Varus/Trivia

General

• Varus was the first champion to be released in Season Two with only one alternative skin, with subsequent champions following this pattern.
• The Pallas village references the epithet Παλλάς, originally meaning "girl", of Pre-Greek goddess Athena.
  • Later Greek writers re-identified Pallas as a Titan killed by Athena, interpreting Pallas as "brandisher", from πάλλω pállō.
• Varus is, along with Blitzcrank, Caitlyn, Lissandra, Rumble, Sion, Vi, Xerath, and Ziggs, one of the few champions that can apply crowd control on themselves.
• When Varus crits, his bow expands.
• Varus' body style is similar to the one of Solus, the T'Lan leader from the game Breakdown.
• Varus is the second dark-themed Ionian Champion, the others being Shen, Syndra, Zed, Jhin, and Kayn.
• Varus is the first of three dark-themed champions with a light-themed skin, the second being Syndra and the third being Aatrox.
  • Of these three, Varus' skin is the only one not of the Justicar theme.
• Varus (along with Aatrox, Anivia, Aurelion Sol, Evelynn, Kindred, Urgot, Zyra, and all voidborn champions) is technically nude. The "pants" that he is wearing are actually the manifestation of the corruption.

Lore

• In Varus' current lore:
  • He was a skillful Darkin sharpshooter whom humans had attracted to Runeterra for their reckless use of rune magic.
  • Varus was defeated, disembodied, & had his essence trapped within his own crystalline bow.
  • However, two Ionian beast-hunters Valmar & Kai unwittingly provided Varus with their own bodies, which Varus wove into a physical form.
  • Still, Valmar's & Kai's consciousnesses remain, keeping the Darkin in check, for the time being.
• In Varus' previous lore:
  • His namesake might be the infamous Roman general Publius Quinctilius Varus, who foolishly led three Roman legions to their demise during the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. While League of Legends's Varus defends his charge but loses everything to the Noxian invaders, to which he vows revenge.
  • Varus is the only champion since Graves to receive a League Judgement.
  • Varus is in a state of transformation. He made a decision to sacrifice his humanity (in fact his very self) to gain the means to achieve revenge. The pants are the manifestation of the corruption overtaking him. He only has so much time before it will overtake him.
  • As far as his paleness goes, they wanted to give him the appearance of a man whose life is slipping away or being drained. As far as his face, you could find people with many different appearances in all the respective regions of Valoran.
  • The Owl insignia on his chest has been passed down through generations of "watchers".
    • In Greek mythology, Greek goddess Athena is associated with the little owl.
• His lore bears some similarities with the blighted Archers from Samurai Jack.
  • The Talisman he has on his chest is a memento from his family.
  • His headdress is an ornament of his office.
  • Varus would be considered Lawful Neutral, or Lawful Anti-Noxian Invader.
• Varus is implied to be ambidextrous, as evidenced by having two skin arts that have him holding his bow in his left hand and the other two having it in his right.
  • However, Varus is most likely right eye dominant, since archers traditionally wield their bow according to their eye-dominance rather than their hand-dominance, due to the fact that he only holds his bow in his left hand in-game.

Development

• Varus was designed by Andrei 'Meddler' van Roon.
• Varus is voiced by Gavin Hammon, who also voices Pantheon and Blood Lord Vladimir.
• Varus means "bent outwards, bow-legged" in Latin, in contrast with valgus "bent inwards, knock-kneed";
  • Ancient Romans used this adjective as a cognomen to describe persons with the anatomical deformity that bent their legs outwards like bows.
  • Humorously, the fact that his name is the term for a knee deformity and the fact that Varus is an archer could be a reference to the famous "Arrow to the Knee" meme of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
• Varus' title "The Arrow of Retribution" strongly resembles Kalista's title "The Spear of Vengeance".
• Varus' Piercing Arrow is a rework of Tristana's old Draw a Bead ability which (while active) would reduce her movement speed to increase range.
• The League of Legends art team worked with Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade to make a "special edition" champion sneak peek for Varus.
• Riot wanted to deliver some of the creepy, fluid feeling of the corruption, it was important to give Varus a forceful, solid, strong weapon that you could identify him with instead of feeling like (as you do for instance with the T1000 from Terminator 2) the bow was just one piece of a big bag of tricks. Also, the visual impact of his animations with a sturdy bow was extremely satisfying.
• The visual effects designer for Varus's log-in screen was Anthony Possobon.

Quotes

• Varus' quote, "I do what I must." is similar to Lee Sin's quote, "We do what we must ".
• Varus' quote "Beware a man with nothing to lose" is based on an Italian proverb "Beware of one who has nothing to lose".
• Varus's quote. "No turning back." is similar to Pulsefire Ezreal's quote, "No turning back now." and Irelia's quote, "There's no turning back".

Skins

Original Varus

• He wields his bow with his left hand, despite the splash art suggesting he aims the bow with his right hand. Even if he was ambidextrous, archers traditionally wield their bow according to eye-dominance rather than hand-dominance.
• His look and ability animations were inspired by the anime movie, Princess Mononoke.

Blight Crystal Varus

• He might be a reference to the MMORPG World of Warcraft, where the undead would use Blight Crystals alike to the ones in the splash art to corrupt other creatures.
  • Varus's quote, "I am Forsaken." is also spoken by the undead from the same MMORPG.

Arclight Varus

• It is the second light-themed skin for dark Ionian Champions, the first being Justicar Syndra.
• He uses the same voicing, but lacks the echo effect on each line.
• Varus's bow in this skin is similar to the Bow of Light from The Legend of Zelda game series.
• The arc on his back resembles the arc of The Savior from Devil May Cry 4.
• He shares this theme with Arclight Vayne, Arclight Vel'Koz, and Arclight Yorick.

Arctic Ops Varus

• He has a similar design to soldiers in the Battlefield series of video games.
• He shares this theme with Kennen.

Heartseeker Varus

• He celebrates Valentine's Day 2015.
• This skin is directly inspired by Eros, Greek god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection; among whose paraphernalia were the bow & arrows. His Roman counterpart is Cupid.
• This skin was proposed by SuperKusoKao from deviantART.
• He shares this theme with Heartseeker Ashe, Heartseeker Lucian, Heartseeker Orianna, Heartseeker Quinn, and Heartseeker Vayne.

Varus Swiftbolt

• He references a traditional tabletop role-playing game.
• Varus has the B. F. Sword tied to his quiver.
• His appearance resembles somewhat of the Night elves from the "Warcraft" series.
• Also bears a strong resemblance to Drizzt Do'Urden: Ranger of the North from the world of The Forgotten Realms in the Dungeons of Dragons series.
• He shares this theme with Bard Bard, Braum Lionheart, Gragas Caskbreaker, Jayce Brighthammer, Karthus Lightsbane, Ryze Whitebeard, Sejuani Dawnchaser, and Veigar Greybeard.

Dark Star Varus

• His appearance closely resembles that of Aurelion Sol (Cosmic entity).
• He shares this theme with Dark Star Thresh.

Relations

• It is hinted in his lore that Varus may have been imprisoned in his bow, by a previous avatar of the Aspect of the Sun.
  • This warrior-queen used him to destroy the gateway to the Darkin World, and later sealed the bow in the land that would later be known as Ionia.
• Varus was released from his prison by two Ionian beast hunters, Valmar and Kai.
  • Valmar had hoped that the well imprisoning Varus would heal Kai. It did, but it also released Varus, and fused their bodies into one.