In case you missed it, Riot dropped the newest cinematic titled “Welcome to Noxus“. It showed different champions from Noxus and showcased the overarching theme of this years season for League of Legends.
We understand that there’s a bit of confusion regarding this cinematic and so we’re here to help you out. Here’s a quick breakdown and everything you need to know.
League of Legends or Arcane?
Many fans we’re slightly confused, however, when the cinematic dropped. The main reason for the confusion is the introduction of Mel in the League of Legends universe. Unfortunately, Arcane Fans, this is not a cinematic for the new Arcane sequel revolving around Noxus. It’s a trailer for Season One of League of Legends in 2025. Everything in League for this season is going to be Noxus themed.
The main reason why it looks like an Arcane Sequel is because Riot had Fortiche Production SAS animate this cinematic. Yes, the same studio that gave us the iconic Arcane look. It seems that Riot has found their favorite studio and is sticking with them.
So yes, this cinematic, while beautiful, is not for Arcane but for the League of Legends game. Mel is in the trailer because they’re introducing her in the game as a new champion for this season. The other reason why it looks like it’s related to Arcane is because of the retcon that Riot did to the League lore. As of November last year, Riot confirmed that Arcane is now the new canon and this cinematic is their attempt to link both League and Arcane. That also explains why this Season is called Season One instead of Season 15. Riot looks to be doing a sort of soft-reset.
There’s a lot going on in the cinematic but don’t worry, we’ll break things down for you!
Cinematic Breakdown
The whole underlying theme of this season is the core principle of Noxus: Strength above all else. According to Noxian belief, there are three tenets of Strength and the cinematic shows us an example of each one. we’ll talk about each one as we go along but here’s the gist of it. The three tenets are Vision, Might, and Guile. Vision is the ability to see your goals and victories and make a clear plan for it. Might is the ability to make those goals a reality. Guile is the cunning and wiles needed to get it done no matter what. Now how are these shown in the trailer?
So like I said in the previous section, Riot is trying to unify the lore of Arcane and League of Legends. This is the main reason why the cinematic is presumed to take place after the events of Arcane Season two and why we see Mel in Noxus. There are a couple more characters in the cinematic but we’ll get to them in a bit. Now, Mel doesn’t actually embody any of these core tenets as of right now. She’s the newcomer to the power dynamic and it’s shown that her main goal is to confront LeBlanc. Honestly, her whole role in the cinematic was really just to hype people up for her release as a new champion.
Cinematic Breakdown – Vision
Now that Mel’s been explained, let’s move onto the other champions. Going in order of the tenets, the first one is LeBlanc and Vladimir. While usually LeBlanc is the posterchild of Guile, she’s shown as the example of Vision for this cinematic. She’s behind the scenes plotting and planning the next move for the Black Rose and that’s a nod to the aspect of Vision. She envisions (pun not intended) the success of the Black Rose and plots a path to reach it.
Usually, LeBlanc is depicted as a trickster. She’s known for using illusions and magic when fighting but in this case, they’re depicting her as a schemer. Rather than using tricks and cunning in this cinematic, we can see her being methodical and precise with every move. It’s a nice breakaway from the usual passive trickster LeBlanc is portrayed as in other media.
Cinematic Breakdown – Might
This one is a little more obvious but Might is represented by Darius (Both in lore and in the cinematic). It’s rather fitting that the Hand of Noxus himself reminds everyone why he’s the leader of Might in the Trifarix in this cinematic. There’s nothing more badass than a normal human taking on the Troll King (trundle) in a 1v1 brawl.
It’s a little jarring to see a skinnier and younger Darius but that just cements the fact the events of Arcane took place before a lot of the major events in modern Runeterra. Now, a lot of you may be wondering why He’s fighting Trundle in the first place.
Based on the location, it appears they’re at Delverhold, a fortress settlement located at the base of the Ironspike Mountains. This is a Noxian territory bordering the Freljord and can explain what Darius is doing there. He’s probably asserting dominance over the trolls in the area so his men can safely mine iron and gold from the mountains. Fun fact, his armor and weapon are made from said iron.
Another question people who are new to League have on their minds is about Trundle’s club. It’s a whole shard of what’s known as “True Ice”. This ice never melts and can instantly freeze most things. The gods of Freljord and warriors known as “Iceborn” are able to wield said ice as weapons. Not much is known why Trundle can wield a whole club other than the fact it was bestowed upon him.
Cinematic Breakdown – Guile
The unironic fan-favorite and the character that got the most attention from the audience this time around is Katarina, the Sinister Blade. It’s great to see her dressed in something other than her usual leather jacket and bra and she felt like a genuine assassin in the cinematic. Katarina is meant to represent Guile in this cinematic and it was wonderfully shown. She had to use all her tricks and cunning in order to assassinate her target.
While it’s not fully known who her target is and why Elise (The spider lady) was protecting him, it’s safe to assume he was useful to the Black Rose. I’m going to geek out for a bit and explain why her fight sequence was just absolutely amazing.
She used all her in-game abilities in the cinematic and it was so smoothly integrated. She threw her daggers just like her ability “Bouncing Blades” and while fighting Elise, still managed to assassinate her target. Katarina then used “Preparation” to stick a dagger in the ground and lure Elise away from the target and then used “Shunpo” to dash back to said dagger. This placed her in the perfect spot to slice her target’s neck.
It was a beautiful use of her champion design and honestly, she’s not the only one to do this! We could spend a whole article talking about the featured abilities in the cinematic and other easter eggs but that’s for another time.
Now, you’re probably thinking about Elise and who she is. Long story short, she’s a member of the Black Rose and was once a noblewoman of Noxus who was cursed by a spider demigod and transformed her into a half-spider half human. Not much is known about her other than the fact that she uses the Black Rose to draw in victims for her to feed on.
Trailer Ending
There’s a lot of details to cover but basically, it seems Mel is gearing up to fight the Black Rose and LeBlanc is now looking for a way to gain more power. There are several hints as to what her next move could be but it looks like it’s going to involve the Darkin (Another article on that soon). All in all, this looks like an exciting season for League of Legends. Unfortunately, this is once again not a hint as to what we can expect for the next season of Arcane (At least, not right now).
Want to know more about the lore of League of Legends? We got you covered!
The Black Rose Cabal: Everything You Need to Know
