There’s even a line in the cinematic where she references a little bird that’s running. Maybe she knows Azir’s been resurrected, but her corruption has made her forget her loyalty to the pigeon and drives her to chase after the emperor’s downfall.
@@Kratoks06 tb skyen video talks more about the quality the style and everything visual which is so amazing actually he adds so much details explaining it and in necrit video he talks more about the details that are related to the lore and the champions both of them excel at what they do
You didn't mention how after your favourite sceen of the pack leader biting the sun, the purple cave scenery has the moon in the middle. This is quite an obvious symbolism of Naafiri abbandoning her shuriman ways (biting the sun) and embracing her new life as a darking dog (the moon visible from hound cave). The cave together with the moon and the landscape has the shape of an eye, so we know it references Naafiri directly instead of, for example, showing how the houds lived before encountering her.
I think the reason why the frame rate in the video is not the well is because they want to show how the pack was not united or as "one". When Naafiri said at the end "But together we feast" they all have the same frame rate and they all started a hunting pose at the same time, at the same frame rate to show us that the pack is now one and share the same mind.
I'm so happy they went with a full monster champion and the trailer reflects that. It's unhinged, brutal, and has that animalistic edge that perfectly fits Naafiri. Can't wait to learn more about her lore and play her in-game
In Varus' new voiceline you can see that his Darkin Sisters are very ambitious (Xolaani, Valeeva and Naafiri). But we all need Baalkux. C'mon Riot do it.
I really hope the lore gets expanded for Naafiri. There's still so much to cover with Bel'Veth, Xolaani, Varus, Aatrox and the whole Darkin war but because the lore team has been missing for years it's impossible to know when all of this will come to fruition. There's still so much to go through but I hope that we will get to eventually instead of everything surrounding Naafiri just being in its own circle.
The whole sequence leading up to the hallway chase has Naafiri being reached for our devoured by the dogs. It feels like the process was less about possessing the them, and more about Naafiri fighting to stay herself while the dogs tried to consume her. In the end she changes and becomes one with the pack, but instead of being consumed she leads them. Give up or give chase.
How does Bel'Veth qualify as a humanoid champion? She doesn't even have arms and legs, aside from having a human face nothing about her is even close to human
@@kagaminezera8320 she has: human head humanoid thighs (fake ones, you can see on the splash art) caped appearance the splash art really makes her look more humanoid than monster her voice is more humanoid than any other void champion her intelligence and ability to use that intelligence in an abstract way (non-instinctual) shows that she is very close to humans (mentally-wise) for a creature to be humanoid you don't need to have same anatomy, you just need to be close enough to resemble a human at a glance
@@abra2133 regarding th intelligence arguement: is aurelion sol a humanoid character to you? And regarding the first one, I mean, her stick is kinda imitating humans to lure them in, no? She obviously looks like a human at times but she is very far from actually being humanoid considering she is as far away from human as reksai is when she isn't hiding behind her facate lol
Naafiri's dogs eating whole sun is a nice reference to Norse wolf-god Fenrir, which is known for swallowing whole sun. Also hounds represent the aftermath of war. After every fight or war, there come scavengers to feast on dead bodies.
The best champion in literally years. I hope they understand that we don't want everyone in the game to be a fairy or handsome. Everything the LoR team touches becomes incredible.
11:48 Might also be a reference to Sköll, one of the children of Fenrir of Norse Mythology. It is said that he will chase after the sun and when Ragnarok comes he will finally catch it and swallow it whole.
It will also imply Naafiri's ambition. She doubts a pack of wolves is a suitable container for her but ultimately decides is her best available form to conquer all she wants
I think the reason I'm more excited for this champion, aside from the cinematic itself, is that the concept is very unique compared to a lot of recent releases. The last monster champion we had was Bel'Veth, but even then they purposely made her slightly more human outside of her transformed state. There've been so many...humans, and while their designs differ at the end of the day they aren't really all that exciting. This champion just actually looks cool, and I think the Darkin are some of the most interesting entities in League's lore. It's refreshing after so many, honestly, bland releases lately.
I'm happy there's one more non anthropomorphic champ in the game but I don't feel is distinct. Wolves with a blade on their mouths or on some part of their body (Naafiri is different because the blade actually fuses with her body) are very common on japanese or japanese inspired media (ams I think there are other mythologies who have them so it adds to the archetype), pokemon had one as a legendary pokemon not too long ago. I don't say it saturated the escene but it's already been seen enough to be a recognizable type. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't change anything of the champ, is perfect as it is, just that it doesn't feel as fresh. Evil scarecrows aren't exactly original either, for example, but hasn't been a common sight in recent media so it makes fiddle stand out more.
I actually think the darkin hounds circling around the one dune hound is just further signifying her acceptance of becoming a part of the pack but in the most brutal way lol. I think the hound in the middle is Naafiri herself (as seen when she turns into a hound in the previous scene) before they begin to subsume her which is why she emerges from that blob of daggers and dogs to assume her final form and then bite the sun. Not to mention if you look closely at her in-game model you can actually see the faces of the hounds on the spikes that encompass her body. Just my interpretation of it. Cheers!
My first experience related to mobas is tied to vainglory, in that game there was a character that was an alpha pack leader that could spawn his pack , i got caught by nostalgia plus I’m a huge fan of darkin designs
I just love the Ragnarok reference of Fenri and him eating the sun. That would incline that Naafiri (like Fenri) is bringing the end of shurima in this case
Remember reading something online, saying that the darkin were the 4 horseman of the apocalyps Rhaast has a voice line from him saying him and Aatrox are Death and War. Naafiri wants to spread the darkin blood magic to the whole world (pestilence). By default that makes Varus Conquest. (could be a stretch) -Varus but turn the V upside-down-
No where does it say that Xolaani invented blood magic. Stop saying this in your videos. She's a strong hemomancer, but no where does it explicitly state she was the "inventor" of it, other than what this one quote might infer that can be very eagerly ran with "Xolaani, once beloved and gifted healer, began using her hemomantic powers to control her brethren." It's no different than someone saying "He used his politcal power to undo the war from within."
I find it interesting that Naafiri probably only can inhabit multiple bodies *because* they're hounds, perhaps the nature of the host have these implications, other than her, the only Darkin capable of using multiple hosts is Varus, but at the same time, very differently. Varus has multiple conscious living within him but Naafiri can have multiple bodies without losing control of them, and they're completely detached from her main Darkin body, a truly perfect hive mind I think this wouldn't be possible with human hosts, but with hounds? Works perfectly!
Someone mentioned that in the video several dogs are just about to maw at the dagger, implying that all of them touched the dagger at the same time. That would mean that Naafiri had to break herself in some way, risking in the process losing herself to the bodies of several creatures. It would also simbolically imply that she rejected ideologically the dogs as bodies initially. But at the end she achieves something that doesn't break her: she spreads among them while living primarily through one wolf as pack leader, which also would mean she comes to terms with the idea of having such animals as bodies.
I like how they kept the *Four horsemen of the apocalypse* theme with the darkin characters. Aatrox is war, Rhaast is death, Varus is pestilence(blight) and Naafiri is famine .
make sense since I think naafiri would be at the edge of the empire attacking traders, travellers and undefended settlements slowly building up a plague of hounds that would soon overrun the empire and devour everyone... so yeah she would be a big problem if not dealt with soon.
0:38 Necrit: "long time ago...." me, who watches his vídeos since the Illaoi lore (7 years ago): "Oh boy, here we go again..." But I love the history soo is cool to me.
at 11:09 I think is referring to naafiri's ability to assimilate the hounds into herself, since you know, blood magic is all about reshaping of one's body, furthermore, I leans perfectly with the next shot of the big form naafiri takes to bite off the sun, pretty metal
how is a pack of dog break the Darkin weapon ?? like wtf isn't they said that nothing can destroy a darkin weapon and now a pack of dog can break it into piece ?
If you're interested in the animation side instead of the lore, I heavily recomend passing by TBSkyen's channel! He just uploaded a review analyzing it from a more technical and artistical perspective, and I think it pairs very well with Necrit's video. Besides, nice lore review, bunch of things I didn't notice ^-^
Honestly, I cannot wait for Arcane 2. I genuinely really enjoy League of Legends lore, I find it so fascinating and after playing this game since 2013 it's nice to get a new perspective and experience of the champions you play with and against. I hope in the future they expand Arcane (or at least the concept of it) into other regions, timelines, and champions such as one focused on Shurima, or another on Bilgewater.
If you’re a lore fan I’d highly recommend you try Ruined King. It makes SO many references to so many champions, colors the world so well, and has great gameplay to boot. I played it at first for the turn based gameplay but ended up lore hunting and found so many Easter eggs and expanded lore everywhere.
You NAILED so much. Love this video. Only thing is the team aint ex LoR- Some of us is new, others have been around for a Riot while. I left after Yuumi and came back for BelVeth. Next League one for me is next year, but videos like this one show how important lore and details are.
So the Darkin are actually corrupted human soldiers? I thought they were immortal gods based on Pantheon vs Aatrox lore. Tbh this makes Pantheons lore less epic. He’s all about overcoming godlike presences against all odds, yet Aatrox isn’t even one. Meh 😒
They're corrupted mega super soldiers. They used to be people that ascended into god-like being like Nasus and Renekton but they were traumatised by the war against the Void and used blood magic, which turned them into Darkin. Zoe's predecessor then sealed them into their weapon forms
i remember a time where every new champion got a treatment like this and even better than this. i am glad i am seeing it back, but it felt like so loong
Can we hear your opinion on what the hounds themselves look like? How you imagined this champion to look like prior to her unveiling and this cinematic?
I thought that Ascended became Darkins after contact with the Void, and not all of them, which was inevitable during fighting it, and only after they discovered Blood Magic. So it is not just blood magic, but an amalgama between Void and Ascencion. Am i wrong?
It is just blood magic. The Void’s impact on the Darkin is the psychological damage and trauma the war caused. The actual physical changes are, as far as we know, solely the result of blood magic.
@@OakenTome but we don't know tho the origins of Blood magic, what was the inspiration or source. I mean Void obviosly was probably - thriving on the juices of living, yare, yare, yare.
To be fair, TBSkyen already made a better explanation of the trailer's storytelling on how it visualizes how Naafiri feels when tapping into packs collective consciousness, when she remembers the Void and imprisonment in her weapon. Theorizes the statue was meant to represent her former self as her form is twisting into more animalistic as seen with hand before. Also the part with chase and choice she makes. Embrace the pack or return to her imprisonment. It is shown by presenting the dagger itself being broken as if she frees herself from the cage. Or the moment of mythology reference with eating the sun and turning of the light from all the suffering of her past, while moon rizes (moon, wolfs, you get the idea) But not many people have time for 1 hour animation analisis. Though to be honest, I expect the prison of her dagger remains and if the whole pack dies, she would be returned to the dagger, which currently is only visible as it's fleshy bits and a trinket.
YES THANK YOU NECRIT. Ive not been on your channel for a while, but as soon as I saw the cinematic I went STRAIGHT to your youtube. Always quality! Thank you for these videos!!!@@!!D!WD 1wjdasijas09d 1
I seen/heard a leak that Naafiri was gonna be a wolf/dog kind of champion. Buttt... I was thinking/hoping she'd be more menacing. Granted, Naafiri looks sick as fuck. But just thought we'd get a TAD bit more Lol I hope we get more monsters/creepy looking champions for the rest of this year. We need more Fiddle type creepy shit & Rek'Sai type lookin' monsters
Varus and Naafiri are definitely going to be rivals. Varus & his pack hunts to kill corruption similar to his, Naafiri hunts to corrupt and add to her pack. I’m genuinely curious, Varus is very different from the other Darkin, he doesn’t even really use blood magic the same way the others do. Instead he just makes blood/void arrows… I wonder if he was more so corrupted by the Void and less touched by that psycho healers blood magic shenanigans. Idk just weird he’s the only one with like…. Literal “blight” and “void” in his abilities.
(3:25) O, maybe noxus got coordinates of darkin. And they thot that if kayn was fighting mentally with darkin pretty well. So they could got person who have incredible mentally trained mind and if he grabbed naafiri, he would just consume her. And with that he could become smart, strong noxus warrior with darkin power.
i think its not just the shuriman mountains in the cinematic, but those buildings which we can see at the end of Rise of the Ascended cinematic which fill with water oasis itself after Azir's reincarnation, cause at the end of the cinematic, when her whole pack stands in the dunes we can get a better look at them.
Just imagine that you are normal human, then evolve to an god-like warrior and later fight with the destruction itself, so you become insane, you get touch of a blood magic but get doomed to a forever agony while your body becomes a prison for your mind, eternity later, you see a glimpse of a freedom, but instead of returning back to "human", you are unlucky and become a nightmare hound. 😶😱 Creepy yet dope ! 😬
I love horror, it's amazing. But know what's more scary than horror? LoL art direction into this cutsie pootsie crap >:( I died in the golden age yet I still breath.
Anyone still remember when people predicted the next darkin would have a scale as a weapon? just like the 4 apocalypses, Scythe, Sword, Bow, and Scale?
I actually hated her design. Also, if she hated her hound form she has blood magic. She can morph her body to more humanoid looking one like her Darkin form with every kill. Hound Darkin just doesn't make sense. I was actually waiting for something like humanoid like others but with three dog head or one of her hand is just a dog head. Where her other hand holds herself. (Darkin Dagger)
"Only a single dog picked up the dagger" 3 pounced on it in unison. Naafiri 's mind was already being connected with the pack mentality, not an individual hound, and quickly became aware of the animals scommunity and thus thier many eyes/minds sharing a common goal of survival and predation
Naafiri eating the sun is a referance to norse mythology where the hound Fenrir eats the sun and defeats Odin durring Ragnarok. Theyre probably going to draw very intentional paralells to that. Tinfoil hat moment, Naafiri will kill and eat both Azir and Leona before defeating celestials like Arelion Sol in some LOL version of ragnarok
me: I am sure I already notices every detail of the video Necrit on first frame: so this is a horse me: ... yes what more? Necrit: Noxian horse actually because of this this this me: 👁👄👁
No. The past few champions were not good. Just generic pretty people with infused egos about challenging already established and beloved characters. This one is much better than them.
The flip of the shuriman disc could also signify the antichrist of shurima itself - being the combination of void corruption and the use of forbidden dark magic which are opposed to standard shuriman beliefs. Goddamn that was 🤓
Man like I wonder if she can spread like this because these are dogs of a pack due to having the same genetic make up hence the references to genes and the multiplication of them or even splicing. I mean dogs have no soul so it might be easy to spread that way and Soo far the only darkin we see that has control over more than one body is Varus so I'm wondering if because the human body is much more stronger and has a sould it's makes them stronger while as in Naffiri, a pack of dogs are like on unit, hunt, kill and starve together.....ooooorrrrrrrrrrrrr is it possible that if Naffi is Varus's sister could they be twins and that cause them to be the only ones who have have more than one host/body varus is a special case of 3 in one so yh. Just a theory lol
Just throwing this out there to the ether. I would love league to introduce a character from Demacia that has been on the front lines when the black rose first tested out the gray legion. A footsoldier so full of grief and fear that he doubles down on the magic/noxus hate and goes insane. He thought that the northern region would be a cushy military position until Sion crashed through the barricades and slaughtered his comrades. Since he was the only survivor of the attack on the northern town he wouldn't be believed, Sion has been dead for years, driving him further down a pit of insanity. I just want more insane characters that double down on the evil concepts of each region in ways that make sense lore-wise.
question taht maybe many of you have: why naafiri has a dog form_ asking cus well , the darkins can change and control their form in certain level. so.. why a dog? i know that she took control over those wild dogs , but i think they should be a problem to control and transfrom for a darkin
If the darkin is locked in the weapon the why does naafiri/ all the hounds look like this ? why doesnt she have the dagger in her mouth holding it like the bos Sif from dark souls or if it was infused to her tail or something that would have been wayy cooler visually, i'm a bit dissapointed TBH
when a pack of savage hounds meet a mind of malicious intent and war, something horrible is made, savage instinct collide with military cunning. the hounds were beasts with no sense of intelligence just hunger, they are more common to the brutal darkin except for difference a purpose, naafiri never needed to force her mind or will on them since they were always beasts, she just needed to direct it.
Naafiri is the most hyped I've been for a champion since Ornn. I get she isn't going to be a tank, but damn is it nice to finally get another monster champ without some human form.
