Despite tearing up the lore, Arcane may have just saved League of Legends

It’s been three years since Jinx and Vi’s feud began; Ever since Jinx murdered Silco and launched her super-mega death missile toward the Piltover council chambers, intent on bringing the City of Progress to its knees. But for me it’s been three years since I really felt like it League of Legends Was Good. 2021 saw the much-maligned Sentinels of Light event, which introduced Akshan but completely wiped out half of the game’s lore. After 15 years, there are still several champions who have nothing more than a single paragraph of history (poor Shaco), and after that Arcane Season 2Conclusion: There are more questions than answers on the table. But perhaps for the first time in a long time, I think LoL may be able to correct its somewhat confusing lore state, and Season 2025 will be the catalyst.

I have a full rundown of everything the 2025 League of Legends season entails, but I really want to focus on the rotating, themed seasons. The MOBA’s calendar is divided into three unique seasons per year, each with their own themes. These seem to be focused on different regions at first, but I have a feeling they could also expand to universes like Star Guardian, High Noon or Project. Each season will see the debut of a new champion from the spotlighted region, various Rift changes to reflect the overarching theme, and existing characters from the region will also receive some TLC. As someone who is a huge fan of the game’s story and its regions (particularly Shurima), this all sounds great.

While I enjoyed Swarm earlier this year and Arenas before that, they felt more like different modes than fully integrated elements of the LoL experience. An Anima Squad-themed season and the addition of Swarm would have felt more cohesive, and Riot agrees with that. “In the past, we’ve had these big releases like Swarm or Spirit of the Hearth Home that were very memorable and fun, but weren’t connected to a larger, integrated moment,” says product lead Chad “Makivor” Ballard in League of Legends’ developer update from November 25th. “In the (new) seasons we want everything to fit together.” It’s really music to my ears – for the past three years, League has felt a bit disjointed; This new approach is a must.

But then I watched the end of the second season of Arcane. While I won’t include any spoilers here, the implications for the story are gigantic and in some places even no existing tradition. Riot’s confirmation that “Arcane” is canon makes it even more confusing, as after the finale, several elements of the MOBA’s actual gameplay simply cease to exist. I’ve watched the heads of various story-focused YouTubers explode over the course of this weekend, and it’s certainly put us in a pretty confusing situation again.

While some have described it as a Riot battle for cohesion, I think the consequences could actually be positive. Of course, I don’t agree with blowing up 15 years of storytelling – the reason I fell in love with LoL in the first place was Amumu’s tragic little story – but I believe Arcane contributes to this renewed focus on the game’s lore has led. It’s definitely proven that there’s a lot of appetite for it, and I think that’s reflected in the new seasonal model.

That’s a question I ask game director Pu “Pupulasers” Liu during a 2025 season roundtable: Has the success of Arcane influenced the narrative direction of 2025? “Arcane is certainly great, but for a very long time – since the beginning of League of Legends – players have shown their passion and love (for the game) through cosplays, events, fanships, etc.,” he tells me. “Every time we had a big summer event, players told us they wanted more depth and color in these spaces. So (renewing the focus on the lore) is something we’ve been really interested in for a while, and I think Arcane is a result of that as well.

“For us it starts and ends with the players, but I think the timing was really opportunistic for us with the Arcane ending,” he continues. “I personally think a lot of us felt like, ‘Hey, we’re going to be hungry for more, and players probably will too.'” To “satisfy the sadness of Arcane’s ending,” Liu notes that “It was definitely a strategic time for us to take some of that into the game.”

It’s an exciting answer to a big question. While some avid scholars will be burned by the concluding section of Arcane, I believe this is a much-needed shift in mindset. As previously mentioned, I don’t want the entire 15-year history of Runeterra to remain in the annals of history, but rather to see these stories reintegrated into League of Legends gameplay. This is what I’ve been hoping for for the last three years, and if it needed Arcane as a catalyst, I’m okay with it.

In my opinion, the new seasonal model is the perfect way to do this. Although everyone and their Poro now knows about Zaun and Piltover, Runeterra is a huge, complex place. I want to go to the Shadow Isles – and maybe even Helia, if we go back that far. I want to cry with Amumu in a grave in Shurima. The seasonal model shines a light on all these exciting places and makes engaging with them fun and rewarding. By changing the rift and introducing new, themed champions, it’s like actually interacting with this region. There are no longer any differences between the new mode or character and the overarching theme – everything is wrapped up in a “Re-gifted Amumu” style bow.

But it’s not just about looks. Season 1 forces players to play aggressively and channels the essence of Noxus. Again, it’s a clever twist on the region’s lore while also forcing you to change up your gameplay. As an Enchanter support player, I’m not exactly known for going to the front lines, but to complete Atakhan or the Feats objectives, I can see myself doing it – the reward is worth it in this case. In the future, an Ionian-style card could see a shift towards magic, while Demacia could punish mages instead – the possibilities seem endless. Conceptually, Riot hit the nail on the head here; We’ll just have to see if it sticks the landing.

We have seen great moments this year. Jinx Fixes Everything is a simple highlight, and Swarm proves that Riot can do it right. Combining and streamlining all of these great ideas is a really exciting prospect and feels different to the way of thinking we’ve become accustomed to. So yes, Arcane has its bombs, but it has reinvigorated Riot’s interest in the lore that forms the building blocks of League’s success. My standards have been pretty low since Sentinels of Light, and I want turn out to be wrong. For the first time since 2021, I think maybe it could be me.