Assume the role of an unseen 'summoner' that controls a 'champion' with unique abilities and battle against a team of other players or computer-controlled champions in the immensely popular multiplayer online battle arena League of Legends.
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The jackal-headed Nasus is a clear nod to Anubis, the Egyptian god tied to death and the afterlife, while his crocodile brother Renekton borrows from Sobek, who ancient Egyptians prayed to for safe passage across the Nile. Two brothers, two very different gods, and a rivalry that's baked right into the mythology they're drawn from.
Before Annie became the tiny fire-wielding girl with a bear, she took cues from Lina Inverse, the explosive teenage sorceress from the anime Slayers. Riot originally planned for Annie to be a teenager too, but they eventually settled on a younger child instead, and looking at her now it's hard to imagine her any other way.
Veigar already plays like a pint-sized Black Mage, but his eagle-rider skin takes things further with a not-so-subtle wink at Gandalf, specifically the moment he gets airlifted by a giant eagle in The Lord of the Rings. Swap the wizard's robes for a yordle and you've basically got the same picture.
Corki's little propeller helicopter isn't an original idea, it's lifted almost directly from the Dwarven Gyrocopter unit in Warcraft III, a game a lot of early Riot staff had cut their teeth on before making League. The bushy moustache and bomb-dropping playstyle carried over pretty much intact.
Strip away the Noxian armour and Riven's arc looks a lot like Aragorn's. Both were exiled from where they belonged, both carried a broken blade as a symbol of who they used to be, and both eventually get that sword reforged as part of reclaiming their identity.
Akshan's name translates roughly to "eye" in Sanskrit, a nod to Hindu mythology where Shiva's mostly-closed third eye is said to unleash devastating power whenever it opens. Riot's champion team has talked about wanting more South Asian representation in the roster, and Akshan's very name is where that story starts.
Take a proper look at the shop on the Red side base and you'll spot the old Heart of Gold item sitting there with a SOLD sign slapped over it. The item itself got removed from the game years ago, but Riot never bothered clearing the shelf, so it's just been sitting there ever since, technically bought by nobody and collected by no one.
Head out of Blue side's base through the middle tower and take a right, and there's a big statue wearing a necklace with a stone set into it. That stone used to represent the Philosopher's Stone item, which later got renamed to Nomad's Medallion, but the statue itself was never updated, so it's quietly kept the old design in place.
Athene's Unholy Grail wasn't always called that. It started out as the Chalice of Discord before Riot renamed it in honour of Athene, a well-known World of Warcraft streamer who reportedly brought thousands of players over into League. Not a bad way to say thanks.
The armadillo everyone knows for saying "ok" over and over didn't start out that way. Rammus originally had a much bigger voice set with proper lines, but at some point Riot scrapped most of it, leaving him with the stripped-down, deadpan personality players have come to love.
