Riot Games loves to play with their fans – especially when it comes to teasing new content. League of Legends is about to welcome a new champion, and all theories point to it being The Ruined King. The hypothesis is built on two elements that appeared in different content related to the title.
The first is part of the roadmap of upcoming characters published by Riot Games in early September, while the second appeared in the trailer of Ruined King, the first title of Riot Forge to be released in 2021.
Who is the Ruined King?
The character of the Ruined King is well known by anyone who pays close attention to the lore of League of Legends. His backstory closely links him to Kalista and the Shadow Isles. Kalista was not only one of the Ruined King’s generals, but was also his niece. Their family history is a sad one, as Kalista, by saving her king from a poisoned blade, inadvertently doomed her queen.
Wrestling with the grips of insanity, the King ordered his niece to find a remedy that could save her – a cure that she eventually found on the Blessed Isles. But she was unfortunately too late to save her Queen, as she had already passed away on her return.
Driven mad by the death of his spouse, the King, with the help of Hecarim, managed to convince Kallista to lead him to the Blessed Isles. However, only Kalista was granted access by the guardians of Helia, the capital city, and the king and his troops were refused entry to the kingdom. The King flew into a fevered rage, and commanded Kalista to slay any who opposed them. She refused, and called on Hecarim to stand with her but, instead, he drove his spear through her armored back.
What followed was a bloody battle that would change the place that we now know as the Shadow Isles forever. Helia and its citizens were wiped out, leaving behind only spectres from the souls that lost their life on that day, all ruled over by the Ruined King.
The Blade of the Ruined King, another well-known item in the game, also comes from his backstory.
Its story also echoes an item well known to players, the Blade of the Fallen King.
Will he be the next Jungler to join the Rift?
There are several indicators that hint at the Ruined King being the next Jungler to make his way to Summoner’s Rift, with Riot Games already teasing the champion during its most recent champion roadmap. In essence, the studio confirmed that the first champion to be released in 2021 will belong in the jungle, also releasing a short descriptive text alongside an image depicting a ring.
And if you pay close attention to the symbol depicted on the ring, you’ll notice that it bares a close resemblance to the hilt of the antagonist’s sword as can be seen in the trailer for the Ruined King: A League of Legends Story.
Alongside this visual clue, the text that accompanies this image is as follows.
“What would you do for love?
Would you go to the ends of the world?
Would you give up everything you have?
Would you go to the brink of life and death?
The first lines coincide perfectly with the story of the Ruined King, who went to ends of the world in the hope of saving his one true love. As for going to the brink of life and death, he simply lost his life and became a ghost on the Shadow Isles.
In addition, Riot has confirmed that one of its upcoming champions was already widely known. Riot Games have made a concerted effort to add more champions from the game’s lore, such as Senna or Yone.
Finally, one last bit of evidence: releasing the Ruined King as a jungler in 2021 would coincide perfectly with the release of its upcoming RPG. All this information should be taken with a grain of salt, of course. The identity of the upcoming jungler hasn’t yet been revealed by Riot Games.
The release date of the new champion has not yet been revealed by Riot Games. However, a massive leak of skins has indicated that the arrival of the champion would take place during the patch 11.2, which — according to Riot Games' roadmap for the year 2021 — will be active between next Thursday, January 21 and the following Tuesday, February 2. Taking into account that champions are usually launched at the beginning of each cycle, the next days could be an ideal date.
In addition, we can see a message in the game client talking about January 8. We have identified the message as the beginning of the season, but it might also be the introduction of a new champion.
Riot Games have announced their next title, Ruined King: A League of Legends Story. A turn-based RPG set in Bilgewater, it has a release date of early 2021 and will come with a free upgrade for PS4 and Xbox One users.
Original content by "Cthulhu" and "GalleGutsito".
