Thoughts on Lore

Lore

Aside from her gameplay, one aspect of Syndra that has grown on me over the years is her backstory. Her childhood trauma, family abuse, and suppressed abilities that cause her intense negative emotions are all relevant issues that many youth can empathize with. Personally I saw myself in Syndra's story and it fueled my desire to play her as I felt that I was combatting these issues through her.

Syndra's current lore prioritizes fulfilling the stereotypical role of an uncontrollable and unstoppable force of nature over the meaningful issues that she has the potential to represent.The two main parts of her lore are her power and her oppression. These two elements combine to drive the plot forward but does nothing to develop Syndra's character. This is a huge problem because Syndra's identity is effectively reduced to her powers.

As a child, Syndra's dignity suffered a lot of injustice. Either due to family environment, human nature, or malicious intent, her parents, peers, teacher and country forsake Syndra as a human being because of her powers. But the conclusion to this story is that Syndra is dangerous and needs to be stopped. This breaks my heart. Not only is it declaring that deep psychological issues are to be combatted with force, it is condemning the victim as the culprit.

The emotions of shame, anger, frustration and sadness that Syndra harbors are viewed as negative and the source of Syndra's destructive nature. However, human emotions are way more complicated than that. Negative emotions can be reactions to injustice and tragedy, becoming a positive guiding light towards rectifying what is wrong. Although Syndra's determination to "destroy all who would try to control her" is a good representation of her danger, Syndra's motivation is reduced to an emotional state that is unrealistic for any person to perpetually sustain. Instead, one might consider Syndra's own thoughts and try to find a realistic way to describe her perspective and convictions.

As a child damaged by indignation, humilitation and betrayal, Syndra must have no stronger desire than to restore her dignity, seek justice and achieve her freedom. Syndra's wrathful actions towards her family and towards her teacher can be completely justified with these motivations. She wants the scolding to stop, the teasing to cease, and to be released from her oppression. But most of all, she must feel a deep anguish at the tragedy that is her life. Sadness is a reaction to loss and Syndra has lost her family, her dignity and her teacher, the closest thing to a friend that she ever had. Syndra might have an intense aversion against injustice towards anyone she might empathize with (perhaps annie, ammummu or zed). Aside from that, Syndra surely has a gap in her heart that she might be strongly inclined to fill.

Societal and cultural oppression, childhood trauma, and humiliation have molded Syndra's story and character, making her a potential champion for psychological healing, dignity and freedom. Syndra has the potential to be the role model for many young adults and teenagers who might need the encouragement to face the same problems in their own lives in a healthy way.

Character Design

Syndra's body type and clothing are in conflict with her lore. For the purpose of making Syndra look like an evil and powerful demon queen the design fulfills it's purpose very well. However, just like her current lore, it prioritizes Syndra's force of nature stereotype and lacks all semblance of an actual person.

According to her lore, Syndra emerges as the dark sovereign while in the process of her temple training. Living with a hermit monk in an isolated island temple, it is hard to realistically believe that Syndra would be wearing a skimpy and elaborate dress, leather bdsm belts, what looks like the straps of a high waisted thong and thigh-highs. Not to mention, her shoulder pads, gauntlets and spiky earmuffs seem to come straight out of a cosplay. I understand the iconic Ionian crest being worn in front of her face as a rebellious symbol but the mask overshadows her eyes which are symbollic of intelligence and free will. Syndra's entire outfit exclaims bondage, objectification and impracticality. Freedom being the center of Syndra's lore, her clothing seems to reflect the complete opposite of that, restricting her body and movement and confining her body in a stereotypically lewd garb.

Furthermore, Syndra's tall curvy body and large bust seem to be redundantly sexual and don't offer anything to the character design and exists solely for fanservice. The following will be completely my own speculation but Syndra does not seem to be very old nor is she in a state for child-bearing. Although the lore does not specify her age, she was sent away as a child and decided to break free "over the years". With Ionia being mostly based on real life Asian countries, I am assuming that Syndra is also of the asian body type. Syndra could range from a young teenager to an adult in her early thirties. Regardless of the age, female asian bodies typically do not look very curvy and do not have large busts, espeically if they are young.

I totally understand the advantage of sexual allure in the earlier days of the game but I believe that the game has aged enough to transcend these underhanded tactics and capture a more realistic female role model. I believe that you, Riot games, also have this mindset with the new, more strange yet still attractive additions like Neeko and Qiyana. In my opinion Syndra can be attractive without the use of overtly sexual body features but instead with a more reserved and youthful appearance. As a student at an asian priest's temple, I would like to assume that Syndra was dressed in a monk's robes at the moment of her revolution. I would very much love to see a new young Syndra in tattered robes, ripped apart by her own immense powers with an Ionian crest floating in front of her forehead made out of the same material as her dark spheres. This new Syndra would represent freedom as her powers leaked through the rips in the fabric that she was previously confined in. Without friends, Syndra would have nobody to depend on for stronger more resistant clothing, indicating her isolation from the world. Her new Ionian crest would not overshadow her eyes, giving her a more intelligent and autonomous expression. However I must realize that as an inexperienced fan these are only my personal preferences and I have not taken into consideration the impact it might have on the game from a professional point of view.