League of Legends used to look very different. This refers not only to the game, the animation of the champions, or the launcher, but also the lore once followed a completely different idea. The players themselves were mainly in focus.
What was the role of the players in the past? League of Legends launched on October 27, 2009, and over the years became one of the biggest online games of all time. Back then, the game was different. While it had the typical 3 lanes, the graphics, the animation of the characters, and the launcher still evoke nostalgia for many players.
But the beloved lore, which was recently seen as a series in Arcane, was also a bit different, and at its center were even the players as summoners
.
Nowadays, the lore is also presented in trailers:
The Summoners had total control
What were the Summoners? To contextualize the battles between 2 teams full of champions, the players were called Summoners. This is also where the term Summoner Spell for abilities like Flash comes from. The Summoners can also be seen in the first LoL trailer.
2 teams represented each a faction of an ancient war, fighting against each other on the Summoner’s Rift. The minions, towers, and also champions were in the lore summoned tools
of the players. Battles on the map were meant to resolve political conflicts without putting Runeterra in danger (via League of Legends Wiki).
The areas such as Bilgewater, Demacia, or Noxus existed, as did the corresponding locations of various champions. The champions themselves had lore, but it wasn’t followed as consistently as known today.
Great lore stories were told at that time through the Journal of Justice. From the perspective of the summoners, writings about various champions did not always revolve around serious
lore. Morgana, for instance, was once a bikini model for a magazine (via Leaguepedia).
In 2014, however, Riot changed the direction of the lore.
The remnants
of the summoners can still be found in the game
What happened to the Summoners? As uppercutcrit.com reported in 2020, Riot completely restructured the lore in 2014. To give the champions more importance, the summoners were removed from the lore because they were described as powerful wizards. The champions simply appeared as puppets next to them.
After 2014, individual champions and regions were given more history and background. The series Arcane shows what can arise from it. However, it should not be forgotten that there are champions who still have no real lore. A well-known example would be Shaco.
But in the game, some remnants of the summoners can still be discovered. For one, there are the summoner spells and runes, with which powerful wizards used to influence the match and their champions.
In the old LoL lore, Nocturne tormented various summoners with nightmares. To this day, the champion still has the voice line in English: Am I frightening you, summoner?
(via League of Legends Wiki).
What is the state of the lore today? Friends of the world of Runeterra are having quite a good time. With Arcane, parts of Zaun were turned into a series, and with The Universe of League of Legends, a vast repository of lore texts, short stories, and comics has been created. In addition to this website, there are also books and games to experience.
The lore is also represented in the games. With the first season of 2025, more of Noxus was showcased, and in Legends of Runeterra, new side characters are regularly introduced in the form of cards. A popular part of the lore is the story of Viego: A champion in LoL just wanted to save his wife, but instead triggered one of the worst catastrophes in Runeterra
