Riot Games has finally revealed the official Champion Insights for League of Legends’ upcoming top laner, K’Sante, after many rumors and developments. The cinematic, titled “Defeat Your Monster,” debuted a few days after the champion teaser and digs into his lore, relationship with his lover, and powers.
Furthermore, the most recent developer blog has shed light on K’Sante’s romantic partner Tope, who has so far been referred to as “The Archer.”
Apart from K’Sante valiantly battling a worthy opponent, the cinema also featured Tope, his lover, who had previously defended their homeland with him by battling monsters.
Riot Games shapes K’Sante -Tope lore with feedback from staff who identify as LGBTQIA+
Tope and K’Sante were an excellent team. Tope was cool and temperate, whereas his partner was ferocious. They hunted together; Tope planned and selected their targets, and K’Sante delivered the crushing blow.
The two men who got along so well, K’Sante and Tope, began dating. They did, however, face two significant barriers: youth and pride.
“They eventually reached this moment where they were unable to kill the lion-cobra baccai they hunted. And that’s where the falling out started to happen. K’Sante needed to kill it to live up to his own expectations as this heroic hunter and idol to his people. Tope tried to convince him to slow down and take a moment, but they would just devolve into arguments.”
To live up to his own standards and serve as an idol to his people, K’Sante had to take the animal’s life. Tope, on the other hand, tried to convince him to rethink his decision. Several arguments would ensue, eventually leading to the separation.
However, both characters expanded from the journey, admitting that they each played a role in their breakup and remaining friends.
Riot Games teamed up with their LGBTQIA+ employees to depict relationships where one couldn’t successfully communicate their feelings and hard times to their partners and ended up splitting to build the K’Sante-Tope story.
AzuBK, the game designer for League of Legends, has admitted that he is gay and thus has strong feelings about K’Sante’s ‘imperfect’ lore.
“I’m gay. So I have a lot of opinions about K’Sante’s backstory. And it’s not perfect—it can’t be. So I had to put my player hat on and think about this not as a League dev, but as a gay, Black man. I asked myself, ‘If I’m seeing this as a League of Legends player do I think this is a good, solid attempt? Do I think this is worthy?”
The developers believe that this is a respectable attempt at a good story, and it’s only the beginning with the story of K’Sante and Tope.