The Untold Truth Of League Of Legends' Ruined King

With the release of the new Ruination cinematic, League of Legends gave life to one of the most iconic villains of its lore: Viego, the Ruined King.

Many players only knew about him from an item, Blade of the Ruined King, but the Ruined King has a background that's opening a new chapter with the cinematic. Viego's story includes Kalista, Hecarim, Thresh, Yorick, and even Maokai. Luckily, League of Legends has extensive character biographies for each of these champions, so players and lore enthusiasts can learn just how the story goes.

Viego, the unwilling ruler to his kingdom, lived for one thing and one thing only: his beloved wife. Neglecting his kingdom because of his obsession with his wife led to angry allies and optimistic enemies. His enemies sought to assassinate him with a poisoned knife, but Viego's lead commander and niece, Kalista, changed the course of the stray knife. Instead, Viego's wife and queen was struck, leading her to become deathly ill. 

This story has become one of the most important in League, sparking spin-off games and multiple champions and creating in-game items. 

Viego sent Kalista on a search for a cure, leaving Hecarim in charge of the military. Kalista found herself at the Blessed Isles where Maokai, Thresh, and Yorick resided. A peaceful but closed-off area, the Blessed Isles were home to magical waters that could cure the queen. Kalista was granted the opportunity to bring the queen in secret to be healed, but by the time she returned home, the queen was dead.

Viego had holed up with the corpse of his queen, going mad with despair at her death. Kalista felt despair herself because this was the first time she hadn't succeeded, and she told Viego what she learned at the Blessed Isles. Viego quickly got his army together and brought his wife's dead body, only to be rejected at the gates. 

Viego's dead wife is one of the biggest events in League's lore. Beyond the interactions between characters that Viego will undoubtedly have, this story is one of the most fleshed-out lore pieces players have at the moment, so much so that League's first single-player RPG game is based on this event. 

The leaders of the Blessed Isles told Viego that the healing waters couldn't reverse death, but Viego was too far gone to understand. He ordered Kalista to attack, but she refused. Hecarim, seeing a chance to gain power and cause the destruction that he reveled in, betrayed Kalista by throwing a spear in her back.

The army descended onto the Blessed Isles, and Viego found the healing waters. He brought his wife's corpse back to life, but she was in a tortured state between life and death. Begging for Viego to let her die, she eventually lost her sense and stabbed Viego with his sword, known as the Blade of the Ruined King, an item in Summoner's Rift. This created the Black Mist and impacted characters across Runeterra.

Known as the Ruination, this event has created an origin story of sorts for League of Legends, and it's a place that developers have reached back to when making new games and creating new content, and even for new champions. With at least three more champions coming from this story, League plans on fleshing out the Ruination even further.

Now, Viego's sole goal is to bring his wife back, leading him on a hunt across Runeterra, the Black Mist following him along the way. This seems to be what other League characters know about and fight against, as evidenced by the Ruination cinematic.

The epic struggle between Senna, Thresh, and Lucian was brought to light with Senna's announcement cinematic in 2019, but there's more to that story. It actually involves Viego, as players got a hint of with the Ruination cinematic. There's still some speculation about the queen's soul and how Senna ties into that, but nothing is known for sure just yet. 

Characters like Maokai and Yorick are trying to stop Viego to get their home back. In the Ruination cinematic, characters from across Runeterra are seen struggling with Viego's call, like Darius from Noxus and Poppy from Demacia. Because of this villain across all lands, League may be preparing for its next big event like the Spirit Blossom event from 2020 to launch alongside The Ruined King RPG game early this year.