What is shadow isles

With its creation, the nature spirit Maokai was born, taking the form of a treant. Maokai wandered the isles in search of life, until on a hilly isle covered in soft, rich soil, Maokai sensed boundless magic deep beneath the ground. He plunged his roots into a spring of magical, life-giving water and drank deeply. From these Waters of Life, he grew hundreds of saplings and planted them across the islands.

Soon the land was covered with wonderous flora, all steeped in wondrous magic. Nature spirits were drawn to the lavish vegetation, and animals reveled in the fertile greenery. When humans from an ancient culture expanding westward eventually came to the islands, they formed an enlightened and rich society of scholars devoted to studying the world's mysteries. Though Maokai was wary of their presence, he saw their respect for the deep magic within the woods and occasionally revealed himself directly to those he trusted and blessed them with knowledge of the verdant isles, even revealing the Waters of Life to some.

In an empire that none now recall, resided Kalista , a general and niece of the king. She lived by a strict code of honor, serving the throne with utmost loyalty. When the king's enemies sent an assassin to slay him, Kalista saved his life - but in doing so inadvertently sent the venom-coated dagger at the queen.

The greatest priests and surgeons were summoned, but none could draw the poison from her body. The king dispatched Kalista in search of a cure.

Hecarim , who had recently become the commander of the Iron Order though a gruesome betrayal known only to himself, took Kalista's place in her absence. Kalista traveled far, consulting learned scholars, hermits and mystics Finally, she learned of the Blessed Isles and set sail on one last voyage of hope.

The guardians of the capital city, Helia, saw the purity of Kalista's intent, and parted the Isles' protective mists to allow her safe passage through. She begged them to heal the queen and managed to sway the masters of the city to her cause.

While the queen lived, she could be healed in the Waters of Life. Kalista was given a talisman that would allow her to return to Helia unaided, but was warned against sharing this knowledge with any other. Meanwhile, as the kingdom began to decline due to the king's spending and seclusion, its inhabitants began to protest his obsession.

Mad with grief, Viego raged at those he believed were trying to separate him from his dying wife, dispatching Hecarim to quell dissent throughout the kingdom. The Iron Order burned towns and villages. Hundreds were put to the sword. When the queen died, the king locked himself away with her corpse, falling deeper into madness. Hecarim chose to sour the king's grief into hatred, seeking to lead the Iron Order into foreign lands. He would avenge her death, while earning yet more dark renown for himself.

But before they could ride out, Kalista returned. When the king learned of this, he demanded to know what she had found. She admitted that the cure she had found would be of no use. Viego would not believe this, and imprisoned Kalista as a traitor to the crown.

Intrigued by what he had heard, Hecarim visited her cell, and they spoke of the pale mists that protected the islands from all invaders Knowing only Kalista could lead them there, Hecarim eventually persuaded her to guide the king's fleet through the veil that concealed the Blessed Isles, taking advantage of her love for her uncle by arguing that if they traveled to the Isles, Viego could finally find peace. Hesitantly, Kalista agreed.

And so the king set out with a fleet of his fastest ships, bypassing the mists in his desperation. However, when they were met by Helia's masters, they were not allowed pass. Death, they insisted, was final. To cheat it would be to break the natural order of the world.

Viego flew into a fevered rage, and commanded Kalista to slay the guardians. She refused, and called on Hecarim to stand with her The Iron Order joined him, piercing Kalista's body a dozen times more as she fell. A brutal melee erupted, with those devoted to Kalista fighting against Hecarim's knights, but their numbers were too few. As she watched her warriors die, Kalista swore vengeance with her final breath. Hecarim then ordered his knights to ransack the city, looting its vaults of arcane treasures.

Amid the chaos, a lowly custodian agreed to grant the king access to the Waters of Life—but not even this distracted Hecarim from the revelry of bloodshed, and so the Ruination of the Blessed Isles would take him almost completely by surprise. The King brought the corpse of his wife to the sacred waters. True to their nature, they brought Isolde back to life A blastwave of magical force tore across Helia, shattering every last building and leaving the fragments suspended in searing un-light.

In its wake came the Black Mist, a billowing hurricane that dragged every living creature it touched into its shrieking, roiling embrace. Hecarim tried to rally the Iron Order, hoping to make it back to their ships, but the mist claimed them one by one as they fled.

When Hecarim was taken by the mist, he and his mighty steed were fused into a monstrous, spectral abomination that reflected the darkness in Hecarim's heart—a brazen creature of fury and spite, as one with the Black Mist and yet utterly enslaved by it. Thresh was among the first to be claimed by the Black Mist, but while others screamed in anguish at their fate, he reveled in it. He arose from The Ruination as a spectral monstrosity, relishing the chance to torment others without fear of reprisal, and unfettered by the limits of mortality.

Over the centuries that followed, his supernatural appearance slowly changed to match his malice and cruelty. Thresh came to realize most other spirits trapped within the Black Mist retained only fragments of their former selves—even the strongest of the foreign invaders, such as Hecarim or Ledros—while his power continued to grow.

Even Kalista herself was not spared from undeath. When next Kalista opened her eyes, they were filled with the dark power of unnatural magic. She had no idea what had transpired and tried to cling to those fragmented memories of Hecarim's monstrous betrayal; they have slowly faded in all the centuries since, and all that now remains is a thirst for revenge burning in Kalista's ruined chest. She has become a specter, a figure of macabre folklore, often invoked by those who have suffered similar treacheries.

These wretched spirits are subsumed into hers, to pay the ultimate price—becoming one with the Spear of Vengeance. When the ruination struck, Maokai plunged his roots deep into the ground and drank of the Waters of Life. Before the cursed water reached him, Maokai withdrew his roots. He howled in rage as the sacred reservoir he had entrusted to men was fully corrupted — the spiraling coils churning underwater until nothing pure remained.

Moments later, Maokai watched in helpless agony as all he knew twisted into wretched shades. His fury grew; the great beauty he had cultivated from tiny saplings fell to ruin in an instant at the careless hand of man. The Black Mist coiled around Maokai. His body shuddered and contorted into a mass of gnarled roots and tangled branches as the mist leached life from him. But Maokai's heartwood was saturated with the precious waters of life, saving him from the terrible fate of undeath.

Maokai realized the force of his blows could shatter the cursed spirit to dust. He flew at the breathless shapes in a frenzy, but hundreds more overwhelmed him, and eventually he was forced to retreat.

Now Maokai fights with furious vengeance against the Fallen. Some days, Maokai subdues the mist and its deathless spirits, breaking their hold on a grove of trees or a small thicket. Though new life has not bloomed in such cursed soil for an age, Maokai strives to carve havens, however temporary, free from regret and decay.

He was once tempted to try and escape the nightmare of the isles. But he knew he couldn't leave the Isles, for as long as Maokai continues to fight, hope remains. For steeped within his heartwood are the uncorrupted waters of life, the last remaining chance of restoring the isles.

If the land returns to its joyous state, Maokai, too, will shed his twisted form. The nature spirit brought life to these isles long ago, and he refuses to rest until the isles bloom once more.

Since he was a small child, Yorick was always able to commune with spirits and ghosts. This ability would give him a better understanding and respect for life after death. Tales of Yorick's visions soon spread beyond his village, and drew the attention of a small order of monks who dwelled at the heart of the Blessed Isles. Its envoys traveled to Yorick's island, believing he could become an asset to their faith. When the Ruination ran across the Blessed Isles, Yorick watched as his order was swallowed whole by the destructive magic of the Black Mist that was consuming the land.

His brothers - the monks he had grown up with - were compelled, as if under control of an unknown being, to remove the holy vials around their necks and leave themselves to the mercy of the Mist, which killed and consumed them where they stood.

And though the voice of the mist called to him and commanded he do the same, he refused - pouring every last bit of his self-restraint in keeping himself alive as death danced around him.

The Mist clung to him, and when he awoke after the Cataclysm had resided, Yorick discovered the Blessed Isles as a wasteland of decay, despair and rot. He searched for survivals as the Mist held on to him, though the holy water in the vial around his neck kept it from devouring him.

Realizing he was the only survivor of the destruction, Yorick felt horror draw upon him. He tried to communicate with the spirits around him, rising from the bodies of the dead, and discovered he had control over them. Though nothing but the hollow husks of beings he once called family and friends, Yorick made his resolve - to defeat the Black Mist; he would use it to his own whim, and destroy the curse with its own power. With the liberation of Senna , Viego was awakened again by the Chain warden.

He began a series of Harrowings in search of her. Viego eventually encountered Lucian and Senna on a remote island and unleashed Harrowings in Demacia , Ionia and Noxus. Viego partially removed the fragment of Isolde's soul within Senna and attempted to kill her before departing. Viego realized he needed more power to scour the lands to search for the fragments of Isolde's soul. Fortunately, he soon encountered a depressed, Yordle who followed the Black Mist through a portal and was enamored by the darkness of the Shadow Isles.

Seeing her unique ability to spread despair, making people more vulnerable to Harrowings, the two struck up an alliance and plotted to plunge the world into darkness. With aid from his new ally, Viego was able to unleash a global harrowing across Runeterra. With an overwhelming amount of Black Mist spread across the world, Viego set out to find his lost love. During the global harrowing, the other denizens of the Shadow Isles enacted their own plans.

Hecarim and his knights set out to pillage and plunder the lands of Runeterra, able to reach lands much farther thanks to the Black Mist. Thresh begins to siphon the rampant Black Mist, while feigning loyalty to Viego.

As Viego collects more and more fetters of Isolde's soul, he also gains more allies, corrupting Draven , Karma , Miss Fortune , Pantheon and Shyvana to his cause. Gwen aligns herself with the Sentinels of Light and works with them to repel Viego's attacks across Runeterra. After Viego secures most of the fetters, the Sentinels of Light plan one last assault against Viego and the Shadow Isles. Yorick offers them the last of the Waters of Life and the final fetter, the Maiden the of the Mist, and aids them in the final battle against Viego.

Viego gains the upper hand in the battle and takes the fetters to Camavor to revive Isolde. Thresh soon reveals that he has been absorbing the Black Mist and is now unbound from the Shadow Isles and able to harvest souls across Runeterra. The Black Mist is a thick shroud that covers the Isles and the surrounding seaside. Before the Ruination the White Mist was merely a natural magical enchantment protecting the Isles of anyone trying to trespass on them.

Only its denizens and certain outsiders knew how to navigate through the mist. Thanks to the confounding magical mist that shrouded the Isles, there was little need for any standing army. After the Ruination, the Black Mist became a prison of souls, trapping any living being it touches in the moment of death, only the strongest of souls who retain their personality and desires can escape its grasp. But the manifestations of those souls who escape the Mist can be killed with the right tools or by other spirits.

They are doomed to return to the mist, sometimes staying there for centuries, other times just some days. Manifested spirits can use the Black Mist to travel anywhere it touches, even though stronger spirits may venture beyond the isles without a Harrowing.

When a Harrowing happens, weaker spirits are able to manifest and the Black Mist travels beyond the Isles allowing legions of souls, most forming the Mist itself, to hunt the living. Harrowings can happen anywhere, but they happen most often on Bilgewater. Harrowings tends to last only one night as the souls of the damned are also vulnerable to sunlight and pure light.

One of the few known ways to truly free a soul from the grasp of the Black is through the power of Nagakabouros. Helia, the capital of the Blessed Isles, was once regarded the as a center of knowledge and learning, in part due to its large archive of Runeterra's artifacts, both dangerous and benign.

The city was located on the coast and encompassed several small islands connected through bridges going across sea canals. As a result, many parts of the city were flooded after the Ruination.

An area once teeming with natural magic and life, it has since been twisted and rotted into grotesque imitations of the original entities inhabiting it. Arachnids known as Spiderlings are the giant children of Elise and Vilemaw and reside in both Noxus and the Shadow Isles.

Large dark spiders with red highlights, they feast upon the living flesh of humans and other large prey. Living in groups, they gained a hive mind with each other as well as their Spider Queen Elise. Souls claimed by the Black Mist are known to some as the Fallen. While usually corporeal, they can be harmed with the right tool, such as magic, silver, or even sunlight. Nightbloom is a rare flame-red petaled flower native to the Blessed Isles.

It is virtually extinct except for a few who bushes that are cared for in Vladimir's garden in his mansion in Noxus. On the Blessed Isles they blossomed on the evening of the summer solstice. By morning the flowers wilted, leaving only blackened petals, not to be seen again until the following year. But for one night, they illuminated the forest with blazing crimson. If the flowers petals are plucked, the remaining petals immediately curl inwards, the stem bending away as if it can express fear.

A particularly 1 sinister Poro. Poros , while native to the Freljord , have since spread to every region on Runeterra. At least one Poro has been found on the Shadow Isles.

The Shadow Isles are home to their own variety of Citrus fruit , likely similar in appearance to an orange, but with the notable distinction that they have dangerous spikes present.

These fruit were likely to have been corrupted by the The Ruination. Treants are a fusion of nature spirits or any sapient species and plant life. One such species was the Omikayalan God-Willow, which essence was later transferred to the Freljordian warrior Ivern. Other examples are Maokai , a nature spirit fused with the plant life and natural magics of the Blessed Isles. Thresh: Sadistic and cunning, Thresh is an ambitious and restless spirit of the Shadow Isles. Once the custodian of countless arcane secrets, he was undone by a power greater than life or death, and now sustains himself by tormenting and breaking others with slow, excruciating inventiveness.

The Shadow Isles were once a beautiful set of islands known as the Blessed Isles that enjoyed a golden age dedicated to knowledge, philosophy, and the safeguarding of magical artifacts from across Runeterra. The beautiful realm was destroyed by a magical cataclysm which brought fourth the destruction of the Blessed Isles, leaving the Shadow Isles we know today. But what Champions call this creepy place their home? That's what we're going to explore today. These are all the champions that hail from the Shadow Isles.

What's hot! Who comes from these creepy islands?