confirmation that he hasn’t cause riot wont tell me anything !!!! ) and he denies that neither he or his father have, and syl/as knows nothing about either of them. but his words trail off, he is stuttering through his words, head bowed, skin clammy.

what he is talking about is 1) his backstory where he fought noxian invaders of demacia’s outer borders and allied lands, 2) meeting with exiles and we know in demacia their exiles tend to be mages as magic use is given imprisonment or exile - this quite happily aligns with my own head canons that he meets with them to help provide safe passage and resources similar to j3 to the noxians in his and xin’s story - 3) now we can assume he is talking about the same person from before in the earlier comic but he is really dodging around a name. i’m inclined to think shyv right now based on the ‘not so different’ so implying similar but not mage but magical creature. but really we don’t know. though that’s cute. but syl/as simply laughs this off, deeming any effort they have made and mocking his relationship. anyway, jarv just looks really sad and upset man.

and so the next page goes on and sy/las is calling for the crowds opinion on if he should be executed. some ( likely the rebels ) say yes and some ( likely town folk ) say no and beg for someone to save him. syl/as of course listens to his own people only and takes execute as the option, and starts firing up the mages on that. some call for him to be bled ( oh i see this is where they wanted to put the noxian blood letting torture. they got rid of it to be put here i see. ) and another to behead him. and up until the end, jarv simply seems like he is simply given in, accepted his death. eyes closed and almost willing it over. he has already had to deal with one drawn out (near) death before, he doesn’t particularly want another. he only seems perturbed when syl/as tries to force him to eat a rat before he dies. again he is wide eyed, and very disgusted by the prospect.

he is already in a state where his father has been murdered, he has been pulled away from him and forced to march past the magic warped remains of his people both soldiers, councillors and innocents, his death is being made into a sceptical and now he is also being humiliated. also important to note is that he is alone in all of this, his uncle is nowhere to be found, his father is dead, when forced into an arranged marriage with someone he considered a trusted friend he was given no answer but abandonment, and his two friends are no where to be seen. that mixed with the people he loves so dearly gathered to watch him die and some even calling for his death. he is hurting really badly, and if he didn’t want to be sick at the sight of burnt bodies he now wants to be sick at the thought of eating a live rat.

and now we have ‘lu/x being bad ass part two’ and ga/ren rushes in to save them both. the comic doesn’t say and what exactly happens next is likely a flash back at the start of the next comic as i believe the next comic occurs after the short story, as it was released now and not then. but i imagine two things occur in jarv’s mind during this event of him being saved ( which he know he is ). 1) gar/en is right. he can always trust ga/ren. we know his friend is vocal in his dislike of magic and belief in the laws in place, so jarv after these events probably takes to leaning on this view point as it comes from on of the only people he has left and feels safe with him after all he has gone through.

2) can lu/x really be trusted? jarv isn’t blind nor deaf. he heard syl/as and lux talk about them used to being friends, and that he used her to kill people. he doesn’t know about her magic i don’t think, but could clue it out from that maybe, and it is unsure if he knows her involvement with syl/as but he now knows she wouldn’t even deny the proposed arranged marriage to his face and she was apparently friends at one point with the one who lead to his father’s death. this cuts him a bit. ( also i see again, the trying to insert jarv lore into here? with gar/en saving him? interesting but not nearly as emotion jerking as gar/en finding his armour blood soaked and empty next to an executioners post with the pin signifying them as the closest shit in each other’s lives in the bloody mud c’: )

now, we do not know much until the events of the aftermath short story. this story, told through xin’s point of view, is honestly very depressing and provides a lot more focus on jarv’s collapsing mental state. while in the comic he is hurt and distressed, struggling with the idea of his own views on the matter and then the significant pain cause to him by magic and the possible danger it could cause his people, aftermath shows us a prince who has been stewing on it for the night. occurring the day after, it is told to us he does not look like he has slept and his emotions are raw at the surface. i suggest reading the full story but i will only be talking about jarv’s mentions in this.

so our encounter with jarv in this short story occurs with xin finding him at the training fields. he is described as already breathing with exertion and drenched with sweat, a suggestion that he has been doing this for some time now, and his emotions wild and clear. he is also attacking wildly at the dummy, very much venting but also showing us he isn’t poised or in control of himself. yet when he speaks, calling xin uncle, it seems uncertain. i surely read it with a tired and tentative voice in mind. yet, after a pause, his emotions re-flare and he becomes angry again (something which happens several times over the course of the short story). he speaks coldly, harsh, trying to find someone to take the blame for the events, shifting rapidly from seeing xin as family to seeing him as a simple bodyguard ( something from the previous flash backs show the later of being untrue, and that xin is extremely close to jarv ). i also see this as him struggling with his own thoughts and passions, a war of heart and mind - xin being family vs xin being his father’s bodyguard, in extension we have seen mages murdered my father vs not all mages are guilty, i hate them vs i hate them all.

the prince then decides the best way to interrogate xin is by also trying to vent his frustrations with sparing. in jarv’s short story ‘ ebony, ivory, jasper ‘ we see him as a very level headed tactician which is controlled and ultimately able to see the right plays and choices in things where others can not. this is not that jarv. he is literally striking first, thoughts and questions later. xin mentions he is also not taking his strikes lightly, that he is swinging hard enough to break bone, something one wouldn’t do unarmoured or with someone you care about. he is pacing like a stressed animal, gripping his weapon like it is only lifeline, and forcing xin to fight him like it is his only reprise. another point made which shows jarv’s very altered state of mind is how xin also notes his form is sloppy, jarv is a good fighter, one of the kingdoms best, yet he observes there to be ‘ little finesse to the strikes ’ and that ‘ at any other time he would have berated the prince for his poor form—he was thinking only of attack, and leaving himself open for ripostes and counter-strikes ’. now since we know xin trained him and considers this poor form for him, it is likely jarv is definitely not of these traits normally, something further confirmed when he notes these are something he wouldn’t do now or take advantage because he sees them as caused by his justified anger.

skipping past the first flash back, jarv continues to press xin and eventually just tosses his weapon away when he doesn’t get an answer he wants. the frustration and anger is palpable. the prince isn’t the kind of person to discard something so carelessly, to be so disrespectful as to throw something of his to the ground. jarv has been raised to have the ideas of honour and respect and personal value and virtue as being very important, and the disrespect of tossing one of his weapons, staring at it while someone else picks it up, isn’t something jarv in his stable mind would do. yet he does such and grabs his lance - a sharp and deadly weapon in comparison to his blunted sword - and xin protests using them because jarv is unarmoured. now i have not heard anyone cover this exact fact but i want to talk about it for a bit, xin is armoured but jarv is not. jarv is attacking and not caring about his defence. and now he is making xin fight him with their actual sharpened weapons while only xin is armoured. either of these weapons could kill him, even his own by his own hand if he isn’t careful as noted by xin. and just, he doesn’t care if he gets hurt.

i think this exemplifies one fact about jarv, the first fact i mentioned above. he experiences a great amounts of survivor guilt in the time he failed his troops as a youth and now he sees himself as failing his people and his father by not saving them. he couldn’t even beat syl/as. and now he has to live with that fact, and very alone with it now. he is both trying to find someone else to blame to share in his own self torment or at least have someone either take him out of his misery or give him a punishment that jarv thinks is fitting for his failure. and i think perhaps, while not explicitly noted, xin acknowledges it ‘ “You are not armored,” . . . “I don’t care,” . . . Reluctantly, his heart heavy, he retrieved his spear and moved back out into the open area in the center of the hall. ’ after all, it was xin in jarv’s earliest lore which remarked on the prince’s altered mental state as one of the people that knew him best, i would say that perhaps this is our new lore equivalent. and perhaps bring another down with him. ( jarv has always had a slight discard for his own life - see his quotes and his colour story - but this is quite excessive. the others can be seen as brave, this is different )

one more flash back later, they are fighting and we know jarv is not holding back. none of the fighting right now is casual, he is serious and very angry. this is contrasted with memories of xin with jarv and how jarv once idolised heros and here he is wielding the weapon in a very non-hero-like way. and yet drakebane itself moves in conjunction with his own actions like a perfect extension of his body. we are told that drakebane ( as obvious by its name ) was forged by the great weapon smith orlon, the same who made pop/py’s hammer, in order to combat a powerful frostdrake named maelstrom and her brood. perhaps digging into it too much, but i do see in essence that while the sword was not working for him yet his lance remains faithful is by his conviction in its original purpose. this lance was created to slay great beings of magic, to kill dragons, for the great kings of demacia to wield against the mages of the runewars. and this fits the mindset this king currently has.

another flashback passed we come back to a xin who is facing a new set of concerns, before he was worried about fighting the prince with dangerous weapons while jarv are unarmoured and now he is concerned that maybe the prince getting horribly wounded is not the only issue. here we see another drastic flip in jarv, he would never hurt someone he cared about, he is especially known to put himself in harms way before anyone else. and yet. he cut xin and xin is reasonably concerned but also unafraid. while it is only explicitly stated that xin thinks there is balance in dying here but it surely seems jarv also has this opinion. they both seem to think death is what they deserve. yet ( as angry as jarv is ) he doesn’t to want kill xin as much as xin wishes not to harm him. he stops as the blade ghosts xin’s skin, begging xin for answers but upon receiving it ( if not by xin’s confession but by his own reasoning ) he just deflates. he works out xin was sent away and so he is left as the only one at fault for ‘failing’. xin was fulfilling his duty, while he failed in his.

instead, jarv is just remains tired, tired and grieving and alone. through the next two flashbacks and jarv’s reaction to them we learn the late king was a stubborn man about what he believed in and that he often put his work ahead of himself and his family despite his love for his son. and just as quickly did jarv sober did his temper re-flare, upon hearing about the rebellion again he declares that they should have killed all the mage prisoners instead of imprisoning them. xin is shocked by this for he remarks that once jarv used to be concerned with the treatment of mages in demacia like his father but acknowledges that this was before what they did to him and that his anger in the moment is justified. but he still reminds him that his father wouldn’t agree with that, as he wouldn’t have once agreed with that. here it is key to see one of the great hurts in him right now is he feels both a failure and he feels betrayed, he snaps back ‘ and they killed him. ’ the lightshields had been working towards making things better for mages and in jarv’s angry thoughts and he feels betrayed by the ones they were working to help, he feels as if his good nature was taken advantage of and hurt by those he cared about. ( also note, canonically, execution is a murderer’s punishment. killing another is punishable by death and this is shown in some stories. )

just as quickly as this outburst begins does it end however, his fire dies and he sheds any mask of princely facade and anger, revealing he is simply lost, scared, sad and confused again. he grips feebly to support, and weeps. likely not the first time given his earlier description, but likely the first true time where he might realise the full emotion and weight of the situation. and he tries to hold strongly to it, he doesn’t have confidence or stability so he is all but begging xin to be it for him. when he is told that xin sees his life as forfeit, jarv grips at strings to keep xin with him. while desperate it is still very controlled though, controlled and thought out. begging wouldn’t work, but xin’s sense of duty would. and once xin starts to relent, he asks formally, appealing to the formal requirements. and once that digs at him, he appeals to the side that is his uncle, for he needs him as much as his kingdom. strategic in all things but it also shows his reliance on xin emotionally in this point. i strongly believe, if xin denied him he would crumple and things would be a lot worse. even if xin thinks he looks more composed after his breakdown.

and the short story ends with xin accompanying jarv to a council meeting. xin remarks at how controlled jarv is compared to his outburst, likely due to two things: 1) he had his outburst and is now not bottling up his emotions as much and is able to control himself better, and 2) jarv is required to look regal. xin notes that demacia needs a strong leader right now and jarv likely knows that just as well ( which will play a part in his next actions ) and so is portraying himself in such a way regardless of how his emotions might still be. i think this is shown well when he asks to see the note xin was to deliver, the contents of which anger him. it is a reminder of his older self, of his old ambitions and everything that he lost. and so he wrings its neck like he has to his old self and what he wishes to do to those that caused this. this shocks and disturbs xin and he is concerned. it is also important to note that the mageseekers are trained to combat magic so keeping them with greater powers, he increases arrests while the note wished to limit them, is advantageous to his wants.

after this point lu/x 5 will fill but we don’t know much of it so we shall skip over it for now. lastly, we have turmoil, a short story i really suggest reading which takes place one month after these events. as not much is relevant other than a few details and the laws of stone i will summarise. in turmoil, it follows a group of demacian soldiers as they are sent to escort a foreign dignitary to the capital, a mage from arbormark called arjen. the soldiers are uneasy with this and some wish that they could be out hunting the rebellions in the woods instead. two mageseekers accompany them as is now required by the laws. as they escort the mage they run into trouble. fearing the villages of the town wish to hurt the mage they are escorting, the soldiers form a tight perimeter and try to escape through a passage and a building. however, it is revealed the mob is not mad about the mage but one of the mageseekers with them. this mageseeker, under the new laws of stone was made to remove a young girl who he had been working with prior, he laments he didn’t want to remove her for she was innocent and he wouldn’t have required to prior but the laws have changed to become stricter and so all mages are considered guilty. the mother of the young mage tries to kill him but she is talked down but the crossbow still fires in a shot which would have killed one of the more vocal mage hating soldiers but arjen carefully uses his magic to deflect the bullet with only that soldier and the main character noticing. the mage hating soldier is conflicted and says nothing, implied to be having a turn of heart. the mother tells the mob to disperse and the envoy continues to the capital.

now from this we learn a couple things: 1) is is now illegal to BE a mage. prior to sy/las it was only illegal to USE magic and so benign mages were actually educated on how to control themselves at times and we treated more of a sickness at other. but now you’re life is a crime. 2) some of the mageseekers themselves are uncomfortable with this. while mageseekers have often been portrayed as horrific people, it is shown in this story as being more a magic focused police service which holds some corruption in higher ranks but also employs people who simply want demacia kept safe and don’t agree that magic is bad but rather bad mages are bad people. 3) that demacia has a lot of allies due to their defence of realms beyond their boarders and also that they understand demacia’s place and don’t condemn them for it. they understand the position of demacia based on its history. 4) these allies are sending who they think will help advise the new king of demacia best including mages and jarv is NOT denying them entry, which shows a willingness to listen which is a step beyond his much more aggressive stance one month earlier. 5) the punishment for being a mage is exile or imprisonment. currently the prisons in demacia are overloaded and there are prison camps in the outskirts. also exile is seen as one of the worst punishments in demacia. and 6) the rebellion is being hunted by the demacian army.

so, after all this, what can be conclude? it is obvious jarv is GREATLY affected by the barrage of death around him. his pre-existing survivor’s guilt is further exasperated by the failure to protect his father and those he swore to and he feels greatly betrayed by many people in his life ( lu/x for claiming to be a friend of the one who killed all these people, the mages he was trying to help striking when he is most vulnerable ). he is greatly alone with losing many friends and family and others being seemingly absent from the events, giving him only those with views which would increase his own anti-mage sentiment if he listens to them. he is lost in his grief and his depression and his anger, his empathetic nature stretched to its breaking point and he has no respite. in the end, jarv is doing what he thinks will protect his people, note he likely does not think mages among his people anymore, and will do anything for their safety. but he is also trying to be reasonable by reaching out to his allied nations as a new king and accepting the advise of mages on these topics. he isn’t murderous, but he is hurt and alone and his actions in his hurt are making him more alone. it’s a vicious cycle demacia has always been in, and now our dear newly crowned king has fallen into it.

a little extra: i do think there is a bit of jarv’s lore MISSING given the situation with shyv. i hope this will shed light on what he was doing and how that also affected him before this happened. i also hope they eventually show us jarv being redeemed for this is FAR from the jarv that the bio shows us on his page and i think that is his true self. just, if i can recall, someone i know once said at your lowest you become your opposite and i think this is true here.

#wow um okay #thats long #like 7 k words long #kudos to you if you read it all #its just me throwing out all my thoughts on the events to read #also not going to lie #this was so long #i didn't edit it at all #sorry for the grammar errors #about /#— out of character `

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