Legends of Runeterra: Champion Cameos in Other Champions' Artworks!

While we wait for the next rotation, I decided to bring you another fun list with some cool LoR fun facts: champions that appear in other champions' artworks.

As we all know, LoR is responsible for driving forward the Lore of the entire League of Legends universe, and the interactions between the champions are an iconic part of LoR's artworks.

Let's see all the champions that appear in other champions' artworks (we'll bring you a list of the champions that appear in champion skins soon!).

Some champions appear in another champion's artwork, but the other champion also appears in their artwork. There are a few of them:

Lucian and Senna

Lucian and Senna were the first champion couple we had in Runeterra, and they also appear in each other's artworks.

In Lucian's artwork, we can see Senna as a follower still - in Beta, she wasn't a champion yet.

Senna was revealed on November 10th, 2019, but the first time she appeared in the League of Legends universe was in Lucian's artwork, as a follower, and in Thresh's artwork in October 2019 at the LoR closed Beta event celebrating Riot's 10th anniversary. This means that the first time we saw Senna was in LoR.

In Lucian's artwork, she appears just before she is captured by Thresh, and, in her own artwork, she has just come out of the lantern and got her Darkness powers.

Another fun fact is that, in Lucian's level 1 artwork, he appears with only one of his pistols, and, in his level 2 artwork, he appears with Senna's pistol as well. This means this artwork shows him after she is captured by Thresh. This makes a lot of sense when we look at his effect - he levels up instantaneously right after he sees an allied Senna die.

Master Yi and Kayn - Shadow Assassin

In the "Darkin Saga" set, we were introduced to all the Darkins, which split LoR's entire universe into two timelines. There's a timeline in which Kayn loses to his Darkin scythe, and lets Rhaast Final Level take over his body, and another in which he wins this battle and becomes The Shadow Assassin Final Level.

In Master Yi's level 2 artwork, we can see him fighting against The Shadow Assassin. In theory, the most accepted timeline is that Kayn became The Shadow Assassin because, in that timeline, to stop Kayn, Jun, the Prodigy gets a hold of The Darkin Bloodletters and is assimilated by Xolaani. This is the same universe as Aatrox, Kayle, and Ryze's artworks, as well as many other cards with Xolaani. The fact she appears in so many cards is the main reason why this is the most accepted timeline.

In the timeline Rhaast Final Level wins, everyone at Wuju Temple dies, including Jun. The Darkin Bloodletters are assimilated by Rhaast Final Level, who becomes extremely powerful and spreads unimaginable terror across the world after that. Regardless of who wins, there'll always be a tragedy in the universe because of Kayn, as he is the martyr that kicks off all these catastrophic events.

Both of these artworks depict the same moment: when The Shadow Assassin Final Level attacks Master Yi, and he defends himself with his Wuju skills.

Norra and Yuumi

The first time Norra appeared in the League of Legends universe, outside the short stories, was in Yuumi's artwork in the "Beyond the Bandlewood" expansion. Two sets later, she appeared as a proper champion in the "Darkin Saga" expansion.

Both these champions are part of a big joke (as most of Bandlecity characters are). Norra is the "Portal Master", but she doesn't seem to master them at all; she always gets separated from Yuumi and gets lost through her portals. The joke is that these two are always together in the same place, but keep missing each other. If just one of them looked back most times, they would meet, like these two artworks show.

When Yuumi was revealed for the first time, this "separation" was quite dramatic, and characterized her epic journey to find her master, Norra. However, when Norra was revealed, we realized there's no drama - they're just very ditsy.

The "Glory in Navori" expansion focused entirely on a specific region in Ionia, namely where Sett holds his fighting tournaments. His main opponent will be Jack, and both of their artworks show them fighting each other.

In Sett's level 2 artwork, he's charging his W ability, and that's why he's shining gold, about to hit Jack with all he's got. On the other side, Jack has also levelled up, and is now more powerful (he has Overwhelm).

In Jack's level 2 artwork, we can see him under the influence of some type of blue chemical that makes his muscles huge. This inspired many theories of him being a Chem Baron as well, and that his powers come from drugs like Shimmer, from Arcane.

Nasus and Renekton

In both of these champions' level 3 artworks, we can see them fighting, and they have activated their ultimates. Only a few fans know this but, in League of Legends, their ultimates are extremely alike. They're almost identical, and LoR has adapted them brilliantly.

These two rival brothers have been depicted fighting each other in many ways throughout the years, but, undoubtedly, LoR was the one that best showed them at the peak of their power. Renekton's artwork shows him grabbing Nasus' neck and getting ready to stab his belly with his weapon. Nasus' artwork, in turn, shows that he just hit Renekton's head with his scepter, and has forced him to fall on the ground.

It's almost like a battle between Kaiju - both have fully destroyed the surrounding area, as you can see the wreckage of many buildings in the background, besides lots of dust and destruction flying everywhere. A fun fact about each of their artworks is that Renekton gives off an orange aura in his artwork, which is what makes me believe he activated his ultimate. The same happens with Nasus in his artwork, as he gives off a purple aura, and thus makes me believe he activated his ultimate as well.

Let's see some champions that appear as Easter Eggs in other champions' artworks.

Nilah

Nilah is the only champion that appears twice, as she appears in a champion's level 1 and level 2 artworks - in her case, Volibear's artworks.

In her journey, Nilah sought refuge in Targon to recover from her injuries after a battle, and then met Morgana. This is represented in Morgana's level 1 artwork, in which we can see them holding hands, feeling each other's pain. In her flavor text, Morgana says that even though Nilah is heavily hurt and bruised, she had never seen someone so happy in her life.

As for Volibear's level 1 artwork, it shows Nilah meeting him and challenging him. We can see she is much smaller than Volibear, which he, as the giant champion he is, met with disdain, as if he were offended by her happiness and boldness to challenge him.

In Volibear's level 2 artwork, it is confirmed that he is drastically offended by Nilah's challenge, and both are already battling. Volibear releases all his anger and destroys literally everything around him, while Nilah creates a shield to protect herself, which is her W ability in League of Legends.

Kayle and Ryze

Aatrox's level 2 artwork is the only one in the entire game that shows us 3 different champions: Kayle is in the background, as she has just arrived to "judge" the Darkins, Aatrox is fighting Xolaani in the middle, and then there's Ryze up front, recovering a World Rune lost in the middle of all the destruction.

This scene depicts one of the many Apocalypses that can befall the League of Legends universe, as, in this case, Aatrox has brought ruin to the entire planet and everyone's existence. This artwork isn't 100% canonical, as, like we discussed before, it can only happen if Jun, the Prodigy is assimilated by Xolaani. In turn, this can only happen if Kayn defeats Rhaast Final Level. As a result, we can say that everything in this artwork is hypothetical.

The theory stating that nothing in this artwork actually happened is supported by Ryze's level 1 and 2 artworks. In his level 1 artwork, he apparently visits Shurima after it is destroyed by Xolaani and Aatrox, and then, in his level 2 artwork, it states that he has returned to the present after "visiting this mindscape". This makes us believe that Ryze can see what would happen with Runeterra if he let the World Runes fall into the wrong hands. This is also depicted in the Shard of Madness, which shows Ryze visiting the "mindscape" with Aatrox and Xolaani battling each other once again.

A few others say that, actually, Ryze only sees what happened in the past, and that this Xolaani and Aatrox battle actually happened, but a long time ago. This means that the Xolaani in the artwork above still hasn't assimilated "Jun", and most of the other characters, like Kayn and Master Yi, haven't even been born yet.

Sett

In Samira's level 1 artwork, we can see her entering Sett's fighting arena in Navori. Sett appears behind her, facing his guests and talking to them. She apparently crashed his arena without anyone knowing, and, to stop the guards, she shows them a gold bar, as if saying, "keep quiet, let me in, here's some money for your troubles".

Garen

Lux: Illuminated level 1 artwork shows Garen right behind her, as if escorting her, while she strolls through the city showcasing her powers.

This artwork depicts Lux's dream of being free to use her powers and stroll through Demacia as a hero and a mage, with everyone clapping while she saves Demacia from darkness.

In this artwork, she seems to hold Seraph's Embrace, an iconic and ancient League of Legends item.

Teemo

Tristana's level 2 artwork shows Teemo right below her, just barely, helping the Bandle Gunners defeat a monster. He seems to be wearing cameo makeup, and shooting his darts. In this artwork, he really resembles one of his League of Legends skins, Badger Teemo.

Neeko

Nidalee's level 1 artwork shows Neeko sitting with her back to us, in front of Nidalee, while she pats her head. In this card's flavor text, Nidalee says that she'll always protect Neeko from the Piltovan poachers.

Senna

Once again we have Senna in another champion's artwork. This time, she appears in Thresh's level 1 artwork, but, because this artwork was created back during the game's Beta period, when she, as a champion, didn't exist yet, she's completely different from usual. She still has her pistols and wears her Sentinels of Light clothes.

This scene probably depicts the exact moment she was captured by Thresh. It is a crucial moment for the entire universe, as it drives forward Lucian's entire journey hunting Thresh, which eventually leads us to Viego's arch and the entire Ruination event.

Shyvana

In Viego's level 2 artwork, we can see, in the background, his entire ruined army and, among them, Shyvana. The Sentinels of Light/Ruined skin lines are one of the few canonical lines in the League of Legends universe.

In the story, Viego possesses several champions across Runeterra and recruits them into his army. Shyvana is one of these characters, and is maybe the strongest, as she is half-dragon. During this event, she, alone, battled every Demacian champion at once, while the Ruination mist took over the city.

Ashe

Ornn's level 2 artwork shows Ashe arriving at the Hearth-Home, Ornn's home.

His flavor text states that Ornn's chosen ones eventually find their way into the Hearth-Home when the world needs him most, to either get a blessing from him, or his advice. This implies that Ashe is a chosen of Ornn, as she went to the Hearth-Home, and will return significantly stronger, as it happens in League of Legends matches when a champion gets a blessing from Ornn.

As our honorable mentions, we have two artworks that don't necessarily show a champion in another champion's artwork - they show a representation of them.

We can see Leona's shadow in Diana's level 2 artwork. And, in Lillia's artwork, she is holding an orb with Lux: Illuminated's silhouette.

If you read this far, thank you! I hope you had fun, and enjoyed this article.

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See you next time!