Filmmaker Reacts: Awaken - League of Legends (ft. Valerie Broussard) | Season 2019 Cinematic

[@PhilipHarts]

Favorite LoL character from Awaken / fav shot?? For me it's the Bow! Follow my Twitch, I'm streaming tonight!: twitch.tv/philiphartshorn Also check out my main KZbin Channel with 150K subs: kzbin.info

[@freedragoons]

From this cinematic, my favorite is a tie between Jhin (piano) and Riven (gladiator).

[@Twitch2099]

There's a lot of Easter Eggs in this video, especially in the theater scenes: The Guy in the mask is named Jhin and his whole thing is creating "Masterpieces" (killing people) and the woman's name is Camille. She's basically an enforcer for the super rich families in Piltover who was tasked with taking down Jhin after he kills a bunch of people. She's not a cop though (there are champions in the game who are). Think of her more like a hitman (or I suppose hitwoman as is the case here) for the mob. Camille has a passive where her eyes change between orange or blue to signify a shield against incoming physical or magical damage, respectively, depending on which her target has dealt the most damage of so far, so for Jhin you see it flicker between physical and magical because his attacks do physical damage, but his traps do magical damage. Also, pay close attention to the shots Jhin fires during the cinematic. He fires exactly 3 times before the "Bow" scene. That's important because the way his ultimate works (which amusingly enough is called "Curtain Call") is that he fires 4 times and the fourth shot does massive extra damage. If you look close, during the "Bow" scene, you'll notice that Camille has a scared look on her face. That's because at that exact moment, she realized that she "just activated his trap card" so to speak, and that he's about to kill her with that 4th shot. You can also tell by looking at his gun. When he initially pulls out the gun, all 4 lights are lit up, but at the end when he bows, there's only 1 out of the 4 lights still lit up. Also, notice the purple at the top of the screen when they zoom out to show the whole theater right after they burst through the doors at the beginning? That's also one of his traps, and that's why there's that explosion up high behind Camille during the "Bow" scene. Some other fun facts: Akali (the rapper from K/DA) is the chick in the green with the smoke bombs and the twin Kamas :) It's funny that you mention Attack on Titan, because the composer / producer of the Attack on Titan Fight Theme (Hiroyuki Sawano) also wrote the music for "Light and Shadow" (another League cinematic), which I think you'll also really enjoy. The little electric dude is Kennen, he's basically League's version of a Pikachu (but he can actually talk, and for some reason, everyone seems to hate him) lmao

[@adondc5958]

Ogre guy, definitely. He has died like 2 times, but they keep reviving him, his lower jaw is actually the crown of a king he killed, he is also missing his left leg which is why he walks like that. Sion, the undead juggernaut.

[@puchopucho7790]

you should react to Ryze's "Call of power" cinematic. It's actually the most important character in League of Legends lore and the cinematic is nuts pd: also, it has a lot of lord of the rings references, so i'm sure you'll love it

[@MattFox58]

No Evelyn here, but Akali from the KDA videos is here. Shes the ninja girl in the war scenes wearing the green! :D

[@freedragoons]

"He's not just there to kill. He's there to make a spectacle of it." That is actually 100% correct. That is a character named Jhin, an artist, a masochist, a sadist, and a psychopathic murderer. He views his killings as art, and that slow-mo shot that we see is how he views what is occurring. Nailed that one. As well, you nailed the one about the gladiators. The two characters there, Riven and Draven, were actually orphans that grew up together along with Draven's brother, Darius. They both joined the military, Draven going on to be an executioner and Riven moving to fight in the war for Ionia. When Draven sees Riven enter the arena, he's angry because he knows she has done something that is considered extreme enough (treason) to be sent to him, the high executioner. That's also the reason they both are enjoying the fight so much: childhood memories. And Draven didn't throw the axe at her, he threw HER sword at the chain. He cuts it so they can fight unhindered.

[@magmasalamence]

Was about to say something simillar to this. Good job lol

[@PhilipHarts]

Thanks so much! It says a lot about the artists that I was able to get that from the short video!

[@satsunada]

@@PhilipHarts Also, Jhin's ultimate is called Curtain Call... which is effectively the animation he did in killing those soldiers. Finishing the move he usually does a bow and says something snarky. Like the person above said though, he is completely insane and a serial killer. You can kinda see it in the opening because as the camera pans toward him, you can see his 'audience' for the show. Oh yeah, one last thing, the woman he was fighting is a cyborg named Camille... she's a member of one of Piltover's royal houses and she's about 60 or 70 years old at this point. She operates as sort of a bounty hunter or house guard for other nobles.

[@FlatDonut]

@@PhilipHarts also I like to think, that Jhin has a last plan: The gun he uses only has 4 shots, because having more/rapid fire would take the art out of the performance. The last shot is kind of magically enhanced to execute enemies. During the video we can see that he fired three times (the 4 pink arrows on his gun in the beginning and the 1 remaining arrow during his bow). Furthermore he has a shoulder mounted grenade launcher that is kinda pointed at her in the last shot, though that might be a bit far fetched. Maybe he just accepted his death a part of the performance after all. I would recommend reading the short story on Jhin on his league of legends page.

[@pamelapettigrew3066]

@@PhilipHarts yes, and the bow at the end was less about respect and more about his smug satisfaction with the "masterpiece" of death he created. also like people are saying, his fourth shot is special, so it's possible he's bowing to show off right before he fires it.

[@Stizzossk]

"Looks like an imp, frog, wolf... lab-rat-dog thing" *chef kiss*

[@PhilipHarts]

Lol if anyone gets that reference you’ll have my respect!

[@DarknessHashira]

@@PhilipHarts thats Kennen! he's a Yordle

[@JakobKiellandYT]

I cannot get enough of these! I'll post some backstory for the different scenes here: The theatre scene: The guy with the mask, Jhin, is completely obsessed with beauty, death and music. In addition to the pistol he has a cannon strapped to his shoulder. He always does things in sets of four, and you can see him firing his pistol thrice before bowing down to aim the the fourth shot with the shoulder mounted cannon. He also does more damage on his 4th shots in-game. Camille, who he's fighting against, is a cybernetically enhanced enforcer, super duper authoritarian and is all about precision. She's probably hunting down Jhin for his numerous crimes. The detail with her eyes changing color is from the game as well, where she has a shield that changes between orange and blue depending on what type of damage she is facing. The arena scene: The dude with the crown is Draven, who's an exalted gladiator and the brother of a powerful general. He's all about making a show for the fans, and loves to gloat and "play with his food". The girl in the ring is Riven, an exiled warrior. The blade he threw at her is her own. The battlefield scene: So this is showing the Noxian invasion of Ionia. Ionia is this land that's all about like harmony and stuff, and all the "good" characters in this scene have some connection to it that makes them want to protect it. The main girl is Irelia, who uses a form of martial art called bladedancing, where she uses moves to control her blades, like you saw. The scene also has Karma (the shield mage lady), Akali (ninja, also in KDA), Kennen (the small furry lightning ninja and Yasuo (tornado katana dude). The big bad "troll" is Sion, a big bad warrior (and I think undead, at this point) who fights for Noxus. His jaw is the crown of a king who used to be important in the lore, who was killed by Sion.

[@PhilipHarts]

Thanks so much for the enthusiasm! Much more to come!

[@MrTanno123]

J4 dad send his love

[@michaelhuang5087]

When Draven throws the sword at Riven, it's actually him returning her sword to her and breaking her chains! You can see the sword breaking the chain in the background at 20:24 in your video.

[@zal2303]

They snuck in a nice nod to Jhin’s ability, from the game, which gives a little bit more backstory to the last two scenes between him and Camilla. Jhin can only shoot 4 shots, instead of attacking normally, and then he has to reload. The 4th shot is a critical hit that does a ton of damage. In this cinematic, from the point where Camilla glides down and lifts herself in the air towards Jhin, Jhin starts firing his gun. In that specific scene, he fires 3 shots. The next scene that they appear in, Camillia is diving down to Jhin as he looks up. As she gets close, he does a bow, for his finale. But if you notice when he bows, his gun barrel is on, he has his 4th shot ready to go, knowing he’s about to end it as a final finale.

[@zal2303]

Typo fixed

[@PhilipHarts]

Thank you so much for the info! I didn't know you were so into it Zaladin, great lore!

[@GFDIAA]

13:22 "He is not just there to kill. He is there to make a spectacle of it." When someone (who doesn't even know much about League's lore) can identify a characters main trait with a simple shot from a cinematic. Either the viewer is great at noticing details, or the director of the cinematic is god tier. Well done, glad I found your channel

[@eis1243]

About the character that bowed his name is Jhin and he didn't really do it to show respect, he's an artistic mastermind and his art is "killing" thats why he bowed, it was a way to signal the end of his "show" and then he probably escaped from the knife legs lady called Camille.

[@MrMuriloRM]

Actually it goes deeper than that - Jhin is obsessed with the number 4 (ingame theres a lot of things that point to that like his abilities and lore) - throughout this video he only fired 3 shots and then he bows to point the rifle on his back at her for the 4th shot

[@themoralessmorax8638]

@@MrMuriloRM Yeah, the crit shot. It was red, like in game. He probably won. I also think Riven won the fight, because it was her casting her 3rd Q before ulting, while Draven is in melee range ahhaah. And Sion lost already, that was his passive. I love how they throw actual game abilities in there.

[@guccipucci3941]

You can even see the single red line indicating he has 1 shot left on his gun too. He is luring her in to kill her.

[@masterrzeke]

@@themoralessmorax8638 Idk you cant really make up game mechanics for cinematics, because what Draven is wielding can just be swinged around as well. As for Jhin, he shot Camille, but Camille escaped so she didn't die.

[@Olymp1s]

i would recommend The Path, An Ionian Myth short and Kin Of The Stained Blade cinematic

[@PhilipHarts]

On the list!

[@LucasOliveira-ck1ip]

The first character that you see playing the piano is Jhin he is a psychopath obsessed with the number four , he usually kills his victims in groups of four or numbers that can be divided by four . He thinks that he's an artist and sees killing as the peak of art . The woman in the theater with Jhin is Camille , she's basically a cop from Piltover and she had some of her body parts , including her heart, removed and switched with the technology. ( Her lore is way too complex to put here). The " king " is Draven he is not actually a king but he is an executioner from Noxus . The chained woman is Riven she was a soldier from Noxus who rebelled while invading Ionia , but was captured by Noxus again. The woman with the floating blades is Irelia , she's the leader of a resistance against Noxus who is invading her Homeland Ionia. The woman that shields irelia is Karma , she's the reincarnation of some type of God of Ionia and chooses to go against the wishes of her mentors to fight in the resistance. The dude that unleashed the tornado is Yasuo a swordmaster that was accused of killing his master , because of that his monastery sent his older brother Yone after him , the two fought and Yasuo killed him. Kennen is the lightning yordle ( idk much about his lore) The "giant troll" is Sion he was an warrior from Noxus , after he died he was resurrected to be a unstoppable undead monster used to win wars. And the ninja is Akali . Sorry for my English is not my first language so I couldn't explain it so well but I recommend you to see their lores in league universe. Amaizing reaction btw.

[@PhilipHarts]

That's crazy! What an interesting character, excited to learn more!

[@LuegiM-y6l]

@@PhilipHarts That's the same Akali that's been given in game skins in the K/DA line btw

[@asatisfactionpill308]

"this guy is broken man" can't wait to see you meet his big brother

[@kaelsfan1940]

Draven "the emperor" and Riven "the chained woman" were orphans, they grew up together, that's why he's interested in her and why she doesn't actually kill him. Also, Draven is a ranged champion, so atacking her meele is somewhat a way to present a challenge for him (he's very egocentric)

[@PhilipHarts]

Love that, thanks for the info!

[@ughgowonsscalpandcrunchyvo4926]

4:42 Funny how you mention the word “Fighting is like a dance” while pausing to Irelia aka Blade Dancer where she uses the traditional dance of her country as movement to control the floating blades around her 😂😂😂

[@kybalionis]

looking at Yasuo's tornado skill "this guy is broken" League of Legends in a nutshell XD

[@nikkan3810]

That tapping drives me insane tho.

[@yukkirain]

always assuming someone is knocking the door :(

[@timothylim803]

Lore-wise, the best part about the scene where the large undead guy (Sion) is about to squash the sword-dancer lady (Irelia) is that Ionia, the country that Irelia is defending, has their own big internal debate between traditionalists and people who want to fight back against the Noxus invasion. The traditionalists believe in peace, balance, and generally not using their magic for violence. Irelia really wasn’t expecting support from the traditionalists, so it was pretty hype when Karma (elder traditionalist magic lady with the shield), Akali and Kennen (green ninja KDA lady and rat pikachu part of the traditionalist-thinking Kinkou group, though Akali just left for this reason) and Yasuo (wind samurai guy who has his own troubles to deal with) helped her fend off the Noxus invasion. Of course this is when the music picks up too.

[@PhilipHarts]

Woah! Thanks for the backstory! This is great to know!

[@Kejosruler]

That "weird little creature" is Kennen. He is a yordle (they are a type of small creature in the LoL universe) ninja who uses electricity based moves and stuns others a lot :D And the lady ninja with the green attire is Akali, the rapper from KDA

[@DoctorNerf]

I am not overexaggerating when I say I've seen 50-100 different Awaken reactions and this is straight top 3. Great insight and very thought provocing. Many things about film making that we 'know' because we experience it in media but we're not sort of consciously thinking about, that you bring to my attention. Incredible.

[@Shadow1FOX]

Jhin (who plays piano) is artist, deadly artist and i think he bow to her, cuz he just annihilated her squad.

[@rdot21]

I'm continually impressed by your breakdowns Philip. Without playing the game you've picked up so much about the characters' personalities and themes. My favourite moment in the whole video as well was when Jhin (mask guy) took a bow as Camille (Sword legs) came into attack him. He is enjoying himself. His lore is about his love of art and beauty and how the death of his victims is the ultimate expression of his creation. Such a fitting response from him to welcome an attack on his life with an unguarded bow--so arrogant, yet so self amusing. Riot did an amazing job showing us how he interacts with conflict in this video and you did an amazing job picking it up just from the cinematography alone.

[@masterrzeke]

Jhin NEVER misses his 4th shot.

[@Feel_Inspired]

I just don't understand how this man has such a low amount of subs, and views. This is priceless content, and the analysis itself is so deep, that you will not even learn these things in a paid college. Boost this channel guys, he deserves way more than he gets. Thank you for the content, and keep up the awesome work!

[@PhilipHarts]

Thank you so much!! Means a lot, much more to come 🙏🏻

[@sky3fall866]

Okay so there's three things happening here. First, Riven vs Draven in the arena. Riven is the monster hunter lady, and Draven is the "emperor". Draven is a gladiator, he's the most renowned gladiator in all of Noxus (the country they're in). What he wants is a good fight, and so when Riven appears, that's why he's so interested. The sword he throws at her was actually meant to break her chain so they could fight to their hearts' content. Second, Irelia (blade dancer lady) vs Noxus. So in the lore, Noxus is invading Ionia (Irelia's home) and she's the leader of a resistance force. Third is Jhin vs Camille. In very loose terms, Jhin is a serial killer and Camille is a police officer. Jhin is a showman and kinda insane, and so even while committing atrocities he likes to set them up to be as pretty as possible. That's why all the traps' explosions are so colorful; they're actually gory bursts of blood and flesh, but Jhin sees them as those colorful works of art. Jhin is also obsessed with the number 4, which is why he fires three shots at Camille to lead her to hop over the ceiling thingy, and then bows to her, hiding the fourth shot behind his back. It's basically, "look at this beautiful stage I've prepared for us."

[@Rufofeli]

My favourite scene is the one in the theatre. The guy with the mask is a sadistic maniac called Jhin. He often thinks of his 'work' (murdering people) as art, that's why he sees petals&flowers instead of blood. He's also obsessed with the number 4. In the game he has to reload his weapon after every 4th shot (but his 4th bullet is by far the most dangerous, always indicated by his weapon's red colour.) In the video you can see him drawing his weapons three times before he bows to Camille (the one that has spiky legs) hiding his weapon behind his back, its red glow indicates that he hasn't finished his artwork yet. He is a crafty one and they captured his essence quite well with these little details :)

[@dabbie2700]

to correct and add to your statement, not only Jhin sees the petals and pretty colours, everyone does. His bullets and traps are made by himself, using magic, so all the artistic effects and visuals are for everyone, doesn't mean they are less deadly though.

[@nicholasrolo886]

"I learned so much from just this one shot" Yep, that's Camille. Bit of a showstopper, that one is. My favorite voice line in game from her is "Do you have a formula for being better!?"

[@jalcome4201]

I love the enthusiasm and having professionals talk about stuff they know is so entertaining!! Allow me to share the farmland fight backstory as its very touching, and very different to the other locations. Its less that the blade lady is "awakening" (in fact, she actually gave up after getting bodied!), but its 'her people" that awaken. Heres the story: Their nation is peaceful and full of pacifists. Only a handful of warrior monks exists, whos only job is fighting demons and spirits. But then another, expansionistic nation attacks them, leaving a bloody page in their history. Blade lady from the video is one of the few innocent people burdened with responsibilities of leadership in a war noone wants to fight. Here you see her rallying ordinary farmland people to fight back the enemies at their shores. But she starts off alone, as noone from her nation backs her up, sick of war and bloodshed. So as she got bodied, she contemplated with her fate and accepted the consequence of standing alone as a little girl against and unstoppable force, greatly visualised by that absolute unit towering her entirely in that one shot. But then enter the "awaken" part. Not she awkanes, but other people from all over the country somehow came together, having decided to aid her in battle after all. They are the ones that awakened their warrior spirit. And what gets me teary eyed is that the people that show up are all so different from one another. All of them have huge stories of their own, and this cinematic shows them on their long journey coming together. Its the start of a season after all. Its rightfully played off as a huge turninh point for their nation Fun fact, the move she makes with her blades before the hero shot is actually forming the symbol of their nation. Reinfocing the message of that fight. Next up Ionian Myths and Kin of the stained blade. 2 of the greatest cinematics riot has ever done. No kidding. The longest too

[@PhilipHarts]

Thank you so much for all the info and lore, more to come!

[@ojay8699]

The Curse of the Sad Mummy or Annie Origins are amazing videos with great storytelling and art style!

[@PhilipHarts]

I'll check it out! Thanks!

[@TheGameDealer]

jhin is hiding the 4th shot behind his back while bowing (which is his most powerful attack) he likes to kill his subjects in a spectacular way.

[@glendoi]

There’s actually another KDA member in this. The green ninja character in the “cave troll” scenes is Akali, the rapper in KDA. She’s also in another music group called True Damage. You should react to their music video for Giants.

[@Jif498]

Holy shit, when you were talking about Jhin (the masked man) you just got a lot about his character, great job

[@andynguyen269]

Man I've watched this video so many times, but your analysis made me see things I've never seen before. Great stuff as always!

[@PhilipHarts]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@godwishyoutube]

I sub so many filmmaker reacts stuff but your one is the best. Explaining a lot in a way those who has no idea about filming. love ur channel.

[@VRenaissanceRen]

Lets see what good I can do Riven The Exiled : the gladiator girl - she has to fight in the pits for her "crimes: Draven The Glorious Executionor: the emperor guy- he is the one who is in charge of the pits Jhin The Virtuoso: guy with mask - he is a criminal psychopath who believes murder is art and loves the number 4. I really recommend you look into him cuz you will definitely love his theme and style Camile The Steel Shadow: AoT stabby leg lady - a hextech British cyborg agent Irelia The blade dancer : her epithet says it all Sion The undead juggernaut - cave troll guy- a warlord that was resurrected to fight for the empire which is why they are attacking Irelia and the people Karma: The enlightened one - woman who gave Irelia the shield - the living embodiment of an ancient soul reincarnated multiple times Yasou The unforgiven - wind sword tornado guy- i recommend watch kin of the stained blade cinematic to know more Kennen The Heart of the Tenpest : the lighting rat - he is a yordle, a small furry creature race, that is a ninja that has lightning powers Akali The rogue Assassin: - green ninja girl- i think you know who this is

[@linditatunuzliult]

Jhin (the one playing piano) has a weapon with 4 bullets, the forth one is the most powerful. During the scene he shoots 3 times, when he bows to camille he shows his weapon behind him and its glowing purple. In the game the last shot is purple. So im thinking the bow is there to showcase both Camilles abilities and also his forth shot. Also the little dude is named kennen he is a yordle (small creatures) I recommend penta kill for you! Its a cool rock group with some of the champs

[@PhilipHarts]

Love it, thank you!

[@ardasoydan1636]

Everybody mentioned already the Jhin bowing moment and how that shows about his character, but also he's pointing his bouncing bomb gun sitting on his right shoulder to Camille(the flying scissors legged lady) . That detail was also intentional

[@Seaph]

First video of seeing you, I already love how you analyze and react to videos compared to other youtubers who are music producers and film editors

[@PhilipHarts]

Thank you!!

[@bloodknyte]

I keep seeing people reference Attack on Titan for Camille, when really she's very heavily inspired by Lin Bei Fong from Legend of Korra, given that here we see her in a position of the lead of a wing of law enforcement (similarly to how Lin is the police chief of Republic City in LoK), and her standard appearance is also very similar to Lin.

[@mbrentan]

So... Just some things about the piano guy (Jhin): he is a wanted murderer who is obsessed with theater/art in general. His hole mechanic is based around the number 4 (as in 4:4). On the game, he always has to reload his weapon after shooting 4 and, when he is on the 4th shot, his weapon shows a red line indicating it (like the one you can see on the video at the bowing scene). This 4th shot does a shit ton of damage. Also, the thing on his shoulder is one of his abillities as well, its a granade launcher. So when most may think he is bowing in respect to her, or surrendering, he is doing quite the opposite. He is bowing to the show he just performed in, with him killing the woman (Camille) as the final, and forth, act.

[@PhilipHarts]

Woah, that's creepy but awesome !

[@farahkhalil7822]

Subbed! I play league and most of Riots games, I learnt a lot from this, plus.. him trying to figure out who the characters are is highly entertaining lol

[@aerii_san]

I think that Rivens dropping of the chains signified to Draven that even if she was chained/enslaved, it did not phase her so in a way she was still free. I think that this is why he throws her sword and sets her free, so they can have a fair fight and he can show her who belongs to who or something along those lines.

[@baxland2539]

Masked Piano guy is called Khada Jhin. He is insane murdered that is obssesed over perfection in death. And also obsessed over number 4 :) The thing with traps and all those colorful explosion is that his weapons are enchanced with magic that make everything beautiful by illusions - even tho they vanish when touched. So all colorful explosion from traps are probably blood and parts of their bodies. During the final part you can also see him fire exactly 3 shots at Lady with weird legs (and all miss) when in their final shot he bows down revealing shoulder canon on his right shoulder aimed at her - 4th shot for a perfect drama.

[@xshiiwa]

The King (Draven) threw the sword (which is her sword in the game) on her chains to let her free to fight him :3

[@PhilipHarts]

Thanks for clarifying, now I like it even more!

[@skycatsora]

Thank you so much for these reaction! I am so happy that you did this. "The Climb" is also very amazing (from LoL too)!! I would love to see you to react to this.

[@PhilipHarts]

I'll check it out! Thank YOU!

[@bloodwire7152]

I think it's so strange how non-players can't recognize characters when they're dressed differently. Like, Akali is right over there! Green ninja with black hair!

[@lockekappa500]

I think it's so strange how league players think a random person could pick out a random ninja lady and notice they're someone else they saw in street clothes. There's literally dozens of league characters that look the same. I play league and couldnt tell you who was evelynn or Kai'sa in the K/DA videos for a while.

[@isaiahjordan5325]

Hey! Just some information that may help to explain some scenes, the gladiator lord dude, his name is Draven, he is an executioner that likes to show off with spinning axes, the girl he ends up fighting is Riven, the sword he throws at her is actually her weapon in the game just like his axes are his weapon in the game. They are both very high skill demanding characters. The piano dude, Jhin, is an assassin and Camille is a human robot hybrid who is part of the police force, just for reference his backstory is he is an artist, but one who loves death. In the game he shoot his gun, which only shoots 4 bullets at a time until he must take time to reload, his last shot is an empowered shot that glows, if you notice his gun when he bows is glowing red, meaning he is saving the best shot for when she can’t dodge. Irelia is the girl who commands the swords without touching them, she is defending her home Ionia from an invasion from Noxus which is lead by Sion (the cave troll). The other heroes who help her are all native from Ionia and are just trying to protect their home, hope this helps tie any questions you may have had about the video.

[@jeffkoenig7402]

When Draven throws the sword towards Riven's back, not only is he arming her, he's also cutting the chain on her leg so she can fight him (you can see the broken chain at 20:32 when Phil is admiring the look on Riven's face).

[@nikolaykomissarenko7822]

Riven the gladiator lady was imprisoned and so her weapon was confiscated, Draven the emperor challenges the winning gladiators to kill them himself! This is why he through Riven's sword back to her as a worthy opponent he wasnt purposefully throwing it at her back, but more of a respectful and a sign of a challenge. Man I love fight scenes and I was super happy when you mentioned the tornado kick and the 540, it was really cool man.

[@Hucyfer]

I think we see the theather scene through the eyes of the masked man, because in the story he doeesnt use any type of magic (except his gun that has some magical properties), so all that purple smoke is probably just blood from the soldiers dying, but only he sees it as an art piece because he things about himself as an artist, and every murder is a work of his

[@kirtur]

Wonderful to hear your thoughts on these as always! Out of the 3 "story arcs" I would love to hit on the theater scene a little bit more. In the establishing shots when you see Jhin (the masked man at the piano) you can see corpses propped up in the theater seats. Jhin is a serial killer who believes his murders are works of art, and his gun is his "brush". He calls himself "the Virtuoso" and derives pleasure from spreading his gruesome "art". The woman who is hunting him, Camille (aka the trapeze/Attack on Titan character) is a sort of elite cop/agent who works in a sort of moral grey area outside the law. Not exactly a bounty hunter but more of an attack dog? Knowing that dynamic between the two really makes those scenes all the more enjoyable, and especially makes that slow-mo shot of Jhin bowing after having completed his "performance" even more striking.

[@JessicaAriadne]

My favorite trivia is that when Camille (sword legs lady) changes her eye colors, she is trying to figure out if she is facing magical or physical danger because she can adapt.

[@ellielburke]

I would recommend Giants by True Damage (Akli from KDA is a member dope animation and song). For character trailers, I would suggest the Fiddlesticks: Terror in Demacia | Champion Update Trailer, it is my favorite. Thanks for the video!

[@PhilipHarts]

Thank you!!!

[@samvargas1651]

This guy's Broken'' 21:40 Yep, thats Yasuo...

[@yk_049]

Sorry if my English is not so good, but I will try to explain Jhin a bit! He is my favorite character and I play him in the game! Jhin is the man who plays the piano in the beginning. He is an artist and a murderer who will make art out of his kills. Actually, this colourful explosions behind him is something we see only out of his perspective. Everyone else will see blood, because the explosions comes from the activated traps! The people in this traps are exploding but Jhin only sees beauty, that is why it looks so colorful and pretty. We see what Jhin sees. The woman is Camille, she is hunting him and came to capture him since he killed many people and made a massacre. Of course, Jhin also makes a performance there. When you see Draven and Riven (the gladiators) fight, in the slow motion, you will think "who is going to win?" because she jumps at him, and he swings his sword, right? Jhin and Camille actually have a similar feeling if you look closely. Jhin bows, and you can look at his right shoulder. She is swinging at him with her deadly knife legs, and on his shoulder he has another gun (which is his grenades ability)! Jhin only has 4 shots in his gun (because he is obsessed with number 4, in japanese "death" and "four" is same pronounciation!) so we can assume he will shoot his last shot at Camille. He bows to show respect and it's end of his performance, but also try to kill her. So cool, right? ^^ This slow motion shot of Jhin and Camille is my favorite in every video.. It's gives me the perfect feeling that I get from playing Jhin in game! :) Thank you for your reaction and explaining this cinematic, I learned so much! Edit: Also you asked about Riven when she drops her chains. Personally, I spend much time reading lore in league because it is like whole universe, so detailed like Lord of the Rings! I think Draven (this "king") is mad because he didn't think she can win. When he throws the sword at her, he actually didn't try to hit her. What he throws, is her own sword that he took away because she is known as best sword fighter in her kingdom. Then, she proves to Draven that she is strong enough and can defeat this gladiators even without her sword. So in my opinion, Draven must think "if she is this strong without her sword, she will be a worthy opponent for me with her sword!" and he gives it back to her to fight her. Her sword is the only thing that brought her happiness as a child because she was abandoned and fought all her life. That is why she smiles when she is united with her sword! I hope I wrote this well :)

[@PhilipHarts]

Your english is fantastic, thank you!!

[@SchwarzerHaufen]

Mask guy (Jhin) actually has a short cinematic of his own which is shot from his perspective if you will. He's completely psychotic and sees unimaginable beauty in the act of killing. This cinematic was also more than partly from his point of view since his "bear traps" are actually bog standard shrapnel traps which don't involve any magic at all but for him it looks like his victims are being enveloped in that blue pixie dust of whatever the fuck it's supposed to be. Jhin is widely regarded as the thematically most creative and coherent champion in the game. He's worth checking out. This coherency doesn't just involve his lore but also his gameplay.

[@jerryao]

The characters: 1:58 *Jhin* - the masked guy with a hand cannon 2:13 *Draven* - the gladiator king 2:35 *Irelia* - The girl with blades 2:55 *Camille* - The robotic woman leading the army of soldiers 3:10 *Riven* - The girl who fought all the gladiators 8:28 *Sion* - The giant undead monster 9:07 *Karma* - the girl who shielded Irelia 9:07 *Akali* - The ninja that threw the smoke bombs (one of her abilities in game) 9:25 *Yasuo* - The guy who casted the tornado 🌪️ ( One of his abilities in game) 9:35 *Kennen* - The little rat that casted the lightning spell (one of his abilities in game) Draven's weapon are simply called axes

[@PhilipHarts]

Thank you!!!!

[@tsukkirina]

Based on the lore, actually the guy that play piano is Jhin, the maniac killer psychopath that obsessed with number 4. He loves to kill and see the beauty in it. So actually if you notice the auditorium is full of corpses he killed before but Jhin sees it as art thing like beautiful color of explosions (so yeah the full color explosion is not Camille's (the lady) weapon. It's actually corpses but we see it through Jhin POV so it become such art thing!). And yes, the traps are one of his weapon. And talking about his obsession of number 4, he always uses his 4th bullet to kill his prey (his 4th bullet is always hurt the most in game than his 1st, 2nd, and 3rd bullet) and if you notice here, he had fired all the three bullet before. The explosions, and how he bowed to Camille just show how excited he was, knowing he can shoot his 4th bullet at any time.

[@PhilipHarts]

Thank you, so fascinating !!!

[@JeyDB]

Just stumbled upon you. I love watching people who can genuinely appreciate well done cinematics and the stories told within them react to ones I thoroughly love and enjoy. I played League for a bit many years ago, but I have always loved the love and detail Riot puts into their characters and lore. Their cinematics are top notch, right up there with Blizzard. Also, I appreciate the perspective from film makers even more so. Well done my friend! P.S. Riven aka badass arena chick, is my bae =P

[@arthurpendragon8192]

i love your reactions because you don't wait to watch it thru before commenting because what if...you forget what you wanted to say? D: I have seen this a ton of times so i came here FOR the commentary instead of just watching it. :D so thank you.

[@SisanoS.]

Yoo so glad you started covering league cinematic. As a repay I will give you info about all characters you see so prepare for a long comment. First one - Jhin (piano man) absolute psychopath and mass murderer. But trough his eyes he is a performer who creates art. His "bear traps" are a reference of his in game ability where he puts traps that explode in a rose shape. Cool thing to notice upon multiple views of the video, there are some traps on the chandelier, so it is safe to assume that he did not miss his shots, he wanted to trigger the traps to create the beautiful final scene where he bows down. From the same scene you have Camille(sharp legs lady). In the region where she is from (Piltover) they fuse magical crystals with technology and call it hextech. That is why they are using guns while you see in the other regions they use swords or pure magic. She replaced her heart with hextech which prolonged her life and also allows for other changes to her body, like blades for legs. Next scene in the gladiators pits you see Draven - not really a king or an emperor, even dropped out of the army, but he is a showman. He is basically a pop star among gladiators and he loves doing it. That is why he gets so excited and straight up jumps to fight a more interesting challenge - Riven. Born in the same region as Draven - Noxus - riven was raised as an orphan and trained to be a soldier from a very young age. After proving her skill and strength she was gifted a unique and huge runic sword and was send to war against another region Ionia. But after witnessing the brutality of war and the devastating after affects she broke her own weapon and self-proclaimed herself as an exile. What you see in the video is her being judged as a traitor and being send to the Arena to fight. You also see Draven throwing her own broken blade at her to brake her chains and have a more fair fight. And lastly we see the other side of the above mentioned war. You see how Irelia is trying to defend the lands of Ionia against the Noxian invasion. Irelia was never trained to be a warrior, in fact most of Ionia follows a non-violence religion. Irelia spent her childhood learning ancient dances. After her home was invaded, her entire family slaughtered in front of her and her family crest broken into pieces, it is at that point in her rage and sadness she realized that there is much more to the dance techniques that she learned. The metal pieces from her family crest responded to her moves and she used them to fight back. Even though it is against their religion and culture, a lot of people decided to follow Irelia to fight back. In the video she was knocked out by Sion (orc guy), a brutal soldier who was brought back to life by magic and fueled by rage just to go to war again. I will go trough the last champions more quickly - you see Karma (shield girl) the religious leader who also realized that sometimes you need to take action , Akali (yes the KDA rapper) a rogue ninja who used to be a part of order dedicated to maintain the balance between the spirit real and the physical real no matter the cost, she didn't really agree with their views so she left the order. Later you see Yasuo - wind samurai - blamed for the murder of his own master, hunted down by his own brother. Yasuo had to kill his brother to survive and eventually find the true murderer. And lastly you see the electrical hamster Kennen who is part of the race called Yordles - magical creatures that can freely walk between the realms. He is still currently part of the same order Akali left.

[@JakobKiellandYT]

I'd recommend checking out "The climb" by the way. It's the Awaken or Warriors cinematic of 2018. It's a bit shorter, and has less fighting than the newer two, but still has plenty of action.

[@ninjamummysquid]

To make things even more complex, all the characters are also limited by their in-game abilities and they put astounding detail into it. I love when Camille's eyes flash yellow when Jhin's traps go off. She knows it's Jhin and what he can do, and she uses an ability to give herself defense against the types of attacks Jhin would use. Also, when you see the samurai's (Yasuo) tornado destroying all the invading troops, as well as looking fantastic, that's a joke at his expense because he's fighting a bunch of small guys when he should be focusing on the fight with the "cave troll" (Sion)

[@chrestiantuazon]

the one who bowed is named "jhin" very cool character, in lore, he's obsessed with working everything in an artistic way even in the middle of chaos, he kills in an artistic ways, he escape in an artistic ways, etc. the scene where jhin bowed, is when jhin thinks the masterpiece is done, all of those colorful smokes, wrecked piece of everything, and in the middle, is his main subject. that's what he sees or that's how he sees it, in front of him, the completely done work of majestic art, just look in jhin's perspective, he just bowed in front of it. i love how you react on this video, compared to other, you focused on my favorite scene too, which is jhin bowing to camille, or shall we say, bowing into his work of art.

[@mirrorjackal1616]

I would absolutely love to see you react to and break down the Overwatch cinematics, they're spectacular

[@Urukage]

I wish Riot would unleash the cinematics team to make some full length features in this style. It's so damn good.

[@PhilipHarts]

Honestly they would be great!

[@uniquename82]

You already got a lot of comments from other people, but I guess to add. The general League of Legends world is mostly a fantasy/medievalish era, but has some steampunk type settings. The first scene takes over probably in Piltover which is one of those steampunk type areas. Warriors (2020) also had a scene around this area where the Gloves and Sniper girl fight (Vi and Caitlyn) fight. So you get a sort of pseudo technology (Camille is basically a cyborg, and they have like riot shields/harpoon guns or something). K/DA for reference is a skin line in the game, which means they are variant appearances and possibly backgrounds for the characters. For K/DA, that alternate setting is more or less the real world, which is why there are subways, laundry mats, skyscrapers, etc. For extra reference, Akali, the ninja girl here is one who is the rapper in K/DA in her default in game costume. There's various references in popstars such as where you can see the mask on, and when she is playing with Kunai. Ionia is the region where the Red clothed woman is from in this video. In many ways Ionia is sort of an amalgamation of various asian influences to a region in the League of Legends world. That's why it has samurai types, ninjas, and people who do things resembling kung fu. Other people have mentioned Riven and Draven's background, so not gonna add much more to that, but I think a lot of people when this first came out noted the similarity of her appearance here to Furiosa from Mad Max Fury Road, namely from the eye black around her eyes. Sadly this is not actually a skin yet in the game as it is a pretty cool design for her. Draven's weapons are a sort of axe supposedly, although they look more like swords. In game/lore he actually is a ranged character who fights by throwing those axes and because of the spinning effect they would basically hit the target and then bounce back toward him to throw again.

[@PhilipHarts]

Thank you! It makes it so fun to get more deep lore from you guys!!

[@gabriell6205]

Jhin (the guy who plays the piano) is a psychopath, he seen beauty in death thats why is so colorful when is everyone dying Camille (the scissors leg woman) is "officer" she is from a great family of this city and shes trying to stop jhin Draven (the guy seated in the throne) he kind owns the fight pits but he not the emperor (in Noxus there was history is kind long but now they have 3 people who rule it and his brother is one of them Riven (the girl who fight draven) her lore is actually is from Ionia (the place with the glowy petals, more specific with the guy who throws tornadoes, she basically killed his master, but now i dont remember what she doing in noxus Irelia ( the girl with the floating blades) her blades "dances" with her, not specifically her legs. the soldiers of noxus killed her parents when she was really young and then she kiiled all with the blades, now she is the leader of a front against noxus and all the people who meet irelia they trying to defend Ionia too Karma (the woman whos wear green and the shild) is a monk yasuo (the tornadoes guy) his a swordsman, thats a lot on his lore kennen his a yordle and yeah they are kind of fairies/elves sort od thing

[@skiaelafris759]

When the guy in the collosium threw the sword, he threw it at her chain rather than at her. It also was him giving her a weapon.

[@SaraSong-mw3zm]

You: Fight Cherography is life Dance Irelia: the blade DANCER

[@am_frog]

There's like 3 more music videos not including the Worlds music videos, Mortal Reminder, Giants and Get Jinxed. As far as League of Legends videos there's a ton of them. Each new season since idr how long ago, Riot makes a new welcome to season __ video, such as Awaken and Warriors. Similar to the welcome to the new season videos, there's also kind of climax videos for their World tournament. Those are usually more focused on the players, rather than the characters. Also, from time to time they make videos for new characters, costumes, events, or just for the hell of it. The Odyssey trailer is a personal favorite of mine.

[@PhilipHarts]

Wow there's so much content from Riot, this is crazy!

[@RikyuMntRl]

Another nice reaction from you ! I really enjoy your perspective on these videos ! You might watch out for the knocking we can hear in this video, quite annoying when wearing headphones. I believe you had enough lore explanations from other comments but I haven't seen anyone talking about Kennen, the little guy who oneshoted the cave troll with lightning. First, he is a Yordle. They are actually a kind of spirits that live in a place called Bandle City which seems to be on a another plan but they have access to Runeterra (the world in which what you see takes place). The most known Yordle is Teemo, he is the most hated character in League of Legends. I believe Kennen left Bandle City to join Ionia and train under Shen (the ninja master) so he is now a protector of Ionia with all the other characters you've seen here. Another ninja you know of is Akali, she's the rapper in KD/A and she actually was in this video (the girl sweeping by after Karma shields). I'm sorry to tell you that you won't see Evelynn in another video, she only appears in KD/A (for now at least).

[@PlagueOverMe]

21:42 “this guy is broken man” Dude you nailed that samurai named Yasuo is one of the most broken champions on the game, well is not that difficult to deal with but when he is advantage during the game is one hell of a god damn terminator And another detail about those soldiers invading with the big troll they are from “Noxus” in the lore, but I believe they are trying to get more extension of their empire because they are preparing to fight some big ass immortal iron dude that is about to resurrect and take revenge, and they have their empire over his acient Immortal bastion if I didn’t get it wrong, so maybe the next cinematic that may come with the next season of the game we will see this event or maybe I’m overspeculating but I’m exited for what is coming on the next cinematic

[@PhilipHarts]

Haha I had a feeling, he killed so many!

[@KaiAquila]

Your really detailed analysis is really nice. If you enjoy these I'd recommend watching A New Dawn, also a League of Legends cinematic and Wild Magic, which more closely follows just two champions of the game. I'm always astounded by the quality of these short movies.

[@PhilipHarts]

Thanks, will do!!

[@giannuporto2382]

It's really ironic how the line "While the devil is knocking right at your door" is framed to show that Camille is the "Devil" when it could not be more further from the truth. They knocked at the door of the devil and I just love how at no point did Jhin not have control. every shot he made was to put Camille at the center piece of his spectacle.

[@dabbie2700]

i love how you noticed that, which is 100% correct. Jhin was always in control of the situation, in other words, Camille was going to be his artwork at the moment he fired his 4th shot right after the bow.

[@okdk2362]

Just found ur channel and i really love ur videos :) Keep up the good work

[@andrespena3051]

Neat little thing from the game. Jhin, the masked character is obsessed with the number four and his abilities reflect that. His gun has four shots. If you look closely at Jhin’s gun in the final shot, you’ll actually see that he’s got one more bullet left in the chamber as he’s bowing. Do with that information what you will ;)

[@AuraRift]

The thing about Jhin (pianist in the mask) is he's a sociopathic murderer obsessed with performances and the number 4. His gun has 4 rounds, with the 4th round being significantly more powerful than the first three. When Camille (swing lady) closes in on him and he bows, he holds his gun behind his back. If u look his gun has a red glow to it signifying his 4th shot is ready, and if u count he only fired 3 shots at her until then. He's living for the performance, for the rise and crescendo, setting up the finale, the climax, the 4th shot she's unknowingly rushing towards.

[@groxiverde]

Very nice video, I loved your commentary

[@PhilipHarts]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@akmaui3324]

might be a bit late but the "emperor" like guy in the coliseum actually freed the "slave" girl from her chains when he throws her personal sword to her you can see afterwards the sword planted that cut the chains in two :) he does this because he loves to fight and deemed her as a worthy opponent unlike the other fighters/gladiators that bores him. his name is Draven the little brother of Darius wich you see in many cinematics he's the heavy armored guy with the battle axe annd the red cape and the woman's name is Riven i don't know much about her but she's kicking asses. a lot of people miss this little detail and call him a coward but he's actually everything but a coward he just goes head first to the fight everytime he has the occasion :) The pianist we see at the beginning is called Jhin and he's obbssesed with the number 4 you can see him shoot 3 times and at the lady who's called Camille tho he barely misses her and he bows preparing his 4th shot wich in the game always does critical hit and he bows not in respect for his opponent but because he's making a theatral scene for his great art of killing.

[@scottmills4007]

Love the reaction friend. I would venture you would LOVE Kin of the Stained Blade from League of Legends. You will need to know a little background on it to fully understand as it is made as a cinematic for people who play the game and are into the lore...so some of it wouldn't make sense. To say a quick version, character named Yasuo (guy who made the giant Tornado in the Warriors cinematic) was suppose to protect his master, Elder Souma (last master of the legendary wind technique) and the sword school he was training at while his country was at war. Yasuo was trained in that wind technique (hence the Tornado...). He decided to join the war instead, leaving his master and school unattended. His master ended up dying and since he was the last person to supposedly be with him (even though he wasn't) everyone blamed him for killing the Elder. He decided to run, making people think he was confirming what they were saying (he didn't actually kill him), so his brother, Yone...who was also taught at that school...caught up with him and confronted him (who also thought he killed Elder Souma). They fought, Yasuo killed him. He then became a drunk, haunted by his past (hence stained blade...Kin being his brother, etc.). In League, there is the Spirit Blossoms Festival...where you can commune with the dead if you have a Spirit Blossom (lots of lore behind that too). Yasuo is showing up to attempt to commune with his brother...and that is where the story picks up. And yes, that is the "short" version...it's very, VERY deep lore. But I suspect you would enjoy it...plus the video is 10+ minutes long, so it's great. OOOH, and watch out for Azakana, lesser demons that feast on negative emotions.... ;) Enjoyed!!!

[@PhilipHarts]

Thank you!! More to come!

[@squirrelbuddi]

The guy in the theater with the mask is Jhin he's awesome and has a release video you might like!

[@benm.2273]

Ok, so character breakdown by scene: In the purple scene, you have Jhin playing the piano, Khada Jhin is LoL's biggest mass murderer; he travels around the world creating "works of art" through his magic, which turns his victims into bloody flowers. Jhin is a showboat and is fascinated by the number four, particularly in music. He lives for the production of his fights and his kills; all the traps he has set up around the theater are placed to make that last shot where he bows possible. If you look at the very first shot of the theater, you can see he's placed a trap on the chandelier in order to make the scene as colorful as possible. His gun, which you can see behind his back at the bowing clip, shoots four times before he has to reload, the fourth time being more powerful than the first three. When he's bowing, you can see the gun is primed for that fourth shot as it is glowing red. Also in the purple scene is Camille. Camille was a girl of high status who was turned into an android by a scientist by her own will. She further augmented herself with the blade-legs you see in the video. She leads Clan Ferros as the power behind the throne. She is at the theater because she's been informed that Khada Jhin has been seen in the area and she abhors the chaos that Jhin could bring (there's a whole backstory, dont worry about it unless you are interested). In the coliseum, you have Draven sitting upon his observer seat. Draven is like the master of executions in the country of Noxus. He delights in making his executions dramatic, which is why in the early video, he's bored. Draven loves a good fight as he feels like he needs to be at the center of attention whenever possible. His weapons are what are called spinning axes. Also in the coliseum, we meet Riven. Riven has been captured by Noxus and has been sent to Draven's coliseum to fight to the death. Riven's flashy and devastating fighting style catches the attention of Draven, and they fight. They are both smiling by the end of the fight because they both just want the joy of true combat and they find that in each other. In the last setting, we have the beginning of the second major war between Ionia (the invaded) and Noxus (the invaders). Irelia, the Captain of the Guard in Ionia, is tasked with protecting a seaside village from the Noxus invasion. Irelia can actually control her blades with her mind, a product of her backstory wherein she almost died, was saved, but her soul anchored to that of her father's weapons (or so was the old lore). Sion (the cave troll) joins the Noxus invasion and attacks Irelia. Sion is actually a former war hero, who was so prolific in combat that Noxus thought it a shame he die a warrior's death. Instead, in a Frankensteinian twist, they brought him back to serve Noxus in their world conquering efforts. The other's that help Irelia defeat Sion are members of the Kinkou Order; Akali (ninja-girl), Kennen (tiny lightning user), Karma (green glowy girl), and Yasuo (sword-guy).

[@morvous1]

"Dummy Thiiiick" I died when you said this.

[@wr3akhav0c]

Niiice reaction! Love when people catch the little details. Watch other league of legends songs/trailers (especially worlds championship anthems) - they are full of symbolism and hidden messages and its so cool to notice them and get inspired from them! Subbed. Also vids you SHOULD see: RISE, Take over, Phoenix, Legends never die.

[@camddoee6289]

Loved the reaction. I wonder if you noticed the girl with the green outfit and the knives is actually akali from k/da (the rapper)

[@PhilipHarts]

I didn't lol! Thanks!

[@nicolasrodriguezbadala1024]

That ninja girl is Akali, the rapper from KDA.

[@PhilipHarts]

LOL I didn't even catch it!!! Dang it, she is cool!

[@FlameFlare]

I'm not late shut up: Jhin - He the mask guy, he kills people then uses magic to make this illusion, he can make organs spraying out everywhere become a tree, blossoming from someone's chest. He REALLY likes the number 4, 4 letters in his name, he shoots 4 shots and Camille etc. He's a fan favourite for being so perfectly imperfect. (Yes those people in the traps are having their organs and blood being thrown into the air, it just looks like purple mist for Jhin's show) He also always manages to be 4 steps ahead of anyone trying to track him down, notice how he placed those traps EXACTLY how the Ferrous men would be and how he placed traps in the chandelier to make that ending shot happen. Camille - Blade legged 80-year old. If you couldn't tell they have Blade legs and they have grappling hooks installed. They are basically the upper class mafia boss of a Piltover / Zaun clan named clan Ferrous. Piltover / Zaun being a two-sided city, Piltover being a Steampunk city, Zaun being underneath it and these steampunk slums. Zaun is where the Warriors scene with Vi the puncher was. The fight between Jhin and Camille takes place in an abandones Zaun theatre. Basically, Jhin used to live and do his thing in Ionia, however when he moved to Piltover / Zaun, Camille wasn't too happy knowing that a psychopath was in the area, so her and an arsenal of her man went out to kill them, however what you saw in the animation unfolded. In the comics however, this is mentioned and Jhin is still alive after the encounter. I don't know if Camille died or Jhin just slinked away, but they most likely just knocked Camille out or something and got away. Draven - Big ego'd emperor with the spinny axes. He's actually an executioner, he and Riven were orphans together and both joined the Noxian military. Draven rose to fame in the Noxian country as the grand executioner while Riven left to fight the Ionian wars. Riven - One you like in the Noxian fighting pits fighting Draven. They were a Noxian soldier fighting the Ionia wars. After a successful raid in Ionia and after successfully killing Elder Souma they recieved a runic blade for their efforts. However one day they did something that proved to be treason, they were exiled. (Unlike the Jhin and Camille situation, this story is less true, Riven was put to death in the Noxian pits, they were exiled, so yeah) Irelia - Blade ju-jitsu-er, they lived in a small Ionian village that was one at the forefront of the Noxian invasions. Noxus basically just wants Ionia so it can expand. Irelia at the age of 14 learned how to dance in harmony (Or something) and was able to master use of their blades. They are referred to as 'The Blade Dancer' in the first scene with them, they send out this metal blade petal out into the air, then the shot zooms back to show you many of them flying in the air. These are basically a sign of 'Help Me' so when Irelia is being towered over and you see one floating back down you know help has arrived, there's actually alot of them in the background at the final hero shot. Karma - Person with the shields and pattern on their back. Okay so I don't actually know much Karma lore, like I know none, all I know was they responded to Irelia's call and showed up to the fight. Akali - Green wearing ninja (Yes it's THAT akali, the KDA rapper) they are a lone assasin that travels the world doin' stuff. They responded to Irelia's call and showed up the fight. They are the one that throws the smoke bombs at Sion. Yasuo - One day was minding their own business fighting some Noxians, then their master / school teacher (Master Souma) was murdered in an attack on their home. Yasuo turned himself in knowing it was his fault for leaving and leaving the home defenceless. However he was blamed for killing them because he was killed using this wind technique that only he could use. (Riven killed the guy btw) so he escaped and is now on the run (Killed his brother along the way, watch Kin of the Stained Blade for more info on that) and just kinda chills. The Awaken Ionia fight scene doesn't really make too much sense since Ionia still thinks Yasuo is a murderer so he shouldn't really be fighting here but hey. (Seriously tho, do a video on Kin of the Stained Blade if you haven't, it's amazing) Kennon - The small furry creature with the purple cloak (Fuckin lost it when you called them a Meteorite) in the League of Legends world there are these small furry creatures called Yordles. Kennen is one, he has lightning powers. That's all really.

[@leoniekpp8436]

I loved this reaction!

[@theneedlepig]

Rundown of the characters: Jhin, the masked man, is a serial killer. His motivation is to create the most beautiful and spectacular murders, hence the spectacle that is his fighting style. The traps are part of his ability kit. His gun only has four shots and his reload animation in game takes quite a while. Opposing him is Camille, a special agent of the city of Piltover/Zaun (same city, two parts, also featured in Warriors with the sniper, Caitlyn, and mecha-fists user, Vi). Camille was modified/weaponized to become a law enforcement agent, but gets to operate outside the law to track down the worst criminals in Piltover/Zaun. The cables that come out of her hips are a part of her ability kit that allow her (like in the anime/manga "Attack on Titan") extreme 3D mobility because Piltover/Zaun is a vertically built city instead of a horizontally built city.

[@theneedlepig]

The characters in the end sequence are Karma, Irelia, Akali (from K/DA), Yasuo, Kennen, and the armies of Ionia (the location) vs. Sion and the armies of Noxus (same place as the gladiator fight). Irelia is a leader from the country Ionia (inspired by East Asia) who telekinetically wields blades. As far as I can tell, they tried to showcase her shield/counterattack ability when they showed her blades following her kick, but it doesn't translate very well. Yasuo is a wind element swordmaster whose in game kit generates tornados and walls of wind. That giant tornado is a much exaggerated version of his in game ability. Karma is also a leader of Ionia and support character who can generate shields for herself and allies and wield spirit fire (not seen here) against enemies as part of her ability kit. Kennen is a yordle (a sort of humanoid mouse-like people about two feet tall) who became a ninja with lightning based powers. Three of his abilities are showcased here: he can shroud himself in electricity to move quickly through fights unhindered; he can stun people with his electricity if they are zapped enough times; and his ultimate ability is to generate a huge lightning storm in his immediate vicinity. Sion is an undead general of Noxus turned into a war machine, and can only feel rage. Three of his abilities are showcased here: his axe slam from when he smashes the shield is his bread and butter ability; his ultimate, the move that knocks Irelia on her ass, gives him increased movement speed and he charges forward and knocks enemies he smashes into up into the air; and his passive ability, shown at the end wen he's all black and crusty, allows him to stay alive for a little while after death and punch things. He's an undead rage monster, after all.

[@theneedlepig]

The gladiator scene takes place in Noxus, a very war focused country. Draven is the guy sitting in the VIP section, and he's the executioner of Noxus. His ability kit revolves around his two spinning axes. Riven is an exiled hero of Noxus. She had a crisis of character in the battle against Ionia (portrayed in the same video) when Noxus used chemical attack on her location to try and win the battle. She survived because of her magical sword, which Draven throws back at her in the video. None of her ability kit is showcased in the video, unfortunately.

[@ThyNameIsCursed]

Draven, is the guy in that was bored. He's not a king he's the master of the gladiators, and the woman he's fights is riven who was captured during a battle and who I believe was a general. Jhin is the guy who bows and he's. Murderer who is also an artist, and the woman he faces off against is camile she's an android. And in the war scene, you will see irelia who's in the red, kennon is the electric guy, sion is the giant, alkali is the one who throws the smoke bombs, yasuo is the samurai, and karma used the sheild on irelia

[@sanko9223]

I thought someone is knocking on my door the whole video. lol

[@PhilipHarts]

That was me , open up dang it 😡

[@axOnith]

Jhin always had the last bullet for Camille. You can see the indicador on his gun as he bows

[@isaiahjordan5325]

ohhh and that creature is a character in League as well, he is called a yordle, think chipmunk people, he commands lighting and can move fast, hehe sorry I forgot that one

[@GiselaMisa]

Artist Jhin saves his last bullet for a glorious and unexpected end, his fourth bullet hits critical and true damage. Camille belongs to the Ferro family, a mafia clan with the utmost power. In case no one mentioned it to you!

[@Radriar___9946]

Check out this other league cinematics called "The Climb" I think you will really enjoy it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXbYaIGwr612bpY

[@syaasy4416]

that pause at 10:39 lol, i cant get over the fact jhin just T-posed camille

[@rodia_the_smg_guy5575]

I loved that 'dummy thick'

[@PhilipHarts]

Haha thanks

[@jmmangulabnan6710]

That little thing is Kennen a furry little ninja who cast a storm from his shurikens

[@MrCoolAttitude]

Like many others already said, we need Kin of the stained blade anaylsis.

[@cheyshonagun7746]

Okay so, I'll help with the story aspect here a little bit, especially since Awaken was a little less plot reliant than Warriors which actually had a lot of lore and moved the story of league further a little bit. The theater people: Guy on the piano is Jhin, a serial killer who tries to make art by killing people and sees beauty in the moment people die. He is from Ionia (look later) and recently in comics has traveled to Piltover which is where this theater is. The woman with the grapples is Camille, an 80 year old gilf who uses the glowy bits to look young. She is the equivalent to like, the chief of police in Piltover (not exactly but close enough) so plot wise, she's here to take down Jhin, the serial killer. Jhin probably announced his appearance or whatever to set up traps to have a good "performance" which is what he calls his kills/hunts while Camille is literally just walking into a fight with an enemy she doesn't know much about but has the confidence that she'll still win. With martial arts girl: The martial arts girl is Irelia. She is like 16 and she's a blade dancer which is how she controls her weapons. She's from Ionia, which is a country of like a group of islands that is very spiritually connected with nature. Ionia has been in conflict with Noxus (look later) as Noxus has been trying to invade and take control over Ionia. The people of Ionia have since split into two groups, people who think things will happen as they should and should remain peaceful and let Noxus take over if the spirits of the land will it, and the people who want to fight back against Noxus and defend their homeland who is lead by Irelia because she doesn't think this is something to simply wait and let the land handle. So most of the people in her army are actually just farmers and not suited to war like her, even though she's inexperienced in combat because she's only 16 and hasn't really been in a war before. The large troll like guy is Sion. He was in Noxus like, 100s of years ago and died but came back to the monstrosity you see in the vid. He's probably only there because he's Noxian but that's about that tbh. The woman in purple whose design you really liked is Karma, and she had the shield. She's just a support type character who has been trying to help Irelia lately, but I'm not sure if it's she's helping Irelia fight or realize that she doesn't need to hold onto her anger towards Noxus. Next is the green ninja girl who is actually Akali from K/DA, the rapper. She's just a ninja in league, and you'll probably notice her weapons and smoke screens again if you watch it tbh. Next is the "broken" guy, that's Yasuo. He has another cinematic called Kin of the Stained Blade. He killed his brother years ago and is now a fugitive. He channels the wind with his sword hence that huge tornado attack. Finally, the little guy is Kennen. He is a yordle which is a magic people in league. Idk why he lives in Ionia but he does and he trained in the same ninja order as Akali. He does lightning stuff, and when he turns into a ball of lightning, that's one of his moves in the game. Gladiator scene: This is in Noxus which is lead by 3 people, none of them were in the cinematic lol but one of them is the brother of the guy you thought was the emperor. That emperor guy is Draven, and because of his brother, he's still kind of important in Noxus. He used to be in the army with his brother but didn't take responsibility seriously and just fought for sport, so they let him be the Grand Executioner, the head of the gladiator pits where they punish criminals. He usually fights everyone there and kills them (hence his title) but he isn't the only one there either (hence the other gladiators). The girl is Riven. She also used to be in the Noxian army but disgraced herself (idk how I don't really care about her character tbh) and has also been a fugitive. She's only "captured" here to make for a good cinematic, but Noxus hasn't caught her yet in canon. This is basically just a cool fight scene displaying two characters who haven't been in a cinematic yet which was still really nice to see.

[@PhilipHarts]

Woah, thanks so much for this fantastic context and backstory, truly helpful! More on the way!

[@iva_pk]

if you love League of Legends' cinematic visual storytelling so much, pleease do dive into World of Warcraft cinematics! honestly, as a 3D animator, the cinematics of those two games inspire me so much I deeply recommend the entire story sequence of Old Soldier - Battle for Azeroth Cinematic - Lost Honour - Safe Haven - Reckoning if you haven't seen them

[@meowingpudding]

the “petals” represent spirits. Ionia is all about spirit and balance with nature and such. at the end of the video when they are running its ionia vs noxus (in the lore noxus invades ionia and they have a big fight)

[@PhilipHarts]

Very cool, thanks !