Zed/Trivia

General

• Zed is one of 20 champions without a single  ability power ratio on any ability: Aatrox, Camille, Darius, Dr. Mundo, Draven, Garen, Kayn, Kled, Naafiri, Nilah, Olaf, Pyke, Riven, Samira, Sett, Talon, Urgot, Xayah, Yone, and Zed.
• Zed is voiced by Donny James Lucas, who also voices him in Legends of Runeterra and Galaxy Slayer Zed.
• Zed's dance was inspired by various martial arts (the animator is a black belt).
• Zed is the first champion to not actually 'die', instead he drops into a shadow portal (Shockblade Zed disappears after struck by a lightning bolt). The second is Ekko, who rewinds time. Willump does die, but Nunu does not.
• Zed, Sona, Garen and Vi were targeted by Jhin in his teaser.
  • After Zed was shot, his champion icon on his League of Legends website page and champion list were updated to a gif with with petals blowing past.
• Zed is the fifth champion to use energy as a resource for abilities (the others being Akali, Kennen, Lee Sin and Shen).
• Before the release of and Galaxy Slayer Zed and Pulsefire Shen, neither him nor Shen reveal their faces in any of their skins, unlike Akali ( All-star, Nurse, Blood Moon) and Kennen ( Karate, M.D.).
• Zed and Lucian perform the 'airplane arms' run when having very high movement speed.
• Razor Shuriken, Living Shadow, and Shadow Slash respectively mirroring Thundering Shuriken, Shadow Dash, and Crescent Slash, as well as Death Mark, Assassin's Mark, and Mark of the Storm marking their targets reference Zed having been a Kinkou Order member.
  • Death Mark was conceived with spawning two Living Shadows and was animated accordingly on release.
  • Clicking one of the  Living Shadows during  Death Marks animation used to display Akali's portrait. This could only be done while spectating in slow motion as his shadows in an actual game were just simply too fast to be clicked on. It was removed after the new HUD came in 2015 and replaced the old one.
  • Zed and his enemy counterpart could theoretically increase their AD infinitely with Reaper of Shadows by alternating killing each other, before it was removed from the game in V9.4.
• Zed used to gain the 'Law of Inverse Ninja Strength' cosmetic Easter egg debuff ("This unit is a flippin' ninja!" - "Ninjas are more effective when they work alone. For every Ninja on your team beyond yourself, you lose 1 health.") when he, Akali, Kennen, and/or Shen found themselves on the same team. It was removed in V3.14 for unknown reasons.
• At 23 August 2018 players who selected "Assassin" as their favorite class rated Zed 27% higher than the other assassins as "One of my favorite champions". This difference is the largest for a champion by class.

Lore

• Zed means "Holy Justice" or "God’s Justice" in Ionian.
  • Zed's original name was Govos, but was changed to Usan "strength of compassion" by Master Kusho. Zed is the name he chose himself.
    • Thus, Zed resembles, form-wise & meaning-wise, Hebrew צדק Ṣedeq "justice, rightness", from West Semitic ṣdq "to be(come) just, right".
  • By coincidence, the name Zed resembles:
  • The early English name of Letter Z, from Semitic letter Ṣade, from root ṣ-y-d "hunt" > Arabic صياد ṣayyād, Hebrew צַיָּד ṣayád, etc."hunter".
  • Hebrew זֵד zed "upstart, villain, scoundrel", from another root z-y-d "to seethe".
• Zed was born from a peasant family in Kéthé, Ionia. His father left his family when he was about 4 years old and never returned. He later rejected his own mother to stay with the Kinkou.
• Zed worked as a servant in Kinkou Order's Thanjuul monastery for over 2 years until Master Kusho decided to take him as his student after Shen purposefully let Zed hit him when Kusho wanted to test Zed's potential.
• Zed is using a Forbidden Technique called shadow magic. He is also using shadow’s tears which are a magical ichor which gives Zed and his followers the ability to use shadow magic— (when tattooed or ingested). His tattoo can be seen here.
  • According to Shen, Zed's shadow clones are shaped by his guilt and hatred and are controlling him instead of vice versa.
• Zed is around 34 to 35 years old.
  • Zed is four years younger than Jhin.
• Zed appears to be ambidextrous.
• Zed was originally considered for the position of the Eye of Twilight before.
• The armor Zed wears in-game is considered his war armor and not what he wears during stealth missions or in his day to day life.
• Zed has a rudimentary understanding of healing from performing surgeries and healing magic.
• It was believed for a long time that Zed killed Master Kusho to obtain the Tear of the Shadow for the power the Shadow Order members needed to fight back the Noxian army. This was later revealed to not really be the case, as Zed convinced Kusho to take part in the war and helped him fake his death.
• Some of the known draft scenes and cut scenes in his comic series include:
  • Zed killing a Vastaya elder that knew Kusho to take his magic in Zed: Issue 1. This was later relented as Marvel editors thought it made him too unlikeable.
  • A flashback scene where we see Akali being dragged away while her father tries to buy time for her and some other Kinkou members to escape. Zed doesn't think much of Akali's father, and wants others to escape so he sends his weakest student against him. But Akali's father dies anyway.
  • Shen and Zed had a talk during the war. Shen was worried about Zed (thinking he was taking too many risks), angry at his father's inaction, but also suspected Yevnai had feelings for Zed and that had something to do with the marriage being called off.
  • Some Akali's scenes including a fight between Akali and Kayn and some investigating scenes.
  • Some scenes which would have been too hard to do with rating's restrictions.
  • Three different scenes where Zed/Kayn were doing horrible stuff to monks and/or Vastaya.
  • A couple flashbacks with Kusho... specifically one when Zed got banished from the temple for using the ichor while Yvenai and Shen watched helplessly.
  • Two scenes which combined with other clues in the various issues created a little map based mystery where people to use the map to figure out where Jhin was going next--if they put together all the clues.
  • Three scenes across two issues where Zed was scanning the crowd looking for Jhin. And if you put the clues together you could figure out which face was Jhin's.

Quotes

Original Zed

•   <span class="skin-play-button skinloading-icon" data-champion=""Forbidden shadow wins"" data-skin="Original" data-variant="" style="position:relative; height:20px; width:20px; display:inline">[[File:"Forbidden shadow wins" OriginalCircle.png|20px|link=]] references Mortal Kombat.
• ▶️  <span class="skin-play-button skinloading-icon" data-champion=""What I have done... cannot be undone"" data-skin="Original" data-variant="" style="position:relative; height:20px; width:20px; display:inline">[[File:"What I have done... cannot be undone" OriginalCircle.png|20px|link=]] references Macbeth by William Shakespeare.
• Zed and Shen share the quote▶️     "Without a sound".

Galaxy Slayer Zed

•   <span class="skin-play-button skinloading-icon" data-champion=""Before us, there was nothing. Before nothing, there were monsters."" data-skin="Original" data-variant="" style="position:relative; height:20px; width:20px; display:inline">[[File:"Before us, there was nothing. Before nothing, there were monsters." OriginalCircle.png|20px|link=]] references The Lich from Adventure Time.
• ▶️  <span class="skin-play-button skinloading-icon" data-champion=""You're already dead."" data-skin="Original" data-variant="" style="position:relative; height:20px; width:20px; display:inline">[[File:"You're already dead." OriginalCircle.png|20px|link=]] references Kenshirō from Fist of the North Star.
• ▶️  <span class="skin-play-button skinloading-icon" data-champion=""Look at the skills, look at the moves. Zed, what was that?"" data-skin="Original" data-variant="" style="position:relative; height:20px; width:20px; display:inline">[[File:"Look at the skills, look at the moves. Zed, what was that?" OriginalCircle.png|20px|link=]] is a reference to the famous fight between Faker and Ryu at the HOT6iX 2013 Summer Finals, both which where playing Zed.

Skins

Original Zed

• He resembles and might be referencing Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Noob Saibot from Mortal Kombat, and/or Lord Zedd from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
• His Living Shadow can be seen in the background.

Shockblade Zed
Chromas: Amethyst, Aquamarine, Catseye, Emerald, Rose Quartz, Ruby

• This skin shares the Shockblade theme with:
  • Shockblade Kassadin
  • Shockblade Qiyana
  • Shockblade Shen

• He used to be called 'Bladestorm Zed'.
• The color of his clothes for each Chroma may have been inspired by the Power Rangers.
• He resembles Storm Shadow from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.

SKT T1 Zed

• This skin shares the World Champions: 2013 theme with:
  • SKT T1 Jax
  • SKT T1 Lee Sin
  • SKT T1 Vayne
  • SKT T1 Zyra

• Primetime Draven can be seen in the background.
• He was released in celebration of SKT T1 winning the Season 3 World Championship along with:
  • SKT T1 Jax
  • SKT T1 Lee Sin
  • SKT T1 Vayne
  • SKT T1 Zyra
• He represents Faker and is the first World Championship victory skin for him.
  • It is later succeeded by SKT T1 Ryze.
    • It is later succeeded again by SKT T1 Syndra.

PROJECT: Zed
Chromas: Reckoning

• This skin shares the PROJECT theme with:
  • Prestige PROJECT: Sylas
  • Prestige PROJECT: Zed
  • PROJECT: Akali
  • PROJECT: Ekko
  • PROJECT: Fiora
  • ...and others
  • PROJECT: Leona
  • PROJECT: Renekton
  • PROJECT: Sejuani
  • PROJECT: Sylas
  • PROJECT: Warwick

• PROJECT: Lucian's bullets can be seen hitting his Living Shadow.
• The skin was initially thought to be that of a Cyber Zed, but then turned into Project.
• He is from an alternate future in which he was cibernetically augmented as part of the PROJECT Initiative, being the only known 'hostile' Initiate (going rogue and fighting the others)
• PROJECT: Yi describes him as:
  • "Dark sight, shadows marked, death lives beside. Silencer, he follows. The shadow is within. Blood soaked, he stands. Vanish... the man light will never touch."
• If one tells PROJECT: Ashe they fight for 'power' she'll say the following:
  • "A shadow of a man."
• His gear includes:
  • High Frequency Energy Blade
  • H. F. Auxiliary Blades
  • Black RR 'Solid Smoke' Armor
  • Pulse Rotation Module
  • Unknown

• He was released in celebration of the Season 6 World Championship.

Death Sworn Zed

• This skin shares the Death Sworn theme with:
  • Darkrider Sejuani
  • Death Sworn Katarina
  • Death Sworn Viktor
  • Gravelord Azir
  • Reaper Hecarim
  • Reaper Soraka
  • Shadow Evelynn
  • Soul Reaver Draven
  • Underworld Wukong

• He was released in celebration of Harrowing 2017 along with:
  • Death Sworn Katarina
  • Death Sworn Viktor
• His wrist blades resemble that of the Wolverine from Marvel Comics.

Galaxy Slayer Zed
Chromas: Emerald, Merc, Mythic, Pearl, Rose Quartz, Ruby, Sapphire

• This skin shares the Odyssey theme with:
  • Odyssey Aatrox
  • Odyssey Jinx
  • Odyssey Karma
  • Odyssey Kayn
  • Odyssey Kha'Zix
  • ...and others
  • Odyssey Sivir
  • Odyssey Sona
  • Odyssey Twisted Fate
  • Odyssey Yasuo
  • Odyssey Ziggs

• This is his first skin to reveal his complete facial features, however it is not his canonical face in the main universe.
• In his joke animation, Zed pierces a butterfly arcrapter on blue volcanos.
  • The blue volcanoes are a reference to the , one of the oldest summoner icon.

Relations

• Zed and Shen trained together in the Kinkou Order, led by the latter's father Kusho. Both students saw each other as rivals, but also respected the other, seeing him as a brother and best friend. Shen was even a bit jealous of him (Kusho was less strict towards Zed as he saw Zed having far better potentials than his son). Master Kusho raised Zed as his own son and chose him to be the successor of his title, while Zed also looked up to him and his son as his own family. After Zed obeyed Kusho to betray the order, his relationship with Shen soured and became ambivalent.
  • Zed, Shen, and Kusho worked to discover and capture Khada Jhin for his brutal murders. All three of them were severely traumatized during the investigation and, when they finally caught the 'Golden Demon', Kusho spared his life. Zed couldn't believe such a monster was offered mercy, finding himself question his master's teachings to the point of heavily resenting him.
  • Zed's resentment towards Kusho led him to delve into the shadow arts, founding the Order of Shadow. However, he later convinced Kusho to defend Ionia from Noxus and helped the later fake his death. While he believes in the necessity of the Kinkou Order and their rule of scales, he seeks to abolish the old ways of balance while spreading his 'no restraint' philosophy.
    • He tried to minimize casualties when killing Kinkou members (though he needed enough people dead so the Kinkou would hate him and his new order.) Unfortunately, violence quickly got out of hand into an ugly and brutal feud.
    • Zed leaving the Kinkou and "murdering" Kusho led to Shen being forced to take up the title The Eye of Twilight which he never wanted.
  • In spite of their animosity, Zed sought out Shen and to inform him about Jhin's release, in order to stop him together. They later captured him the second time in Zaun.
  • After learning that Kusho was behind Jhin's release, Zed returned to Zhyun and killed his former mentor.
  • Zed could have revealed the truth about Kusho to Shen but then decided it was better for Shen to be disillusioned with Zed than to be disillusioned with his own father. That's probably not fair, and maybe Shen has a right to know. But Zed is flawed... and blinded by his need to feel he's worthy and honorable.
• Zed kissed Shen's fiancé, Yevnai, before leaving the Kinkou Order and later "killing" Master Kusho.
  • At one point they secretly harbored feelings for each other even though Kusho forbade Zed from it.
    • Yevnai once begged Zed to run away with her, but he refused.
  • The engagement of Shen and Yevnai was called off after Zed "murdered" Kusho.
• Zed wants Gangplank dead after he ransacked the Temple of the Jagged Knife.
• Zed, his order, and the Navori Brotherhood are extremists. They believe the magic of Ionia is for the Ionians... meaning they should be able to use it however they like. So limits on using that magic don't sit well with them. The fact that some of the Vastaya tribes fought for Noxus, and many tribes stayed neutral during the war (at least until Noxus started burning down their lands) doesn't sit well. In Zed's view those tribes are traitors and should be killed.
  • Both Rakan and Xayah have encountered Zed and his ninja clan in an attempt to save a grove from losing all its natural magic.
• Akali wants Zed dead for what he did to the Kinkou Order in the past, including the supposed death of her father Tahno.
  • When she was captured by Jhin, Zed and Shen saved her from him.
• Zed favorite pupil is Kayn, whom he treats as his own son and chooses to be his successor.
  • Long ago Zed chose to be the sort of mentor and master he was to Kayn. And that choice is ultimately what separates him from Kusho. Zed realizing he wasn't a piece-of-shit master and father figure would be significant moment in his life. Especially because Zed has a lot of guilt. He knows he's fucked up mentally. Zed knows what he's doing isn't exactly heroic most of the time... but it had to feel good to really, really know he trained Kayn well and earned his loyalty.