New League of Legends Lore Reveals the Origin of the Darkin

The darkin are some of League of Legends’ most mysterious creatures, and while they’ll probably never be fully understood, Riot Games has now released more info on the origins of the race and the newly-reworked champion, Aatrox.

Previously known as a race from beyond Runeterra that came to the League of Legends world while bringing war and destruction, the darkin were powerful beings that used a variety of weapons to wage fierce combat. They were bigger and badder than their enemies, and while that part still remains true, the new short story titled “The Legend of the Darkin” says that the destructive beings used to be warriors from Shurima. The desert civilization’s god-warriors fought against the beings from the Void, but after Azir was no longer in control of the region, the warriors lost their way and became known as the darkin.

“Although apparently immortal, the god-warriors had been born human—gradually, with no emperor to lead them, many of the surviving Ascended began to falter in purpose as their older, petty ambitions resurfaced,” the short story explained. “They taught themselves forbidden sorceries, and came to view themselves as the rightful inheritors of the world. The scattered mortal populace named these new tyrants darkin, a whispered curse translating roughly in the old tongue as ‘the fallen.’”

The darkin then turned against each other with their titanic wars destroying civilizations everywhere. Searching for a way to stop the darkin, it was discovered that the beings’ souls could be bound to their weapons, thus destroying their physical form and leaving them trapped inside the tools they use. Aatrox’s updated lore that was released at the same time as the darkin story says that the darkin-trapping knowledge came from the Aspect of Twilight, the moniker given to Zoe. Zoe’s bio gets a bit tricky in that sense with her story saying that she was both noticed by the Targonian Aspect of Twilight and later merged with it, so it’s unclear if Zoe herself shared the info with the humans, but considering how old she is, it’s likely that she’s responsible for helping humans trap the darkin.

League’s darkin lore updates appear to be preparing players for the rerelease of Aatrox, the largest champion update that Riot games has ever worked on. To get a much more in-depth look at the darkin, you can read set aside some time for this longer story. You can read his story and his full bio now ahead of his release, but look for him to wage war on the Rift once again quite soon.