League of Legends: The Five Fiercest Rivalries in LoL Lore
By Josh Tyler
The lore of League of Legends is filled with betrayal and bloodshed, but these five rivalries are the most ferocious.
Something that I’ve been exploring a bit more during the quarantine is diving into the League of Legends lore. There are some incredibly well-written, fascinating tales from across Runeterra and the League of Legends universe as a whole, which I’ve delved into with my copy of Riot’s Official Lore Companion book.
The game’s lore has some absolutely fantastic stories, particularly those relating to the wars and rivalries of Runeterra. Since this is a subject that players often don’t get to see a lot of (since the lore of League is dense), this seems to be a perfect time to delve into some of the lore stories that you should absolutely check out. Here are the five biggest rivalries between regions in the universe of League of Legends!
Noxus versus Ionia
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The list would, honestly, not even be legitimate if we didn’t include the battle between two of the greatest human civilizations on Runeterra. Noxus is actually the first civilization founded on Runeterra and the basis of timekeeping for all events in the timeline, as it was founded at 0 AN (After Noxus).
Within the first 300 years of Noxus’s founding, though, Demacia was founded in western Valoran by the champion Orlon (who eventually bestowed his hammer to the Yordle Poppy). However, after the first tyrant of Noxus – the Iron Revenant Mordekaiser – was defeated, Noxus began a campaign of rapid expansion. At around 984 AN, Noxian Grand General Boram Darkwill ordered a large-scale invasion of Ionia, desiring to conquer Ionia for the magical energy the land possessed.
This quickly became a bloody conflict, involving champions like Riven, Irelia, Udyr, Lee Sin, Yasuo, and Master Yi fighting on the Ionian side, opposing Swain, Singed, Kayn, and Darius on the Noxian side. The conflict only ends after Swain enacts a coup within Noxas, killing Boram Darkwill and ending the invasion. In the aftermath, though, Ionians still hold a grudge against their former occupiers.