The land now known as the Shadow Isles was once a beautiful realm, but it was shattered by a magical cataclysm. Black Mist permanently shrouds the isles and the land itself is tainted, corrupted by malevolent sorcery. Living beings that stand upon the Shadow Isles slowly have their life-force leeched from them, which, in turn, draws the insatiable, predatory spirits of the dead. Those who perish within the Black Mist are condemned to haunt this melancholy land for eternity. Worse, the power of the Shadow Isles is waxing stronger with every passing year, allowing the shades of undeath to extend their range and reap souls all across Runeterra.
The Shadow Isles were once a beautiful realm, long since shattered by a magical cataclysm. Now, Black Mist permanently shrouds the land, tainting and corrupting with its malevolent sorcery. Those who perish within it are condemned to become part of it for all eternity… and worse still, each year the Mist extends its grasp to reap more souls across Runeterra.[1]
Before the Shadow Isles became a land of death, the islands teemed with natural life and beauty. This was never truer than in the isles' sacred forests: a paradise of thriving trees and countless species, both animal and spirit alike. Long ago, it was known as the Blessed Isles, a land hidden in mist and legend and protected by runic sigils, arcane locks, and potent wards that could only be pierced with arcane words that were shared with few.
Fall of Mordekaiser
Main article: Iron Revenant
Mordekaiser, the Iron Revenant
Long before the rise of Demacia or Noxus, the being known as Mordekaiser, the Iron Revenant was once a mortal and brutal warlord-king who ruled the lands of eastern Valoran. He waded into battle bedecked in heavy iron armor and slaughtered all who opposed him. After being killed, he managed to gain mastery over the necrotic arts with the help of sorcerers before enslaving them and beginning a reign of terror that would last centuries - as time and again, he would be slain, only to return from the dead.
Mordekaiser’s bones were key to his unholy reincarnation, and as the centuries rolled on he became increasingly paranoid about their safety. He constructed a monolithic fortress at the heart of his empire that came to be known as the Immortal Bastion. Locked away at the core of this epic stronghold he hid his remains.
The Immortal Bastion was eventually besieged by a concentrated alliance of tribes and warbands. During the siege, an unknown thief infiltrated the mighty fortress, bypassing its fiendish defenses to steal Mordekaiser’s skull. His skeleton needed to be complete in order for his resurrection to be enacted, yet fearful of their master’s wrath, his enslaved liches kept the theft a secret.
On the walls of the Immortal Bastion, countless enemies fell before Mordekaiser, yet it was not enough to stave off defeat. His fortress was overrun and he was dragged down by sheer weight of numbers. His deadly mace was torn from his grasp and great chains wrapped around his limbs. Confident that he would rise again, he was torn apart and was vanquished for the time being, not aware the his ability to revive had been nullified.
Mordekaiser’s skull was taken across the sea to the Blessed Isles, a land hidden in mist and legend. There resided an order dedicated to gathering and protecting knowledge. The wise adepts of the order inhabiting the land knew of Mordekaiser, and of his weakness. They had stolen his skull in order to rid the world of his unholy presence, placing it in a hidden underground vault filled with dangerous and corrupted magical artifacts and secured behind locks and magical wards. Mordekaiser’s servants were scattered to the corners of the world, seeking his lost skull, but were always unable to locate it. It seemed Mordekaiser’s reign was truly over. Years rolled into decades, decades to centuries.
"Once, he was a noble king, until grief overcame his reason. In the end, it was not his blade that stole our lives." - Kalista
"The powers that govern life and death are not to be trifled with. The Shattered Crown is a king's reward for defying the shadows' embrace. I believe we are meant to ponder mortality through poetry and verse, not enslave it to our will." - Ionian storyteller
Meanwhile, in an empire that none now recall, resided Kalista a proud general and niece of the king. She lived by a strict code of honor, serving the throne with utmost loyalty. The king had many enemies, and when they sent an assassin to slay him, it was Kalista’s vigilance that averted disaster.
But in saving the king, she damned the one he loved most—the assassin’s deflected blade was envenomed, and sliced the arm of the queen. The greatest priests and surgeons were summoned, but none could draw the poison from her body. Wracked with grief, the king dispatched Kalista in search of a cure, with Hecarim, who had recently become the commander of the Iron order though a gruesome betrayal in war, taking her place at his side.
Kalista traveled far, consulting learned scholars, hermits and mystics… but to no avail. Finally, she learned of a place protected from the outside world by shimmering pale mists, whose inhabitants were rumored to know the secrets of eternal life. She set sail on one last voyage of hope, to the almost legendary Blessed Isles.
The guardians of the capital city Helia saw the purity of Kalista’s intent, and parted the mists to allow her safe passage. She begged them to heal the queen, and after much consideration, the masters of the city agreed. Time was of the essence. While the queen yet breathed, there was hope for her in the fabled 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.
Gripped by paranoia, and seeing new threats in every shadow, the king raged at those he believed were trying to separate him from his dying wife, and dispatched Hecarim to quell dissent throughout the kingdom. The Iron Order earned a dreadful reputation as ruthless enforcers of the king’s will. Towns and villages burned. Hundreds were put to the sword.
With grim inevitability, when the queen died, Hecarim chose to sour the king’s grief into hatred, seeking sanction 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. Due to his madness, the king locked himself in his tower with the queen’s festering corpse. When he learned of Kalista’s return, he demanded to know what she had found. With a heavy heart, for she had never before failed him, she admitted that the cure she had found would be of no use. The king would not believe this, and condemned 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… and also of the inhabitants’ immense wealth, including the legendary Waters of Life.
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 from mortal sight arguing that if they traveled to the isles her uncle could hear the truth of it from the masters themselves. Then, perhaps, he would find peace—even if only in accepting that the queen was gone, and allowing her to be laid to rest. Hesitantly, Kalista agreed.
And so the king set out with a flotilla of his fastest ships, and cried out in joy as the glittering city of Helia was revealed to him. However, they were met by the stern masters, who would not allow them to pass. Death, they insisted, was final. To cheat it would be to break the natural order of the world.
The king flew into a fevered rage, and commanded Kalista to slay any who opposed them. She refused, and called on Hecarim to stand with her… but instead he drove his spear through her armored back.
The Iron Order joined him in this treachery, piercing Kalista’s body a dozen times more as she fell. A brutal melee erupted, with those devoted to Kalista fighting desperately against Hecarim’s knights, but their numbers were too few. As Kalista’s life faded, and she watched her warriors die, swearing 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 could distract Hecarim from the revelry of bloodshed, and so it was that the Ruination of the Blessed Isles would take him almost completely by surprise.
The King brought the corpse of his wife to the sacred well, but when the queen returned to life she was a horror of decayed meat and maggot-ridden flesh who begged to be allowed to die once more. Repulsed at what he had done to his beloved wife, the king enacted a spell to end their lives and bind them together for all eternity. His conjuration was successful, but unwittingly empowered by the many potent magical artifacts stored on the island, its power was increased a hundredfold.
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.
Alone, and defiant to the end, the knight-commander was taken by the shadows. 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, at one with the Black Mist and yet utterly enslaved by it.
The Undead Rebirth
Main article: Chain Warden
Thresh, the Chain Warden
Meanwhile, during the great sorcerous explosion, the vaults securing Mordekaiser’s skull were torn asunder and Mordekaiser’s liches made their way to the newly born Shadow Isles like moths drawn to a flame. They bore with them their master’s bones, and digging his skull from the ruins, were finally able to unleash him upon the world once more. Mordekaiser would then proceed to carve out his own empire upon the Shadow Isles, enslaving a growing army of the dead. He looks down upon these newly formed undying spirits as a lesser breed, for he chose his path freely, while these others are merely lost souls. Nevertheless, he sees their use; they will be his foot-soldiers in the conflicts to come. Once he consolidated his power, he would begin to look across the seas, towards Valoran. He has set his sights on the empires and civilizations that have risen since his absence. In particular, he would pay special attention to the upstart empire called Noxus, whose capital city was unknowingly built atop his former fortress, the Immortal Bastion.
At the same time, the cataclysmic event had reached the order's citadel and turned everyone inside into wretched undead. While others screamed in agony, Thresh reveled in the ruin. He rose from this cataclysm as a spectral abomination, but unlike many who have passed into the shadow world, Thresh did not lose his identity. Rather, his penchant for cruel torture and ability to discern weakness was only heightened. He relished the chance to continue his cruelty without fear of reprisal, unfettered by the limits of mortality. As a wraith, Thresh could torment the living and the dead endlessly, delighting in their despair before claiming their soul for an eternity of suffering.
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.
Twisted Treant
Main article: Twisted Treant
Maokai, the Twisted Treant
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 couldnt left 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.
Shepherd of Lost Souls
Main article: Shepherd of Lost Souls
Yorick, Shepherd of Souls
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.
Locations
Black Mist
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. After the Ruination, the Black Mist is used by its undead inhabitants to travel unharmed across Runeterra during an the event known as the Harrowing, as the souls of the damned are also vulnerable to sunlight and pure light. Only few things can can chase away the Mist, such as the powers of Nagakabouros of Bilgewater.
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 Runeterras 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.
Blessed Isles Bridge: This Bridge was once an impressive geometrically designed civilian bridge going across the small sea canal between Blessed Isles islands. It was destroyed after the Ruination.
Library Keep: Previously an an area where Helia's Library was located, after the Ruination is a mount of destroyed landscape with uncontrolled arcane energy.
Helia's Library: Helia's Library was once the largest and most significant libraries on Runeterra. The Library was part of a larger research area housing all the dangerous artifacts of the world. From Runic scriptures to magical tomes, its scrives
Vaults of Arcana: Previously a group of buildings housing one of the most dangerous artifacts on Runeterra, after the Ruination it became a confluence of dark magic.
Grand Gallery of Ancient Artifacts: The Grand Gallery of Ancient Artifacts was once one the most important archival buildings on the Shadow Isles. After the Ruination it ended up becoming a massive crater or uncontrolled arcane energy.
Celestial Vault: One of many Vaults located previously on The Blessed Isles. These vaults can only be unlocked by the Revelations of the Lunatropic Demisphere.
Hall of Conjunction: The Hall of Conjunction, through which all seekers must pass. It was one of the greatest repositories of the Blessed Isles, they were architectural wonders, containing innumerable secrets and sometimes dangerous artifacts.
Radiance of Alignments: The Radiance of Alignment, Located in The Hall of Conjuction, is a large vault entrance to the Athenaeum of Light. The knowledge within these hidden vaults would only reveal itself at specific phases of moon, angles of the sun, or alignments of starlight. The Radiance of Alignments begins the journey to enlightenment.
Athenaeum of Light: A place within the Hall of Conjunction, The Litanies of the Sentinels are engraved on the walls and floor of the great Athenaeum.
Undead Wilds
The Twisted Treeline
Undead Wilds 1
Undead Wilds 2
Undead Wilds 3
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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.
Twisted Treeline: The Twisted Treeline is located somewhere in the Shadow Isles. It forrested area houses to spirit altars and lair of the Vilemaw.
Wildlife
Fallen
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.
Treants
A fusion of nature spirits (or any sapient species) and plantlife. One such example is Maokai, a nature spirit fused with the plantlife and natural magicks of the Blessed Isles.
Resembling that of an arachnid spider whose grotesque mass is furred and scabbed with wet, mutant growths. Adorned with venomous fangs and colossal legs used to heave its corrupt body. This unearthly horror is a monstrous creature that looms in the darkest pits beneath the Shadow Isles. The true origin of Vilemaw is completely unknown, save for the assumption that the voracious spider god is an otherworldly life-form not originally from Runeterra.
The most powerful specters retained much of their personality and desires even after the Ruination, becoming predatory spirits who may stalk the weak and vulnerable for all eternity.
Any mortal who sets foot upon the Shadow Isles will attract the spirits of the fallen.
Eternal Scrivener, many of the humble scribes and archivists of the Blessed Isles perished at their lecterns, unaware of the disaster that had just befallen them. This lost soul now feverishly scratches descriptions of its torment on an endlessly unraveling parchment.
Mordekaiser, the Iron Revenant, is perhaps older than the Shadow Isles themselves, having existed many years before the Ruination that ravaged the Isles happened. His remains were scattered to prevent his resurrection, and it was the dark magic that spread across the Isles that allowed for his current incarnation. Hecarim, the Shadow of War, was once a mortal knight of the Iron Order, known for his cruelty and cold, distant behaviour, before travelling to the Isles, where he cast his final betrayal and was cursed to become a half-man, half-horse abomination.
Kalista, the Spear of Vengeance, served the same king as Hecarim, and was instructed with the task to discover an antidote for the King's dying wife, poisoned by an assassin. She searched across the lands until discovering the hidden Blessed Isles, where endless life-bearing magic flowed through the waters and the earth. She travelled back to her King, who demanded she bring him in order to revive the Queen, who had since died. Upon arrival, the King demanded the people of the Isles to revive his wife, and Kalista stood between him and the locals - until Hecarim struck her down, stabbing her in the back.
Soul Shepherd seeks to keep weaker spirits safe from predatory specters.
Thresh, the Chain Warden, was once a mortal in service to an unknown order. An eerily sadistic man in charge of various artifacts in the depths of the order's chambers, buried underground. In this tomb, he guarded the chambers housing these unknown magics, until they lured him in to discover their secrets. He learned dark secrets and his own sinister capability, to which he fully embraced until the Ruination cast over the Isles, reincarnating him as a wretched wraith.
Widow of Forgotten Songs was a collector of birds who tried to free them when disaster struck. She now wanders aimlessly, listening for the songs she can no longer recall.
Yorick, Shepherd of Souls, is the last survivor of a long forgotten religious order. Trapped in the Shadow Isles, both blessed and cursed with power over the dead, his only companions are the rotting corpses and shrieking spirits that he gathers to him. Yorick’s monstrous actions belie his noble purpose: to free his home from the curse of the Ruination.
Flooded Cities
Immigration to the Isles
Some deviant few willingly make the dreaded islands their home. His perverse obsession with death naturally led Karthus, the Deathsinger, to willingly join the unliving. Elise, the Spider Queen, traveled there for religious reasons. She worships the Spider God, Vilemaw.[2] Every year she returns to the Isles with a select few disciples. She then feeds them to their god in exchange for a youth-prolonging gift of venom. She would return to Valoran preaching her deity and leading a pilgrimage again by the end of the year.
The realm now known as the Shadow Isles was once replete with gardens, libraries, universities, and houses of learning. The architecture of the Blessed Isles was laden with hidden meanings and symbolism. Geometric designs, similar to those found in Piltover, were the main architectural movement on the Isles. However the Isles inhabitants incorporated other ornate elements into their constructions. With large statues, ornate buildings, The Blessed Isles was also a confluence of different creative ideas and engineering from across Runeterra. Materials such as marble, gold, plaster, granite, limestone, and clay were used in construction of its buildings. Cities were designed to keep their inhabitants safe. Because the Isles were surrounded by white mist that led unguided travelers astray, there was no need for an army. The natural magic of the Blessed Isles made its landscape incredibly fertile.
Vaults: The greatest repositories of the Blessed Isles were architectural wonders, containing innumerable secrets and sometimes dangerous artifacts. The vaults themselves were the most secured areas of the Isles, being protected on top of large complexly built gateways only unlockable through certain means and times of the year. After the Ruination, many vaults were destroyed due to the arcane shockwave that destroyed much of the isles constructions.
Clothing
Citizens Of The Blessed Isles
The people of the Blessed Isles were one of the most diverse groups of people of Runeterra during the height of the Isles existence. A myriad of of different Runeterran cultures and customs shaped the islands clothing designs as well as it inspiring others later on. Just like the Isles architecture, geometric designs were a popular element in clothing designs. Regular inhabitants would ware more subdued colors and designs while the isles scholars and leaders would have far more outlandish designs. After the ruination, what remains of now undead inhabitants wear gross approximations of what they once did.
The Harrowing
The Harrowing In Bilgewater
Beyond The Isles
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The Shadow Isles were once a beautiful realm, long since shattered by a magical cataclysm. Now, Black Mist permanently shrouds the land, tainting and corrupting with its malevolent sorcery. Those who perish within it are condemned to become part of it for all eternity… and worse still, each year the Mist extends its grasp to reap more souls across Runeterra.
At times, the Black Mist reaches across the seas — and the spirits of the dead go with it. The harrowing strikes most frequently in Bilgewater. Those slain by the spirits during the Harrowing are damned, their souls dragged back to the Shadow Isles when the Black Mist retreats.
While weaker spirits may only be able to manifest during a Harrowing, more powerful entities can always do so, sometimes even venturing beyond the Shadow Isles.
On the Shadow Isles, there is a saying, "Death is but a new beginning."
"As the fog parted and I first beheld the Shadow Isles, I sensed immediately that something was amiss. From the mysteriously placid waters of the bay to the dead calm of the night air, an eerie stillness gripped the place – even the sea and sky. Even as I made ready to go ashore, the crew begged me to return at once to the mainland." - Elise
"Despite its size, the immense forest loomed like a sepulcher around us, and the dank air and unnatural stillness bred increasing feelings of paranoia and dread. My companion begged me to turn back, but some primal yearning spurred me onward, deeper into the gloom." - Elise
The quote of the western altar; "I serve you because I must, Mordekaiser."; and the eastern altar"I serve you gladly, Mordekaiser.", Mordekaiser holds some rank in the Shadow Isles, further confirmed by his lore which states "Mordekaiser has since carved out his own empire upon the Shadow Isles, enslaving a growing army of the dead."
The quote of the western altar; "Mordekaiser is not to be trusted, Hecarim!", taking in count that Hecarim fights just for the sake of killing.
The quote of the western altar; "Are you also a prisoner, Mordekaiser?", likely means that Mordekaiser's's affiliation to the Shadow Isles is forced, and he fights this by following his personal objectives, not of the Isles. It was later disproven by his lore, which says "Unlike the lesser spirits, Mordekaiser is not bound by the Black Mist – he is too powerful for that – yet its baleful energy grants him considerable power. For now at least, the Shadow Isles serves as the perfect place to build his strength."
The quote of the western altar; "Remember who you once were, Hecarim.", suggests that Hecarim was once human.It was later confirmed in his lore.
Hecarim marches across Valoran in the name of the Shadow Isles.
The Twisted Treeline was initially described as the last living forest of Zaun but was retconned to be a location in the Shadows Isles.
Headless Hecarim, Haunted Maokai, and Underworld Twisted Fatechampion skins were released to celebrate the remake of the Twisted Treeline map. A poll [3] was conducted to allow the community to decide if these skins would be limited edition, permanent additions to the store, or legacy skins. At the end of the poll, it was decided that the skins were to be available for a short time as Legacy Skins.[4][5]
As Indicated by the Black Mist map, the next target of the Mist after Bilgewater is Piltover and Ionia.
Certain kinds of Poros reside in the Shadow Isles. They were most likely betrayed or dead.
Due to the actions of a foreign King. He defiled the sacred pools (Waters of Life) from the Blessed Isles when attempting to resurrect his corpse wife. Creating an unholy cataclysm that killed all life on the Isles.
The Black Mist can manifest anywhere in Runeterra, commonly referred to as the Harrowing. But due to its proximity to the Shadow Isles it strikes Bilgewater most.
The Blessed Isles were once home to an ancient society of scholars who gathered (dangerous) magical artifacts and history records from across Runeterra.
The waters of life– an underground spring that could heal mortal wounds. Have existed beneath the Isles for a long time, longer than Maokai.
sorcery. Living beings that stand upon the Shadow Isles slowly have their life-force leeched from them, which, in turn, draws the insatiable, predatory spirits of the dead. Those who perish within the Black Mist are condemned to haunt this melancholy land for eternity. Worse, the power of the Shadow Isles is waxing stronger with every passing year, allowing the shades of undeath to extend their range and reap souls all across Runeterra.
Gangplank defended Bilgewater against the Black Mist.
Mordekaiser, the Iron Revenant was once a mortal and brutal warlord-king who ruled the lands of eastern Valoran. He waded into battle bedecked in heavy iron armor and slaughtered all who opposed him. After being killed, he managed to gain mastery over the necrotic arts with the help of sorcerers before enslaving them and beginning a reign of terror that would last centuries - as time and again, he would be slain, only to return from the dead.
Kalista
Thresh reveled in the ruin. He rose from this cataclysm as a spectral abomination, but unlike many who have passed into the shadow world, Thresh did not lose his identity. Rather, his penchant for cruel torture and ability to discern weakness was only heightened. He relished the chance to continue his cruelty without fear of reprisal, unfettered by the limits of mortality. As a wraith, Thresh could torment the living and the dead endlessly, delighting in their despair before claiming their soul for an eternity of suffering.
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.
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.
Maokai, a nature spirit fused with the plantlife and natural magicks of the Blessed Isles.
Hecarim, the Shadow of War, was once a mortal knight of the Iron Order, known for his cruelty and cold, distant behaviour, before travelling to the Isles, where he cast his final 
stabbing her in the back.
Yorick, Shepherd of Souls, is the last survivor of a long forgotten religious order. Trapped in the Shadow Isles, both blessed and cursed with power over the dead, his only companions are the rotting corpses and shrieking spirits that he gathers to him. Yorick’s monstrous actions belie his noble purpose: to free his home from the curse of the Ruination.
Karthus, the Deathsinger, to willingly join the unliving. 
Elise, the Spider Queen, traveled there for religious reasons. She worships the Spider God, 
Vilemaw.[2] Every year she returns to the Isles with a select few disciples. She then feeds them to their god in exchange for a youth-prolonging gift of venom. She would return to Valoran preaching her deity and leading a pilgrimage again by the end of the year.
