League of Legends is less a single story than a setting stuffed full of different tales, from the steampunk class divide in Arcane to Sylas’ revolution in Demacia. But the story of the Ruined King Viego, and the chaos his malevolent Black Mist brought to the pirate city of Bilgewater, is one of the biggest touchstones, covering multiple events in League itself and serving as the central focus in The Ruined King: A League of Legends Story. Riot Forge, which publishes games in the League universe, shared a short story on Wednesday that builds off the events of The Ruined King.
The Will of the Dead is specifically a Ruined King short story; it isn’t hosted on the Riot Universe page with other narrative content. The story shows Illaoi, a priestess of the Kraken goddess Nagakabouros, dealing with the aftermath of The Ruined King. Bilgewater is engulfed in civil war, and the recent Shadow Isles invasion hasn’t helped anything at all. In The Ruined King, Illaoi, along with the team of Miss Fortune, Pyke, Ahri, and Yasuo, managed to defeat Viego, the Ruined King… but not permanently. Viego and his corrupting influence are locked in a mystical amulet, subject to a potential escape to cause more problems. Illaoi sets out to find Yorick, an undead monk who may be able to help solve this problem permanently.
It’s nice to see characters like Illaoi and especially Yorick get the spotlight. Yorick’s backstory is based all around Viego and the Shadow Isles, but he was weirdly absent throughout both The Ruined King and League of Legends’ Sentinels of Light event, bar a couple of cameos. It’s also intriguing to see Riot continue to the Shadow Isles storyline through the lens of a short story on Riot Forge after an RPG, a standalone novel, and a marquee League event. It seems there’s still plenty of story to tell in this particular corner of the League of Legends sandbox.