5 League of Legends Villains Who Could Carry Their Own Single-Player Game
League of Legends isn’t just popular for its engaging loop of farming, powering up, and fighting, or its most hype professional esports moments. The game’s champions, of which there are currently 173, are the foundation that its fanbase is built upon. While their unique gameplay identities are part of the equation that makes these champions so memorable, their true success comes from the incredible depth of lore, stories, and personality that Riot pours into its expansive cast.
Arcane proved that League of Legends’ characters remain popular even amongst fans who never played the game. As the company begins to venture outside of the MOBA and expand its IP to other genres and forms of media, they have the benefit of pulling from their incredible fantasy world and its characters, which currently has 17 years’ worth of stories to tell. The very best of these stories always belong to League’s villains, of which the game has more than a few that could easily carry Riot’s next single player experience.
5. Aatrox
When thinking of iconic League of Legends villains, Aatrox is always one of the first to come to mind. Once a legendary god-like warrior defending the empire of Shurima from the void, Aatrox fell victim to the madness of his peers and partook in a civil war between the god-like Ascended that would have spelled certain doom for the world, if the warriors,and Aatrox himself, weren’t sealed into their weapons with the use of celestial magic.
Though it is hard to say how much of Aatrox’s recounting of his past is true or simply shaped by his own perception, his quotes (which are poetic and wordy like they were pulled straight from an ancient epic) paint the picture of a noble warrior who was betrayed by the charges he swore to protect. Aatrox laments the tragedy of his new form, the loss of his golden light, and now leads a suicidal march to destroy the world of Runeterra so that he may finally know peace.
Aatrox is everything you need in a show-stealing villain. His story is tragic and relatable, helping us to understand how he might become the villain he is today without excusing his actions. His tortured existence fuels a fiery anger, and his skills as an ancient swordsman make him a deadly threat that must be taken seriously. Plus, a gigantic fallen angel literally made from blood creates a kind of scene Prescence that is hard to match.
4. Mordekaiser
Another iconic League villain, the tyrant founder of Noxus, Sahn-Uzal cheated the afterlife itself to become Mordekaiser. Binding his soul to a suit of armor, Mordekaiser became a conqueror of both life and death, with all of the structures he built and the souls he slew eventually joining him in the realm of Mitna Ragnum after his second death, creating an eternal kingdom for him to rule.
Mordekaiser stands out as one of the most imposing threats in Runeterra, controlling armies of spirits, devastating death magic, and piloting an imposing body of pure metal. Like Aatrox, Mordekaiser is mentioned across multiple champion stories as a looming threat to the world itself. Furthermore, his lasting legacy on the world, being the founder of Noxus and the ruler of one of the setting’s afterlives, the inclusion of Mordekaiser could make since in practically any game, and I would be surprised if he doesn’t make some kind of appearance in Riot’s planned MMORPG.
3. Volibear
Some players seem to forget that Volibear, lord of storms and one of the gods of the Freljord, is actually one of the game’s antagonists. Many fans of the great and mighty bear-god admire him for his strength, ferocity, devastating laning phase, and commitment to the wild aspects of the Freljord. Because of this, they often overlook when he threatens to “roar the world into stillness” or rage war against the world of men for moving away from his teachings.
As an antagonist, Volibear brings a lot to the table: the power to control storms, a giant imposing form and the ferocity of the wild itself. A single-player game set in the Freljord could see Volibear serving as a villain who seeks to decimate civilization and force men back into their primal state, so that they have no other choice than to worship the thousand-pierced bear and follow his teachings.
2. Viego
Viego, the Ruined King, is one of the oldest villains in League history and a character with one of the biggest impacts on the world of Runeterra. Once the king of Camavor, Viego’s life took a dark turn when the love of his life, Isolde, was assassinated. Seeking a way to cheat her death, Viego became capable of incredible cruelty, and eventually invaded the Blessed Isles to try and resurrect her in the waters of life. When Isolde’s revenant spirit struck Viego down, he poured all of his anger, grief, sadness, and latent magical ability into the water, creating a cataclysm that sundered the veil between life and death, created the Shadow Isles, and bore from Viego’s aching dead heart the Black Mist.
It almost goes without saying that Viego would make for an incredible villain for a single-player experience, because he already serves as the secondary antagonist of Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, the most popular title to come out of Riot Forge’s attempt to expand the League of Legends universe into other games. However, Viego’s impact on Runeterra and the lore of League is so great that no list of the setting’s best villains would be complete without him.
Despite being defeated at the hands of the Sentinels of Light, newer stories suggest that Viego’s reign of terror rs far from over. With the opportunity of an even stronger, even angrier Viego making his return, we absolutely need to see him in the spotlight for another game.
1. Lissandra
The ice witch Lissandra, like Viego, actually did star as the antagonist of a single-player game set in the League of Legends universe, Song of Nunu. Her presence as the guiding hand that rules the Freljord in secret, manipulating events behind the scenes with her dark magic and influence over her thralls, makes for an absolutely larger-than-life villain that doesn’t get enough credit in the conversation of League’s greatest antagonists.
One of the most interesting aspects of Lissandra’s story is that she is, in a manner of speaking, serving the greater good. Everything the ice witch does is in service of keeping the Watchers, primordial beings and the creators of the devastating Void, from waking up. Though she is saving the world from a far greater evil than herself, the actions she takes to do so are nevertheless cruel, making for a complicated but no less evil villain.
Though Song of Nunu had its darker moments, the title failed to truly capture the full depth of what Lissandra could be as a villain, leaving the door open for an even more epic adventure starring the dark ice witch as a villain.
Which League of Legends villains would you like to see star as the antagonist in a single-player game? Tell us your top picks in the comments below.