Introducing the World of Runeterra in 2023

The Runeterra Universe has developed a lot since League of Legends’ released in 2009. Today, the game’s lore is extremely rich with individual stories and massive sagas that give life to the characters in the game, giving hardcore fans a lot to imagine whenever they see their favorite champions on the Rift. Let’s explore how much the world has grown and how it will continue to develop as more content gets introduced.

The World of Runeterra

Runeterra is pretty much your standard Earth-like fantasy world where there are vast continents filled with a large number of civilizations ranging from small villages to large empires. In this world, magic and technology coexist as a diverse set of races live together (with some choosing to isolate themselves) to showcase how they utilize these things to create tools of trade or deadly weapons of war. After all, a fantasy world isn’t complete if there’s no conflict between the beings of these worlds.

The amount of conflict in Runeterra is ridiculous. From Empires trying to declare war to expand their ideals to domestic conflicts that involve less violent battles. There are civil wars and grand journeys of heroes discovering ancient enemies or new friends. There is no single protagonist or antagonist in the story because the world is filled with a lot of unique characters with their own struggles and ideals that they’re trying to uphold.

The world also introduces biomes and environments very much like Earth. From frozen wastelands to lush valleys. The only difference is that the world also introduces the influence of magic on the environment, creating fauna and flora that are touched or corrupted by magical essences. The world also introduces different mythologies, religions, and beliefs that influence what kind of magic a specific group of people can use.

Unlike other fantasy worlds, Runeterra isn’t actually fully revealed with only a portion of the globe is shown so far. The lore hints and teases other locations that can’t be found on the map such as The Lost City of Camavor and Kathkan (the home of Nilah). This means that the story writers can introduce even more themes, races, and other narrative features that they haven’t shown before to expand on the ever-growing lore of League of Legends.

The Storylines and Direction of the World

With so many conflicts going on, it’s difficult to introduce them all but fortunately, all of these various storylines are going toward the same endpoint. The game hints at a grand war that will happen in the future that will make all of the kingdoms and heroes involved in the protection of their homeland. The Ruination storyline was only one part but multiple armageddon scenarios will happen soon enough.

The Void, Rune Wars, the Darkin invasion, and Aurelion Sol’s return are the major plot points that the game has yet to conclude. This might all be continued further in the upcoming League of Legends MMORPG. For now, the storyline of Runeterra is frozen in place with no further development being hinted at. Instead, they’ve introduced all of the major characters and plot points which all connect to the present timeline of the world.

How Riot Games Will Develop the Lore

It seems Riot Games has set up all of its games to develop the world of Runeterra in its own unique ways. For example, League of Legends contains lore pieces that simply introduce the origins of each major character. Legends of Runeterra (TCG) gives additional storylines to existing characters to give them more life and allows the players to connect more to each champion. Riot Forge’s games such as Ruined King: A League of Legends Story expands on existing storylines in the game.

As we mentioned already, none of these games actually push the storyline further than the present timeline. While Riot Games also started releasing written novels, those also aren’t being used to extend the storylines past the present timeline. It seems Riot Games is already set on using their upcoming major games to develop the story. Hopefully, we see more stories start to conclude so that we can see how the champions interact with each other.

Rating the League of Legends Lore

There are many games with vast lore like World of Warcraft (Azeroth), Final Fantasy titles, and the Elder Scrolls series. In terms of the depth and storytelling of the Runeterra universe, it is safe to say that it is top-tier, especially since it’s unique in its own way that doesn’t end up being a clone of popular titles like Lord of the Rings. It’s important to remember that the story of League of Legends world is not a single plotline since it involves over a hundred characters that each have their own piece of lore that they add to the world.

In terms of lore, the League of Legends universe definitely gives a lot of good reads but it’s not fair to give a number to rate it generally since there are god-tier storytelling included and there are ones that are simply terrible. Overall, it’s mostly a positive experience but if you don’t like reading individual storylines or spending hours completing the games, you can watch loremasters like Necrit or explore media like cinematics and TV series.

How the Runeterra Universe Will Evolve

The state of the world will only worsen as the enemies become stronger and wars break out all over Runeterra. However, we’ll see characters develop into their peak forms and showcase how everything that happened in their storylines has impacted the way they are in that version of themselves. We’ll see a relationship form or get broken as the lore introduces more protagonists and antagonists that can impact the people around them.

The most accurate representation of the genre of the stories of Runeterra is that they are mostly action dramas. In the same way that all drama shows develop, it will involve a lot of events that will break the hearts of the fans but in the same way make them love the story even more. We can only hope that Riot Games will give us a conclusion that will do justice to all of the beloved characters in the game.