Nashor is a throwback to Dota
We all know that League of Legends came from the popular Warcraft 3 mod Defense of the Ancients. Thats old news. And we know they took design ideas, including the map design, from that mod. But did you know that LoLs Baron Nashor is a nod to Dotas most powerful neutral creep in more than just purpose? Dotas version of Baron is Roshan. Nashor. Roshan. Nashor--theyre reverses of the other.
Many of the original champions have personal reasons for their names
Tryndamere is Riot president Marc Merrills Everquest nickname. Annie is a Riot designers girlfriend who, yes, owns a teddy bear named Tibbers. Zilean is from designer Zilias summoner name. Same with Udyr for Udyr. Nunu is the name of a Riot developers dog. The list goes on and on...
Family matters
There are a bunch of family members in the League as well. Some are buddies, like the siblings Lux and Garen or the husband and wife Tryndamere and Ashe. Some are siblings who are bitter rivals like Morgana and Kayle (makes sense) or Nasus and Renekton (which makes less sense). And some are both just awful people, like the sisters Katrina and Sassiopia. Oh sorry, we meant Cassiopeia.
Blitzcrank runs a dating service
Came from left field didnt it? Yup, in his official lore Blitzcrank runs a dating service for all of the lonely hearts that are his human friends. The service is called Blitzcrank's Fleshling Compatibility Services, and when hes not grabbing enemy Amumus to destroy his entire team, hes helping the world find love.
Rammus used to be quite chatty
A lot of champions get reworked before release. For example, Lux was all set to come out before a fan sent in a painting she did of her reimagined Lux. The dev team liked it so much that they went for it and hired that fan as an artist. Other champions get minor tweaks here and there, but whenever something is taken away something is given back. Not the case for Rammus. He had a full voice suite to his name before it was axed, leaving him with the now infamous OK.
Amumu used to be a dead child, but that was too creepy
Poor Amumu is the poster child for tragic characters, literally. Just look at his kit. One of his moves does damage by forcing him to sob all over himself, and his ultimate is called Curse of the Sad Mummy. In his original lore, Amumu was a child who had been mummified. Once Riot realized that was really, really dark, they instead turned his lore into that of a fully grown Yordle. Still dead and mummified, but at least less dead child-y now.
Cassiopeia's doo is composed of local fair
You may have never noticed this, but the river separating the blue and purple teams on the map is literally teaming with snakes. Next time youre dead body is lying in the river while your team fights around you, check it out. Do you know who could make really good use of those snakes? Why, Leagues very own Cassiopeia. When shes alive and on the field, there are no snakes in the river. Yet when she dies, the river floods with them once again. This obviously means that they crawl up onto her skull and become her hair when shes alive. Lovely.
Web 2.0 is represented through skins
Almost every single skin in the game is based off of--or alludes to--something. Its like a grab bag of cultural references. And dont even get me started on the dances: from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya to the Macarena, this game has everything. One piece of skin trivia that you may not know is that League has given a nod to all the popular web browsers out there. Internet Explorer is represented by Explorer ezreal, Firefox through Foxfire Ahri, and Google Chrome through Chrome Rammus. Does that mean that Pop Star Ahri represents Opera?
Even characters' armors and weapons have backstories
Because the League is full of geniuses, it only makes sense that they would end up inventing things to be used against one another. Hextech is the steampunk of LoL, and almost all technology that you see is in that category. The two genius inventors responsible for the mess? Heimerdinger (good) and Viktor (evil). Wonder where Master Yis goggles come from? Hemier. Jayces hammer? Viktor.
You're basically a real life summoner now
That should be enough League trivia to last you a whole season. Think you know more? Let us know in the comments below. And good luck in season four, for those of you brave enough to jump in fight against the onslaught of raging noobs that think they're better than you.
And if you're looking for more, check out Make a living playing video games...because now it's possible and Esports, grow up.
